Trump II

[Peter McLennan]

No one went to jail... the Fed re-imbursed all the banks ...rewarded with more money...incestuous relationship that helped Trump in the election. His let's clean the swamp mantra worked as million of his voters understood they were screwed for 8 years while the usual suspects lined their pockets.

Yes, absolutely true, all of that.  Except the last part.  See, he promised to "drain the swamp", but is he actually doing it?  Do you see any evidence that he's actually starting?  Most of us see exactly the opposite.

[Bart_van_der_Wolf]

http://thehill.com/policy/finance/345606-financial-regulators-issue-fewer-fines-under-trump-report
So it took Obama until 2016, 8 years after the crisis to actually fine a few banks. $1.6 billion is pennies on the dollar for what the Fed gave them back in free money. No one went to jail.   May I remind you, that the Fed re-imbursed all the banks by bailing them out.  So many would have gone bankrupt.  Not only were the bankers bailed out, but they were rewarded with more money than ever before making them bigger then ever before.  The bankers are richer after Obama's terms then they were back when Bush was President.

List of Goldman Sachs Alumni in Donald Trump’s Administration
http://heavy.com/news/2017/01/donald-trump-goldman-sachs-drain-swamp-steve-bannon-steven-mnuchin-gary-cohn-jay-clayton/


Draining the Swamp, and filling it again ... ?

Cheers,
Bart

P.S.  Not counting Anthony Scaramucci who already got drained from the new swamp.

[scyth]

I watched the Fareed Zakaria

he only has the job @ CNN for diversity reasons, otherwise he is just dumb...

[Schewe]

Finally, a good use for Trump's tweets!

Toilet paper featuring Donald Trump’s tweets reportedly sells out on Amazon — at $12 per roll


By Saturday, Amazon.com sold out of the "Donald Trump Classic Tweets Toilet Paper" priced at nearly $12. (TOILET TWEETS/AMAZON)

Donald and the john.

A company called Toilet Tweets was selling toilet paper littered with images of President Donald Trump’s controversial tweets.

By Saturday, Amazon, which was fulfilling orders, sold out of individual rolls — priced at around $12 per item, according to Local 10 News.

Current searches for “Donald Trump Classic Tweets Toilet Paper — Single Roll” list the product as “currently unavailable.”

UPDATE: You can preorder and Amazon says it'll be in stock Aug 15th!

Donald Trump Classic Tweets Toilet Paper - Single Roll

Darn good idea...#MAGA

[Schewe]

Just like Mother Nature, Reality always wins...

Reality 1, Trump 0

Donald Trump was bored Monday morning so he went on an extended rant on Twitter about how his base is “bigger” (wrong) and “stronger” (whatever that means) and “closer together” (quite possibly true) than ever, despite all the “fake news” out there that makes him look bad. In order:

Donald J. Trump  ✔ @realDonaldTrump
The Trump base is far bigger & stronger than ever before (despite some phony Fake News polling). Look at rallies in Penn, Iowa, Ohio.......
5:58 AM - Aug 7, 2017

Donald J. Trump  ✔ @realDonaldTrump
...and West Virginia. The fact is the Fake News Russian collusion story, record Stock Market, border security, military strength, jobs.....
6:04 AM - Aug 7, 2017

Donald J. Trump  ✔ @realDonaldTrump
... Supreme Court pick, economic enthusiasm, deregulation & so much more have driven the Trump base even closer together. Will never change!
6:09 AM - Aug 7, 2017

Donald J. Trump  ✔ @realDonaldTrump
Hard to believe that with 24/7 #Fake News on CNN, ABC, NBC, CBS, NYTIMES & WAPO, the Trump base is getting stronger!
6:18 AM - Aug 7, 2017

And now, the rebuttal will be delivered by reality, in the form of a new poll by a Republican strategy firm:

Key Findings:
Trump’s base of support has shrunk from 35.3% of voters who have a “strongly favorable” view of him in April to only 28.6% today. Notably, much of that erosion is among Republicans: Strongly favorable views among GOP voters dropped from 54.1% to 44.9%, while unfavorable views increased from 20.5% to 27.9%.
KEY POINT: Trump’s base is shrinking. He cannot take continued GOP support for granted in swing states.

