Trump 7 - Cheeto in Charge

[Childless]

On 12/3/2016 at 8:36 PM, louisa05 said:

Conservative, probably. Stupid? No. Uneducated? No. Racist? No. Expecting the government to protect nonexistent manufacturing jobs? Not so much. 

Wearing calico skirts and going to fundamentalist churches? Not so much. 

There is not a fundamentalist church within 35 miles of my mother's hometown, discussed above. The two churches in town are Presbyterian Church USA and Disciples of Christ. Both mainline Protestant liberal denominations. 

If you want to stereotype your neighbors, be my guest. I refuse to. 

I didn't call anyone stupid.  I called them lazy.  Expecting the government to save your obsolete or overpriced job instead of getting off your ass and getting training in a new relevant field is laziness.  My husband has worked his ass off the last several years getting a degree in order to switch careers rather than whine about jobs in his former field being lost to automation and off shoring.  I don't think it's wrong to expect others to do the same.  That's where people should be expecting government to spend time and treasure.  It's the only viable solution to the problem.

I'm not sure why your talking about racism, religion, or people's chosen style of dress since absolutely none of that was mentioned in my post.

[Childless]

2 hours ago, Cartmann99 said:

I know I'm preaching to the choir here, but reading the responses of Trump's fans to the China/Taiwan situation is scaring the crap outta me. He's running a damn cult where the members either close their eyes and say "fake news" to anything or anyone who tries to report something negative about Trump, or they tell us that we're just too stupid to understand his brillance. 

I swear that Trump could kill someone, eat the corpse on live television, and they'd all cheer and ask when Trump's Cannibal Sauce will be available in stores. 

I can't understand why people who wrap themselves in the flag and won't shut up about the Constitution (particularly the second amendment) support someone who continuously showers accolades on a dictator.  The bromance between Trump and Putin is scary.  Why do Trump supporters cheer him for this?  They should be taking him to task for supporting a leader so opposed to our country's ideals.  Makes me wonder if a dictatorship is what his supporters are really after.

[apple1]

8 hours ago, AuntK said:

YES. This absolutely terrifies me. Can the Secret Service take away his access to the nuclear codes, whatever that means, like they are going to take over his Twitter account ? (as I read somewhere today.)

PLEASE please please tell me that his Twitter account has actually for-real been taken away from him.

A little more humor: Here's a resemblance that has been bugging me for a long time. And since we all need a bit of a smile (along with the VERY serious realization that the resemblance IMO is more than just physical appearance) -- here goes.

[Cartmann99]

1 hour ago, Childless said:

I can't understand why people who wrap themselves in the flag and won't shut up about the Constitution (particularly the second amendment) support someone who continuously showers accolades on a dictator.  The bromance between Trump and Putin is scary.  Why do Trump supporters cheer him for this?  They should be taking him to task for supporting a leader so opposed to our country's ideals.  Makes me wonder if a dictatorship is what his supporters are really after.

Some of them do, while others are willfully blind to what Trump represents. 

http://religiondispatches.org/why-trumpvangelicals-dont-need-ted-cruz-conservative-christianitys-authoritarian-streak/

http://religiondispatches.org/after-the-trump-tapes-evangelical-authoritarianism-revisited/

 

 

 

[formergothardite]

13 hours ago, RoseWilder said:

Trump is currently going on a twitter rant against China. Someone needs to take his phone away immediately. 

http://www.dailykos.com/stories/2016/12/4/1607243/-China-launches-Sunday-Twitter-tirade-against-China-this-is-NOT-going-to-end-well#view-story

We are doomed. How is it that he still has Twitter? Isn't there some law preventing this? I remember reading about Obama not having a modern phone because he was president. I actually think losing Twitter would freak Trump out and he would struggle to deal with it, which is why it needs to be snatched away from him as fast as possible. 

[apple1]

I can't find any legitimate news source reporting that his Twitter has been taken away. (I want to be wrong on this).

[louisa05]

1 hour ago, Childless said:

I didn't call anyone stupid.  I called them lazy.  Expecting the government to save your obsolete or overpriced job instead of getting off your ass and getting training in a new relevant field is laziness.  My husband has worked his ass off the last several years getting a degree in order to switch careers rather than whine about jobs in his former field being lost to automation and off shoring.  I don't think it's wrong to expect others to do the same.  That's where people should be expecting government to spend time and treasure.  It's the only viable solution to the problem.

I'm not sure why your talking about racism, religion, or people's chosen style of dress since absolutely none of that was mentioned in my post.

