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Thread: Life in the Trump Era, Part 2

  1. #331
    Sam the Sheepdog LA Ute's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by sancho View Post
    It's been a long time since Sean has been in a good movie, but I agree with his statement.
    Sean’s always ahead of his time. He recognized Hugo Chavez’s greatness before anyone else did.

    "It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye."
    --Antoine de Saint-Exupery

    "Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold."
    --Yeats

    “True, we [lawyers] build no bridges. We raise no towers. We construct no engines. We paint no pictures - unless as amateurs for our own principal amusement. There is little of all that we do which the eye of man can see. But we smooth out difficulties; we relieve stress; we correct mistakes; we take up other men's burdens and by our efforts we make possible the peaceful life of men in a peaceful state.”

    --John W. Davis, founder of Davis Polk & Wardwell

  2. #332
    There's a fascinating organizational dynamic at work:

    Trump's use of crude language results in his opponents using the same crudity to criticize him, like this light projection onto the Trump DC hotel:

    TrumpHotel.jpg

    Trump's supporters / or other reluctant Republicans (understandably) criticize the critics, and insist that proper respect be paid, that "we need to separate policy from style", etc... but their exhortations are undercut... by Trump himself.

    Leadership matters. Critics always mock their opponents, usually for misspellings, or tripping while walking up stairs, etc . Trump's inability to behave in a socially respectable way opens the barn door wide open for all kinds of amplified protest, in similar fashion.

    This article suggests Trump was very intentional in using the crude language, reaching out to external confidants and advisors to get reassurance it was the right message to send: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/polit...cid=spartanntp

    Maybe Trump is a true genius, that he's sacrificing himself to show Republicans as more restrained and less crude, in the eyes of young children.

    Or maybe he's just who he is, and the ramifications will manifest in different - albeit interesting - ways.
    Last edited by Ma'ake; 01-14-2018 at 08:11 AM.

  3. #333
    Sam the Sheepdog LA Ute's Avatar
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    Interesting ideas here, relevant to the Modern American era, not just the Trump era:

    This map shows the US really has 11 separate 'nations' with entirely different cultures

    http://www.businessinsider.com/the-1...auddev-test862

    "It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye."
    --Antoine de Saint-Exupery

    "Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold."
    --Yeats

    “True, we [lawyers] build no bridges. We raise no towers. We construct no engines. We paint no pictures - unless as amateurs for our own principal amusement. There is little of all that we do which the eye of man can see. But we smooth out difficulties; we relieve stress; we correct mistakes; we take up other men's burdens and by our efforts we make possible the peaceful life of men in a peaceful state.”

    --John W. Davis, founder of Davis Polk & Wardwell

  4. #334
    Regarding "S-Hollgate":

    GOP Sen David Perdue: "I'm telling you he didn't use that word"

    GOP Sen Tom Cotton: "I didn't hear it, and I was sitting no further away from Donald Trump than Dick Durbin was"

    Then the accounts become a little less firm
    :

    Homeland Security Sec Kirstjen Nielsen: "I don't recall that specific phrase being used"

    GOP Senator Tim Scott says GOP Senator Lindsey Graham told him the comments, as reported in the media, were "basically accurate".

    Dem Senator Dick Durbin gave a shot in the arm to Graham: "My colleague (Sen. Graham) spoke up and made a direct comment on what the president said. For him to confront the president as he did, literally sitting next to him, took extraordinary political courage and I respect him for it."

    Back to Graham, who "acknowledged he appreciated Durbin’s statements and has enjoyed "working with him and many others on this important issue. I believe it is vitally important to come to a bipartisan solution to the immigration and border challenges we face today."

    http://www.cnn.com/2018/01/14/politi...aca/index.html

    Conclusion: Perdue and Cotton either need hearing and/or memory tests, or they're lying, or hiding behind some sort of technicality that Nielsen seems to allude to.

    EDIT: Tom Cotton indirectly reveals the truth:

    Question: You did not hear this language, this lumping together?

    Cotton: "I did not hear derogatory comments about individuals or persons"

    What legalistic bullshit.

    Last edited by Ma'ake; 01-14-2018 at 02:00 PM.

