President Donald Trump

[baldgriff]

Teenwolf -

I dont believe in flat earth. - in fact its not possible given what we know.
I believe that we have been to the moon - though some of the camera work is extremely suspicious.
I also believe that there is intelligent life beyond ours.
I believe that there was intelligence on this planet dating back longer than what we have been taught in school. Why because there is significant evidence that it is true (but that is more for a different thread.

You accuse me of playing devils advocate and I say - I am only taking the spoken word of an individual that was interviewed. HE is the one stating that people came from all over the country. I am taking him at his word, because I have no reason to suspect him to be untruthful. He is celebrating and trying to explain what/how it happened in his "joy". Is it possible that he meant "counties" instead of "country"? Certainly!

I am not gullible - I am looking at the factual statement of someone that seems to have been there. Funny - he doesnt talk with a southern accent either.

[Redbirds Fan]

There have been some good comments pro and con on Trump's accomplishments and failures, so I'll toss in my two cents. Obviously, the tax bill is the biggest accomplishment by far. As it was part of his legislative agenda, he gets credit (even though it has been Paul Ryan's wet dream since he worked the Quarter Pounder grill all those years ago).

Some of the things the WH touts as great accomplishments I take issue with, and I'll go over those individually. But I'll start with promises not kept.

PROMISES NOT KEPT

Biggest promise: The biggest promise of them all was, wthout a doubt: "Build that wall!" That was in every speech, the biggest applause line, the single item about which he was the most adamant. And he was crystal clear about what he meant. It would be a physical wall, impenetrable, over or under which the bad guys could not pass. It would run the length of the border, and we would begin building it immediately. And best of all, it won't cost us a dime. Mexico will pay for it 100%.

What a difference an election makes. Now it won't be so high or so thick. It will be see-through. It might be partially electronic instead of physical. It won't run the whole border. It won't be built for some time. And we'll pay for it, but we'll find some way to be indirectly reimbursed by Mexico at some time in the future. But here's the thing: IT WILL NEVER BE BUILT. Not a single serious step has been taken to build the wall in the eleven months that Trump has been in office. Doubt that? Ask yourself. What is the first thing you do before constructing a capital improvement? That's right, you acquire the land. You can't draw plans until you know where it will be, what issues the site will present, and what materials/labor will be needed. You can't budget for these things without knowing where you will build. And acquiring the land, even through eminent domain, will take years. This is just one of many reasons The Wall was and is a pipe dream.

Second Biggest Promise: Repeal and Replace has a long and sordid history. Those of us who kept up remember when it was simply "Repeal Obamacare!" Then, after realizing how totally irresponsible that notion is, the cry became "Repeal and Replace". The rub is that the GOP has never had a replacement plan. Enter Trump. He maintained the claim that Obamacare was ruining America, and swore to Repeal and Replace, but he had zip for a plan. The closest the GOP came under Trump was the 'idea' of repealing and then giving them a few years to come up with a replacement. Trump now claims that he has repealed Obamacare by getting rid of the individual mandate. This will likely take insurance away from 13 million Americans and kill Obamacare, but it isn't a repeal, and it certainly isn't the repeal and replace he promised. When you consider the "beautiful" plan he promised, where everyone has better insurance than Obamacare, you can chalk this up as a big promise broken.

Another Big Promise: He promised us a Muslim ban. We got a temporary travel ban from several countries that, according to the WH is not geared toward Muslims. That's it. You can say this promise isn't broken yet, but if you do, please point to what Trump has done to bring it about. Unless there is something substantial, I'll call it promise broken.

And Then: We were promised massive improvements in our infrastructure. Again, you can say he is only been there a year. Best I can tell, he has not offered a legislative plan to accomplish this. I'm calling this a promise broken. In the meantime, our infrastructure continues to go to hell.

A LOOK AT ACCOMPLISHMENTS:

Trump has been active, but there is a difference between being active and getting things done. Here is a look at some of the things he claims as accomplishments and my take on them.

Tax Cuts: Huge accomplishment, but it is hard to argue that it isn't more help to the super-wealthy than it is to the under-$100,000 crowd. At least the Reagan WH had the balls to say "Okay, we're doing this for the rich, but the gravy is going to trickle down to you other guys and make your lives much better." The WH keeps telling us that it "targets the middle class" and that it actually hurts Trump. But, it was a massive accomplishment, and he gets the credit. He now owns the economy. (I will point out, though, that I don't remember a single Trump rally where the crowd chanted "Lower corporate rates! Lower corporate rates!")

