The Trump Presidency

[Quantum Quack]

He's not a buffoon. That's part of his schtick - his con.
And you fell for it. You bit like a baby sunfish, and that hook is never coming out.
Because to get that hook out you would have to face the fact that you swallowed it.
You got played for chump, right in front of God and everybody, by a standard fascist demagogue and his supporting propaganda wing - a completely obvious, historically stereotypical, right down the middle of the plate, tinhorn Mussolini fronting an organized fascist movement.
And in allowing that, you betrayed your friends and your family and your community and your State and your country. You betrayed every cross in Arlington.
You can't face that.

Meanwhile, it turns out that like everything else wrong with the larger world, Trump is connected to soccer:
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entr...sia-red-card-book_us_5b48e94fe4b0bc69a78700e8

One of the reasons I have for rejecting your view of atypical republicanism is that you fail to realize that Trump was and is a loose cannon that makes full use of atypical republicanism to promote his agenda. From all the pre-election footage and post election footage it is obvious to me that Trump IS NOT a Republican. He is a man who is USING the republican party to further his personal white supremacist, racist, religious agenda.
see this footage of Senator Ryan:

there are many video's that demonstrate my point....

the Republican party is being conned almost as badly as every one else...

 

[Capracus]

From all the pre-election footage and post election footage it is obvious to me that Trump IS NOT a Republican.

Since the Republican party represents a broad range of idealogical self interests, I’d say Trumps interests would likely for the most part fall in that range. And from an actual policy standpoint, Trump didn’t invent the policies he clumsily advocates for, those are firmly rooted in the more radical wing of the party that has embraced him.

 

[Quantum Quack]

Since the Republican party represents a broad range of idealogical self interests, I’d say Trumps interests would likely for the most part fall in that range. And from an actual policy standpoint, Trump didn’t invent the policies he clumsily advocates for, those are firmly rooted in the more radical wing of the party that has embraced him.

No doubt, but I till reckon he has no allegiance to any party except himself. The Repub's are just a vehicle he makes use of. It may seem to be a minor point but if you tackle Trump as if he is a Republican he will probably get a second term.

• Do the repubs like to have a bromance with Putin?
• Do the repubs like the fact that Russia helped Trump win the election?
• Do the repubs like the USA loosing world influence/power?

He may very well appear to be a republican but his foreign affairs policies reek ... of something else.

 

[iceaura]

From all the pre-election footage and post election footage it is obvious to me that Trump IS NOT a Republican.

You mean the massive cheering crowds of Republican voters at his rallies? The support he received from Republican media and all media influenced by Republican propaganda operations? The welcoming endorsements he enjoyed from local Republican politicians and organizations wherever he went? The 63 million votes he got almost entirely from Republican voting demographics and areas?

He is a man who is USING the republican party to further his personal white supremacist, racist, religious agenda.

I can't figure out why you think that would make him "not Republican". What exactly do you think a Republican is?

It may seem to be a minor point but if you tackle Trump as if he is a Republican he will probably get a second term.

If you don't, he will have the full support of the Republican Party and its voting base, if he is still around and running. Just as he did in 2016.

One of the reasons I have for rejecting your view of atypical republicanism is that you fail to realize that Trump was and is a loose cannon that makes full use of atypical republicanism to promote his agenda

There's nothing "atypical" about Trump's Republicanism. It's standard Republican ideology for forty years now.

see this footage of Senator Ryan:

Senator Ryan is a weasel whose occasional and temporary forays into ass-covering speech have little influence on the Republican Party or his own actual legislative behavior. He has not and will not, for example, take any Party or legislative action that would oppose Trump in even minor matters - let alone lead an impeachment of Trump, or stand on principle in some major Party conflict.

It may seem to be a minor point but if you tackle Trump as if he is a Republican he will probably get a second term.

If you once again allow the Republican Party to disown this disaster it has created, it will continue to grow and consolidate its hold - as it did after disowning the mess Reagan left, and the worse mess W left. The word "Republican" must be tattooed on Trump's forehead, and everything he is and does labeled "Republican", and vice versa, for any hope of preventing the next Republican horrorshow.

