Our Donald Trump is in the Senate.Originally Posted by Pen
Our Donald Trump is in the Senate.
It will be interesting to see how fast he can fuck up the environment?
Pretty impressive by Obama and the rest of the world to jam through the Paris Treaty before the election though.
Today
They need to stop adding letters to this, it's getting a bit silly.
Yikes. A lot of yummy drinking water is on it's way to rural America!
Yeah! You tell em!
So insensitive.
The Q was a bit much as it was.
I like 'Be intentional about where you spend your time and your energy'. What, in case you accidentally join the Klan?
I'm saving my trawl through the Guardian for work tomorrow - it's something to look forward to. I assume they've defaulted to sneering and palpable anger that so many people could disagree with their world view.
I don't even know; their clickbaity headlines put me off reading much of it these days.
I've only perused the home page, but we have headlines such as:
- The moment America laid waste to democracy as we know it
- Trump's victory is a dark day for the world
- I've got the safety net of being white - so why am I so worried about Trump?
- How do I tell my daughter that America elected a racist, sexist bully?
- Globalisation is dead and white supremacy has triumphed
It all seems fairly measured in the circumstances.
That said, I do think the Democrats should stonewall on the Supreme Court. The Republicans opened hostilities there a year ago, so turnabout is fair play.
I would agree. It's galling to see that sort of behaviour rewarded by the electorate, but there you are.
It'll also be interesting to see how they manage to roll back the Clinton prosecution rhetoric. They're clearly not going to do anything about it (being as it was a convenient fiction), and Trump basically made that clear in his speech. But a lot of their voter base believed it, and are still riled up and want to see her on the stand.
They should hope she gets a full pardon on her way out, and then they can just seethe off that for twenty years without being able/having to do anything.
Can you pardon someone not found guilty of any crime? That'd be the ultimate passive aggressive act, if nothing else.
"I'd like to pardon George from across the street, for his general air of smugness."
Richard Nixon got his for things he 'committed or may have committed or taken part in', since he was never actually charged with anything (bailed because/before they were going to), so it would be like that. You could use the same excuses about not wanting to inflame tensions as well, although it would necessitate 'Hillary' agreeing to look guilty and sacrificing her reputation (or what remains of it) forever.
Also, if Trump does try to enact some of his more populist ideas - particularly term limits on Congress - it'll be fascinating to see how it plays out. The Republicans will have to be the ones to stop it, and they 100% won't want that legislation to pass. We could see some very interesting intra-party warfare if Trump does choose to play his own hand.
I'll also be interested to see if he's serious about cleaning out Washington. If he does what he says he'll do with lobbyists, foreign interests, offshore tax havens, etc., then I won't be able to deny that some good will have come from this.
I need a PM of this.The Facebook posts from the guy who called me racist are a fucking goldmine. He apparently got someone to come to a field with him and take melancholic artistic pictures of him (with Instagram filter ofc) to post with captions "darkness lies ahead" and "phase of denial".
At a goddamn college.
Edit: Apparently Boydy posted this earlier.
I posted that earlier.
Trump's pledges for his first 100 day in office, It's unbelievable that we are literally going to be able to undo EVERYTHING Obama did in the last 8 years and then some: http://www.npr.org/2016/11/09/501451...first-100-days
What did he post earlier?!
Democrats can still filibuster, and should unless they get very reasonable concessions on healthcare. The big one has to be laws ensuring cover for people with pre-existing conditions. There'll be some pretty serious pushback if they actually try to take away healthcare from people who are relying on Obamacare, too.
You think Trump will do all of those things? Cos I'm happy to tick them off as an when he accomplishes them, and we can see in this thread where we're at after 100 days. There's a few things on there I'd quite like to see, and I have to admit that I have little faith in his ability to get them done.
Mert is gonna be insufferable for months now, and long may it continue. You wankers still bite.
Just like you had little faith that he would get elected, eh? The God Emperor will come through for us, THE PEOPLE, because he loves America and he's there for US.