Gorsuch: Before the tax cut, this was the number one thing Trump touted as an example of an accomplishment, but I differ for a couple of reasons. One is that Trump had little or nothing to do with it. He picked Gorsuch off a list handed to him, and couldn't have picked him out of a lineup. The WH introduction of Gorsuch to the country was like a bad game show. And it was Mitch who did the heavy lifting getting him confirmed. There is no indication that Trump pushed anyone in what was a party-line vote, save for three very conservative Democrats. Even then, it required the GOP in invoke the nuclear option and change the way Supreme Court nominees had been confirmed since the beginning of time. And all of this came after the shameful and unprecedented way Mitch and the GOP majority refused to give Merrick Garland a hearing for 239 days. Bear in mind they didn't reject Garland. They didn't give him a hearing. Thus, it took two unprecedented acts of parliamentary skullduggery to get their guy approved. An accomplishment, but maybe not a marquee accomplishment.

Stock Market: Trump trumpets weekly the rise of the stock market - how about a little perspective in two areas. One is that it was rising like a rocket when Trump took over. Obama took it from 6,000 to 20,000. I guess I will be pretty impressed when Trump gets it to 34,000. Second, stock markets all over the world seem to be on a meteoric rise. I don't think that is Trump-based. So, give him maybe the same credit the GOP gave Obama for the rise from 2009 to 2016. That would sound fair.

Executive Orders: Trump brags a lot about his executive orders. This seems odd to me in light of the fact that Trump was highly critical of Obama's use of executive orders. I would say this smacks of hypocrisy, but that would probably constitute fake news. But the thing about executive orders is that they are just that...executive orders. They can change as soon as a new executive comes in. In addition, all an executive order takesis a staff member to draw it up and a President to sign it. They don't even have to run it by a lawyer. We saw this with the poorly drafted muslim ban Miller and Bannon came up with the first time. So, accomplishments, just not super-human.

Impact Upon Federal Bench: Massive accomplishment. He has appointed so many ultra-conservative judges to the federal bench, it will affect our judicial system for decades. This is his right as President. Unfortunately, he has also appointed a staggering number of semi-competent and incompetent judges. This is not his right. The Senate is complicit in approving most of them.

Impact Upon Departments and Agencies: Massive accomplishment. His MO has been to appoint Department and Agency heads, but not the people right under them. This means policies are set, but there is nobody there to interpret or implement. The biggest example is State. They have lost over 100 career professional diplomats. This has crippled State, but Tillerson has done nothing to replace them on the pretext that he is studying a way to reorganize. One effect of this is that applicant for the Foreign Service exam have dropped by half. It will take us 30 years to build up our diplomatic corp again. Trump doesn't care, and has said they only need one guy in State (him) because he is the foreign policy.

WHERE IN GENERAL HAS HE FAILED US?

If you live in Texas and choose to interact with other humans, you are going to talk with Trump fans. A lot of them are of the mind that they supported Trump because they thought all that crazy stuff was just to get elected, and that he would govern like a rational businessman. Almost to a person, they are disappointed. They like some of his individual policies, but they are embarrassed by his antics. We share some of the ideas about where he has failed us. Here is my take on that.

There are some nit-picky things. He said he was going to buckle down and stay in the White House to work, but he vacations about one day out of four. Today was the 88th time he has played golf since the Inauguration. And his staff lies about it. Do or don't, but don't bullshit us. And he spends zillions of our tax dollars in the process. But these are things nobody would care about if he were taking care of his job.

He talks about the Art of the Deal and promised all of these awesome new trade deals to replace NAFTA, etc. Where are those trade deals? Where is the great negotiator? He has gotten some vague, non-binding promises to invest in US projects, but that and six bucks will get you a cup of coffee. For that matter, why has he not used those negotiator skills to put togther some great deals with Congress? It seems like the only votes he can get are the GOP votes that Paul and Mitch whip for him, and he can't always count on the Senate.

Trump lacks class, with his tacky tweets, petty insults, name-calling and punching down. He's a bully on the international stage, and overreacts to perceived slights. (One may agree with defunding the U.N., but can one agree with doing so because other countries exercise their sovereign right to vote against us?) He is also known around the world as a leader who is susceptible to fawning praise, and other leaders are playing that weakness go the max. Israel is naming parks and streets for him.

He is unabashedly arrogant and a braggard. The latest spurious claim is that he has signed more bills into law than any first year President in history. In fact, he has signed fewer bills into law in his first year than any President in the last 60 years.

