President Trump: Making America Great Again...

[PaloAltoCougar]

Bill Mayer just told Keith Olbermann, "Remember that million dollars I gave Obama in 2012 to prevent Romney from becoming President? I'd give a million dollars to Romney if he could become President tomorrow."

I just read the full text of Trump's remarks at the CIA. They seem like almost like an SNL parody of Trump, including his primary focus on himself, the size of his crowds, and his ridiculous use of superlatives. If this were simply a TV show he'd be one of my most favorite characters ever. That he is instead the person we chose to be our nation's leader is deeply troubling and embarrassing.

[Omaha 680]

I was occupied on Friday and Saturday and largely avoided the inauguration and news coverage but I decided to look trumps oath and speech this morning. Yikes. George will is right. Perhaps the worst inaugural address in history.

[Uncle Ted]

Calling all Russian hackers...

Embedded Tweet

[PaloAltoCougar]

Spicer's truly bizarre press conference yesterday (in which, per Kellyanne, he presented us with "alternative facts"), is nicely summarized by Andy Borowitz.

WASHINGTON (The Borowitz Report)—A man who was described as “visibly deranged” eluded the Secret Service on Saturday and gave a five-minute press conference at the White House.

The man, who somehow obtained White House credentials in order to bypass security, unloaded a delusional and paranoid rant that left a room full of experienced reporters shaken.

“We were all very, very scared,” Tracy Klugian, a reporter who witnessed the incident, said. “The things he was shouting made absolutely no sense, and he seemed to just get angrier and angrier.”

After a stream-of-consciousness tirade in which he accused the reporters of being part of a far-reaching conspiracy to distort reality, the man abruptly walked off “before he could do any real harm,” a Secret Service spokesman said.

Reporters who left the White House called the incident the scariest five minutes of their lives and said that they were grateful it did not escalate further.

“We were all terrified that, at some point, he was going to ask us if we had any questions,” Harland Dorrinson, a reporter, said. “None of us wanted to say anything that would set him off.”

[8BR]

That Trump wanted Sean Spicer, the press secretary, to go out with props in the White House briefing room — two large pictures of the crowd — was trademark, people who know him say. Trump loves props.

One person who frequently talks to Trump said aides have to push back privately against his worst impulses in the White House, like the news conference idea, and have to control information that may infuriate him. He gets bored and likes to watch TV, this person said, so it is important to minimize that.

This person said that a number of people close to him don't like saying no — but that it has to be done

.

This is a good read on the weekend's events.

[Uncle Ted]

It's official... Obama's first inauguration had higher ratings:

Trump inauguration ratings second biggest in 36 years

Donald Trump’s inauguration ratings were the second-highest in 36 years, according to Nielsen.


The swearing-in of the 45th president was seen by 30.6 million viewers across 12 networks.


The only inauguration over the last three decades that tops Trump’s number in the linear ratings? Barack Obama’s first inauguration back in 2009, which had a record-setting 37.8 million viewers. So Trump was down from the last new president to take office.
[...]

http://ew.com/tv/2017/01/21/trump-inauguration-ratings/

Now can we get back to running the country?

[hostile]

It's official... Obama's first inauguration had higher ratings:


http://ew.com/tv/2017/01/21/trump-inauguration-ratings/

Now can we get back to running the country?

The TV numbers were lower because those 7+ million people were watching the event in person in DC.

[New Mexican Disaster]

The TV numbers were lower because those 7+ million people were watching the event in person in DC.

If you count illegal people then he had way more than 37.8 million. Landslide.

[byu71]

On the crowd dust up, yes I firmly believe President Obama had a larger crowd, there are side by side pictures constantly run. Heck, the one of Trumps crowd looks only half full at best. In addition it looks like there are people quite a ways away with plenty of open space (white in the pic) in front of them.

Does anyone know whether the Trump picture was taken at the actual time of the swearing in or prior or after?

[Omaha 680]

The whole crowd discussion is dumb. I could tell you without looking at pictures that many many more people attended Obama's first inauguration than Trump's. Obama was a historic president and his election was an important moment in the history of our country. Even people like me who never voted for him recognize that. He also won by a large margin and ran a positive campaign that resonated with large groups of young people and minorities, and he was seen a riding to the rescue of a war and recession weary country. Trump ran perhaps the most divisive campaign in history and won a closely contested election. Even a large portion of those who voted for him don't like him.

All that being said, the fact the discussion has gone on as long as it has is entirely Trump's fault. Of course the media is going to report on crowd size, and a mature president would not even mention it. And if the question was asked, he would politely dismiss it as unimportant to the business at hand. The fact that Trump feels the need to lash out on such trivial matters does not bode well for the next four years. Many of us hoped that President Trump would be different than candidate or President-Elect Trump but so far...yeesh. That press conference disputing the reporting on crowd size was just bizarre.

[Shaka]

On the crowd dust up, yes I firmly believe President Obama had a larger crowd, there are side by side pictures constantly run. Heck, the one of Trumps crowd looks only half full at best. In addition it looks like there are people quite a ways away with plenty of open space (white in the pic) in front of them.

Does anyone know whether the Trump picture was taken at the actual time of the swearing in or prior or after?

I was wondering that as well. It would be easy to fudge by posting a pic an hour or two prior to the start of the event. The gigapixel image looked like there were more people than that.

[byu71]

The whole crowd discussion is dumb. I could tell you without looking at pictures that many many more people attended Obama's first inauguration than Trump's. Obama was a historic president and his election was an important moment in the history of our country. Even people like me who never voted for him recognize that. He also won by a large margin and ran a positive campaign that resonated with large groups of young people and minorities, and he was seen a riding to the rescue of a war and recession weary country. Trump ran perhaps the most divisive campaign in history and won a closely contested election. Even a large portion of those who voted for him don't like him.

All that being said, the fact the discussion has gone on as long as it has is entirely Trump's fault. Of course the media is going to report on crowd size, and a mature president would not even mention it. And if the question was asked, he would politely dismiss it as unimportant to the business at hand. The fact that Trump feels the need to lash out on such trivial matters does not bode well for the next four years. Many of us hoped that President Trump would be different than candidate or President-Elect Trump but so far...yeesh. That press conference disputing the reporting on crowd size was just bizarre.

I agree with you. Could have just sent out a tweet concerning the MLK bust and then let it go.

Trump is worried about the press delitigizing his being President, which they are certainly trying to do. He can't worry though about every little point they make trying to downgrade him. When he does he just gives them more ammunition. His administration is going to be held to a higher standard than was allowed for Obama and Clinton. I am afraid his skin is way, way to thin.

[Eddie]

I just figure all of the attendance smack means that Trump is a BYU fan and frequent poster on CB.

[Topper]

I just figure all of the attendance smack means that Trump is a BYU fan and frequent poster on CB.

Obama's people brought up the stadium size, so by analogy, Obama equals BYU, and Trump is the Ute poster rebutting the obvious difference in crowd size.

[Blueintheface]

Over/under on impeachment?