The Trump presidency

[Libertad]

youneed to believe this just as you need to believe none of american socialist history exists and has outside of your 'liberal enclaves'

walking confirmation bias.

Perhaps CRI should have a read about Daniel De Leon?

 

[DotCommunist]

They aren't going to change

all that is, is. A man can never be what h is not, humans are just fixed data points coated by a veneer of direct experience.

Daniel De Leon

I've STILL not got that IWW book but my brief google on the man made me chuckle because there is an american commie who got to be old.

 

[Libertad]

all that is, is. A man can never be what h is not, humans are just fixed data points coated by a veneer of direct experience.

I've STILL not got that IWW book but my brief google on the man made me chuckle because there is an american commie who got to be old.

Pete Seeger had a good run as well.

 

[Johnny Canuck3]

To me the people that use the word inaccurately are those that complain about it's use.

I complain about its use when it's used inaccurately.

I also complain about the inaccurate use of an apostrophe in 'its'.

Seems to make sense that inaccurate punctuation and grammar usage, go hand in hand with inaccurate word usage.

 

[Johnny Canuck3]

People are told in their churches to vote Republican. I've heard pastors say it from the evangelical pulpit. Congregants are actually told that lower taxes and less government is the Christian way.

Americans are raised to believe that anything is possible in America if you are pure of heart and willing to work hard, which is nonsense, and that anyone can become president, which is even more foolish, and that free markets always make the right decision, which is nuts.

They are told that rugged individualism is the American way, which it isn't, and that government is never the solution, which it sometimes most definitely is.

Eventually, these national myths cross over into outright delusion; large segments of the populace, people who are dependent on all manner of government programs, come to believe they are not, and freely vote for wealthy politicians who make no secret of their intention to defund or dismantle those programs in the name of Americanism, and Jesus Christ our Lord (see: Planned Parenthood).

Anyone who's ever attended a Tea Party rally has seen that phenomenon in operation. People on Medicaid-supplied wheelchairs, living on social security disability or supplementing their income with food stamps, demanding radical cuts to government.

Trump's poor and rural supporters line up to take their economic beating: Opinion

 

[CRI]

I do find it amusing that some UK members here insist they understand the people and community I grew up in far better than I do, even if they've not been to the US, or if so, nowhere off the tourist track. Maybe they've talked to some Americans in London (a self-selecting bunch) or online who agree with them. Perhaps they've done in-depth study of political ideologies they insist are universal. I haven't, so my views and the articles I post backing them are garbage. And they say Americans are pompous and patronising!

For some here, my perspectives are as welcome as Kentucky Fried rat. Believe me, I wish I were wrong and that Americans might embrace socialism if they just get the right messaging. It won't happen and I've seen no evidence posted here suggesting even a vague chance. Name-calling, intellectual snobbery and personal digs? Plenty. Evidence? Nope.

I get that folk here don't want to believe the impact of America's white supremacist foundations remain pervasive today, even when we can all see how the Trump administration and GOP congress are riding on a fucking wave of it. I get that they'd prefer to ignore racism in the history of the working class and the US labor movement (e.g. the AFL), the segregation of many shop floors and unions through the 20th century and that de facto racial segregation still happens today.

The obvious lack of African American support for Sanders and his refusal to challenge the racism of white working class Trump voters should be a big hint. Being working class, endorsing white supremacy and even being staunchly Republican aren't mutually exclusive.

Sanders will only lure Trump voters away if he panders to their prejudices. He's backing a candidate for the Virginia governorship with an anti-abortion voting record and NRA endorsement against a popular Democratic Governor who is pro choice and favours gun control. Not a popular move with pro choice Democrats. Then there was Sanders' recent statement that Trump voters aren't racist. Fucksake, it wasn't even a "not all Trump voters" either. Who gets thrown under the bus next?

I've said several times the Democrats can flip the house and senate in 2018 if they build on their core of support, bringing in those who didn't or were unable to vote last time. Why do many folk here think courting working class/blue collar Trump voters (who mostly still back him) is a better strategy/more important priority than this?

 

[CRI]

I complain about its use when it's used inaccurately.

I also complain about the inaccurate use of an apostrophe in 'its'.

Seems to make sense that inaccurate punctuation and grammar usage, go hand in hand with inaccurate word usage.

 

[CrabbedOne]

On Bloomberg Why China's Got Beef With U.S. Beef

...
“The foreign market with the greatest growth potential -- China -- remains closed to U.S. beef and beef products, even as China imports large and growing volumes from our competitors,” the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, U.S. Meat Export Federation and North American Meat Institute said in the joint March 27 letter to Trump. “We appreciate your leadership on this matter.”

U.S. trade relations with China were a cornerstone of Trump’s campaign as he accused the nation of unfair trade practices and threatened to slap a levy on Chinese products of as much as 45 percent. Last week, he ordered a study to identify the forms of “trade abuse” that contribute to U.S. deficits with all foreign countries.

