The General 'Murican Politics Thread

[Patticus]

Isn't the colluding with foreign governments thing only treason if the US is at war (not merely experiencing frosty relations) with them?

He's still obviously quite desperate to make it clear how big a winner he apparently is, and he clearlydoesn't know what FAKE NEWS is...

He's also now absolutely denying that he was briefed about the dossier.

[8ther]

I know this is kinda old(It's from Dec 22) but could this really be an effective plan for us going forward?

http://billmoyers.com/story/list-anti-trump-liberals-progressives/

[TailsTellsTales]

The more I hear Sanders speak, the more shocking it is that he lost to Clinton. If only the primary was not rigged. Anyway only a few more days before the 1% will control everything and begin raising taxes on the homeless to pay for huge tax cuts for the rich. Or maybe it will not be so bad and they will eliminate bad trade deals instead.

[SenEDDtor Missile]

Can someone be honest with me? If the Republican Regime ends up causing so much damage that a massive backlash ensues, what are the chances of them trying to flee the country (yes including President Rump and his cronies), take their fortunes with them, and pin all the blame on the Democrats using insane logic that makes sense only to them?

[KHCast]

Trumps apparently going to have a live conference soon. Expect a lot of "I didn't do this"'s throughout and finger pointing to the media and crybabies, gloating, and bs justifications or excuses for whatever he does or plans to do that may sound bad to a majority of the country.

[Patticus]

2 hours ago, KHCast said:

Trumps apparently going to have a live conference soon. Expect a lot of "I didn't do this"'s throughout and finger pointing to the media and crybabies, gloating, and bs justifications or excuses for whatever he does or plans to do that may sound bad to a majority of the country.

Well... what a depressing, miserable press event that was.

He bigged himself up, again praised Russia (and himself by proxy, of course), pledged to give his children control of his companies to run to prevent conflicts-of-interest (while assuring everyone he could run the government and his companies at the same time if he had wanted to), threatened the media (denying CNN their question) and made it clear he'll block access to news organizations critical of him, and pledged replace Obamacare with something even better the very moment it's repealed.

In other news, the former MI6 agent who brought the intelligence on top to the US intelligence scene's attention (and now ours) has been named as Christopher Steele, which is just the best spy name.

Quote

Christopher Steele, Ex-British Intelligence Officer, Said to Have Prepared Dossier on Trump
Former spy is director of London-based Orbis Intelligence Ltd.

http://www.wsj.com/articles/christopher-steele-ex-british-intelligence-officer-said-to-have-prepared-dossier-on-trump-1484162553

 

[KHCast]

I want a movie where this Christopher Steele works with James Bond.

[CrownSlayers Shadow]

In other news, white supremacist Dylann Roof has been sentenced to death. (like we didn't see this coming somewhat)

Some of you are anti-death penalty and probably not fond of this (whether it's a value of life, think it's a waste of taxpayer money, or other reasons), but for someone like me? May not be the most popular thing I've said, but good fucking riddance, and I'm glad an example is being made with this one. Although that's just a speck in an ocean of things to deal with.

[Nepenthe]

I'm anti-death penalty but I'm not about to expend energy over Dylann fucking Roof, the same as I'm anti-gun but I'm not about to start a peace rally over ISIL fighters getting shot.

[Patticus]

Unfortunately, this is real:

Quote

Donald Trump’s legal team ‘won Russia Law Firm of the Year award’
Morgan, Lewis & Bockius are employed to 'isolate' the US President-elect from his business ventures

[...]

According to the website of Chambers and Partners, which runs an annual awards ceremony to “celebrate excellence in the legal profession”, Mr Trump’s lawyers won the prize for their business activities in Russia in 2016.

Chambers and Partners described the US law firm as having an “active Moscow office” that offers “top-level advice” to the energy and banking sectors.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/donald-trump-president-elect-law-firm-russia-news-conference-a7522466.html

The rabbit hole just gets deeper and weirder and more fucked up by the day, doesn't it? And yet this abortion of a ditched Homeland plot is somehow real and going to be our reality for the next four long years.

 

Ah yes, those FAKE NEWS organizations CNN and (IIRC?) the BBC. The man has no clue what fake news even is, but it has quickly become a great catch-all buzz term to denigrate and therefore ignore/breeze past any story or news organization that doesn't match the Dear Leader's Narrative. This is important, because it's might make it difficult to hit him badly with any kind of scandal, if it can simply be brushed off as fake news.

[8ther]

Since the next election is in 2020, what year should the race/Campaign to officially begin?

[CrownSlayers Shadow]

As soon as possible? Would be best to organize after this election winded up a disaster for democrats.

