The Trump Presidency

[sturg33]

see the jobs numbers above

Was it you who said the middle class had been gutted?

[Julio3000]

Sure. But save. Me the crocodile tears from the left about the fear of Trump not knowing the constitution. It wasn't an issue the last 8 years, why is it now?

Like I said, I think that Trump probably doesn't know the rudiments of how the government functions, much fathom its deeper complexities. You can probably make a decent argument that this matters less than we think, but it does create a situation where the President is depending that much more on the people around him. That requires trusting the President's discernment and intelligence w/r/t to the people he chooses, and I have to think even the biggest Trump homers would have some concerns here.

[57Brave]

it was also I who in July said the Dodgers were the best looking team I had seen in years.
Which has the relevance of the silly comment you made to posting jobs numbers

Yes the middle class has been in decline since the early 1980's. Wemcould look at graphs and charts and explanations of graphs and charts until the cow come home.
This isn't some new idea.
A jobs report from 2 years ago doesn't change that.
Unless that single report becomes a piece of a pattern to reverse the gutting of the middle class. Since 1980
The decline from 2016 to 17 speaks only to the fallacious notion that Trump has taken a weak jobs market and turned it around.
Numbers tell a different story


Sturg, it is becoming more and more apparent, you have nothing to say.

[sturg33]

Sigh. I'm sad that people like you make so many decisions in this country

[Julio3000]

Yeah, there are some strange blind spots here.

The pace of job growth has slowed because we're at full employment.

How'd we get to full employment?

During the Obama Depression, apparently. Seems like we'd have been too busy boiling shoe leather to eat and running around saving our relatives from death panels.

[sturg33]

Like I said, I think that Trump probably doesn't know the rudiments of how the government functions, much fathom its deeper complexities. You can probably make a decent argument that this matters less than we think, but it does create a situation where the President is depending that much more on the people around him. That requires trusting the President's discernment and intelligence w/r/t to the people he chooses, and I have to think even the biggest Trump homers would have some concerns here.

I don't think Trump has good judgment at all.

But i think he does less harm than his predecessors because he's involving government less. Honestly if does nothing else in his Presidency, the regulation gutting and tax cuts are a big win.

Hopefully, more horrible government law will be destroyed, but one step at a time

[sturg33]

Yeah, there are some strange blind spots here.

The pace of job growth has slowed because we're at full employment.

How'd we get to full employment?

During the Obama Depression, apparently. Seems like we'd have been too busy boiling shoe leather to eat and running around saving our relatives from death panels.

Honestly I don't give Trump credit for employment numbers.

I'll give him credit for wage increases, cap ex, and GDP growth, and capital gains though

[57Brave]

Sigh. I'm sad that people like you make so many decisions in this country

Tell me more about Gary Johnson

[sturg33]

Tell me more about the retired grandmother

[57Brave]

she got 66M votes but was the victim of a targeted foreign propaganda campaign aimed at Libertarians and Greens.
Her opponent netted 62-3 M

Go read a book

[sturg33]

I'm currently reading "The Innovator's Delemna"

Highly recommended

I'd like to learn more about this targeted foreign propaganda campaign. What was the propaganda?

[57Brave]

there is no such thing as "what was the propaganda"

but of course nuance is brushed over if not totally ignored in pseudo intellectual business manuals.

I am re reading Alice in Wonderland and after that planning of going back through Robert Louis Stevenson

then with baseball season -------------- hoping for recommendations of baseball related books

[57Brave]

this interesting take:


Seth Abramson
‏Verified account @SethAbramson
17m17 minutes ago

Seth Abramson Retweeted Jules

Trump wanted a long-term relationship with Russian business interests and Kremlin officials

so that when he lost he could do what he and Don Jr. always wanted: expand into Russia.

Taking aid helped build a relationship; being seen to be fighting hard to win helped build goodwill.

[57Brave]

Seth Abramson
‏Verified account @SethAbramson
1h1 hour ago

A core truth we've learned from the Wolff book that many are overlooking:

the fact that Trump didn't want or expect to be president means he didn't want

or intend to help ANY of those he claimed to want to help, and instead intended

to leave them with Clinton as their president.

[thethe]

We really need socialized medicine.

[cajunrevenge]

she got 66M votes but was the victim of a targeted foreign propaganda campaign aimed at Libertarians and Greens.
Her opponent netted 62-3 M

Go read a book

Lolololol, what's next, a Russian propoganda campaign to get blacks not to like Jeff Sessions?

[Hawk]

Sigh.

The submarine attack happened in '67, 50 years ago.