Anecdotes are not data. Your spouse found a personal solution. Good for him. But you are still not grasping anything I have said here. In much of rural America there has never been large scale manufacturing or employment therein. Suggesting that loss of manufacturing jobs is the only concern of all rural voters/communities is completely inaccurate. 

 

You are also overlooking the fallout of massive job losses for the economic well being of small communities. Yes, one individual can relocate, seek retraining etc...But the losses have a domino effect. 

My small town of 9000 lost a major employer and chunk of population with the closing of a liberal arts college in 2010. (A loss of employment that also does not hold up for your simplistic "go retrain" solution--unskilled workers were reemployed faster than the larger percentage who had masters or ph,do). The fallout in town has included the loss of small business by the dozens, loss of hours in others, shrinking school population resulting in the loss of teaching and support positions, etc...Now the nearby nuclear power plant is closing and we are seeing more projected cuts for the schools and a drop in home values, too. People are not just concerned for their own employment in these situations. 

[iweartanktops]

It appears that Trump has hired his token Black man, Ben Carson. His new position is Secretary of Housing and Urban Development. 

I can't. 

http://www.cnn.com/2016/12/05/politics/ben-carson-hud-secretary-nomination/index.html?sr=fbCNN120516ben-carson-hud-secretary-nomination1134AMVODtopLink&linkId=31964854

[GreyhoundFan]

5 hours ago, Cartmann99 said:

I know I'm preaching to the choir here, but reading the responses of Trump's fans to the China/Taiwan situation is scaring the crap outta me. He's running a damn cult where the members either close their eyes and say "fake news" to anything or anyone who tries to report something negative about Trump, or they tell us that we're just too stupid to understand his brillance. 

I swear that Trump could kill someone, eat the corpse on live television, and they'd all cheer and ask when Trump's Cannibal Sauce will be available in stores. 

A crazed Drumpster from NC went into a restaurant in DC with a freaking assault rifle and fired shots because he believed a fake news story that Hillary and her campaign were running a child sex ring in the restaurants back room.  As horrifying is that is, Michael Flynn, the nutjob retired General who Cheeto wants as National Security Advisor, has shared some of the fake news. If someone who is going to be in that powerful position either can't discern fake news from real news and/or believes the fake news, that is mind-boggling.

Quote

Even Michael Flynn, a retired general whom President-elect Donald Trump has tapped to advise him on national security, shared stories about another anti-Clinton conspiracy theory involving pedophilia. None of them were true. But the fake stories and threats persisted, some even aimed at children of Comet Ping Pong employees and patrons. The restaurant’s owner was forced to contact the FBI, local police, Facebook and other social-media platforms in an effort to remove the articles.

 

---

2 hours ago, apple1 said:

PLEASE please please tell me that his Twitter account has actually for-real been taken away from him.

A little more humor: Here's a resemblance that has been bugging me for a long time. And since we all need a bit of a smile (along with the VERY serious realization that the resemblance IMO is more than just physical appearance) -- here goes.

LOL, I never made the connection, but you are right. Sadly, Barney Fife would be a million times more able and trustworthy than pretty much anyone in Agent Orange's orbit.

[AuntK]

1 hour ago, apple1 said:

I can't find any legitimate news source reporting that his Twitter has been taken away. (I want to be wrong on this).

I'll try to find it. As I recall, it didn't say it had happened yet, but that it was apparently in the works. 

[47of74]

5 hours ago, Cartmann99 said:

I know I'm preaching to the choir here, but reading the responses of Trump's fans to the China/Taiwan situation is scaring the crap outta me. He's running a damn cult where the members either close their eyes and say "fake news" to anything or anyone who tries to report something negative about Trump, or they tell us that we're just too stupid to understand his brillance. 

I swear that Trump could kill someone, eat the corpse on live television, and they'd all cheer and ask when Trump's Cannibal Sauce will be available in stores. 

Well like the Fornicate Face Man Baby said, he could shoot someone on 5th Ave in NYC and the Branch Trumpvidians would still vote for the guy.

[nausicaa]

12 hours ago, 47of74 said:

What really worries me is that the 70 Year Old Man Baby Fornicate Face Orange Toxic Megacolon is going to be within sniffing distance of the goddamn nuclear codes.  What keeps me up at night is that he will start some World War III like shitstorm.

I kind of can't even think about that too be honest. It's too terrifying. 

I hope someone with any sense in the Trump WH just commits open insubordination and refuses to have anything launched. 

It makes me so furious at anyone who voted for him. You put not only our country but the whole world in danger because you wanted to throw a fucking political temper tantrum. I don't want a single Trump voter to ever lecture me about "patriotism." 

