Board 8 > Politics Containment Topic 157: Happy Holidays!

(+) Yeah! (+)

what if trump tweets about foreign policy?

>_>
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Jakyl25 posted...

https://twitter.com/realdonaldtrump/status/946724075157651457

?approximately?

While he says Fox says approximately 47% like Obama.....

RASMUSSEN REPORT ON DONALD TODAY:
(29% strongly approve)
45% approve
53% disapprove
(44% strongly disapprove)
-8% total (-15% strongly)

RASMUSSEN REPORT ON OBAMA EIGHT YEARS AGO:
(25% strongly approve)
47% approve
52% disapprove
(41% strongly disapprove)
-5% total (-16% strongly)

Also keep in mind this is Rasmussen. If we bounce to 538:

DONALD ON 538 TODAY:
37.7% approve
56.6% disapprove

OBAMA ON 538 EIGHT YEARS AGO:
~49% approve
(approximating off the only chart I found)
https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/how-obamas-rising-approval-ratings-compare-with-recent-presidents/
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Also, which Presidential approval polling do ya'll consider the most accurate? I just assumed 538 but didn't know if there was more trusted polling.

Also, which accepted polling is the liberal equivalent of Rasmussen?
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I dont consider any specific polling most accurate compared to 538s weighted aggregates
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Also Im not certain theres a liberal version of Rasmussen. Rasmussen isnt biased towards conservatives intentionally. They just have a methodology (only calling land lines, no cell phones) that happens to favor conservatives because young people are less likely to have landlines.
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So then, this page right?

https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/trump-approval-ratings/

That's where I just got the 538 numbers for Donald.
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Right.
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Mr Lasastryke posted...

Eddv posted...

Most people in this topic dont really care much about foreign policy as I've discovered.

this. when i posted an article about mugabe resigning (which is kind of a big freaking deal) nobody gave a shit.

people in general just care more about things that directly affect them (like tax reform) than things that don't affect them (like foreign policy). board 8 is no different in this regard.

that being said, we did talk about ISIS being on the run. don't think there's any news on that front...?

It wasn't a big deal. Power has been slightly transferred from one autocratic authority to another.
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NFUN posted...

It wasn't a big deal. Power has been slightly transferred from one autocratic authority to another.

mugabe had been a dictator in zimbabwe for 30 years and here in the netherlands it was frontpage news (dunno about the US). i'd say that makes it a pretty big deal, even if the difference isn't great in practice.
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The Russia investigation started due to the drunken bragging of George "totally just a coffee boy" Papadopoulos, not the dossier (as the Trump camp has repeatedly claimed):

https://twitter.com/adamgoldmanNYT/status/947151286859915264
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https://www.salon.com/2017/12/29/this-man-screaming-lock-him-up-at-disney-worlds-trumpbot-is-all-of-us/

Hey, I know Jay! Don't know that he'd know me by name, but he's a funny guy.
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Mr Lasastryke posted...

NFUN posted...

It wasn't a big deal. Power has been slightly transferred from one autocratic authority to another.

mugabe had been a dictator in zimbabwe for 30 years and here in the netherlands it was frontpage news (dunno about the US). i'd say that makes it a pretty big deal, even if the difference isn't great in practice.

He wasn't even in power at that point. In name he was, but he'd been ill for a while and his wife was making all of the decisions.
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HaRRicH posted...

https://www.salon.com/2017/12/29/this-man-screaming-lock-him-up-at-disney-worlds-trumpbot-is-all-of-us/

Hey, I know Jay! Don't know that he'd know me by name, but he's a funny guy.

I like the theory that the Hall of Presidents Trump looks so shitty because they had already made a Hillary one and had to modify it to look like Donald
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Despite disdain for the presidents tweets, they are still official white house statements.

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/947181212468203520

Oppressive regimes cannot endure forever, and the day will come when the Iranian people will face a choice. The world is watching! https://t.co/kvv1uAqcZ9

Who wants to tell him?
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DONALD TRUMP AS PRESIDENT
OCTOBER 2017

Sources: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1awAqkXliYe3NLC2eYI-2IY8hHodmfUAR8bcg8NhaY94/edit?usp=sharing

Early in October, Donald randomly declared at a military dinner that this was the calm before the storm. When asked what storm, he said youll find out.

This is what we found out Donald considered to be the calm.