ANALYSIS

Trump simply wasn't ready for this job. If you analyze what he wrote before an during his candidacy, a major theme was that our representatives in Washington were incompetents and fools. According to Trump, all we needed was to have someone smart with business skills to turn government around and make it efficient. He had absolutely no idea what he was talking about.

When you are talking about governmental relations, especially international relations, there are essentially four bases of power. These are diplomacy, military power, information, and economic power. Trump understood a lot about economic power, and that made him very successful in the private sector. He mistakenly believed, like so many businessmen, that the concepts of economics could be uniformly applied to government and international matters.

That Trump does not understand diplomacy is made clear every day. If you don't want to conclude this from the way he has worsened relations with our enemies and alienated our allies, you need only look at the way his Administration has gutted State, the department through which we implement our soft power. If we had lost a hundred generals instead of top diplomats, we would recognize this to be the crisis it really is.

That he doesn't understand information as power is clear from the way he disregards our intelligence agencies, as well as the way he simply ignores information which does not conform to his world view.
His lack of understanding of the military is manifest in at least two ways. He lacks quantitative knowledge. As a candidate, he had no idea what constituted the nuclear triad. He lacks qualitative knowledge, asking repeatedly why we can't use the nuclear bombs since we have them just sitting there.

My take is that he soon realized the magnitude of the job, and that it was much harder than he imagined it would be. He expressed incredulity at how complicated health care turned out to be, hardly a state secret. So he attacked the job with the limited skill set at his disposal, using everything that made him a success in business. But business and government aren't the same thing. And when he needed advice, he relied upon his business cronies (and Bannon, who wanted to burn down the whole thing).

Eventually, Trump knew his efforts were not going to do the trick. So, consciously or not, he began to just bluff and bluster, agressively attacking everything that looked like an enemy. And when the only tool you have is a hammer, every problem looks like a nail. Making matters worse, he got advice from the worst places in the world, including his incompetent legal team, Ivanka, Jared, Bannon, and Hannity.

As a result of all of this, he has sealed his legacy and made it a certainty that he will serve out his first term and not another. Rather than attempting to unify the country and be the President for all Americans, Trump has spent his first and only term playing to his base...that 34% of Americans who will always cheer for him.

[baldgriff]

Dude -
I havent read this yet but font seems to indicate you're upset or something... HOLY CRAP

[Bernie Brewer]

No clue what this post means. Be a little less cryptic.

Do you disagree that America is a raging dumpster fire?

Nope, I don’t agree. And, I’m saddened for you and “the population under 45” if this the the hopelessness you really feel. I’m not sure if your “get buried soon enough” and ”I hope you get burned too” are supposed to be conversation starters or enders.

The VAST majority of the population under 45 is WAY more progressive and liberal, so y'all will get buried soon enough.

America is transforming into a raging dumpster fire. If you wanna pour gasoline on it, I hope you get burned too.

I took them as conversation ending, but what do I know, I’m kinda old.

[Teenwolf]

Nope, I don’t agree. And, I’m saddened for you and “the population under 45” if this the the hopelessness you really feel. I’m not sure if your “get buried soon enough” and ”I hope you get burned too” are supposed to be conversation starters or enders.



I took them as conversation ending, but what do I know, I’m kinda old.

Your prison system.

Your health care system.

Your income inequality.

Your education system.

Your country... is... a dumpster fire.

[Teenwolf]

Teenwolf -

I dont believe in flat earth. - in fact its not possible given what we know.
I believe that we have been to the moon - though some of the camera work is extremely suspicious.
I also believe that there is intelligent life beyond ours.
I believe that there was intelligence on this planet dating back longer than what we have been taught in school. Why because there is significant evidence that it is true (but that is more for a different thread.

You accuse me of playing devils advocate and I say - I am only taking the spoken word of an individual that was interviewed. HE is the one stating that people came from all over the country. I am taking him at his word, because I have no reason to suspect him to be untruthful. He is celebrating and trying to explain what/how it happened in his "joy". Is it possible that he meant "counties" instead of "country"? Certainly!

I am not gullible - I am looking at the factual statement of someone that seems to have been there. Funny - he doesnt talk with a southern accent either.

The guy in the video has already been investigated. He's from Alabama.

Any other questions?

[Fresno Bob]

Yeah thats a really mature pile of Bullshit..........

I find it very mature to pay for the things I use, anything else stinks of, dare I say it, socialism. Please do make it very clear when you send Jason money. I will as well, then we'll know who is all talk, and who puts their money where their mouth is.

