# Contract With America, Trump style **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [October 23, 2016, 6:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/contract-with-america-trump-style/769437 "2016-10-23T06:39:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2016, 6:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/contract-with-america-trump-style/769437/1 "2016-10-23T06:39:12Z")
[https://assets.donaldjtrump.com/CONTRACT\_FOR\_THE\_VOTER.pdf](https://assets.donaldjtrump.com/CONTRACT_FOR_THE_VOTER.pdf) Leaving aside that Trump can’t be trusted and probably isn’t competent anyway, what do you think of the merits of his plan? I say it’s 50% crap, 35% gimmicks, and 15% useful, but only in a “this shit is obvious and supposedly most people support it, and yet it never gets done” way. ---
**Author:** ![octopus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/octopus/32/3716_2.png) [@octopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/octopus)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2016, 7:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/contract-with-america-trump-style/769437/2 "2016-10-23T07:09:53Z")
I’m not for open borders for unlimited migration so I like the enforcement aspect. I don’t like the anti free trade. That’s not going to help. I don’t think I’m for term limits on Congress. I’d need to hear more debate. I also think it’s shameful we haven’t had a vote on President Obama’s nominee for Supreme Court. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2016, 12:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/contract-with-america-trump-style/769437/3 "2016-10-23T12:22:48Z")
> [@](#): > > I’m not for open borders for unlimited migration… Unfortunately, almost nobody is. That’s what made America great in the first place, and we should bring it back. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Ace](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/6bbea6/32.png) [@Johnny\_Ace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Ace)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2016, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/contract-with-america-trump-style/769437/4 "2016-10-23T13:49:24Z")
> [@](#): > > FIRST, propose a Constitutional Amendment to impose term limits on all members of Congress Sure, buddy. Good luck getting two-thirds of the states to ratify that one. > [@](#): > > SECOND, a hiring freeze on all federal employees to reduce federal workforce through attrition (exempting military, public safety, and public health) This from the guy who’s going to bring all those new jobs… > [@](#): > > THIRD, a requirement that for every new federal regulation, two existing regulations must be eliminated Eeeeyeahrite… > [@](#): > > FOURTH, a 5 year-ban on White House and Congressional officials becoming lobbyists after they leave government service Good luck getting Congress to pass that one. > [@](#): > > FIFTH, a lifetime ban on White House officials lobbying on behalf of a foreign government OK, possibly doable…maybe. > [@](#): > > SIXTH, a complete ban on foreign lobbyists raising money for American elections Not happenin’ without complete campaign finance reform. Then we get into the highly-destabilizing economic policies: withdraw from TPP, at a minimum threaten to withdraw from NAFTA, start a trade war with China, basically eliminate regulation on energy companies (Enron, anyone?), and actively withdraw from controlling climate change (hello, China and third world countries doing the same). And that’s just the first two pages. In words short enough for even Trump supporters to understand: Give me a break. ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2016, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/contract-with-america-trump-style/769437/5 "2016-10-23T15:08:37Z")
Sounds more like a contract **ON** America. ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2016, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/contract-with-america-trump-style/769437/6 "2016-10-23T15:27:38Z")
I can’t take seriously any proposal with term limits. What I’ve seen working in state government is that we have to perpetually educate the state legislators about what our agency does because nobody can stay along long enough to gain any expertise. So what happens is that all these rookie legislators rely on lobbyists to bring them up to speed and too many of them are just pushing their own agendas. What’s wrong with letting people who know what the hell they’re doing stick around and do good work for the people? I think those in favor of term limits are being conned by lobbyists who want to have a bunch of easy marks to manipulate in Congress. Hiring freeze- gimmick. Can agencies trim their staffs? Possibly to some degree or not at all, depending on the agency. One size fits all stupid plans never work. ---
**Author:** ![DinoR](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dinor/32/2821_2.png) [@DinoR](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DinoR)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2016, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/contract-with-america-trump-style/769437/7 "2016-10-23T15:58:48Z")
When Gingrich as Speaker used the Contract with America he got the overwhelming majority of Reps on board. They focused on specifics including specific legislation they would bring to a vote. The contract was designed to only include “60% issues” - proposals that polling showed were supported by 60% of the population. Trump crafted a list of stuff that includes a lot of clear non-starters. Many of them are at least a touch vague when it comes to implementation. He hasn’t secured the support of his entire party for the list. He can’t point to broad support among the electorate for big chunks of this. All he’s really doing is putting together a list of stuff from the themes he’s talked about and used the Contract With America form. He hasn’t done the due diligence to craft a list with broader support. He hasn’t made the deals to tie his own party’s politicians to the goals. It’s almost like he’s pulling it out of his ass because he’s desperate. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2016, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/contract-with-america-trump-style/769437/8 "2016-10-23T16:10:12Z")
