President Trump: The NEW one and only politics thread

Yup.

 

https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/trump-advisor-gives-conflicting-accounts-on-whether-chinese-offered-information-about-hunter-biden/2019/10/10/35f32a14-eb80-11e9-9306-47cb0324fd44_story.html

Trump adviser gives conflicting accounts on whether Chinese offered information about Hunter Biden


"Michael Pillsbury, one of President Trump’s China advisers, publicly contradicted himself on whether he had received information on Hunter Biden during a visit to Beijing shortly after Trump called on China to investigate the son of former vice president Joe Biden.

“I got a quite a bit of background on Hunter Biden from the Chinese,” Pillsbury was quoted as telling the London-based Financial Times.

Hours later, Pillsbury appeared on C-SPAN and denied having made the comment. “I haven’t spoken to the Financial Times for a month,” he said.

But Demetri Sevastopulo, the FT’s Washington bureau chief, responded by making public on Twitter their Oct. 9 email exchange. It showed that Pillsbury had sent the journalist an email reading: “Actually I got a quite a bit of background on Hunter Biden from the Chinese.”

Pillsbury, 74, gave The Washington Post an even different explanation later on Thursday.

“Most everything I learned was already public or well-known,” he said.

 

Pompeo aide steps down amid impeachment inquiry


"A career diplomat who served as senior advisor to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has decided to step down, two State Department officials told NBC News on Thursday, just as foreign service officers find themselves caught in the middle of a confrontation between the White House and Democratic lawmakers leading an impeachment inquiry.

P. Michael McKinley, a seasoned foreign service officer who served as ambassador to Afghanistan, Colombia, Brazil and Peru, has told his colleagues he is resigning, the two officials said.

McKinley's resignation was first reported by The Washington Post.

The State Department did not respond to requests for comment.

The move comes amid growing concern among career diplomats over how the administration has handled the impeachment inquiry on Ukraine and how it has treated career civil servants who have been asked to testify before Congress. Earlier this week, Pompeo at the last minute barred the U.S. ambassador to the European Union, Gordon Sondland, from appearing before House lawmakers.

Foreign service officers have come away disheartened by revelations in the Ukraine case, including the recall of Marie Yovanovitch as ambassador to Ukraine months ahead of schedule, after she came under attack from right-wing media. Yovanovitch has been asked to appear before House committees as well but it remains unclear if the State Department will allow her to testify."

 

EU ambassador Gordon Sondland to testify after being blocked by White House

 

Anyone on Trump's team calling prospective additions "a joke" is too rich by half.

 

So this isn't the full answer, because she didn't actually answer the question; indeed, Cuomo - to his credit - reminded Warren she'd been a Republican for a time in her life and must have, you know, actually been in agreement with the hypothetical person asking the one man, one woman question.

Warren's answer to that question wasn't particularly great - she said she didn't she'd ever been for one man-one woman marriage but hadn't kept notes a kid, how in her - but her answer here, the one being shared all over Twitter, is the one she shouldn't want shared, in part because it makes her look dismissive of any Christian, especially any Christian woman - or any Muslim, for that matter - who might hold sincerely beliefs about how marriage should function.

This moment will hurt her a little bit. Honestly, it's the kind of answer Trump would give. A competing debater could ding her for it.

Additionally, there's a lot bound up in those words, as few as they are. A lot of contempt. I'm struck, on a consistent basis, how we don't have a presidential candidate running who doesn't seem full of contempt. Perhaps Biden, who appears beyond handling this job.

 

Seemed pretty honest to me. This was not a hot button issue at all when I was younger. It wasn't something I would have even had an opinion about 20 years ago.

 

she'll never win the Republican nomination with answers like that.

 

Well, again, she went on to give some sort of mishmash of what you're saying - I'm definitely not a libertarian, so I don't agree with your life philosophy, but that matters not - but, as I wrote, the answer most people will see is the 46 seconds, to which already a couple Christians - prone to voting for the left, who voted for Obama and Clinton - have said to me "so, if someone believes that, they're an incel?"

Progressives like it as a fuck you to white, male, Christians. But that's a power thing. That's a "one day, you won't be in charge" thing. To which I say: Hey, they're not really in charge now. They haven't been. Not on the social policy front.