The New American Politics thread

[Looch City]

"Let them eat cake!"

[KootenayFlamesFan]

Attempting to strike a unifying, presidential tone while commenting Thursday about urban unrest in Charlotte, Donald Trump veered temporarily off-script and attributed the violence — without offering any evidence — to drugs.

"If you're not aware, drugs are a very, very big factor in what you're watching on television," he said.

http://www.politico.com/story/2016/0...arlotte-228531

[Senator Clay Davis]

Might be a record for Trump here

Sam LevineVerified account‏@srl
Trump denies he claimed drugs contributing to Charlotte protests
"That was never said, you know that."

https://twitter.com/srl/status/779050448938557442

[afc wimbledon]

Originally Posted by Senator Clay Davis

Might be a record for Trump here



https://twitter.com/srl/status/779050448938557442

Hey maybe Trumping can become a new verb, 'oh man I was just Trumping with you, you can't take that crap seriously'

[Jacks]

She further charged, “You’ve had the same schools everybody else went to. You had benefits to go to college that white kids didn’t have. You had all the advantages and didn’t take advantage of it. It’s not our fault, certainly.”

Miller also referred to the Black Lives Matter movement as "a stupid waste of time" and suggested lower voter turnout among blacks has to do with "the way they were raised.

How anyone involved in politics could be so stupid as to say that is mind boggling. Even if they believe it to be true it's just stupid to say it. Amateur hour.

[PostandIn]

Originally Posted by afc wimbledon

Hey maybe Trumping can become a new verb, 'oh man I was just Trumping with you, you can't take that crap seriously'

There's already a term that fits most of what Trump says, it's called ''Greenwalding'.

http://www.urbandictionary.com/defin...m=greenwalding

[nik-]

That isn't really the same thing at all.

I think it would be more like this

http://www.urbandictionary.com/defin...&defid=5540220

except with more malicious intent

[Senator Clay Davis]

What started out as "I can't, I'm under audit" has become...



https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Cs-x0mWWIAAP70Y.jpg

[KootenayFlamesFan]

Federal Election Commission records show that the U.S. Secret Service has paid the Trump campaign about $1.6 million to cover the cost of flying its agents with the candidate on a plane owned and operated by one of his companies.

It’s standard practice for the agency — which is tasked with protecting presidential candidates as well as presidents and other federal officials — to reimburse presidential campaigns for the cost of traveling with the candidates.

In fact, the Secret Service has reimbursed the Clinton campaign, too: $2.6 million so far this cycle.

The difference with Trump is that one of his companies, TAG Air, Inc., owns the plane, so the government is effectively paying him.

The Clinton campaign, by contrast, mostly has been chartering planes from a private company called Executive Fliteways in which the Clintons do not have any ownership interest.

http://www.politico.com/story/2016/0...ayments-228553

[Senator Clay Davis]

I wonder why Republicans only get 5% of the black vote.....

U.S. Rep. Robert Pittenger says the violence in Charlotte stems from protesters who “hate white people because white people are successful and they’re not.”

Pittenger is a Republican whose district includes parts of the city where protests have turned violent in the wake of a police shooting of a black man.

Pittenger appeared on a BBC TV news program Thursday and made the statement when asked to describe the “grievance” of the people protesting.

“The grievance in their minds – the animus, the anger – they hate white people because white people are successful and they’re not,” said Pittenger, who then went on to criticize people who receive welfare.

“It is a welfare state. We have spent trillions of dollars on welfare, and we’ve put people in bondage, so they can’t be all they’re capable of being.”

http://www.newsobserver.com/news/pol...#storylink=cpy

The clip

https://twitter.com/BBCNewsnight/sta...rc=twsrc%5Etfw

[KootenayFlamesFan]

They're lucky they even get 5%.

[GGG]

Originally Posted by KootenayFlamesFan

http://www.politico.com/story/2016/0...ayments-228553

This is only a conflict if the rate being charged by Trumps Campaign is not roughly what the equivalent private company plane would charge. On the face its non news.

Though trumps Spending business throughout the campaign is amazing and rather brilliant.

[Lanny_McDonald]

Originally Posted by GGG

This is only a conflict if the rate being charged by Trumps Campaign is not roughly what the equivalent private company plane would charge. On the face its non news.

Though trumps Spending business throughout the campaign is amazing and rather brilliant.

I appreciate that Trump is not a public employee, but he is running for the highest public employee job in the land, so I would expect him to follow the ethics rules that public employees are expected to abide by. Most states have ethical standards and rules that employees have to follow. Some call it ethics, some call it stewardship. To those who work in the public sector what Trump is doing is a gross conflict of interest. You are not to be involved in a contract decision, or award, if you hold interest or own a company in the competition. Failure to disclose these relationships is grounds for discipline, up to and including termination. The fact that Trump is using all of his own companies, and over-billing to the level he is, definitely falls under conflict of interest by most standards set at all levels of government. If this is any indication, I can't imagine the conflicts he will ignore if he finds his way into office.