Export markets are especially important now, given hard times in Farm Belt states, where voters overwhelmingly supported Trump. Net farm income is expected to fall for a fourth straight year to $62 billion, according to U.S. Department of Agriculture data, down from a record $124 billion in 2013.

Total U.S. agricultural exports were about $134.9 billion in 2016, a 10 percent decline from two years earlier, according to the USDA.

The sector was projected to get a boost of as much as $5 billion from the Trans-Pacific Partnership -- which would have opened more Asian markets for meat, grain and dairy products -- but Trump pulled out of the trade deal soon after taking office.
...

My bold, dumping TPP so quickly is increasingly looking like a "courageous decision" that may hurt Trump voters.

Since the BSE scare China has some problems with the animal tracking US supply chain from ranch to meat packer. It also had bird flu concerns.

 

[Idris2002]

Just seen a Reuters post on Twitter that Steve Bannon has been removed from the National Security Council.

 

[Idris2002]

Yep, looks like the grown-up lunatics are now taking over the Trump asylum:

Bannon Removed From National Security Council Role in Shakeup

Whether that will stop things taking on an Arkham-esque quality is another matter.

 

[J Ed]

Yep, looks like the grown-up lunatics are now taking over the Trump asylum:

Bannon Removed From National Security Council Role in Shakeup

Whether that will stop things taking on an Arkham-esque quality is another matter.

He will be replaced by someone equally loathsome but more competent no doubt

 

[Idris2002]

He will be replaced by someone equally loathsome but more competent no doubt

And liberals will rejoice that the "system works".

 

[brogdale]

And liberals will rejoice that the "system works".

Sure, but interesting, nonetheless.

 

[CRI]

And liberals will rejoice that the "system works".

The system is shit that he got there in the first place. Not a lot to rejoice about tbf.

 

[Yuwipi Woman]

And liberals will rejoice that the "system works".

I don't think anyone would go that far. It might lumber painfully along, but that's far from a "working system."

 

[CrabbedOne]

On TAC Would the Public Rally Behind Trump in a Crisis?

Dan Drezner is worried:

For Trump to be polling this badly so early in his presidency is unprecedented. For this to be happening in a reasonably decent economy is even more unprecedented. What will an unpopular president who is obsessed with being popular do in such circumstances? Escalate a foreign policy crisis to get Americans to rally around the flag.​

I wouldn’t rule out that Trump would do something so reckless in an attempt to salvage his political prospects at home, but I don’t think this would have the effect of rallying people behind him. Drezner notes that Trump’s low approval ratings at this stage of his presidency are unprecedented, and they are. Why is that? Most Americans don’t just think he is doing a poor job, but many of them also don’t trust that he knows how to do the job at all. If Trump were to escalate a foreign crisis in the hopes of boosting his approval rating, he would discover quickly that in doing this he had further eroded any remaining public confidence in his leadership.
...

The odd thing with Trump is quite a lot of Republicans were not daft people and had big doubts about his magical abilities. A lot voted for him because they'd been programmed over a couple of decades to hate the Clintons and not seeing much harm in electing fuck-ups who won't govern as government is always basically malign. After all his nearest rival Cruz had a record of obstruction in Congress and they loved that.

So far Trump's crisis strewn Presidency has amounted to a series of own goals. It's perhaps more likely a foreign policy crisis overtakes the incompetent Trump than him deliberately initiating one. After a great deal of fizzing he's turning out to be a really damp squib. The adults have tended to take his most daffy policy toys away. A descent into chaos of the sort that gripped the capable but seemingly cursed Jimmy Carter. Like Carter who the Iranians very deliberately fucked over Trump is already a Lame Duck waddling around wearing a big "Kick Me!" sign.

 

[CRI]

On TAC Would the Public Rally Behind Trump in a Crisis?
The odd thing with Trump is quite a lot of Republicans were not daft people and had big doubts about his magical abilities. A lot voted for him because they'd been programmed over a couple of decades to hate the Clintons and not seeing much harm in electing fuck-ups who won't govern as government is always basically malign. After all his nearest rival Cruz had a record of obstruction in Congress and they loved that.

So far Trump's crisis strewn Presidency has amounted to a series of own goals. It's perhaps more likely a foreign policy crisis overtakes the incompetent Trump than him deliberately initiating one. After a great deal of fizzing he's turning out to be a really damp squib. The adults have tended to take his most daffy policy toys away. A descent into chaos of the sort that gripped the capable but seemingly cursed Jimmy Carter. Like Carter who the Iranians very deliberately fucked over Trump is already a Lame Duck waddling around wearing a big "Kick Me!" sign.

Perhaps a Lame Duck, but there are still plenty around boosting him up because it's not in their interests for him to die, quit or be removed, at least not yet. And, his administration still has plenty opportunity to cause damage, perhaps irreparable damage, before he's uttered his last quack. If he becomes a "dead duck," literally or figuratively, before the end of his term, what comes next through the line of succession won't be much to crow about, either.