[47of74]

Just now, nausicaa said:

It makes me so furious at anyone who voted for him. You put not only our country but the whole world in danger because you wanted to throw a fucking political temper tantrum. I don't want a single Trump voter to ever lecture me about "patriotism." 

In a bit of good news, the Trump supporter at the church I go to decided to get his spiritual needs met elsewhere.  This is a guy who was going around telling people about how Mrs. Clinton got a rapist off and then laughed about it.  Which of course is not even close to the truth.  I'm all about diversity in the church, including political diversity.  We have people to the left of me at church, and some conservatives.  And for the most part we all get along pretty good.   But this guy really ticked me off, and I told the rector I was thinking about taking a break from going to church for a few weeks because of him.  I didn't want to put up with his gloating over the election. 

[Mecca]

4 hours ago, Childless said:

I can't understand why people who wrap themselves in the flag and won't shut up about the Constitution (particularly the second amendment) support someone who continuously showers accolades on a dictator.  The bromance between Trump and Putin is scary.  Why do Trump supporters cheer him for this?  They should be taking him to task for supporting a leader so opposed to our country's ideals.  Makes me wonder if a dictatorship is what his supporters are really after.

How many times have we heard over the last few years that Obama was a communist dictator that does the bidding of the Muslim brotherhood? Now we have a president-elect that seems to want to be an actual dictator with his pushing of arrests for free speech, getting involved in free enterprise, targeting Muslims, Hispanics, Gays, and Blacks and these same yahoos are praising Trump's actions. They have no clue what they got the rest of us into.

This is going to be a long four years. I hope something can turn around in 2018, but I am not holding out much hope at this point. The Democrats really need to get their stuff together and prepare for 2018. 

[Cartmann99]

Evan McMullin has an op-ed in today's New York Times about Trump:

Quote

 

On July 7, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, Donald J. Trump, met privately with House Republicans near the Capitol. I was present as chief policy director of the House Republican Conference. Mr. Trump’s purpose was to persuade the representatives to unite around him, a pitch he delivered in a subdued version of his stream-of-consciousness style. A congresswoman asked him about his plans to protect Article I of the Constitution, which assigns all federal lawmaking power to Congress.

Mr. Trump interrupted her to declare his commitment to the Constitution — even to parts of it that do not exist, such as “Article XII.” Shock swept through the room as Mr. Trump confirmed one of our chief concerns about him: He lacked a basic knowledge of the Constitution.

There is still deeper cause for concern. Mr. Trump’s erroneous proclamation also suggested that he lacked even an interest in the Constitution. Worse, his campaign rhetoric had demonstrated authoritarian tendencies.

He had questioned judicial independence, threatened the freedom of the press, called for violating Muslims’ equal protection under the law, promised the use of torture and attacked Americans based on their gender, race and religion. He had also undermined critical democratic norms including peaceful debate and transitions of power, commitment to truth, freedom from foreign interference and abstention from the use of executive power for political retribution.

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/05/opinion/trumps-threat-to-the-constitution.html?_r=0

[47of74]

25 minutes ago, Cartmann99 said:

Evan McMullin has an op-ed in today's New York Times about Trump:

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/05/opinion/trumps-threat-to-the-constitution.html?_r=0

I might have said this before, but George Washington must be rolling round and round in his grave right about now.  He pretty much warned us this was going to happen in his 1796 address if we let political parties have too much power;

avalon.law.yale.edu/18th_century/washing.asp

Quote

This spirit, unfortunately, is inseparable from our nature, having its root in the strongest passions of the human mind. It exists under different shapes in all governments, more or less stifled, controlled, or repressed; but, in those of the popular form, it is seen in its greatest rankness, and is truly their worst enemy.

The alternate domination of one faction over another, sharpened by the spirit of revenge, natural to party dissension, which in different ages and countries has perpetrated the most horrid enormities, is itself a frightful despotism. But this leads at length to a more formal and permanent despotism. The disorders and miseries which result gradually incline the minds of men to seek security and repose in the absolute power of an individual; and sooner or later the chief of some prevailing faction, more able or more fortunate than his competitors, turns this disposition to the purposes of his own elevation, on the ruins of public liberty.

Without looking forward to an extremity of this kind (which nevertheless ought not to be entirely out of sight), the common and continual mischiefs of the spirit of party are sufficient to make it the interest and duty of a wise people to discourage and restrain it.