Everything Republican is Trump, everything Trump is Republican. No escape. No "bothsides". No lifeboats for the hull-holers. No more Nixons, Reagans, Bushes, Ws, Trumps, zombie walking out of the amnesia - that's the goal.

Trump didn’t invent the policies he clumsily advocates for, those are firmly rooted in the more radical wing of the party that has embraced him.

Not the "radical wing". The center. The entire main body of the Party.

 

[Quantum Quack]

Everything Republican is Trump, everything Trump is Republican. No escape. No "bothsides". No lifeboats for the hull-holers. No more Nixons, Reagans, Bushes, Ws, Trumps, zombie walking out of the amnesia - that's the goal.

Do you believe that Tump's Russian romance is republican ideology?

btw any news on the summit yet?

 

[iceaura]

Do you believe that Tump's Russian romance is republican ideology?

Favorable attitudes to Putin surfaced almost as soon as Putin took power, among Republicans. Read the many accounts of Republican media comparing Putin's "leadership" and "strength" favorably in contrast to the weakness of - say - Obama. Or review the coverage of W's meetups with Putin.
And that kind of starry-eyed gushing over what to adults seems adolescent machismo and somewhat comical boy-bragging is stereotypical of fascist movements. It's probably misleading to dignify it with terms like "ideology", but it does serve the function in fascism that coherent thought and resolved principles serve in other political organization.

 

[sculptor]

Finland?

 

[pjdude1219]

Let me try: He's a buffoon.

But he's better than an insane old woman.

this is everything thats wrong with conservative america. the blind hatred and acceptence of blatant criminality and attacks on the fundementals of our form of government. a fascist wannabe whose clearly been compromised in some way by a hostile foriegn power that is a fact interfered in our election to get him elected to act in their interest is better than a women who was a life long civil servant for the most part and whatever her unlikability no one could possible honestly suggest she would willingly and knowingly harm the country like trump has. this post is sheer stupidity. the republican party and the drones like mr toad who blindly support it are engaged in efforts to destroy democracy in america. what toad here( what an apt name) here clearly believes is that the destruction of america is better than someone who he disagrees with him being in office. if he honestly believes what he posted here he is an idiot, if not than he just enemy of the country engaged in acts of evil. quite frankly trump and the fascist republican party may do damage to the country that is irrepairable but thats better than clinton being in office because eww liberals. your a fucking disgrace.

your republican party stupid ignorant arrogant entitled biggoted and proud of it.

 

[pjdude1219]

One of the reasons I have for rejecting your view of atypical republicanism is that you fail to realize that Trump was and is a loose cannon that makes full use of atypical republicanism to promote his agenda. From all the pre-election footage and post election footage it is obvious to me that Trump IS NOT a Republican. He is a man who is USING the republican party to further his personal white supremacist, racist, religious agenda.
see this footage of Senator Ryan:

there are many video's that demonstrate my point....

the Republican party is being conned almost as badly as every one else...

the republican agenda is white supremacist, racist, and religious in nature.

 

[pjdude1219]

[QUOTE="Quantum Quack, post: 3530271, member: 13925"

• Do the repubs like to have a bromance with Putin?
• Do the repubs like the fact that Russia helped Trump win the election?
• Do the repubs like the USA loosing world influence/power?

[/QUOTE]
their actions suggest the answer is
yes
yes
and yes

 

[sculptor]

remember Karelia

 

[Capracus]

Not the "radical wing". The center. The entire main body of the Party.

In any political party there are policies that are advocated, tolerated and opposed by it's members. While many Republicans will tolerate Trump’s radical policies in exchange for securing their comparatively more benign self interest, they’re not directly advocating such policies themselves. They reason that he may be a lying, self serving, egotistical piece of shit, but at least he lowers my taxes, protects my guns, and keeps government regulators off my back. As long as he continues to deliver on their specific needs, they will give him a pass on bashing immigrants, coddling racist, and giving rim jobs to dictators like Putin and Kim. So while they’re not exactly advocates of these radical policies, they are definitely enablers of them.

