Trump's upcoming turnaround

[enipla]

@Mijin

If it’s just about JABS then why not pay millions of Americans to scratch their asses?

Same net benefit, but you haven’t additionally wasted thousands of tons of concrete, steel and asphalt.

And destroyed thousands of square miles of the environment.

[QuickSilver]

Trump’s upcoming turnaround is no more likely than Bannon’s promise of an upcoming reacharound.

[HurricaneDitka]

@QuickSilver

Trump’s upcoming turnaround is no more likely than Bannon’s promise of an upcoming reacharound.

And would you rate that as more or less likely than his victory last November?

[GIGObuster]

@HurricaneDitka

And would you rate either of those events as more or less likely than his victory last November?

A very significant number of the Americans that did vote for Trump are realizing that they were played for.

President Donald Trump Job Approval Ratings and Polls | RealClearPolling

[Little_Nemo]

Trump may be the first President to have an incumbency disadvantage.

[QuickSilver]

@HurricaneDitka

And would you rate that as more or less likely than his victory last November?

I’m done trying to predict last November’s election.

I think things are going from bad to worse. Including for those who support(ed) Trump.

So no, Trump will not pivot to become more presidential or competent, and I think it’s only a matter of time before Bannon & Trump are at one another’s throats.

[Sherrerd]

I’m going to shorten this; it’s unclear whether bone thought I was accusing jshore of being a troll, or accusing the poster to whom jshore was replying of being a troll. I was doing neither, but though the first is unambiguously false, I can now see that it might have looked like I was making insinuations about the 3rd party.

…The comment to jshore was a reference to an actual industry (sometimes called social-media boiler-rooms) and their well-known practice of repeating lies as a tactic of persuasion, for example ‘the Pope endorsed Trump’ back last fall.

Jshore was commenting on the same thing, not performing the tactic, and my comment was of a ‘we’re on the same side in this’ nature. I thought was clear----but perhaps not.

I type this to you not out of any intention of accusing posters of trolling, but to shed further light on the scurrying-in-the-dark habits of paid social-media manipulators. They’re in the same category as viral marketers, of course, but have the darker intention of interfering with elections.

Some useful information on this topic came out of the recent testimony before the Senate Intelligence Committee by Clint Watts:

…He went on to explain how Russia state actors create believable sock puppet accounts by insinuating themselves into the middle of a demographic they wish to influence. Using Wisconsin as an example, Watts described how such an actor would first “inhale” all of the accounts from a given slice of the population, parsing out details so they can then replicate the prevailing qualities in an average account. “They look exactly like you. It looks like an American from the Midwest or the South.”

Senate intel hearing details Russian social media disinformation tactics | TechCrunch

[Try2B_Comprehensive]

@Dinsdale

What do you think? Am I creating monsters in my imagination? PLEASE, convince me that I’m completely off base!

There may be something to it. Imagine one of those epochal, heartwarming oppressed-outsider-finally-gets-his-day kind of moments. Black regiments in various wars. Women’s suffrage. Hear me out.

Trump announces a troop surge in Afghanistan. In an act of maverick genius, he persuades Mattis to allow Neo-Nazi army regiments. Nobody believes in them, they are scrappy underdogs. They get included in the troop surge and perform with distinction! In fact, they defeat the Taliban almost single-handedly.

So then there are the photo ops with the POTUS, smiling with their blond hair and confederate flags. It is explained that most Nazis were really economic or political Nazis (“the State before the Individual”, yes. Kill Jews- no. They can join!). They are unfairly linked to villainous Nazis of the past. “Real” Nazis think Hitler totally did it wrong, that whole thing was a major misunderstanding, and anyway, America owes these boys a debt of gratitude, debt of gratitude.

[septimus]

@GIGObuster

A very significant number of the Americans that did vote for Trump are realizing that they were played for.

President Donald Trump Job Approval Ratings and Polls | RealClearPolling

Your own cite shows an (outlier) 36% approval way back in January. And Hillary was, and probably still is, unpopular.

Some polls break down opinion by party affiliation. The latest shows 67% / 22% among Republicans for a huge ***+***45% net favorability.

Hillary might eke out victory if the election were re-staged today, but she wouldn’t win in a landslide.

[Sherrerd]

@Try2B_Comprehensive

There may be something to it. Imagine one of those epochal, heartwarming oppressed-outsider-finally-gets-his-day kind of moments. Black regiments in various wars. Women’s suffrage. Hear me out.

Trump announces a troop surge in Afghanistan. In an act of maverick genius, he persuades Mattis to allow Neo-Nazi army regiments. Nobody believes in them, they are scrappy underdogs. They get included in the troop surge and perform with distinction! In fact, they defeat the Taliban almost single-handedly.

So then there are the photo ops with the POTUS, smiling with their blond hair and confederate flags. It is explained that most Nazis were really economic or political Nazis (“the State before the Individual”, yes. Kill Jews- no. They can join!). They are unfairly linked to villainous Nazis of the past. “Real” Nazis think Hitler totally did it wrong, that whole thing was a major misunderstanding, and anyway, America owes these boys a debt of gratitude, debt of gratitude.

I suppose nothing’s impossible, but the part I underlined seems to me to be, at the least, wildly unlikely.