The fact that Trump is producing this list less than a month before the election shows that even he doesn’t regard these proposals as a significant portion of his campaign. America should assume a Trump administration would function like the Trump campaign has: 99% personalities and 1% policies. President Trump would spend most of his time making speeches about things like terrorists and illegal immigrants and hardly any time on the process of moving bills through the legislative process. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2016, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/contract-with-america-trump-style/769437/9 "2016-10-23T16:17:35Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > The fact that Trump is producing this list less than a month before the election shows that even he doesn’t regard these proposals as a significant portion of his campaign. America should assume a Trump administration would function like the Trump campaign has: 99% personalities and 1% policies. President Trump would spend **most of his time making speeches about things like terrorists and illegal immigrants** and hardly any time on the process of moving bills through the legislative process. And explaining why, under his administration, there are still terrorists and illegal immigrants to give speeches about. ---
**Author:** ![OttoDaFe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ottodafe/32/356_2.png) [@OttoDaFe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OttoDaFe)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2016, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/contract-with-america-trump-style/769437/10 "2016-10-23T16:29:27Z")
> [@running\_coach](#): > > > [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > > > The fact that Trump is producing this list less than a month before the election shows that even he doesn’t regard these proposals as a significant portion of his campaign. America should assume a Trump administration would function like the Trump campaign has: 99% personalities and 1% policies. President Trump would spend **most of his time making speeches about things like terrorists and illegal immigrants** and hardly any time on the process of moving bills through the legislative process. > > And explaining why, under his administration, there are still terrorists and illegal immigrants to give speeches about. Funny how often Trump and his ilk bring Eric Blair to mind: > [@](#): > > And remember that it is for ever. The face will always be there to be stamped upon. The heretic, the enemy of society, will always be there, so that he can be defeated and humiliated over again. … Goldstein and his heresies will live for ever. ---
**Author:** ![octopus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/octopus/32/3716_2.png) [@octopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/octopus)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2016, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/contract-with-america-trump-style/769437/11 "2016-10-23T17:10:47Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Unfortunately, almost nobody is. That’s what made America great in the first place, and we should bring it back. Have any evidence for that? ---
**Author:** ![coremelt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4491bb/32.png) [@coremelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/coremelt)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2016, 6:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/contract-with-america-trump-style/769437/12 "2016-10-24T06:25:14Z")
> [@Johnny\_Ace](#): > > start a trade war with China To be fair this is one of the extremely few things Trump has a genuine point about. China has tight restrictions on imports and high tariffs. They should be forced to live up to their WTO obligations and open up their domestic market to imports and if they are genuinely dumping products under cost that should also be challenged. [http://www.theepochtimes.com/n3/2027081-how-chinas-new-import-tariffs-violate-world-trade-organization-rules/](http://www.theepochtimes.com/n3/2027081-how-chinas-new-import-tariffs-violate-world-trade-organization-rules/) China is not playing fair, that’s a real thing. And yes Sanctions might be the only way to get China to do that, it’s certainly not feasible to continue the current situation indefinitely where China has free access to the worlds markets while making imports extremely costly. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2016, 7:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/contract-with-america-trump-style/769437/13 "2016-10-24T07:28:13Z")
> [@coremelt](#): > > To be fair this is one of the extremely few things Trump has a genuine point about. China has tight restrictions on imports and high tariffs. They should be forced to live up to their WTO obligations and open up their domestic market to imports and if they are genuinely dumping products under cost that should also be challenged. > [http://www.theepochtimes.com/n3/2027081-how-chinas-new-import-tariffs-violate-world-trade-organization-rules/](http://www.theepochtimes.com/n3/2027081-how-chinas-new-import-tariffs-violate-world-trade-organization-rules/) [Ahem](https://ustr.gov/about-us/policy-offices/press-office/press-releases/2016/july/united-states-challenges-china%E2%80%99s) > [@](#): > > U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman announced today that the United States has launched a new trade enforcement action against the People’s Republic of China at the World Trade Organization (WTO) concerning China’s export duties on nine different raw materials. When China joined the WTO, China agreed to eliminate its export duties on these products, but it has failed to follow through on this commitment. Today’s action is the 13th trade enforcement case the Obama Administration has launched against China at the WTO – more than any other WTO country over the same period. The U.S. has won every case that has been decided so far. It is not like it takes Donald Trump to figure out we should challenge China on dumping. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2016, 7:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/contract-with-america-trump-style/769437/14 "2016-10-24T07:30:37Z")
