We learned nothing: Senator who attended Trumps North Korea briefing confirms it was all for opt

[RKP5637]

Typical Trump BULLSHIT!

‘We learned nothing’: Senator who attended Trump’s North Korea briefing confirms it was all for ‘optics’

https://www.rawstory.com/2017/04/we-learned-nothing-senator-who-attended-trumps-north-korea-briefing-confirms-it-was-all-for-optics/

Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-OR), who attended a White House meeting on North Korea Wednesday, all-but-verified that the gathering was for show. On CNN’s “Erin Burnett Out Front,” the Democratic senator told the host that lawmakers “learned nothing [about North Korea] you couldn’t read in the newspaper.”

Donald Trump invited 100 senators to attend a classified briefing at 3p.m. today, bussing in the lawmakers from Capitol Hill to the Eisenhower Executive Office Building auditorium. Several senators who attended said the president discussed issues they were already aware of from the press.

“Why do you think he had you come to the White House for this?” Burnett asked.

“Oh, complete optics,” Merkley said. “Giving him a chance to say he considers it important enough to have us come to the White house.”

[yallerdawg]

1. Senator Chris Murphy says, "On board the bus to the 100 days photo op/North Korea briefing."

Link to tweet

[RKP5637]

2. Trump, still doing Reality TV Theater! n/t

[SharonAnn]

19. He does love an audience!

Maybe all the North Korea info is new to him and he wanted to show off how much he knew. Of course, everyone else already knew all that info.

[RKP5637]

48. Yep! n/t

[SleeplessinSoCal]

62. He actuly views the job as host of a tv show, ratings and all.

"The Truman Show" became "The Trump Show".

[RKP5637]

63. Yeah, there's a lot of similarity there! n/t

[panader0]

3. Thanks Senator Merkley for the report.

[Demtexan]

4. All on one bus?

So much for security.

Dump is playing games with them.

They should have seen this coming.

[RKP5637]

6. The stupidity is amazing. n/t

[gratuitous]

5. Another line for President Trump's list of "accomplishments"

Nobody's ever made 100 Senators get on a bus and go to the White House all together! America's great now.

God, Trump is such a tiny, needy man.

[womanofthehills]

7. Bernie didn't go - he said he knew it was a photo op!

Trump will hate Bernie even more bigly now.

[uponit7771]

31. Good for Sanders, sounds like he is on top of things

[RKP5637]

9. He's such a fragile person. It's written all over him by his actions, a very weak individual like

many loud mouthed obnoxious bullies.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

15. A weak person's idea of a strongman. A stupid person's idea of a smart person. . . nt

[keithbvadu2]

26. "weak" --- China used that term to describe Trump

Calling Trump “a weakened politician who needed to flex his muscles,” China’s state-run news agency Xinhua mocked Trump over the strike on a Syrian air base.

[PJMcK]

56. A poor person's idea of a rich person (n/t)

[Bernardo de La Paz]

12. All or almost all Senators as a group have gone to the White House before.

Not unprecedented. Very rare.

This time it was kabuki.

[gratuitous]

16. As we've seen, doesn't matter if it's true or not

Trump will strut around as if it is. I'm sure he's still mystified that the House Democrats don't want to hand him a win on a vote to repeal the Affordable Care Act. After all, he'd just strut about that as well, crowing about himself, and rubbing the Democrats' noses in it.

[pnwmom]

20. Have they done it for classified briefings since they've set up a SCIF in the Senate

large enough for the whole body, but not a comparable SCIF in the WH? (They had to rig something temporarily to accommodate the Senate there.)

[blue neen]

8. They'll never fall for that one again.

Trump is using up all of his tricks this week.

[RKP5637]

10. But his moronic base will lap it up! Oh, so presidential. n/t

[blue neen]

44. More like, kingly.

Wouldn't you say?

[RKP5637]

49. Soon, he will want a royal crown!

[Tatiana]

11. So why did Democratic Senators allow themselves to be used in this way?

This is another "Power Play" from Trump. Much like the infamous handshake, he's basically telling the Senators that he is the Alpha. And they allow themselves to be bussed over to the Eisenhower Exec Building like dutiful sheep.

I'm so f*cking sick of this. We're in a war... a civil war for our very way of life. Every Democrat should have told Trump to go F himself and not showed up. Interesting that there was one person who called Trump out on his BS and skipped the session. Go figure.

[pnwmom]

21. + a million. n/t

[NoMoreRepugs]

37. This.... spot on Tatiana

[RKP5637]

50. Well said!!! n/t

[rickford66]

13. The Dems should have sent one "pool" Senator.

[MadLinguist]

18. yeah, that would have been the right move

The nicey-nicey stuff with the occupier of the White House has exactly zero benefits

[brewens]

30. Yeah, and really bitch a moan about drawing the short straw! n/t

[JudyM]

14. To prove he is King.

[pnwmom]

22. Yup. The Queen summons Parliament. DT just summoned the Senate.

[John1956PA]

40. From a BBC page: Caligula "went out of his way to humiliate the senate . . ."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/caligula.shtml

[JNelson6563]

53. Trying to remember...what happened to him again?

Oh yes, I remember.

[zentrum]

17. It was a dominance

...move on his part and they all, except Bernie, submitted.

[Stonepounder]

23. He did it because he thinks he can make the Senate jump when he says jump.

It was totally an ego thing - "I can make the whole Senate come to me when I whistle." I am willing to bet his little stunt comes back to bite him in the ass.

[Madam45for2923]

25. Yes! May it backfire!

[Demtexan]

47. All about making them look small.

To get back at them for blocking him.