[Kolak_of_Twilo]

Something tells me any “turnaround” will be derailed by this story in tomorrow’s New York Times. If McConnell is at the end of his use for Trump, then Trump is in serious trouble.

In a series of tweets this month, Mr. Trump criticized Mr. McConnell publicly, then berated him in a phone call that quickly devolved into a profane shouting match.

During the call, which Mr. Trump initiated on Aug. 9 from his New Jersey golf club, the president accused Mr. McConnell of bungling the health care issue. He was even more animated about what he intimated was the Senate leader’s refusal to protect him from investigations of Russian interference in the 2016 election, according to Republicans briefed on the conversation.

Plus, if the bolded part is accurate, it wouldn’t be all that difficult to see that as another attempt by POTUS to obstruct justice.

That would still be a high crime, right?

More fun stuff from that story:

In offhand remarks, Mr. McConnell has expressed a sense of bewilderment about where Mr. Trump’s presidency may be headed,** and has mused about whether Mr. Trump will be in a position to lead the Republican Party into next year’s elections and beyond**, according to people who have spoken to him directly.

Oopsie daisy! That doesn’t sound good!
tl;dr - Ain’t gonna be no turnaround bitches!!!

[septimus]

I was one of those laughing, stupidly, at the idea that Trump could win the election. I’ve become a believer now. Expect GOP government for the foreseeable future. If this means McConnell et al are thrown from office and their seats taken over by Bannonites, so be it. That’s what the American public wants. Ivanka Trump may be as likely as anyone to succeed her father, and smart liberals may already be rooting for her as a least-of-evils.

@wolfman

You are over estimating the cohesion of the republicans. They are not a monolithic entity …

I’m sure your perspective is valid. But so is the opposite perspective.

Betsy DeVos wants to destroy public education. Only a small minority of the planet’s sentient humanoids would find her an appropriate pick for Secretary of Education, but she was confirmed in the Senate by a vote of 51-2. (This count excludes Democrats, who all voted intelligently.) Scott Pruitt hates the environment and would not be the choice of sentient humanoids. Only one (1) Republican Senator voted against him, so Pruitt now heads the Environmental Destruction Agency.

If this is an incohesive GOP pulling in different directions, I’d hate to imagine what a monolithic GOP would look like.

ETA: If I sound overly alarmist, so be it. A little more alarm was what was needed in 2016.

@igor_frankensteen

Get a health care bill passed? That depends on the exact bill, but given what we’ve seen Congress struggle to do so far, something that got rid of the tax penalties might be a small good thing.

The “tax penalties” are specifically intended to put the “Universal” in “Universal Health Care.” Hasn’t this been explained to you in other threads?

[wolfman]

@septimus

…
Betsy DeVos wants to destroy public education. Only a small minority of the planet’s sentient humanoids would find her an appropriate pick for Secretary of Education, but she was confirmed in the Senate by a vote of 51-2. (This count excludes Democrats, who all voted intelligently.) Scott Pruitt hates the environment and would not be the choice of sentient humanoids. Only one (1) Republican Senator voted against him, so Pruitt now heads the Environmental Destruction Agency.

If this is an incohesive GOP pulling in different directions, I’d hate to imagine what a monolithic GOP would look like.
…

Politically that was eons ago.

[Blue_Blistering_Barnacle]

@kaylasdad99

WTF is the “alt-left?”

I think we can all agree that there is “alt” on many sides. And there is “alt” on both sides.

(or should it be :smack: ?)

[Ann_Hedonia]

@silenus

Trump couldn’t pivot if you shoved a flagpole up his ass and strapped him to a weathervane.

My fervent hope is that Mueller’s investigations grab Pence too. There’s a good chance of that, since Pence was on the inside during the transition and likely knew about all the Russian contacts. We could get a two-fer here.

I wanted to bump this thread to share this story.

I love the headline, even though I’m not quite convinced of the premise.

“The Pivot is Real and It’s Spectacular” ( for those that don’t remember, it’s a Seinfeld reference).

The Pivot Is Real, And It's Spectacular

Now I must admit the events of yesterday took me by surprise. In a way I shouldn’t have been surprised, I’ve often written about how Trump may be the worst negotiator/ deal maker in the known universe. And yesterday did nothing to change that opinion - it makes me think if I could get Trumpie alone in a room I might be able to buy a Trump Tower apartment for a handful of magic beans and a promise to keep the place clean.

But this latest ploy ( you guys are being mean to me so maybe I’ll make Chuck and Nancy my new best friends) is a twist that I didn’t expect in the Republican Civil War. Never a dull moment.

[septimus]

@Ann_Hedonia

I love the headline, even though I’m not quite convinced of the premise.

“The Pivot is Real and It’s Spectacular” ( for those that don’t remember, it’s a Seinfeld reference).

The Pivot Is Real, And It's Spectacular.

I’ve said that Democratic Congresscritters should be eager to deal with Trump, and am glad to see my advice taken!

[off-topic] The linked article makes the following joke(?) reference twice:
*[he knows] Chuck always makes money for his partners.*AFAIK, Schumer was never a businessman. I suppose this is a reference to a similar quote about Hyrum Roth in the film Godfather II. Am I wrong to find the reference rather odd?