[GGG]

Originally Posted by New Era

I appreciate that Trump is not a public employee, but he is running for the highest public employee job in the land, so I would expect him to follow the ethics rules that public employees are expected to abide by. Most states have ethical standards and rules that employees have to follow. Some call it ethics, some call it stewardship. To those who work in the public sector what Trump is doing is a gross conflict of interest. You are not to be involved in a contract decision, or award, if you hold interest or own a company in the competition. Failure to disclose these relationships is grounds for discipline, up to and including termination. The fact that Trump is using all of his own companies, and over-billing to the level he is, definitely falls under conflict of interest by most standards set at all levels of government. If this is any indication, I can't imagine the conflicts he will ignore if he finds his way into office.

In General I agree with what your saying but until elected its permissible in my opinion. To me prior to being elected it only crosses the line when the fees charged are in excess of the market value of the items. In this case is plane bill looks reasonable relative to Clintons without a detailed comparison of trips.

This is part of the covering trump problem. Attack for things he is guilty of not things that are essentially just politics as usual. It's kind of like Clintons foundation stuff is a red herring and the email stuff outside of her pot handling of classified materials is irrelevant.

[KootenayFlamesFan]

The Republican presidential nominee suggested that the “NBC Nightly News” anchor be a moderator, not a fact-checker, a recommendation that comes after NBC’s Matt Lauer faced intense criticism earlier this month after allowing Trump’s assertion that he didn’t support the Iraq War go unchecked.

“Well, I think he has to be a moderator,” Trump told “Fox and Friends” of Holt during a phone interview Thursday morning. “I mean, you’re debating somebody and if she makes a mistake or I make a mistake, I’ll, you know, we’ll take each other on. But I certainly don’t think you want Candy Crowley again.”

Crowley, who moderated a 2012 debate at Hofstra University, where Trump and Clinton will square off Monday, attempted to fact check then-GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney, who said it took President Barack Obama 14 days to call the attack in Benghazi, Libya, an “act of terror.”

“And she turned out to be wrong. I really don’t think you want that,” Trump said. “That was a very pivotal moment in that debate. And it really threw the debate off and it was unfair. So I don’t think you want that. No, I think you have to have somebody that’s just — let them argue it out.”

http://www.politico.com/story/2016/0...#ixzz4Kz5KqZ2u

During any 'normal' election I could see his point, but when you have someone that lies as much as Trump does I think he needs to be called out by the moderator.

[Coach]

It's unfair to be fact checked in a (what is supposed to be) debate of facts?

[AltaGuy]

I truly believe that the only reason Trump is not publishing his tax returns is because he only made like $37.25 last year.

If his tax returns showed him making $100M plus, he'd be wearing them on his tshirts. And that's even if they showed all sorts of shady/illegal/mind-numbingly awful things. If the returns showed him making 100M of which 99M came from Putin, I think he'd still share them.

But I suspect he only made $37.25, so he'll never budge.

[Iowa_Flames_Fan]

Originally Posted by GGG

In General I agree with what your saying but until elected its permissible in my opinion. To me prior to being elected it only crosses the line when the fees charged are in excess of the market value of the items. In this case is plane bill looks reasonable relative to Clintons without a detailed comparison of trips.

This is part of the covering trump problem. Attack for things he is guilty of not things that are essentially just politics as usual. It's kind of like Clintons foundation stuff is a red herring and the email stuff outside of her pot handling of classified materials is irrelevant.

I kind of disagree. I can appreciate the distinction you've made (market value vs. overcharging) but in this case it appears that Trump is using campaign contributions to line the coffers of businesses he owns, and is NOT spending as much money as donors (I think) have a right to expect on things like TV ads or building a campaign infrastructure.

When a candidate accepts millions in donations, and then funnels those donations into his own companies, that is sleazy and unethical. I don't think it really matters at that point whether he is also overcharging for the services those companies provide.

[the_only_turek_fan]

Originally Posted by Senator Clay Davis

I wonder why Republicans only get 5% of the black vote.....



http://www.newsobserver.com/news/pol...#storylink=cpy

The clip

https://twitter.com/BBCNewsnight/sta...rc=twsrc%5Etfw

That's appalling. Seriously.

[Lanny_McDonald]

Originally Posted by GGG

In General I agree with what your saying but until elected its permissible in my opinion. To me prior to being elected it only crosses the line when the fees charged are in excess of the market value of the items. In this case is plane bill looks reasonable relative to Clintons without a detailed comparison of trips.

This is part of the covering trump problem. Attack for things he is guilty of not things that are essentially just politics as usual. It's kind of like Clintons foundation stuff is a red herring and the email stuff outside of her pot handling of classified materials is irrelevant.

I don't disagree with what you are saying, but I just look back at the 2012 election and the questions of propriety about Mitt Romney holding all of his events at Marriott hotels, in a way funneling money back to the Mormon church. That was considered questionable at the time. Compared to what Trump is doing, that was nothing, as Romney wasn't directly affiliated with the Marriott hotel chain at the time (he was a past board member though). Trump learned from Romney and using his campaign to pad the books at as many of his companies as he can. Not illegal, but pretty questionable from an ethical standpoint. It does completely fall in line with his character and how he has used his charitable foundation as well, so it likely shouldn't be surprising.