The Trump Presidency – 2016

[sterlingice]

Originally Posted by stevew

i believe you should have to read a book before you get a library.

Let's be honest - it would have the Gideon Bible he stole out of the White House in his photo op where he gassed protesters and a whole wing about The Art of the Deal.

Or it'll just look like this:





SI

[JPhillips]

Originally Posted by Ben E Lou

I don’t want him to run, but forcing his GOP enablers to deal with him in the 2024 primaries would be the punishment they so richly deserve. I mean, now that I think about it, isn’t this the obvious answer to my poll? Whenever it becomes clear that his court challenges aren’t going to work, he just claims fraud, announces his 2024 candidacy against the rigged, corrupt system, and starts doing rallies as early as December. Heck, why wouldn’t he hold a rally at the same time as the inauguration?

Please have cameras on Cotton, Rubio, Hawley, Haley, etc. when he announces that he's not going to stop running. I really want to see the moment they realize what is happening.

[larrymcg421]

Rubio so desperately wants to be President and is trying to thread the needle of a Trumper and a non-Trumper. I think the problem is Trumpers see through this so stiill don't think he's one of them and he hasn't sufficiently distanced himself from Trump for the general electorate.

[Atocep]

The GOP isn't the same party that it was when Rubio was a rising star. He has no shot at a GOP nomination as it stands.

[JediKooter]

Yet, they cry, bitch, moan and complain about the 'intolerant left'...

Steve Bannon Says He’d Like to See Dr. Fauci, FBI Director Wray Beheaded

Flomaton Police captain placed on administrative leave, could be fired after “put a bullet in their skull” comment about elections

[Ksyrup]

Originally Posted by larrymcg421

Rubio so desperately wants to be President and is trying to thread the needle of a Trumper and a non-Trumper. I think the problem is Trumpers see through this so stiill don't think he's one of them and he hasn't sufficiently distanced himself from Trump for the general electorate.

His comment over the weekend saying he loved the Trump caravan surrounding the Biden bus is going to stick with him.

[GrantDawg]

It is sad that I sort of liked Rubio one time. That feels like a lifetime ago.

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[sterlingice]

Originally Posted by GrantDawg

It is sad that I sort of liked Rubio one time. That feels like a lifetime ago.

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He was the generic go to name I'd use whenever I'd use the construction: "If it was President Rubio right now instead of Trump, would this be happening?"

SI

[stevew]

Yeah I used to at least think he'd be a respectable leader. Same with Pence.

[molson]

We were wondering where the Republican party would go after this, and I think the closeness of this election answers that question - they'll stick with the Trump way of doing business, whether that be through him directly, or those converted by the example he has set. They're not jumping ship.

[sterlingice]

Originally Posted by stevew

Yeah I used to at least think he'd be a respectable leader. Same with Pence.

I dunno. I always pictured Pence as the country leader in Civ when you switched to Fundamentalism for government ("Our words are backed by nuclear weapons!" with no science and crazy loyal followers).

SI

[Flasch186]

Originally Posted by molson

We were wondering where the Republican party would go after this, and I think the closeness of this election answers that question - they'll stick with the Trump way of doing business, whether that be through him directly, or those converted by the example he has set. They're not jumping ship.

This, the extremists and maybe a dictator is ok with us, wing of the party will be even louder.

[Qwikshot]

Originally Posted by Flasch186

This, the extremists and maybe a dictator is ok with us, wing of the party will be even louder.

There is no voice of reason in the Republican party.

[JPhillips]

Donating to Trump's legal fund for recounts includes fine print that says 50% of each donation goes towards paying off campaign debts. I bet the campaign "owes" the Trump Org a lot of money.

Everything's a con.

[Edward64]

Acosta said his WH contacts said Rudi was "enabling" Trump in his current craziness.

From America's mayor to this.

[Ghost Econ]

Originally Posted by Edward64

Acosta said his WH contacts said Rudi was "enabling" Trump in his current craziness.

From America's mayor to this.

It keeps his Boat scene out of news.

[JPhillips]

Ummm, what's going on behind the scenes.

Trump admin head of the National Nuclear Security Administration, the federal agency responsible the NUCLEAR WEAPONS program, resigns provoking criticism from GOP chairman of Senate Armed Services Committee pic.twitter.com/1Vw1mNZ4Zx

— Eric Lipton (@EricLiptonNYT) November 7, 2020

[thesloppy]

Twitter is saying Mark Meadows has covid.

[molson]

The one thing Trump managed not to do in his 1 term was provoke a foreign nation to war. That's something. I don't even know who he'd randomly nuke on the way out the door.

[Ksyrup]

That's because there was nothing in it for him.

[cuervo72]

Originally Posted by JPhillips

Ummm, what's going on behind the scenes.