Nearly half of voters (48.3%) believe Trump lies intentionally to mislead people, up from 43.4% in April. For Congressional Republicans, 51.8% now believe the same about them, up from 45.7% in April. Only 14.6% now believe Trump never lies, and only 9.1% believe the same about GOP congressmen/women. Today, only 5% of Republicans we surveyed believe Trump never lies, down from 31.3% in April.
KEY POINT: Trump’s false statements are eroding his credibility with voters, including Republicans.

In April, one third of voters (33.8%) said President Trump had been successful, 35.8% said unsuccessful, and 30.6% said it was too soon to tell. Now, 27.4% say he has been successful, 44.9% say unsuccessful, and 27.7% say it is too soon to tell. Republicans still overwhelmingly believe he has been successful (43.9%) or that it is too soon to tell (35.8%). However, the percentage willing to say he has been unsuccessful has increased from 13.1% to 20.4%.
KEY POINT: Voters are losing faith in Trump’s ability to deliver on his big campaign promises.

In April we asked how voters would respond if Trump failed to repeal Obamacare or overhaul the tax code before next year’s midterm elections. In our new survey, we found a 7% and 9% jump in the percentage of respondents saying they will not vote for current GOP office holders if these two items are not accomplished.
KEY POINT: Failure to deliver major legislative victories is raising the prospects of an electoral setback for Republicans next year.

Don't ya just hate it when reality slaps you in the face?

[Schewe]

Wow...Trump will prolly Tweet about this!

6 months in, a record low for Trump, with troubles from Russia to health care (POLL)

Americans give President Donald Trump the lowest six-month approval rating of any president in polls dating back 70 years, punctuated by questions about his competence on the world stage, his effectiveness, the GOP health care plan and Russia’s role in the 2016 election.

Just 36 percent of Americans polled in a new ABC News/Washington Post poll approve of Trump’s job performance, down 6 points from his 100-day mark, itself a low. The previous president closest to this level at or near six months was Gerald Ford, at 39 percent, in February 1975.

See PDF with full results here.

Oh wait...of course Trump had to tweet about it...

Donald J. Trump Verified account
@realDonaldTrump
After 200 days, rarely has any Administration achieved what we have achieved..not even close! Don't believe the Fake News Suppression Polls!
11:10 AM - 8 Aug 2017

So, now it's the Fake News Suppression Polls! Uh, what's getting "suppressed"? The Fake News? Or Trump's grandiose view of himself?

[Schewe]

Oh, wait...Trump also retweeted something (that maybe he shouldn't have)

Trump retweets Fox News story containing classified info

Washington (CNN)President Donald Trump's retweet of a Fox News story claiming US satellites detected North Korea moving anti-ship cruise missiles to a patrol boat is raising eyebrows on Tuesday after US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley indicated that the information in the report is classified and was leaked.

"I can't talk about anything that's classified and if that's in the newspaper that's a shame," Haley said Tuesday on "Fox and Friends" when asked about the story that cites two anonymous sources.

Pushed on whether the information was leaked, Haley said "it's one of those things I don't know what's going on. I will tell you it's incredibly dangerous when things get out into the press like that."

But just a few hours before Haley's appearance on Fox, Trump retweeted a post from the Fox News morning show promoting the story said to contain classified information.

The tweet with a link to a story siting anonymous sources and allegedly classified info:

FOX & friends  ✔ @foxandfriends
U.S. spy satellites detect North Korea moving anti-ship cruise missiles to patrol boat http://fxn.ws/2wp9cU2
4:50 AM - Aug 8, 2017

The White House has not responded to a request for comment.
"It is alarming the casualness with which President Trump shares classifieds information," Democratic Rep. Ted Lieu of California told CNN's Poppy Harlow Tuesday. "Just because something is in the press doesn't make that information no longer classified, so the President should not be tweeting classified information just because he as the President."

Will Fischer, an Iraq War veteran and director of government relations for VoteVets, was also critical of the retweet and questioned what role -- or lack thereof -- new chief of staff John Kelly had in the process.

"It is absolutely terrifying to see that information that Ambassador Haley said was 'dangerous' to print was retweeted by Donald Trump," Fischer said in a statement. "The question for everyone to ask is: What did General Kelly say? If he told Donald Trump to retweet this, there's a real problem. If he told Trump not to, and Trump ignored him, that's a big problem. If Donald Trump is refusing to consult with his chief of staff on any of this, that's a huge problem, especially given General Kelly's military background."

