Donald Trump & 2016 Election

[allwaystired]

Nah - not what I was saying.
But I can see how that came across as pompous.
Same way someone can listen to Trump speak and determine it'd be ludicrous for him to hold the highest office - I get same vibe from her, is all I meant.
& if you have never come across someone in your life who you just knew was in a position of power for the wrong reasons, I'd suspect that will happen sooner rather than later. & there is no way on Earth I'm either intimidated or would be intimidated if I met her in person.
Would be happy to talk to her though.

It's not the same way at all though - people think it's ludicrous for Trump to be in the highest office based on a catalogue of sexist, racist, and offensive comments and actions. As well as the increasing evidence of nefarious dealings. It's nothing to do with 'vibe' at all.

[COMAMOTIVE]

Nah - not what I was saying.
But I can see how that came across as pompous.
Same way someone can listen to Trump speak and determine it'd be ludicrous for him to hold the highest office - I get same vibe from her, is all I meant.
& if you have never come across someone in your life who you just knew was in a position of power for the wrong reasons, I'd suspect that will happen sooner rather than later. & there is no way on Earth I'm either intimidated or would be intimidated if I met her in person.
Would be happy to talk to her though.

It's not the same way at all though - people think it's ludicrous for Trump to be in the highest office based on a catalogue of sexist, racist, and offensive comments and actions. As well as the increasing evidence of nefarious dealings. It's nothing to do with 'vibe' at all.

Trump running was viewed as an absolute joke before he officially got into the race and it had nothing to do with Stormy Daniels or mocking disabled people. He was a glorified cartoon character who not many took seriously. The increasing evidence of nefarious dealings? Again, I don't recall too many people being up in arms about his running for president because of this stuff before he ran. It was because he was a fool then and he's a bigger fool now.That's the vibe I was speaking of.

[allwaystired]

Nah - not what I was saying.
But I can see how that came across as pompous.
Same way someone can listen to Trump speak and determine it'd be ludicrous for him to hold the highest office - I get same vibe from her, is all I meant.
& if you have never come across someone in your life who you just knew was in a position of power for the wrong reasons, I'd suspect that will happen sooner rather than later. & there is no way on Earth I'm either intimidated or would be intimidated if I met her in person.
Would be happy to talk to her though.

It's not the same way at all though - people think it's ludicrous for Trump to be in the highest office based on a catalogue of sexist, racist, and offensive comments and actions. As well as the increasing evidence of nefarious dealings. It's nothing to do with 'vibe' at all.

Trump running was viewed as an absolute joke before he officially got into the race and it had nothing to do with Stormy Daniels or mocking disabled people. He was a glorified cartoon character who not many took seriously. The increasing evidence of nefarious dealings? Again, I don't recall too many people being up in arms about his running for president because of this stuff before he ran. It was because he was a fool then and he's a bigger fool now.That's the vibe I was speaking of.

The reasons people weren't up in arms about a lot of dealings before he ran is because a lot of it (i.e. alleged collusion with Russia etc) hadn't happened, or was unknown
about!

There's no 'vibe' about him at all. We're talking about things that we have evidence of, or that are being investigated rather than some undefinable "feeling" that he isn't right.

[COMAMOTIVE]

Nah - not what I was saying.
But I can see how that came across as pompous.
Same way someone can listen to Trump speak and determine it'd be ludicrous for him to hold the highest office - I get same vibe from her, is all I meant.
& if you have never come across someone in your life who you just knew was in a position of power for the wrong reasons, I'd suspect that will happen sooner rather than later. & there is no way on Earth I'm either intimidated or would be intimidated if I met her in person.
Would be happy to talk to her though.

It's not the same way at all though - people think it's ludicrous for Trump to be in the highest office based on a catalogue of sexist, racist, and offensive comments and actions. As well as the increasing evidence of nefarious dealings. It's nothing to do with 'vibe' at all.

