The Trump Administration Transition thread - Page 5 - Politics and Economics

I'm fine taking the author at his word w/r to his intentions. I certainly would need more evidence before accusing a Jewish man with a long history of advocating for Israel of antisemitism

Is the fact that other posters require less evidence than you for confirmation of antisemitism one of the reasons why you suspect people of pretending to be offended?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kedu

People are just pretending to be offended by the renegade Jew headline right?

11-15-2016 , 11:27 PM

#102

otatop

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Quote:

Originally Posted by bobman0330

This is actually the best possible outcome.

Yeah, if we can somehow just maintain the status quo for 4 years we'll at least avoid whatever horrible **** Trump could do, even if it means no improvement either.

11-15-2016 , 11:31 PM

#103

ScreaminAsian

For President

Join Date: Oct 2008 Posts: 33,333

Quote:

Originally Posted by synth_floyd

Of all the dumb **** that Trump's companies have done, Bannon has done, Lewandowski has done, etc. etc. etc. Christie is the one person that gets dumped?

billy bush got fired just for listening to trump

11-15-2016 , 11:36 PM

#104

einbert

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http://www2.nybooks.com/daily/s3/nov...-survival.html

Quote:

Autocracy: Rules for Survival
I have lived in autocracies most of my life, and have spent much of my career writing about Vladimir Putin’s Russia. I have learned a few rules for surviving in an autocracy and salvaging your sanity and self-respect. It might be worth considering them now:

Rule #2: Do not be taken in by small signs of normality. Consider the financial markets this week, which, having tanked overnight, rebounded following the Clinton and Obama speeches. Confronted with political volatility, the markets become suckers for calming rhetoric from authority figures. So do people. Panic can be neutralized by falsely reassuring words about how the world as we know it has not ended. It is a fact that the world did not end on November 8 nor at any previous time in history. Yet history has seen many catastrophes, and most of them unfolded over time. That time included periods of relative calm. One of my favorite thinkers, the Jewish historian Simon Dubnow, breathed a sigh of relief in early October 1939: he had moved from Berlin to Latvia, and he wrote to his friends that he was certain that the tiny country wedged between two tyrannies would retain its sovereignty and Dubnow himself would be safe. Shortly after that, Latvia was occupied by the Soviets, then by the Germans, then by the Soviets again—but by that time Dubnow had been killed. Dubnow was well aware that he was living through a catastrophic period in history—it’s just that he thought he had managed to find a pocket of normality within it.

Rule #3: Institutions will not save you. It took Putin a year to take over the Russian media and four years to dismantle its electoral system; the judiciary collapsed unnoticed. The capture of institutions in Turkey has been carried out even faster, by a man once celebrated as the democrat to lead Turkey into the EU. Poland has in less than a year undone half of a quarter century’s accomplishments in building a constitutional democracy.

Of course, the United States has much stronger institutions than Germany did in the 1930s, or Russia does today. Both Clinton and Obama in their speeches stressed the importance and strength of these institutions. The problem, however, is that many of these institutions are enshrined in political culture rather than in law, and all of them—including the ones enshrined in law—depend on the good faith of all actors to fulfill their purpose and uphold the Constitution.

The national press is likely to be among the first institutional victims of Trumpism. There is no law that requires the presidential administration to hold daily briefings, none that guarantees media access to the White House. Many journalists may soon face a dilemma long familiar to those of us who have worked under autocracies: fall in line or forfeit access. There is no good solution (even if there is a right answer), for journalism is difficult and sometimes impossible without access to information.

The power of the investigative press—whose adherence to fact has already been severely challenged by the conspiracy-minded, lie-spinning Trump campaign—will grow weaker. The world will grow murkier. Even in the unlikely event that some mainstream media outlets decide to declare themselves in opposition to the current government, or even simply to report its abuses and failings, the president will get to frame many issues. Coverage, and thinking, will drift in a Trumpian direction, just as it did during the campaign—when, for example, the candidates argued, in essence, whether Muslim Americans bear collective responsibility for acts of terrorism or can redeem themselves by becoming the “eyes and ears” of law enforcement. Thus was xenophobia further normalized, paving the way for Trump to make good on his promises to track American Muslims and ban Muslims from entering the United States.

