Dr. X's Free Associations

Mattis Responds

General James Mattis responded to Trump calling him the world's most overrated general:

I earned my spurs on the battlefield ... Donald Trump earned his spurs in a letter from a doctor.

We're Bringing the Troops Home... to Saudi Arabia.. In Harms Way... Because They're Paying For It

Pelosi's comments on her meeting with Trump:

“Then the president said, well, the reason I’m taking the troops out of Syria is because I promised in the campaign to bring the troops home,” she continued. “My question to him was, is Saudi Arabia home? Is Saudi Arabia home? Why are our troops going to Saudi Arabia if you promised to bring them home? He said, well, the Saudi Arabians are paying for it.”

Pelosi said she was taken aback.

“Really, we’re putting our troops in harm’s way for Saudi Arabia because they’re paying? It just didn’t add up,” she observed. “But what it did do is cause a melt down on the part of the president because he was unhappy with those questions.”

So Mulvaney has admitted:

1. Trump encouraged that Doral host G7

2. They did have, in fact, a quid pro quo with Ukraine for investigations into the DNC server

3. That politics is influencing their foreign policy.

— Sam Stein (@samstein) October 17, 2019

Honestly it's hard to construct a better metaphor for the Trump administration than the fact that the United States is now bombing its own military bases.

— Binyamin Appelbaum (@BCAppelbaum) October 17, 2019

Repblican-Led Senate Intel Committee Affirms: Russians Attacked Election For Trump

NY Times:

WASHINGTON — As President Trump amplifies unsubstantiated claims of Ukrainian interference in the 2016 election, the Republican-led Senate Intelligence Committee reaffirmed on Tuesday that Russian operatives engaged in a widespread social media campaign to improve his chances in the race.

In a report, the committee backed up the conclusions of the intelligence community, the special counsel and researchers that Russia mounted a broad campaign to interfere in the election. A Russian troll farm central to the election campaign supported “Donald Trump at the direction of the Kremlin,” the committee said.

Bush Was Right

SCMP:

“Donald is great at the one-liners, but he is a chaos candidate and he would be a chaos president,” said Bush, the former governor of Florida who has been lagging in opinion polls. He said at Tuesday night’s CNN-hosted debate that Trump’s Muslim plan was “not a serious proposal.” -- Jeb Bush, 2015

Because it never gets old

If we nominate Trump, we will get destroyed.......and we will deserve it.

— Lindsey Graham (@LindseyGrahamSC) May 3, 2016

Pay No Attention To That Raving Idiot. I Am The Great and Powerful Oz

On Fox News, Giuliani Waves Around Copies Of Blog Articles Falsely Claiming They Are Afffidavits From Ukrainian Official

During Rudy Giuliani's unhinged interview with Fox's Howard Kurtz today, he held up copies of what he claimed were affidavits from Ukrainian officials.

But those aren't affidavits. It's a printout of a right-wing blog post.
https://t.co/tZ5klLPfcd

(h/t @Acyn ) pic.twitter.com/8tXaLmIRtE

— Justin Baragona (@justinbaragona) October 6, 2019

The Syrian Kurds Served Their Purpose. Trump Hands Them To Turkish Autocrat Amid Genocide Fears

How many times will the US betray these allies?

WaPo:

Turkey's president and Kurdish militia members said Monday that American troops had started withdrawing from positions in northern Syria. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan spoke hours after the White House said U.S. forces in northeast Syria would move aside and clear the way for an expected Turkish incursion into the neighboring nation.

While the U.S. move is a gift to Erdogan's government, it will be seen as a stark betrayal by the Kurds, who have fought alongside U.S. forces for years to defeat ISIS.

The decision was conveyed in a Trump phone call with Turkish autocrat Recep Tayip Erogan.

Haaretz:

American troops began withdrawing Monday from their positions along Turkey's border in northeastern Syria, in a major shift in U.S. policy harshly criticized by its Kurdish allies, which came despite Pentagon officials' support for maintaining American presence in the region.

The partial pullout comes ahead of an anticipated Turkish invasion, which U.S. President Donald Trump endorsed in a Sunday phone call with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and that U.S.-backed Kurdish-led forces say will overturn five years of achievements in the battle against the Islamic State group.

"Despite our efforts to avoid any military escalation with Turkey and the flexibility we have shown to move forward in establishing a mechanism for the security of the borders ..., the American forces did not fulfill their commitments and withdrew their forces from the border areas with Turkey," U.S-backed Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, which controls most of the area, said in a statement.

David Frum speculates:

Possible Trump motives

1) Protecting income flow from Trump Towers Istanbul

2) Payoff to Turkey to cover up recording of Khashoggi murder by Trump allies

3) Obeisance to Putin

4) Warning to House: if you impeach me, Ill burn every American alliance and interest before I go

— David Frum (@davidfrum) October 7, 2019

Kristol weighs in:

With the betrayal of the Kurds and Trump's full-on America First tweet storm this morning, is there a single principled internationalist, a single believer in American global leadership somewhere in the Trump Administration who will resign in protest?

— Bill Kristol (@BillKristol) October 7, 2019

Answer: No.

Deer Smashes Through Long Island Hair Salon Window

This was in Lake Ronkonkoma, NY.

In addition to being a criminal, the president is a flippin' moron

President Trump called for Mitt Romney's impeachment because Romney criticized his attempt to extort the president of the Ukraine for personal political gain. Of course, US senators can't be impeached. They can be expelled from the Senate but certainly not for criticizing a president.

 

I’m hearing that the Great People of Utah are considering their vote for their Pompous Senator, Mitt Romney, to be a big mistake. I agree! He is a fool who is playing right into the hands of the Do Nothing Democrats! #IMPEACHMITTROMNEY

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 5, 2019

US diplomats told Zelenskiy that Trump visit was dependent on Biden statement

The Guardian:

US diplomats told Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, that a prestigious White House visit to meet Donald Trump was dependent on him making a public statement vowing to investigate Hunter Biden’s company, and a Ukrainian role in the 2016 elections, according to texts released on Thursday night.

The texts, released by three congressional committees holding impeachment hearings, show that the diplomats made clear that any improvement in Kyiv’s relations with Washington would be dependent on Zelenskiy’s cooperation in Trump’s quest to find damaging material about son of his leading political opponent, and on the Democrats in general.

Build me a moat and fill it with alligators

Market Watch:

President Donald Trump suggested to his advisers earlier this year that soldiers should shoot migrants in the legs to slow them down, and that the border wall should be electrified with spikes on top, and fortified with an alligator-infested moat, according to a new report.

Pompeo

Sept 22, about Trump’s call with Ukrainian leader:

ABC: What do you know about those conversations?

POMPEO: So, you just gave me a report about a I.C. whistle-blower complaint, none of which I've seen.

today:

WSJ reports that Pompeo himself was on the call

— John Harwood (@JohnJHarwood) October 1, 2019