The weirdest thing about Trump
 

is that he is actually doing what he said he was going to do. And he is doing ALL of it at the same time.

We are not used to our politicians meaning what they say, much less carrying it all out without regard to media or opinion or what congress thinks.

At every step Trump has been underestimated.

"He's not serious."
"He won't win."
"He just says this to get attention."
"He'll move to the center in the general."
"He's going to be blown out by Hillary."
"He lost the debates."
"People voted for Trump on his meta-message, not on what they thought he would actually do."

And now Trump is doing exactly what he said he was going to do.

I didn't believe he would do what he said he would. Count me in that group. That doesn't mean I'm happy about it, but one must admit a measure of respect for doing what he said he would.

Just look at history. Would be dictators and despots don't usually have any trouble doing exactly what they said they would do when they get to power. Nor do they usually keep their objectives a secret before assuming power. Next the travel restrictions turn into an attempt at a full blown ban on all Muslims followed by a national registry so we can keep tabs on them. He also said he wanted to restrict and punish the press and free speech. These are things he said during his campaigning. Most people didn't take him literally. But he seems to be a very linear, black and white, literal type person, so I think his first few days in office shows he will try to do everything he said, including all the crazy stuff. Buckle up if you care about civil liberties because he's not too big on those.

He's got a Nazi chief operative who has expressed suspicions of successful immigrants and who calls himself an economic nationalist. He's the guy behind last weekend's mess where U.S. permanent residents were expelled.

Then there's this chilling piece from CNN quoting his spokesperson KellyAnne Conway saying it's time for Trump to put in his own security and intelligence community. WTF?????

This isn't a joke, especially for a newly elected president who is doing exactly what he said he would do and who said some pretty outrageous things during his campaign.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/02/01/opinio...iat/index.html

You mean Steve Bannon, his minister of propaganda?

Iran: You're now "on notice"

http://www.cnbc.com/2017/02/01/trump...on-notice.html


Hmm...I just read an article that explains that many of Trump's close advisors seem to be very anti-Iran in the same way Bush's were anti-Iraq. Clearly in the Bush administration he had folks around him who seemed to look for the opportunity to get into war with Iraq. I wonder how this will play out with Trump and Iran.

The Trump connection to Russia is about to be investigated by the senate. I think something is about to unravel here. This probably wouldn't happen if Trump hadn't already said so many things about Putin and Russia that don't make any sense.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/02/14/politi...ons/index.html

Trump's new spokesman Stephen Miller:

"Our opponents, the media and the whole world will soon see as we begin to take further actions, that the powers of the president to protect our country are very substantial and will not be questioned."

The whole world will soon see? What does that mean?

Will not be questioned? What BS.

Good language to use to defend a fascist dictator, but not a president of the US.

Trump and his incompetent help is exactly as bad as I expected.

I saw this analysis of Trump.

Trump is a rainmaker, not an operator. A business development guy, not a CEO.


He is an excellent marketer and sales guy. He has excelled in industries where deal making is the primary obstacle and operations and production are simple or non existent.

He has failed in every venture with any sort of product development or complex operations. And even in simpler operations he has only done OK.

In most production/operation heavy businesses he would be a very adept VP of business development or even a President, but would be a disaster as CEO.

Despite the name, the POTUS is the CEO of the country. He was built for the campaign trail, not for the Oval Office. Instead of acting like a CEO, he is acting like a ringmaster, trying to close a deal.

Don't know how long it will take, but the way things are going the President is headed into impeachment.

I don't know enough of the facts to have an opinion on that prognostication. The prospects of Mike Pence being POTUS doesn't make me happy. There would be less propensity for stupid mistakes, but less basis for any real change either. I do not want to see Democratic gains just to eject Trump.

In 2018 there will probably be a lot of democratic gains, and the longer Trump is in charge the worse it will be.

I'm not really a Mike Pence fan, but I really can't think of a single beneficial change that would come from Trump that wouldn't/couldn't come with Pence and a Republican congress. I can think of a lot of change I wouldn't want if Trump had his way that I wouldn't be worried about happening with Pence. And Pence isn't a threat to basic civil liberties the way Trump is. At least, that is how I see it.

Midterm Elections usually benefit the party not in power.

But the demographics don't favor the Democrats. In the Senate, the Dems defend 25 seats to 8 for the GOP.

What you can't sense because you're not of that demographic is the current mess is making Trump more popular with his supporters. Trump defies normal thinking.

I recognize that this author has a bias, but examine his reasoning that the Dems are engaging in risky strategy.

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/art...il_133109.html

The weirdest thing about the Trump presidency is that almost every single day he does or says something even more weird than the day before. Of course, that's how he was as a candidate. I don't understand why anyone would be surprised.

"I've never had any dealings with Russia, or Russians...hell, I've never even heard of 'Russia,' is that a country or something?"

http://billmoyers.com/story/trump-russia-timeline

Question of the day:

(ok, I admit it's more what should have been the question of last week)

Do we invoke the 25th amendment on our whack job president before or after he starts a needless and tragic nuclear war with N. Korea?

I'm more convinced than ever now that Trump will win re-election. Assuming he has the physical health.

The vandalizing and destruction of Confederacy stuff is the best thing that could have happened to him.

BLM is a win for Trump. Kaepernick kneeling in protest is a win for Trump.

The greater racial tensions are, or are portrayed in the media, the better it is for Trump.

I recently read something about the Confederate stuff in Baltimore that the city just took down. The fact is that they were put up in the 1940s just after WW2. Maryland wasn't even a Confederate state, so why would they want to celebrate the Confederacy almost 100 years later? The only logical reason was to send a harsh message to black soldiers returning home from WW2 so they wouldn't get the idea that fighting for our country in Europe and the Pacific meant they get to enjoy equal rights upon returning home. A very disgraceful part of our history.

So now there is a recording going around with Trump telling Bob Woodward that he regrets condemning the neo nazi and KKK protesters in Charlottesville where he called them repugnant. Saying those things against those people was the biggest effing mistake he's made according to his words recorded on tape. Why does he think it's a mistake? Either he doesn't really believe there is anything wrong with being a white supremacist or he regrets "insulting" some of his base of support and it's just about politics for him. Or it could be both. I don't think there are any other logical explanations for why it bothered him to condemn racist groups.

What I read is that he was upset that he showed weakness. That he changed his messaging because people were offended.

btw, he didn't get any credit for his 2nd statement. He's still accused of race-baiting all the time.

Trump plays identity politics. But that doesn't make him particularly unique. Dems do it all the time. What's different is that Trump very specifically tries to use it to get white support.

Why does he deserve credit for his 2nd statement when he himself has disavowed it twice? His third statement almost immediately afterwards reverted back to his first statement. Now he's on tape saying it was some terrible mistake to say bad things about white supremacist groups. But yeah, his statement where he denounced them sounded good. Too bad he couldn't let it stand there.

The thing that is most important to the Trump brand is authenticity. i.e. that he is willing to say what he believes no matter the consequences. And then he is willing to follow through on what he says he will do.

Now what does he actually believe? Who knows. But if he waffles and panders, and changes his mind, then he starts to lose his core appeal.

At this point he could hang from the chandeliers and sing bar songs during cabinet meetings on live TV and I don't think he'd lose his core appeal. About the only thing Trump could do to lose his core base would be to try to appoint a judge who likes abortion or hates the second amendment. He could get away with or successfully deflect blame for pretty much anything else.