The Politics Thread

[Khan]

 

 

My theory: many on the right dismiss climate change as a hoax, because admitting that it is real would force the country and the world to rely on alternative sources of energy, which would devastate the coal, gas and oil industries.  So, money talks.

[DRW50]

I never get tired of this...

 

http://www.politico.com/story/2016/12/trump-zeroes-in-on-rnc-chair-pick-232397

 

 

Christie, who was leading the Trump transition until mid-November, when he was replaced by Pence, lobbied for the post last week and was quickly shot down, according to a transition aide. “He has been totally politically decapitated in a sad way,” another transition official said. “Just brutal.”

[DramatistDreamer]

Paul Manafort has popped up again, showing himself again (no surprise there) dodging questions per usual. On CBS This Morning they hardly pressed him on anything, I'm on the verge of losing respect for this show. Why have a guest like Manafort on when you are going to let him simply have his way?

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[DRW50]

 

I'm surprised he's brave enough to show his face, as that campaign seems like the type to sharpen the knives at any given time. I guess being close to Putin gives you confidence. Good luck with that. 

 

This was a pretty good read about the 10 moments that defined the campaign.

 

http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2016/12/2016-presidential-election-10-moments-trump-clinton-214508

[DramatistDreamer]

@DRW50 It doesn't surprise, TBH. He was pretty brazen, even blaming aspects of the media for spreading 'false' ideas about him, which he alleges forces his separation from the campaign.  I would not be surprised if he didn't make a clean break from Trump but just went further underground yet kept in contact with Trump, especially given his Russian connections- I just don't believe that he went away, merely out of public sight.

 

The Trump people are pretty brazen and they have no reason not to be. The media continues to promote the claim that Trump has divested himself of his assets by putting all in a blind trust, which remains unsubstantiated and Trump is not being held to any presidential standards. Trump will even continue to executive produce The Apprentice, a network TV show presenting a major conflict of interest.

The entire thing is utterly ridiculous and its allowed to stand without public uproar.

[dragonflies]

 

[DramatistDreamer]

 

Good, hopefully the Obama administration can scrutinize this very carefully.

 

After dragging Hillary with those Goldman Sachs speeches, how many Goldman people is he using?

Someone is now keeping tally of all the men who have faced domestic violence or sexual harassment allegations and are heading to Trump's upcoming cabinet.

 

I'm not reading news articles as much because all this foolishness is wearing on me. Just today, I saw a headline in a newspaper (maybe the WAPO?) that discussed Trump's support along the "heroin highway". Just. sigh.

[DRW50]

 

I think he just said that stuff because Bernie made it the narrative. He was always going to be a Wall Street crony and anyone with a brain should have known it. Sadly many of his voters did not.

 

His defining choice for Cabinet picks seems to be people who are desperate to not only undo any limited progress about the environment, but to also put anyone who fights for the environment and climate change efforts in the crosshairs:

 

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/trump-memo-energy-staffers-climate

 

And - surprise surprise - Republicans are pushing hard for deep social security cuts.

 

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/gop-plan-major-social-security-cuts

[GMac]

This is so infuriating and terrifying all at once.  I simply can't wrap my mind around how republicans hold such contempt for things as crucial as clean water and air.  Let them go to Flint.  You know if they had water flowing into their homes that wasn't crystal clear or tasted funny, they would howl.

 

For [!@#$%^&*].s sake.

[Juliajms]

I really wonder if the planet will ever recover from the Trump administration. The stuff with social security is almost as scary. I just feel really sad for the very young, the old and disabled right now.  Anyone vulnerable is about to get screwed. At least those of us who are able bodied can usually figure something out.

[Khan]

 

I believe the planet will recover.  As I told one of my FB friends, though, I don't think the recovery will happen with our generation.  Civil rights, reproductive rights, job recovery, tax and entitlement reforms -- all that, and so much more, are now in our children and grandchildren's hands to repair.

 

Of course, that's not including climate change.  We're all pretty much fucked there.

 

The thing is, I believed back in '08 that we were making history too soon with Obama; and that sooner or later, we would have to pay for that.  (Heck, Obama himself intimated in the New Yorker interview that someone like him probably came along about twenty or thirty years too soon.)  This nation just was not ready for a Black president, so the White establishment, embodied by the Trump administration, is doing everything it can now to erase him entirely from history.  Even if it means placing the nation and the world itself in jeopardy.  And no one will ever convince me otherwise.

Edited December 10, 2016 by Khan

[GMac]

The thing is, how have the republicans become so much better at PR than the Dems? Is it because of the need to appear "fair and balanced" bullshit?  

 

Recall GWB's stunt on the aircraft carrier.  The "Contract With America" and now with Carrier.  Not to mention, DJT's many conflicts of interest with his businesses never seem to resonate.

 

Yet when the ACA was being crafted and after it passed, zero positive press coverage.  At the time, I was thinking why Obama wasn't out there selling it.  Ditto historically...republicans shout to the roof tops of giving tax breaks, the Dems should be shouting back, equally loud, that they are for the rich and businesses.

 

Until the left is able to discredit every underhanded thing the right does, things look grim.  The left has to devise a plan, somehow and someway against impossible odds, to make the white poor and working class realize that the right's priority is rich Wall Street businesses.

 

The people that have been appointed to the cabinet are scary.  DJT has filled almost every spot with people that don't believe in it's purpose.  It makes no fuckin.g sense.

 

 

Edited December 10, 2016 by GMac

[Vee]

Meanwhile, in our Russian coup...

[NothinButAttitude]

We have a damn treasonist about to be in the White House. What a shame. 

Edited December 10, 2016 by Nothin'ButAttitude

[GMac]

 

It's sickening.