Trump running was viewed as an absolute joke before he officially got into the race and it had nothing to do with Stormy Daniels or mocking disabled people. He was a glorified cartoon character who not many took seriously. The increasing evidence of nefarious dealings? Again, I don't recall too many people being up in arms about his running for president because of this stuff before he ran. It was because he was a fool then and he's a bigger fool now.That's the vibe I was speaking of.

The reasons people weren't up in arms about a lot of dealings before he ran is because a lot of it (i.e. alleged collusion with Russia etc) hadn't happened, or was unknown
about!

There's no 'vibe' about him at all. We're talking about things that we have evidence of, or that are being investigated rather than some undefinable "feeling" that he isn't right.

Now that is funny.
Trump was a larger than life cartoon character for a decade before he ran.
Any mention of his running beforehand was met with laughter and that happened a lot.

[allwaystired]

Nah - not what I was saying.
But I can see how that came across as pompous.
Same way someone can listen to Trump speak and determine it'd be ludicrous for him to hold the highest office - I get same vibe from her, is all I meant.
& if you have never come across someone in your life who you just knew was in a position of power for the wrong reasons, I'd suspect that will happen sooner rather than later. & there is no way on Earth I'm either intimidated or would be intimidated if I met her in person.
Would be happy to talk to her though.

It's not the same way at all though - people think it's ludicrous for Trump to be in the highest office based on a catalogue of sexist, racist, and offensive comments and actions. As well as the increasing evidence of nefarious dealings. It's nothing to do with 'vibe' at all.

Trump running was viewed as an absolute joke before he officially got into the race and it had nothing to do with Stormy Daniels or mocking disabled people. He was a glorified cartoon character who not many took seriously. The increasing evidence of nefarious dealings? Again, I don't recall too many people being up in arms about his running for president because of this stuff before he ran. It was because he was a fool then and he's a bigger fool now.That's the vibe I was speaking of.

The reasons people weren't up in arms about a lot of dealings before he ran is because a lot of it (i.e. alleged collusion with Russia etc) hadn't happened, or was unknown
about!

There's no 'vibe' about him at all. We're talking about things that we have evidence of, or that are being investigated rather than some undefinable "feeling" that he isn't right.

Now that is funny.
Trump was a larger than life cartoon character for a decade before he ran.
Any mention of his running beforehand was met with laughter and that happened a lot.

Sure - but it wasn't down to some undefinable 'vibe' or 'feeling' was it? We're not reading chakras or auras here - we're talking facts and reason.

[pilferk]

Trump running was viewed as an absolute joke before he officially got into the race and it had nothing to do with Stormy Daniels or mocking disabled people. He was a glorified cartoon character who not many took seriously. The increasing evidence of nefarious dealings? Again, I don't recall too many people being up in arms about his running for president because of this stuff before he ran. It was because he was a fool then and he's a bigger fool now.That's the vibe I was speaking of.

This just isn't true, and is a rewrite of history.

It MAY be true for the people who didn't do their due diligence, or didn't know anything about him other than what was on page 6 (or on The Apprentice). Or who decided he was "their guy" based on the letter he ended up with after his name (after having a completely different letter for 60+ years of his life).  I don't know.

But if you took a look at his actual business dealings, through the 80's, 90's, and much of the 2000's...it was pretty obvious he was shady, had done things shadily for a LONG time, and had likely broken a fair number of laws.  His history of failed developments, not paying contractors, shady real estate sales, shadier insurance filings and the like were well known in and around NYC.  Its not like nobody talked about this stuff leading up to the 2016 election.  It just didn't move the needle with his supporters.

And the big difference is: When he's a reality TV star, you don't really care enough to shout that from the mountain tops.  You're not talking around the water cooler about the latest Trump business failure or the latest lawsuit targeting Trump University (or Trump Steaks, or Trump water, or the Trump Casino in AC, or the 3 Trump developed golf courses that saw HUGE numbers of lawsuits by the various sub contractors who not only said they didn't get paid, but alleged Trump directed them to cut corners and bribe inspectors).  And once he was an actual candidate, people did point all this out.  And they got shouted down by the conservatives that it was all "Fake News".

The problem wasn't that people weren't talking about it.  The problem is that his supporters didn't (and won't) listen.