It serves always to distract the public councils and enfeeble the public administration. It agitates the community with ill-founded jealousies and false alarms, kindles the animosity of one part against another, foments occasionally riot and insurrection. It opens the door to foreign influence and corruption, which finds a facilitated access to the government itself through the channels of party passions. Thus the policy and the will of one country are subjected to the policy and will of another.

And now we have a Toxic Orange Megacolon who is pretty much a living, breathing example of this.

[GreyhoundFan]

Well, Ivanka and her hubby are planning to move to Washington, DC. Gee, since she'll be running his company in the "blind trust", I guess she's moving so she doesn't see daddy. Maybe that means he'll stay in Drumpf Tower permanently.

[Mecca]

Ivanka is also meeting with Al Gore in regards to climate change. Now, I want the Trump administration to really take that subject seriously, but why in the hell is Ivanka the one meeting with Al? I hope Trump realizes the legality of involving his children into the mix. This is what I think will ultimately get him in trouble. Trump has made it known laws mean nothing to him.  

[47of74]

Ugh.  This is why I despise the Branch Trumpvidians;

mediaite.com/online/trump-supporters-troll-facebook-page-of-missing-woman-thought-to-be-in-oakland-fire/

Quote

Talk about “deplorables.”

Following a devastating warehouse fire in Oakland on Friday night, a number of people remain missing and 36 have been confirmed dead. Of those, 11 have been identified. Obviously, friends and family of people who were at the warehouse for a show when the fire broke out have been using social media to express their fears, raise awareness of the missing, and get updates. That’s the case with Alana Kane (Jennifer Mendiola). Her friends have been posting her photo on Facebook and asking anyone with information to text them right away.

A woman is missing — and, judging by some of the comments on the page, presumed dead — and trolls have taken to her page to criticize her for not supporting Trump. Her friends and family can see these comments.

 

[Cartmann99]

40 minutes ago, GreyhoundFan said:

Well, Ivanka and her hubby are planning to move to Washington, DC. Gee, since she'll be running his company in the "blind trust", I guess she's moving so she doesn't see daddy. Maybe that means he'll stay in Drumpf Tower permanently.

Why are they buying a house? Just have them move into the White House since neither Trump nor Melania are interested in living there full-time. It's silly to have the residence standing vacant while Trump is tweeting the start to our next war on his golden toilet of doom in NYC.

The taxpayers foot the bill for the people who take care of the First Family anyway, so we might as well give those people steady work instead of them being on stand by for impromptu visits from Trump and Melania. 

[Howl]

3 hours ago, GreyhoundFan said:

As horrifying is that is, Michael Flynn, the nutjob retired General who Cheeto wants as National Security Advisor, has shared some of the fake news. If someone who is going to be in that powerful position either can't discern fake news from real news and/or believes the fake news, that is mind-boggling.

As horrifying as THAT is, even more horrifying is Michael Flynn's son and namesake, Michael G. Flynn, which is likely where Flynn pere gets his fake news.   From CNN, Nov. 17th: 

Quote

Michael Flynn's son and chief of staff pushed conspiracy theories, obscene memes online

The son of top Donald Trump adviser and retired Army Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn regularly shares conspiracy theories, expletive-filled posts, and racially insensitive sentiments on Twitter and Facebook, a CNN KFile review of his social media presence reveals.

Flynn's son, Michael G. Flynn, shared stories alleging top Hillary Clinton aide Huma Abedin had a connection to the Muslim Brotherhood, pushed a conspiracy theory that Sen. Marco Rubio was a closeted homosexual who abused cocaine, and repeatedly used expletives to attack Trump's political opponents.

The retired general has been offered the role of national security advisor, a transition official told CNN Thursday. The younger Flynn serves as his father's chief of staff and top aide, attending events alongside his father and working for his father's consulting firm, Flynn Intel Group. The elder Flynn credited his son with editing his book and frequently tags his son in tweets. In a photo on Facebook, the younger Flynn can be seen walking with Trump backstage.

************************************************************

If you have the stomach for reading more about the insanely idiotic beliefs of Michael G. Flynn, who apparently lives in the midst of the alt-right fever swamp, read the entire shit-a-roo here (There's a photo in the middle of the article; just scroll past it).  

http://www.cnn.com/2016/11/17/politics/kfile-michael-flynn-social-media/

Actually, Flynn and his son are both terrifying.  

[GreyhoundFan]

6 minutes ago, Howl said:

As horrifying as THAT is, even more horrifying is Michael Flynn's son and namesake, Michael G. Flynn, which is likely where Flynn pere gets his fake news.   From CNN, Nov. 17th: 

Actually, Flynn and his son are both terrifying.  

Yeah, it's like they're in competition to be the scariest. I don't want to know who "wins"; the American people will lose no matter what.

