TGHusker Posted January 16, 2018 Share Posted January 16, 2018 (edited) Knapp I don't disagree wt you. Glad you had the time to break it apart piece by piece. I was taken back by how Trump's accomplishments 'trump' all of his excesses, vulgarness, petty childness and lack of real administrative abilities. He gives way to much credit to Trump himself. I still think whatever is accomplished (the word accomplished is debatable in the same way you debated the article's list with your links above) will be in spite of Trump and not because of him. Edited January 16, 2018 by TGHusker Link to comment
Danny Bateman Posted January 16, 2018 Share Posted January 16, 2018 What's being accomplished are the policy priorities of the GOP itself. Trump is the figurehead & he's been decisive in a few protectionist economic decisions that maybe cut against the GOP orthodoxy (bailing on the TPP, actually retreating from the Paris accord, enacting tariffs, harshly criticizing the UN) but almost everything that's been done so far is stuff you'd get with any other GOP president. I do think your post rises a couple important, broader questions, TGH. 1. Is it good that right-wing media will start with a premise - Trump is good - and construct an argument n support of it instead of the other way around? 2. Is it good that the Trump doctrine consists solely of anti-Obama actions & letting those around him fill in the blanks? On #1, it seems to me that as long as such media (in this case, the Federalist) continues comparing Trump to Obama (or Clinton) & focuses narrowly on the aspects of the Trump agenda they actually like, it seems they are able to put off asking the tough questions - like whether the Trump era on the whole is damaging to the U.S. standing in the world or the future of our nation. Link to comment
Moiraine Posted January 16, 2018 Share Posted January 16, 2018 (edited) Corporations and Mega Corporations have steadily increased their profits for decades, and we haven't seen that $ trickle down. Getting rid of regulation after regulation is going to increase their profits, which will continue to not trickle down. But we will be living in a more dangerous place for it - and our safety nets have a lot more holes in them. It is harder to sue when something does go wrong, and more things will be going wrong now due to deregulation. If the GOP had its way, those safety nets would just be gone. (E.g. they won't fix social security, which has an incredibly easy fix -- increase the damn cap at least until the baby boomers are dead). They reduce welfare whenever they have the chance. They mention cutting medicaid and medicare. Then they use PR to convince the people who are hurt by these policies to vote for them 'cause abortion and Jesus. Quote Ryan said that he believes he has begun convincing President Trump in their private conversations about the need to rein in Medicare, the federal health program that primarily insures the elderly. Edited January 16, 2018 by Moiraine 3 Link to comment
Danny Bateman Posted January 17, 2018 Share Posted January 17, 2018 If Paul Ryan actually pushes forward with trying to slash Medicare (he most likely will, as he's reportedly got one foot out the door & plans to not seek re-election) & Trump just goes along with it, the blue wave in November is going to be colossal. Paul Ryan has been trying to do this since he got to Congress, but Trump explicitly campaigned on protecting programs like Social Security & Medicare. Bernie will absolutely hammer them for it & if Democrats have any sense at all they will follow his lead. W's attempt to privatize Social Security went over like a lead balloon & I can't imagine this being any different. There's a lot of truth in that paragraph @Moiraine. 1 Link to comment
Moiraine Posted January 17, 2018 Share Posted January 17, 2018 (edited) . Edited January 17, 2018 by Moiraine Link to comment
commando Posted January 17, 2018 Share Posted January 17, 2018 is she empowered by trump or alcohol? either way...here she is in all her glory Link to comment
BigRedBuster Posted January 17, 2018 Share Posted January 17, 2018 Mr. and Mrs. Barber are probably very proud. Seriously, she learned that from somewhere. Link to comment
Danny Bateman Posted January 18, 2018 Share Posted January 18, 2018 I know we're doing this whole MAGA trip right now, but still... World approval of U.S. plummets 18 points in one year, while disapproval rises 15 points. We're at 30 approve/43 disapprove. These are both records, beating the previous lo approval under W in his last year. And then this on disapproval: Quote Instead, disapproval of U.S. leadership increased almost as much as approval declined. The 43% median disapproval, up 15 points from the previous year, set a new record as well, not only for the U.S. but for any other major global power that Gallup has asked about in the past decade. This is what the change looks like. Notice that huge green one on the right side... Hmmm. Turns out the rest of the world isn't that nuts about MAGA. 1 Link to comment
BigRedBuster Posted January 18, 2018 Share Posted January 18, 2018 I remember a time when a Democrat was heavily criticized because he was an embarrassment and the rest of the world didn't respect us. I miss those days. The next President is going to have to go on an apology tour to get our friends from around the world back. 2 Link to comment
