The Trump Presidency 15

[Andy_Ross]

Compare the demeanour and comments from Trump to Putin with those of May.

 

[Andy_Ross]

President Trump:

All of the leaders have come up and said it's incredible what's happened with the United States and they congratulate me and congratulate the people of the United States.

 

[autumn1971]

Except for bovine tuberculosis, you can't get TB by eating the organisms.

Well, Trump is composed of 98% ********

 

[Stacyhs]

Sigh. There are so many areas in life where other people's actions and beliefs seem to me to be so obviously wrong they must be crazy, but they do them anyway. People smoke cigarettes, wear brown shoes with black pants, vote for Trump, prefer wine to beer, believe in a miaphysite nature of Christ, watch action films, go under the water when swimming, and stand up to wipe. I find all those things completely mad, cannot imagine myself ever doing any of them, and yet millions of other people do them repeatedly without thinking them the least bit wrong. So I've learned not to project my sense of what's sensible onto the general public. People are crazy, and liable to do anything.

As usual, you made me laugh! I also find all those things crazy...well...except for the wine over beer part. I like beer, but I love wine. I guess we're all allowed one 'crazy'.

 

[Stacyhs]

President Trump:

All of the leaders have come up and said it's incredible what's happened with the United States and they congratulate me and congratulate the people of the United States.

Sure they have, Donnie. Sure they have.

 

[Ladewig]

President Trump:
“All of the leaders have come up and said it's incredible what's happened with the United States and they congratulate me and congratulate the people of the United States.”

I was wondering why the president claimed that “all the leaders” wanted to congratulate the people of the US. Then I realized that in President Trump’s fanciful imagination, these world leaders are congratulating the American people for selecting President Trump .

How do people not see how full of BS this guy is?

 

[The Great Zaganza]

I don't care one bit about by how much Trump loses in 2020.
Heck, I would be ok with him winning if in return all of Congress turns blue.

 

[Stacyhs]

President Trump:
“All of the leaders have come up and said it's incredible what's happened with the United States and they congratulate me and congratulate the people of the United States.”

I was wondering why the president claimed that “all the leaders” wanted to congratulate the people of the US. Then I realized that in President Trump’s fanciful imagination, these world leaders are congratulating the American people for selecting President Trump .

How do people not see how full of BS this guy is?

Confirmation bias and willful blindness are powerful things. But don't discount the amount of sheer stupidity involved either.

“I don’t believe that,” she said, joining in with the verbal assault on HuffPost for daring to challenge Trump’s version of reality. “I don’t believe he would lie like that.”

Four days later and 600 miles northwest awaiting Trump’s rally at Pensacola airport, Gene Ponder, a high school government and politics teacher in Daphne, Alabama, wound up arguing that there was no real difference between having built a wall and falsely claiming to have built one.

“It’s a matter of semantics,” he said, and pointed out that falsely claiming to have built a wall was an effective campaign tool. “It’s wonderful campaigning for the Republican Party in congressional seats around the country, to stimulate the base.”

“He doesn’t like fake news. Why would he say things that are not true?” asked Barbara Guzman, who owns a label-making business in nearby Cape Coral. “Most of the things he says I agree with, and I believe.”

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/dona...-midterm-elections_n_5bdf78dde4b04367a87dacf5

 

[JoeMorgue]

I don't care one bit about by how much Trump loses in 2020.
Heck, I would be ok with him winning if in return all of Congress turns blue.

I'm halfway on this.

Right now, and I've been saying this for a minute the big issue for me is the Supreme Court. Gorsch and Kavanaugh give us a minimum of a 5-4 majority conservative (which unlike the old days can't be totally separated from the Republican Party) SCOTUS for the foreseeable future, and while Roberts, Alto, and Thomas are not, Gorsch and Kavanaugh are straight party men through and through. Right now the only thing stopping us from effectively living in a theocracy is Chief Justice Roberts occasionally breaking from ranks and having moments of sanity.

The one lasting effect Trump is gonna have regardless of anything we do at this point, is that we have lost the Supreme Court, probably for the length of many of our life times. Everything else he's done can be undone almost as fast as it was done. That's the upside to so much of his decision making coming via "Make it happen" executive orders, the next President can undue all of that in an afternoon with a jar of Wite-Out.

But Trump gets another term and it's all but certain he's gonna get to pick at least one more nominee, and that person is going to be either Ginsburg or Breyer or both. Sorry I don't like it, but that's just playing to the odds. If Trump makes it to 2024 as President we could easily wind up with Kagen and Sotomeyer as the last two liberal judges on the bench. With a 7-2 majority, 4 of them being YesMen to Trump, any pretense of even pretending to hear liberal arguments in cases would go out the window.

