American Politics Thread: Orange is the new POTUS (Archive)

[CorsiHockeyLeague]

God damn, this is a good article. The best article. Fantastic.

https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine...ocracy/513872/

By all early indications, the Trump presidency will corrode public integrity and the rule of law—and also do untold damage to American global leadership, the Western alliance, and democratic norms around the world. The damage has already begun, and it will not be soon or easily undone. Yet exactly how much damage is allowed to be done is an open question—the most important near-term question in American politics. It is also an intensely personal one, for its answer will be determined by the answer to another question: What will you do? And you? And you? [...]

Trump and his team count on one thing above all others: public indifference. “I think people don’t care,” he said in September when asked whether voters wanted him to release his tax returns. “Nobody cares,” he reiterated to 60 Minutes in November. Conflicts of interest with foreign investments? Trump tweeted on November 21 that he didn’t believe voters cared about that either: “Prior to the election it was well known that I have interests in properties all over the world. Only the crooked media makes this a big deal!”

What happens in the next four years will depend heavily on whether Trump is right or wrong about how little Americans care about their democracy and the habits and conventions that sustain it. If they surprise him, they can restrain him.

[afc wimbledon]

Originally Posted by Delgar

Martin Luther King Jr. answered, and suggested sticking to the constitution not strawmen.

If Jim Crow hadn't managed to exclude a large segment of US citizens from voting, riding the front of the bus, drinking water or getting an education or having their lynchings investigated properly just like the white folks for damn near a hundred years I might agree with you, saying Martin Luther King is proof the US checks and balances work is like saying the fall of Berlin is proof that the Wiemer Republics constitution was effective.

[chemgear]

So, net neutrality dies tomorrow?

[HockeyIlliterate]

We may soon witness another Saturday Night Massacre. Stay tuned for what happens then.

[CorsiHockeyLeague]

Originally Posted by Red Ice Player

We, the posters who have always despised Trump, figured this out long ago and that's bad? No group convinced me to have the opinion I have. I have frikken eyes as does everyone here. Maybe you should have started paying attention earlier, like we did.

Yeah, this is still a significant problem. As far as I can tell this administration is likely the greatest threat to human flourishing that the world has faced in my lifetime. But having everyone pulling in the same ideological direction with no one raising any objection or question to disturb that momentum is, inevitably, a bad thing.

http://www.spectator.co.uk/2009/07/t...ou-agree-with/

So why do like-minded people go to extremes? The most important reason for group polarisation, which is key to extremism in all its forms, involves the exchange of new information. Group polarisation often occurs because people are telling one another what they know, and what they know is skewed in a predictable direction. When they listen to each other, they move. [...]

Those who lack confidence and who are unsure what they should think tend to moderate their views. Suppose that you are asked what you think about some question on which you lack information. You are likely to avoid extremes. It is for this reason that cautious people, not knowing what to do, tend to choose some midpoint between the extremes. But if other people seem to share their views, people become more confident that they are correct.

As a result, they will probably move in a more extreme direction. What is especially noteworthy is that this process of increased confidence and increased extremism is often occurring simultaneously for all participants.

Mill was right, and science backs him up.

[Flash Walken]

Originally Posted by HockeyIlliterate

We may soon witness another Saturday Night Massacre. Stay tuned for what happens then.

I cant tell if you're a presidential historian or a guy watching the same tv networks the rest of us are.

[Drak]

Doesn't this new AG appointee need senate approval?

[Drak]

Just reading this. Trump dismisses Acting Immigration and Customs Enforcement Director Daniel Ragsdale

[wittynickname]

And the really fun part of this, living in the US?

As of Saturday morning, I got to listen to coworkers and clients talking about what a great job Trump has done so far, how much he's gotten done in just a week.

These people honestly think he's doing good work. They're convinced anything against him is all fake news. You just literally cannot reason with them, they won't hear any of it.

It's incredibly upsetting to be living here among all of this.

[metallicat]

You have scissors in your hand witty - you know what to do.

[afc wimbledon]

Originally Posted by wittynickname

And the really fun part of this, living in the US?

As of Saturday morning, I got to listen to coworkers and clients talking about what a great job Trump has done so far, how much he's gotten done in just a week.

These people honestly think he's doing good work. They're convinced anything against him is all fake news. You just literally cannot reason with them, they won't hear any of it.

It's incredibly upsetting to be living here among all of this.

Sorry, if its any help most of my dimmer British friends think the UK and US are going to rebuild the Empire after Brexit, they're just as stupid.

[Resolute 14]

Originally Posted by wittynickname

And the really fun part of this, living in the US?

