President Trump- The Implications

[heironymouspasparagus]

Dare I stoop to Trump's level in nastiness...??   Well, yes...just this once.


More like doing first degree civic duty!

https://www.yahoo.com/news/kkk-leader-found-dead-next-172937293.html

[Hoss]

And now there's this...

https://www.washingtonpost.com/powerpost/now-6-republicans-are-on-the-fence-about-andrew-puzder/2017/02/15/e34cada6-f38b-11e6-8d72-263470bf0401_story.html

[erfalf]

I knew he wouldn't read it. Makes too much sense. Ego gets in the way.

My favorite hypocritical remarks are those who think the illegal leaking of criminal, traitorous activities are worse than the activities themselves!

I did, and what I have been saying lines up pretty square with what Brooks said.

Did I once say Trump is great. I said Trump could be good for the country, but not in a way that means he is good at what he does. Without Trump, I don't believe Washington gets fixed, or at least not nearly as fast as it will with him. There is a difference. Nuance is a thing.

[erfalf]

And to be PERFECTLY clear, my comment did not mean that I belived Trump would actually be doing the fixing. Just that the fixing would come about because of his existence.

[cannon_fodder]

And to be PERFECTLY clear, my comment did not mean that I belived Trump would actually be doing the fixing. Just that the fixing would come about because of his existence.

This I could agree with.  He may be a catalyst to finally roll by executive power, to protect the independence of the judiciary, to place qualifications on cabinet positions, to make it clear that conflict of interest laws extend to the executive, to mandate more financial disclosure, strengthen nepotism laws,  to reign in how much taxpayers will pay to protect various private residences and enterprises of the president, and to protect scientific endeavors from political interference.  He has exposed a ton of flaws in the system in the first month - some of which I think a bipartisan Congress could (and should) get behind fixing.  Both sides say it should be fixed when they aren't in power...

[TulsaMoon]

That is decidedly not so.  I respect your dissent, I really do.  And it is axiomatic that every politicians engages in politics and that this administration appears to be less cunning, but this is not normal.

It isn't normal for a top adviser to be fired only after the media makes it public that he openly lied to the President and the American people. While Flynn may have been the fastest in history he is by far not the only one. Clifton R Wharton Jr served as Deputy Secretary of State under President Clinton. He was forced to resign after Secretary Warren Christopher leaked rumors of his disappointment with Wharton's performance on the job.

 It isn't normal for a President to regularly lob juvenile insults at people. Serious? How about LBJ talking about Ford? "Jerry Ford is so dumb that he can't fart and chew gum at the same time." and another ( my favorite) "Ford's economics are the worst thing that's happened to this country since pantyhose ruined finger-f*cking."   

It isn't normal for a President not to release a tax return. Presidents release tax returns only for years they serve in office and only while they still hold that office. Incoming presidents do not release returns for the year before they assumed office. Though President Obama certainly did. http://www.taxhistory.org/www/website.nsf/web/presidentialtaxreturns

 It isn't normal for a spokesman to plug products on behalf of the first family. It is ok though for the President to endorse a product for himself though? Remember the Blackberry? President Obama said they would have to pry it out of his hands. At the time it was thought to be an endorsement by many, in reality it was because he depended upon it so much.

 It isn't normal to conduct intelligence briefings with a foreign leader in an open dining room surrounded by people who paid $200k to join your club. 100% agree

 It isn't normal to pick fights with our allies. From Iran to Cuba, Obama bent over backwards to court our adversaries. At the same time, he mistreated our closest allies — allowing Israel to get bullied by the U.N. Security Council and canceling missile defense deals with Poland and the Czech Republic in a misguided effort to curry favor with Moscow.

It isn't normal for a President to never have served the public in any capacity. Not normal, isn't this one of the main reasons people elected him? His screaming from the mountain "drain the swamp". We have had a few Presidents that only served in the military and never in an elected office though. Not normal though.