People who object to Trump holding the office aren't, largely, doing so based on a "vibe".  They're doing so based on the evidence Trump has provided of WHO HE IS.

[jarmo]

Trump dealt blow as US trade deficit jumps

The US trade gap with the rest of the world jumped to a 10-year high of $621bn (£472.5bn) last year, dealing a blow to President Donald Trump's deficit reduction plan.

The trade deficit is the difference between how much goods and services the US imports from other countries and how much it exports.

Reducing the gap is a key plank of Mr Trump's policies.

But in 2018, the US exported fewer goods compared with how much it bought.

Mr Trump claims that the US is being "ripped off" by other nations and wants countries to lower their tariffs on US goods and buy more of them.

However, official data shows that while exports of US goods and services rose by $148.9bn last year, imports jumped by $217.7bn.

It means that the gap is the widest since 2008, when the global financial crisis hit and the US fell into recession.

The deficit in goods and services during December also hit a near 10-year high of $59.8bn.

Exports to the rest of the world fell 1.9% to $205.1bn, while imports rose by 2.1% to $264.9bn.

Full story: https://www.bbc.com/news/business-47472282



It's all Obama's fault obviously..... Those damn socialists! 




/jarmo

[COMAMOTIVE]

Trump running was viewed as an absolute joke before he officially got into the race and it had nothing to do with Stormy Daniels or mocking disabled people. He was a glorified cartoon character who not many took seriously. The increasing evidence of nefarious dealings? Again, I don't recall too many people being up in arms about his running for president because of this stuff before he ran. It was because he was a fool then and he's a bigger fool now.That's the vibe I was speaking of.

This just isn't true, and is a rewrite of history.

It MAY be true for the people who didn't do their due diligence, or didn't know anything about him other than what was on page 6 (or on The Apprentice). Or who decided he was "their guy" based on the letter he ended up with after his name (after having a completely different letter for 60+ years of his life).  I don't know.

But if you took a look at his actual business dealings, through the 80's, 90's, and much of the 2000's...it was pretty obvious he was shady, had done things shadily for a LONG time, and had likely broken a fair number of laws.  His history of failed developments, not paying contractors, shady real estate sales, shadier insurance filings and the like were well known in and around NYC.  Its not like nobody talked about this stuff leading up to the 2016 election.  It just didn't move the needle with his supporters.

And the big difference is: When he's a reality TV star, you don't really care enough to shout that from the mountain tops.  You're not talking around the water cooler about the latest Trump business failure or the latest lawsuit targeting Trump University (or Trump Steaks, or Trump water, or the Trump Casino in AC, or the 3 Trump developed golf courses that saw HUGE numbers of lawsuits by the various sub contractors who not only said they didn't get paid, but alleged Trump directed them to cut corners and bribe inspectors).  And once he was an actual candidate, people did point all this out.  And they got shouted down by the conservatives that it was all "Fake News".

The problem wasn't that people weren't talking about it.  The problem is that his supporters didn't (and won't) listen.

People who object to Trump holding the office aren't, largely, doing so based on a "vibe".  They're doing so based on the evidence Trump has provided of WHO HE IS.

Fair

Still think the ass-clown personality played a larger role in negative opinions because he was not convicted of anything in the past and these silly entanglements with porn stars weren't a blip on the radar..but fair

[tim_m]

With all the shady things that are coming to light that he did prior to becoming president, one has to wonder how he avoided investigation all those years.

[allwaystired]

With all the shady things that are coming to light that he did prior to becoming president, one has to wonder how he avoided investigation all those years.

I think we all know the answer to that one......like most things in politics, its about money.

[pilferk]

I think we all know the answer to that one......like most things in politics, its about money.

Partially, I'm sure.

But there is another piece: NYC is a hotbed of corruption and unethical (illegal) business practices.  Witness the Bernie Madoff saga.

So, there is a level of illegal/unethical that can stay JUST below the radar.  And if you're not TOO obvious about it, and you're not on anyones radar, you can get away with a lot of shit.

