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Donald Trump, the road that might not lead to the White House!

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How Barack Obama paved the way for Donald Trump | Gary Younge

“Racism’s role should not be underplayed, but its impact can arguably be overstated. While Trump evidently emboldened existing racists, it’s not obvious that he created new ones. He received the same proportion of the white vote as Mitt Romney in 2012 and George W Bush in 2004. It does not follow that because Trump’s racism was central to his meaning for liberals, it was necessarily central to his appeal for Republicans.

There is a deeper connection, however, between Trump’s rise and what Obama did – or rather didn’t do – economically. He entered the White House at a moment of economic crisis, with Democratic majorities in both Houses and bankers on the back foot. Faced with the choice of preserving the financial industry as it was or embracing far-reaching reforms that would have served the interests of those who voted for him, he chose the former.

Just a couple of months into his first term he called a meeting of banking executives. “The president had us at a moment of real vulnerability,” one of them told Ron Suskind in his book Confidence Men. “At that point, he could have ordered us to do just about anything and we would have rolled over. But he didn’t – he mostly wanted to help us out, to quell the mob.” People lost their homes while bankers kept their bonuses and banks kept their profits.”

If Obama had done something, anything, different at that point in history is anything like Trump's electoral victory conceivable?
 
Trump isn’t even in office yet, and already he and his supporters in Congress are making moves to silence dissent through intimidation. Any hope that he was simply going to be a terrible president who still leaves our democracy mostly intact, like George W. Bush, is flying out the window.

As the last institution standing that has any real power to resist Trump’s authoritarian agenda, the media must not give in to these scare tactics. Journalists need to stand up for each other and for anyone, including federal officials, who uses their right to express dissent or criticism of the Trump administration. It’s a cliché, but one that matters now: Stand together or we fall separately.

Sorry, liberals: Donald Trump really means what he says — and plans to silence and intimidate dissenters
 
When Donald Trump named his Treasury secretary, Teena Colebrook felt her heart sink.


She had voted for the president-elect on the belief that he would knock the moneyed elites from their perch in Washington, D.C. And she knew Trump’s pick for Treasury Steven Mnuchin all too well.

OneWest, a bank formerly owned by a group of investors headed by Mnuchin, had foreclosed on her Los Angeles-area home in the aftermath of the Great Recession, stripping her of the two units she rented as a primary source of income.

“I just wish that I had not voted,” said Colebrook, 59. “I have no faith in our government anymore at all. They all promise you the world at the end of a stick and take it away once they get in.”

Less than a month after his presidential win, Trump’s populist appeal has started to clash with a Cabinet of billionaires and millionaires that he believes can energize economic growth.

Donald Trump voter who lost her home to new Treasury pick Steven Mnuchin has “no faith in our government anymore”
 
If Obama had done something, anything, different at that point in history is anything like Trump's electoral victory conceivable?

Trumps electoral victory was barely conceivable for many in the situation we actually got (including me), let alone under various hypothetical situations which feature Obama behaving atypically.
 
Poll: Donald Trump approval still low as inauguration looms

Just a week away from Donald Trump’s inauguration, Americans are still expressing historically low approval for the president-elect’s handling of the transition.

According to a Gallup poll released Friday, more than half of people (51 percent of those surveyed) said they “disapprove” of Mr. Trump’s transition performance. Just 44 percent expressed approval of the president-elect, who has faced a number of controversies in the weeks following his Nov. 8 win. That’s a drop of four percentage points from the 48 percent of people that approved of the president-elect in early December. Four percent of those polled say they have no opinion on the issue
 
Monica Crowley, plagiarist picked to join Donald Trump’s national security team, bows out

Monica Crowley, the political commentator and Donald Trump fan who was picked to join his national security team, is declining the job, according to reports.

After taking the position, Crowley’s history of plagiarizing came to light. As CNN noted in investigations, Crowley lifted passages from scholarly works throughout her adult life.

“After much reflection I have decided to remain in New York to pursue other opportunities and will not be taking a position in the incoming administration,” Crowley told the Washington Times. “I greatly appreciate being asked to be part of President-elect Trump’s team and I will continue to enthusiastically support him and his agenda for American renewal.”

Monica Crowley, plagiarist picked to join Donald Trump’s national security team, bows out
 

Hints of another coming trade war.


"Chaffetz is threatening to subpoena Walter Shaub, director of the Office of Government Ethics, because Shaub correctly described Trump’s efforts to reduce his conflicts of interest as “meaningless"

It's going to be worse than most people imagined.
And I won't even pretend to understand America, but the police and military seem to be on the side of the extreme right?
Be more than pleased if someone can correct me?
 