 It isn't normal for a President to send out angry tweets in a near constant stream. Had some Presidents in the past had that type of technology I think they would have.

 It isn't normal to have the head of the EPA to be engaged in active lawsuits with the EPA. Not Normal and worthy of being called a twat monkey

 It isn't normal for the intelligence community to investigate administration ties to foreign governments who attempted to influence the US election. The 1996 United States campaign finance controversy was an alleged effort by the People's Republic of China to influence domestic American politics prior to and during the Clinton administration and also involved the fund-raising practices of the administration itself.

 It isn't normal for the President to regularly insult the judicial branch and question its purpose. A noted Supreme Court historian who "enthusiastically" voted for President Obama in November 2008 today called President Obama's criticism of the Supreme Court in his State of the Union address last night "really unusual" and said he wouldn't be surprised if no Supreme Court Justices attend the speech next year. Added Professor Powe, who clerked for Supreme Court Justice William Douglas, "you don't go to be insulted.   http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2010/01/supreme-court-historian-after-presidents-insult-wont-be-surprised-if-supreme-court-doesnt-attend-next-year.html

It isn't normal for spokespeople for the President to give different versions of events to different media outlets at the same time. This happens all the time. See Benghazi

It isn't normal for a President to brag about "grabbing them by the Pussy!" Not Normal, nor is it appropriate 

  It isn't normal to Presidents to issue executive orders without speaking with the experts advisers on staff. You know for a fact he didn't speak with his advisers?

 It isn't normal for Presidents to repeat claims that have repeatedly been proven false. Please see " Like your doctor keep your doctor claims, also refer back to the Benghazi video.

 It isn't normal for the First Family to divide their time equally between two residences and a luxury resort. Agreed!!

  It isn't normal for the President to be ignorant of basic governmental concepts. Agreed. Though I do suspect that many had a learning curve going in. No one can know everything

It isn't normal to exclude security experts from the security council. Agreed but I will have to do more research.

 It isn't normal for the Education Secretary to have no experience in education. True. DeVos does have a degree, just not in education; she graduated from Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Michigan with a bachelor's degree in business administration and political science. She wouldn't be the first Secretary of Education to take office without a degree in the subject, however. Margaret Spellings, George W. Bush's education secretary from 2005 to 2009, had a degree in political science. Bill Clinton's education secretary, Richard W. Riley, had a law degree

  It isn't normal to regularly get in fights with the intelligence community. I think this is not normal but it has happened in the past. See WMD BUSH years.

It isn't normal to insist on facts that are demonstrably fiction. YUP, agreed.

It isn't normal for the plan to be "come up with a plan" even after taking office. Agreed, but it in my mind falls right in line with " We must pass it to find out what's in it"


There is some normal political wrangling that both Democrats do and Republicans do, and each whines and wails when the other engages in it (a good hint is when they accuse the other of "politicizing something" it really means "why are you doing exactly what I did last term?").  Of course there is some of that going on - Jeff Sessions was a fairly normal political fight and the Supreme Court nominee is going to be tit for tat on locking out Garland. But please, don't actually believe that most of what's going on is "normal."  This is not normal.  

Is this the end of America?  Almost certainly not. Powers usually don't blink out of existence, they fade away.  Leaders with no direction and a poor understanding of the matters of state greatly hasten that decline.  Vegas says Trump only has a 40% chance of making it all 4 years, that isn't good for anyone.  America season 45 isn't normal, but I don't think its the last season.

Many things are normal. Many are not. Either way we are rolling down a large mountain of crap.

[Ed W]

This I could agree with.  He may be a catalyst to finally roll by executive power, to protect the independence of the judiciary, to place qualifications on cabinet positions, to make it clear that conflict of interest laws extend to the executive, to mandate more financial disclosure, strengthen nepotism laws,  to reign in how much taxpayers will pay to protect various private residences and enterprises of the president, and to protect scientific endeavors from political interference.  He has exposed a ton of flaws in the system in the first month - some of which I think a bipartisan Congress could (and should) get behind fixing.  Both sides say it should be fixed when they aren't in power...