11-15-2016 , 11:40 PM

#105

leavesofliberty

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Quote:

Originally Posted by einbert

http://www2.nybooks.com/daily/s3/nov...-survival.html

Yes, the investigative press, victims of Trump's autarchy, how will we ever survive...

Could you be more dull?

11-15-2016 , 11:43 PM

#106

Oroku$aki

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Quote:

Originally Posted by ScreaminAsian

billy bush got fired just for listening to trump

Actually, that's not true. He wasn't fired for simply passively listening to Trump.

00:45 - around 3:00

11-15-2016 , 11:43 PM

#107

zikzak

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Things have gotten so ****ed I'm not even sure if this is good news or bad news.

11-15-2016 , 11:45 PM

#108

13ball

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Ugh, that was a depressing read. Trump seems pretty inept, but I guess he could luck into dismantling democracy.

I prefer to think of him choosing his remaining cabinet members via a Miss Universe style competition. John Bolton in a spangled bikini: that is the most optimistic I can be at the moment.

11-15-2016 , 11:58 PM

#109

microbet

Solar Powered

Join Date: Jan 2005 Posts: 56,580

Quote:

Originally Posted by zikzak

Things have gotten so ****ed I'm not even sure if this is good news or bad news.

The Trump administration being a complete circus with no one able to do anything seems along the lines of a best case scenario.

11-15-2016 , 11:58 PM

#110

DrChesspain

Guest

Posts: n/a

Guys, it's not like the country is necessarily going to be stuck with a specific crappy cabinet member for the next four years. The way Trump's team turns over, there has to be a decent chance that one or more cabinet members leave within the first two years.

11-16-2016 , 12:01 AM

#111

microbet

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Quote:

Originally Posted by DrChesspain

Guys, it's not like the country is necessarily going to be stuck with a specific crappy cabinet member for the next four years. The way Trump's team turns over, there has to be a decent chance that one or more cabinet members leave within the first two years.

That's got to be a lock. O/U must be at least 2 cabinet members per year. 8 or 9 or 20 wouldn't really be that big of a surprise.

11-16-2016 , 12:06 AM

#112

amoeba

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Quote:

Originally Posted by otatop

Yeah, if we can somehow just maintain the status quo for 4 years we'll at least avoid whatever horrible **** Trump could do, even if it means no improvement either.

I am fine with the Fed giving him 50 billion dollars just to go away.

11-16-2016 , 12:21 AM

#113

OmgGlutten!

Pooh-Bah

Join Date: Aug 2016 Posts: 5,273

Quote:

Originally Posted by BoredSocial

I'm going to admit that I'm starting to panic a little bit. All the false optimism of last week is starting to falter a bit as I realize that most likely the R's won't get rid of the filibuster...

And since the D's can legitimately feel that the R's straight up stole a supreme court nominee they are going to filibuster the **** out of anyone Trump picks unless they are very moderate... Which of course they won't be.

We're going to have 4 more years of trench warfare folks. It's going to be 8x the chaos with precisely the same amount of change. Combine that with a few completely unforced errors that cost the country dearly and we're looking at a pretty ****ty 4 years.

You are panicking because the democrats are not going to let the Republicans do whatever they want? wtf?

11-16-2016 , 12:34 AM

#114

Howard Beale

Formerly red

Join Date: Sep 2005 Posts: 22,190

Quote:

Originally Posted by kmak

I don't know what a sop is. I knew Brannon personally from working closely with him for 10 years a long time ago. I will say he is easily one of the smartest, well spoken and hardest working people I have ever met. And fwiw, I never heard anything even faintly racist out of him.

Who knows if he will be gone in less than a year. Given turnover in a position like that, it might be a safe bet

Sop: 'a thing given or done as a concession of no great value to appease someone whose main concerns or demands are not being met.'