TGHusker Posted January 18, 2018 Share Posted January 18, 2018 (edited) On 1/16/2018 at 5:51 PM, dudeguyy said: What's being accomplished are the policy priorities of the GOP itself. Trump is the figurehead & he's been decisive in a few protectionist economic decisions that maybe cut against the GOP orthodoxy (bailing on the TPP, actually retreating from the Paris accord, enacting tariffs, harshly criticizing the UN) but almost everything that's been done so far is stuff you'd get with any other GOP president. I do think your post rises a couple important, broader questions, TGH. 1. Is it good that right-wing media will start with a premise - Trump is good - and construct an argument n support of it instead of the other way around? 2. Is it good that the Trump doctrine consists solely of anti-Obama actions & letting those around him fill in the blanks? On #1, it seems to me that as long as such media (in this case, the Federalist) continues comparing Trump to Obama (or Clinton) & focuses narrowly on the aspects of the Trump agenda they actually like, it seems they are able to put off asking the tough questions - like whether the Trump era on the whole is damaging to the U.S. standing in the world or the future of our nation. Dude, I agree wt you 100%. Again the article I posted is pretty much a red meat Obama hit piece that at the same time lifts up Trump. Honest FAIR AND BALANCED media would take the information & present it first and then allow us to draw conclusions 1st. As you noted, they have a conclusion and build the superstructure around it. And if we can throw in some anti-obama to beef up that superstructure and get an emotional buy in from it - then you have captured your audience. Your last paragraph is why I'm a Never Trumper and again believe the good the admin accomplishes is in spite of Trump. 2 big picture concerns I have and they aren't directly tied to policy as policy can change. If Dem Senator Harris becomes the next President, she will change a lot of the policy once again. However Trump's affect is more than policy 1. The image of the Presidency - Trump is building the office into a mini dictatorship. His anti-media fake news rants, his demeaning of his opponents, his endorsement by silence or delayed action of the alt-right, and general vulgarness, lowers the office and the respect it deserves. While other presidents haven't lived up to the high standard of the office (Clinton, Nixon and others through the ages), Trump has taken us to a new level of low. Presidents should inspire us towards our greatest good and aspirations. Trump does the opposite and re-enforces many of the negatives in our society. This in turns lowers our expectations for the office if allowed to continue. In 2020 we need to reject this type of non-leadership. If it takes a Dem to straighten it out - so be it. The republican ruling class has failed to reign in Trump and his antics and thereby forfeit their right to maintain leadership. 2. International image and prestige - One can argue back and worth about the 'fairness' of the Paris Treaty but I believe it is a failure of leadership to withdraw from it. His non-leadership on the issue reflects his lack of conviction on the issue. If you believe the opposite of the Treaty's goals - then vigorously state it, defend it and lead to change the goals. Don't take your ball and run home with it. Lead. He can criticize Obama's "Red line in the sand" but he has essentially done the same thing wt this issue. He doesn't have to agree wt the other side, but we expect him to lead. Global leadership is about compromise in many aspects. You don't always get what you want (as his convention song after his acceptance speech stated - how ironic was that). The way he is handling NAFTA, TPP, etc isn't leadership. He is suppose to be a great negotiator but he isn't proving it with his non-global leadership. While I agree with his desire to recognize Jerusalem as the Israel capital - I disagree wt the timing. If he was wanting to negotiate a Middle East peace agreement, Jerusalem should have been held as a chip to be played and not a hammer to hit prior to negotiations. So while Trump fails to lead - I see the rise of the Chinese PM filling in the gap. That surely isn't in our best interest. Edited January 18, 2018 by TGHusker 1 Link to comment
knapplc Posted January 18, 2018 Share Posted January 18, 2018 1 hour ago, BigRedBuster said: I remember a time when a Democrat was heavily criticized because he was an embarrassment and the rest of the world didn't respect us. Carter? 1 Link to comment
BigRedBuster Posted January 18, 2018 Share Posted January 18, 2018 1 hour ago, knapplc said: Carter? That made me laugh. 1 Link to comment
Cdog923 Posted January 18, 2018 Share Posted January 18, 2018 Ballsy move by an elected official: Link to comment
BigRedBuster Posted January 18, 2018 Share Posted January 18, 2018 From people supporting a President that went on TV with Miss America talking about how horrible she is because she gained weight. Link to comment
knapplc Posted January 18, 2018 Share Posted January 18, 2018 I actually read that commentary on The Hill. The woman who wrote it lamented the fact that we're talking about Trump's unhealthy weight and cited a number of other issues we should be talking about. Except that I've seen dozens of tweets and you'll find headlines on every website discussing every one of those issues. It's like she thinks that if we spend any time talking about Trump's weight, we can't spend any time talking about anything else. As if we can't walk & chew gum at the same time. Super weak argument. Link to comment
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