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The Trump Administration
Wed, 2016-11-09 01:52
#1
The Trump Administration
Wed, 2016-11-09 01:53
#2
I hear that Rudy Giuliani will most likely be Attorney General, and Newt Gingrich may be Secretary of State. And there will surely be a place at Homeland Security for Joe Arpaio.
Wed, 2016-11-09 01:56
#3
ikosmos
"This popcorn is really good. You should try some."
Wed, 2016-11-09 02:03
#4
I suspect that Putin may yet regret today's result. Trump is bringing a bunch of unpredictable fools into office again. People like John Bolton and Newt Gingrich. Who knows what these idiots will do?
Wed, 2016-11-09 02:07
#5
ikosmos
Russia generally, and Vladimir Vladimirovich in particular, is used to dealing with American "idiots". This would be nothing new.
Fri, 2016-11-11 13:24
#6
I intended this thread to discuss what will be happening in the Trump administration, rather than what we think of Trump and/or his supporters. Today, it became clear that the U.S. version of "medicare" which applies only to those over 65, will be one of the first "entitlements" to be "reformed." Jonathan Chait tells the story here.
During the campaign, coverage of the issues was blotted out by coverage of Hillary Clinton’s emails and Donald Trump’s broad suite of sociopathic tendencies. And of the issues that did receive any attention, a conspicuously missing one was Paul Ryan’s plan to push Medicare beneficiaries into private health insurance. Reporters just assumed that, since Trump never talked about it, it won’t happen. But Paul Ryan still wants it to happen. And in a Fox News interview with Bret Baier, Ryan said Medicare privatization is on.
Fri, 2016-11-11 13:50
#7
alan smithee
This is the thing about Trump's presidency.
Everything he said during the campaign was empty rhetoric and faux populism.
He's a Republican and the Republicans have an agenda. Trump will fall right into line. He will servbe exclusively as a figurehead that will make appointments to shit stains like Guilliani,Gingrich,Bolton,Palin,Arpaio,etc...
What Americans are going to soon realize is that all that talk about keeping jobs in America and scrapping trade deals. These things are not going to happen because the Republicans have a platform that Americans were too stupid to read. And the fact that he'll be appointing far right cronies means the 'elites' and 'establishment' is going to not only not disappear but raise up on steroids.
Those who voted for this buffoon thinking he was the anti-establishment candidate are going to be in for a very nasty surprise.
Fri, 2016-11-11 13:56
#8
This is the thing about Trump's presidency.
Everything he said during the campaign was empty rhetoric and faux populism.
He's a Republican and the Republicans have an agenda. Trump will fall right into line. He will servbe exclusively as a figurehead that will make appointments to shit stains like Guilliani,Gingrich,Bolton,Palin,Arpaio,etc...
What Americans are going to soon realize is that all that talk about keeping jobs in America and scrapping trade deals. These things are not going to happen because the Republicans have a platform that Americans were too stupid to read. And the fact that he'll be appointing far right cronies means the 'elites' and 'establishment' is going to not only not disappear but raise up on steroids.
Those who voted for this buffoon thinking he was the anti-establishment candidate are going to be in for a very nasty surprise.
That all sounds pretty accurate to me.
Fri, 2016-11-11 14:55
#9
This is the thing about Trump's presidency.
Everything he said during the campaign was empty rhetoric and faux populism.
He's a Republican and the Republicans have an agenda. Trump will fall right into line. He will servbe exclusively as a figurehead that will make appointments to shit stains like Guilliani,Gingrich,Bolton,Palin,Arpaio,etc...
What Americans are going to soon realize is that all that talk about keeping jobs in America and scrapping trade deals. These things are not going to happen because the Republicans have a platform that Americans were too stupid to read. And the fact that he'll be appointing far right cronies means the 'elites' and 'establishment' is going to not only not disappear but raise up on steroids.
Those who voted for this buffoon thinking he was the anti-establishment candidate are going to be in for a very nasty surprise.
He actually was a Democrat who has never bought into the Randian Republican philosophy. He said on more than one occasion during the campaign that he does not want to touch social security or Medicare. Of course he could be lying, but without additional evidence we cannot assume that his view has changed. Plus, not being philophically wedded to Republican theology, he knows it's a political loser.
Fri, 2016-11-11 14:56
#10
Misfit
Allan, all I take exception to is that you did not bold and underline "nasty surprise". Otherwise, what you said is bang on.
