I expected it to be bad - really bad. I’m surprised it’s so much worse than I expected. I could never have predicted:
This whole thing with kids being separated from their families - and I agree that it blows; there’s pretty much nothing more traumatic for a young child than being separated from his parents - is this something that Trump innovated, or did it happen under Obama also? I assume the latter. Now, ramping up detainments at border crossings, that might be something that Trump is doing more than was done in the past, but the act of separating the families, I have to assume that’s been going on basically since forever, right? Or am I wrong? This isn’t a rhetorical question, I actually don’t know.
It was rare under Bush/Obama - usually only if the parents were accused of crimes more serious then crossing the border illegally. Generally everything was done to keep families together if possible. So yes, this “zero-tolerance” policy - putting all the parents in jail where the kids can’t be held - is a new Trump thing. Hard to imagine Bush or Obama being capable of that level of indifference and cruelty.
Not much. Trump’s total assholery was out there for all of us to evaluate during the campaign. Sixty-three million Americans declared their love of his assholery. Ok, maybe I was a little surprised that there were 63 million of them.
I’m still kinda stunned about two things:
Wow, he’s totally blown past that, hasn’t he?
Or their tolerance of it, at least. But yeah, I’m pretty much with you on this.
What surprised me the most was, having resigned myself to the election outcome, and looking for some hopeful signs of some redeeming features, some signs of rationality and constructive progress in at least some small way, failing to find any redeeming qualities whatsoever. Zero. This is actually quite amazing. The entire administration is a cesspool of self-serving corruption, utter incompetence, lunatic ideology, shameless nepotism, fierce infighting and organizational chaos, and so completely and irredeemably divorced from reality that constant blatant lying has become a daily routine.
I imagine it’s also a mystery to you why Krugman was awarded the Nobel Prize in Economics, or why it was widely believed that voting for Trump would be a really bad idea, and why a Trump presidency would be an unmitigated disaster. The primary phenomenon here appears to be, not Krugman’s alleged wrongness, but your bewilderment about things that most other people find quite clear.
This part makes sense to me. I don’t know if it’s an arrangement that actually benefits us, but it’s clear to me why Trump thinks it’s a good idea.
In 2016, Trump looked at the world (as much as he is capable of doing so) and saw Europe beset by terrorism and a refugee crisis; he saw the horrific pictures from the Bataclan (pictures which I’ll never forget because those long smears of blood on the floor were so fucking disgusting), he saw many other terrorist attacks all over Europe and he saw how horrified Americans were by this. He witnessed the rise of nationalism in Europe; he witnessed Brexit; he witnessed growing anti-EU sentiment, and he witnessed a sort of Russophilia or general admiration for the cultures of Eastern Europe over Western Europe among conservatives.
What did he take away from all this? “Europe dropped the ball, they’ve allowed their countries to get all fucked up, they’re not important to me.” Furthermore, from the position of the global political stage (which includes military power, something that Trump clearly respects), Trump is thinking: “Russia, China, the Koreas, these are the power players right now. The Europeans are has-beens.”
None of this is remotely surprising to me.
“alleged wrongness”? It’s still unclear to you if his post-election predictions were right or wrong? You’re still open to the possibility that he might have be right, that the “markets are plunging” and might “never” recover? That “we are very probably looking at a global recession, with no end in sight”? Apparently even Krugman himself recognized he was wrong:
But you still think his wrongness is merely “alleged” and not a proven fact?
Being wrong about a specific event and the specific timing of that event is not the same as your claim that Krugman is so consistently wrong about everything that it’s a mystery why anyone pays any attention to this Nobel laureate and one of the foremost economists of our time.
The markets have been climbing since the beginning of 2016 and, on a larger scale, with only minor corrections since the recovery in early 2009. Trump had absolutely nothing to do with any of it. Furthermore, to the extent that markets are driven by investor expectations (which are often incredibly wrong), they tend to react well to a Republican Congress, not so much to Republican control of the Executive branch. Trump’s belligerence and incompetence are threatening to start an all-out international trade war which would have devastating consequences, and warning signs are already appearing (for that and for other reasons) and are largely being ignored by mainstream investors.
That the only crises during the administration have, thankfully, been of its own making.