HARVEY WEINSTEIN

On the same day Donald made that calm before the storm statement, multiple victims of Harvey Weinstein came out about his sexual abuse which reignited #metoo and led to arguably the biggest cultural movement of the year in a way. It rocked the entertainment industry immediately, and then in December TIME would honor Silence Breakers with Person of the Year for how they affected society.

We would see later in the year how this affected politics too. For this month though, Donalds immediate response when asked about comparing Harvey Weinstein against his Hollywood Access tape was that his tape was locker room talk.

GUNS AND MANDALAY BAY

Las Vegass Mandalay Bay suffered from the nations new largest mass shooting of our lifetimes. 59 were killed while another 527 were injured at a country music concert.

Conspiracies came fast. Fake people were missing, Islam converts were falsely declared to be the killer, and Alex Jones immediately blamed deep state Democrats. The_Donald also had a fascinating change of attitude when they discovered the killer was an old white man instead of their previous idea of a terrorist; their comments swerved from the likes of This is why we do the travel ban to Something is not right here. This narrative doesnt make any sense.

The NRA was surprisingly interested in restricting bump stocks...and then they changed their mind. Their support seemed to stop once they had their good press from the aftermath and the next step was to have restrictions written into law.
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PUERTO RICO

At the end of September, Donald said he would not rest regarding Puerto Rico for however long it takes. Two weeks later, now in October, he threatened to pull federal relief workers. With respect to hurricane fatigue and the financial status of Puerto Rico, this tone of treating our US territory differently from Texas and Florida had additional worse connotations of just not caring as much -- this continued throughout the month. Heres a side-by-side example:

https://twitter.com/CharlesMBlow/status/918471349982629889

Another example: a request was made to allow Puerto Ricos food stamps to purchase fast food during this period, which was denied despite Texas and Florida getting this waiver.

A FEMA Administrator said Puerto Rico is the most logistically challenging event the US has ever seen. They later declare its not their job to distribute food and water to them. Donald then says the military will help distribute food even though they really shouldnt have to. This is at a time when the EPA reported Puerto Ricans are obtaining water from toxic Superfund sites to survive.

When it came to fixing Puerto Rico, Whitefish was awarded a $300,000,000 contract to charge Puerto Rico whatever they pleased with no federal oversight. Whitefish was run by two people from Montana who were big Republican/Donald donors with connections in his administration. As this story gained traction, Governor Ricardo A. Rossell cancelled the contract due to its distraction from helping the Puerto Rican people.

Donald said all of Puerto Ricos buildings have been inspected when their governor said some areas havent even received contact. Donald also said to a Puerto Rican official "So whats your death count? Sixteen? You can be very proud, only sixteen instead of thousands in Katrina." The New York Times would later suggest that 556 were dead at the time of this visit and the death count was up to 1,052 in early December.

Donald gave himself a 10/10 on how Puerto Rico was handled sixteen days later, saying it was worse than Katrina. It was in many ways worse than anything people have ever seen. Americans gave him a 4/10.

Its okay though. Donald threw them some very good towels and dedicated a golf trophy to all the recent storm victims, so in that way Puerto Rico was treated equally well.

ON PACE FOR NEW RECORDS

Donald is on pace to sign more executive orders than any other President of the past fifty years -- at this point, hes doubled Obamas executive orders despite campaigning on Obama abusing the privilege.

Mike Pence was also on pace to break the most Senate ties in modern history -- he broke his fifth tie this month by deciding to block new regulations that allow consumers to sue their banks. George H.W. Bush and Dick Cheney each have broken seven and eight ties respectively over eight years.
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MILITARY FAMILY CALLS

As Donald was being questioned about the times he called military families when their child died in their service, Donald took a swerve and challenged reporters to ask Obama if he called John Kelly about his sons death in 2010. It was confirmed later by John that Barack Obama did not call the Kelly family at that time, but Michelle Obama did sit with the Kelly family at a 2011 Memorial Day breakfast for Gold Star families.

Regardless, things started going downhill after this. It was revealed Donald personally offered one family $25,000 for their loss, and then he didnt write the check until the day after he was called out on not sending it. Another call was reported with him saying he knew what he signed up for. Donald denied these accusations despite a Congresswoman being on the phone to listen for one of them.

It appeared that Donald was trying to copy what John Kelly had explained to him about tough calls like these, but he just wasnt able to deliver it as meaningfully as Kelly could. Kelly eventually came out to give a passionate defense for Donald and educate people on the horrible experience of having a child killed in action.

