President Donald Trump

[The Feral Slasher]

So what is your point? Didn't Obama get us out of two wars that were started under Republican Presidents? It's the Republicans who are always pushing for higher military spending, as we can see in the current budget negotiations and as Trump made clear on the campaign trail, not the Democrats.

Starting with posts 3469, 3472, 3474, and 3492 i hopefully was making a clear and consistent point, but it's certainly possible I wasn't. I'll try to make it again. If a person or Democrat is interested in reducing (wasteful) military spending, they are more likely to have success or achieve their goals by speaking up when the Democrats are in office, because the desire for reduced military spending is not embraced by Trump specifically and many/most Republicans in general. Complaining about wasteful military spending right now isn't likely to change anything, at least when Democrats are in office there is a better chance that the viewpoint will be considered.

I think this is entirely consistent with your comment:

" It's the Republicans who are always pushing for higher military spending, as we can see in the current budget negotiations and as Trump made clear on the campaign trail, not the Democrats."

I further indicated that I don't think Obama did a good job of reducing military spending, and I feel part of this is because Democrats were not willing to push him on this, but rather accepted and defended his actions. This is apparently where we have a disagreement. We both have shown numbers that support different conclusions about whether Obama reduced military spending. You are correct that he reduced yearly spending over the last half of his administration, however, it is also true that if you look at the entire term, he significantly increased spending compared to Bush. In my opinion the overall level of military spending was way too high, and there was a lot of money wasted on Afghanistan and other actions such as Syria.

To answer your question "Didn't Obama get us out of two wars that were started under Republican Presidents? " is more complicated. I think that statement greatly simplifies the Afghanistan situation, in a way that is overly favorable to Obama. It also doesn't address Syria and Libya and Obama's overall affirmation of Bush's vision of the Global War on Terror, although with some differences between the two administrations. That might be a good topic for discussion in another thread.

[The Feral Slasher]

Starting with posts 3469, 3472, 3474, and 3492 i hopefully was making a clear and consistent point, but it's certainly possible I wasn't. I'll try to make it again. If a person or Democrat is interested in reducing (wasteful) military spending, they are more likely to have success or achieve their goals by speaking up when the Democrats are in office, because the desire for reduced military spending is not embraced by Trump specifically and many/most Republicans in general. Complaining about wasteful military spending right now isn't likely to change anything, at least when Democrats are in office there is a better chance that the viewpoint will be considered.

.

And I'll note that there certainly are Republicans who are believe military spending is too high...it is not a clear cut issue between the parties. Had to get this in before Chance called me a Crawfish.

[Hornsby]

Man, a guy makes one half assed comment and look what happens.

To be fair, I think that as a general rule, military spending really can't be constrained, it'll drift up and down by billions here and there (yes, billions in a military budget can be somewhat easy to overlook), but essentially, as to my initial point, it'll increase under either party as long as we're the world's policeman.

That's MY take BTW...

[The Feral Slasher]

Man, a guy makes one half assed comment and look what happens.

To be fair, I think that as a general rule, military spending really can't be constrained, it'll drift up and down by billions here and there (yes, billions in a military budget can be somewhat easy to overlook), but essentially, as to my initial point, it'll increase under either party as long as we're the world's policeman.

That's MY take BTW...

next time i think i will just let it go. : )

[Hornsby]

next time i think i will just let it go. : )

I think that may be a sound path to take with anything that I might post.

[chancellor]

And I'll note that there certainly are Republicans who are believe military spending is too high...it is not a clear cut issue between the parties. Had to get this in before Chance called me a Crawfish.

I'd never sink to such a denigrating insult. I'd at least call you a Feral Crawfish.

Actually, that's sounds like a darn good zydeco band name.

[The Feral Slasher]

I'd never sink to such a denigrating insult. I'd at least call you a Feral Crawfish.

Actually, that's sounds like a darn good zydeco band name.

The Feral Crawfish, if you please. And someone beat you to it.

[Redbirds Fan]

The Feral Crawfish, if you please. And someone beat you to it.

Good to see some respect for intellectual property rights around this joint.

[The Feral Slasher]

Good to see some respect for intellectual property rights around this joint.

I kinda like it, would change my name if i could

[revo]

Shocker, he's not releasing the Democratic rebuttal memo.

For a guy who says he has nothing to hide, he sure looks like someone who has a lot to hide.

[Hornsby]

Shocker, he's not releasing the Democratic rebuttal memo.

For a guy who says he has nothing to hide, he sure looks like someone who has a lot to hide.

God, for a guy who fancies himself a genius, he's dully predictable. Only 98% of the public who follows current events could see this one coming down the freeway...and he hides behind his own Justice Department, who also pleaded for the Nunes Memo not to be released.

[The Feral Slasher]

This seems like an easy win for the president... Anyone who is against it is unpatriotic and hates our military, while he donates his paychecks to VA hospitals. It doesn't even have to come to fruition, anyone who comes out and complains is a target now... and if it does come to fruition, the protests will just be another example of how progressives hate america and everything it stands for. WIN-WIN!

Just ran across this today...are you Matt Latimer ?

https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2018/02/07/trumps-parade-is-political-genius-216949

As with many of his Republican predecessors, Trump has effectively tapped into the sense among millions of Americans that pride in the United States is diminishing, not only abroad but at home. Many of his supporters share a sentiment that D.C., N.Y. and L.A. “elites” are embarrassed about our country and our achievements. This is why, as a candidate for the White House, Trump frequently lambasted President Barack Obama for his alleged global “apology tour.” It’s why he’s waded into the protection of Confederate monuments and claimed that George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and Abraham Lincoln might be the next to go. This is why he literally embraced the American flag. It’s why he made such a big deal about NFL players kneeling during the national anthem, so much so that he’s almost achieving the unthinkable—turning some red-blooded Republican men against football.

The president’s State of the Union was pockmarked with so many tributes to American symbols—our flag, our motto, our anthem—that you almost expected him to bring out a freshly baked apple pie and start eating it midspeech. So much of what Trump does seem random, but all of this has a clear purpose. Trump understands, perhaps instinctively, that an appeal to national pride like calling for a gleaming, glorious military spectacle touches a nerve with many Americans.

At the same time, the president is overtly tying his administration to the most popular institution in our nation—perhaps the only popular institution left—the United States military. More to the point, he’s daring Democrats, and their allies in the media, to stand apart and oppose it. By doing so, Democratic leaders appear either as killjoys complaining about excessive costs (as if frugality were a Democratic Party hallmark) or as diminishing the achievements of the military or the need to publicly extol them. All in all, it’s a pretty clever trap.

[fuhrdog]

I think he just likes to spend money.

[revo]

I think he just likes to spend money.

What happened to all the fiscal conservatives and budget hawks? And the party of fiscal responsibility? Jeez louise.

[revo]

MAGA!

"President Donald Trump's businesses don’t seem too concerned about “America First."

A Vox analysis of hiring records for seasonal workers at three Trump properties in New York and Florida revealed that only one out of 144 jobs went to a US worker from 2016 to the end of 2017. Foreign guest workers with H-2B visas got the rest."

https://www.vox.com/2018/2/13/16466542/trump-h-2b-guest-workers