Trump

[SHOXJOCK]

Why weren't they investigated? There were many years of a Republican controlled legislature that would have had some mechanism of prosecuting or investigating either or both of them. O and H are out of the picture. Trump is the office-holder now. I say do the investigation, if he as is clean in this dealing as he proclaims, he should have nothing to worry about. Time to sack up, be a leader, and get on with it.

It's incredible we just had eight years of it's Bush's fault from the left. And now we get from the left Obama and Hillary are out of the picture.

[shocka khan]

It's incredible we just had eight years of it's Bush's fault from the left. And now we get from the left Obama and Hillary are out of the picture.

I do not believe Obama presided over:
1) An economy that failed when he was president (he was left to clean up the mess).
2) A war with Iraq, whose costs were kept off government ledgers and the purpose for which was extremely controversial.
3) Tax cuts which were promised to provide relief for the middle class but in reality did not.

Seems like our economy is still stagnant - there are pockets of prosperity, but many middle income Americans haven't had a decent raise in years.
We are not totally out of Iraq, we still have advisers over there.
Tax cuts and war expenses blew a huge hole in our federal budget.

Those three things, in my opinion, are valid criticisms of Bush. Like it or not, the person who is president is blamed for the economy tanking during their watch.

As for the war with Iraq, it was cynical and deceptive to put the $1 Trillion costs off the federal books. Our huge federal deficit is still impacting us and I don't see Trump's tax plan fixing it either.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/20/us/politics/20budget.html

Trickle down economics (cut the taxes on the rich and benefits will 'trickle down' to the middle class) only worked when Reagan was president and the reason it worked was the marginal rates were far higher than they are today. How well did it work with Brownback and Kansas? When marginal rates are relatively low, tax cuts don't do anything but blow a hole in the federal/state budget. They don't 'grow' anything.

I will say, though, that I am supportive of reduction in corporate taxes, but not supportive in allowing companies to recapture stranded profits, as the last time we declared a tax holiday and did that, what we got was more outsourcing and job cutting, which was the opposite of what the proponents told us would happen.

The one thing Obama did which still is impacting us now is the ACA. Funny thing, I read a recent poll which shows 2-for-1 support of the ACA over Trumpcare. I am ambivalent over the ACA, my only comment is that Trump lied through his teeth during the campaign regarding the benefits of his healthcare proposals.

One of the things Obama did which did not have an impact but I still disagree with was the dispatching the Attorney General to investigate and file voting rights lawsuits rather than prosecuting the individuals who were responsible for crashing our economy.

I think in hindsight, just about everyone thinks the war in Iraq was pure folly. We forced out a dictator who was actually helping us, and we gave our enemies (Russia and Iran) a foothold in Iraq and at a huge cost. We accomplished nothing.

Afghanistan was/is a totally different story.

Both Bush and Obama appear saintly next to Trump. Many of us who were suckered in by his rhetoric are now having buyer's remorse, so if you are comparing relatively speaking the guy who 'was' there to the guy who 'is' there, it's pretty dumb to complain as to why we're not hearing more about Obama's and Hillary's screw-ups.

Therefore, your complaining is more partisan and less objective.

Again, I think Pence would do a much better job than Trump, I may disagree with him philosophically, but he's a much steadier had who understands how to run a government.

[SB Shock]

Why weren't they investigated? There were many years of a Republican controlled legislature that would have had some mechanism

They tried and called for many independent investigations but the democrats refused to appoint an independent counsel for any of the scandals. Congressional investigation rarely lead to anything excerpt political points being made. Though the Benghazi investigation did lead to the outing of Hillary email server. But further congressional investigation only lead people to refuse to testify and to take the 5th amendment.

[pinstripers]

Absolutely.

Note I fully understand what I think is your point: That Obama used executive orders to force changes you did not agree with. I don't disagree with that, and I was also disappointed with and disagreed with him on that and several other things), which was another reason I voted for Trump.

If that is, indeed, your point, how did that Muslim ban go for Trump, anyway?

Executive orders have to be the most arrogant thing any POTUS can do, whether you agree with them or not. Putting oneself above the Constitution has to be the top of the top. I know nothing of the muslim ban you speak on. There isn't one, and hasn't been one proposed.

[wufan]

Executive orders have to be the most arrogant thing any POTUS can do, whether you agree with them or not. Putting oneself above the Constitution has to be the top of the top. I know nothing of the muslim ban you speak on. There isn't one, and hasn't been one proposed.

I thought executive orders were used to give direction on enforcement of the laws or powers that belong to the president. Am I wrong?

[SHOXJOCK]

shocka Khan after reading your way to long rant, here is one thing we agree on "Again, I think Pence would do a much better job than Trump, I may disagree with him philosophically, but he's a much steadier hand who understands how to run a government." Just FYI I did not vote for Trump. One thing we may also agree on. The best thing Trump has done or will ever do is keep Hillary out of the white house.

[DUShock]

[ShockingButTrue]

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2017/may/18/james-comey-higher-ups-never-asked-halt-fbi-invest/

This guy is toxic.