IOW, the red-meat crowd has to be appeased and keeping him on, for now, seems imperative. I doubt his special kind of crazy will play well in the WH. And besides, if you're right, I doubt Trump wants someone nearby that could be smarter than him. Not w/ that ego.

11-16-2016 , 12:36 AM

#115

leavesofliberty

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Quote:

Originally Posted by Howard Beale

You play a lot of Scrabble?

11-16-2016 , 12:47 AM

#116

Howard Beale

Formerly red

Join Date: Sep 2005 Posts: 22,190

lol, no.

11-16-2016 , 12:48 AM

#117

amurophil

banned

Join Date: Aug 2007 Posts: 3,972

11-16-2016 , 12:58 AM

#118

th14

old hand

Join Date: Aug 2012 Posts: 1,460

Quote:

Originally Posted by jman220

The republicans would be crazy to nuke the filibuster. There's a nonzero chance that DJT messes this up so badly that there is a huge blue wave in 4 or 8 years.

the Republicans are crazy, and will eliminate the filibuster.
2018 elections are set up in their favor. Trump's victory will be treated as a mandate.

This is why Senate Republicans might (not) go nuclear

Quote:

With an incoming majority of 52 senators (if a Republican wins Louisiana’s runoff election next month), Republicans will typically need eight Democrats to join them to kill a filibuster. [...]

In 2018, 25 Democratic senators (including the chamber’s two independents) and seven from the GOP face reelection. As shown below, 10 Democrats are running in states that Trump won with an average vote of 55 percent — indistinguishable from Trump support in GOP states. (In contrast, just one Republican, Dean Heller of Nevada, faces voters in a state won by Clinton.)

Conway: ‘The Excuse of Divided Government Is Over’

Quote:

Kellyanne Conway, Donald Trump’s campaign manager, tells WSJ’s Gerald F. Seib that with Republicans now holding powerful positions at all levels of government the party no longer has an excuse to not get legislation passed.

[Paul] Ryan Plans to Phase Out Medicare in 2017

Quote:

RYAN: [...] What people don't realize is because of Obamacare, medicare is going broke, medicare is going to have price controls because of Obamacare, medicaid is in fiscal straits. You have to deal with those issues if you are going to repeal and replace obamacare. Medicare has serious problems [because of] Obamacare. Those are part of our plan.

There are a couple key points to note here.

First, Ryan claims that Obamacare has put Medicare under deeper financial stress. Precisely the opposite is true. And it's so straightforward Ryan unquestionably knows this. The Affordable Care Act actually extended Medicare's solvency by more than a decade. Ryan's claim is flat out false.

remember how the GOP harped on 'never let a crisis go to waste'
they won't allow their majority to be wasted, they will roll back as much of the welfare state as they can then obstruct future attempts to bring it back.

11-16-2016 , 01:32 AM

#119

Lestat

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Quote:

Originally Posted by amoeba

I am fine with the Fed giving him 50 billion dollars just to go away.

I've actually thought about this. Isn't there a way to allow him to magnanimously bow out? Just say, you do did it! You won the presidency! You're the best! Now just say after a lot of thoughtful consideration you have too many business interests standing in the way and say that you're willing to step down if Sanders will step in. Please let there be some chance of this happening!

11-16-2016 , 01:36 AM

#120

th14

old hand

Join Date: Aug 2012 Posts: 1,460

11-16-2016 , 01:38 AM

#121

microbet

Solar Powered

Join Date: Jan 2005 Posts: 56,580

I dunno, the disarray and ineptitude might be a little overblown so far, but it seems like there's no effing way this guy makes it through four years.

11-16-2016 , 01:42 AM

#122

Noze

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Grover Norquist being in the Muslim Brotherhood would be quite surprising indeed.

11-16-2016 , 02:01 AM

#123

mutigers

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if there are no taxes it means america won't be able to sustain a military- then the muslims will invade

makes sense when you think about it

11-16-2016 , 02:26 AM

#124

Heroball

temp-banned

Join Date: Sep 2016 Posts: 9,402

Technically, there's nothing in the Constitution that requires Trump to have a cabinet or anything like the form of cabinet that any of his predecessors had.