They should sit for applauding Trump for that, since he has had nothing to do with it. But also because he is pretending that he deserves ALL the credit for 9 years of steady growth. It's a lie (as everything with Trump is) and it's disrespectful to his predecessor, who inherited a catastrophic economy and turned it around.
FFF - BB, BB, 2B, HR, 2B, HR, 1B, BB, BB, 1B, BB, BB, HR
chain migration isn't a term
"For there is always light, if only we are brave enough to see it. If only we are brave enough to be it." Amanda Gorman
"When Fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying a cross"
"The Trump administration continues to display its admirable commitment to corruption, but Dr. Brenda Fitzgerald, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, managed to go a little too far.
The CDC’s mission is to protect public health, including preventing smoking and getting smokers to quit.
So having it come out that the CDC director invested personal money in a tobacco company,
as Fitzgerald did after taking the job, is enough to prompt a resignation even in corruption central"
The best way to stop a bad guy with a gun is to make sure he doesn’t get a gun.
So let me get this straight; Democrats are 'weak and ineffective' on immigration (because they are the minority party, having lost the election), but Republicans can't fill the not weak and effective void because they didn't win the popular vote (and thusly, can't claim popular mandate ... despite being representative of the majority).
...
2-3 and 5-6, I think a lot of liberals would agree with you. Point 1 I guess is where they have the highest hopes of finding common ground with him though I'm not convinced his idea of infrastructure goes beyond the wall. The last part is par for the course for these theatrical productions. He ticked off some stats that have been continuing to trend up since the previous administration. Republicans did the exact same thing during Obama's addresses. I don't pay a whole lot of attention to these.
Last edited by bravesnumberone; 01-31-2018 at 01:35 PM.
I have a narrow objection to the reasoning--which you, Jaw, and thethe have all used, to some extent or other--that America wants hardline immigration policy because Donald Trump won the election. He lost the popular vote to an unpopular candidate who was running a "third term" race. It doesn't strike me as a great place to plant the flag.
As for the rest, I dunno. Seems like a "not weak" and "effective" position could have done a deal fairly expeditiously with the WH and both chambers in their control.
"For there is always light, if only we are brave enough to see it. If only we are brave enough to be it." Amanda Gorman
"When Fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying a cross"
Right, so the relevant question in the poll is about priority. Right now the allocation system is biased towards families. According to this poll, a sizeable majority favors prioritizing skills and education. That's not the same thing as a zero-sum "do you support ending family-based migration." And it's worth noting that even that number is quite fluid depending on how the question is asked.
Trump brought conservative immigration policy to the forefront of the primary process, prevailed in that arena despite his position being incomprehensibly misconstrued (which, given the ideological dynamics of primaries, probably ended up serving him better than his detractors would like to admit), and won the general with a signature association of "build the wall". He fomented the national debate on immigration. And he won (or barely won, or didn't win, or whatever other other denigratory couching of that reality makes you feel better). That doesn't mean that he gets to fashion legislation carte blanche, but it does mean that he gets to inject a healthy dose of conservative ideology into the equation. He's got the mic.
Not weak and effective positions that expeditiously produce legislation (on the back of a super majority) is quite the siren song, but we've just seen the dismantling of the last piece of hallmark legislation enacted using these means.
Jaw (01-31-2018)