[Nepenthe]

So today we just learned that the Ex-MI6 agent who leaked the dossier is now in hiding for fear of his life. Also, Obama and Biden say they didn't ask for any of this; rather that intel officers felt compelled to come forward with the information to let them know.

You know what they say: "Where there's smoke" and all that.

[Mad Convoy]

So, in an event termed "Vote-a-rama", the Senate rammed through many decisions that mark the first step to repealing Obamacare as a whole. All amendments designed to protect rules like insurance companies being unable to reject people on the basis of pre-existing conditions or protections on children's healthcare were rejected. Yep, the GOP isn't even stopping at removing protections for children's healthcare.

http://www.esquire.com/news-politics/politics/news/a52234/senate-obamacare-vote/

Yet again, this is the same party that considers Ted Cruz a genuinely powerful influence. Yes, Ted Cruz, the lovely individual that would like to pass a measure to defund the entirety of the UN because it didn't kowtow to Israel. Yep, everything and entirely, for the foreseeable future, because of a decision he didn't like, even uncontroversial and legitimately helpful UN-based organizations like UNICEF. And it passed snuff to be seriously considered by the Senate for a vote and actually has a chance of passing as the US's new policy towards the UN.

http://www.theblaze.com/news/2016/12/25/ted-cruz-takes-a-stand-defund-the-united-nations-over-their-anti-israel-resolution/

Has it no decency? At long last, has the GOP finally no decency left?

And the Democrats are doing very little to oppose it, being awful quiet during Sessions's hearing and even going along with a few measures.

Terrified right now.

[Nepenthe]

6 minutes ago, Mad Convoy said:

Has it no decency? At long last, has the GOP finally no decency left?

...... What made you think that the party had decency before now?

6 minutes ago, Mad Convoy said:

And the Democrats are doing very little to oppose it, being awful quiet during Sessions's hearing and even going along with a few measures.

I mean, they don't have the time or the numbers to do anything. Best thing to do ironically is to let the GOP just fuck up everything like they've been wanting to for these past eight years, and then come on the back end and say, "See? All of this shit is their fault; we didn't have the power to stop it. So you should probably stop electing them now." Basically, let them hang themselves. People will die behind this, but I mean, it's not like the GOP and the worst of their base thinks the people who will die don't deserve it anyway, sooooo. *shrugs*

[Mad Convoy]

14 hours ago, Nepenthe said:

...... What made you think that the party had decency before now?

Well, before they'd at least draw the line at directly harming children, in a move to project the image that they cared about at least some of society's most vulnerable citizens. Invoking the children was once an effective strategy in galvanizing GOP support for a policy. But now not even that is sacred anymore.

14 hours ago, Nepenthe said:

I mean, they don't have the time or the numbers to do anything. Best thing to do ironically is to let the GOP just fuck up everything like they've been wanting to for these past eight years, and then come on the back end and say, "See? All of this shit is their fault; we didn't have the power to stop it. So you should probably stop electing them now." Basically, let them hang themselves. People will die behind this, but I mean, it's not like the GOP and the worst of their base thinks the people who will die don't deserve it anyway, sooooo. *shrugs*

Thing is, they tried that with the Bush backlash, and that only worked temporarily as the GOP's authoritarian-sympathizer side quietly healed its wounds while shifting the blame for its misdeeds and mistakes onto Obama. And while Trump and Ryan have the power to cause some serious damage (even if I don't think its the inevitable end of American democracy or anything like that) and will in all likelihood do so, the Democrats can still at least make a lot of noise and support protesters, which would put the GOP in a position where its bound to expedite the self-hanging process. Trump has proven himself to be incredibly thin-skinned and (much as he hates it) a slave to PR and praise, so making a lot of noise can (and already has in some ways) highlight the deep rifts in the GOP and alt-right that exist behind the facade of a united front of wingnuttery, which would in turn reveal highly exploitable vulnerabilities as well as provide to pointers to where to focus discussions in key areas so that we can get a real, impactful scandal going instead of continually aborting scandals in their infancy to complain about new outrages.

The GOP and its worst supporters may think that those who will die from bad policy deserve it (though even that may not hold true, as the poor, working class whites that got Trump and the GOP into power are actually amongst the groups that stand to gain the least from Trump and the GOP), but I don't and I doubt you, moderate conservatives, or the Democrats do either. At least making an effort means the world to those who would be victimized or would be related to the victimized-- heck, it would probably help the 2018/2020 effort for Democrats. Imagine what the campaigns would say-- "We did everything we could to help you, like when we tried to pass amendments to the Obamacare repeal to protect people with pre-existing conditions/made efforts to retain funding for Planned Parenthood/[insert event here], but unfortunately our voices were suppressed by the GOP, who have demonstrated that they care more about their wallets and ideology then they do about you. If we had a majority in even one of the houses in Congress, we would have been able to stop the repeal of Obamacare/dismantling of Roe vs Wade/[insert important issue here]. Please vote Democrat so that we can have the opportunity create a better country for everybody." It'd send a much more powerful message than "Well, we couldn't really do anything so we just waited out the last two/four years. Vote Democrat so that we'll stop sitting idly and actually feel empowered do something." Not to mention that the GOP's fuckups could have an impact on the US's economy and global standing that lasts more than the maximum of eight years that Trump is allowed to be in office or even longer than he lives. It could even have long term effects on the world if poor economic policy triggers a domino effect in regards to the global economy, or poor environmental policy manages to bring global warming past the point where it can be reversed, or if poor foreign policy starts and/or escalates any kind of war. 

