Does President Trump want a Reichstag Fire?

[lpetrich]

Sources just revealed Trump is contemplating war with N. Korea to save his presidency

An op-ed in Korea’s leading independent daily newspaper, Hankyoreh, tweeted by the Wall Street Journal‘s Seoul bureau chief, Jonathan Cheng, divulged that White House National Security Council senior director for Asian Affairs, Matthew Pottinger, said, “in a recent closed-door meeting with U.S. experts on Korean Peninsula issues that a limited strike on the North “might help in the midterm elections.”

The editorial reveals that South Koreans fear that Trump, in order to save his failing presidency, will attempt a “bloody nose” strategy, unleashing a pre-emptive missile strike against North Korea’s nuclear facilities, in the wake of the U.S. president’s game of nuclear chicken with dictator, Kim Jong-Un.

Something like the fire in the German parliament building in early 1933, a fire that Nazi leaders howled about as proof that the Communists were on the march. They demanded extraordinary powers to fight this menace, and they soon got those powers. Half a year later, their coalition partners disbanded their parties and the Nazis outlawed all political parties but theirs.

Don’t Kid Yourself: Trump Wants a Terrorist Attack | HuffPost has some speculation:

But there’s another ploy at work, and Trump is chomping at the bit. All of our Facebook posts and tweets and marches and petitions and calls to Congress will be meaningless and stripped away faster than you can say “Death to Dixie Chicks” if we stand down when another terrorist attack hits the United States.

The White House is counting on that, not only to keep ’45 in office but to push for an Autocratic regime. After the suppression comes the stripping of human rights, free speech, protests, anything that can make you, not just journalists, an enemy of the people. Stalin loved Trump’s borrowed phrase, and that be should enough to terrify any United States citizen.

The Nazis did not stop with that building fire. In the late 1930's, they were making advance after advance without firing a shot. Remilitarizing the Rhineland, annexing Austria, and taking over parts of Czechoslovakia. But Poland's leaders were more stubborn, and the Nazis staged an attack on a border outpost to "prove" that Poland was attacking them and that they had to respond. Which they did, starting World War II.

Americans cannot claim to be sinless here. Consider the Gulf of Tonkin attack, used as a pretext for expanding the Vietnam War, and the alleged weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. There were also once some plans to do fake Cuban terrorist attacks, to manufacture a pretext for attacking Cuba:  Operation Northwoods.

 

[Axulus]

Doesn't congress have to authorize such an attack? How can Trump get away without that?

 

[barbos]

Doesn't congress have to authorize such an attack? How can Trump get away without that?

I understand congress have to authorize big and long war. If it's a short one like 3 months I think then POTUS can start it without asking permission. Yes, POTUS can attack any country but can't close Guantanamo

I think solution is simple - Congress votes on a law specifically forbidding POTUS to start a war.

 

[Elixir]

Sources just revealed Trump is contemplating war with N. Korea to save his presidency

An op-ed in Korea’s leading independent daily newspaper, Hankyoreh, tweeted by the Wall Street Journal‘s Seoul bureau chief, Jonathan Cheng, divulged that White House National Security Council senior director for Asian Affairs, Matthew Pottinger, said, “in a recent closed-door meeting with U.S. experts on Korean Peninsula issues that a limited strike on the North “might help in the midterm elections.”

The editorial reveals that South Koreans fear that Trump, in order to save his failing presidency, will attempt a “bloody nose” strategy, unleashing a pre-emptive missile strike against North Korea’s nuclear facilities, in the wake of the U.S. president’s game of nuclear chicken with dictator, Kim Jong-Un.

Something like the fire in the German parliament building in early 1933, a fire that Nazi leaders howled about as proof that the Communists were on the march. They demanded extraordinary powers to fight this menace, and they soon got those powers. Half a year later, their coalition partners disbanded their parties and the Nazis outlawed all political parties but theirs.

Don’t Kid Yourself: Trump Wants a Terrorist Attack | HuffPost has some speculation:

But there’s another ploy at work, and Trump is chomping at the bit. All of our Facebook posts and tweets and marches and petitions and calls to Congress will be meaningless and stripped away faster than you can say “Death to Dixie Chicks” if we stand down when another terrorist attack hits the United States.

The White House is counting on that, not only to keep ’45 in office but to push for an Autocratic regime. After the suppression comes the stripping of human rights, free speech, protests, anything that can make you, not just journalists, an enemy of the people. Stalin loved Trump’s borrowed phrase, and that be should enough to terrify any United States citizen.