  5. #335
    Sam the Sheepdog LA Ute's Avatar
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    Saturday Night Live sends up Bannon, Wolff, Morning Joe and a surprise guest:

    https://www.facebook.com/snl/videos/10155984687166303/

    "It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye."
    --Antoine de Saint-Exupery

    "Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold."
    --Yeats

    “True, we [lawyers] build no bridges. We raise no towers. We construct no engines. We paint no pictures - unless as amateurs for our own principal amusement. There is little of all that we do which the eye of man can see. But we smooth out difficulties; we relieve stress; we correct mistakes; we take up other men's burdens and by our efforts we make possible the peaceful life of men in a peaceful state.”

    --John W. Davis, founder of Davis Polk & Wardwell

  6. #336
    Administrator U-Ute's Avatar
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    Not only did Trump say it, he called friends to brag about it. Said that it would play well with his base.




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  7. #337
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    Weekend headline: Trump learns that there are white people on welfare.

    http://www.newsweek.com/donald-trump...k-white-780252


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  8. #338
    CNN’s headline online right now is “The exhausting first year of Trump’s presidency” and it include an summary list of his accomplishments and controversy.

    I tire of CNN’s editorials and commentary as it has become so shrill but it is still amazing how the outrageous has become commonplace. We all expect some new controversy to pop up each week and the list Trump has accumulated in one year would make an 8-year presidency look absolutely scandal-ridden.

    When I lived in Texas, no matter where you were highway signs would always include information to Johnson City, the town where LBJ grew up. I finally went there to realize it was a podunk town that made Fillmore look like a metropolis. The story I heard was that LBJ as president ordered those signs be made so everyone in Texas knew where he was from. At the time I thought that was the height of narcissism, now it seems quaint and charming.

    What seems evident however is the fundamental principles that have always guided the US Presidency and our place in the world as it’s preeminent power and steadying voice of reason since WWII look to be forever altered.

    I still have faith in our country though and think that it may be like how greenery always pops right back up after a forest fire. I think we’ll do the same (if we can avoid electing another unqualified celebrity).


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  9. #339
    Quote Originally Posted by U-Ute View Post
    Weekend headline: Trump learns that there are white people on welfare.

    http://www.newsweek.com/donald-trump...k-white-780252
    This is credible, if you think about it.

    Beside the long track record of Archie Bunker stereotyping, Trump has been quite insulated from the lives of common people - as would many Billionaires, for practical and security reasons. There's also a pretty clear pattern he doesn't have a great deal of empathy for things that are not inside his mind or immediate agenda.

    Example: Quick reaction tweets about the train derailment in Seattle proving the importance of his infrastructure initiative... and then later a "thoughts and prayers" tweet for the victims and their families.

  10. #340
    Tea Leaf Interpretation for the week

    It's MLK day, the week started with the President declaring to a reporter "I'm the least racist person you'll ever interview", after a considerable amount of carnage and widespread sentiment to the contrary.

    The DACA issue and government shutdown are looming as possible issues, this week, possibly connected.

    Background: apparently the Senate has been working toward comprehensive immigration reform for some time; several Senators report(ed) it was pretty close.

    Then Trump's long meeting on TV last week where he said it's important to get this done, "let's make it a bill of love", and the weird sequence where he agreed with Diane Feinstein's suggestion that a DACA bill be passed first, with the other issues addressed afterward, and Kevin McCarthy objecting that Diane didn't address the wall, and Trump said he thought she did, etc.

    Then the meeting of Senators in the Oval Office where "derogatory things weren't said about individuals or persons", as Tom Cotton offered his best legalistic-but-honest response in defending the President from the firestorm resulting from his incendiary remarks.

    Now Trump has declared DACA "probably dead", and it's the Democrats fault. (I interpret this as punishment for Dick Durbin for revealing what Trump said in the Oval Office meeting. Trump is known to be a F-bomber of the B-52 tier, but is reportedly very wary of using this language around people who he doesn't know and trust.)

    Three Options for this Week:

    1. Democrats decide to use the 80% polling in favor of DACA kids as leverage to shutdown the government and continue painting Trump as a racist as political strategy. (Given the growing concern among Republicans about losing the House this fall, this would be bold, and potentially politically brilliant.)

    2. Senators close ranks (both "R" and "D") and get their immigration bill on the floor, and another Continuing Resolution is passed to keep the government funded. With Senators shooting at each other in public over Trump's comments, this seems unlikely.

    3. Trump is inspired to try to be more presidential and takes a leadership role, gains credibility with the public by admitting he sometimes uses coarse language but he really wants to make things right, and a CR is passed, the wheels keep slowly moving toward comprehensive immigration reform, including DACA.