Combine that with Trumps celebrity, and his near mafiaso obsession with "loyalty" in his inner circle, and you get a sense of why this stuff was never prosecuted.

It was certainly talked about before (LONG before), during, and after the campaign.  It doesn't take more than a cursory look at his business practices to get to "this is shady as fuck". 

Trump fancies himself equal parts Hugh Heffner and Al Capone.  And he operates everything in his life through that lens. 

[allwaystired]

I think we all know the answer to that one......like most things in politics, its about money.

Partially, I'm sure.

But there is another piece: NYC is a hotbed of corruption and unethical (illegal) business practices.  Witness the Bernie Madoff saga.

So, there is a level of illegal/unethical that can stay JUST below the radar.  And if you're not TOO obvious about it, and you're not on anyones radar, you can get away with a lot of shit.

Combine that with Trumps celebrity, and his near mafiaso obsession with "loyalty" in his inner circle, and you get a sense of why this stuff was never prosecuted.

It was certainly talked about before (LONG before), during, and after the campaign.  It doesn't take more than a cursory look at his business practices to get to "this is shady as fuck". 

Trump fancies himself equal parts Hugh Heffner and Al Capone.  And he operates everything in his life through that lens. 

The whole thing just has to fall at some time though, surely? I firmly believe it's only a matter of time. Fighting scandal with bigger scandal is a game that no one gets away with for long.

I can't imagine what history will make of all this. In 40 years time, I wonder what people will be saying? Difficult to imagine it being viewed with anything but total derision and confusion!

[sandman]

For the second time Trump has served fast food burgers when hosting a championship sports team. I'm not sure if I should laugh or cry.

He does this because he thinks it pisses off snobby people who look down on fast food (i.e. Coastal Dems).  Don't take the bait.

too late.

[sandman]

No matter what your political beliefs, i’ll assume everyone agrees that:

“we simply cannot allow people to pour into the U.S., undetected, undocumented, unchecked and circumventing the line of people who are waiting patiently, diligently, lawfully to become immigrants in this country.”

Aren't less and less people "pouring in"?


Let me ask you this then, what's your opinion on the Berlin Wall? Were you sad to see it go? Did you disagree with Reagan wanting it torn down?





/jarmo

no offense, but asking about the berlin wall with respects to the current situation is simpleminded. Not only does this comparison cheapen the history of the Berlin Wall, it is a terrible analogy. The goal of Trump's wall is to keep people and contraband from illegally coming in to the United States, not to prevent US citizens from escaping. Also, unlike with the Berlin Wall, the use of force on the border is significantly restricted by law, even when dealing with Mexico's worst people.

In 2006, Bush signed the Secure Fence Act into law. It passed HUGE bipartisan majorities. Among the Democratic senators voting in support were Joe Biden, Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama.

i'm no expert. but I know both parties supported building a "wall" 10 years ago along large sections of the border. I think walls are one of many tools that should be utilized.  

the wall alone will not solve the problem, but it is one more deterrent. the cost is small. Dems are wasting time arguing about a fraction of 1% of the budget because they don't want Trump to deliver on one of his major promises.

thousands of migrants die each year in their journey to come here illegally. women and children are routinely raped, and then forced in the sex slave trade.

do these facts make it a national emergency? that's just a label for a tool that is available to the Prez. Obama declared several national emergencies. I think most were to send aid to other countries. were they truly national emergencies for the US? no, but that's just the name of the tool available.

the illegal immigration situation is a major issue for the US. politicians on both sides have been talking about it for years.

the number of illegals "pouring in" may have decreased on an annual basis, but it is still too high of a number. also, we do not have good statistics on the migrant deaths and rapes I noted above, but some believe that situation continues to get worse.

we need a comprehensive strategy.

[tim_m]

https://thehill.com/policy/finance/433162-february-jobs

The U.S. economy added 20,000 jobs in February, the Labor Department reported Friday, far below analysts’ expectations that the country would gain 180,000 jobs.

The unemployment rate dropped 0.2 percentage points to 3.8 percent as the labor force participation rate held steady at 63.2 percent.

