Trump 2.0 won't be as bad as they say

[seayakin]

There is a really good Freakonomics podcast where Eric Posner is interviewed. Eric Posner is not so fearful of a dictatorship being installed but really just basic incompetence that will mean the Trump administration will be horrible for the economy and foreign relations but lacking any ability to install himself as a dictator or even a quasi-dictator. Posner notes that dictators are usually smarter and more capable than Trump. Also, for this to work it would require the Republicans to participate wholly and have control of Congress with a 60% majority in the Senate. None of this is likely. However, I would envision very bad things for the economy and US foreign relations.

 

[The Great Zaganza]

Why would he wait for replacement, as opposed to just adding extra judges?

so what?
The Court is already heavy on republicans, so that would change nothing.

But it would invites Democrats to pack the Court the other way.

 

[Steve]

The man is ******* insane! And anyone who thinks that they can predict what he will do is almost as nuts as him.

 

[Ziggurat]

There is a really good Freakonomics podcast where Eric Posner is interviewed. Eric Posner is not so fearful of a dictatorship being installed but really just basic incompetence

Does Eric think what we have now constitutes competence?

If so, I think I can start discounting his judgment about, well, everything.

 

[johnny karate]

Are you claiming that there aren't? Are you claiming that the only thing that prevents Biden from becoming the tyrant you think Trump will become is his good instincts?

Because if you think that's the current situation, if you think that we only haven't turned into a dictatorship because the presidents so far have been unwilling to, then the problem really isn't Trump, the problem is the system itself. And I don't see you addressing that problem.

I think that we shouldn’t let someone who explicitly wants to be a dictator anywhere near the Oval Office, despite how much his supporters assure us everything will be fine. Calculating the odds of success doesn’t much interest me.

 

[johnny karate]

Does Eric think what we have now constitutes competence?

If so, I think I can start discounting his judgment about, well, everything.

Criticisms of the current administration from someone who gives Trump a pass are laughable. You can’t look at the Trump years with a shrug and then expect people to ever take you seriously when you try to criticize Biden or any other democrat.

 

[Steve]

I really doubt that.
That would mean ripping up the constituion, and even some GOPers will balk at that.

But his supreme court may not.

 

[I Am The Scum]

I really doubt that.
That would mean ripping up the constituion, and even some GOPers will balk at that.

Of course they would! And then they would get over it, just like they got over January 6.

 

[seayakin]

Does Eric think what we have now constitutes competence?

If so, I think I can start discounting his judgment about, well, everything.

He has criticized the current administration but if I understood everything he said, there is a marked difference in the level of competence and capability of Trump vs Biden. He specifically mentions how horribly Trump managed people, how he could not get any of his agenda passed when Congress was controlled by Republicans. He cited his only real success was in appointing judges. He also meantioned that if you measure the success of a president by their ability to get their agenda implemented Biden is far more successful.

 

[angrysoba]

Of course they would! And then they would get over it, just like they got over January 6.

Yep. I can see the pained expressions on the faces of the GOP as they try their best to look as though they are not exactly in favour of upending the constitution but, hey, they’ve come this far so what can you do?

 

[thaiboxerken]

If Trump wins, it's game over for the USA democracy experiment. Trump will pass away, which is JD Vance's hope. JD Vance will be the POTUS and he will wield the power of MAGA and the government in more dangerous way that Trump could. It will be apartheid.

 

[Ziggurat]

He has criticized the current administration but if I understood everything he said, there is a marked difference in the level of competence and capability of Trump vs Biden. He specifically mentions how horribly Trump managed people, how he could not get any of his agenda passed when Congress was controlled by Republicans. He cited his only real success was in appointing judges. He also meantioned that if you measure the success of a president by their ability to get their agenda implemented Biden is far more successful.

That's hardly the only metric of competence, and I'm not even sure it's the most important one. Our Afghanistan withdrawl was incompetence writ large.

 

[thaiboxerken]

That's hardly the only metric of competence, and I'm not even sure it's the most important one. Our Afghanistan withdrawl was incompetence writ large.

