Definitely. In fact, he’s told us himself how smart he is. Last week’s Bill Maher show ran a clip where Trump informs his audience (in case we’d forgotten) that he’s the smartest person he’s ever met, ever.
That must be why his EOs have been either useless or badly bungled, the most important one already overturned by the courts, why virtually all his senior appointees are self-serving incompetent opportunists, why he’s already made enemies of America’s allies, why his administration has more leaks than a sieve and more infighting than a cage full of drunken monkeys, why ethics investigations are being launched within his own party while his national security adviser is forced to resign for being a national security risk, and why the wheels are already coming off this comically inept effort to run a government – all in the first three weeks. It’s because he clearly knows exactly what he’s doing.
See, elbows, you’re focused of how it’s exhausting to be outraged all the time. But you know who else is exhausted by outrage? Its targets. Especially when the outrage is so clearly justified. Republicans are being asked to defend the indefensible, and they’re starting to say, “Really? C’mon now.”
Yep, same here. My wife is (or at least was) a pretty true independent voter, and I’m pretty sure that when we met she mostly voted Republican (and I just didn’t talk politics in-depth with her mostly for that reason.) I have never seen her show any strong political inclination and now, after this shit show, I see her going to the women’s march rally (something I would never in a million years have seen her doing when I first met her) and donating to the ACLU. I was a bit of a cynical curmudgeon with the march saying, essentially, fat lot of good it does us now. Where the fuck was everyone on the election? But, I must admit, I do think it is helping and getting people out of the woodwork and more active.I mean, hey, it worked for the Tea Party. Unfortunately, it is also further polarizing politics, but I’m not sure what else can be done at this point.
. As The New York Times reported on Sunday:
The Republican-controlled House and Senate seem to have made a collective decision: They will accommodate — not confront — his conduct as long as he signs their long-stalled conservative proposals on taxes, regulations and health care into law.
“There’s a widely held view among our members that, yes, he’s going to say things on a daily basis that we’re not going to like,” said Senator John Thune of South Dakota, the third-ranking Senate Republican, “but that the broad legislative agenda and goals that we have — if we can stay focused on those and try and get that stuff enacted — those would be big wins.”
So in other words, they are TRAITORS, in exchange for tax cuts for the wealthy and ways to screw the not-rich.
Unfortunately, part of the opposition to Pudzer is from the right – they claim he’s soft on undocumented immigrants. And as for Flynn, that he was caught red-handed doing something flatly illegal is “great” for our side, but we can’t expect that to happen with all the appointees, policies, and iniciativas that need to be blocked just as urgently. So, I’m not sure these are clear-cut examples of anything “working.”
I do think the protests, letters, petitions, etc. are having some positive effect, though, in helping to deligitimize Trump’s supposed effectiveness as a competent leader and manager. And, to retain a shred of credibility with our allies abroad (by reassuring them that we’re not ALL morons.)
We had plenty of that last year. How’d that work out for you? (OK, not for you personally; you’re in Canada. But you get my drift.)
Why?
Guess what - we know we’re not going to change Trump or his minions. But there are limits to what he can do without legislation. (For instance, his EPA guy can decide he’s not going to enforce the Clean Air and Clean Water Acts, but enviro groups can go to court to force him to enforce the laws that Congress has passed.)
And maybe there’s never been a Presidency like this before, but most Congresscritters want to win re-election, just the way they did 10, 20, 30, 40, 50 years ago. It’s true that if they’re in an R+15 district, they don’t have much to worry about. But the ones in R+5 districts do, and there are plenty of them. And public outcry still makes them nervous.
Can we keep it up? Probably not at this level. But it can be ramped down quite a bit and still be way above normal, because we’ve left all previous records for such things in the dust. Not to mention, we, as jumped-up plains apes, are strengthened and restored by community. Bringing people together to work towards a common goal makes the people involved feel better about themselves. So I have reason to believe we can keep this up for a good long while, thankyewverymuch.
Yeah, because that’s ever worked. I’m sorry, but that’s bullshit.
Oh no, bad optics!
Sorry, but people who are afraid of the Optics Police never get shit done.
And could you give me an example of what you’re talking about here? I’m trying to think of a for-instance, and I’m coming up empty.
Now you’ll have to excuse me, but I’ve got to help light up the Capitol switchboard. Such a waste of time, I know, but I’m gonna do my bit anyway. Your concerns are duly noted.
General question about Twitter: Do they list responses based on your interests? What I mean is, I went to that link, and basically every response was someone essentially calling Trump an idiot (or worse). It that because they know that I’m more interested in the responses calling him an idiot, or is it just that almost all responses to his tweets are people calling him an idiot?
I guess another, better, way to ask the question is: If someone from the right were to look at that tweet would they see the same responses that I do?
The Democrats have been trying that for decades; all it’s done is render them powerless and irrelevant.
They’d just be ignored. Rage and hatred are what work in American politics, not calmness, rationality or competence; the Republicans have just demonstrated that very clearly.
Says Twitter sorts by “relevance”, they say. Further down, it appears that “relevance” is defined by what they gather about you. Seems from here the answer to your question is “yeah, sure, Hugh Bethca!”, but they seem a bit reluctant to admit that directly.
i just think your protests are going to be about as effective as your scathing, ‘duly noted!’ Sure, it makes you feel superior but it doesn’t really accomplish anything, does it?
Yes, there was much made of the $mil it costs daily to secure Trump tower, back when it first came up. Anything since? Anything totalling the costs of securing maralago? Or with the costs of the WH and Camp D thrown in? Or what the tax payers are paying TO him/his businesses every month?
“Oh no, bad optics!”
You see, right here is where he’s got better game than y’all! Your view seems like a foolish denial of reality, and I don’t think it’s helping your cause at all.
If scathing rhetoric and denial is your wheel house I don’t think you’ll make much progress, to be honest, but keep on pushing that rock up that incline if it makes you feel better.
He’s convincing you he doesn’t know what he’s doing. To his advantage.
I think he’s saving his hardball game for when he’s worn y’all down. Suddenly the EO’s will come down fully formed and iron clad, then reality may dawn.
He’s a psychopathic incompetent, not some kind of genius; he couldn’t do that if he wanted to. His life has been a long term disaster where he’s ruined pretty much anything he had any control over; he does not know what he’s doing. Or care, for that matter.
That’s a little disappointing; it means that I’m trapped in my little bubble. And also the Trump supporters who read his posts probably aren’t seeing the kind of opposition he’s getting.
Kellyanne Conway is not in the loop. Not present at any key meetings. However, she doesn’t let her lack of information deter her from making her appointed rounds; she books herself on news shows, and just Makes Shit Up.
Because, yeah, that’s what presidential counselors do all the time. It’s perfectly normal.
Yeah, but you’d think that it would help her in her role if she knew what the Actual Facts were, to better decide when to play the Alternative Facts. As it is, she might just luck out and actually accidentally tell the truth.
I have had the same change in dynamic in my household as well… My wife was previously apathetic, but now keeps more up-to-date than I do, and gets very worked up about it. In past years I couldn’t even convince her to vote, but she is gearing up for 2018!
Protests against the war in Vietnam were reaching tens of thousands of marchers in 1965 and just got bigger and more inclusive. I don’t recall much protest fatigue.
