Because Trump was elected President and McMaster wasn't. It has nothing to do with intelligence. — Michael

Takes intelligence to run that campaign and win.

Along with success comes a reputation for wisdom. — My fortune cookie

Timely wisdom from a biscuit.
And Trump has all the wisdom of a fortune cookie.

Timely wisdom from a biscuit.
And Trump has all the wisdom of a fortune cookie. — unenlightened

Is it possible for wisdom not to lead to success though?

Sure, success does usually bring a reputation for wisdom, but why is that? Isn't it because it takes wisdom to be successful?

Takes intelligence to run that campaign and win. — Agustino

Trump wasn't running it. Pretty sure it's the campaign manager that runs it. And winning doesn't take intelligence, only popular appeal.

Trump wasn't running it. Pretty sure it's the campaign manager that runs it. And winning doesn't take intelligence, only popular appeal. — Michael

So you think the "campaign manager" would have run the incredibly controversial and non-traditional campaign that Trump ran? Sorry, "campaign managers" cannot do that - they just know how to do standard campaigns. The rest comes through the guidance of the person running for office. They have to ASK them to do things differently.

Is it possible for wisdom not to lead to success though? — Agustino

It's inevitable. Success is the obsession of the fool. Far better to fail attempting the right thing than to succeed at the wrong.

It's inevitable. Success is the obsession of the fool. Far better to fail attempting the right thing than to succeed at the wrong. — unenlightened

How did it go... hmmm, let me remember... wasn't it that the fox who cannot reach the grapes, calls them sour? X-)

Just so.

Sorry, "campaign managers" cannot do that - they just know how to do standard campaigns. — Agustino

Paul Manafort and Kellyanne Conway ran a "standard campaign"? Isn't Manafort a prime suspect for "nonstandard" campaign?

Just so. — unenlightened

You have not justified this attempt to invert the logic :P

Paul Manafort and Kellyanne Conway ran a "standard campaign"? Isn't Manafort a prime suspect for "nonstandard" campaign? — Metaphysician Undercover

PM joined late, after the campaign was already well underway.

I asked this question earlier: do you think Trump rows his own boat? My view is that he's a bona fide triple-barreled wackdoodle who throws his boat off course. That leaves the question, who keeps it on course, who's rowing, who's the navigator, who's the pilot? As king, he's the Queen of Hearts, right out of Alice in Wonderland.

My view is that he's a bona fide triple-barreled wackdoodle who throws his boat off course. — tim wood

Perhaps those acts which appear as throwing the boat off course are actually well thought out intelligently designed acts of a genius. Who would have thought that appearing as a numbskull is the act of a genius? No, looks don't deceive and the acts are as they appear, the acts of a numbskull?

do you think Trump rows his own boat? — tim wood

No, no, absolutely not :B - here's the rower and the boat:



*shakes head*

Virtually all the MSM. Wayfarer's post above smacked of it as well.

Wayfarer has been saying this for a while. He has repeatedly said that Trump doesn't seem to understand the difference between the collusion charge against his campaign and a collusion charge against him personally. Also, if people are changing their narrative because the facts on the ground are changing, is that controversial? Is it better to be consistent or correct?

By now, whatever else might be said of Trump, it's now official what was likely always true: that any sounds that come out of his mouth cannot be reliably assigned any meaning whatsoever. And the same for those who speak for him. And the same for any communications in any form from any of these. None of any of these are true. Some of them may be true, But that is not a qualification for truth. The only truth, then, of the executive branch of the United States of America is that it cannot render truth; it cannot speak truth. If the President of the United States of America says the sky is blue, the one thing it does not mean is that the sky is blue. The sky may be blue, but that would be mere incidental accident.

We've had our share of liars, but nothing as pathological, as sick, as disgusting, as toxic, and as dangerous as this president.

Perhaps oddly, I feel his wife must be a woman of integrity and character. That she appears a little the worse for wear only suggests a career in rough seas because of him as husband. I wonder if there is any way that he has not betrayed her? And the toxic corrosiveness of his personality could ruin anyone, as no doubt it has in the west wing, but she seems to have preserved a respectable portion of dignity.