The Nazis did not stop with that building fire. In the late 1930's, they were making advance after advance without firing a shot. Remilitarizing the Rhineland, annexing Austria, and taking over parts of Czechoslovakia. But Poland's leaders were more stubborn, and the Nazis staged an attack on a border outpost to "prove" that Poland was attacking them and that they had to respond. Which they did, starting World War II.

Americans cannot claim to be sinless here. Consider the Gulf of Tonkin attack, used as a pretext for expanding the Vietnam War, and the alleged weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. There were also once some plans to do fake Cuban terrorist attacks, to manufacture a pretext for attacking Cuba:  Operation Northwoods.

Doesn't congress have to authorize such an attack? How can Trump get away without that?

I understand congress have to authorize big and long war. If it's a short one like 3 months I think then POTUS can start it without asking permission. Yes, POTUS can attack any country but can't close Guantanamo

I think solution is simple - Congress votes on a law specifically forbidding POTUS to start a war.

THIS Congress??? You gotta be kidding.

 

[Opoponax]

Doesn't congress have to authorize such an attack? How can Trump get away without that?

I understand congress have to authorize big and long war. If it's a short one like 3 months I think then POTUS can start it without asking permission. Yes, POTUS can attack any country but can't close Guantanamo

I think solution is simple - Congress votes on a law specifically forbidding POTUS to start a war.

Yeah, it's an initial 60 days and then a kind of automatic 30 day extension following that. Then Congress can either decide fund the conflict or not. If not, the conflict ends. It's the War Powers Act of 1973. Congress has never bothered with it.

As for Congress forbidding POTUS to start a war, they can't do that. It's not in their enumerated powers. Congress has the sole power to officially declare war, but they have no power to keep Trump from starting one all on his own.

If Mueller has something, and it's almost certain he does, he needs to start laying the big cards on the table because Trump is going to get us into a war with NK if he's not removed.

 

[lpetrich]

 Declaration of war -- the last time the US declared war was in World War II. However, some other nations have declared war after WWII, and that article lists those declared wars. Nevertheless, the US is far from alone is not declaring wars after WWII.

 

[Patooka]

I don't think Trump has the imagination to orchestrate such a course of events. The level of detail and effort involved to even plan such a thing is completely out of character for Trump.

But I do believe there are people motivated and cynical enough to sell such an idea to Trump, and persuade him to say "Yeah, whatever" to such an endeavor. And I do think that is an important distinction.

 

[barbos]

THIS Congress??? You gotta be kidding.

Why not? they voted to blame Russia for Trump. Preemptive ban on war with NK is less controversial than that.

 

[Elixir]

THIS Congress??? You gotta be kidding.

Why not?.

Because they sold out to Putin and his puppet.

 

[barbos]

THIS Congress??? You gotta be kidding.

Why not?.

Because they sold out to Putin and his puppet.

You mean Putin has Congress too? He must be fucking genius.

 

[ZiprHead]

https://www.dallasnews.com/opinion/commentary/2017/08/03/tangled-web-connects-russian-oligarch-money-gop-campaigns

"GOP campaigns took $7.35 million from oligarch linked to Russia"

 

[Trausti]

https://www.dallasnews.com/opinion/commentary/2017/08/03/tangled-web-connects-russian-oligarch-money-gop-campaigns

"GOP campaigns took $7.35 million from oligarch linked to Russia"

Wow. I guess there's a reason that's in the "Commentary" section. Not once does it mention that Leonard Blavatnik emigrated from the Soviet Union in 1978 and is a US citizen. Instead, all we get is "Ukrainian-born." He has no Russian citizenship. A US citizen donates to a US political party. Cats and dogs sleeping with each other, mass hysteria. I get that the folks here are suffering Stage III Trump Derangement Syndrome, but please try not to be so gullible.

 

[ZiprHead]

https://www.dallasnews.com/opinion/commentary/2017/08/03/tangled-web-connects-russian-oligarch-money-gop-campaigns

"GOP campaigns took $7.35 million from oligarch linked to Russia"

Wow. I guess there's a reason that's in the "Commentary" section. Not once does it mention that Leonard Blavatnik emigrated from the Soviet Union in 1978 and is a US citizen. Instead, all we get is "Ukrainian-born." He has no Russian citizenship. A US citizen donates to a US political party. Cats and dogs sleeping with each other, mass hysteria. I get that the folks here are suffering Stage III Trump Derangement Syndrome, but please try not to be so gullible.