I expected Trump to at least try to be Presidential. I have been surprised by how completely Trump has failed to try to do the job he was elected to do. I expected at least an effort. The last time he made one was possibly the State of the Union? It’s impossible to even articulate all the ways he has not acted as the leader of our nation, but there are signs everywhere. It’s big things, like failing to represent the country responsibly at the G7, or his comments after Charlottesville, or little things, like using Twitter without any filter. It’s the constant lying. It’s the constant flip-flopping. It’s the transparent reliance on the news for information. It’s the violations of the emoluments clause. It’s ZTE. It’s the human rights violations. It’s the destruction of our place as the world leader. It’s Russia. The son of a bitch works for us, and he is dismantling everything we value and aspire to be because he cannot do his job.
I’m surprised that it’s so much worse than I imagined and that there is some new “worse” thing every day. Sometimes several times a day. And that people still support him.
You use “we”, but your opinion is hardly universal. 43% of the country approves of the job he has done so far.
That will change.
Can’t help it if 43% of the country are idiotic, brainless dolts.
Neither Trump or Republican complicity surprises me. Trump has done exactly what he campaigned on. Republicans are doing what Republicans do: rule by any means necessary. If you’re surprised, you weren’t paying attention during the campaign. I’ll repeat that. If you’re at all surprised with Trump or his current policies, you weren’t paying attention during the campaign.
What’s surprised me the most? Sad to say: white liberals. The few, remaining white liberals that exist will not, can not, and utterly refuse to countenance that white supremacy played a significant role in the election of Donald Trump. Liberals won’t even acknowledge that white supremacy is resurgent in the United States. Instead, liberals have self-duped and self-flagellated themselves into thinking white, working-class Trump voters abandoned them because they were condescending, talked too much about social justice, wanted high taxes, or, my favorite, that liberals supported burdensome environmental regulations. No, silly willy. White folks fled because white folks like the people in their political party the same color as the people in their neighborhood.
In the Trump era, white liberals are blinded, constantly making weak excuses for white folks. Always trying to redeem or shield them from criticism; case in point, after the election, then Vice President Biden was like “Barack Obama won these people. They are not racist. They did not vote for the Democrats this time.” Negro, please. White folks overwhelmingly voted for someone who affirmed his own daughter was a “piece of ass” and bragged about sexual assault. Who does that? But, more importantly, why try to redeem or humanize Trump, the Republicans, and their voters? Stop it. In this, white liberals are complicit by unwittingly normalizing Trump and his administration’s policies. I knew liberals would be spineless during a Trump administration but I never guessed liberals would be this weak and feeble. In the Trump Era, the spinelessness of liberals and the Democratic party as a whole cannot be overstated.
In this, the Republicans are right in that liberals take the minority people’s vote for granted. This is regrettably true. And we know it’s true because if we had real liberal leadership, a government shutdown for DACA recipients would now be entering its 21st week.
Does that mean that he’s actually done a good job so far? Does it mean, IOW, that the country is headed down a productive path despite the entire administration being rife with self-serving corruption, incompetence, and all the other things I mentioned, with American prestige and influence in the international community at a rock-bottom low, with trade wars and a possible global recession looming, with Russia continuing to meddle in the affairs of sovereign nations, with Iran becoming a renewed danger and North Korea’s threat diminished in no way whatsoever? Is the outcome of any of this going to be a net positive?
If the long-term prognosis is poor, that 43% approval may just be more evidence that in the era of Trump, of Fox News, Breitbart, Bannon, and the alt-right, that America may just no longer be capable of governing itself. It’s manifestly evident that 100% of the people are being lied to each and every day, that facts have ceased to matter and constant lying is now the new norm in a literal Orwellian sense. What does that say about the 43% who approve of this state of affairs?
Not to mention flat out racists.
This is the surprise. And very odd for my Wife and I.
But not all are brainless dolts.
We love my Wfes family and get along great with them. One absolutely hates Trump as much as I and my Wife. He, a nephew could not take Texas any longer and moved to Colorado. He is now only 100 miles from us. A few others seem to be wondering if they made the proper choice voting for Trump.
The others, that we do love too, I think are still Trump supporters. All quite successful and have college educations (one is a CEO of a small oil equipment manufacturing company, so no real surprise there) They are quite intelligent except in politics. They ONLY watch FOX news (and football it seems). On my last visit a year ago, I sprained my ankle and was a bit stuck at their house. When they left I turned on CNN. It was right back on FOX as soon as they got home.
It’s a bit weird. We are going to my BIL’s house in Texas for his birthday in the fall. They are quite religious, quite well off (my Wife and I are doing well, but not THAT well), and they areTrump supporters. But we get along great. It’s hard to keep my mouth shut. But it’s family. It would be quite obnoxious to talk about it at a birthday party, but if my BIL brings it up. Well. I’ll say my piece, let him also of course, and as a guest, shut it down.