Trump admin head of the National Nuclear Security Administration, the federal agency responsible the NUCLEAR WEAPONS program, resigns provoking criticism from GOP chairman of Senate Armed Services Committee pic.twitter.com/1Vw1mNZ4Zx

— Eric Lipton (@EricLiptonNYT) November 7, 2020

I think he's just purging anyone who he feels has crossed him.

https://www.cnn.com/2020/11/06/polit...aid/index.html

[GrantDawg]

North Korea? Iran? Most likely Iran. Would he pick a fight to try to justify breaking the constitution and staying in power? I really hope not.

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[Edward64]

Originally Posted by GrantDawg

North Korea? Iran? Most likely Iran. Would he pick a fight to try to justify breaking the constitution and staying in power? I really hope not.

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Bridge too far IMO. Yes, I can see him starting a war but that won't stop the transition of power.

[Brian Swartz]

Even if he tried, I don't think the military would let him. This is one of those aspects that I admit really frustrates me. For Trump's entire term people have been saying he's going to start a nuclear war, esp. during the Bolton nomination but it's just been a constant thing. He didn't, and there's nothing credible that even indicates he tried. He seems to have legitimately been someone who wanted to keep the US out of wars.

[GrantDawg]

And I hope that continues. The as ominous thing about the Secretary of Defense sudden departure is the fear of trying to use the military at home.
Of course, there is something else as a possibility. He could be trying to ram home as many defense contacts as he can to his friends. Or even moving defense money into his family pocket. The only thing I know is that it is not for the betterment of America. There has to be a self-serving reason. There always is.

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[Vegas Vic]

I don't know for sure, but I think Romney enjoys sticking it to Trump almost as much as John McCain used to.

Romney, now a senator from Utah, said Trump was within his rights to request recounts and call for investigations where evidence of irregularities exists.

But Trump “is wrong to say the election was rigged, corrupt and stolen,″ Romney said on Twitter. Trump’s claim “damages the cause of freedom here and around the world ... and recklessly inflames destructive and dangerous passions."

Romney: Trump’s election fraud claim wrong, ‘reckless’

[sovereignstar v2]

Bye, Felicia

[miami_fan]

Originally Posted by Brian Swartz

Even if he tried, I don't think the military would let him. This is one of those aspects that I admit really frustrates me. For Trump's entire term people have been saying he's going to start a nuclear war, esp. during the Bolton nomination but it's just been a constant thing. He didn't, and there's nothing credible that even indicates he tried. He seems to have legitimately been someone who wanted to keep the US out of wars.

Well except when he said the United States government had identified 52 sites for retaliation against Iran if there were a response to Maj. Gen. Qassim Suleimani’s death. Some, he tweeted, were of “cultural” significance. On the flip side, he does lie a lot so that may not be considered credible.

[Qwikshot]

Originally Posted by Vegas Vic

I don't know for sure, but I think Romney enjoys sticking it to Trump almost as much as John McCain used to.



Romney: Trump’s election fraud claim wrong, ‘reckless’

One of the few Republican senators with integrity.

[Edward64]

Originally Posted by Qwikshot

One of the few Republican senators with integrity.

If I recall, Romney compromised his integrity some over the past 4 years. Better than many others but I wouldn't put him up on a pedestal.

[Qwikshot]

Originally Posted by Edward64

If I recall, Romney compromised his integrity some over the past 4 years. Better than many others but I wouldn't put him up on a pedestal.

Yeah, he's still a Republican but he did things to challenge Chump...can't say that for any of the others.

[Brian Swartz]

Originally Posted by miami_fan

xcept when he said the United States government had identified 52 sites for retaliation against Iran if there were a response to Maj. Gen. Qassim Suleimani’s death. Some, he tweeted, were of “cultural” significance. On the flip side, he does lie a lot so that may not be considered credible.

I'd be shocked, and think the military in grave dereliction of their duty, if we didn't have a similar list of sites for retaliation against any country we are even slightly concerned about. Contingencies are a must. If he actually attempted to act on those, that is/was/would be a horse of a totally different color.

[Vegas Vic]

This is the concession speech from the last incumbent President that lost his bid for re-election. Somehow, I don't think we'll be hearing anything like this from the current President.

[Brian Swartz]

That would require him to care about doing things like 'upholding the honor of the Presidency of the United States'.

[whomario]

Having looked that up earlier as well i noticed that a 3rd Party candidate got like 19% of the vote that year. Did not know that this was a thing not thaaaat long ago.

[sterlingice]

Originally Posted by whomario

Having looked that up earlier as well i noticed that a 3rd Party candidate got like 19% of the vote that year. Did not know that this was a thing not thaaaat long ago.