Now the question is which is better: Trump to pick nominees and a Dem controlled Senate to block them or a Dem President having to get Justices past a GOP controlled Senate.

I'm leaning (not fully married to just leaning) toward it's better to have a Dem President and a Republican Congress. Trump would just nominate who ever he wanted and that would be it, there would be no changing his mind. We would either have a 5-3 Republican Majority while he stonewalled or a 6-3 Majority after he pushed his nominee through. Hell he'd probably pick a nominee who's sole quality was pissing of the liberals just for the drama and trolling of it all.

A Democratic President facing a GOP Congress would have better (not good mind you just better) chances of making a smart choice of a liberal leaning nominee... with or two things they could sell the GOP on.

Now I could be 100% wrong about this, full stop. But regardless of how we do it preventing a further entrenchment of conservatives in the Supreme Court and making gains at the state legislature level should be the Democratic Party two overwhelming goals, in my opinion.

Whether or not the better way of doing that is a Democratic President or a Democratic Senate is a matter of fair debate.

(It goes without saying that a Democratic President and Democratic Senate would be best, but honestly I don't see that.)

 

[The Atheist]

Oh, and calling Trump's win in 2016 a "waltz to victory" completely ignores how close it was and a lot of shady stuff going on.

In no way does that qualify as a "waltz".

Nice little strawman you've built there. I'll give you a hand to set fire to it when you can't quote someone saying it.

I've said before: your comprehension are as bad as you allege your maths skills are good. I did not say that anywhere, nor even give the impression of thinking it. You've either straight-out made it up, or haven't understood what you've read, and I'm being kind by suggesting the latter.

 

[Segnosaur]

I want to see Trump lose, and not just by a few percentage points... I want to see him utterly humiliated, and I want to see the entire republican party dragged down with him, followed by at least a decade of them being shut out from any hint of power, as a warning to them that picking a racist con-artist as your leader and engaging in underhanded shenanigans can lead to ruin.

Given how unvarying his 40-42% is, your dream will not happen, I'm way past sorry to tell you.

In my opinion, a loss at 40-42% would be rather humiliating for the republicans (especially if its over multiple elections).

Yeah, the republicans would still win some of the more racist states, but at a 60-40% split, they would likely lose every swing state, every purple state, and perhaps even a few of the reliably red states, like Arizona.

 

[Lurch]

To me, Trump's popularity is no mystery. He's the kind of vacuous vessel the GOP can use to get their conservative judges installed (and conservative policies enacted.) As a Canadian, I was until a few years ago kind of aware of the importance Americans placed upon the political stripe of their judges. That's been driven home with awesome force these past three.

With the minority Republicans well aware of their potentially parlous situation, all manner of dirty tricks are deemed fair game in quest of their goals. Trump is the preeminent enabler and hence in some respects a godsend. With the fish rotting from the head, and the leash cast away, the Republican machine has license to surge forward in pursuit of their hearts desires. The first, it appears to me, is the stuffing of the Judiciary with "their" judges. So that in spite of their smaller number, they can better maintain a stranglehold on power.

The conservative American on the street knows this, at least dimly. And their fear of the browning/liberalizing of the country makes them a ready instrument for the likes of a Trump. They will withstand all manner of insult to the nation (and their own sensibilities) if only he will allay those fears.

 

[Safe-Keeper]

Yes, its true... Trump's popularity is under water. However, that doesn't mean we should feel happy or comfortable about the situation.

After years of scandal after scandal, after a Mueller report that pointed out evidence of various crimes, and after the most recent rape accusation, his popularity is not only stable but GOING UP.

I take solace in the fact that both Nixon and Bill's ratings went up while they were in crisis.

 

[Segnosaur]

Right now, and I've been saying this for a minute the big issue for me is the Supreme Court. Gorsch and Kavanaugh give us a minimum of a 5-4 majority conservative (which unlike the old days can't be totally separated from the Republican Party) SCOTUS for the foreseeable future, and while Roberts, Alto, and Thomas are not, Gorsch and Kavanaugh are straight party men through and through. Right now the only thing stopping us from effectively living in a theocracy is Chief Justice Roberts occasionally breaking from ranks and having moments of sanity.

I wonder how Retired Judge Kennedy feels about the current makeup of the supreme court.

He had been the 'swing vote' on a lot of issues, but now that he's retired, he's been replaced by Drunky McRapeface, and the supreme court is currently looked at in quite a negative way by a lot of the population. I wonder if he know what would happen post-retirement whether he would have decided to stick around a few more years with the hope that whomever replaces Stubby McBonespurs would appoint someone a bit more moderate.

 

[JoeMorgue]

I wonder how Retired Kennedy feels about the current makeup of the supreme court.