Fri, 2016-11-11 14:59
#11
Misfit
Josh, Congress will make those decisions. Both houses are Republican controlled. It is going to be one pathetic ultra right-wing shit storm.
Fri, 2016-11-11 15:11
#12
Shunned during election season by many in his own party, President-elect Trump's closest advisers are a collection of crackpots and dilettantes who will make Bush's cabinet look like the Nobel committee. The head of his EPA transition team, Myron Ebell, is a noted climate-change denier. Pyramid enthusiast and stabbing expert Ben Carson is already being mentioned as a possible Health and Human Services chief. Rudy Giuliani, probably too unhinged by now for even a People's Court reboot, might be attorney general. God only knows who might end up being Supreme Court nominees; we can only hope they turn out to be lawyers, or at least people who played lawyers onscreen. And sitting behind this fun-house nightmare of executive-branch worthies (which Politico speculates will be one of the more "eclectic" cabinets ever) will be a rubber-stamping all-Republican legislature that will attract the loving admiration of tinhorn despots from Minsk to Beijing.
http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/features/president-trump-how-americ...
Fri, 2016-11-11 15:20
#13
Josh, Congress will make those decisions. Both houses are Republican controlled. It is going to be one pathetic ultra right-wing shit storm.
As long as the filibuster is around they can block things like privatizing Medicare.
Fri, 2016-11-11 15:49
#14
This is the thing about Trump's presidency.
Everything he said during the campaign was empty rhetoric and faux populism.
He's a Republican and the Republicans have an agenda. Trump will fall right into line. He will servbe exclusively as a figurehead that will make appointments to shit stains like Guilliani,Gingrich,Bolton,Palin,Arpaio,etc...
What Americans are going to soon realize is that all that talk about keeping jobs in America and scrapping trade deals. These things are not going to happen because the Republicans have a platform that Americans were too stupid to read. And the fact that he'll be appointing far right cronies means the 'elites' and 'establishment' is going to not only not disappear but raise up on steroids.
Those who voted for this buffoon thinking he was the anti-establishment candidate are going to be in for a very nasty surprise.
Agreed to a certain extent. On the other hand I don't think that Trump is entirely on the same page as the rest of the GOP. It may not have got through to him yet, as a serious megalomaniac, that the GOP sees him as an amenable tool. I'm wondering what's going to happen when Trump realizes that GOP majority in Congress want to get him on the outs with his voters/audience (assuming that the GOP in Congress can agree on a line). My guess is that as a supreme egotist with a certain shrewdness about acquiring and maintaining power, he won't take kindly to that sort of thing. On the other hand the monkey cage that is the GOP right wing may not be amenable to Harper-style discipline in the interests of power.
I recall that one John F. Kennedy had difficulties when he alarmed the establishment. However in this case I am in some doubt as to who will alarm the CIA, the other similar minions of the executive branch, and "the ruling circles of Wall Street" the most. Who will they like least to have around the red button and messing with the economy, Trump or the likes of Pence, Gingrich and Bolton? We might have a super-Watergate.
It's interesting to recall that the U.S. armed forces, CIA etc., apparently view climate change as a major threat to national security.
Fri, 2016-11-11 15:53
#15
This is the thing about Trump's presidency.
Everything he said during the campaign was empty rhetoric and faux populism.
He's a Republican and the Republicans have an agenda. Trump will fall right into line. He will servbe exclusively as a figurehead that will make appointments to shit stains like Guilliani,Gingrich,Bolton,Palin,Arpaio,etc...
What Americans are going to soon realize is that all that talk about keeping jobs in America and scrapping trade deals. These things are not going to happen because the Republicans have a platform that Americans were too stupid to read. And the fact that he'll be appointing far right cronies means the 'elites' and 'establishment' is going to not only not disappear but raise up on steroids.
Those who voted for this buffoon thinking he was the anti-establishment candidate are going to be in for a very nasty surprise.
He actually was a Democrat who has never bought into the Randian Republican philosophy. He said on more than one occasion during the campaign that he does not want to touch social security or Medicare. Of course he could be lying, but without additional evidence we cannot assume that his view has changed. Plus, not being philophically wedded to Republican theology, he knows it's a political loser.
You know, if Trump had actually been running third-party, unbeholden to Republican personages and dogma, I would have given some serious thought to supporting(well, in my head, since I can't vote in the US) him, on both foreign-policy and social issues.
