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

[Puppet Guy]

Originally Posted by dash_pinched

[REDVAN]

Originally Posted by DuffMan

I wonder what would happen if someone told Trump that Bannon is smarter than him

Where do you get the idea Trump thinks he's the smartest man in the White House?

I agree he has a huge ego, but I doubt he got to be where he is without acknowledging that he isn't the smartest person in the world.

His strength is using smart people to his advantage. This is how he's been "successful" in his various business/publicity stunts.

The trouble with him being President is that most of the smart people he's using right now have very disagreeable positions on most- if not all- topics. And Trump's big mistake is trusting these people so blindly due to them being "experts".

Edit: when in fact, I think most here on this board would say, these people he's surrounded himself with aren't experts. But they are "smart" people, and Trump has chosen them to advice/work with. Whether they are all that smart in the end is the big debate, as they certainly aren't experienced in politics and these first few weeks have made them all (Trump especially) look very foolish.

[octothorp]

Originally Posted by Senator Clay Davis

Bannon knows how to manipulate Trump better than anyone else in the White House. He knows how specifically to stroke Trump's ego to get Trump on his side. Bannon's problem now though is he's getting too much profile, which is partially his own fault from his "media is the opposition party" blurb. As long as his profile keeps going up, he's destined to fall as Trump can't stand someone getting more attention.

If we assume (and we shouldn't, but for the sake of argument) that the rumours of Trump being angry at not being fully briefed about the executive order are true, then that really shows just how powerful Bannon is right now. If your supposed most trusted advisor makes an obvious power-grab by the power of your signature and doesn't fully inform you of the situation, that would be a clear reason to turf that advisor immediately. Or, if politically necessary, keep him on but find other ways to sideline him internally. It's one level of power to be in position to deceive the president; it's another level entirely to know that your deceits will go unpunished even when uncovered.

I don't think removing Bannon from his positions of authority is a decision Trump would make on his own; Bannon has probably been successful in cultivating a fear in Trump that he couldn't survive without Bannon. Trump would probably also fear how removing Bannon only confirms rumours that he had been used all along. An intervention from Trump's family might be necessary, as they're the only other people that likely have a similar level of trust. But I'm not sure Ivanka and Kushner really want to get into that power struggle right now, as to lose it would leave them on the outside; it may be better for them to wait until Bannon's reputation sinks further.

[direwolf]

Watching Trump's live press conference on CBC. My god, it's painful. I don't know why I do this to myself. But like a car accident, I just can't look away.

[Senator Clay Davis]

Originally Posted by octothorp

If we assume (and we shouldn't, but for the sake of argument) that the rumours of Trump being angry at not being fully briefed about the executive order are true, then that really shows just how powerful Bannon is right now. If your supposed most trusted advisor makes an obvious power-grab by the power of your signature and doesn't fully inform you of the situation, that would be a clear reason to turf that advisor immediately. Or, if politically necessary, keep him on but find other ways to sideline him internally. It's one level of power to be in position to deceive the president; it's another level entirely to know that your deceits will go unpunished even when uncovered.

I don't think removing Bannon from his positions of authority is a decision Trump would make on his own; Bannon has probably been successful in cultivating a fear in Trump that he couldn't survive without Bannon. Trump would probably also fear how removing Bannon only confirms rumours that he had been used all along. An intervention from Trump's family might be necessary, as they're the only other people that likely have a similar level of trust. But I'm not sure Ivanka and Kushner really want to get into that power struggle right now, as to lose it would leave them on the outside; it may be better for them to wait until Bannon's reputation sinks further.

Bannon of course holds the biggest piece of leverage right now: Breitbart. What happens to Trump if Breitbart turns on him? If he fires Bannon, that's pretty much guaranteed to happen. And that's why the GOP Congress is so afraid of going against Trump currently (i.e. President Bannon), because they don't want to get primary-ed. With Breitbart having huge sway on the base, to the point it could easily start ousting GOP establishment members through primary-ing, Bannon has everyone scared right now.

[Drak]

Bannon works for Putin, and has the tapes?

[longsuffering]

Originally Posted by peter12

Then we will keep seeing people across the political spectrum engage in a type of Kremlinology as they attempt to decipher the many crypto-conspiracies of the Trump administration.

"Liberals on the Edge of a Nervous Breakdown"

So what's your point smart guy?

Rather than mocking people for "Kremlinology", what's your solution?

Should the world just trust that Trump and his team of misfits is going to do the right thing?

There's been zero evidence that is going to happen.

