After declaring a National Emergency, Trump goes to Florida to golf?

DOLOOP · February 16, 2019, 4:31pm

That’s gotta get boring after a while. He probably couldn’t even get it up to go play a round toward the end.

DOLOOP · February 16, 2019, 4:36pm

JayJay:

CaughtInTheMiddle:

My job actually forces me to constantly re-evaluate what works and what does not work and what’s true and what’s false. I guess a lot of people aren’t in similar careers and those thought processes certainly doesn’t bleed into their personal life, decision making or self reflection.

I guess it’s easier that way. I would assume it doesn’t take much thought.

Don’t underestimate how many times this phenomenon occurs even in fields such as yours. It is a basic human condition…our emotions rule our rationality, not the reverse.

That’s why it’s not just hard…it is REALLY REALLY hard…to allow a belief you hold to be falsified.

I work in pharma. A classic example of this thinking in action? All the billions of dollars that has been wasted in Alzheimer’s research because people have been wedded to a disease model (amyloid plaques in the brain cause Alzheimer’s) that the evidence was screaming out was actually quite doubtful. But it was the belief the industry had, and we had testable models we could use…so we kept hammering away at the disease using that model. Also…we took a correlation…brains of Alzheimer’s patients had amyloid buildup…and turned it into a causation…amyloid buildup is a causal factor in Alzheimer’s. Now we’re finding amyloid buildup in the brains of older individuals who maintained excellent cognitive functions into their 90s. So maybe…just maybe…amyloid plaques build up as one ages…period.

And now we also find out (see a post I made in Outside the Beltway a couple days ago) there is growing evidence that the bacterium that causes gingivitis is a large causal factor in Alzheimers…so it may be the best way to avoid Alzheimer’s in the future is to practice good oral hygiene!

We all…every one of us…believe things first, and go searching for only confirming evidence as a general rule. Some DO do this more than others, this is true, but we are all vulnerable to thos.

The instant we think we’re immune to that is when we’re usually caught out in something that makes us look foolish.

Exactly. We internally filter for data that supports the hypothesis when a rigorous process insists that our tests be directed at falsifying the hypothesis. That is usually the very quickest way at the truth.

Our minds typically don’t work that way without significant rejiggering and subsequent continued observation of our own thought process through a hairy eyeball.

Bodecea · February 16, 2019, 4:50pm

All points to how serious this “emergency” really is for the courts.

CaughtInTheMiddle · February 16, 2019, 5:24pm

It’s my understanding that our President will be spending a lot of time in the Situation Room this weekend…

Excast · February 16, 2019, 5:30pm

Remember when George W. Bush responded to the national emergency of 9/11 by taking off to his private golf resort and visiting the omelette station on the way out to the first hole?

madasheck · February 17, 2019, 6:42am

Can’t help thinking of this.

https://twitter.com/AllThingsMarx/status/1096706190107701248

zonulet · February 17, 2019, 7:13am

We don’t have to imagine a “what if Obama” scenario. History provides examples.
In what was described by the media as an over the top emotional display, Obama depicted himself “heartbroken” by the brutal beheading of James Foley an American journalist. Obama had barely hung up the phone with the grieving parents prior to his astonishing media performance. Before the media could pack up their gear, Obama headed to his favorite golf course on Martha’s Vineyard.

Phaedrus · February 17, 2019, 8:00am

Yep, that was bad optics.

Of course, he DID provide an eloquent statement on the murder before leaving for a planned vacation. He DIDN’T make it on the golf course before suggesting that reporters “watch this drive”. And he DIDN’T say there are good people in journalism and in ISIS.

So there’s that.

Jezcoe · February 17, 2019, 12:18pm

President Obama didn’t manufacture a crises, do a Constitutionally dubious power grab to resolve that crises and then go golfing.

But I understand the need to try to draw some sort comparison between someone who actually worked at the job of President and someone who pretends.

CaughtInTheMiddle · February 17, 2019, 12:34pm

after Trump shot a 78 yesterday (with 45 mulligans) i’m sure he’s back to the course again today. the national emergency isn’t a national emergency. he’s just a punk who is very good at manipulating SOME people to get what he wants.

Trump tricked less (% wise) New Yorkers in his career than he has Republicans/Southerners/Evangelicals.

mollyBrown · February 17, 2019, 1:10pm

I think Obama wore the tan outfit better then Trump.

zonulet · February 17, 2019, 1:28pm

Obama - the great orator was more powerful than the reality of Obama. He was such a greater talker perhaps, but it turned out there was very little behind the words…

party-free · February 17, 2019, 1:36pm

Did Obama declare a national emergency on murders of journalists, bring mothers of slain journalists to his speech to convince everyone how dire the situation is, demand we take action to stop the sex trafficking/murders of/drug epidemic among journalists, then head off to golf?

As another poster said, I agree the optics look bad, but the situations aren’t quite the same.

WE ARE IN A NATIONAL IMMIGRATION CRISIS, AND WE ARE LITERALLY BEING INVADED AND I AM NOW USING MY PRESIDENTIAL POWERS TO STOP IT, now watch this drive, oh, and can I get an omelet?

is not quite the same as

WE ARE DEEPLY SORRY AT THE LOSS OF AN AMERICAN JOURNALIST now watch this drive.

Declaring that a problem is so dire that the president must use his emergency powers to, potentially unconstitutionally, reappropriate already appropriated monies, should demand that the president stay at the WH and get the hell to work on putting his policy into practice, instead of hitting the links.

If the problem is urgent enough that we must have an emergency declaration over it, then it’s urget enough that President Trump immediately get to work at solving the problem-we don’t have a moment to spare.

zonulet · February 17, 2019, 1:47pm

lol still under the spinning tales spell. Good at speeches, if you go in for the ‘put your foot on my heart and let’s heal the world’ sort of guff.

Let’s be realistic, Obama was a photogenic, media-friendly politician, who had a good media team and knew how to act as “the cool guy” (for a politician at least). However, he was just another presidential hand puppet, who only did his masters behest, who hardly made an impact where it matters.

party-free · February 17, 2019, 2:07pm

Not a single word of that changes that your attempt to compare these two situations is not valid.

zonulet · February 17, 2019, 2:15pm

Ahhh but he did look so presidential.
Obama can now truly enjoy his golf game without admonition. His most significant legacy will be that his successor is Donald Trump.

party-free · February 17, 2019, 2:17pm

And yet your comparison still fails

CaughtInTheMiddle · February 17, 2019, 2:18pm

Anyone know if Trump is playing poker in the men’s locker room before his round this morning?

hindsight · February 17, 2019, 2:21pm

I didn’t realize that Obama is still the President.

zonulet · February 17, 2019, 2:21pm

One of Obama’s finest chit chats, was mocking one of Trump’s tweets about Obama. How the audience laughed at Obama’s comeback in which he ridiculed Trump’s chance of ever winning the election. Talk about having egg all over your face. As we all know, Trump won the election and has moved into the White House. People still going crazy as displayed by the daily TDS threads.