Did the House get called also.

[elmac]

24. Dog and pony show for the sheep. The smart one stayed away nt

[RKP5637]

51. +1000 n/t

[aeromanKC]

27. Trump cries, "Wolf"

Meanwhile Back at the Ranch, Russia is still there.

[SaschaHM]

28. Hindsight is 20/20 though...

Before we received reports, everyone was speculating that Trump was trying to sell the Senate on passing a declaration of war or was informing them of an imminent strike. I dislike Trump, but out of an abundance of caution, I would expect Democratic Senators to attend and get appraised of the situation.

[Justice]

29. MCConnell agreed to it,

I don't blame Senators for going. I heard on L. O'Donnell that many GOP Senators were pissed about going. That Tillerson was unprepared. That there was no strategy and nothing knew. Don't think they will go again.

But blame O'Connell- he could have said no.

[LuvLoogie]

32. The larger Body of Senators made it about the office of the President and the Senate.

Bernie made it about himself and trump. I think he was the one who "fell for it."

[Tatiana]

34. The person occupying the office deserves NO respect. Nil.

Bernie made the right decision and the rest of the Senators look like punks and stooges. I hope they learned their lesson.

[LuvLoogie]

39. They know trump is a clown--most of them. Their egos are intact--most of them.

I don't think they look like punks and stooges. I think many of them wanted to make their own assesment of what was to be said. It seems that there is more reporting by Senators that it was a dog and pony show than any kind of serious affair of state.

Donald thrives on conflict. People are getting that he's short on delivery. Attending puts the onus on trump to warrant the political move. By all reports he fell short, again. The Republican caucus was going to attend. The Democrats were going to attend to hear first hand and not let trump and the GOP create a false meme of Democratic obstructionism. The Dems called his bluff. That's all.

Bernie has no party and thinks he's smarter than everyone else. That's okay. Dems have different strategies and are not going to give up leverage over a ploy. The media is now focusing on the substance of, or lack there of, the call to order by the president.

[SaschaHM]

42. This is nonsensical...

Trump getting or receiving respect does not change the fact that he can send us into war with the flick of his wrist. Do you actually want your senators to skip briefings that could concern imminent military actions? This isn't about respecting Trump. It's about doing ones job and staying apprised of the situation for the sake of your constituents.

[NBachers]

33. It won't happen again.

[dweller]

35. 2 points ... for this shit pisses me off

1: HE SENT A BUS?!?! for f'n sake send stretch limos or police escorts or even military escorts! SHOW SOME F'n RESPECT!

2: if you are not going to foot the bill to deliver the senators to your door at your own invite (after we the taxpayer have footed your bill for your weekend golfing getaways over and again) then get off your fat lazy pompous ORANGE ass and go to the Capitol and wow them with your needy presence, after all, the reports out are
saying there was no need for super secret security... just more stroking of your ego

rant off ...

[RainCaster]

36. In the other Washington, we call this a hand job.

In DC, it's normal.

[sarcasmo]

38. Next time tell the Orange Dictator to piss off.

[7wo7rees]

41. The most important question to be asking, IMHO,

Why did the Senator's go along with this?

Most if not all knew and went ahead and took part in this farce.

I have no words.

[SaschaHM]

45. "Most if not all knew"

I'm sorry, but were there any indications that this was nothing beforehand? The administration has been hinting at a military response to NK for weeks.

This is the reality star that ripped off the bachelor for his very consequential SC nomination. The fact that this was a photo op doesn't mean it couldn't have lead to some real repercussion. He's shown himself capable of being a showboating ass and making dangerous decisions at the exact same time.

[RKP5637]

52. He's so unstable, some probably wanted to check if he was going off the really deep end. n/t

[Initech]

43. Worst administration ever.

[duncang]

46. They pretty much had to go

Remember this is someone who over chocolate cake told the pres. of china he sent 59 missiles in to syria. He is someone who thinks the rules or laws don't apply to him. I'm sure they were thinking he was going to have something of substance. Maybe Tillerson would actually have something from talks with China. Or director of intelligence coats might have something.

The response is not what he wanted though. All this did was make him look stupid. (Can't say more stupid since he is at the top of the stupid shit game.) When even the repub's come out shaking their heads you know it was bad. The possible bright part of this is if he pisses off enough of the repub's they may not come after him, but they may be less likely to defend him.

[Paladin]

54. Nothing but a photo op, just as I figured.

And a humiliating photo op for the Senate, at that.

Honest to God: just how much longer is this bullshit going to go on?

[RKP5637]

55. Probably as long as his base laps it up. It's a show from Trump and his audience loves it. Many are

too damn dimwitted to see they've been had, and others don't want to admit they fell for his charades hook, line and sinker.

[PJMcK]

57. The bus ride

It's about 2 miles from the Capitol to the White House. Why did the Senators have to ride on the buses? Why didn't at least one Democrat say, "Screw it. I'll take a cab?"

As usual, the president just wanted to create fake news.

[Mad-in-Mo]

58. What was the $$$ cost to jerry-rig the auditorium and haul the senators by bus

as opposed to having the presenters go to the Senate? Oh, that's right Donnie doesn't care how much money he spends.

[RKP5637]

59. The guy is such a loser! n/t

[louis-t]

60. I had a feeling about this. I could see dumpy acting as if

100 Senators were school children and "educating" them about the situation. God, what a dumbass.

[RKP5637]

61. I heard he only gave a short talk. He's clueless about everything and stumbles through even

simple sentences.