Among his early-primary foreign-policy stances were an exapressed willingness to meet with the North Koreans over their nuke program(which is exactly what the North Koreans themselves have been demanding, refused by every candidate and sitting president in recent memory), stated neutrality on the status of Jerusalem(everyone else of any signficance is pro-Israel), and an acknowledgement that the Iraq War was a blunder(he dishonestly claimed to have been against it from the start, but that's par for the course in politics).
On social issues, he bluntly told equal-marriage opponents to get over their obsession after the SCOTUS ruling, stated that people of any gender should use whatever washrooms they feel comfortable with, and said he'd continue to allow states to legalize and regulate recreational marijuana.
Unfortunately, it was always pretty apparent that, once he realized he couldn't survive without major support from the Republican establishment, he'd modify his stances accordingly, which I know he has done on Jerusalem, and, if reports of Bolton for Foggy Bottom are accurate, most other foreign-policy issues as well. Not sure where he is on social-issues, I suspect he'll play it as some sort of decentralization thing(leaving the decisions up to the states), which is actually pretty standard for Republicans of any stripe.
Fri, 2016-11-11 16:27
#16
botched
Fri, 2016-11-11 16:33
#17
Hm.
Either Obama is the most persuasive debater in human history, or Trump is concocting a narrative as set-up for some future decision on health-care, whatever that may be.
If at least some of the Republican vote really was about economic distress, then hanging onto at least parts of Obamacare would probably be a good stretegy fot Trump. Many of those laid-off workers have almost certainly benefitted from its provisions, and they likely wouldn't be happy to see it scrapped in full.
Fri, 2016-11-11 16:36
#18
This is the thing about Trump's presidency.
Everything he said during the campaign was empty rhetoric and faux populism.
He's a Republican and the Republicans have an agenda. Trump will fall right into line. He will servbe exclusively as a figurehead that will make appointments to shit stains like Guilliani,Gingrich,Bolton,Palin,Arpaio,etc...
What Americans are going to soon realize is that all that talk about keeping jobs in America and scrapping trade deals. These things are not going to happen because the Republicans have a platform that Americans were too stupid to read. And the fact that he'll be appointing far right cronies means the 'elites' and 'establishment' is going to not only not disappear but raise up on steroids.
Those who voted for this buffoon thinking he was the anti-establishment candidate are going to be in for a very nasty surprise.
That all sounds pretty accurate to me.
Well said.
Fri, 2016-11-11 18:04
#19
alan smithee
Trumps first 100 day action plan.
http://www.npr.org/2016/11/09/501451368/here-is-what-donald-trump-wants-...
A lot of it is laughable,some of it is impossible and Chinless Fuck..I mean Mitch McConnell has already hinted that some of these ideas (infrastructure spending for example) is not a priority or part of the Republicans main agenda.
I especially love the wall proposal. This jack ass still thinks he can make Mexico pay for it. Good luck with that,asshat.
Fri, 2016-11-11 18:36
#20
what's special interest collusion mean?
what does a currency manipulator mean?
and how will China being labelled one play out in the amount of US debt they hold?
has Obama even issued any unconstitutional amendments?
the whole list reads like smokey bs.
Fri, 2016-11-11 19:13
#21
A couple of things strike me about Trump's 100 day action plan:
He doesn't say anything about recovering the jobs that have already been exported.
He doesn't say anything about the financial sector.
I don't think that the people who voted for him are going to find that their situation improves.
I'll be interested to find out how he proposes to get Mexico to pay for his wall.
Fri, 2016-11-11 19:21
#22
alan smithee
Mexico is not paying for the wall. It's like building a hospital and making a foreign government pay for it,there's no chance it's going to happen.
So it is interesting how he proposes to make Mexico pay for his wall. What's he going to do? Start a war with Mexico?
On second thought,nothing would surprise me. But Mexico ain't paying for it.
Fri, 2016-11-11 19:35
#23
I've heard it suggested that things like tariffs could pay for the wall. No idea if he can just wave his hand and impose tariffs, of course.
Fri, 2016-11-11 19:48
#24
alan smithee
I've heard it suggested that things like tariffs could pay for the wall. No idea if he can just wave his hand and impose tariffs, of course.
That could be but it's not mentioned in his proposal.
'End Illegal Immigration Act Fully-funds the construction of a wall on our southern border with the full understanding that the country Mexico will be reimbursing the United States for the full cost of such wall.'
It sounds as if the US actually has a deal with Mexico to pay for the wall. We all know they don't. We all know that Mexico would never just passively pay the bill.