    (3a. Trump declares the false alarm about an inbound ICBM in Hawaii was due to North Korean hackers, and declares war, putting all other issues to the side.)
    Last edited by Ma'ake; 01-15-2018 at 09:23 AM.

  11. #341
    Quote Originally Posted by Ma'ake View Post
    Tea Leaf Interpretation for the week

    It's MLK day, the week started with the President declaring to a reporter "I'm the least racist person you'll ever interview", after a considerable amount of carnage and widespread sentiment to the contrary.

    The DACA issue and government shutdown are looming as possible issues, this week, possibly connected.

    Background: apparently the Senate has been working toward comprehensive immigration reform for some time; several Senators report(ed) it was pretty close.

    Then Trump's long meeting on TV last week where he said it's important to get this done, "let's make it a bill of love", and the weird sequence where he agreed with Diane Feinstein's suggestion that a DACA bill be passed first, with the other issues addressed afterward, and Kevin McCarthy objecting that Diane didn't address the wall, and Trump said he thought she did, etc.

    Then the meeting of Senators in the Oval Office where "derogatory things weren't said about individuals or persons", as Tom Cotton offered his best legalistic-but-honest response in defending the President from the firestorm resulting from his incendiary remarks.

    Now Trump has declared DACA "probably dead", and it's the Democrats fault. (I interpret this as punishment for Dick Durbin for revealing what Trump said in the Oval Office meeting. Trump is known to be a F-bomber of the B-52 tier, but is reportedly very wary of using this language around people who he doesn't know and trust.)

    Three Options for this Week:

    1. Democrats decide to use the 80% polling in favor of DACA kids as leverage to shutdown the government and continue painting Trump as a racist as political strategy. (Given the growing concern among Republicans about losing the House this fall, this would be bold, and potentially politically brilliant.)

    2. Senators close ranks (both "R" and "D") and get their immigration bill on the floor, and another Continuing Resolution is passed to keep the government funded. With Senators shooting at each other in public over Trump's comments, this seems unlikely.

    3. Trump is inspired to try to be more presidential and takes a leadership role, gains credibility with the public by admitting he sometimes uses coarse language but he really wants to make things right, and a CR is passed, the wheels keep slowly moving toward comprehensive immigration reform, including DACA.

    (3a. Trump declares the false alarm about an inbound ICBM in Hawaii was due to North Korean hackers, and declares war, putting all other issues to the side.)
    3a seems far more plausible than 3. 3 would require Trump to indirectly admit being even slightly wrong in anything, and I expect bombs to start dropping before that happens.

  12. #342
    Mitt Romney calls Trump’s comments “antithetical to American values.” Is this a sign of the Mitt we Gitt? Given this Senate run is likely his swan song on his political career, I hope he does it on his terms and doesn’t bend on his position on Trump.

    If he is that guy I would vote for him.


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  13. #343
    Quote Originally Posted by Rocker Ute View Post
    Mitt Romney calls Trump’s comments “antithetical to American values.” Is this a sign of the Mitt we Gitt? Given this Senate run is likely his swan song on his political career, I hope he does it on his terms and doesn’t bend on his position on Trump.

    If he is that guy I would vote for him.


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    Me too.

  14. #344
    Mitt is a good guy. That is not in doubt.

    The problem is Trumpism is 99.98% Modern Republicanism (Mitch McConnellism, anyhow), but with a greatly inflated sense of self-worth and a filthy mouth. And Mitt will fall in line and vote with McConnell all of the times.

    But he will push back in the media against the Daily Trumpisms, but won't get more than a few feet away from the party centerline on the political freeway (and never to the left).

  15. #345
    And the Democrats now are just the most spineless group I have seen. They should not be beating the drum about Trump calling some countries 'stuff countries', but instead should focus on why he doesn't want people to escape this shitholes to make a better life for themselves.

    They are also dropping the ball on DACA. The program is extremely popular Nationwide, polling over 70%. It is even popular among Trump supporters polling just about 50%. And yet they just refuse to control the narrative on the subject. Instead they allow Trump to claim they are not supporting a strong military or National Security, or The Wall.

    Instead they need to play tough. Rely on the fact that supporting the DACA kids is overwhelmingly popular, and is definitively American. Make the side in power be the ones to blink. Then move forward and pick up additional concessions along the way.

    Otherwise they don't deserve to pick up any seats this coming November. Show some backbone. Stand for something. Call out the special interests playing behind the scenes in D.C. Do something to make Americans proud, and get the Great Political Middle out to vote, and pick up a mandate.