[Schewe]

And, when it comes to Trump's own "self-image"...

Donald Trump 'obsessed with his own self-image', visiting senior Republican says


PHOTO: Not everyone listens to you just because you are the US President, Republican Michael Steele says. (AP: Andrew Harnik)

A prominent US Republican says President Donald Trump is struggling with the limitations of a job he never expected to get.

Michael Steele, a former chairman of the powerful Republican National Committee, told ABC News Mr Trump was still grappling with the transition from colourful businessman and reality-TV star to Commander in Chief.

"Not everyone listens to you just because you're president," Mr Steele said.

Mr Steele said presidents do not have as much power as they might have expected.

"You have 535 members of Congress who have a different view. You have cabinet secretaries who, while they might work for you, still carry out different agendas," he said.

"You've got the voters, the press and all those other interests out there who have a say about what you just said, and that's not something Donald deals with too well."

Mr Steele's assessment comes as Mr Trump faces criticism for taking a 17-day trip to his New Jersey golf club resort, and as a widely circulated Newsweek magazine cover ridicules the President's work ethic.

--snip--

'Obsessed with his own self-image'

Mr Steele said Mr Trump was focused on how he looked to others.

"This is who he is. This is a guy obsessed with his own self-image; how his numbers are doing, whether everything is playing to a narrative he has developed in his own head," he said.

Mr Steele has been taking part in the annual Australian American Leadership Dialogue, a private diplomatic initiative where key figures from both countries gather to discuss the state of the relationship and work on ways of resolving tensions.

It is fair to say that phone call between Malcolm Turnbull and Mr Trump was widely discussed over the two-day session last week.

BTW, that's the Australian Broadcasting Corporation not America's #FAKENEWS ABC...

[Alan Klein]

Oh, wait...Trump also retweeted something (that maybe he shouldn't have)

Trump retweets Fox News story containing classified info

...

The tweet with a link to a story siting anonymous sources and allegedly classified info:

The info was released by our intelligence agengies.  Obviously they were directed to so the world would know what NK is up too.  Otherwise, you'd have to believe our intelligence agencies are illegally releasing classified info to the press without approval. 

Jeff, everything Trump does is negative in your book.  You really got to get over your mantra.  It's blinding you.  You're like the boy who cried wolf. Why aren't you complimenting Trump how he got the entire Security Council in the UN to vote 15-0  to add sanctions and condemn NK for the missile and nuclear tests.?  He even got the Russians and the Chinese to vote with us.  Would it prevent you from getting a good night sleep if you actually said he's done something right?

Intelligence source release:

"North Korea loaded two Stormpetrel anti-ship cruise missiles on a Wonsan guided-missile patrol boat at Toejo Dong on North Korea’s east coast.
“North Korea is not showing any evidence it plans to halt its missile tests,” said one official who requested anonymity to discuss sensitive information. “It's a trend that does not bode well for hopes of de-escalating tensions on the [Korean] peninsula.

The latest moves by Pyongyang point to a likely missile test in the days ahead or it could be a defense measure should the U.S. Navy dispatch more warships to the Korean peninsula, officials said.”

[Bart_van_der_Wolf]

The info was released by our intelligence agengies.  Obviously they were directed to so the world would know what NK is up too.  Otherwise, you'd have to believe our intelligence agencies are illegally releasing classified info to the press without approval.

Fake news, like more 'info' coming from the WH? Just asking, because only Fox had the report.
Another 'Weapons of Mass destruction' ploy, like before the Irak invasion? Just asking.

Cheers,
Bart

[Schewe]

Are these the same pollsters who told us Hillary was a shoo-in?

Naw... ABC News/Washington Post poll had Hillary ahead 47 to 43 percent as of Nov 7th, 2016 and Hillary did win the popular vote by 2% so it was within the margin of error. But what national polls didn't do well was get the late breaking voter who went for Trump and the large number of voters who simply didn't vote. So, the national polls didn't see the 88,000 or so voter differences in Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania that made the difference in the Electoral vote. Change those votes and we have a different president to be pissed off at.

But if the polls not predicting a Trump/Putin win gives you any comfort, please believe anything you want...the fact is, any way you look at it, the polls aren't wrong now that Trump has an historically bad favorability rating now, right?