Tariffs? That's plausible but I find it odd that it was not mentioned in his manifesto.
Fri, 2016-11-11 19:59
#25
Hm.
Either Obama is the most persuasive debater in human history, or Trump is concocting a narrative as set-up for some future decision on health-care, whatever that may be.
It seems he's very influenced by the last person he talks to.
Fri, 2016-11-11 21:10
#26
He can impose tariffs but that would allow every Mexican company to sue under NAFTA. Since that would include a lot of American subsidiaries it would be a sight to behold. Of course he could revoke NAFTA after the notice period but I will be gobsmacked if that happens
Fri, 2016-11-11 21:26
#27
I suppose he could theoretically deduct it from the international aid that the US gives to Mexico. Though, recently, that's only been on the order of a half billion, and I can't say for sure he could build that wall for that kind of coin, unless it's going to be eight feet high and made of chipboard.
Fri, 2016-11-11 21:36
#28
Hm.
Either Obama is the most persuasive debater in human history, or Trump is concocting a narrative as set-up for some future decision on health-care, whatever that may be.
It seems he's very influenced by the last person he talks to.
Yes, I saw that too.
Tee hee.
Sat, 2016-11-12 03:44
#29
"Remember how you let Obama 'legalize'
* Assassinating anyone
* Spying on everyone
* Prosecuting publishers and sources?
It's All Trumps
In 69 Days..."
Sat, 2016-11-12 20:03
#30
The Black Swan President
Donald Trump is the biggest unknown ever to take control of the White House. What’s the worst-case scenario? The best? As the country waits to find out, Politico Magazine asked 17 experts to game out a Trump presidency.
http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2016/11/donald-trump-president-wh...
Sun, 2016-11-13 11:31
#31
Good analysis, Sean. However, I think you have underestimated one of Trump's most pronounced tendencies, laziness. According to people who attempted to prep him for the debates, he doesn't want to be bothered understanding anything, and he refuses to read briefing books. He prefers to get his information from "the shows". I predict that republicans in congress and the administration, headed by VP Pence, will be making all the policy decisions, while Trump spends his time "making America great again".
Sun, 2016-11-13 11:47
#32
maybe he's afraid all the reading will hurt his eyes???
Sun, 2016-11-13 12:09
#33
Good analysis, Sean. However, I think you have underestimated one of Trump's most pronounced tendencies, laziness. According to people who attempted to prep him for the debates, he doesn't want to be bothered understanding anything, and he refuses to read briefing books. He prefers to get his information from "the shows". I predict that republicans in congress and the administration, headed by VP Pence, will be making all the policy decisions, while Trump spends his time "making America great again".
Agreed.
Sun, 2016-11-13 12:23
#34
I think Trump's administration is shaping up to be by far the most right wing Administration in American history. His right wing cabinet will run the show since Trump will be the dumbest person in the room when his cabinet meets. He simply does not have the intellectual ammunition to stand up to his cabinet.
Sun, 2016-11-13 12:44
#35
ikosmos
Trump has already rejected the bellicose Clinton approach to Syria and that is to his credit. The US regime is, already, taking a different approach to some of the terrorists that they, hitherto, had treated with kid gloves.
Clinton was jonesing for another war and she didn't get her wish. Mind you, I half expect something spiteful from the Clinton-dominated Obama regime in the last days. Ashton Carter was particularly idiotic in his whine that Russian "failed to live up to their promises" to help overthrow Assad in Syria. This stuff is just laughable if it weren't so serious.
If this keeps up, Obama may have to hand over his trophy from Norway to his replacement at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.
Sun, 2016-11-13 12:52
#36
alan smithee
Holy fuck is that the dumbest thing I have read at babble in all the years I've been here.
Sun, 2016-11-13 13:01
#37
Or better yet they'll give the Nobel prize to al-Assad. It's amazing how peaceful and tranquil Syria is under Assad's thoughtful and benevolent leadership.
Sun, 2016-11-13 13:50
#38
Predicting what a Trump presidency will be like is more difficult than any previous one in living memory.
Trump could toe the Republican line or he may fight with them and strike out as much on his own as possible -- or he can try one for a while and then the other.
Trump policies could reflect a business person who is pragmatic and trying to provide the best presidency to flatter his own ego or it could be unhinged and irrational based on his whims and angers. Ot it could be one for a while and then the other.