[Fresno Bob]

I’m happy to tell dickheaded presumptuous asshats how much I support the site, if that’s the penis measuring test we’ve come to! I hope you trump hating dough bags out fund us because we’re few in number and we’re apparently throwing away money supporting an echo chamber.

please do! Supporting things you use makes America great, unlike those takers in other countries

[Fresno Bob]

I believe that there was intelligence on this planet dating back longer than what we have been taught in school. Why because there is significant evidence that it is true (but that is more for a different thread.

depends on what you were taught in school, are you talking hominids or something else

[baldgriff]

The guy in the video has already been investigated. He's from Alabama.

Any other questions?

I have not question that the individual is from Alabama according to https://www.washingtonpost.com/natio...=.c6f5d4c71f8b

The fact is that he is from Alabama. That is great - I am still curious about his statement that they came from all over the nation to vote and canvass. It is a really weird statement - dont you find it an odd statement that he says people came from all over the country to vote, rather than the state?

I have already said more than once that voter fraud is probably impossible to actually prove, unless you have more votes than actual population able to vote. In this case its simple - find the guy, check his ID and validate he is from the state. Great that seems to have been done. Did anyone ask him what he meant - I dont see that covered anywhere. Of course, thats not really important is it?

[Gregg]

I find it very mature to pay for the things I use, anything else stinks of, dare I say it, socialism. Please do make it very clear when you send Jason money. I will as well, then we'll know who is all talk, and who puts their money where their mouth is.

Maybe some like to help without announcing or bragging.

[baldgriff]

I find it very mature to pay for the things I use, anything else stinks of, dare I say it, socialism. Please do make it very clear when you send Jason money. I will as well, then we'll know who is all talk, and who puts their money where their mouth is.

You dont seem to understand where my avatar comes from?? Last year one of our moderators called someone out because of their lack of monetary support. I called that bullshit out. Donations and support to the site are meant to be kept from the public view. So lets just stop with the dick swinging - its just not kosher.

[baldgriff]

Your prison system.
--- I agree the prison system is a mess. While I believe in free markets, I dont believe that this should be a marketplace - this should be something the government takes care of. The creation of privatized prisons has created a conflict of interest where it is more profitable for some to actually look to implement new laws as a way of looking for more business.

Your health care system.
--- I agree that our health care system is screwed up. I am not certain that single payer is the solution, unless there is supplemental insurance that can be purchased. My problem with the "system" is that I cant actually shop around for a price. I live in AZ and as an example my friends wife went to Mexico to have medical procedures done there because it was cheaper to have it done there, than pay their "portion" through their insurance.

Your income inequality.
--- Income inequality in my mind is a misnomer/talking point. If you dont put in the time to gain applicable job skills then you are limiting your marketability and earning potential. Some jobs pay more than others. Managers get paid more than entry level. Senior managers get paid more than managers. This is most frequently due to experience and training. Keep in mind in the US there are plenty of jobs that pay good wages that go unfilled - if someone took the time to get a trade skill - they would be in demand for plenty of job opportunities.

Your education system.
--- I agree that our educational system is in disarray. My concern is that we are now teaching to a test standard, and not teaching kids life skills that they can apply in the real world. Our biggest economic concern should be the billions of dollars in student loans that are going to default. Why will they default? Because we have been sold a meme that everyone should go to college. Way to many kids that are not actually college material are going to college and getting into obscene debt before even having a job. Then get out of school and find it difficult to find a job that will pay enough to cover their life expenses, let alone their loan payments.

Why should everyone go to college? Because the government is the biggest lender of student debt.

Your country... is... a dumpster fire.
---If the US is a dumpster fire - then what do you call Venezuela?

Any other questions?

[Fresno Bob]

Maybe some like to help without announcing or bragging.

more likely the people I'm thinking of like to talk a big game on self-reliance, then go for the free ride whenever they can, I call it selfish and hypocritical, need I say "Trumpian". To me its like claiming you are a great businessman and dealmaker, then screwing subcontractors and declaring bankruptcy 3 times. Sure you can do it, but the stink of it should stay with you and not be forgotten

[Fresno Bob]

You dont seem to understand where my avatar comes from?? Last year one of our moderators called someone out because of their lack of monetary support. I called that bullshit out. Donations and support to the site are meant to be kept from the public view. So lets just stop with the dick swinging - its just not kosher.

nobility doesn't keep the lights on, paying up does. You be Spartacus, I'll be Rome