HISTORIC STREAK BROKEN

Through no fault of Donalds, the 83-month streak of jobs-growth ended due to hurricane damages to the tourist economy. This then bounced back, as expected.

THORNS IN HIS SIDE

Donald and Bob Corker went off on each other. What started off as sour grapes quickly went to insult after insult. Donald accused Corker of begging to be Secretary of State in 2016 and being unable to win his 2018 reelection without his support, so thats why hes not running again. Corker responded by declaring the White House was an adult day care and someone missed their shift. He went on to say Donald threatens the world with World War 3 because of his reckless behavior -- keep in mind Corker is the Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, a Republican who was once on Donalds side. WW3..

Jeff Flake also announced he wouldnt run again for the AZ-Senate race, claiming he didnt feel like he could win in this Republican environment and wouldnt want to be complicit with Donald even if he could.

Despite this tough talk by both politicians who dont plan to run in 2018, its worth noting they each voted for the tax bill in December.

RATINGS BY RACE

While the Presidential job ratings have trended down this year both in general and among white people, Gallup this month had the first polling to show more white people disapprove of Donald than approve.

White:
47% approve
49% disapprove

Black:
5% approve
88% disapprove

Hispanic:
17% approve
77% disapprove
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NUKES

Donald wanted to increase the US nuclear arsenal tenfold. At the same time, he was expected to decertify the Iran nuclear deal agreement at a time when Iran was widely seen as compliant.

REX TILLERSON

Reports came out that earlier in the summer Rex threatened to quit due to clashes in policy as well as Donalds politicized speech to the Boy Scouts; Rex was a former Eagle Scout and national president for them. It was also reported after the tenfold-increase-in-nukes meeting that Rex openly called Donald a moron...or maybe a fucking moron -- the adjective was disputed, but Rex did not deny the insult. Mike Pence came in around this period for an intervention to keep Rex on the team.

TAXES

Donald walked back on his pledge that he would not benefit from the tax plan being worked on, now claiming we all benefit.

HEALTH CARE

Donald said "Obamacare is finished, it's dead, it's gone. You shouldn't even mention it. It's gone. There is no such thing as Obamacare anymore."

If you dont like that quote, you may not like that Donald used an executive order two weeks before enrollment to remove a critical subsidy for the Affordable Care Act.

NFL

Mike Pence staged a walk-out in a Colts/49ers game, where he left as soon as they took a knee. 49ers Safety Eric Reid took an interesting stance on how this was systematic oppression.

http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/354478-49ers-safety-on-pences-colts-walk-out-this-is-what-systemic

Donald continued to tweet-trash the NFL afterward, even going so far as to question why they get massive tax breaks when they disrespect America like they do.

The NFL statistically became as polarizing as Fox this month.

CHRISTIANITY

Donald claimed he would put an end to attacks on Judeo-Christian values. His speech then transitioned into how Americans can say Merry Christmas again.

While claiming to defend Judeo-Christian values, he also took consistent jabs at Mike Pence; just because he thinks Pence is great doesnt mean he wont let him know whos boss. When people left Pences office, for example, Donald would ask Did Mike make you pray? When discussing abortion, Donald would tell Pence You see? Youve wasted all this time and energy on [Roe VS Wade], and its not going to end abortion anyway. On gay rights, Trump joked at Pence and said Dont ask that guyhe wants to hang them all!
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NAZIS

BuzzFeed released a huge expose on how Breitbart smuggled white supremacy into mainstream media, which highlighted Steve Bannons relationship with Milo Yiannopoulus and how they worked with other white supremacists to build Milos career. Alt-righters were ghost-writing stories for Breitbart and letting people like Milo take credit for them. Milo considered Daily Stormers neo-nazi site administrator Weev as one of the funniest, smartest, and most interesting people I know. Very on-brand for me. Breitbarts billionaire supporter Robert Mercer would support Milo with his private security company. Milo shared a password that referenced the beginning of the Holocaust (Kristall) for his email that referenced a night when a gay leader was purged from Germany (LongKnives), and the year Jews were kicked out of England (1290). Bannon understood much of this -- even during times when Milo was trying to keep some articles more truthful -- and he was intentionally setting Milo up to be a superstar. The article even had a video of Milo singing the National Anthem to alt-righters and gave a Nazi salute at the end.

