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US PRESIDENT DONALD Trump has hit out at one member of his cabinet and jokingly threatened to fire another.
Trump used Twitter to criticise attorney general Jeff Sessions again today, a day after giving a speech to Boy Scouts that touched on Obamacare, fake news and alluded to orgies on a yacht.
Speaking at the National Scout Jamboree in West Virginia, Trump jokingly threatened to fire his Health Secretary Tom Price and hit out at his predecessor Barack Obama over Obamacare, which he had earlier in a speech in the White House called “death”.
Trump said of Price, who was on the stage with him:
Hopefully he’s going to get the votes tomorrow to start our path toward killing this horrible thing known as Obamacare.
“By the way, you gonna get the votes? He better get ‘em,” Trump said, adding: “Otherwise, I’ll say: Tom, you’re fired.”
The comment drew laughs from the crowd and Trump gave Price a friendly pat on the shoulder, suggesting he’d been joking. White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders said she’d taken the comment that way as well.
While Trump had started by saying “Who the hell wants to speak about politics in front of Boy Scouts?”, his speech became more like a campaign rally in front of 24,000 children and 16,000 adults.
Trump is the eighth president to attend the National Scout Jamboree, which is typically held every four years. Obama did not attend during his two terms, although he addressed a 100th anniversary event in 2010 by video.
He hit out at Obama for not attending.
“By the way, just a question, did President Obama ever come to a jamboree?
“And we’ll be back. We’ll be back. The answer is no, but we’ll be back.”
Trump took time to hit out at the “fake media”, saying that the size of the crowd would be under-reported and said that the “incredible, massive, record-setting” crowd would not be reported by the media. The speech was carried live by CNN.
As he recited parts of the Scout oath, he paused at the word “loyalty”.
“We could use some more loyalty, I’ll tell you that,” he mused.
Trump then told a long story about real-estate mogul William Levitt and the “interesting” activities he engaged in on his yacht.
He went out and bought a big yacht, and he had a very…interesting life. I won’t go on any more than that because you’re Boy Scouts, so I’m not going to tell you what he did.
“Should I tell you? Should I tell you?
“Oh, you’re Boy Scouts, but you know life. You know life. So — look at you. Who would think this is the Boy Scouts, right?”
Levitt was a noted supporter of segregation and refused to integrate his developments. He refused to sell houses to black people.
While the reaction to the speech on the ground was one of raucous support, drawing numerous chants of “USA” and “We love Trump”, reaction afterwards has been less supportive.
The Boy Scouts of America Facebook page has been inundated with comments from parents and former scouts condemning the President.
Generally speaking
On his own Twitter, Trump resumed his attacks on Attorney General Jeff Sessions, calling his onetime ally “VERY weak” in pursuing intelligence leaks and for failing to go after former Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton over her email.
Trump’s latest Twitter salvo followed a report in the Washington Post that the president and his advisers have discussed replacing Sessions, one of the Republican billionaire’s earliest supporters.
“Attorney General Jeff Sessions has taken a VERY weak position on Hillary Clinton crimes (where are E-mails &DNC server) & Intel leakers!” Trump tweeted.
Trump has openly criticised Sessions for recusing himself from overseeing a federal probe into possible collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia to meddle in the 2016 US presidential elections.
Sessions has said he has no plans to resign.
With AP and AFP reporting
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Trump fired James Comey, the Director of the FBI and now he wants to get rid of Jeff Sessions the Attorney General..al because of the Russia enquiry. Trump is either the most insecure person ever or really has something to hide over Russia
@Diaspora’d: He must be a really bad poker player.
@Diaspora’d: His tweet that he could pardon himself and his family is what any self respecting dictator would do.
@Diaspora’d: Both!,
Very biased headline, but it was the same with Pat Kenny earlier on Newstalk, openly editoralising and criticising Trump’s ‘unpresidential’ and ‘partisan’ address to the Boy Scouts. The public can make up their own minds, thanks
@stephen kavanagh: OK. He’s a .. Twonk ..
@stephen kavanagh: so he didn’t do all those things?
@stephen kavanagh: So criticising former presidents, joking about firing an AG, talking about policy, this fake news BS and alluding to millionaires’ sordid affairs on yachts is Presedential?! This was an address to Boy Scouts ffs!
As any sort of leader you show up, talk about the usual traditions and values, pose for photos and leave. This fella is a seriously unhinged nutjob.
Why is this so hard for people to see?!?!
@stephen kavanagh: You don’t seem to be able to make up your mind though Stephen, you just let Trump do that for you.
@stephen kavanagh: rather thsn attack the messenger why not attack the message .. tou know like not alluding to orgies, threatening rivals and making up sh!t in front of youths?