Hiring was expected to drop slightly in February following 100 consecutive months of job gains and slight slowdown in U.S. GDP growth.

The underwhelming February numbers follow a stellar January jobs report, which showed a gain of 304,000 jobs.

This coupled with the trade deficit is bad news.

[sandman]

AOC is awesome. her social media game is first class. she may be bought and paid for by the dems power structure, but either way, she deserves credit.

her chief of staff was listed in an FEC complaint for funneling $1 Million to himself and possible coordination, but whatever. her supporters only care when Trump is accused of something. 

interesting times for liberals:

- liberals call everyone that disagrees with them a Nazi, but they cannot even condemn actual ANTI-SEMITISM in the dem party. I love how dems are defending Omar's comments, along with David Duke.

- liberal leaders are supporting the murder of new born babies. (no matter what side of abortion you are on, I don't think anyone saw this one coming)

- liberals bitching all over the place about how most people's "taxes went up", when they actually just expose themselves as having little to no understanding of how taxes work. 
 
- Russian Collusion yet?
     -  NO

[tim_m]

Are you fucking drunk this morning? Criticizing the Israeli government for for buying the us government through aipac and for their awful human rights record is not semitism. It's the truth. There's a reason Netanyahu is indicted for corruption and that abortion law is only allowed to be used if the mothers life is in danger or the fetus isn't viable outside the womb. Only a doctor can make that decision. No woman is deciding at 38 weeks to kill a baby. But whatever takes focus away from the bad jobs report, the highest trade deficit in 10 years and the car plant closing in Ohio that Trump promised to save.

[Dr. Blutarsky]

https://thehill.com/policy/finance/433162-february-jobs

The U.S. economy added 20,000 jobs in February, the Labor Department reported Friday, far below analysts’ expectations that the country would gain 180,000 jobs.

The unemployment rate dropped 0.2 percentage points to 3.8 percent as the labor force participation rate held steady at 63.2 percent.

Hiring was expected to drop slightly in February following 100 consecutive months of job gains and slight slowdown in U.S. GDP growth.

The underwhelming February numbers follow a stellar January jobs report, which showed a gain of 304,000 jobs.

This coupled with the trade deficit is bad news.

While this isn't great news, you also have to consider that we did hit another record for the number of employed Americans.

[allwaystired]

AOC is awesome. her social media game is first class. she may be bought and paid for by the dems power structure, but either way, she deserves credit.

her chief of staff was listed in an FEC complaint for funneling $1 Million to himself and possible coordination, but whatever. her supporters only care when Trump is accused of something. 

interesting times for liberals:

- liberals call everyone that disagrees with them a Nazi, but they cannot even condemn actual ANTI-SEMITISM in the dem party. I love how dems are defending Omar's comments, along with David Duke.

- liberal leaders are supporting the murder of new born babies. (no matter what side of abortion you are on, I don't think anyone saw this one coming)

- liberals bitching all over the place about how most people's "taxes went up", when they actually just expose themselves as having little to no understanding of how taxes work. 
 
- Russian Collusion yet?
     -  NO

Nice try. 5/10 for effort, but ultimately I think your heart really isn't in this.

[sandman]

AOC is awesome. her social media game is first class. she may be bought and paid for by the dems power structure, but either way, she deserves credit.

her chief of staff was listed in an FEC complaint for funneling $1 Million to himself and possible coordination, but whatever. her supporters only care when Trump is accused of something. 

interesting times for liberals:

- liberals call everyone that disagrees with them a Nazi, but they cannot even condemn actual ANTI-SEMITISM in the dem party. I love how dems are defending Omar's comments, along with David Duke.

- liberal leaders are supporting the murder of new born babies. (no matter what side of abortion you are on, I don't think anyone saw this one coming)

- liberals bitching all over the place about how most people's "taxes went up", when they actually just expose themselves as having little to no understanding of how taxes work. 
 
- Russian Collusion yet?
     -  NO

Nice try. 5/10 for effort, but ultimately I think your heart really isn't in this.

5/10 is generous. i'll bring my A-game next time.