Richard Spencer and the gang returned to the Robert E. Lee statue in Charlottesville with their torches, less than two months after their infamous August rally.

Shelbyville, TN had a Nazi rally of roughly 100 people. During this time, white supremacists could keep their weapons while counter-protesters had to disarm.

Almost one in four troops have seen white nationalism among those enlisted. Additionally, troops said its a bigger threat to national security than Syria, Iraq, and Afghanistan.

Bethesda was attacked online for advertising Wolfenstein: the New Colossus with the line Make America Nazi-Free Again, as if the Wolfenstein video game series hasnt been about killing Nazis for decades since its inception.

RUSSIA

Carter Page pleads the fifth to avoid perjuring himself on previously-captured communications. A Twitter account for @TEN_GOP was discovered to be from a Russian trollfarm.

Robert Mueller was pressured to quit because of the Uranium One-controversy. Instead of bowing down, the first official charges were made.

Paul Manafort surrendered to the FBI and Rick Gates was told to surrender as well. George Papadopolous was also announced later that same day he was charged months ago for lying to the FBI; he was described as a proactive cooperator, a term sometimes used for people who wear a wire. It was suggested this was a signal: cooperate for a good deal, or resist and then get hammered.

BROADCASTING LICENSES

Donald challenged why NBC should have a broadcasting license and threatened to revoke it over fake news. After tweeting this, he then tweeted he was going on Fox that night.

THE END IS NEVER THE END IS NEVER THE END IS..

Donald claimed he came up with the word fake. Eminem dissed Donald in a new song on BET, telling his fans FUCK YOU if they cant decide if theyre for or against Donald. Tom Steyer released a commercial calling for Donald to be impeached. Jeff Sessions officially interpreted Title VII to cover sex discrimination but not gender discrimination. Daphne Caruana Galizia, the journalist behind the Panama Papers investigation, was killed in a car bomb.

And dont ask Donald to take responsibility for some of this month because hed pass that complaint to Congress. "We're not getting the job done. And I'm not going to blame myself, I'll be honest. They are not getting the job done."

https://twitter.com/PhilipRucker/status/919961704406151168

But while hes denying responsibility, he also remained humble. I think I am actually humble. I think Im much more humble than you would understand.

https://twitter.com/caveheraa/status/917608372190322693

Reminder: Donald called this the CALM before the storm.
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Erica Garner (daughter of Eric Garner) who became a big activist after her father's death from police...is also dead now:

http://abcnews.go.com/US/erica-garner-activist-dad-eric-garner-died-police/story?id=52058445

Sounds like a natural death from a heart attack, but either way sad to see her go, she was a pretty strong activist.
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https://mobile.twitter.com/BarackObama/status/946775081371471872

A real president.
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https://twitter.com/sheriffclarke/status/947225820493426688
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MoogleKupo141 posted...

https://twitter.com/sheriffclarke/status/947225820493426688

The joke is old hat now, Sheriff.
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Only vaguely related to politics but CNN was abysmal this new years hot damn. I guess the only way to save Kathy Griffin from the Trump decapitation controversy is to demonstrate how abysmal Cooper is without her!
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https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2017/12/29/16829806/trump-interview-new-york-times

This is nuts.

At one point, Trump literally says he admires Eric Holder for covering up crimes he thinks Obama committed.

Can anyone defend this?
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He thinks that the role of the government is to shield its leader.
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Dick measuring contests have gone nuclear:

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/948355557022420992
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ChaosTonyV4 posted...

https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2017/12/29/16829806/trump-interview-new-york-times

This is nuts.

At one point, Trump literally says he admires Eric Holder for covering up crimes he thinks Obama committed.

Can anyone defend this?

Theres a question in the game Until Dawn that asks what you value more; honesty or loyalty.

Ive seen people answer loyalty, to my chagrin, and I guess this sort of is what they mean
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Oh yeah, time to bust out this gif again


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hes seemed more unhinged than usual the past couple days. wonder whats up.
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He knows the noose is tightening
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Not sure it fits exactly, but it's close
https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/373743492151136256
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i'd say it fits very well, though you could say there's more than a "small chance."
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I was more thinking about the "unknowingly" but you could probably argue that as well
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LordoftheMorons posted...

Dick measuring contests have gone nuclear:

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/948355557022420992

We're literally at the point where I am looking to the leader of North Korea to be the reasonable party of a nuclear dispute.

