I continue to be surprised that it happened in the first place.
If he’s still alive in late 2020/early 2021 and is defeated in the election, they’ll have to pry him out of the White House with a crowbar. I can’t wait to see it happen. 
Yes! I was really surprised. I thought, “This is a good and decent thing! Why in the world would Republicans and Trump support it, let alone actually work on it? How are they going to get richer doing this? How are they going to put someone down doing this?”
Then I learned it was triggered by the prescription opioid epidemic sweeping up white kids.
I’ve got a bit of a spin on the ‘corruption’ angle.
I guess I was surprised at the level of corruption, sure. But what truly surprised me was how obvious it was. It’s like they’re not even trying to hide what members of the administration are doing. It’s like they’re smallish town grifters trying to make it in NYC. What worked where they were doesn’t work at a higher level.
To a certain extent this has happened before. Clinton’s White House Travel Office scandal was an example of it. They behaved like they would in Little Rock - out with the pros, in with their guys - not realizing that’s not how it’s done in the majors. But they then learned the expectations of Washington. Trump’s people - even the ones who have been in DC in various elected positions for years - just don’t seem to learn the lesson that obvious grifts and influence peddling are going to be seen, caught and reported on.
Also, I guess, just how much the larger media decided to oppose Trump openly. Elected officials are - by sheer bloodsport rights - a newspaper’s natural enemies, sure. It’s part of the game. But the extent to which both The Washington Post and The New York Times both appeared to have publicly declared ‘Fuck this guy’ and went all-in on tearing Trump down is astonishing. ‘Democracy dies in Darkness’, indeed.
Nothing about the behaviour of Trump and his followers surprises me. It’s occasionally shocking, but not surprising. You don’t buy a ticket to the circus then act surprised at the clowns.
Don’t forget CNN… I think they have a Chris Cillizza opinion piece about what a shit Trump is on the front page headlines EVERY SINGLE DAY.
Today’s is “3 theories on why Donald Trump’s lies don’t seem to faze him (or his supporters)”, and that’s one of the less inflammatory article titles.
Well, in 1928, Calvin Coolidge refused to vacate until they found his other waterproof shoe. Coolidge is the first 20th century President I want to punch in the mouth for his personality rather than his politics. Trump is the second.
(Scroll down to second cartoon)
If only Trump were as verbose as Coolidge.
I saw Bob Woodward plugging his book on Trump when it came out. He remarked that no one needs to dig up the dirt on Trump obstructing justice and such. It’s right there in his tweets and speeches. It is incredibly blatant.
The disconnect between this and people whose job it is to Take Care of The Situation when a government official goes off the rails is mind-boggling astounding.
I have no idea how this could have happened in general, and in particular how the supposedly “Religious” Right is thrilled with all the examples of immorality.
I’ve been surprised at how Stephen Colbert, as a late night host on a major network, was able to go full-out anti-Trump. Traditionally the late night hosts would had to appear to take swipes at both sides, Yet Colbert has been able to maintain the most viewers among the big three.
There is no bottom here. As long as what he does irritates the lib-ruls, then the supporters are all for that (even if it hurts themselves).
What has surprised me is how “Teflon Don” he is. Embarrassing video during the campaign of him bragging about grabbing women (voters did not care), daily proven lies coming out of his mouth (supporters do not care), his own tweeted words appearing as evidence that laws were broken, etc, etc, etc (lawmakers do not care)… and, nothing - no consequences at all for his outrageous behavior. My surprise is that by now, after 2 years, either he truly has broken no laws, or our justice system is truly rigged.
One area in which Trump and the GOP haven’t shown incompetence is in the judiciary. They’ve conveyor-belted judges onto circuit and district courts with extreme efficiency so far.
I have been surprised at the ineptitude of the left.
They write new analytical thinkpieces every day, they whine, they protest, they are indignant and outraged…but Trump and the corporate cronies run circles around them and rob them, smiling and shamelessly, where they stand.
We’re like the emotional spouse without a lawyer, in the meeting with the sociopathic ex spouse who hired the ruthless shark-in-a-suit.
We bring words to a knife fight.
I have been surprised at the ineptitude of the le
The left acts like the emotional spouse without a lawyer, crying that “it’s not fair” in the meeting with the sociopathic ex spouse who hired the ruthless shark-in-a-suit.
The outcome is that the left loses the house and find themselves working two jobs at Walmart.
Writing outraged posts on Straight Dope in their scarce free time…
I think the biggest problem is that the Democrats/left are trying to gain/retain the moral high ground, which for the most part, precludes fighting the Republicans/right with their own tactics.
The problem is, as I see it, that the GOP has pounded the notion that the Democratic party is the party of minorities, deviants and fools, and that their agenda is actively dangerous to what many see as the American way of life, over the course of decades. And somehow, as perplexing as it is to me, they’ve managed to somehow either gin up or co-opt some kind of “real American” nativist personal identity. To many of these people, being Republican/right-wing isn’t some kind of rational decision that they make based on the issues, their opinions on them, and the parties’ stances on them, but rather something different- they identify personally as Republicans in the same way that people identify as a LSU Tiger, or a Baptist, or an Italian-American. It’s a sort of cultural identity that sort of back-forms their opinions on things- rather than having their own opinions and then essentially choosing the party that they most agree with, they already have this identity, and then let the party’s stand form their opinions on it.
Now that they have what many consider the ultimate Republican in office, who doesn’t give a fuck about bipartisanship, politeness, or the feelings of the left or their supporters, they’re drawing on that ingrained attitude to portray the situation as something along these lines:
*
"We know that Trump has his personal pecadilloes, and he’s far from perfect. But he’s also the one guy willing to **really *stick it to the Democrats, unlike most of our feckless congresspeople who collaborate with them. He’s defending our way of life and is on the right side. We need to rally behind him, despite his flaws, or we let the Democrats win."
And I suspect that particular message is part of what has so many GOP congresspeople so seemingly hypnotized and hamstrung against him- if they oppose him, they’re declaring Democrat/left sympathy and lose legitimacy and electability in the eyes of their constituents, who have internalized this identity and swallowed the “Democrats = danger” bait, hook and all.
Ultimately, it’s going to come down to that set of people who haven’t internalized this whole Conservative identity, and who still make their decisions independently and vote based on how the parties align with them.
Those who align their views to the party are probably extremely unlikely to change (from either side of the aisle, IMO).
You have a point, bump. The right won the real identity politics, without ever calling it so.
The right also won the hearts and minds of anyone unwilling or unable to read up on scientific minutiae, and inconvenient truths.
I expected big rollbacks of federal gun laws. At least removal of suppressors and SBRs from the NFA. Maybe even a repeal of the NFA.
This. I mean, I didn’t figure he knew much about presidentin’ but to be honest, does anybody who hasn’t done it. I did figure he would realize that and, you know, actually hire the best people to do it for him.
The “best people” don’t want to work for Trump. What would they get out of it, except for a couple of years to line their own pockets?
He has to take what he can get.
But that’s largely because Trump has stayed out of it, basically doing nothing but nominating the people on the list he’s been given by the people who really know what they’re doing.
Pretty much everything else he touches, where he actually make a choice of some sort, he’s managed to make harder. Even the GOP holy grail of tax cuts got delayed because Trump kept insisting on having the rate of the tax cut be a nice round number “that he could sell”.