They can't filibuster forever, and if they do, Republican Senators can just get rid of the filibuster (just like the Democrats were threatening to do if they won the Senate and nominated SCOTUS judges that would be blocked by the GOP).
Everyone knew the Democrats couldn't get rid of the filibuster. It's an empty threat, because they know that one day they'll be in opposition again, and they'll need it that day. Neither party will ever get rid of it, because it's the safety valve. To beat a filibuster, you need to turn public opinion. It's like Senate rules in Australia - every party in minority government talks about putting in a way past it, but nobody ever will, because one day they'll need it. Checks and balances, if you will.
Look, if Trump pulls off everything on that list, I'd certainly be happy to see some of those political reforms. I don't think he's willing to start a war with his own party three months in. I'd be happy to be wrong. I didn't think he'd get elected, and I was wrong. I don't think he can enact policy that his own party will try and obstruct. I might be wrong, but we'll wait and see.
He'll propose it. It won't get through the houses. But technically sure.* FIRST, propose a Constitutional Amendment to impose term limits on all members of Congress;
I can see him doing that.* SECOND, a hiring freeze on all federal employees to reduce federal workforce through attrition (exempting military, public safety, and public health);
Will probably get filibustered as law. Will be de facto followed by Republicans during the term, but won't last the next administration.* THIRD, a requirement that for every new federal regulation, two existing regulations must be eliminated;
Good luck with that. I'd love to see it though.* FOURTH, a 5 year-ban on White House and Congressional officials becoming lobbyists after they leave government service;
As above.* FIFTH, a lifetime ban on White House officials lobbying on behalf of a foreign government;
As above.* SIXTH, a complete ban on foreign lobbyists raising money for American elections.
Very doable. Even more so since it's just an intention. He might find some internal party resistance, so he's given enough wiggle room ("intention", "renegotiate") to get out of it without actually having to do anything at all in practice.On the same day, I will begin taking the following 7 actions to protect American workers:
* FIRST, I will announce my intention to renegotiate NAFTA or withdraw from the deal under Article 2205
He will, and I support that. I never liked the TPP. Ironically because it benefitted the US too much at our expense.* SECOND, I will announce our withdrawal from the Trans-Pacific Partnership
He'll do that. It costs nothing and can't be blocked.* THIRD, I will direct my Secretary of the Treasury to label China a currency manipulator
As above.* FOURTH, I will direct the Secretary of Commerce and U.S. Trade Representative to identify all foreign trading abuses that unfairly impact American workers and direct them to use every tool under American and international law to end those abuses immediately
He'll do that with full party support. It makes me sad, but it was a given that whoever and whenever the next Republican President appeared, they would do likewise. If it's in the ground, it's going to get dug up eventually.* FIFTH, I will lift the restrictions on the production of $50 trillion dollars' worth of job-producing American energy reserves, including shale, oil, natural gas and clean coal.
As above.* SIXTH, lift the Obama-Clinton roadblocks and allow vital energy infrastructure projects, like the Keystone Pipeline, to move forward
As above, which does make me sad. We're actually starting to make honest international progress on at least mitigating climate change effects.* SEVENTH, cancel billions in payments to U.N. climate change programs and use the money to fix America's water and environmental infrastructure
Which is none of them. But fine. This is just words that sound good, to be honest.* FIRST, cancel every unconstitutional executive action, memorandum and order issued by President Obama
He can start the process on his own, so yeah, he'll do that. Actually getting the Justice through is going to be more of a challenge, because the Republicans have already started the war. I'd be alright with someone center-right though, putting Kennedy back in swing-vote land, but preventing utterly ridiculous rulings.* SECOND, begin the process of selecting a replacement for Justice Scalia from one of the 20 judges on my list, who will uphold and defend the Constitution of the United States
He'll do that with full party support.* THIRD, cancel all federal funding to Sanctuary Cities
Some weasel words here. A process begun is a process that can be changed as much as necessary.* FOURTH, begin removing the more than 2 million criminal illegal immigrants from the country and cancel visas to foreign countries that won't take them back
He'll do it with full party support. Given that US vetting is some of the most extreme in the world, he won't even need to actually change much.* FIFTH, suspend immigration from terror-prone regions where vetting cannot safely occur. All vetting of people coming into our country will be considered extreme vetting.