Trump's foreign policy could be a step back from the worst of American imperialism or a new imperialism from a despot with anger issues. Or it could be both on after another.
You don't know what you are going to get. He is dangerous.
Of course as dangerous as he is, it is possible that he could do some good amid all else he does. That is what being unpredictable means.
He might rise above the worst expectations or confirm them all.
He is connected to some bad people and he has some very bad tendencies and biases. He is a racist and a sexist man who loves power.
What could go wrong?
Sun, 2016-11-13 14:05
#39
Trump has already rejected the bellicose Clinton approach to Syria and that is to his credit. The US regime is, already, taking a different approach to some of the terrorists that they, hitherto, had treated with kid gloves.
Clinton was jonesing for another war and she didn't get her wish. Mind you, I half expect something spiteful from the Clinton-dominated Obama regime in the last days. Ashton Carter was particularly idiotic in his whine that Russian "failed to live up to their promises" to help overthrow Assad in Syria. This stuff is just laughable if it weren't so serious.
If this keeps up, Obama may have to hand over his trophy from Norway to his replacement at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.
Ok so you are totally ignoring the military forces that pushed Clinton in that direction -- the forces that push all American Presidents.
It may be that Trump will find different allies and enemies but he will be about empire as much as any other and will be sure to find places to try out all the expensive toys the military owns and justify the spending he has promised to increase.
I think he may surpirse either by being worse than many fear or a little better than they fear becuase he is less predictable. But don't for a second think he will not be within range of the other presidents.
As well, as others have pointed out, he will be influenced quite a bit by Republicans around him -- republicans who have a lot of power. I disagree that the volume of this is entirely known already but it will be present. He also has a massive and dangerous ego.
The best case scenario would make him not the worst they have had. The worst is almost imagineable. He will not be any better than the average trigger-happy president from the Republican party (not much different from the ones from the Democrats on that score). And that is a lot better than many now fear. Or,he might be much worse.
Do not mistake the initial nice words -- all presidents make these noises about inclusiveness and being everyone's president and not sounding too extreme. All of them come in in awe of the office I suspect, and they want to be (or appear) above and idealistic (from the point of view they come from). And then all resume business as usual for themselves and their character. We know a lot about Trump's character and roughly what he could be capable of. It would be a surpirse to have him rise above that at all and practically impossible to expect this by much.
When people like me are saying he may be better than expectations it is only becuase expectations are truly very, very low.
I hope this explains what I thought was obvious.
Sun, 2016-11-13 14:48
#40
[youtube]Q__bSi5rBlw[/youtube]
Sun, 2016-11-13 16:00
#41
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/president-elect-trump-says-how-many-immigran...
President-elect Donald Trump’s hard-line immigration stance was a central part of his campaign message in 2016 -- and he said in an interview airing Sunday that he plans to immediately deport approximately two to three million undocumented immigrants.
Sun, 2016-11-13 16:12
#42
alan smithee
Trump eyes Bush-era torture architect to head CIA.
Jose Rodriguez was involved in the CIA’s Bush-era torture program, as well as covering it up. He destroyed 92 video tapes of CIA torture in the name of national security.
Mon, 2016-11-14 01:54
#43
Mon, 2016-11-14 02:38
#44
Fifth column?
Trump says he's 'fine' with legalization of same-sex marriage
He said it's "settled"-but abortion isn't
Mon, 2016-11-14 02:40
#45
Dawn of the Donald: What To Expect as Trump Takes the White House
Sophie & Co
Stephen Cohen, professor emeritus Princeton University, contributing editor The Nation on Trump win
Mon, 2016-11-14 05:41
#46
Mon, 2016-11-14 10:02
#47
i was reading an article this morning from some UK paper about the Brits freaking out about Trump Putin and Syria. now it doesn/t some up on the news feed.
has anyone else read this today?
Mon, 2016-11-14 10:13
#48
alan smithee
Ben Carson may be Secretary of Education.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/president-donald-trump-the-41-p...
Mon, 2016-11-14 10:24
#49
alan smithee
Meet Trump's new Chief Strategist.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/steve-bannon-chief-strategist_us_582...
Mon, 2016-11-14 11:56
#50
alan smithee
President Pence doesn't want you to see his emails.
http://www.politico.com/blogs/donald-trump-administration/2016/11/pence-...
Mon, 2016-11-14 12:01
#51
alan smithee
Hey ladies. Say goodbye to your right to choose.
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/trump-women-other-state-abortion?u...