Trump Presser - 16 February 2017

I thought it was  a masterful performance.  He dealt with people like Jim Acosta as though they were children.  As he said, "so full of hatred..."  I expect a variety of opinions, none of them full of hatred.  pl   

http://heavy.com/news/2017/02/president-donald-trump-press-conference-live-stream-video-watch-youtube-labor-secretary-announcement-today/

http://www.cnbc.com/2017/02/16/click-for-a-full-transcript-of-trumps-first-solo-press-conference.html

Comments

[Trent]

Just saw clips but it seems the stress and unpopularity is starting to drain him. He appears old and weak.

[Grizziz]

All,
I am not fond of Trump and not interested in the protection he has on offer, however the take down of the journalists was like a stand up comic dealing with hecklers. It was a very amusing treat.

[BillWade]

He did well. I think he made it pretty clear too that it's Clinton and not Obama who's causing the intrigue.

[Eric Newhill]

The reports of the Trump administration's demise are greatly exaggerated.

For two years now every incident the media and other enemies can gin up is going to end him. He's a fool, a Klutz, an unstable maniac, not a prayer in the world.....and then he comes out fighting and winning in a "masterful" performance.

IMO, Trump is ok - not a genius - just ok. But he's gut guts and plenty of them. The presser displayed his guts, once again. The other side of the equation is that his opponents appear to be overly insolated, cowardly, arrogant fools. In effect, low grade versions of exactly what they accuse trump of being.

And there's something else, like “I will win the crowd. I will give them something they never seen before.”

[Haralambos]

I think Trump came off as a master of stonewalling. I did not find any substance, and his reassurance to the effect that his team was running like a fine-tuned machine was akin to asking the audience to believe in Santa Claus, the tooth fairy, and the Easter bunny simultaneously. Col., I do not engage in hate, but I hope contempt is acceptable.

[Kenny]

Trump has sacrificed a rook (Flynn) and a pawn (no tweets for a week) and not even been able to achieve a Jihadi ban. At this point Trumps biggest hope is that Sessions at DoJ starts coming up with some indictments soon. The plebians demand some red meat.

[r whitman]

Trump gave a worthy sixth grader performance. Always make excuses and blame someone else for failures.

[Nancy K]

Sort of reminds be of Chauncy Gardner in Being There.

[Jack]

Sir

I agree with you that this was an exceptional press conference. His command of the room was impressive. His framing of the dishonesty of the MSM and why it would be politically expedient to walk away from Russia but it would be in our best interests to come to an arrangement was so spot on.

The real question is if he'll be able to uncover and fire the fifth column in government. And how he'll deal with all the Borgists that he has nominated.

I don't know if this is meaningful or not but Pence was on one side of the first row whereas Bannon and Kushner were right in the middle of that first row. I'm sure the kremlinologists will have fun with that.

[turcopolier]

Nancy K

Does your son who is in the Navy think of the CinC the same way?

[turcopolier]

r Whitman

OK. You go in the anti-Trump hater group. pl

[turcopolier]

Nancy K

I will put and your mom in the "filled with hatred" column. pl

[Edward Amame]

Trump gave the impression is that he's about as up-to-speed on things as Sarah Palin was back in her day. But so what. Being a policy wonk's not his schtick. Attacking the media apparently is, and as far as that goes, he was a huge success. Although I'm still not sure if he watches CNN or not.

[Nancy K]

I have not a clue, we never discuss politics. I make a point of not discussing it with close friends who I know are of a different political persuasion than me also. Family and friends are too important to be damaged by politics.

[turcopolier]

EA

Sorry, but he gave al least as good as he got. If you had any objectivity you would see that he dealt with Acosta and Alexander like the children that they are. pl

[Fred]

Col,

I thought this was a great press conference. I thought he pointed out quite clearly that Flynn got fired for lying to him not over what was leaked. The press seemed to avoid that obvious conclusion. Also important, probably more important, was the question from one reporter (I hope he calls on her more often) who asked "Reporter: Fixing the inner cities, what will be that fix and urban agenda, ...?"

"Trump: We have to help African-American people that for the most part stuck there. Hispanic-American people, we have Hispanic-American people that are in the inner cities and they're living in hell..... I mean, you look at the numbers in Chicago. There are two Chicagos, as you know. There's one Chicago that's incredible, luxurious and all. And safe. There's another chicago that's worse than almost any of the places in the middle east ...?
And a bit further on in the exchange:

"I actually thought I had a meeting with Congressman Cummings, and he was all excited, and then he said, oh, I can't move. It might be bad for me politically. I can't have that meeting."

Tonight's ABC News broadcast did not have any of that, though they did have the faux outrage over Trump's comment to the reporter to set up the meeting. Left unasked was why the Democratic Party leadership forced Congressman Cummings from meeting the President. It's not like Baltimore is in any better shape than Chicago. Congressman Cummings wasn't elected to represent the Democratic Party but the people of Baltimore. Shame.

[Cortes]

An interesting presser, full of danger for the leaking members of the IC.

The leakers maybe uncomfortable as the new Mannings.

[Sam Peralta]

Fascinating responses on this thread.

I saw the whole presser and came away with a completely different impression than many who posted here. What it implies is that everyone is in a hardened position. Either you're a NeverTrumper or a Trump supporter. There's no more objectivity.

Trump voters, who won him the election, I think were heartened with his performance today and like his positions on the issues.

I think taking the fight and making the hysterical MSM look so compromised was perfect. It bolsters his direct line to his supporters. He now needs to take out those inside government who are in the NeverTrump camp.

Trump is absolutely correct we have been a divided nation for a long time. Well before he came on stage. Now the venom of one side is all focused on him. How he addressed the black woman's question was so dead on that even though he's interested in bringing in the Black Caucus and even when they are interested in talking, they can't, because of how it will be made to look by the MSM spin.

I also thought his response to the Russian "provocations" question was so good. He could relate to how Putin was thinking seeing the anti-Russia hysteria here and how it would be more politically expedient for Trump to take a hawkish stand. And his recognition of Russia's nuclear capability and the outcome of escalation. And the rationale for good relations.

It was so obvious that the media was only on the Borg talking points. And whitman above saying this was a "sixth grader" performance. Yeah, another NeverTrumper heard from!

[c]

Are the media and intelligence community colluding to break Trump?
Washington Examiner

the Trump style is something to behold

[plantman]

The media seems unable to grasp how reviled they really are.
Am I alone in my hatred for these dissembling fiction-writers?

It's hard for me to be objective about Trump's performance, since any blows he delivered I was applauding full volume.

It appeared to me that he stayed very calm and imperious throughout, looking down on them like them with the contempt they deserve.

Bravo, Trump

[wisedupearly]

Harwood says no thanks to Trump's offer to be national security advisor.
Who is not part of the Deep State but has the necessary security clearance?

[turcopolier]

wisedupearly

security clearance? An administrative action. pl

[steve]

At some point, don't we hold the guy in charge responsible? It's the media, it's the leakers, it's the intelligence people? Start acting like a leader and lead.

Steve

[The Beaver]

@ Wisedupearly

You mean Vice Admiral Robert Harward who declined the position of NS Adviser? He wanted to have the freedom to do a cleanup starting with deputy KT McFarland and demanded his own team but was refused

[bks]

The President seemed to have very little to say about the raison d'etre for the presser: Alexander Acosta.