Not even Spicer will defend this claim....

My hope is that the teenage girl enacts enough good policy and doesn't ruin our relationships abroad so that I can support his reelection in 2020.

 

(a) He will have enacted better policy in 3 weeks than Obama did in 8 years

(b) This 13-year-old girl analogy is particularly amusing since most of the critical reactions to Trump (and his tweets) are like those of a 13 yr old, in that they are emotion driven, lacking in facts, logic and reason. While this is going on, Trump is getting meaningful actions accomplished.

 

So, you're a liberal .....

 

I would say that is overstating it. Trump tapped into legitimate angst by the middle class and other groups that have felt neglected or demonized by the left and MSM. He acted like a drama queen (or worse) at times but it was his ability to connect with those neglected groups that won the POTUS for him.

 

The psychology of Presidents is interesting. For example, what shaped their ideology? Was their father a drunk foreigner that wrongly blamed America and colonialism for his own country being a loser, or did daddy start his own company and extoll the virtues of hard work, being the best, and winning at all costs? Did daddy run out on the family and let mommy and the grandparents raise junior, or did daddy take his son to jobsites with him to get an idea of the construction business, and then send the boy off to military school to improve his discipline and learn leadership skills? Was one a mediocre basketball player and the other an athlete that excelled? Did one attend the Presbyterianl church steeped in Christian tradition while the other was subjected to both Reverend Wright's hatred of America, and to Muslim hatred of all things not Islamist? Did one advance a home building business into a multi-billion dollar commercial real estate business, and the other settle for being a community organizer in the finest tradition of his anti-American influencer Bill Ayers?

Which one of these two do you think would travel the world apologizing for America, and which one would put America first?

 

On this board, that is accurate. At a gathering of self-identified progressives or Democratic Party gatherings, I'm the least liberal one there.

 

I don't disagree on any of these points.

But as I see it, there has been an understood rule, enforced by the MSM, that you sound mature, try to make your whoppers sound plausible and not have a well-documented trail of objectionable statements and behaviors in your past.

 

Well there's your problem, right there!

 

I guess I've overlooked Trump's Christlike outlook and behaviors.

 

Agreed. But the credibility of the MSM has been so severely compromised that most voters just tuned them out. Every 4 years we hear how the Republican candidate is a racist, sexist, homophobe who wants to kill the old and the poor. It's the boy who cried wolf on steroids.

 

This is the question of where intent and competence overlap. It doesn't happen a lot in government, and we basically accept it because politicians are running politicians, and none of them are required to have any particular expertise or concern over results. Just legislation.

The idea that we don't have solid, actionable and repeatable processes for keeping voter rolls clean is simply unacceptable. We would call it waste and mismanagement in the private sector. In government we just say "Yeah but purging those lists is hard!"

 

I didn't vote for Obama, so this is pointless.

 

At least you are fair and consistent. You overlooked Obama's Muslim outlook and behaviors also.

 

Apparently you misunderstand DT purposely speaking a certain way as a PR strategy for a calculated end, and him being the thing he is emulating.

I love the fact so many people think the guy is a loud-mouth idiot. While you're busy slamming his petty remarks and calling him unpresidential, he's behind closed doors exercising his exceedingly high intelligence to blast out PC-barren solutions to problems that have eroded our country on so many levels.

Dees, it's clear you highly valued your candid time spent with Farage, one of the biggest cheerleaders around for DT and someone who knows him personally.

If you shared that same encounter with DT there's no doubt you'd feel the same way about him. Nearly everyone who took the ride up Trump Tower from all backgrounds came away smiling and impressed with his true personality.

The persona he portrays in social media is for effect. It often invokes overreactions and misdirection. This in turn leads him to victory when he gets serious with his intended, more practical action.

Art of the Deal. You'd think by now most analytical people would've grasped this.

 

LOL! He spent 25% of his meeting with Congressional leaders behind closed doors talking about his inauguration and how he should have won the popular vote. Remember what he said in the CIA speech? "I'm like a smart person."

 

Perfect example...Trump just addressed Rep members of Congress at their retreat.

Go listen and tell me his vocabulary and tone didn't jump 50 IQ points to match his audience and desired effect.

Softened calm tone, intelligent adjectives, no outlandish/controversial remarks, and focused on positive unified action. Very presidential connecting with his audience.

 

Looks to me like the NY Military Academy he attended was all of 120 strong. It's a little thing but come on " an athlete that excelled". by that definition, I'm a rockstar after playing varsity as a sophomore in a 5A. Christian...sure....when the cameras are on.

This is what I'm most worried about...."and winning at all costs?". I'm not a fan of that philosophy. I subscribe to the "how you win, is as important as if you win".