As of Saturday morning, I got to listen to coworkers and clients talking about what a great job Trump has done so far, how much he's gotten done in just a week.

These people honestly think he's doing good work. They're convinced anything against him is all fake news. You just literally cannot reason with them, they won't hear any of it.

It's incredibly upsetting to be living here among all of this.

If if helps, America is basically turning into Russia in that regard.

Well, I guess that doesn't really help after all.

[DuffMan]

Just heard a really good point.
Trump isn't interested in running a smooth government. He's interested in breaking the government and bringing it down. He basically said so when he was campaigning, and for sure his string puller Bannon, has definitely said that's what he wants.
Good choice America.

[afc wimbledon]

I have a theory that all of this is predicated on western, mostly English speaking fear of the end of anglo dominance of the world and the rise of the first eastern dominant economy in 500 years.

[Minnie]

Originally Posted by wittynickname

And the really fun part of this, living in the US?

As of Saturday morning, I got to listen to coworkers and clients talking about what a great job Trump has done so far, how much he's gotten done in just a week.

These people honestly think he's doing good work. They're convinced anything against him is all fake news. You just literally cannot reason with them, they won't hear any of it.

It's incredibly upsetting to be living here among all of this.

My US family are practically licking his taint sweat, they love him so much. I can't even speak to them right now, because it would not end well.

[Drak]

Originally Posted by Minnie

My US family are practically licking his taint sweat, they love him so much. I can't even speak to them right now, because it would not end well.

I'm in the same boat with my inlaws. Really, really dumb people.

[CaptainCrunch]

Originally Posted by oilers_fan

Maybe there should be economic sanctions on the US at this point. He just fired the acting attorney general? Wow. I'm white, and I'm not going anywhere near the US until Trump is out of power.

What Canadian Sanctions, it would take the US a week to completely crush our economy.

Or UN sanctions, all that would happen would be the US withdrawing its funding or evicting the UN from American soil.

Why would we give Trump an excuse to impose his insanity on us.

As much as I hate to say it, there's not much we can do except accepting refugees that are denied from the States, my main concern is obviously cost and support of the refugees, as our system is already stretched to the limit.

Normally I would say yeah lets fight, but at the end of the day the greatest harm would come to this country.

I don't think you can cross this president more then once.

[Kjesse]

Originally Posted by afc wimbledon

If Jim Crow hadn't managed to exclude a large segment of US citizens from voting, riding the front of the bus, drinking water or getting an education or having their lynchings investigated properly just like the white folks for damn near a hundred years I might agree with you, saying Martin Luther King is proof the US checks and balances work is like saying the fall of Berlin is proof that the Wiemer Republics constitution was effective.

(I'm not a Trump supporter.)

The proof is, MLK jr won in the end, even though his life was part of the price. One author wrote this recently about his famous speech (from http://www.nationalreview.com/corner...n-fred-bauer):

"On that summer afternoon 50 years ago, King sought to remind the United States of a higher, better purpose: to be a republic of law toward the protection of individual dignity and the promotion of freedom. He recalled the commitments of the Declaration and the Constitution, and he conjured a vision of the possibilities of the United States — the hope of individual emancipation from the dogma of collective racial imprisonment and the aspiration of individuals working toward the good in a freer, fairer world."

I'm not advocating that Trump should not be attacked. I am alarmed at much of what he has done so far, especially the travel ban, but because the constitution matters, I expect to see that his so-called executive orders are going to be scrutinized by the judiciary and by congress, and that the ideals of the constitution will be upheld.

Notwithstanding the implications of the travel ban, I remain of the idea that what he is doing needs to be looked at carefully and without pitchforks. His election demonstrates there is a deep unsettled undercurrent in the USA now rising to the popular side of politics, and the reasons this has happened need to be assessed and addressed. Simply bashing Trump does not address the core problem, whatever it is. That problem led to Trump's election.

[Senator Clay Davis]

Times like these, we need ruthless Twitter comments to help us laugh. Newt goes with this...

Newt GingrichVerified account
‏@newtgingrich
Trump practiced "you're fired for years". Today he applied it to an insubordinate acting atty general. Congratulations.

Ruthless response...

JoeMyGodVerified account
‏@JoeMyGod
@newtgingrich Does it feel like when you fired your wife for having cancer?

https://twitter.com/JoeMyGod/status/826266232034885632

[wittynickname]

Originally Posted by Minnie

My US family are practically licking his taint sweat, they love him so much. I can't even speak to them right now, because it would not end well.

That is one hell of a visual right there. As awful as everything is right now, this made me actually laugh out loud.

I'm trying to find whatever good that's possible right now, and hoping that all of this works out in the end. This neverending sense of dread is getting pretty old.