"no one would know it was us." --- yes it was worse than we could imagine.

[underpants]

short read. I can’t do this justice with only 4 paragraphs


Trump Proposed Launching Missiles Into Mexico to ‘Destroy the Drug Labs,’ Esper Says
It is one of the moments in his upcoming memoir that the former defense secretary described as leaving him all but speechless.

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/05/us/politics/mark-esper-book-trump.html

Mr. Esper, the last Senate-confirmed defense secretary under Mr. Trump, also had concerns about speculation that the president might misuse the military around Election Day by, for instance, having soldiers seize ballot boxes. He warned subordinates to be on alert for unusual calls from the White House in the lead-up to the election.


When Mr. Esper raised various objections, Mr. Trump said that “we could just shoot some Patriot missiles and take out the labs, quietly,” adding that “no one would know it was us.” Mr. Trump said he would just say that the United States had not conducted the strike, Mr. Esper recounts, writing that he would have thought it was a joke had he not been staring Mr. Trump in the face.

Among Mr. Trump’s desires was to put 10,000 active-duty troops on the streets of Washington on June 1, 2020, after large protests against police brutality erupted following the police killing of George Floyd. Mr. Trump asked Mr. Esper about the demonstrators, “Can’t you just shoot them?”

In October 2019, after members of the national security team assembled in the Situation Room to watch a feed of the raid that killed the Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, Mr. (Stephen) Miller proposed securing Mr. al-Baghdadi’s head, dipping it in pig’s blood and parading it around to warn other terrorists, Mr. Esper writes. That would be a “war crime,” Mr. Esper shot back.

[Novara]

1. With the utter, mind-numbing incompetence of these morons it's amazing the globe isn't a smoldering

ruin

[usaf-vet]

13. YET! Give them time! They have proven there is no boundary that they won't overstep on the....

.... march to a theocratic autocracy.

[Hieronymus Phact]

39. And yet

somehow, we're barely hanging on by our fingernails against them.

[Novara]

41. It's incomprehensible

[Straw Man]

2. Who's to say ...

... it isn't?

[bucolic_frolic]

3. So many underlings, so little accountability. We need to broaden the definition of mental illness

That cluster of personality disorders surrounding narcissist, histrionic, sociopath, antisocial wreaks a lot of havoc in the world, and for anyone who has known people like that, it's not just with political leaders. Most criminals I would venture have some form of the cluster. Our punishments are jail time, and perhaps counseling. Don't do those things again. Have they altered the personality?

[Native]

10. We also underestimate how ignorant he was/is.

[PatSeg]

4. What a chilling thing to read first thing in the morning

[Whiskeytide]

5. WTF? He really does confuse the movies and ...

… real life. Besides, doesn’t he realize both Jack Ryan and Col Felix Cortes would eventually figure out it was the Americans?

[KS Toronado]

17. He'd just sue them for defamation

problem solved

[SergeStorms]

30. Then file endless appeals....

when they demanded to see evidence. Certainly they'd forget all about it after 10 years of being shuffled from courtroom to courtroom.

Hey, it's worked perfectly for the past 50 years
of Trump's personal life, right?

[KS Toronado]

32. You got his M.O. down good

[Rabrrrrrr]

6. We should all be on our knees every day thanking the rank and file government workers

who kept Trump from destroying the country.

Unfortunately, they didn't have enough power to keep him from damaging the country as much as he did, but I am firmly of the belief that it was a hell of a lot of dedicated civil servants, who are more dedicated to their country than their ideologies or their president or their party, who kept Trump at least in enough check to keep him and his MAGAts from taking over the country.

That, and the genius of our forefathers who designed an incredibly inefficient system of federal and state governance with so many checks and balances and chokepoints that it's damn near impossible to turn it into a dictatorship.

[ancianita]

7. Absolutely. Thanks.

To the people trumpcult call the "deep state," and our forefathers' Rube Goldberg democracy.

[newdayneeded]

8. I'll never forgive the stupid people

that voted for this monster!

[tanyev]

9. "Nope, wasn't us. Ask Jamaica, maybe it was them."

[underpants]

11. I laugh because I don't want to cry

Sneaky quiet missiles.

[Boomerproud]

12. Have ANY of these stories of Ts malfeasance been told on

RW television or radio? I have a co-worker who wears pro T teeshirts constantly and it makes me physically ill. Luckily she's on another shift now but we still run into each other when I clock in.😡

[70sEraVet]

18. I think most workplaces have dress codes that forbid political statements on clothing.

They just don't want their workers wasting time arguing politics.

[SergeStorms]

31. While Fox News plays on every TV.....

in the workplace.

Waiting rooms.
Lunch rooms.
Break rooms.
Executive offices.

You have to maintain political balance in the workplace, right?

I'm not deriding your post, 70sEraVet. How many times have you walked into a place of business and seen Fox on every TV in the place, but they won't allow their employees to be political?

That damned liberal media, anyway! Employers have to make sure their employees live from paycheck to paycheck and aren't exposed to devisive things like facts.

[70sEraVet]

33. Point well taken, SergeStorms!

[underpants]

23. Oh no no no

They dare not upset Dear Leader.

[Mozeltov Cocktail]

14. I especially would like to thank Secretary Esper...

For sitting on this shit until he could get a book publishing deal...

