The Trump presidency

[Johnny Canuck3]

Commissioners in a Florida county are so tired of spending money on President Donald Trump's frequent visits to his Mar-a-Lago resort that some are suggesting a special tax be levied against the property if the federal government doesn't reimburse its costs.

Palm Beach County spends more than $60,000 a day when the president visits, mostly for law enforcement overtime -- almost $2 million since January. Sheriff Ric Bradshaw says the county was expected to spend $250,000 during Trump's recent meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping, the president's sixth trip to his Winter White House in the 12 weeks since his inauguration.

County Commissioner Dave Kerner has suggested turning Mar-a-Lago into a special taxing district and imposing a levy on the resort to pay the president's security costs. Because Mar-a-Lago is incorporated as a club, it pays lower property taxes than hotels. It also gets a tax break because Trump surrendered development rights after he purchased the property from the estate of cereal heiress Marjorie Merriweather Post for $10 million in 1985.

The 500 members pay $14,000 annually in dues. The initiation fee was recently doubled to $200,000. Forbes Magazine estimates the club is now worth $150 million.

"We're very honored to have the president here, but at the same time, his travel here is such high frequency he's not visiting Palm Beach County — he's governing from it," Kerner told Money magazine recently. "Whatever our priorities are, the taxpayers didn't pay this money to us to protect the president."

County considers special tax for Trump's Mar-a-Lago visits

 

[CRI]

Via Robert Reich:

Update for Trump voters.

1. He said he wouldn’t bomb Syria. You bought it. Then he bombed Syria.

2. He said he'd build a wall along the border with Mexico. You bought it. Now his secretary of homeland security says "It’s unlikely that we will build a wall."

3. He said he’d clean the Washington swamp. You bought it. Then he brought into his administration more billionaires, CEOs, and Wall Street moguls than in any administration in history, to make laws that will enrich their businesses.

4. He said he’d repeal Obamacare and replace it with something “wonderful.” You bought it. Then he didn’t.

5. He said he’d use his business experience to whip the White House into shape. You bought it. Then he created the most chaotic, dysfunctional, back-stabbing White House in modern history, in which no one is in charge.

6. He said he’d release his tax returns, eventually. You bought it. He hasn’t, and says he never will.

7. He said he’d divest himself from his financial empire, to avoid any conflicts of interest. You bought it. He remains heavily involved in his businesses, makes money off of foreign dignitaries staying at his Washington hotel, gets China to give the Trump brand trademark and copyright rights, manipulates the stock market on a daily basis, and has more conflicts of interest than can even be counted.

8. He said Clinton was in the pockets of Goldman Sachs, and would do whatever they said. You bought it. Then he put half a dozen Goldman Sachs executives in positions of power in his administration.

9. He said he’d surround himself with all the best and smartest people. You bought it. Then he put Betsy DeVos, opponent of public education, in charge of education; Jeff Sessions, opponent of the Voting Rights Act, in charge of voting rights; Ben Carson, opponent of the Fair Housing Act, in charge of fair housing; Scott Pruitt, climate change denier, in charge of the Environmental Protection Agency; and Russian quisling Rex Tillerson as Secretary of State.

10. He said he’d faithfully execute the law. You bought it. Then he said his predecessor, Barack Obama, spied on him, without any evidence of Obama ever doing so, in order to divert attention from the FBI's investigation into collusion between his campaign and Russian operatives to win the election.

11. He said he knew more about strategy and terrorism than the generals did. You bought it. Then he promptly gave the green light to a disastrous raid in Yemen- even though all his generals said it would be a terrible idea. This raid resulted in the deaths of a Navy SEAL, an 8-year old American girl, and numerous civilians. The actual target of the raid escaped, and no useful intel was gained.

12. He called Barack Obama “the vacationer-in-Chief” and accused him of playing more rounds of golf than Tiger Woods. He promised to never be the kind of president who took cushy vacations on the taxpayer’s dime, not when there was so much important work to be done. You bought it. He has by now spent more taxpayer money on vacations than Obama did in the first 3 years of his presidency. Not to mention all the money taxpayers are spending protecting his family, including his two sons who travel all over the world on Trump business.

