PGT: President-Elect Donald J Trump

[squiggs96]

Originally Posted by PepsiFree

Yeah, Obama was an incredibly average President.

How can you be incredibly average? Is that the opposite of normally average?

[HockeyIlliterate]

Originally Posted by MoneyGuy

Speaking of Obama and a bit off topic but what do folks think of Obama's performance as president? I know an American who thinks he's the devil or something.

I'd say that he was slightly better than most of the Presidents that we've had over the past 50-years.

Domestically, he probably won't get the credit that he deserves for getting out of the great recession, and the ACA (which could have been so much better!) will likely be his defining domestic achievement and it isn't long for this world...

On the foreign front, Gitmo is still open, he still uses drones to kill at will, and the US is still mired in foreign entanglements. Sure, he authorized the killing of Bin Ladin, but I honestly can't recall a great foreign affairs accomplishment that he's personally led.

Politically, his party is in disarray, and it is hard to see how he isn't (or wasn't) at the center of the dysfunction. From continually losing seats in Congress, to having a Sec of State who willfully violated government policy---it is all a bit of a mess.

There was so much to hope wrapped up in Obama, but ultimately, I rather doubt that many of his supporters' hopes came true. I'm sure that the majority of Americans like him personally---and that counts for a lot---but hope only gets you so far after 8 years.

[calgaryblood]

Obama care alone makes him above average.

[PepsiFree]

Originally Posted by Senator Clay Davis

Saying Obama was average is obviously deeply selling him short.

That's true. I suppose my definition of average is sort of stupid, i'll reframe it: I think he did a good job, not a great one, but even a good job is better than most Presidents can say.

I view the quality of his work as what should be the average, but maybe above what is.

[DuffMan]

Considering how much obstruction he had to deal with I'm surprised he got anything done, let alone, all of the good things he did get done.

[MoneyGuy]

My American friend is a Bible-thumping, gun-toting Alabaman. If I see a thread in my Facebook feed about Obama I know he's there saying things like worst president ever and even worse crap than that. I think there is intense hatred in the south for Obama and, I hate to say it, but some of it is racial. I'm actually almost a little surprised that no one has made an attempt on Obama's life over these eight years given what I've read. I don't know enough about American politics to counter what my wing nut friend says so these opinions are useful. I'm not sure I want to engage the guy anyway. By the way, he's not alone in those views. It looks like many southerners share his views.

[DuffMan]

Originally Posted by MoneyGuy

My American friend is a Bible-thumping, gun-toting Alabaman. If I see a thread in my Facebook feed about Obama I know he's there saying things like worst president ever and even worse crap than that. I think there is intense hatred in the south for Obama and, I hate to say it, but some of it is racial. I'm actually almost a little surprised that no one has made an attempt on Obama's life over these eight years given what I've read. I don't know enough about American politics to counter what my wing nut friend says so these opinions are useful. I'm not sure I want to engage the guy anyway. By the way, he's not alone in those views. It looks like many southerners share his views.

yep,

(CNN) — A West Virginia county employee who was suspended after posting racist remarks about first lady Michelle Obama will soon be back at her job.
Pamela Ramsey Taylor, director of the Clay County Development Corporation, is scheduled to return to work December 23 after being suspended from her job for six weeks, according to the Charleston Gazette-Mail.
Taylor caused a nationwide uproar last month with her ugly comments on Facebook.
"It will be so refreshing to have a classy, beautiful, dignified First Lady back in the White House. I'm tired of seeing a (sic) Ape in heels," Taylor said, according to a screengrab obtained by CNN affiliate WSAZ.
The post cost Clay Mayor Beverly Whaling her job. She resigned November 16 after she commented on Taylor's original post, saying: "Just made my day Pam," according to a screengrab. Both posts were deleted, but not before they were shared hundreds of times.

[Drak]

Originally Posted by calgaryblood

Obama care alone makes him above average.

The auto bailout - saving us from a huge depression, snuffing out Bin Laden etc. are also pretty high up there.

[Flash Walken]

Originally Posted by MoneyGuy

My American friend is a Bible-thumping, gun-toting Alabaman. If I see a thread in my Facebook feed about Obama I know he's there saying things like worst president ever and even worse crap than that. I think there is intense hatred in the south for Obama and, I hate to say it, but some of it is racial. I'm actually almost a little surprised that no one has made an attempt on Obama's life over these eight years given what I've read. I don't know enough about American politics to counter what my wing nut friend says so these opinions are useful. I'm not sure I want to engage the guy anyway. By the way, he's not alone in those views. It looks like many southerners share his views.

American white supremacists are almost universally lazy cowards, so it's not so surprising to me.

[RougeUnderoos]

In a year or two, Obama will be remembered like he's Abraham Lincoln simply because he wasn't a constant source of embarrassment and loudly, proudly ignorant.