Come out for the Domhnall, ye brave men and proud,
The scion of Torquil and best of MacLeod!
With purpose and strength he came down from his tower
To snatch from a tyrant his ill-gotten power.
Now the cry has gone up with a cheer from the crowd:
“Come out for the Domhnall, the best of MacLeod!”
When freedom is threatened by slavery’s chains
And voices are silenced as misery reigns,
We’ll come out for a leader whose courage is true
Whose virtues are solid and long overdue.
For, he’ll never forget us, we men of the crowd
Who elected the Domhnall, the best of MacLeod!
When crippling corruption polluted our nation
And plunged our economy into stagnation,
As self-righteous rogues took the opulent office
And plump politicians reneged on their promise,
The forgotten continued to form a great crowd
That defended the Domhnall, the best of MacLeod!
The Domhnall’s a giver whilst others just take,
Ne’er gaining from that which his hands did not make.
A builder of buildings, employing good men,
He’s enriched many cities by factors of ten.
The honest and true gladly march with the crowd
Standing up for the Domhnall, the best of MacLeod!
True friend of the migrant from both far and near,
He welcomes the worthy, but guards our frontier,
Lest a murderous horde, for whom hell is the norm,
Should threaten our lives and our nation deform.
We immigrants hasten to swell the great crowd
Coming out for the Domhnall, the best of MacLeod!
Academe now lies dead, the old order rots,
No longer policing our words and our thoughts;
Its ignorant hirelings pretending to teach
Are backward in vision, sophomoric in speech.
Now we learnèd of mind add ourselves to the crowd
That cheers on the Domhnall, the best of MacLeod!
The black man, forgotten, in poverty dying,
The poor man, the sick man, with young children crying,
The soldier abroad and the mother who waits,
The young without work or behind prison gates,
The veterans, wounded, all welcome the crowd
That fights for the Domhnall, the best of MacLeod!
Whilst hapless old harridans flapping their traps
Teach women to look and behave like us chaps,
The Domhnall defends the defenseless forlorn;
For, a woman’s first right is the right to be born.
Now the bonnie young lassies that fly to the crowd
Have a champion in Domhnall, the best of MacLeod!
But for all his great wisdom, the braw gallant man
Is matched by his children, the handsome Trump clan,
And the flower of Europe, Melania the fair,
Adds a luster and grace with her long flowing hair.
May they flourish and prosper to form a great crowd
Around the good Domhnall, the best of MacLeod!
Is there man left in Scotland, without base alloy,
Who remembers the Wallace, the Bruce, or Rob Roy?
Or have five hundred years of a blasphemous lie
Robbed your manhood of might that you lay down and die?
Get up and walk free, all ye brave men and proud!
Long life to the Domhnall, the best of MacLeod!

Jeez, felt like howkin after the first few lines, but no doubt the Buffoon will love it.
 
more smiley than bond.

he was vocally behind it before he was elected. All spoken of at the time. Farage and him seem to get on very well. So this news isn't.

The news that he wants to 'fastrack' a trade deal with the U.K.? Boris & Co, need to be very careful, the Buffoon has a track record of raising the hopes of those who opposed him in order to increase the humiliation levels once he makes it obvious he has played them for fools.
Classic example was when he teased the Democrats with the possibility of Gore being appointed head of the EPA, while actually appointing a dyed in the wool Climate change denier.
 
The news that he wants to 'fastrack' a trade deal with the U.K.? Boris & Co, need to be very careful, the Buffoon has a track record of raising the hopes of those who opposed him in order to increase the humiliation levels once he makes it obvious he has played them for fools.
Classic example was when he teased the Democrats with the possibility of Gore being appointed head of the EPA, while actually appointing a dyed in the wool Climate change denier.

Not to worry . He's got farage advising him .
 
Not to worry . He's got farage advising him .

Farage, has joined the ranks of 'useful idiots' surrounding the Buffoon, I'm asking you, in the light of his recent pronouncements and appointments if you still think he will make a better president than HC.
For example, you claimed HC would have started WW3 over Syria, yet even before he is elected,he has China making veiled threats about nuclear war as a result of the Shyte coming from his pick as Secretary of State.
And wall st must be creaming their knickers over his other appointments.
Clinton might have been bad as in 'no real change' but this loon seems to be going to do everything you harped on about vis a vis Clinton but with afterburners fitted.
And he's doing most of it on twitter FFS! Remind us of your many concerns regarding Clintons use of a private server?
 
...
And I won't even pretend to understand America, but the police and military seem to be on the side of the extreme right?
Be more than pleased if someone can correct me?
My impression of the US officer corps changed a lot in this century mainly due to observing them evolving under pressure in Iraq.

They do tend to be right wing but it's a cautious fanaticism. At high level the bull necked US military is often rather donnish. They usually think carefully about killing people and breaking things. They are far more impressive technocrats than their cracking on British equivalent. They live in a real world where the costs of adventures and their own limitations are obvious. They exist to fight wars but often are not so eager for them.

Trump's Sec Def Gen Mattis is an example and he may be a brake on the coming regime's excesses. But then there is his former subordinate Gen Flynn who is a bit of a crackpot. The Pentagon lately has often been skeptical of adventures. In general it's sheltered American civilians like Trump detached from the messy reality of warfare who are really fucking dangerous.
 
My impression of the US officer corps changed a lot in this century mainly due to observing them evolving under pressure in Iraq.