The attack I am referring to, on the ROKS Cheonan, happened in 2010.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/20...inking-torpedo
http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/asiapc...ort/index.html

They even made a movie about it:

The deal in Malaysia was on his half brother, fratricide, not genocide.

Same father, different mother. Call them siblings ... or don't. The point remains.

Calling it "a sarin attack" is misleading. It was an assassination.

Actually, I was incorrect. VX nerve gas was used in the assassination.

It's the most deadly chemical agent known to man and is considered a weapon of mass destruction (and thusly, internationally banned.)


So, let's call it a "VX assassination" ... does that straighten things out for you?

Or are you disputing that VX was indeed used in the ___ assassination ____?

https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-...-malaysia-says
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/north-k...-toxic-n725131

Very bad indeed, killing one of their own and further ingraining their already terrible international reputation. Politically it was a Win for the world and a double loss for NK.

And how, exactly, do you arrive at that conclusion?

The North Korean embassy is still open in Malaysia for ****'s sake.

The nuclear tests? I agree. Btw, how many bombs did the U.S. detonate in the South Pacific? The Bikini and Marshall Islands folks are still living in a radioactive dumpsite.

Lol.

Military conscription? Boo hoo.

Spoken like a silly, entitled American who has never been conscribed.

Maybe the U.S. should have it.

Why? Do you have any concept of what it entails?

The Lotte Tower? Okay. Now you made me laugh.

Yes, the well-being of others is truly hilarious.

The humanitarian crisis in NK is apparently real,

Lol. Now this is a funny.

but I say again, what are you going to do about it?

Believe it or not, there are options aside from sitting there with thumbs up asses. I've written about them, at length, in other threads about North Korea. My take in the context of this discussion is irrelevant, because the issue here is that you can't recognize North Korea as a bad actor. We haven't even gotten to the policy yet.

International sanctions are at least partially causing the starvation, just like they were meant to.

No, they are not.

The country has been weakened through sanctions, isolated internationally and their militarization slowed to a crawl.

Are you just making this up because you think it sounds right? North Korea is just as "isolated internationally" as it was in 1953. They have militarized more rapidly (and meaningfully) over the course of the past 5-10 years than at any point in their history.

They are using all their resources for a few pieces of weaponry that may very well already be obsolete.

A nuke is not obsolete. They don't even need an ICBM to carry it for it to be a threat to US interests.

The Iraq War fiasco weakened America's military might and has rendered us incapable of launching another anytime soon.

Hold my coffee.

Yes, they're a rogue state and their every move should be monitored vigilantly, as I said.

We've known this, and done that, for over 50 years.

But short of rolling in the tanks, which we don't have, or putting a mushroom cloud over theｍ, the options are limited.

When all else fails, steal ideas from the Chinese.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/11/w...rder.html?_r=0

Publicly and officially downplay the taunts when you can, and increase international condemnation when you can't.

I'm not sure how you think "international condemnation" can be increased to any greater level.

This is always the best option.

History proves you wrong.

Covertly you do everything you can to find the launch sites and bunkers. I believe they launch from public airports.

We already know exactly where all North Korea's launch sites and bunkers are. And they have dedicated facilities for this type of thing.

String them along. Maybe offer some humanitarian aide to ease the pressure. Here's an idea: send them a boatload of crappy American food and let them deal with obesity and diabetes.

Been there, done that, dude.

"the Japanese ... the Chinese ... the Russians" .... please continue. ....should meet with what's left of our crippled State Dept. and collectively decide what to do about the NK situation? That would be hilarious. Do you really want a President Trump anywhere near a serious international peace negotiation???

I think we'll see Kim visit the White House sometime during Trump's second term.

Your view on this issue is pure partisan cheerleading, hypercritical on Obama while fantasizing that Trump isn't a bumbling bafoon. Obama was very proactive in seeking out terror leadership. A few hundred drone strikes and his capture of Bin Laden say he was aware of that reality.

Lol. Did you really just write that?

[thethe]

Wow at that last point made on Obama.

[thethe]

Keep falling for it guys...

[Hawk]

Out of curiosity, you seem to be well educated on South Korean politics and culture. I have noticed a trend across your posts. Do you have a personal connection to SK? Visit often?

I worked in Seoul, teaching business English to LG salarymen and Asiana flight attendants, for a time between undergrad and grad school. It was the best job (and most fun) I've ever had in my life.

My significant other is a Korean citizen - we met in Seoul a few years ago. I spend about 3 months of the year in East Asia, split between work and personal excursions.

Have you visited Korea?