> [@octopus](#): > > Have any evidence for that? Evidence of what? That immigration was almost unregulated? That America is great? That immigrants helped make America great? I don’t know about you, but I’m damn glad that my great grandparents and one grandparent got in from Russia. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2016, 1:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/contract-with-america-trump-style/769437/15 "2016-10-24T13:15:41Z")
> [@Voyager](#): > > [Ahem](https://ustr.gov/about-us/policy-offices/press-office/press-releases/2016/july/united-states-challenges-china%E2%80%99s) > It is not like it takes Donald Trump to figure out we should challenge China on dumping. [While buying Chinese steel and aluminum.](http://www.newsweek.com/how-donald-trump-ditched-us-steel-workers-china-505717) ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2016, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/contract-with-america-trump-style/769437/16 "2016-10-24T18:11:09Z")
> [@](#): > > 1. 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. Tax simplification and changes to tax rates do not have to be done together. In fact, the two subjects have nothing to do with one another. All those complicated tax instructions that we all hate, the millions of lines and loopholes in the tax code, the various forms about investment income, farm sales, rental properties, losses carried over from previous years, etc., are used to calculate what your actual income was during the year. Once you have that number it’s a simple matter to look it up in a table and figure out how much tax is owed. Anybody who ties these two things together is trying to con you. They promise you a simpler tax system that you want in order to get the rate changes that they want. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Ace](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/6bbea6/32.png) [@Johnny\_Ace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Ace)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2016, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/contract-with-america-trump-style/769437/17 "2016-10-24T18:33:51Z")
> [@coremelt](#): > > To be fair this is one of the extremely few things Trump has a genuine point about. China has tight restrictions on imports and high tariffs. They should be forced to live up to their WTO obligations and open up their domestic market to imports and if they are genuinely dumping products under cost that should also be challenged. > [http://www.theepochtimes.com/n3/2027081-how-chinas-new-import-tariffs-violate-world-trade-organization-rules/](http://www.theepochtimes.com/n3/2027081-how-chinas-new-import-tariffs-violate-world-trade-organization-rules/) > > China is not playing fair, that’s a real thing. And yes Sanctions might be the only way to get China to do that, it’s certainly not feasible to continue the current situation indefinitely where China has free access to the worlds markets while making imports extremely costly. Except that the policy thing towards China actually has very little to do with tariffs: > [@](#): > > I will direct my Secretary of the Treasury to label China a currency manipulator ---
**Author:** ![DrCube](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a3d4f5/32.png) [@DrCube](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrCube)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2016, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/contract-with-america-trump-style/769437/18 "2016-10-24T18:56:47Z")
> [@octopus](#): > > Have any evidence for that? Well, **Octopus** , you’re descended from immigrants, and YOU make this country great. Furthermore, there are other people out there, potentially as beneficial to our country as you and your family, supposing they are allowed to move here. You don’t want to be a one and done, do you? Support America’s future by supporting what made it great in the past. Hard working immigrants like your family who will give birth to Great Citizens such as yourself. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2016, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/contract-with-america-trump-style/769437/19 "2016-10-24T20:05:16Z")
Newest Trumpdate: [He would cut 70 to 80 percent of regulations.](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/donald-trump-cutting-regulations_us_580e4277e4b000d0b157c424) _Really?_ At that rate, we might as well just throw in the towel and call it anarchy. ---
**Author:** ![DrCube](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a3d4f5/32.png) [@DrCube](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrCube)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2016, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/contract-with-america-trump-style/769437/20 "2016-10-24T20:09:09Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > _Really?_ At that rate, we might as well just throw in the towel and call it anarchy. Stop it, you’ll convince me to vote for him. 😉 No, we all know Trump will balloon the size of government. His “promises” to the contrary are as just as reliable as all those “factual” statements he makes. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/contract-with-america-trump-style/769437.md?page=2)