13. He called CNN, the Washington Post and the New York Times “fake news” and said they were his enemy. You bought it. Now he gets his information from Fox News, Breitbart, Gateway Pundit, and InfoWars.

More to come.

True.

But during the primaries, Reich was gushing in his support of Bernie Sanders and quite scathing of Hillary Clinton, right up to the moment Sanders threw in the towel. He then urged his social media followers to back Clinton. Most responded that they'd vote Stein, or Trump but Never Hillary.

So, Reich can bitch about Trump, but he did play a part in helping get him elected.

 

[J Ed]

True.

But during the primaries, Reich was gushing in his support of Bernie Sanders and quite scathing of Hillary Clinton, right up to the moment Sanders threw in the towel. He then urged his social media followers to back Clinton. Most responded that they'd vote Stein, or Trump but Never Hillary.

So, Reich can bitch about Trump, but he did play a part in helping get him elected.

Jesus Christ

 

[J Ed]

Campaign for Hillary Clinton and encourage others to vote for her, and you're still responsible for Trump because you said something against Mother in the past. Fanaticism.

 

[CRI]

This was one of the many efforts employed to prevent "certain" people voting in the last election. Many states now require approved forms of photo ID to vote. Few Americans have passports, so most often the ID is a drivers license, or a state ID you can only get from a driver's license office. This one in Alabama was thwarted. Other voter suppression efforts succeeded though.

Governor Robert Bentley's former top advisor and secret paramour Rebekah Mason led a politically-motivated effort in 2015 to close 31 driver's license offices in mostly black counties, a move that embarrassed the state and was later reversed.

According to that report, which was compiled by lead investigator Jack Sharman, it was Mason who "proposed closing multiple driver's license offices throughout the State" and asked the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency to "put together a plan."

According to Sharman's report, former ALEA head Spencer Collier understood Mason's intentions were to have the plan "rolled out in a way that had limited impact on Government Bentley's political allies."

The closures sparked a federal investigation by the U.S. Department of Transportation, which determined that the stoppages disproportionately affected black residents. The DOT determined that ALEA's plans were a violation of the 1964 Civil Rights Act.

 

[Jeff Robinson]

True.

But during the primaries, Reich was gushing in his support of Bernie Sanders and quite scathing of Hillary Clinton, right up to the moment Sanders threw in the towel. He then urged his social media followers to back Clinton. Most responded that they'd vote Stein, or Trump but Never Hillary.

So, Reich can bitch about Trump, but he did play a part in helping get him elected.

I disagree. All the evidence I have read suggests that Sanders would have stood a much better chance at defeating Trump than Clinton. The Democrats erred massively in backing the uncharismatic corporate puppet Clinton rather than Sanders who has really tapped in to the current anti-establishment zeitgeist.

 

[8den]

I disagree. All the evidence I have read suggests that Sanders would have stood a much better chance at defeating Trump than Clinton. The Democrats erred massively in backing the uncharismatic corporate puppet Clinton rather than Sanders who has really tapped in to the current anti-establishment zeitgeist.

Bernie Sanders would have won in what clearly was an election rigged for Trump? An election Clinton won by three million votes and still lost?

 

[maomao]

Jesus fucking Christ.

 

[maomao]

The only part of the US election that was 'clearly rigged' was the democratic nomination.

 

[bluescreen]

The only part of the US election that was 'clearly rigged' was the democratic nomination.

For those who've just tuned in, can you give us a link, please? I've seen plenty of allegations but need some evidence. TVM.

 

[maomao]

For those who've just tuned in, can you give us a link, please? I've seen plenty of allegations but need some evidence. TVM.

Bernie Sanders could have won. His own party cheated him out of it

Wikileaks Proves Primary Was Rigged: DNC Undermined Democracy

That's a couple to be going on with. The Clinton fans on this thread will go mental though. They're almost as bad as the conspiraloons on the Syria threads.

 

[Supine]

The Onion's take is certainly to be preferred over war with Russia.

Let's hope they're right.