    Or do nothing, go along to get along, keep Republican donors happy, and misuse what is left of the faith Americans who strive for a better life have left in you.

  16. #346
    And to Mia Love: I hope you are beginning to see that you are in the wrong party. Your party is trying to end support for survivors of the earthquake in your parents' home country of Haiti, and to deport back people who have lost everything. You will likely lose in a Primary or General election this year, but recognize you still have an important voice and can yet make a difference.

  17. #347

  18. #348
    Quote Originally Posted by NorthwestUteFan View Post
    Mitt is a good guy. That is not in doubt.

    The problem is Trumpism is 99.98% Modern Republicanism (Mitch McConnellism, anyhow), but with a greatly inflated sense of self-worth and a filthy mouth. And Mitt will fall in line and vote with McConnell all of the times.

    But he will push back in the media against the Daily Trumpisms, but won't get more than a few feet away from the party centerline on the political freeway (and never to the left).
    If that is truly the case, then you can say the same about every democrat that you vote for.

  19. #349
    Interesting back story and detail on the Senators & Trump meeting:

    https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/polit...cid=spartanntp

    - Trump invited Graham and Durbin to a followup meeting to the previous televised meeting where Trump told Diane Feinstein he's sign a DACA only bill.

    - Conservative lawmakers got to Trump before the meeting and convinced him he was agreeing to something his base wouldn't like (Duh) and Durbin & Graham were surprised to see Perdue, Cotton & others in the meeting, which took on a sour tone right off the bat.

    - A lot of swearing and cross-talk, with Perdue and Cotton telling Whitehouse staff they heard the word "shit-house", not "shithole".

    - Whitehouse staff weren't concerned about the language or early reports, because Trump was unconcerned about it, having called friends and external advisors to see how the coarse language would play with his base.

    (My own interpretation: Trump is incapable of understanding any kind of complexity in policy discussions, and John Kelly should very tightly choreograph meetings where people are only allowed to speak according to a pre-determined script... otherwise things can go off the rails very quickly.)


    -

  20. #350
    Sam the Sheepdog LA Ute's Avatar
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    Life in the Trump Era, Part 2

    Ronny Jackson: The White House Doctor Who Gave Trump A Clean Bill Of Health

    I guess he's healthy, physically and cognitively. He's not losing it, he's just a jerk.
    Last edited by LA Ute; 01-17-2018 at 07:35 AM.

    "It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye."
    --Antoine de Saint-Exupery

    "Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold."
    --Yeats

    “True, we [lawyers] build no bridges. We raise no towers. We construct no engines. We paint no pictures - unless as amateurs for our own principal amusement. There is little of all that we do which the eye of man can see. But we smooth out difficulties; we relieve stress; we correct mistakes; we take up other men's burdens and by our efforts we make possible the peaceful life of men in a peaceful state.”

    --John W. Davis, founder of Davis Polk & Wardwell

  21. #351
    Administrator U-Ute's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by jrj84105 View Post
    Seems like some self-reflection is in order.

    http://kutv.com/news/local/davis-cou...wed-by-another
    Wow. I missed this.

    Talk about tone deaf.

  22. #352
    Quote Originally Posted by LA Ute View Post
    Ronny Jackson: The White House Doctor Who Gave Trump A Clean Bill Of Health

    I guess he's healthy, physically and cognitively. He's not losing it, he's just a jerk.
    The Onion already revealed his cognitive tests:

    https://www.theonion.com/presidentia...ngs-1819594219


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  23. #353
    From Jeff Flake's speech today:

    "The enemy of the people," was what the president of the United States called the free press in 2017. Mr. President, it is a testament to the condition of our democracy that our own president uses words infamously spoken by Josef Stalin to describe his enemies. It bears noting that so fraught with malice was the phrase "enemy of the people," that even Nikita Khrushchev forbade its use, telling the Soviet Communist Party that the phrase had been introduced by Stalin for the purpose of "annihilating such individuals" who disagreed with the supreme leader.
    This alone should be a source of great shame for us in this body, especially for those of us in the president's party. For they are shameful, repulsive statements. And, of course, the president has it precisely backward -- despotism is the enemy of the people. The free press is the despot's enemy, which makes the free press the guardian of democracy. When a figure in power reflexively calls any press that doesn't suit him "fake news," it is that person who should be the figure of suspicion, not the press.
    http://www.cnn.com/2018/01/17/politi...ech/index.html

  24. #354
    Quote Originally Posted by U-Ute View Post
    Wow. I missed this.
    I sometimes joke to women friends that when you really think about it, all the bad things that have happened to America have occurred since we let women vote and drive cars.