Yes, it was due to Trump's incompetence.

 

[Ziggurat]

Yes, it was due to Trump's incompetence.

Who do you think you're fooling besides yourself?

 

[thaiboxerken]

"The Trump administration in February 2020 negotiated a withdrawal agreement with the Taliban that excluded the Afghan government, freed 5,000 imprisoned Taliban soldiers and set a date certain of May 1, 2021, for the final withdrawal.

And the Trump administration kept to the pact, reducing U.S. troop levels from about 13,000 to 2,500, even though the Taliban continued to attack Afghan government forces and welcomed al-Qaeda terrorists into the Taliban leadership."

https://www.factcheck.org/2021/08/timeline-of-u-s-withdrawal-from-afghanistan/

To be fair, Biden is not without fault. However, he was trying make the best out of a situation that Trump created.



In fact, Trump bragged that he created the scenario:

June 26 — At a rally in Ohio, his first since leaving office, Trump boasts that Biden can’t stop the process he started to remove troops from Afghanistan, and acknowledges the Afghan government won’t last once U.S. troops leave.

“I started the process,” Trump says. “All the troops are coming back home. They [the Biden administration] couldn’t stop the process. 21 years is enough. Don’t we think? 21 years. They couldn’t stop the process. They wanted to, but it was very tough to stop the process when other things… It’s a shame. 21 years, by a government that wouldn’t last. The only way they last is if we’re there. What are we going to say? We’ll stay for another 21 years, then we’ll stay for another 50. The whole thing is ridiculous. … We’re bringing troops back home from Afghanistan.”

 

[johnny karate]

That's hardly the only metric of competence, and I'm not even sure it's the most important one. Our Afghanistan withdrawl was incompetence writ large.

“Incompetence writ large” isn’t very meaningful from someone who said this about the Trump presidency:

And you've been playing chicken little for nine years, but the sky never actually fell.

Seems you’ve really boxed yourself in with all the Trump apologism.

 

[a_unique_person]

That's hardly the only metric of competence, and I'm not even sure it's the most important one. Our Afghanistan withdrawl was incompetence writ large.

Can a politician create a mess so big their following leaders can't get out of it.


Yes. How was America supposed to get out of Afghanistan? In theory the NEOCONS had created a stable government that would be able to defend themselves when the Americans withdrew. In practice the moment the Americans pulled out it collapsed overnight. The same happened in other countries where America has created unpopular governments.


Biden ripped the bandage off.

 

[stanfr]

Rush was never part of the system. The system is the government.

They're symbiotic! One of the most laughable things about Trumpists is that when you point out to them that Trump is neither Republican nor Conservative, and that the Reagans, Bushes, Cheneys, Romneys McCains, etc etc all denounce him, they respond "Hahahaha--you don't get it--those guys are all part of the swamp!"
And that's their shallow level of understanding in a nutshell. They sincerely believe Trump is 'outside' the system (even though he played it to his every advantage) and so he is their savior. Forgetting completely that he is every bit the politician that a Reagan was or any other political figure. They'd rather listen to Hulk Hogan than Jesse Ventura cause Hogan never held office. It's pure stupidity.

 

[Stacyhs]

They're symbiotic! One of the most laughable things about Trumpists is that when you point out to them that Trump is neither Republican nor Conservative, and that the Reagans, Bushes, Cheneys, Romneys McCains, etc etc all denounce him, they respond "Hahahaha--you don't get it--those guys are all part of the swamp!"
And that's their shallow level of understanding in a nutshell. They sincerely believe Trump is 'outside' the system (even though he played it to his every advantage) and so he is their savior. Forgetting completely that he is every bit the politician that a Reagan was or any other political figure. They'd rather listen to Hulk Hogan than Jesse Ventura cause Hogan never held office. It's pure stupidity.

Stupidity is a major component of being MAGA.

 

[I Am The Scum]

Trying to understand things is how we got into this mess in the first place