He'll probably get that to work, although the likes of Paul Ryan et al. will be the actual policy authors.Next, I will work with Congress to introduce the following broader legislative measures and fight for their passage within the first 100 days of my Administration:
Middle Class Tax Relief And Simplification Act. An economic plan designed to grow the economy 4% per year and create at least 25 million new jobs through massive tax reduction and simplification, in combination with trade reform, regulatory relief, and lifting the restrictions on American energy. The largest tax reductions are for the middle class. A middle-class family with 2 children will get a 35% tax cut. The current number of brackets will be reduced from 7 to 3, and tax forms will likewise be greatly simplified. The business rate will be lowered from 35 to 15 percent, and the trillions of dollars of American corporate money overseas can now be brought back at a 10 percent rate.
I don't see him getting this through. I think his own party will obstruct it.End The Offshoring Act. Establishes tariffs to discourage companies from laying off their workers in order to relocate in other countries and ship their products back to the U.S. tax-free.
Revenue neutral handouts? Good luck with that. But he'll have no trouble getting it through. I'll be more surprised if he gets it to work; I reckon it'll pump the debt into the stratosphere. But he'll get it implemented in some form.American Energy & Infrastructure Act. Leverages public-private partnerships, and private investments through tax incentives, to spur $1 trillion in infrastructure investment over 10 years. It is revenue neutral.
As a university educator, I'll confirm that the big benefit to common core is not ideological. It's that you have an accurate gauge of what your incoming students actually know. Still, it came from the Democrats, so it's toxic to the Republicans. Wasn't going to survive another administration. Otherwise, this is standard conservative education policy.School Choice And Education Opportunity Act. Redirects education dollars to give parents the right to send their kid to the public, private, charter, magnet, religious or home school of their choice. Ends common core, brings education supervision to local communities. It expands vocational and technical education, and make 2 and 4-year college more affordable.
Democrats will filibuster unless they get some pretty huge concessions here. I don't actually think Trump will mind that much either; this was clearly an attack issue that he could get base traction with, but I doubt he truly cares that much about the content. Having the Democrats filibuster the law can make him look magnanimous by implementing concessions on things that voters are largely in favour of, and then saying he needed to do it to get the legislation through.Repeal and Replace Obamacare Act. Fully repeals Obamacare and replaces it with Health Savings Accounts, the ability to purchase health insurance across state lines, and lets states manage Medicaid funds. Reforms will also include cutting the red tape at the FDA: there are over 4,000 drugs awaiting approval, and we especially want to speed the approval of life-saving medications.
Are Republicans actually on board with this? Probably, since it's a new tax deduction.Affordable Childcare and Eldercare Act. Allows Americans to deduct childcare and elder care from their taxes, incentivizes employers to provide on-side childcare services, and creates tax-free Dependent Care Savings Accounts for both young and elderly dependents, with matching contributions for low-income families.
I, for one, am fascinated to see how Mexico approach this. Honestly, I can't wait to see it. Trump put too much into this for him to drop the policy, but it is poorly costed and depends on forces he can't totally control. If this fails badly, it could hurt him come re-election time, because it's basically synonymous with his campaign. I'm not saying it will, but I am saying that it'll be really intriguing to see how this goes down.End Illegal Immigration Act Fully-funds the construction of a wall on our southern border with the full understanding that the country Mexico will be reimbursing the United States for the full cost of such wall; establishes a 2-year mandatory minimum federal prison sentence for illegally re-entering the U.S. after a previous deportation, and a 5-year mandatory minimum for illegally re-entering for those with felony convictions, multiple misdemeanor convictions or two or more prior deportations; also reforms visa rules to enhance penalties for overstaying and to ensure open jobs are offered to American workers first.