    Man, I hate it when a punchline based on complete absurdity gets undermined by someone who actually believes the absurd.

  25. #355
    Sam the Sheepdog LA Ute's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Rocker Ute View Post
    I wonder if Trump even knows who Stalin was. The way he combines reckless language with cultural/historical ignorance is really dispiriting.

    "It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye."
    --Antoine de Saint-Exupery

    "Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold."
    --Yeats

    “True, we [lawyers] build no bridges. We raise no towers. We construct no engines. We paint no pictures - unless as amateurs for our own principal amusement. There is little of all that we do which the eye of man can see. But we smooth out difficulties; we relieve stress; we correct mistakes; we take up other men's burdens and by our efforts we make possible the peaceful life of men in a peaceful state.”

    --John W. Davis, founder of Davis Polk & Wardwell

  26. #356
    Quote Originally Posted by LA Ute View Post
    I wonder if Trump even knows who Stalin was. The way he combines reckless language with cultural/historical ignorance is really dispiriting.
    Don't be ridiculous. Of course he knows. He LOVES the Rocky III and IV!

  27. #357
    Quote Originally Posted by Rocker Ute View Post
    The Onion already revealed his cognitive tests:

    https://www.theonion.com/presidentia...ngs-1819594219


    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
    Speaking of The Onion, I thought this story line was great.

    "New Report Finds Adult Film Star May Have Paid Over $130,000 To Cover Up Sexual Encounter With Trump"

  28. #358
    Administrator U-Ute's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Dwight Schr-Ute View Post

  29. #359
    I’m not sure where you most recently posted this LA, but I think it’s the basis for the way forward:

    https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.bus...-states-2015-7

    The USA no longer have enough of a shared national identity to strongly unite us. It’s time to allow more regional autonomy. We need to go back to 13 colonies.

    Divide the 50 states into 13 regional governments (no more than 8 states/region) with each region having roughly equal population. Each region gets 8 senators (raises the total to 108) with each state (and DC and Puerto Rico) getting at least one senator and other than that allowing the regions to assign the remaining senators how they see fit. (Example CA gets their own region with 8 senators; UT, ID, MN, ND, SD, WY, AZ each get one senator to fill their combined allotment of 8).

    Each region would have a big enough economy and population to enjoy enonomies of scale for their endeavors and would be protected from the frank idiosyncratic weirdness that arises in individual states). Caps for emphasis on where power resides:

    LOCAL-state-REGIONAL-national

    would better fit our nation than the current:

    local-STATE-regional-NATIONAL

  30. #360
    Sam the Sheepdog LA Ute's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by jrj84105 View Post
    I’m not sure where you most recently posted this LA, but I think it’s the basis for the way forward:

    https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.bus...-states-2015-7

    The USA no longer have enough of a shared national identity to strongly unite us. It’s time to allow more regional autonomy. We need to go back to 13 colonies.

    Divide the 50 states into 13 regional governments (no more than 8 states/region) with each region having roughly equal population. Each region gets 8 senators (raises the total to 108) with each state (and DC and Puerto Rico) getting at least one senator and other than that allowing the regions to assign the remaining senators how they see fit. (Example CA gets their own region with 8 senators; UT, ID, MN, ND, SD, WY, AZ each get one senator to fill their combined allotment of 8).

    Each region would have a big enough economy and population to enjoy enonomies of scale for their endeavors and would be protected from the frank idiosyncratic weirdness that arises in individual states). Caps for emphasis on where power resides:

    LOCAL-state-REGIONAL-national

    would better fit our nation than the current:

    local-STATE-regional-NATIONAL
    We'd probably end up like 19th century Europe and have endless wars.

    "It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye."
    --Antoine de Saint-Exupery

    "Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold."
    --Yeats

    “True, we [lawyers] build no bridges. We raise no towers. We construct no engines. We paint no pictures - unless as amateurs for our own principal amusement. There is little of all that we do which the eye of man can see. But we smooth out difficulties; we relieve stress; we correct mistakes; we take up other men's burdens and by our efforts we make possible the peaceful life of men in a peaceful state.”

    --John W. Davis, founder of Davis Polk & Wardwell

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