Regarding Trump’s ‘billions’ - it ought to be recalled he has been involved in six four bankruptcies and literally thousands of lawsuits many over unpaid accounts. Quite often those who are not paid are tradespeople and suppliers many of whom have lost money dealing with Trump. He was left a fortune by his father and I have heard it said that had the funds been invested properly they might easily have amounted to more that what the Trump businesses are worth today (which like everything else about Trump is impossible to pin down and furthermore is not worth arguing about).

But, for now, it’s chaos as usual at the Whitehouse. Another expose of his tawdry affairs with porn stars and models, arguments about why the White House hired a known domestic abuser, proof that ‘the Russia thing’ actually did happen, and the failure of legislation to deal with immigration. Trump doesn’t care, thrives on chaos, keeps all around him focussed on fighting fires and arguing with each other.

Lots of mud, hopefully.

oh sure, and lots of Russian interference

It's disgusting (if one hadn't gone beyond disgust already) how Trump's sole preoccupation, his only concern, the only thing that matters to him, is how 'the Russia thing' looks 'for him'. Like everything in his life, it's only ever about his ego, about what makes him look good - along with ways to denigrate anyone who challenge him, including those who work for him and federal public servants just doing their job. Truly disgusting.

New charge. Alex Van Der Zwaan for making false statements regarding communications with Gates and "Person A", and for deleting an email to "Person A".

Who's "Person A"? Thought Manafort at first, but as he's already been charged I'd have thought he'd be named. Or is that not how these things work?

Apparently he's expected to plead guilty.

32 new charges against Manafort and Gates.

The Democrats on the House Intelligence Committee have released their memo.

The more I hear Trump the more I love Mueller...

Seems that Manafort's a tough nut to crack... A mark of a true team player if he suffers for the cause instead of turning states' evidence. Then again, he may believe that he will suffer death if he does. Putin doesn't seem to play around...

Mueller has evidence Cohen was in Prague in 2016, confirming part of dossier

From the dossier:

COHEN had been accompanied to Prague by 3 colleagues and the timing of the visit was either in the last week of August or the first week of September. One of their main Russian interlocutors was Oleg SOLODUKHIN operating under Rossotrudnichestvo cover. According to [redacted], the agenda comprised questions on how deniable cash payments were to be made to hackers who had worked in Europe under Kremlin direction against the CLINTON campaign and various contingencies for covering up these operations and Moscow’s secret liaison with the TRUMP team more generally.

Cohen's statement to the Senate Intelligence Committee:

A core accusation was that I had traveled to Prague to meet with Russians regarding interfering with the election. I have never in my life been to Prague or to anywhere in the Czech Republic.

A suspicious denial if he had been to Prague. If it were for innocent reasons, why lie to Congress (a crime) about it?

Mueller’s warning: ‘Many’ news stories on Trump-Russia probe are wrong

Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s office is warning that “many” news articles on the Trump-Russia probe have been wrong.

The statement from a spokesperson did not single out particular stories. But the warning did come after media inquiries about a McClatchy News story on Friday that said Mr. Mueller has evidence that President Trump’s personal attorney, Michael Cohen, did in fact travel to Prague in 2016 as alleged by the Christopher Steele dossier.

So the previous report is possibly wrong.

I continue to hope that Trump won't be impeached because, amongst other things, that would make him a martyr of the hard right and lessen or even reverse the electoral damage they are starting to accrue.

I was delighted to find that I have an ally in James Comey on that. I saw the following quotes in a news article this morning and was so struck by their freshness that I wrote them in my diary:

Asked whether he believed Mr Trump should be impeached, Mr Comey replied, "I hope not because I think impeaching and removing Donald Trump from office would let the American people off the hook and have something happen indirectly that I believe they're duty bound to do directly."

"People in this country need to stand up and go to the voting booth and vote their values."

Deleted overly cynical rant.