I've liked much of what Trump has done but the thing that still worries and repulses me at times is that Trump devolves into the "Trump is about Trump" on a regular basis. If Brad Austin is right and it's all a show for effect, then 'hallelujah'! But I'm not sold on that yet.

 

Actually he did it in one week.

^^^^^^^^^THIS^^^^^^^^^ BOOM!

 

It's better than "losing at all cost." To be as bad as Obama was, you'd have to intentionally make bad decisions to harm our great country.

 

Unacceptable, and very sad. But alas, that is where we are.

I'd say it's even worse than that. One side is saying that there is no need to purge the lists because the system is fine. The other side wants to purge the lists but without putting in the work and resources to do it right. The only acceptable solution is to set up a good system, which will take time, money, and effort, THEN purge the list.

 

Please give me a link to where you saw a GOP person say this so I won't think this is all conjecture on your part.

 

This.

As a member of a local school board, I once heard the father of a bully talking about how he hated to see his son get beaten up, but that the boy had it coming to him and needed to learn a lesson. I won't say I love Donald Trump like a father loves his son, but I do feel that way about the country Trump leads. And while I don't want to see the country get beaten up, I think that's where we are headed if Trump keeps acting like a win-at-all-costs bully. And we'll deserve it, too.

I don't know whether it will be Mexico or China or Iran or North Korea ..... but someone is going to punch the bully in the face and it will be ugly. I hope it only leads to embarrassment, not a war or an economic collapse.

 

I'm not basing my statement on what GOP people say they believe in. I'm basing it on what the GOP has actually done.

Over the last decade or so, there have been multiple GOP-lead initiatives to purge voter lists. North Carolina and Wisconsin come to mind, but others have happened, too. Every time that has happened, to the best of my knowledge, courts have issued injunctions to stop the purging because it was being done without due regard for the rights of legitimate voters.

 

In case you haven't noticed, we have a new Sheriff in town.

 

Has Trump put into effect or has he announced any plan he will pursue that has a "win at all costs" element that has you all worked up?
How do you know he will not "win " the way you would like to win?
What has he actually done since the election that is winning in a way you do not like?

 

I think you're directing this to me so....

I didn't particularly like the HUD/FHA move. I think it's funded well enough to change it. I think it should be changed in a different way...get rid of the lifetime PMI on FHA versus lowering the premium. I understand the desire to yank back on some of the last minute BS of BO, so I'm not too torn up about it.

I'm very upset by his refusal to show his tax returns. I'm not liking the lack of distance between him and his business interest/executors. Particularly in light of the info from Trump org saying they are acquiring new properties and doubling rents (if accurate). I hate the defense of Russia. I hated the BS he started with the intel agencies. I hate the 'my crowd was bigger' petty crap as well.

I love most of the EO's and hope similar legislation soon follows.

I vote almost straight ticket "R" and I want a lot of these policies but I'm also not going to turn a blind eye to the other stuff he does and pretend it's all ok.

 

I would add that much of what I don't like about Trump is not what he's done (he's been president for less than a week, after all), but what he's said he will do or would have done in earlier situations. Two examples:

• he said he would have taken Iraq's oil
• he announced that he will force Mexico pay for a wall that Mexico doesn't want to pay for, and he seems to be trying to manipulate them into doing so

The bottom line is that Trump doesn't talk about what is fair or right. He talks about what he can get away with, especially by taking advantage of those who are weaker or less daring than he is. That is the classic definition of a bully.

Trump wants America to be more powerful. I want America to be better. Those goals aren't mutually exclusive, but they aren't the same thing, either.

 

Neither of you gave actions that are a win at all costs.
So you don't like the HUD/FHA move, what win at all costs was it?

I did not see the link for the Trump org buying new properties ad doubling rent but is that a President Trump deal? Hate what he says about Russia, hate the ego crap. I get it and agree but how is that win at all costs?

Trump SAYING what he would have done is hardly win at all costs. The wall?
When a plan is put into place that has Mexico actually paying for the wall against Mexican Gov't's wishes that might be a win at all costs although it would be a win for America,
Why not wait and see if that happens?

 

How do you prevent what you think it a bad strategic move if you wait until it happens to voice your disapproval? I think that's what the Womxn's march was about. These women were sending a message that Trump's previous demonstrated misogyny and pro-life stance are not acceptable to them. Should they wait until after he's presented his pro-life SC nominee to pressure him to nominate a moderate?

 

Here is an example of winning at all costs.
There are tens of thousands of convicted illegal aliens who are still in USA because their home countries refuse to take them.
Trump has suggested we stop all visas of people from those countries until they accept their own criminals.That is a win for America.