 

[Quantum Quack]

T&P Summit:
Not one single criticism of Russia mentioned by Trump that I could find so far...
Trump indicates no ration-al behind current sanctions on Russia.
Trump is heavily critical of USA.
... and people consider him to be a republican?
very strange indeed!

 

[Quantum Quack]

for the record

 

[iceaura]

... and people consider him to be a republican?

The people who consider him a Republican include the vast majority of the Republican voters, elected officials, Party leadership, and Republican media figures.
He's not only Republican, he's the central and representative Republican - if you aren 't like Trump, you are less Republican than he is.

In any political party there are policies that are advocated, tolerated and opposed by it's members. While many Republicans will tolerate Trump’s radical policies in exchange for securing their comparatively more benign self interest, they’re not directly advocating such policies themselves.

The vast majority of the actual members of the Republican Party support what Trump has done in office, and describe him as acting according to their wishes and policies. He's the center of the Party. There may be fringe Republicans who regard some of his policies as radical, but they - not Trump - are the outliers from the Republican Party base and mass.

As long as he continues to deliver on their specific needs, they will give him a pass on bashing immigrants, coddling racist, and giving rim jobs to dictators like Putin and Kim.

The very large - overwhelmingly large - majority of Republican voters, media figures, and politicians, support his bashing of immigrants, agree with his racism, and admire his firm and masculine approach to foreign policy. They voted for exactly that, and he is delivering.

This has been the case since 1980, btw. Trump did not create or organize the typical Republican voters, he found them assembled and primed and already blaming Obama for everything.

but at least he lowers my taxes, protects my guns, and keeps government regulators off my back.

Yet more Trump representation of the main body of Republicans.
Trump = Republican. Republican = Trump.

He's not an outlier. He's a solid, mainstream, well-supported Republican. The entire Party, base and leadership and media, from bottom to top, has been a shitpile of bigots and imbeciles, fundies and feebs, goons and grifters, Trumps and Trump voters, for your entire adult life. They didn't self assemble into some kind of Golem army two years ago when the orange hair came up like a sunrise. Take a look at Trump and his voters and his media backers: that's the Republican Party. That's the Party that elected W&Cheney twice. That's the Party that gave Rush Limbaugh - who was talking and acting like Trump in 1992 - a special "Majority Maker" award for Party services in electing Republican US Congressmen. There is no other Republican Party hiding somewhere.

 

[arfa brane]

I can't believe I'm actually posting this, but did Hell sink in Helsinki?

The Trump did his best to look pleased for the cameras, but he acted like any made guy who's into more than a few large with the bigger guy does.
He said he believes Putin, and not what his own people are telling him. He said that. Maybe it was the moment the curtain slipped a little.
But let's see what the next tweet says about all the media coverage.

 

[Quantum Quack]

Waiting for sanctions to be lifted. Any time now with republican blessing.

 

[RainbowSingularity]

Waiting for sanctions to be lifted. Any time now with republican blessing.

has china filed in the world Trade Organisation against US Tarrifs yet ?
i saw a news item saying they were looking at it.

 

[Bells]

I can't believe I'm actually posting this, but did Hell sink in Helsinki?

The Trump did his best to look pleased for the cameras, but he acted like any made guy who's into more than a few large with the bigger guy does.
He said he believes Putin, and not what his own people are telling him. He said that. Maybe it was the moment the curtain slipped a little.
But let's see what the next tweet says about all the media coverage.

I think Trump just exposed himself for who and what he actually is in Helsinki:

Give Donald Trump the benefit of the doubt.

Assume he didn’t collude with Russia.

Vladimir Putin doesn’t have any dirt on him.

He has never relied on tainted Russian money.

He isn’t gullible enough to believe Mr Putin’s lies, or morally deficient enough to excuse them.

He isn’t too stupid to know what he’s talking about or too lazy to do his job properly.