[ShockingButTrue]

The best thing Trump has done or will ever do is keep Hillary out of the white house.

Hear, hear... Cruz also.

[CBB_Fan]

Hillary not being in the White House is by far the best thing that Trump's election did ... for the Democrats.

I can state with total confidence that a Hillary presidency would have resulted in a massive House majority and Senate supermajority for the Republicans. One of the largest in US history. She would have resided over 4 years of short, brutal, hyper-partisan government. Republicans would filibuster her Supreme Court pick(s), her Cabinet picks, etc and would have already moved to start impeachment proceedings. Because she doesn't have Trump's rabid following she'd have a lower approval than Trump now, being unable to satisfy her base with everything filibustered and losing moderates from her investigations (obviously she has a 0% approval rating from Republicans).

After her 4 years, Trump or someone worse than Trump would take office and Republicans might never lose again. To clarify, 2020 is a census year. Republicans had a massive, super successful strategy in 2010 that involved taking control of states Houses and rewriting the districts (as they are required to do after each Census) to favor Republicans called Project REDMAP. In their own words:

REDMAP’s effect on the 2012 election is plain when analyzing the results: Pennsylvanians cast 83,000 more votes for Democratic U.S. House candidates than their Republican opponents, but elected a 13-5 Republican majority to represent them in Washington; Michiganders cast over 240,000 more votes for Democratic congressional candidates than Republicans, but still elected a 9-5 Republican delegation to Congress. Nationwide, Republicans won 54 percent of the U.S. House seats, along with 58 of 99 state legislative chambers, while winning only 8 of 33 U.S. Senate races and carrying only 47.8 percent of the national presidential vote.

As someone who thinks things like Crosscheck (Kris Kobach's baby) and REDMAP are affronts to Democracy, I am glad Trump won because whichever party won the Presidency in 2016 would have been set up to lose badly in 2018 and 2020. I would have preferred a sane Republican instead of Trump because I still want a competent captain on the sinking ship.

[ShockerPhi]

Who cares about Russia? It's time to move on and let Trump work. That's what he was elected to do. Obama and Hillary are the ones that need to be investigated.

Let him work? All he does is golf! Even more so than Obama did!

[ShockerPrez]

So,

Everyone good with maybe nuetering the federal government? Reign in their power? Give a little, or hell, maybe even most control back to the states?

Who's with me? Trump is not the only or last celebrity in chief. Washington is all show at this point. Its only gonna get worse. Why do I feel the the Dems are thinking, "Hold my beer" when they think about 1 upping the republicans? There is 2 Americas. Their is America and there is Washington. Its Hollywood for ugly people.

The sooner what goes on in Washington has zero impact on America, the better. Flush it all.

[BOBB]

So,

Everyone good with maybe nuetering the federal government? Reign in their power? Give a little, or hell, maybe even most control back to the states?

Who's with me? Trump is not the only or last celebrity in chief. Washington is all show at this point. Its only gonna get worse. Why do I feel the the Dems are thinking, "Hold my beer" when they think about 1 upping the republicans? There is 2 Americas. Their is America and there is Washington. Its Hollywood for ugly people.

The sooner what goes on in Washington has zero impact on America, the better. Flush it all.

As a center left guy I support this wholeheartedly. The fact we are paying this much attention to the federal government, particularly the Presidency, is evidence that it wields too much power over our lives. I do believe there is a role for government in making people's lives better, but Washington hasn't focused on that in the name of tribal warfare in at least 40 years. The caveat is would I trade 536 dictators in DC for 64 in Carson City? States have been trampling on liberties as fast or faster than the Feds.

[shocka khan]

As a center left guy I support this wholeheartedly. The fact we are paying this much attention to the federal government, particularly the Presidency, is evidence that it wields too much power over our lives. I do believe there is a role for government in making people's lives better, but Washington hasn't focused on that in the name of tribal warfare in at least 40 years. The caveat is would I trade 536 dictators in DC for 64 in Carson City? States have been trampling on liberties as fast or faster than the Feds.

Yup, one only needs to look at Brownback to see that. And he even got re-elected. A true village idiot in search of a village, since he tried to snag that ambassadorship from Trump.

For what he did to Kansas, he ought to get a lifetime appointment as the ambassador to Waste Management, and have his office at the largest garbage dump in the world.

[Eric]

So,

Everyone good with maybe nuetering the federal government? Reign in their power? Give a little, or hell, maybe even most control back to the states?

Who's with me? Trump is not the only or last celebrity in chief. Washington is all show at this point. Its only gonna get worse. Why do I feel the the Dems are thinking, "Hold my beer" when they think about 1 upping the republicans? There is 2 Americas. Their is America and there is Washington. Its Hollywood for ugly people.

The sooner what goes on in Washington has zero impact on America, the better. Flush it all.

I totally agree with all of this. The "hold my beer" remark especially. At some point, the election turned into a contest of which side could "out-asshole" the other side. This time the Republican asshole won.