[Lanny's Moustache]

Originally Posted by Drak

The auto bailout - saving us from a huge depression, snuffing out Bin Laden etc. are also pretty high up there.

Nah, the entire depression was his fault! Just ask Fox News?

And Bin Laden was never brought back and properly identified. They just took a crappy pic and threw the body into the ocean.

Seriously though that black lady on Outnumbered on Fox New could wake up in the middle of the night and look out her bedroom window to see the KKK lynching blacks from her front yard tee, close the drapes and go back to sleep. Next day she'd talked about racism being a myth in the US and how Jesus and Santa are both white.

They are some bizarre sort of crazy.

Though there is one guy there who clearly is a Republican but HATES Drumpf and fears for his country.

[wwkayaker]

Originally Posted by DuffMan

Considering how much obstruction he had to deal with I'm surprised he got anything done, let alone, all of the good things he did get done.

DARK MONEY: THE HIDDEN HISTORY OF THE BILLIONAIRES BEHIND THE RISE OF THE RADICAL RIGHT

I have been reading this book and it really opened my eyes to just how much USA politics are truly for sale. The obstruction Obama faced is unprecedented; no other president had to deal with the money and political landscape Obama endured. The behind the scenes influence by billionaires intent on pushing their own agendas is both astonishing and discomforting.

[activeStick]

It's remarkable how juvenile Trump comes across in his statements, interviews and Twitter.

[Lanny_McDonald]

Originally Posted by wwkayaker

DARK MONEY: THE HIDDEN HISTORY OF THE BILLIONAIRES BEHIND THE RISE OF THE RADICAL RIGHT

I have been reading this book and it really opened my eyes to just how much USA politics are truly for sale. The obstruction Obama faced is unprecedented; no other president had to deal with the money and political landscape Obama endured. The behind the scenes influence by billionaires intent on pushing their own agendas is both astonishing and discomforting.

That is a great book for the modern context, but if you want to know what sent us on this path you can read Funding Fathers which speaks to the beginning of the new right and how they were built up and with whose money. The connections between Paul Weyrich and Joseph Coors is fascinating, especially their involvement with Reagan. Great read and very educational.

[Fozzie_DeBear]

...it will be interesting to see what happens with the 'Occupy' movement over the coming years...that energy is still there.

[DuffMan]

lol

Paula White, the televangelist who will pray at President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration, has a scandal-ridden past almost as shocking as that of the incoming commander-in-chief.
Like so many preachers, White earned her wealth by encouraging her listeners to donate “seed money” to her ministry. If they did so, White promised, God would repay their generosity by making them rich in their own right.
“I feel impressed of the Lord to ask you to do something that I believe will create a memory in the mind of God and this will change your future,” White’s website proclaims. “I want you to give a seed offering that I call a ‘Gratitude’ seed. This is an extremely powerful seed for you . . . especially at this time in your life.”

[FunkMasterFlame]

If you are going to quote news articles, please include the source link.

[photon]

Sanctions against Russia announced:

http://thehill.com/policy/national-s...ions-on-russia
http://www.politico.com/story/2016/1...n-hacks-233034
https://www.treasury.gov/resource-ce.../20161229.aspx

Also 35 Russian diplomats are being ejected from the US though it's not sure if that's related or not, Reuters says it's not.

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-us...-idUSKBN14I1TY

[Johnny199r]

Originally Posted by Fozzie_DeBear

...it will be interesting to see what happens with the 'Occupy' movement over the coming years...that energy is still there.

What did the occupy movement accomplish?

Trump doesn't strike me as the type of fellow who would care about people protesting him.

[photon]

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/29/us...sanctions.html

The Obama administration struck back at Russia on Thursday for its efforts to influence the 2016 election, ejecting 35 Russian intelligence operatives from the United States and imposing sanctions on Russia’s two leading intelligence services, including four top officers of the military intelligence unit the White House believes ordered the attacks on the Democratic National Committee and other political organizations.

In a sweeping set of announcements, the United States was also expected to release evidence linking the cyberattacks to computer systems used by Russian intelligence. Taken together, the actions would amount to the strongest American response ever taken to a state-sponsored cyberattack aimed at the United States.

The sanctions were also intended to box in President-elect Donald J. Trump. Mr. Trump has consistently cast doubt that the Russian government had anything to do with the hacking of the D.N.C. or other political institutions, saying American intelligence agencies could not be trusted and suggesting that the hacking could have been the work of a “400-pound guy” lying in his bed.

Mr. Trump will now have to decide whether to lift the sanctions on the Russian intelligence agencies when he takes office next month, with Republicans in Congress among those calling for a public investigation into Russia’s actions. Should Mr. Trump do so, it would require him to effectively reject the findings of his intelligence agencies.