The Trump Presidency | Biden Inaugurated
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I am sure if Trump starts behaving like a normal human being, the negativity on here will reduce a little.
I keep wondering that too. Like he can't keep on saying stupid shit about everything, indefinitely. Or maybe he'll become white noise? America will keep trucking along and he'll gradually fade away into a minor background irritant?
It's just really difficult to see that happening. He's such thin-skinned, intellectually impaired man-child. No matter how many tantrums a toddler throws you can never quite get to the point of letting them wash over you. I suspect it will be the same with Trump. Complicated by a chronic fear of sudden death in a nuclear holocaust.
Ok folk, let's see your Top Trump Bingo card for tomorrow, mine is;
1- Will lose track of his point mid speech and start insulting the protesters.
2- Will lose track of his point mid speech and start talking about how smart he is.
3- Will lose track of his point mid speech and reveal state secrets.
4- Shart.
1- Will lose track of his point mid speech and start insulting the protesters.
2- Will lose track of his point mid speech and start talking about how smart he is.
3- Will lose track of his point mid speech and reveal state secrets.
4- Shart.
Remember that Simpsons episode where Homer becomes a trucker because of that steering device, which allows truckers to watch TV while the truck drives itself, and he then is chased by all other truckers because he's being so obvious about it, simply having a good time in his driver's seat and not even acting as if he were driving, so that their secret is in danger of being discovered?
I believe Trump is like that for the US presidency.
A massive, possibly lasting, devaluation of the office itself.
I believe Trump is like that for the US presidency.
A massive, possibly lasting, devaluation of the office itself.
5- Attack Clinton.
Once he becomes POTUS we all need to accept it because there isn't any point in not accepting it. It will all be done and dusted. From then on we just have to see how he manages and go from there. Might pay to keep a close eye on his "advisers" though.
Bonus points for guessing the exact number of sentences he starts but never finishes.
Can someone please explain to me exactly what a lobbyist is and what their job entails.
Wonder if he'll be playing the accordion tomorrow?
Influencing influential politicians by all means they can get away with, in order to tip the scales in favor of their industry/company/agenda.
Sounds illegal - do they pay the politicians?
That's not unheard of.
He'll probably feck up the oath of affirmation as well. "I will, to the best of my abilities - which are the best abilities. There's nothing I can't do. I once met BB King, great man. And he said - do you know what he said? He said - and this is true - Donald, you have the best abilities. What was the question again? Oh yeah, yada yada defend condiments and the preservatives of the United Kingdom. Now; who's up for some Jell-O shots in the White House?"
Via super PACS, you'd better believe they do.
What does that mean?
Does that mean decisions are made in effect to suit the companies rather than the people?
It's called capitalism.
Dems need the money
Looks like it could be increasing then.It's called capitalism.
The politicians get money for their campaigns via backdoor channels. They keep that revenue going by backing these special interests in Congress. Quid pro quo (it is. The SC can feck off).What does that mean?
Capitalism is the law of the land now, not democracy.
I actually have this notion that it'll take him days to get it right. Obama messed it up the first time and had to redo it the next day. Or will this just be another thing that immutable for everyone except him...
Hmm....there are lots more of us than them. We should aim to change that.
If they changed the way of campaigning there would be no need for these underhand deals.
Very interesting indeed, you'd expect normalcy to settle in. My guess is he's going to try real hard to be on his best behaviour, and for a while it will be somewhat bearable. There will be some focus and discussion on the (lack of) policies and the cabinet, world affairs and the first phases of governing.
The problem is though, 'unprecedented' or 'unheard of' isn't exactly an exaggeration or over the top when it comes to Trump. I don't usually like the doomsday hysteria either, but just looking at it rationally I can hardly draw any other conclusion than that it's genuine lunacy.
Even if all the (potential) conflicts of interest and investigations get brushed aside, we're talking about the man who - somehow I actually missed this last year - claimed the father of one of his political opponents was involved in the assassination of John F. Kennedy, just to score some points. The man clearly has no limits, and people hardly ever change. So common sense dictates something ridiculous should happen within no time, though I'm actually at a point where I'm so fed up with the madness of the world that I hope it won't.
We tried that, to no avail. And we won't have any success with a Drumpf pick in the Supreme Court.
Melania looks really miserable.
What does that mean?
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_action_committee
Enormous collections of money that can be donated to in unlimited quantities by corporations and anyone else. They don't donate directly to the candidate but run massive ad campaigns usually attacking the other candidate. You'll see ads with "paid for by citizens for a better tomorrow" or shit like that.
In their non-illegal version, they elaborate arguments in favor of whoever is paying them (usually on a specific item of legislation), and then proceed to pester congressmen, their staffs and anyone else who will hear them with those arguments. Often by having congressmen around for parties, dinners and anything else to get in their good graces.
But mostly the money channeling everyone is talking about, monitoring what the congressmen do and reminding that if they step out of line they're not getting their usual donation when re-election time comes around. Not technically illegal either.
Top lobbying firms
https://www.opensecrets.org/lobby/top.php?indexType=l
Groups retaining just the top lobbying firm (by $)
https://www.opensecrets.org/lobby/firmsum.php?id=D000000162&year=2016
I can't remember the details but I recollect a news story on NPR about the number of lobby groups in a particular trade. It was something silly like avocado farming and they had 20 odd lobby groups. It is totally out of control.
There's a documentary on Netflix called Citizen Koch which is worth watching. It'll piss you off something rotten but shows up how money pollutes the system and the likes of the Koch brothers essentially play politicians like puppets.
Not going to replay the Bernie-Hillary fight, so I'll ignore the moral issues (they anyway have no place in politics). Practically you have to weigh the potential more money from lobbyists versus any possible loss from small donors and loss of support from progressives.
Even more practically, the ban under Obama did not stop the Obama campaign or the DNC from raising vast amounts of corporate cash from 2008-2015.
Yep, suppose if you're good enough and appealing enough you'll end up still garnering support.
I'm going to have read these. Having these lobbying groups/companies seems a quite ridiculous way to run a country, not to mention a complete waste of money. We're just back to bribery and corruption again. Strangely enough this was what I had initially guessed lobbyists were but because it made little sense and sounded illegal (to me anyway) I assumed I had just got hold of the wrong end of the stick.
Can see now why everyone was so fed up with both parties they voted for Trump....only problem is that this is likely to get worse.
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Will check that out...
If Ivanka wasn't his daughter, she'd probably be playing it.
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