Accept all those things. Grant Mr Trump every charity, rig each assumption in his favour, and the best possible interpretation of his subservient, bootlicking performance at last night’s summit with Mr Putin is that he’s a coward.

That is a jarring sentence to write, because it so drastically contradicts the public image Mr Trump has built through decades of relentless self-marketing.

We all know that image. It is burnt a little more indelibly into our brains every time Mr Trump speaks, and the man never shuts up.

He is — supposedly — a tough guy. A ruthless businessman, straight talker and street fighter with the guts to insult anyone, no matter how rich or powerful they are.

Millions of fans adore Mr Trump for those reasons, often despite his obvious flaws, and you can understand why. But they are in love with a myth.

The lie disintegrated when the real Trump showed up to his summit with Mr Putin.

It was a moment that called for resolve from America’s president. Russia’s invasion of Crimea, support for murderous Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad, meddling in multiple foreign elections and bleak human rights record demanded a display of moral clarity.

Instead, Mr Trump surrendered. He answered Mr Putin’s smug strongman act with deference. Submissiveness. Weakness.

Mr Putin was “strong and powerful in his denials” of election meddling, Mr Trump said, as though that settled the matter.

“My people come to me. Dan Coats (Mr Trump’s director of national intelligence) came to me, some others, they said they think it’s Russia. I have President Putin, he just said to me it’s not Russia. I will say this, I don’t see any reason why it would be,” Mr Trump said.

“All I can do is ask the question.”

A foreign power targeted the United States in a massive cyber attack, and apparently all the American president — supposedly the most powerful man on the planet — can do about it is ask a question.

Mr Trump doesn’t want to believe Russia helped him. That would be a blow to his ego, even if it had no impact on the result, so he is desperate to latch on to any alternative explanation.

This would be pathetic, yes, but at least understandable, if Mr Trump’s weird obsequiousness were limited to the question of election meddling.

But the whole press conference was the same. Mr Trump had nothing substantive to say about Russia’s conduct, instead blaming the sour relations between the two nations on America. Mr Putin may as well have spoken on his behalf.

He should have been pressing Russia on Crimea, or Syria, or its own human rights record. Instead he whined, as he so often does these days, about the Mueller investigation.

Mr Trump is, in fact, a classic bully. He is full of bluster when talking behind someone’s back, but doesn’t have the spine to confront them in person.

Take Mr Trump’s extraordinary broadside against British prime minister Theresa May last week, when he badmouthed her Brexit plans and heaped praise on her political nemesis, Boris Johnson, during an interview with The Sun.

Being the living embodiment of a bull in a china shop, Mr Trump presumably didn’t realise he was committing a monumental diplomatic screw-up. Still, it was so bad that some pundits speculated he was trying to destabilise the British Government.

When the comments were published, what did this fearsome man who tells it how it is, no matter the consequences, do? Own up and apologise? Stand by his words?

No. He denied saying them. Even though The Sun had them on tape.

Mr Trump frequently does this. He insults someone in private, and when his comments inevitably leak — or just get reported, because sometimes they’re on the record — he calls them “fake news”. It’s blatant cowardice.

[...]

It takes no bravery at all for Mr Trump to sit in the White House residence every morning tweeting mean things about Canada, Mexico or the European Union. They are easy targets, because they can’t afford to alienate the US.

It’s the diplomatic equivalent of a school bully taunting the weakest kid in class. The moment he faces anyone who could be a threat in person, his bravado evaporates.

The result is a bizarre policy of pointless hostility towards America’s allies and deference for its foes.

Stop mistaking Mr Trump’s petty, spiteful aggression for strength. When it actually matters, his spine always goes missing.​

There was never a curtain. His cowardice as always there.

 

[iceaura]

The Trump did his best to look pleased for the cameras, but he acted like any made guy who's into more than a few large with the bigger guy does.

Word is that Putin had Trump cooling his heels for an hour or more, waiting for his audience.
He's being handled like any mob boss handles underlings, as Putin is known to handle oligarchs not in the immediate circle.
Be funny to see Trump try his power handshake on Putin. He's not that stupid, of course.