 

[Yuwipi Woman]

Perhaps a Lame Duck, but there are still plenty around boosting him up because it's not in their interests for him to die, quit or be removed, at least not yet. And, his administration still has plenty opportunity to cause damage, perhaps irreparable damage, before he's uttered his last quack. If he becomes a "dead duck," literally or figuratively, before the end of his term, what comes next through the line of succession won't be much to crow about, either.

If I had to pick people to remove from the Trump administration, Donald Trump doesn't make the top three. The evil is stacked so deep that he might not make the top five.

 

[CrabbedOne]

Yep, looks like the grown-up lunatics are now taking over the Trump asylum:

Bannon Removed From National Security Council Role in Shakeup

Whether that will stop things taking on an Arkham-esque quality is another matter.

...
Under the move, the national intelligence director, Dan Coats, and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Marine Corps General Joseph Dunford, are again "regular attendees" of the NSC’s principals committee.
...

It's a significant demotion, Bannon dig fuck up badly with the Freedom Caucus, but that's perhaps the more important part of that story. From what Bob Gates said it matters less who is on the committee it's who drives it and who is not on it. Obama also had a political hack in attendance. I imagine the security folk just get on with things and let the "Commissar" play with his phone. The thing I don't know is if McMaster's has got Oval Office walk in rights like Bannon.

I also just heard Bannon was disinvited from the big Xi meeting tomorrow.

 

[CRI]

If I had to pick people to remove from the Trump administration, Donald Trump doesn't make the top three. The evil is stacked so deep that he might not make the top five.

This is true, terrifying, but true. How the hell did we get here?

 

[CrabbedOne]

Perhaps a Lame Duck, but there are still plenty around boosting him up because it's not in their interests for him to die, quit or be removed, at least not yet. And, his administration still has plenty opportunity to cause damage, perhaps irreparable damage, before he's uttered his last quack. If he becomes a "dead duck," literally or figuratively, before the end of his term, what comes next through the line of succession won't be much to crow about, either.

Looking at the numbers (there's only a slight drop in GOP support) I still think he has a fair shot at a second term and he is lucky bastard.

 

[Johnny Canuck3]

If I had to pick people to remove from the Trump administration, Donald Trump doesn't make the top three. The evil is stacked so deep that he might not make the top five.

Imo, Sessions was the worst appointment; but there are lots of contenders.

 

[Yuwipi Woman]

Imo, Sessions was the worst appointment; but there are lots of contenders.

My top few goes something like:

Steve Bannon
Paul Ryan
Mike Pence
Rex Tillerson
Jeff Sessions

I'd be willing to flip Tillerson and Sessions. I put some of them on the top because they are better at putting their agenda forward than Trump is/or will be. Removing five people from the Trump administration doesn't begin to make a dent in the potential for bad policy choices.

I'd like to put DeVos and Pruitt in there somewhere, but can't find a good place.

(Your list may vary.)

 

[Pickman's model]

Looking at the numbers (there's only a slight drop in GOP support) I still think he has a fair shot at a second term and he is lucky bastard.

Jesus, fucking three years and nine and a half months to go and you're ALREADY talking of "four more years".

 

[Johnny Canuck3]

My top few goes something like:

Steve Bannon
Paul Ryan
Mike Pence
Rex Tillerson
Jeff Sessions

I'd be willing to flip Tillerson and Sessions. I put some of them on the top because they are better at putting their agenda forward than Trump is/or will be. Removing five people from the Trump administration doesn't begin to make a dent in the potential for bad policy choices.

I'd like to put DeVos and Pruitt in there somewhere, but can't find a good place.

Considering that he was basically driven to take the job by his wife [and by Jesus, in the background], it's doubtful that Tillerson will last much more than a year before resigning.

 

[Johnny Canuck3]

It's not so much about picking out who's worst in Trump's cabinet - it's more about trying to pick anyone who has any redeeming qualities.

 

[Yuwipi Woman]

It's not so much about picking out who's worst in Trump's cabinet - it's more about trying to pick anyone who has any redeeming qualities.

That is a headscratcher.

 

[8den]

It's not so much about picking out who's worst in Trump's cabinet - it's more about trying to pick anyone who has any redeeming qualities.

Yeah the worry is if all the screw ups leave, that means the competent assholes are in charge. Who knew Trump would be his own worst enemy

 

[8den]

My favourite twitter witticism on the subject. "The Trump Whitehouse, the plot of House of Cards, but with the cast of VEEP."

 

[CrabbedOne]

Jesus, fucking three years and nine and a half months to go and you're ALREADY talking of "four more years".

Well I do expect a second term is obsessing folk in the West Wing even more than immiserating out groups. The incumbent President usually has an advantage. Looking at the pro-Trump media he is still being hailed as the Messiah. Trump appears to be uniquely incapable but that's not so bad if you lead a mostly Dixie orientated party that hates the Federal government. Being an utterly ineffectual pussy may even be a plus. He'll appoint right leaning judges to the Supreme Court and probably aided by bluedog Dems will pass some elite tax cuts. That can get him over the bar. Getting slapped down by Putin, Xi or Khamenei could also have a rallying effect.