"Task Force" is code for "Cheap and Requires Nothing". Piece of cake, with no real actual effects.Restoring Community Safety Act. Reduces surging crime, drugs and violence by creating a Task Force On Violent Crime and increasing funding for programs that train and assist local police; increases resources for federal law enforcement agencies and federal prosecutors to dismantle criminal gangs and put violent offenders behind bars.
More money for the military is Republican bread & butter. Easy pass.Restoring National Security Act. Rebuilds our military by eliminating the defense sequester and expanding military investment; provides Veterans with the ability to receive public VA treatment or attend the private doctor of their choice; protects our vital infrastructure from cyber-attack; establishes new screening procedures for immigration to ensure those who are admitted to our country support our people and our values
This is going to be a word sandwich that his own party will gut to ensure that they can get away with everything they were getting away with two days ago. But something toothless with that name in a highly neutered form will pass.Clean up Corruption in Washington Act. Enacts new ethics reforms to Drain the Swamp and reduce the corrupting influence of special interests on our politics.
Genuine question, Mert - how does the fact the despite Clinton winning the popular vote and not winning the election - sit those Americans always screaming about the US being the most democratic country in the world? Texans and Californians are massively underrepresented in the elections - like 30% of them literally don't have a vote that counts.
Good post / breakdown Ital, it will be interesting to see how it pans out, I'm excited for the opportunity for conservative governance to prove itself as reasonable and effective.
It's how federalism was intended, so that power of one state to determine the outcome of the election is diluted. We are a constitutional republic, NOT a democracy.
Yeah, I get why it exists, that wasn't my question.
How does it sit with the yee-hah's DEMOCRACY lovers (on both sides)... is it just accepted as something that has to exist, or do they just turn a blind eye to it?
I'm not saying I'm delighted about the outcome (I'm obviously not). But the US was going to get conservative government again at some point, and I do believe it can be done reasonably. I choose to hope that Trump being slightly less beholden to the party machine means he'll be able to take a crack at that. I'm not sackcloth and ashesing, is what I'm driving at.
The result of the popular vote does tend to have an impression on the size of the political mandate the President is being given. If you win both, you have more political leverage. But I think this might be negated slightly here because everyone is reeling a little at the surprise.
Democracy is just another word for mob rule. I don't believe in pure democracy where minority rights would get trampled on by the majority. I like America's system.
I liked this:
https://www.reddit.com/r/The_Donald/...ucking_get_it/
I really don't get why people are protesting. Yes, I know you are upset - but this is how elections work... you don't always get what you want.
Obviously it's easy for me to say this now, but having thought about it I honestly think it would be better* for the Popular Vote to determine the election. Turnout would surely be higher, with a Republican in California and a Democrat in Georgia finally making a difference. It would also mean that certain random swing states don't get 90% of the attention in the last three months of the election (and make Bruhdinho's and Mert's votes, unfortunately, far more important than mine was).
*Not the same as more constitutionally correct, chill out Mert.
You could just make a amendment to the constitution...
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.
I'm actually with you on this. For the last eight years Republicans have been so overwhelmingly negative and destructive, I'm interested to see what happens now that they actually have to implement policy instead of opposing it.
The popular vote was down to 0.1% You can't govern on that.
That's a fair point, although who can say what the Popular Vote would have been if that was what determined the election.
I thought that was an emissions graph spike caused by all the rednecks revving the shit out of their V12 diesels trucks.
Should compare that to the Viagra share price, I bet he gave Melania a thrashing round the bedroom of Trump Tower last night.
Australia approves of our new leader of the free world.
This is starting to annoy me. I think Trump's a vacuous tit of a man, but liberal types on twitter, particularly British ones, really need to fucking get over themselves. They are just as 'divisive' as he is.
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