They do tend to be right wing but it's a cautious fanaticism. At high level the bull necked US military is often rather donnish. They usually think carefully about killing people and breaking things. They are far more impressive technocrats than their cracking on British equivalent. They live in a real world where the costs of adventures and their own limitations are obvious. They exist to fight wars but often are not so eager for them.

Trump's Sec Def Gen Mattis is an example and he may be a brake on the coming regime's excesses. But then there is his former subordinate Gen Flynn who is a bit of a crackpot. The Pentagon lately has often been skeptical of adventures. In general it's sheltered American civilians like Trump detached from the messy reality of warfare who are really fucking dangerous.

Aye, but what's to stop the CIC replacing those who would put 'checks and balances' in his path? Most accept that he has a very vain and narcisstic streak, such people tend to replace those that don't say what they want to hear.
 
One of the great wars to lose, that. Get rid of most of your best generals, lose a little war, then get even better generals, then win a big war.

Although maybe if they'd gone into the big one with competent generals, as opposed to ones who had to learn on the job, some few million Soviet lives might have been spared.
 
Come out for the Domhnall, ye brave men and proud,
The scion of Torquil and best of MacLeod!
With purpose and strength he came down from his tower
To snatch from a tyrant his ill-gotten power.
Now the cry has gone up with a cheer from the crowd:
“Come out for the Domhnall, the best of MacLeod!”
When freedom is threatened by slavery’s chains
And voices are silenced as misery reigns,
We’ll come out for a leader whose courage is true
Whose virtues are solid and long overdue.
For, he’ll never forget us, we men of the crowd
Who elected the Domhnall, the best of MacLeod!
When crippling corruption polluted our nation
And plunged our economy into stagnation,
As self-righteous rogues took the opulent office
And plump politicians reneged on their promise,
The forgotten continued to form a great crowd
That defended the Domhnall, the best of MacLeod!
The Domhnall’s a giver whilst others just take,
Ne’er gaining from that which his hands did not make.
A builder of buildings, employing good men,
He’s enriched many cities by factors of ten.
The honest and true gladly march with the crowd
Standing up for the Domhnall, the best of MacLeod!
True friend of the migrant from both far and near,
He welcomes the worthy, but guards our frontier,
Lest a murderous horde, for whom hell is the norm,
Should threaten our lives and our nation deform.
We immigrants hasten to swell the great crowd
Coming out for the Domhnall, the best of MacLeod!
Academe now lies dead, the old order rots,
No longer policing our words and our thoughts;
Its ignorant hirelings pretending to teach
Are backward in vision, sophomoric in speech.
Now we learnèd of mind add ourselves to the crowd
That cheers on the Domhnall, the best of MacLeod!
The black man, forgotten, in poverty dying,
The poor man, the sick man, with young children crying,
The soldier abroad and the mother who waits,
The young without work or behind prison gates,
The veterans, wounded, all welcome the crowd
That fights for the Domhnall, the best of MacLeod!
Whilst hapless old harridans flapping their traps
Teach women to look and behave like us chaps,
The Domhnall defends the defenseless forlorn;
For, a woman’s first right is the right to be born.
Now the bonnie young lassies that fly to the crowd
Have a champion in Domhnall, the best of MacLeod!
But for all his great wisdom, the braw gallant man
Is matched by his children, the handsome Trump clan,
And the flower of Europe, Melania the fair,
Adds a luster and grace with her long flowing hair.
May they flourish and prosper to form a great crowd
Around the good Domhnall, the best of MacLeod!
Is there man left in Scotland, without base alloy,
Who remembers the Wallace, the Bruce, or Rob Roy?
Or have five hundred years of a blasphemous lie
Robbed your manhood of might that you lay down and die?
Get up and walk free, all ye brave men and proud!
Long life to the Domhnall, the best of MacLeod!
*Barf*
 
Aye, but what's to stop the CIC replacing those who would put 'checks and balances' in his path? Most accept that he has a very vain and narcisstic streak, such people tend to replace those that don't say what they want to hear.
Trump's going to find being the head of one of largest bureaucracies on the planet very different from despotically running a cosy family firm. He finally doesn't even control the purse strings, that's Congress.

It's quite hard to change institutional biases as Obama found out. The current POTUS is thin skinned, imperious and prone to take against people like many backbiting Ivy League academics. He now whines about being hamstrung by "The Blob" the intractable DC FP establishment. Langley historically isn't very resilient but the Pentagon has proven to be. Obama was rather prone to sack Pentagon people that crossed him or that he didn't agree with, Gen Mattis for instance. That was over Iran and the anti-Russian thing runs far deeper. It's plainly there even with Gen Mattis after Trump sorted through possible Sec Defs.

The US military voted for Trump but a lot of senior ranks are GOP establishment people i.e. Trump's main enemy. In the end the General's follow orders issued within the frame of the US Constitution, they will do "stupid shit", but there's lots of scope for foot dragging and they are not above playing dirty.
 
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