[Howl]

Actually, I came over to this thread to discuss some of the Trump pronouncements, like promising to heavily tax companies that intend to relocate outside the US and sell their products in the US.  This is a tariff issue.  Trump isn't even president yet and he's making pronouncements about things that Congress can't or won't do.  He's putting Republicans on the hot seat and could make the Republicans end up looking like shit.  He says, We're going to do X, the Republicans are shi**ing bricks because whatever X is, isn't viable, or wise, or can't get past the lobby for that industry, but the Trump supporters are looking for him to fix everything, like he said he would.

Repubs are  going to end up doing nothing but put out brush fires because Trump free associates and has no (zip, zero, nada) idea about how governance works.  This is the reason I don't think the Republicans will allow Trump to remain in office and will institute impeachment proceedings within a year or two. 

Some Republicans are staking out saner positions already: 

Quote

GOP Leader Breaks With Donald Trump On Suggested 35 Percent Tariff

Trump may not understand how tariffs really work ― it would be very difficult for the United States to impose them on specific companies that move jobs to a foreign country ― or that Congress, not the president, sets them. But he also might be trying to use trade complexities to end run around Congress.

The president’s administration could declare a given country in violation of certain trade acts, and then impose a retaliatory tariff. It would then be up to the other nation to lodge protest with the appropriate authority.

If Trump wanted to push the issue, he probably could impose a tariff and wait for Congress, the courts or a trade organization to do something about it. And if he truly wants to do it, Republicans could be the ones going after Trump.

“I don’t want to get into some sort of trade war,” McCarthy said, still downplaying the policy differences between Trump and congressional Republicans.

There is some debate about how much power the president has to enact tariffs and “rip up” trade deals. The president could declare the United States in violation of certain trade acts, and then try to impose a tariff based on those old laws, but there would be significant pushback from Congress.

Regardless, the majority leader said Republicans were intent on overhauling the corporate tax code so that businesses would stay in the United States. “That’s the best way to solve this problem,” McCarthy said.

But he also made it clear that he doesn’t believe high tariffs are the best way to keep or create jobs in the United States.

“I think history has taught us that trade wars are not healthy,” he said.

McCarthy stressed that Trump had run on reforming the corporate tax code, and that Republicans were in support of that idea. Pressed whether Republicans would give a tariff bill a vote if Trump pushed for it, McCarthy danced around answering directly ― “that’s a hypothetical question” ― but indicated again that overhauling the tax code was Republicans’ preferred path.

“The answer would be that we’re going to have tax reform,” he said.

He added that tax reform was a better way of keeping jobs “than digging into a trade war.”

 

 

[Howl]

Sorry, I'm on a roll (or careening over a cliff).  FJ gives me so much to think about. 

@Cartmann99, I'm convinced that Evan McMullin is going to be running for president within 8 to 12 years.  He's a rock star, physicist, test pilot AND a neurosurgeon (Buckaroo Bonzai reference), I mean not literally, but he's smart, smart, smart, conservative (with a tiny bit of a populist streak), he's devout Mormon, his mother is a lesbian and he's single, (would like to meet the right woman and start a family, but he's so gosh darn busy serving his country--sort of a Ralph Nader bachelor).  I don't think you will ever hear a thoughtless remark from that man's mouth, and not because he's a calculating personality, he's just got it going on upstairs).  He could potentially think the center and center right out of their quandary.  Although they are in power, the more centrist Republicans are like mammoths mired in the La Brea Tar Pits, waiting to be ambushed by Ice Age alt-right hunters with spears. 

And he's only 40 years old, so potentially he's got 30 or 35 more years in politics. That's my impression.  Having an op-ed in the NYT is heady stuff, and he's perfectly positioned.  He's involved in politics as chief policy director of the House Republican Conference, but not in an elected position.  I wish he was a Democrat and a lot less conservative, but that's me. Anyway, that's my take.  He could be unmasked or defrocked as a conniving and calculating psychopath, but it doesn't seem likely. Really, he is the anti-Trump. 

[AuntK]

When I read the crap Flynn Jr.has spread about Hillary and others, particularly the sex stuff,  it just makes me wonder:  What in the fucking HELL is this loser into? Because it ALWAYS seems like the ones who are pointing the fingers at others are up to their eyeballs in shit themselves. Example: Newt Gingrich and his pious defense of marriage and family values while impeaching Bill Clinton and screwing his brains out with his own mistress, (Calista, the future Mrs. Gingrich no. 3), unbeknown to Mrs. Gingrich no. 2!