He had been the 'swing vote' on a lot of issues, but now that he's retired, he's been replaced by Drunky McRapeface, and the supreme court is currently looked at in quite a negative way by a lot of the population. I wonder if he know what would happen post-retirement whether he would have decided to stick around a few more years with the hope that whomever replaces Stubby McBonespurs would appoint someone a bit more moderate.

And that's why traditionally I never worried about SCOTUS all that much. Until recently both parties had put nominees on the bench only to have them at least on rare occasions break ranks. SCOTUS was the least tribal of the 3 branches and occasional exceptions aside (*cough* 2000 election *cough) very few of their choices carried the stench of "doing it to protect the party" so even when I disagreed, even vehemently, with a SCOTUS decision they didn't feel "dirty" or "shady."

But now... not so much.

 

[Segnosaur]

I wonder how Retired Kennedy feels about the current makeup of the supreme court.

He had been the 'swing vote' on a lot of issues, but now that he's retired, he's been replaced by Drunky McRapeface, and the supreme court is currently looked at in quite a negative way by a lot of the population. I wonder if he know what would happen post-retirement whether he would have decided to stick around a few more years with the hope that whomever replaces Stubby McBonespurs would appoint someone a bit more moderate.

And that's why traditionally I never worried about SCOTUS all that much. Until recently both parties had put nominees on the bench only to have them at least on rare occasions break ranks. SCOTUS was the least tribal of the 3 branches and occasional exceptions aside (*cough* 2000 election *cough) very few of their choices carried the stench of "doing it to protect the party" so even when I disagreed, even vehemently, with a SCOTUS decision they didn't feel "dirty" or "shady."

But now... not so much.

Also, consider that until 2000, almost all presidents also happened to win the popular vote, so any selected nominees could reasonably be seen as reflecting the public mood. However, since then, the republicans have managed to win 2 elections despite losing the popular vote. (Legally it doesn't really make a difference, but morally, it does mean that whatever the president doesn't necessarily act with the approval of the citizens.)

 

[Tsukasa Buddha]

As the two leaders sat down for their first meeting in nearly a year, a reporter asked Trump if he would warn Putin not to meddle in America’s upcoming 2020 election.

“Of course,” the president replied. Then he turned to Putin and facetiously said, “Don’t meddle in the election.” He playfully repeated the request while pointing at Putin, who laughed.

...

The two leaders also bonded Friday over their mutual disdain for “fake news.”

Trump eyed the reporters at a photo opportunity with the Russian leader and told him, “Get rid of them, fake news. You don’t have the problem in Russia. We have it; you don’t have it.”

Putin responded, “Yes, yes, we have it. The same.”

Linky.

The President trolling us on election security and freedom of the press with his dictator BFF.

 

[Ladewig]

To me, Trump's popularity is no mystery. He's the kind of vacuous vessel the GOP can use to get their conservative judges installed (and conservative policies enacted.) As a Canadian, I was until a few years ago kind of aware of the importance Americans placed upon the political stripe of their judges. That's been driven home with awesome force these past three.

With the minority Republicans well aware of their potentially parlous situation, all manner of dirty tricks are deemed fair game in quest of their goals. Trump is the preeminent enabler and hence in some respects a godsend. With the fish rotting from the head, and the leash cast away, the Republican machine has license to surge forward in pursuit of their hearts desires. The first, it appears to me, is the stuffing of the Judiciary with "their" judges. So that in spite of their smaller number, they can better maintain a stranglehold on power.

The conservative American on the street knows this, at least dimly. And their fear of the browning/liberalizing of the country makes them a ready instrument for the likes of a Trump. They will withstand all manner of insult to the nation (and their own sensibilities) if only he will allay those fears.

That does seem a reasonable explanation.

Some folks on the board have previously hypothesized that a measurable number of President Trump’s supporters know he is BSing, but they see how much the BS upsets the liberals and the supporters take pleasure in that. I think it was summed up as the he-was-hired-to-be-a-troll theory.

 

[Solitaire]

It looks like Trump has hit his highest popularity rating to date at only -6.7%.

https://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/other/president_trump_job_approval-6179.html

Four more years, easy.

From the looks of it, I'll say 66.6 million votes for Trump, and 65.5 million votes
for the democratic candidate. In the last election Trump raised about 250 million
dollars, this election his campaign manager has a billion dollar budget planned.

Still it's early in the process. But I wonder, where are the twenty republican
candidates for president? Shouldn't we at least hear a name or two in the press?

 

[Andy_Ross]

Trump Tweets

After some very important meetings, including my meeting with President Xi of China, I will be leaving Japan for South Korea (with President Moon). While there, if Chairman Kim of North Korea sees this, I would meet him at the Border/DMZ just to shake his hand and say Hello(?)!