----

Trump proclaims that he is going to be the "greatest jobs producer God ever made". I think God picked the wrong guy for the job. Man, he is just setting up his followers for massive disappointment-- if I didn't know any better, I'd think he is trying to disincentive people from ever voting for him in the future. Plus he's just said that he "could actually run my business, I could actually run my business and run government at the same time." He technically can, but he really shouldn't as that's a massive breach of ethics, plus the Enoulments Clause of the Constitution would like to have a word with him about his foreign businesses. Conflicts of interest ahoy!

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/on-leadership/wp/2017/01/12/on-jobs-trump-is-setting-the-bar-biblically-high/?tid=sm_tw&utm_term=.fb7fbf60079f

[CrownSlayers Shadow]

I think the best thing to do at least is to expect the best while preparing for the worst on anything that can at least be reversible or salvageable after Trump's term.

Unfortunately all the positive messages anyone on the left would want in order to benefit even those who lean right aren't going to be heard or even outright ignored from those who are so insular over these matters, so while that shouldn't deter anyone we shouldn't hold our breath as we keep fighting. People have made their stances known, and in some cases their hypocrisies, so things might have to fall before it can be picked up and show them "we fucking told you so" to those that will listen and care.

Although it really says a lot how all these scandals and such did not matter to the side that voted Trump, yet were this anyone on the left with the same scandals they'd never even get this far.

[SenEDDtor Missile]

Being frank here, how badly is Trump's regime going to affect each state individually? I know that it's going to be hell on earth for anyone who isn't a white straight conservative male elite for America, but I also know that the damage isn't going to be equal across the board. Not every state will agree with Trump's insanity to varying degrees, but I don't know enough about politics to really get the extent of the damage.

[KHCast]

Well more red states are likely to attempt passing laws that put certain groups (not just minorities, but women, vets, average joes, etc.) in economic and social binds. We've already seen it happen. With Trump in power certain senators are trying to get certain laws passed since they feel like anything is possible now with a red house and senate. The states are definitely the ones to be most concerned about, since they'll be the ones doing the most damage and enforcing policies that may be considered wrong. 

[8ther]

Is there any way we can fight these laws?

[Patticus]

 

Quote

The House of Representatives have voted to pass a plan to begin demolishing Obamacare, despite mounting qualms among Republicans.

The budget measure - approved by the Senate on Thursday - would create legislation to roll back the 2010 bill.

But lawmakers in both parties are objecting to the lack of any apparent replacement for the far-reaching law.

The political showdown raises a big question mark over medical coverage for more than 20 million Americans.

Egged on by Donald Trump, Republicans have vowed to repeal the law, but conservatives have not yet agreed on a new plan.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-38613257

Given the amount of time they've had, and the sheer volume of bile they've spewed over it in childish fits of rage, they should've had a fully armed and operational battle-station and thoroughly prepared plan repeal and replace years ago.

But as usual, they only thought of the war, and neglected to consider the aftermath.

I can only hope that the Democrats are much more forward-thinking and organized in their preparations to erase and replace the inevitably many wrongs of the Trump years; replacing them with genuinely beneficial policies and laws, that are well considered and vetted by professionals in relevant fields. Is that too much to hope for?

[Tornado]

At least they stopped before they repealed it to realize that they didn't know what to do afterwards.

[CrownSlayers Shadow]

Yeah, but it was still kinda stupid of them nonetheless to do so while being this unprepared for what it would do.

Seems to be a staple these days when politicians don't have any back up plans when things risk getting jacked up.

[Patticus]

To answer my own question: Talk is cheap for opposition parties. Far too cheap if you ask me, as it results in years of endless mudslinging at incumbents, while they who sling the mud never have to put much more than a paragraph summary of their policy proposals together (oh Clinton, your detailed policy proposals shall be missed!). And in this Trumpian era, even that basic custom has fallen by the wayside, in favor of incoherent, incessant propaganda operating independent of reality and facts.

This had better be a short damn era.

[KHCast]

 

lol, as if Ben Carson couldn't get anymore shit