[Schewe]

Jeff, everything Trump does is negative in your book.  You really got to get over your mantra.  It's blinding you.  You're like the boy who cried wolf. Why aren't you complimenting Trump how he got the entire Security Council in the UN to vote 15-0  to add sanctions and condemn NK for the missile and nuclear tests.?  He even got the Russians and the Chinese to vote with us.  Would it prevent you from getting a good night sleep if you actually said he's done something right?

I sleep just fine...I'm an old white guy with money so I'm not worried about much other than, oh, say Trump threatening ‘Fire and Fury’ against North Korea...oh, wait, he just did (the upside is he didn't do it in a tweet).

Trump Threatens ‘Fire and Fury’ Against North Korea if It Endangers U.S.

BRIDGEWATER, N.J. — President Trump threatened on Tuesday to unleash “fire and fury” against North Korea if it endangers the United States as tensions with the isolated nuclear-armed state grow into perhaps the most serious foreign policy challenge yet in his young administration.

“North Korea best not make any more threats to the United States,” Mr. Trump told reporters at his golf club in Bedminster, N.J. “They will be met with fire and fury like the world has never seen. He has been very threatening beyond a normal state and as I said they will be met with fire and fury and frankly power the likes of which this world has never seen before.”

But ya know, it's kinda hard to take him seriously when "bluster" is something he always seems to do (yeah, ok he wasted $59 mil in Cruise missiles to put a dent in a runway). And do ya really think Kim Jong-un is quaking in his boots by a threat broadcast from a golf course?

As for my seeing everything Trump does as negative, well, that's because pretty much everything Trump has done or will likely do is negative. I view Trump as a; Racist, Sexist, Islamaphobic, Homophobic, Xenophobic, Misogynistic, Fascist, Chauvinistic, Rude, Ignorant, Hateful, Demagogic, Insensitive, Incompetent, Lying, Egotistical, Despicable, Narcissistic, Fraudulent Orange Buffoon that is an embarrassment to America and danger to the world...

But, you know, other than that, I hate the guy.

Besides, it's way easier to find negative stories because, well he does so much negative stuff. It's really, really hard to find any good stuff Trump does. Besides, it's much more fun and therapeutic to find all the stuff that shows the Big Orange Buffoon™ as he actually is and not the way the he and his Minion™ depict him like on Donny's Facebook Page and that scary propaganda video Trump TV



Have you all seen Trump TV? I actually really love the "Real News" mashup Stephan Colbert did with Lara Trump broadcast (the 1st Real News)
Stephen Colbert Has Beef With Lara Trump’s ‘Real News’ Broadcast

Really funny...and sad.



and really, funny...



Talk about #FAKENEWS!

[Schewe]

Then there's this....

Trump gets a folder full of positive news about himself twice a day
It’s known as the “propaganda document”

Twice a day since the beginning of the Trump administration, a special folder is prepared for the president. The first document is prepared around 9:30 a.m. and the follow-up, around 4:30 p.m. Former Chief of Staff Reince Priebus and former Press Secretary Sean Spicer both wanted the privilege of delivering the 20-to-25-page packet to President Trump personally, White House sources say.

These sensitive papers, described to VICE News by three current and former White House officials, don’t contain top-secret intelligence or updates on legislative initiatives. Instead, the folders are filled with screenshots of positive cable news chyrons (those lower-third headlines and crawls), admiring tweets, transcripts of fawning TV interviews, praise-filled news stories, and sometimes just pictures of Trump on TV looking powerful.

One White House official said the only feedback the White House communications shop, which prepares the folder, has ever gotten in all these months is: “It needs to be more fucking positive.” That’s why some in the White House ruefully refer to the packet as “the propaganda document.”

Who's a good boy???
                              You're a good boy!!!

[Alan Klein]

Fake news, like more 'info' coming from the WH? Just asking, because only Fox had the report.
Another 'Weapons of Mass destruction' ploy, like before the Irak invasion? Just asking.

Cheers,
Bart

Interesting that you believe CNN when only they have the news. 

Well, in any case, the information about the details such as the type of missile, type of boat and the port the boat is leaving from are too specific to believe in was leaked from  anyone but an intelligence agency.  My guess, the administration wanted to world to know for political reasons to get their support against NK and for NK to know that we're watching their every move.  If you're worried about a possible war, it's got to be upsetting to realize that your enemy has your military moves surveilled to that degree.