From the article "Ukrainian-born oligarch who is the business partner of two of Russian president Vladimir Putin's favorite oligarchs and a Russian government bank."

 

[Elixir]

https://www.dallasnews.com/opinion/commentary/2017/08/03/tangled-web-connects-russian-oligarch-money-gop-campaigns

"GOP campaigns took $7.35 million from oligarch linked to Russia"

Wow. I guess there's a reason that's in the "Commentary" section. Not once does it mention that Leonard Blavatnik emigrated from the Soviet Union in 1978 and is a US citizen. Instead, all we get is "Ukrainian-born." He has no Russian citizenship. A US citizen donates to a US political party. Cats and dogs sleeping with each other, mass hysteria. I get that the folks here are suffering Stage III Trump Derangement Syndrome, but please try not to be so gullible.

From the article "Ukrainian-born oligarch who is the business partner of two of Russian president Vladimir Putin's favorite oligarchs and a Russian government bank."

 

[TV and credit cards]

https://www.dallasnews.com/opinion/commentary/2017/08/03/tangled-web-connects-russian-oligarch-money-gop-campaigns

"GOP campaigns took $7.35 million from oligarch linked to Russia"

Wow. I guess there's a reason that's in the "Commentary" section. Not once does it mention that Leonard Blavatnik emigrated from the Soviet Union in 1978 and is a US citizen. Instead, all we get is "Ukrainian-born." He has no Russian citizenship. A US citizen donates to a US political party. Cats and dogs sleeping with each other, mass hysteria. I get that the folks here are suffering Stage III Trump Derangement Syndrome, but please try not to be so gullible.

From the article "Ukrainian-born oligarch who is the business partner of two of Russian president Vladimir Putin's favorite oligarchs and a Russian government bank."

Seems like a decent enough if imperfect fellow. I mean, as far as billionaires go. He got knighted last year. I'd like to think the queen did her homework. I think he's just guilty of playing fast and loose with 7.35 million dollars. Shit happens.

 

[barbos]

https://www.dallasnews.com/opinion/commentary/2017/08/03/tangled-web-connects-russian-oligarch-money-gop-campaigns

"GOP campaigns took $7.35 million from oligarch linked to Russia"

Wow. I guess there's a reason that's in the "Commentary" section. Not once does it mention that Leonard Blavatnik emigrated from the Soviet Union in 1978 and is a US citizen. Instead, all we get is "Ukrainian-born." He has no Russian citizenship. A US citizen donates to a US political party. Cats and dogs sleeping with each other, mass hysteria. I get that the folks here are suffering Stage III Trump Derangement Syndrome, but please try not to be so gullible.

From the article "Ukrainian-born oligarch who is the business partner of two of Russian president Vladimir Putin's favorite oligarchs and a Russian government bank."

Dude, article did fail to mention that Blavatnik is US citizen, If this does not make you think article is biased I don't know what is.
This shit is annoying. As far as I am concerned both Blavatnik and all his russian friends are effectively thieves but he is american thief, not russian. Same thing with that Bill Browder guy, except he is now anti-putin, he was not anti-putin when it was financially favorable to him.

 

[ZiprHead]

He is ethnic Russian and a Putin butt-boy.

 

[braces_for_impact]

I don't think Trump has the imagination to orchestrate such a course of events. The level of detail and effort involved to even plan such a thing is completely out of character for Trump.

But I do believe there are people motivated and cynical enough to sell such an idea to Trump, and persuade him to say "Yeah, whatever" to such an endeavor. And I do think that is an important distinction.

I'm with you on this. I don't think Trump himself has the creativity and foresight necessary to link a "bloody nose" strategy to saving his shit presidency, but low intelligence and violence DO go together, and I think that Trump would rather use violence than complex negotiations when it comes to North Korea. Also, the rumblings I have read indicate there's a few generals that for some stupid reason think a "bloody nose" strategy is a good one.

 

[funinspace]

Doesn't congress have to authorize such an attack? How can Trump get away without that?

Libya, but with much much much worse possible blow-back...

 

[AdamWho]

Could someone explain to me what this back-and-forth about this Ukranian guy has to do with Trump looking for a war to boost his presidency