So we should be thinking the Trump administration is the equivalent of a national enema? It explains a lot.

[swake]

From Trump's press conference today, where he got his new Labor nominees name wrong more than he did right and where he completely exposed himself as a crazy toddler.

[Hoss]

From Trump's press conference today, where he got his new Labor nominees name wrong more than he did right and where he completely exposed himself as a crazy toddler.

I watched that presser.  What a bumbler.

[patric]

His corruption is at a level never seen in this country.

Ulysses S. Grant holds the record.  He was obsessed with "punishing" the south and went to outrageous lengths to do so.

[Conan71]

I watched that presser.  What a bumbler.

I personally never thought of Obama is terribly eloquent.  To many pauses, "and-ahh", etc. which I realize can either indicate a thoughtful and careful speaker, someone very unprepared, or someone terribly aloof.

Listening to Trump, he's raised the bar on unprepared and aloof.

[swake]

Well, Flynn is toast.

He lied about his conversations with Russia to the FBI. They don't like that. That's a felony that comes with jail time. Will he do time or roll on someone?

[Hoss]

I personally never thought of Obama is terribly eloquent.  To many pauses, "and-ahh", etc. which I realize can either indicate a thoughtful and careful speaker, someone very unprepared, or someone terribly aloof.

Listening to Trump, he's raised the bar on unprepared and aloof.

The difference?

President Obama is a Constitutional Scholar.  We're not quite sure what Trump is.  A dolt comes to mind currently.  I sure was hoping that his apparent idiocy was just him appealing to the masses on the campaign trail.  It's looking less and less that way just four weeks in.  Most of my (very conservative) family have pretty much stopped talking to me since the inauguration after I gave them a piece of my mind about how they drank the Kool Aid.  Sure, we had two shitty choices, but somehow most of my family chose the shittier of the two.  No big loss.  I've always been of the thought that I wished I could have chosen my family.  I only had three close family members I know who align politically with me.  Two are now deceased.

[Conan71]

Well, Flynn is toast.

He lied about his conversations with Russia to the FBI. They don't like that. That's a felony that comes with jail time.

That's generally considered a pretty poor career move.

[RecycleMichael]

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

"I mean I watch CNN, and it's so much anger, hatred, and just the hatred, I don't watch it anymore because it's very good — he's saying now, it's okay, Jim, you'll have a chance. But I watch others too. You're not the only one, don't feel badly. But I think it should be straight. I think it should be, I think it should be frankly more interesting."

"Well, you look at your show that goes on at 10 in the evening. You just take a look at the show. It's a constant hit. The panel is almost always exclusive anti-Trump. The good news is he doesn't have good ratings, but the panel is almost exclusive anti-Trump, and the hatred and venom from his mouth. And hatred from other people on your network. I'll say this. I watch it. I see it. I'm amazed by it. And I just think you'd be a lot better off. I honestly do. The public gets it.

You go to rallies, they're screaming at CNN, they want to throw their placards at CNN. You know, I think you would do much better by being different. But you just Take a look. Take a look at some of your shows in the mornings and evening. If a guest comes out and says something positive about me, it's brutal. Now, they'll take this news conference, I'm actually having a very good time, okay, but they'll take this news conference — don't forget, that's the way I won. I used to give you a news conference every day and made a speech, which was every day. That's how I won, with news conference and probably speeches. I certainly did not win by people listening to you people. That's for sure.

But I'm having a good time. Tomorrow, they will say, Donald Trump rants and raves at the press. I'm not ranting and raving. I'm telling you you're dishonest people, but I'm not ranting and raving. I love this. I'm having a good time doing it, but tomorrow's headlines are going to be Donald Trump, rants and rants. I'm not ranting. "