The thing that I'm concerned about and the world should be as well, is does the  situation demand war?  Yeah, I know people say Kim's nuts.  But he isn't stupid. And frankly, if I was him, I'd want to have nukes too.   But. they're not going to attack America knowing they'll get wiped out when we retaliate.  They just want to protect their rotten little regime.  So maybe we should just isolate them and ignore them. Let them stew in their Middle Kingdom.  On the other hand, they will develop more and more nukes,  so do we want to leave them there as a potential adversary for later when they will be more dangerous or take them out now? 

What a mess. 

[Alan Klein]

Naw... ABC News/Washington Post poll had Hillary ahead 47 to 43 percent as of Nov 7th, 2016 and Hillary did win the popular vote by 2% so it was within the margin of error. But what national polls didn't do well was get the late breaking voter who went for Trump and the large number of voters who simply didn't vote. So, the national polls didn't see the 88,000 or so voter differences in Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania that made the difference in the Electoral vote. Change those votes and we have a different president to be pissed off at.

But if the polls not predicting a Trump/Putin win gives you any comfort, please believe anything you want...the fact is, any way you look at it, the polls aren't wrong now that Trump has an historically bad favorability rating now, right?

The only people who care about the president's low popularity polls are the losers and Trump.

He's going to be president for four years, and there are 3 1/2 more to go.  So the polls are meaningless right now. 

[Peter McLennan]

This article is long.  Really really long.  But oh so worth reading. Not an opinion piece, it's logical, clear and indisputable, it'll take you half an hour at least to read it.  A lot of things make sense once you see this big picture.

https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2017/09/how-america-lost-its-mind/534231/?utm_source=pocket&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=pockethits

Go on, Alan. (and Ray)  I dare you. 

[James Clark]

This article is long.  Really really long.  But oh so worth reading. Not an opinion piece, it's logical, clear and indisputable, it'll take you half an hour at least to read it.  A lot of things make sense once you see this big picture.

https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2017/09/how-america-lost-its-mind/534231/?utm_source=pocket&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=pockethits

Go on, Alan. (and Ray)  I dare you. 

Many won't bother, sadly, but the first paragraph in and of itself is damning, if only because it contains Karl Rove's admission that the main thesis is right.  Sadly, the article leaves out the second part of Rove's musing:

"We're an empire now, and when we act, we create our own reality. And while you're studying that reality—judiciously, as you will—we'll act again, creating other new realities, which you can study too, and that's how things will sort out. We're history's actors…and you, all of you, will be left to just study what we do."

The arrogance is by turns disgusting and laughable, except that far too many people believe to be acceptable.

[Alan Klein]

This article is long.  Really really long.  But oh so worth reading. Not an opinion piece, it's logical, clear and indisputable, it'll take you half an hour at least to read it.  A lot of things make sense once you see this big picture.

https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2017/09/how-america-lost-its-mind/534231/?utm_source=pocket&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=pockethits

Go on, Alan. (and Ray)  I dare you. 

Peter, I read The Atlantic only once in a while to find out what the left is thinking.  The article writer, Kurt Anderson,  is a leftist who thinks the Left is right and the Right is unhinged.  What else is new?  You have to be smoking something to declare "...it's not an opinion piece, it's logical, clear and indisputable..."  I won't waste my time disputing its one-sidedness. 

[James Clark]

Peter, I read The Atlantic only once in a while to find out what the left is thinking.  The article writer, Kurt Anderson,  is a leftist who thinks the Left is right and the Right is unhinged.  What else is new?  You have to be smoking something to declare "...it's not an opinion piece, it's logical, clear and indisputable..."  I won't waste my time disputing its one-sidedness.

Atlantic is about as centrist as you find these days.  It's basically beacon of nonpartisan rationality, with longform content that speaks to those of us who have little interest in soundbites and 140-character stupidity.

[Alan Klein]

Atlantic is about as centrist as you find these days.  It's basically beacon of nonpartisan rationality, with longform content that speaks to those of us who have little interest in soundbites and 140-character stupidity.

They're Left Biased.  Not as bad as CNNN or MSNBC or some of the mainstream media.
https://mediabiasfactcheck.com/the-atlantic/