That was the year of Ross Perot

SI

[whomario]

Originally Posted by sterlingice

That was the year of Ross Perot

SI

pretend not even we most commited europeans find the time to cover 90s american politics at the dinner table or in schools

[sterlingice]

Originally Posted by whomario

pretend not even we most commited europeans find the time to cover 90s american politics at the dinner table or in schools

And many of us might have been too young, too. But here's what I remember (with some assist from Wiki)

President Bush (41 not 43) was viewed as mostly unbeatable coming off the popularity of the Gulf War but then his tax policy and a recession really cut into his lead. All the while, many popular Dems didn't run and small state Bill Clinton and his neoliberalism platform won the Democratic primary. So this left an opening for Ross Perot, a Texas businessman who campaigned on running the government like a business. By summer, he was arguably the front runner. He would buy 30 minute chunks on national TV and lay out his plans in graphs and charts - I still think he went a long way to popularizing that style of PowerPoint management in people's minds (remember: this is still mostly pre-computer era). But then the opposition research caught up with him and he was getting drug down into the mud. I also seem to remember rumors about how the parties conspired to bring him down but they never really seemed credible. He dropped out of the race in late summer and that mostly killed the credible part of his candidacy. He re-entered in October, didn't have many good VP options, and still snagged 20% but wasn't really a factor - he peeled off 20ish% of the vote in most states but never enough to win any electoral votes.

I've always wondered what would have happened if he had actually stayed in the race the whole time and had been willing to build a political machine to support his candidacy. But maybe the latter isn't even possible, which goes to our "first past the post" system of government and why there will always, at most, be 2 parties (if a 3rd forms, it will just displace one of the other two and there will be a realignment). It's the only time in my lifetime that there's been a credible 3rd party candidate with any real chance of anything.

SI

[JPhillips]

By Monday basically all of the GOP players will have abandoned Trump. Even my Trumper friends are starting to move on to predictions for how the country will end during the Biden presidency.

[Ksyrup]

Originally Posted by sterlingice

That was the year of Ross Perot

SI

And the Admiral!

GRIDLOCK!

[GrantDawg]

Lockbox!!

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[Brian Swartz]

While we're at it ...

It's the economy, stupid!

[AlexB]

Originally Posted by whomario

pretend not even we most commited europeans find the time to cover 90s american politics at the dinner table or in schools

If you’ve ever read On Wings Of Eagles you know who Ross Perot is

[Thomkal]

Matt Goetz has contracted the coronavirus

[PilotMan]

Originally Posted by JPhillips

By Monday basically all of the GOP players will have abandoned Trump. Even my Trumper friends are starting to move on to predictions for how the country will end during the Biden presidency.

Not mine! One who literally said "Don’t worry-when all the voter fraud is uncovered and SCOTUS has the final say, Biden and his criminal enterprise will be locked up." That's from a self-described, "not a nutter".

[JPhillips]

Originally Posted by PilotMan

Not mine! One who literally said "Don’t worry-when all the voter fraud is uncovered and SCOTUS has the final say, Biden and his criminal enterprise will be locked up." That's from a self-described, "not a nutter".

Does he think that gives him more credibility? I thought that guy was a nut, but it says right here that he's not.

[miami_fan]

I am giving the governor the benefit of the doubt on the timing of this announcement.

Gov. Gary Herbert declares state of emergency for hospital overcrowding, case surge | coronavirus

[Ksyrup]

I'm going to guess MAGA Country isn't going to give Pfizer the benefit of the doubt.

[Ksyrup]

Originally Posted by Ben E Lou

Interesting to see these two posts side-by-side. Team Trump did appear to take it seriously for a short time ("15 days to flatten the curve," was it?) and Cult45 was with him for that short time, but after a few weeks, when Hannity, Ingraham, F&F, et al started calling for the country to re-open, he did likewise. He didn't admit he was wrong; he just said "ok, we've done enough," and acted like it was just time to reopen. I tend to lean toward Brian's point of view here: much of the right would have been furious with him if he hadn't switched gears.

Just seeing this post. Two points:

1. As to the last point, that's called leadership. Sometimes it requires taking unpopular positions. Who cares if they would have been furious with him? I understand he takes his governing cues from Fox News, but we also understand how crazy that is. Early on, he had plenty of time to pivot.

2. He never took it seriously. The 15 days thing was just humoring the nation - it was 15 days because it ended on Easter. The entire "serious" strategy was a Christian-themed "resurrection of the country." If Easter had been 26 days away, he'd have pushed for 26 days. There was no science, no rhyme or reason to it. I can't even imagine the discussions around the strategy built on this narrative that must have been going on. And for each marker thereafter, they did the same thing - this will be gone by Memorial Day, the country will be rocking by July 4th, school will start, FB can come back and everyone can lead normal lives by Labor Day. It was all a con.

[Racer]

https://www.cnn.com/2020/11/09/healt...ive/index.html

Dow Jones Futures are now up over 1,100 points regarding this news.