It's a strange world we live in if we're using The Onion as a proper news source

 

[Johnny Canuck3]

It's a strange world we live in if we're using The Onion as a proper news source

Not sure what bimble's motivation was with that.

 

[bimble]

Just think that panicking about war with Russia is premature. Onion was taking the piss but also suggesting what the motivation may have been for Trump's actions, if he was not just moved by the pictures he saw on tv.
eg)

 

[TomUS]

Most responded that they'd vote Stein, or Trump but Never Hillary.

I hope they now realize what complete fools they were.

 

[NoXion]

Indeed. Serves 'em right for voting for the wrong candidate. It's like they think they live in a democracy!

 

[TomUS]

Indeed. Serves 'em right for voting for the wrong candidate. It's like they think they live in a democracy!

They helped Trump win. They did vote for the wrong candidate.

 

[bluescreen]

.

 

[bimble]

.

 

[Yossarian]

Bernie Sanders would have won in what clearly was an election rigged for Trump? An election Clinton won by three million votes and still lost?

In an election where polls, debates, newspaper endorsements etc. ended up meaning jack shit, I think Bernie Sanders winning was definitely possible - Trump won with narrow victories in states where Sanders won the Democratic primaries and a lot of people couldn't stand Hillary Clinton - are there any states Clinton won that you think Sanders would have lost?

 

[not-bono-ever]

Russia Opens New Front in Rivalry With U.S. With Taliban Support

This has been bubbling away under the radar for a while now - How will trump deal with Russian tooled up Taliban scrapping against indigenous and NATO forces ?

 

[Idris2002]

This was one of the many efforts employed to prevent "certain" people voting in the last election. Many states now require approved forms of photo ID to vote. Few Americans have passports, so most often the ID is a drivers license, or a state ID you can only get from a driver's license office. This one in Alabama was thwarted. Other voter suppression efforts succeeded though.

And what do the "Democrats" do in response to this? The square root of fuck all, as far as I can see.

 

[J Ed]

Bernie Sanders would have won in what clearly was an election rigged for Trump? An election Clinton won by three million votes and still lost?

A rigged primary, double the amount of money and the support of virtually all of the media.. and yet apparently the election was still 'rigged' against Clinton.

 

[maomao]

A rigged primary, double the amount of money and the support of virtually all of the media.. and yet apparently the election was still 'rigged' against Clinton.

If you ask him to prove his assertion he'll refer to the Podesta emails and imply that Russia could have hacked something somewhere. Straight out of the conspiraloon book of arguing.

 

[8den]

In an election where polls, debates, newspaper endorsements etc. ended up meaning jack shit, I think Bernie Sanders winning was definitely possible - Trump won with narrow victories in states where Sanders won the Democratic primaries and a lot of people couldn't stand Hillary Clinton - are there any states Clinton won that you think Sanders would have lost?

I think this is pure Monday morning quarterbacking. You don't, for example, know how Sanders campaign would have dealt with 6 or 7 months of sustained negative attacks from Russian hackers. And there's' the fact that the famously "unpopular" Clinton only got 100,000 fewer votes than Obama, and 3 million more than Trump.

The suppression of minority voters would have hurt Sanders as well.

There's virtual no way you can know Sanders would have won, and this point it's becoming a really tedious bone of contention.

 

[Yossarian]

I didn't say he would have won, I said he could have won.

And even if he'd lost, he wouldn't have been as spectacular a failure as the "safe" Democratic candidate turned out to be.

 

[DotCommunist]

bernies a man of the landline generation, putin could never have got to him

 

[8den]

I didn't say he would have won, I said he could have won.

And even if he'd lost, he wouldn't have been as spectacular a failure as the "safe" Democratic candidate turned out to be.

How is winning by 3 million votes a spectacular failure? Trump won by cunt hair in a rigged election.

 

[maomao]

How is winning by 3 million votes a spectacular failure? Trump won by cunt hair in a rigged election.

Go on. Explain how it was rigged.

 

[8den]

Go on. Explain how it was rigged.

You want me to explain to you how Russian hackers influenced this election?

Christ I knew you were ill informed but...