Perhaps he should have spent his time actually talking to the scouts rather then settling scores?
@Old Gabby Johnson: I thought it was a pretty cool speech, he didn’t say anything unduly crass, had his moments of wit and the youth seemed to love him. Bit of a non-story really
@stephen kavanagh: Nothing biased about it, if you took the time to watch was pretty much Hitler youth rally. His swipe at Obama missed too. Obama was in the boy scouts. Trump is a draft dodger.
@stephen kavanagh: Yup, the lamestream meeja are doing a great job for trump, apparently only 10% of Americans trust Mainstream media. Not surprisingly.
@Bairéid Rísteard: What % of Americans trust Trump?
@Bairéid Rísteard: i presume you have a source for your 10% quote.
@stephen kavanagh: So apparently reporting trumps actions is biased now. His supporters never cease to amaze me.
@stephen kavanagh: I bet you watch fox news and read breitbart, don’t you? Just listen what you want to hear. Oh Hail Your Great Leader President Small Hands. Love that photo Trump pouts like a spoiled child. The more Trump is scrutinized the better. Then people will realise where the real swamp is.
@Bairéid Rísteard: unlucky liar, 41% don’t trust Trump at all vs 37% for the media.
@stephen kavanagh: Read the headline then read the article, all of the headline points are directly related to what the yellow peril spewed.
@stephen kavanagh: absolutely an non story… crazy media
@Lucille Ball: is read more, he is clearly unhinged. Trump’s Boy Scouts Speech And The Thin Line Between Openness And Recklessness http://n.pr/2uxzTVZ last two paragraphs sum it up perfectly
Trump is a complete and utter *nutter* but what amuses me is the Irish people who defend Trump as loyalty and uncritically as if he were a member of their own family.
We have a lot otf Trumpeteers in Ireland who drool at the mouth over every Tweet and comment from Trump.
@Tony Daly: you are FAKE news!
@Alan O’Rourke: LOL!
@Tony Daly: They’re the same guys that defend Netanyahu absolutely. (wouldn’t blame him 100%, but most definitely would not defend him).
You know – the YFGers, scrambling to suckle on the party teat.
@Tony Daly: what can you expect from us ? Don’t half of us still support Fianna Fail that brought the country to it’s knees ! Who would listen to someone who does something like that ?
@Tony Daly: they are also the people who were devastated that the new Dr Who is a woman! Lol!
Sensationalising nothing comments by trump only serves to lesson the impact of reports on the serious things he gets accused of.
@Lurfic: It was pretty much a Hitler youth rally. Sickening.
@Philip Gerard: Seems like the Trump message was the same too, obedience and love of fatherland.
@Lurfic: you’re the only one with any cop on here… great comment
@Lucille Ball: but you just said that you yourself have no cop on so that makes your words meaningless
Hitler’s Youth Rally comes to mind.
Insecure and possibly paranoid. Trump is probably unwell, most definitely out of his depth not to mention delusional. This “fake” news thing will be his opus Magnus.. Congratulations Donald!
What did he say that was so awful?
@Nick Allen:
He criticised the liberal darling Obama. In Democrat’s eyes that’s blasphemy.
What struck me was the adoration in which Trump is held by the youth of America. I knew the Don was popular but seriously, that was off the radar.
@Nick Allen: He looks completely out of his depth. He won by accident and now he hasn’t a clue how to do the job.
@Emmet Dillane: Obama was an actual boy scout. The youth hate Trump. I live here and work with them.
@Nick Allen: politicising the boy scouts first of all. Second, references to orgys. Third, threatening his staff in what is as clear cut a case of creating a hostile working environment as you’ll ever see.
@Nick Allen: The fact that Levitt was a supporter of segregation and refused to sell houses to black people is enough for me, ignore the innuendos,
Trump Youth has a nice ring to it.
They can become Fake News Police once they hit 16 and can fire a weapon.
@alphanautica: it’s Trump U for a younger market
It’s a bit Triumph of the Will. Did he lead them in a singalong of Tomorrow Belongs To Me?
He has wanted to get rid of Sessions since Rodenstein appointed Bob
Mueller…
I think he has a point too. He should sack Sessions.
@Milton Ryan: for what? I know he doesn’t need a reason but really what has Sessions done wrong? The AG has nothing to do with the Russia investigation a change of the person in that role won’t change that. All it would do really is make people even more suspicious. Why has Trump set up a team to investigate election fraud but wants to stop an investigation into foreign influence?
Whack job
24000 young impressionable American educated males. Listening to Trump.
Hmmmm.
@Dearbhla Russell: ominous!
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