[underpants]

22. I heard that point made this morning on Morning Joe

Mike Barnacle (sp?) said the same thing almost exactly

[Butterflylady]

24. Money hungry, all of them.

Why buy the book. He's telling all juicy parts.

[Kid Berwyn]

26. Perhaps he knew his successor would do what Trump wanted.

Like using the military to shoot protesting Americans. Stuff like that.

[Mozeltov Cocktail]

44. I think you're giving that man way too much credit...

[oldsoftie]

15. And these stories comes from people HE PICKED. HIS people. The BEST people.

But his minions STILL dismiss them as traitors or RINOS or whatever.
Look at Bill Barr; his book credits trump with several things that he thinks were good. But the Trumpers ALL focus on him turning down trumps desire to steal the election.
100% loyalty ALL the time is required.

[rickford66]

16. Obviously he had no idea what a Patriot Missile is or it's designed use.

[rambler_american]

19. I am speechless

to learn that the tRump (mis)administration was even worse than I thought.

[Botany]

21. Mark Esper should have told the public what Trump and Miller were saying and wanted to do years ago.

Fuck him.

[Beatlelvr]

25. I second that for Dr. Birx

When Trump asked about injecting bleach, she should have gone to the microphone and said "No, Mr. President. That would actually kill people. That is the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard, amd you are much too stupid to be president. I can't take any more of this bullshit. I quit."

[Novara]

27. See, that's the thing that burns my cheese

All of these wimpy corrupt motherfuckers. NO ONE pushed back to any significant degree except for career civil servants. Those put in positions of authority by him were too goddamned self-interested to push back. IMO being fired by that motherfucker would have been a badge of honor, but they all were too selfish to consider the good of the country.

Instead, these motherfuckers are cashing in well after any of this information may have done the world some good. And for that, they can never be forgiven. Though it isn't legal treason, I consider all of them to be traitors to America.

Sometimes I wonder what this world would look like if the first impeachment ended in conviction.

[underpants]

38. 🔥🧀

Interviewer: I see a gap in your employment history. Care to explain?

Applicant: I was in prison

Interviewer: Are you sure you weren’t working in the Trump administration?

Applicant: Nope. Prison. Definitely prison.

[Novara]

40. +1

[PatrickforB]

28. And yet, they are all STILL running around free, holding rallies,

trying to get back in power.

New York chose NOT to prosecute Trump in the face of absolute knowledge of criminal activity - money likely changed hands there, or threats. Trump is not above threats - he's a mob guy anyway.

The GA thing is still going on, but THAT was clearly illegal.

Trump got impeached TWICE, and the Republical traitors in the Senate refused to try him.

And we already know enough from the January 6 inquiry to know Trump is a traitor who tried to stay in power by armed insurrection after losing an election.

So, while this is a nice, enraging piece, we must ask WHEN will justice be done? Because it sure ain't been happening so far.

[dalton99a]

29. Kick

The immigration system is broken? Build an ineffective wall. Opioids are ravaging communities? Execute drug dealers. Hurricanes are approaching American soil? Hit them with nuclear weapons.

There are too many shooters killing children in schools? Put more guns in the hands of school officials who might shoot back. A virus is killing hundreds of thousands of Americans? Try injecting people with disinfectants.

Russia is waging a brutal and unnecessary war in Ukraine? Slap some Chinese flags on U.S. fighter jets and point them in Moscow’s direction. There are social-justice protesters outside the White House? Shoot them in the legs. Illicit drugs are crossing the U.S./Mexico border? Launch missiles into our allied neighbor.

https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/flaws-trumps-idea-launching-missiles-mexico-rcna27625

[underpants]

36. Now THAT is a good read. 😳

Trump, according to the book, raised this idea "at least twice."

In other words, as recently as 2020, the commander in chief of the nation’s most powerful military, thought it’d be a good idea to launch Patriot missiles — which are not intended for ground targets — into an allied neighbor’s country, to kill non-military targets, at which point he’d lie to the world.

As I argued in my book, the Republican genuinely seemed to believe that every challenge should be addressed through unexamined, overly simplified answers that appealed to his version of common sense.

[MissMillie]

34. A reality show TV star--definitely not a leader

Always looking for the shock value, especially if he thinks it makes him look "bigly."

He had no room for statesmanship (or the law) in his term as pResident.

[tishaLA]

35. Apparently, stories like this are the tip of the iceberg

Link to tweet

"It’s incomprehensible how bad it was on a near hourly basis."

And if he gets back, whatever stopped him before will no loner be there.

[GB_RN]

37. At This Point, Nothing Like This That Dolt45 Is Accused Of Surprises Me...

I mean, after all, this is the same asshole who suggested NUKING hurricanes in order to stop/kill them. Never mind that 1) the biggest nuke in our arsenal wouldn't be a blip on a hurricane's radar, 2) the heat from the blast would actually help strengthen the storm, and 3) the radioactive fallout would be spread by the storm!

tRump is a fucking moron.

[Calista241]

42. Patriot missiles are designed to shoot stuff in the air, not at ground targets.

I literally can't think of a worse weapon to try and blow up various ground targets.

All a missile would do is kill a handful of people, and a few holes in some sheet metal shacks, maybe blow up a small amount of drugs. I can't think of a worse expenditure of military weaponry.

[Solly Mack]

43. K&R