The Trump presidency.

woodburner · Post by **woodburner** » 15 Feb 2017, 11:17

trumps policies may be a sop to commercial interests, but they are also a good wind-up mechanism to rouse the rabble.

johnhemming2 · Post by **johnhemming2** » 15 Feb 2017, 21:19

I think his theory is to not worry about the deficit. This has normally caused difficulties through it hasn't been tried with the world's reserve currency in which oil is priced.

I would expect it to push up US interest rates and reduce the value of the dollar, but I cannot see the republicans swallowing this on a big scale.

This gives what recent historic figures have been:
http://www.usgovernmentspending.com/spe ... 111mcn_G0f

UndercoverElephant · Post by **UndercoverElephant** » 15 Feb 2017, 23:44

Little John wrote:Blair can't apologize for his "mistaken" claim about WMDs because he did not make a "mistake". He lied.

I suspect he probably did believe that Saddam had WMDs, but he still lied about having solid intelligence to back it up.

UndercoverElephant · Post by **UndercoverElephant** » 16 Feb 2017, 20:10

This is f****** hilarious.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-38998362

US President Donald Trump has launched a ferocious attack on the media while defending his record during his first weeks in office.

Mr Trump appeared in an hour-long press conference where he told reporters their level of dishonesty was out of control.

I mean, this is the way to get the press back on your side, right?

Little John · Post by **Little John** » 16 Feb 2017, 20:25

He can't get the press on his side so there is no point in trying. The press, or a very influential part of it, are tied to his enemies in the deep state. That press conference was in order to directly influence public opinion, since the press could not avoid covering it. Indeed, he overtly stated in the clip that the press conference was aimed at directly speaking to the American people.

Irrespective of what one may think of Trump, it is undeniably the case that a soft-coup is being attempted against a democratically elected president by agents of a certain part of the state. This is a very dangerous game that is being played.

Lord Beria3 · Post by **Lord Beria3** » 16 Feb 2017, 21:28

Exactly Little John.

Surprised at you UE, don't you get it? The American public, by electing an outsider like Trump with a populist right-wing agenda, have placed somebody in the White House who is considered a cancer by the Washington elite. Sanders would have been treated exactly the same way if he had been elected as well.

It doesn't matter how nice he is to the media/establishment, they don't trust him and want him out. Just like Corbyn, the establishment will try and remove populist leaders, fair way or not.

There is only one way to win in this war, which President Trump gets, which is to fight hard and dirty. His electoral base are behind him (and they are seriously armed), he enjoys massive support among ordinary policemen, soldiers and veterans and if push comes to shove, these armed folks will come out and support the president in the event of a soft coup against him.

If the Deep State want to try and force Trump out of office, they better be careful, because these higher up officials barking orders, may find that the armed grunts may rebel and support their commander-in-chief over the over-paid civilians in the national security establishment in Washington DC.

UndercoverElephant · Post by **UndercoverElephant** » 16 Feb 2017, 23:44

Lord Beria3 wrote:Exactly Little John.

Surprised at you UE, don't you get it?

Let's say I am still reserving judgement, making my mind up. I am yet to decide how much of what is going on is intentional, and how much is incompetent. As things stand, it could be that Trump is very clever and knows what he is doing, or is delusional and mentally unstable.

The American public, by electing an outsider like Trump with a populist right-wing agenda, have placed somebody in the White House who is considered a cancer by the Washington elite. Sanders would have been treated exactly the same way if he had been elected as well.

It doesn't matter how nice he is to the media/establishment, they don't trust him and want him out. Just like Corbyn, the establishment will try and remove populist leaders, fair way or not.

There is only one way to win in this war, which President Trump gets, which is to fight hard and dirty. His electoral base are behind him (and they are seriously armed), he enjoys massive support among ordinary policemen, soldiers and veterans and if push comes to shove, these armed folks will come out and support the president in the event of a soft coup against him.

If the Deep State want to try and force Trump out of office, they better be careful, because these higher up officials barking orders, may find that the armed grunts may rebel and support their commander-in-chief over the over-paid civilians in the national security establishment in Washington DC.

None of which makes any difference to the question of whether or not he is competent enough to play this game and win it. I am not convinced, but I am also ready to change my mind depending on how events play out.

woodburner · Post by **woodburner** » 17 Feb 2017, 00:52

New travel ban next week.

"We had a bad court, got a bad decision," Trump said of the judicial actions that temporarily stopped his immigration ban.

If the administration had decided to spend a month crafting the order, "everything would've been perfect," Trump said.

