Trump just tweeted that he WON'T be cutting funding to Stars and Stripes

[highplainsdem]

A couple of minutes ago:

Link to tweet

The United States of America will NOT be cutting funding to @starsandstripes magazine under my watch. It will continue to be a wonderful source of information to our Great Military!

[BKDem]

1. You can fool 40% of the people all of the time.

[ProfessorGAC]

2. Folded In A Hurry

Another epic fail from an epic failure.
They thought they could sneak that by.
Of course, defunding a newspaper wouldn't get any coverage, all of it negative.
Man, are they dumb!

[highplainsdem]

23. Dumb and desperate.

[grumpyduck]

3. Correct me if I'm wrong,

but wasn't it him who wanted the paper shut down?

[JHB]

9. I can't correct you, because you weren't wrong

[magicarpet]

18. No you are not wrong....

From USA Today - Opinion Page
Link below for full article.


As if an attack on the free press were not enough, the Trump administration’s rush to shutter Stars and Stripes also raises constitutional questions.

The memo ordering the publication’s dissolution claims the administration has the authority to make this move under the president’s fiscal year 2021 defense department budget request. It zeroed out the $15.5 million annual subsidy for Stars and Stripes. But Congress, which under the Constitution has the power to make decisions about how the public’s money is spent, has not yet approved the president’s request.

In fact, the version the House approved earlier this summer explicitly overruled the decision to pull the plug on Stars and Stripes, restoring funding for the paper. 

Pushing back to keep Stars and Stripes
So far, the Senate hasn’t acted. But in a letter released earlier this week, 15 members of the chamber, including combat veteran Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., and four Republicans, called on Defense Secretary Mark Esper to “take steps to preserve the funding prerogatives of Congress before allowing any such disruption to take place.” 

In a separate letter, Sen. Lindsey Graham, a South Carolina Republican and Trump ally, makes a similar request. “As a veteran who has served overseas, I know the value Stars and Stripes brings to its readers,” he wrote, telling Esper that shutting down the paper before the Senate acts would be “premature.” 

Much more at link below,

https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2020/09/04/trump-and-stars-and-stripes-attacking-american-icon-column/5706859002/

[irisblue]

4. .

I think I've mumbled f that guy at least 25 times today

[dweller]

17. the day is still young, and the whole evening ahead of you

carry on


✌🏼

[Mr. Ected]

5. Changing positions in 24 hours is a sign of WEAKNESS

Everyone knows he just caved, big-time.

MAGATs asked for change, they got it. He makes decisions, he gets annihilated in the press, he changes decisions.

Flip. Flop.

[sheshe2]

24. He folded like a cheap suit!

[global1]

6. But If You Re-elect Me - I'll Cut It Then.....nt

[qazplm135]

7. To quote Dr. Evil...

Riiigghhttttt.

[bbernardini]

8. Narrator: "He cut funding to Stars and Stripes anyway." nt

[GoCubsGo]

10. It's not a magazine, you brain-dead motherfucker.

It's a newspaper. And, you're not fooling anyone with this backpedaling, other than your equally brain-dead cult followers.

[malaise]

16. I'm not sure I can handle weeks more of this madness

It's overbearing

[sheshe2]

25. ...

[gratuitous]

11. Now he'll go around bragging how he "saved" Stars & Stripes

Just watch.

[Totally Tunsie]

19. Exactly. He sets up a situation to create disturbance,

and then miraculously steps in to save the day. It's all as phony as he is.

[honest.abe]

12. Damage control Trump style.

Say just the opposite and see what happens.

[JHB]

13. Who says he's out of shape?

Link to tweet

JHB
@JHB0034

Hey, who says you're out of shape? This is Olympic-level backpedaling! Big League!

[chriscan64]

14. No funding cuts mean they can staff up with intrepid reporters.

Put some meat on those "war dead are losers" bones.

[Squinch]

15. "I did something bad and I'm in big trouble and mom is telling me I have to come out from

under my bed and face the music. I'll just give her big compliments. Tell her she is the most beautiful girl in the world and I love her so much. That'll shut her up."

[lpbk2713]

20. It is still a front page story at the Military Times.

Link: https://www.militarytimes.com/news/

It was updated thirty minutes ago and they still say the asshole-in-chief
wants to cut the funding to Stars and Stripes.



And another interesting story with a recent update: https://www.militarytimes.com/news/pentagon-congress/2020/09/03/report-trump-disparaged-us-war-dead-as-losers-suckers/

[JHB]

22. Well, yeah. The directive still exists. So far, the only thing saying otherwise is a tweet

That's not exactly communicating through the chain of command.

[volstork]

21. Predictable.

Folding like a cheap lawn chair.