[Nufy]

Originally Posted by DuffMan

I wonder what would happen if someone told Trump that Bannon is smarter than him

I will wait for the eventual SNL sketch...

[Senator Clay Davis]

Speaking of Bannon being in charge, at 6:10am EST this morning, Morning Joe dropped "Maybe Bannon is calling the shots". At 7:07am EST, we get this.



For someone who spends all his time complaining about SNL and fake news, he certainly makes sure to watch as much of both as he can.

[photon]

Originally Posted by direwolf

Watching Trump's live press conference on CBC. My god, it's painful. I don't know why I do this to myself. But like a car accident, I just can't look away.

Trump said during the speech that the media is deliberately ignoring and not reporting terrorist attacks because "they have their reasons and you understand that."

More on the funny side Spicer said that SNL has crossed over from funny to mean, and that that's unfortunate. Trump's being mean on twitter is refreshing and he's speaking his mind though.

[peter12]

Originally Posted by longsuffering

So what's your point smart guy?

Rather than mocking people for "Kremlinology", what's your solution?

Should the world just trust that Trump and his team of misfits is going to do the right thing?

There's been zero evidence that is going to happen.

Just calm down, and take the long view.

[polak]

Originally Posted by Senator Clay Davis

Speaking of Bannon being in charge, at 6:10am EST this morning, Morning Joe dropped "Maybe Bannon is calling the shots". At 7:07am EST, we get this.



For someone who spends all his time complaining about SNL and fake news, he certainly makes sure to watch as much of both as he can.

And this is coming from the President of the United States.

Just embarrassing.

Say what you want about Trudeau, Notley, Nenshi or any other politician in Canadian history but at least theY carry themselves as adults and have a basic understanding of media and professional communications training.

[Flash Walken]

I call my own shots. I'm a big boy. I put my big boy pants on every morning! I cut my own meat with a knife!

I wipe my own ass!

[DuffMan]

Originally Posted by REDVAN

Where do you get the idea Trump thinks he's the smartest man in the White House?

Oh, I don't know, maybe it was the 50 or 60 times, he's mentioned it.

[CorsiHockeyLeague]

Originally Posted by Senator Clay Davis

Bannon of course holds the biggest piece of leverage right now: Breitbart. What happens to Trump if Breitbart turns on him?

Seriously, for all the play it's gotten in the media since the election, I really find it hard to believe that there are that many people reading Breitbart. Even with the increase in circulation that their competitors seem desperate to hand them. I don't think this is a major threat to Trump's hold over his base.

[peter12]

If we are talking about raw intelligence, I don't see how anyone could doubt that Donald Trump doesn't have at least above-average intelligence. Impossible to do what he has done with the median intelligence of the average voter.

[peter12]

Originally Posted by CorsiHockeyLeague

Seriously, for all the play it's gotten in the media since the election, I really find it hard to believe that there are that many people reading Breitbart. Even with the increase in circulation that their competitors seem desperate to hand them. I don't think this is a major threat to Trump's hold over his base.

3% of Americans get their news from Breitbart.

https://fivethirtyeight.com/features...t-great-again/

[nik-]

Originally Posted by CorsiHockeyLeague

Seriously, for all the play it's gotten in the media since the election, I really find it hard to believe that there are that many people reading Breitbart. Even with the increase in circulation that their competitors seem desperate to hand them. I don't think this is a major threat to Trump's hold over his base.

Some info

https://www.similarweb.com/website/breitbart.com#search

#131 in News and Media sites. Hardly a kingmaker.

[Flash Walken]

Originally Posted by CorsiHockeyLeague

Seriously, for all the play it's gotten in the media since the election, I really find it hard to believe that there are that many people reading Breitbart. Even with the increase in circulation that their competitors seem desperate to hand them. I don't think this is a major threat to Trump's hold over his base.

The problem isn't necessarily Breitbart, it's the impact of devaluaing a national narrative, of a structure of argument.

By devaluing the 'paper of record' (NYTimes) and other mainstream media outlets they've essentially loaded a gun and thrown it up in the air.

That is the problem with betraying the structure, no one is safe from a populist uprising based on inaccurate or even deliberately misleading information.

It's not that Breitbart may run hitpieces as a result, it's that other, emboldened, non-journalists will fabricate information as a result and that can spread like wildfire, outside of the control of spin makers currently in power.

[Plett25]

Originally Posted by peter12

If we are talking about raw intelligence, I don't see how anyone could doubt that Donald Trump doesn't have at least above-average intelligence. Impossible to do what he has done with the median intelligence of the average voter.