"The problem is we would've wasted a lot of time, and maybe a lot of lives because a lot of bad people would've come into our country," he added.

By that logic there must be a lot of bad people arrived in the US in the last week or two. Obviously the words of a competent president.

woodburner · Post by **woodburner** » 17 Feb 2017, 00:58

Press conference (So called)

Must be just a hounding exercise by the MSM.

Lord Beria3 · Post by **Lord Beria3** » 17 Feb 2017, 20:12

UE, you need to read this...

http://blog.dilbert.com/post/1573171716 ... -president

If you are comparing the incoming Trump administration to the smooth transfer of power that defines our modern history, that’s an irrational comparison. If the country wanted a smooth ride it would have elected Hillary Clinton. Instead, voters opted to “drain the swamp.“ And you can’t drain the swamp without angering the alligators and getting some swamp water on your pants. That’s what we’re watching now.

My liberal friends are gleefully scouring the semi-fake news and sending me articles that show Trump is “incompetent.” That’s the new narrative on the left. The Hitler illusion is starting to fade because Trump refuses to build concentration camps as his critics hallucinated he would. And Israel likes Trump, which is making the Hitler illusion harder to maintain. So the critics are evolving their main line of attack from Hitler to “incompetent,” with a dash of “chaos.” You’ll see those two words all over the Opposition Media’s coverage. It isn’t a coincidence.

Persuasion-wise, focusing on incompetence and chaos is a strong play by the anti-Trumpers. One would expect the new Trump administration to have lots of growing pains. That means the Opposition Media will have plenty of fodder that they can frame as incompetence and chaos. Confirmation bias will make it all seem to fit the narrative. This is the same persuasion play that Trump used when he assigned to his opponents nicknames such as Lyin’ Ted and Crooked Hillary. He depended on future news cycles to serve up lots of confirmation bias to make his labels more credible over time. Trump’s opposition is running the same persuasion play on him. Now everything he does will be seen through their frame of “incompetence” and “chaos.” Even if it isn’t. That is strong persuasion.

If you step out of the Opposition Media’s framing of Trump, another frame that fits the data is that he’s learning on the job, just like he learned every other field that he entered and eventually mastered. I don’t know what you expected when Trump went to Washington, but it isn’t too different from what I imagined. I assumed there would be broken dishes. And I assumed it would take him months to get his systems in place.

When I worked in corporate America, I was usually involved in setting goals for the department. When we didn’t meet those goals, I always pointed out that the problem could be on either end. Either the goals were unrealistic or the performance was bad. Both explanations fits the data. Likewise, Trump’s first few weeks do look exactly like “incompetence” and “chaos” if you are primed to see it that way. But they also look like a systems-thinker simultaneously draining the swamp and learning on the job.

UndercoverElephant · Post by **UndercoverElephant** » 17 Feb 2017, 21:26

Possibly. I am aware of this theory but not yet convinced it is accurate. It might be.

woodburner · Post by **woodburner** » 19 Feb 2017, 08:37

More hounding. How can these people keep reporting on what trump sayes and does (or doesn't) do? Yesterday's rally he said he was working hard for America, missed out the 3 vacations he's had in the past 3 weeks. Or perhaps it was just the weekend off.

Some porkies ("fake news" to trump lovers).

I did note that several points in the list were repeated, with slightly different wording, but the list is a record of the statements made, and trump made the statements on different occasions.

Lord Beria3 · Post by **Lord Beria3** » 19 Feb 2017, 17:02

Look on the bright side Woodburner, you have potentially up to 8 years to talk about Trump! Will keep you busy

UndercoverElephant · Post by **UndercoverElephant** » 19 Feb 2017, 18:25

Lord Beria3 wrote: Surprised at you UE, don't you get it?

You are telling me this is a political genius, and not an incompetent fool?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-39020962

During another ferocious attack on the media on Saturday evening, US President Donald Trump cited a non-existent incident in Sweden, baffling many - not least Swedes.

"You look at what's happening in Germany, you look at what's happening last night in Sweden. Sweden, who would believe this. Sweden. They took in large numbers. They're having problems like they never thought possible," the new US president told a crowd of supporters at a rally in Florida.

It was not entirely clear which incident he was referring to...

Sorry, but I don't buy it.

johnhemming2 · Post by **johnhemming2** » 19 Feb 2017, 18:37

Although I agree that Trump is an incompetent fool, I think he was referring to
an interview about Sweden which was published on Friday rather than a Bowling Green massacre sort of thing.