Trump

[SB Shock]

This is not normal in a functioning western democracy.

I would say it is working as designed. Inertia of the system does not allow the trajectory of the countries path to be changed by one man or one party.

[Kung Wu]

Trump demands total loyalty. Anyone who rocks the boat or disrupts him (Spicer, Yates, Bharara, Comey, Preibus, Sessions and Mueller soon to come) will be fired, humiliated, and replaced with someone more likely to follow orders. I feel like the repeated absurdities of the past 6 months has made it difficult to step back and realize how far we've drifted from normalcy, so I'd just like to reiterate:

This is not normal in a functioning western democracy.

Huh?

[shockmonster]

Trump demands total loyalty. Anyone who rocks the boat or disrupts him (Spicer, Yates, Bharara, Comey, Preibus, Sessions and Mueller soon to come) will be fired, humiliated, and replaced with someone more likely to follow orders. I feel like the repeated absurdities of the past 6 months has made it difficult to step back and realize how far we've drifted from normalcy, so I'd just like to reiterate:

This is not normal in a functioning western democracy.

The exaggeration and hyper-dramatic statements are as much a part of your statement, much of the media, and the Democratic Party as anything Trump spits out. Cries of Fascism, Hitler, health care killing people, treason by Trump, impeach the President, Etc. etc. are statements that go way over the top and are just as hyperbolic as anything Trump is accused of saying.

[Play Angry]

This is not normal in a competent administration.

Fixed.

Libs should be living for the keystone cops routine we've seen; this level of drama and turnover in the White House only deepens the legislative paralysis.

[shockmonster]

Fixed.

Libs should be living for the keystone cops routine we've seen; this level of drama and turnover in the White House only deepens the legislative paralysis.

I'm not a fan of Trump or the drama but there is a reason that he got elected and guys like McCain, Graham, O'bama, Pelosi, Shumer, etc etc have not been getting the job done. Libs (I'm talking libertarians and not Liberals), conservatives, and centrists in both parties should be unhappy with what has been going on for the past eight years although the Democrat Centrists have gone underground. The a Dems have been more concerned with a social engineering agenda than an economic one.

[Play Angry]

Confused - is that responsive to something in my post or was the quote a mistake?

If you can't roll your eyes and laugh a little at something like the Scaramucci meltdown and the knee-jerk reaction is instead to throw out vague defenses and justifications, ya might as well quit pretending there's anything ol Two Corinthians could ever do that would incur your critical comment.

I don't like Trump but I defend him at every turn is just silly; may as well embrace the status as a stalwart.

[shockmonster]

[QUOTE=Play Angry;745616]Confused - is that responsive to something in my post or was the quote a mistake?

If you can't roll your eyes and laugh a little at something like the Scaramucci meltdown and the knee-jerk reaction is instead to throw out vague defenses and justifications, ya might as well quit pretending there's anything ol Two Corinthians could ever do that would incur your critical comment.

I don't like Trump but I defend him at every turn is just silly; may as well embrace the status as a stalwart.[/QUOTEi]

I think I did say I agreed with you regarding the drama. Not disagreeing but adding. I don't agree with either side right now but more with the Trump circus than the Pelosi/Perez circus.

[Play Angry]

There's another option that doesn't involve middle school Tweets and taking Howard Dean's side on trade instead of Ronald Reagan's or advocating FDR's views on Keynesian spending.

#TakeBackTheGOP










unfortunately this won't happen soon if ever; too few vote based on ideological alignment. cultural identity or bust on both sides.

[wufan]

The election of Trump was a direct backlash to the left wing ideas of open borders, diversity, political correctness, and equity. These ideas were perpetuatesd too far left for middle America, and Trump drew these people along with those that have a far right wing view on the topics. Trump is what you get when a centrist Republican can't get elected and a centrist democrat can't get out of the primaries.

[shockmonster]

http://freebeacon.com/national-security/congress-seeks-wasserman-schultz-testimony-scandal-investigation/

Here is a story that has been ignored by all the a Mainstream press except For Fox. The Washington Post told the story as the White House wants it investigated instead of seeing the importance of investigating a Congresswoman who was the DNC chair and was paying an IT staffer who had broken the law, denied access to government information but was still being paid by Wasserman-Schultz for doing nothing. She was only concerned that his government laptop was seized. Sound like an investigation is necessary to anyone?

[Play Angry]

The election of Trump was a direct backlash to the left wing ideas of open borders, diversity, political correctness, and equity. These ideas were perpetuatesd too far left for middle America, and Trump drew these people along with those that have a far right wing view on the topics. Trump is what you get when a centrist Republican can't get elected and a centrist democrat can't get out of the primaries.

I agree with a lot of this, but I think too few note Trump's massive pivot from conservative orthodoxy on economics. He promised massive government stimulus, trade barriers to artificially prop up dying non-competitive industries, and naturally tax cuts as well because who likes a hike?

Turns out coal states, rust belt states and opioid infested states can be bought just as easily with promises of handouts from nationalists as they can from socialists. Small government conservatives were the real losers as they longer had a dog in the fight this election.

[Aargh]

Polling shows support for Trump at the following levels. I believe people self-reported their party affiliation.

Republicans - In the 80's%
Independents - In the 30's%
Democrats - Single digits

Another question in the poll was the main source of news of the respondents. Those supporting Trump almost exclusively got all their news from Fox.

Our media sources are about as polarized as our two political parties. When I've listened to Fox I've found them to be mainly repeating the White House line from press conferences and then expounding and expanding on some of the points the WH tried to make. Almost every other news source was pointing out that the WH's points conflicted with verifiable other sources or were in conflict with other WH points.

I don't accept a lot of things I hear in the way those reporting would like for me to accept them. I try to check additional sources, follow money trails, and sometimes just plain logic and critical thinking easily defeats some things that get reported. What I'm hearing from the WH sounds more like "here's what we want you to believe" rather than "here's what's actually happening".

[SB Shock]

I agree with a lot of this, but I think too few note Trump's massive pivot from conservative orthodoxy on economics. He promised massive government stimulus, trade barriers to artificially prop up dying non-competitive industries, and naturally tax cuts as well because who likes a hike?

Turns out coal states, rust belt states and opioid infested states can be bought just as easily with promises of handouts from nationalists as they can from socialists. Small government conservatives were the real losers as they longer had a dog in the fight this election.

Let's face it Trump got elected not for his "conservative" policies, but because he pull together enough of the anti-Hillary and the centrist democrats together. All you have to watch is his video from his younger days to see he is a democrat.

I think we are lucky that the democrats didn't realize that they actually won the whitehouse. Think of the damage they could have did if they had been bipartisan and embraced some of Trumps initiatives.

[wufan]

I agree with a lot of this, but I think too few note Trump's massive pivot from conservative orthodoxy on economics. He promised massive government stimulus, trade barriers to artificially prop up dying non-competitive industries, and naturally tax cuts as well because who likes a hike?

Turns out coal states, rust belt states and opioid infested states can be bought just as easily with promises of handouts from nationalists as they can from socialists. Small government conservatives were the real losers as they longer had a dog in the fight this election.

Very true that people respond to economics above anything else. Three of the items I mentioned have a strong economic connotation; open borders means more competition for jobs, diversity means jobs for groups of people based on group identity rather than merit, and equity means taxing some to pay others.

Spending on infrastructure is palatable to centrist dems and republicans alike, but is certainly not a small federal gov idea.

[Jamar Howard 4 President]

In an odd twist, those who want to limit it and have the power to do that are the ones providing the "entertainment".

Trump has never been interested in limiting government power. Not in the slightest.