#TeamKim
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I think there's good reason to believe that Kim is the more rational one!
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Not to change the subject, but Megyn Kelly hosted a reformed white supremacist on her show and he basically said Fox News isn't just a dog whistle, it's a bullhorn for white supremacists.

Megyn Kelly: Do you believe that there were dog whistles by our now-president to white supremacists?

Christopher Picciolini: I do believe that there were dog whistles. But to somebody like me, I can tell you that thats a bullhorn. I heard them loud and clear. When they referred to globalism I knew that they were talking about the global Jewish conspiracy. When they used terms like the liberal media, those are terms that we used to use but we used to call it the Jewish media." Theyve learned to massage their language, to make it more palatable.

Megyn Kelly: Can I just say, Can I just say, I mean, having worked at Fox News for 13 years, we used to criticize the MSM, some would call them the liberal media and it didnt mean that or it meant, you know, left leaning - people who were not open minded toward the views of half the country, conservative people.

Christopher Picciolini: Thats also the power of their marketing and how they can take words that are hateful and massage them to get them into the lexicon to make it normalized.

Megyn Kelly: So you pick something that is okay, a term that has nothing to do with white supremacy and you adopt it. And to your people, it has a very different meaning, like, with a wink and a nod.

Christopher Picciolini: Absolutely. To the people that I was involved with 30 years ago, that is a high five. That is a license to go out and be more violent. And thats why were seeing a rise in hate crimes because they feel as though the administration today if theyre not supportive of it, are at least turning a blind eye to it.
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Sorry to post this in a time people are asking for rationality:

12/31/2017
RAW STORY - GOP lawmakers surprised to learn no black soldiers served under Confederacy in South Carolina

The justification for building a monument to black Confederate soldiers is crumbling as historians point out there?s no evidence such combatants ever existed.

State Rep. Bill Chumley (R-Woodruff) and state Rep. Mike Burns (R-Taylors) pre-filed a bill last month that would establish a commission to design an African-American Confederate veterans monument, reported The State.

The bill would also require public schools to teach the contributions of black people toward the Confederate cause, and Chumley said his proposal had already accomplished his goal even as historians undermine its intent.

?We are all learning a lot,? Chumley said. ?The purpose of the bill is education.?

https://www.rawstory.com/2018/01/gop-lawmakers-surprised-to-learn-no-black-soldiers-served-under-confederacy-in-south-carolina/amp/
*space*
?__twitter_impression=true
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Rock, what's the link source for that please?
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HaRRicH posted...

snip

Real life continues to put The Onion out of business.
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LordoftheMorons posted...

Dick measuring contests have gone nuclear:

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/948355557022420992

speaking of contests, trump has literally announced the Fake Newsies awards

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/948359545767841792
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Could make a statue about how much black people in the Southern states helped the US by defecting to the Union and becoming spies, that's a Confederate statue I'd want to keep.
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GuessMyUserName posted...

LordoftheMorons posted...

Dick measuring contests have gone nuclear:

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/948355557022420992

speaking of contests, trump has literally announced the Fake Newsies awards

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/948359545767841792

why does this have the exact same comedic timing and cadence as a dril tweet

https://twitter.com/dril/status/623669711046377473?lang=en
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HaRRicH posted...

Rock, what's the link source for that please?

It's a few excerpts from an anti-Fox News site called Newshounds.
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HaRRicH posted...

Rock, what's the link source for that please?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YjVc94ExDf0
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Kenri posted...

GuessMyUserName posted...

LordoftheMorons posted...

Dick measuring contests have gone nuclear:

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/948355557022420992

speaking of contests, trump has literally announced the Fake Newsies awards

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/948359545767841792

why does this have the exact same comedic timing and cadence as a dril tweet

https://twitter.com/dril/status/623669711046377473?lang=en

Probably cause that's the kind of person dril has been parodying for a long time.
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Thanks guys.
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https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/jan/03/donald-trump-russia-steve-bannon-michael-wolff?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_reddit_is_fun

Oh.

Im not entirely sure what Bannons play is here though.
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Suprak the Stud posted...

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/jan/03/donald-trump-russia-steve-bannon-michael-wolff?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_reddit_is_fun

Oh.

Im not entirely sure what Bannons play is here though.

Bannon's endgame has always been the collapse of the U.S. federal government.
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Its the FOURTH TURNING
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