The Trump Presidency

[thethe]

yes to a degree it is circumstance.
Economic trends have been moving upwards for close to a decade

Read between the lines on Korea. Let me add we still don't know what was traded away
Saudi Arabia modernization ?

In the midst of Watergate Nixon opened relations with China.
While executing the Viet Nam War LBJ passed monumental social legislation.
During the occupation of Iraq W signed legislation banning telemarketers from calling during dinner

My thinking is the last tangible foreign policy success was The Marshall Plan
Over 70 years ago.

What a fascinating reply. The American people are disagreeing with this viewpoint as shown in recent polling data. But of course that data will be thrown away.

[57Brave]

Polling data had W at over 65% after the invasion of Iraq.

The poll I saw you and Tikiboi fawn over yesterday was a product of the Mercer Family

To reiterate, I see no tangible hands on success'. Lots of promises but nothing anyone can put their hands on.

As foreign policy works:
Let's pick this up 5-10 years after Korean re unification. Remember when people were so elated at the fall of Mommar Qaddafi ?
Let's pick this up after Saudi Arabia has actually taken he veil off of their women. Remember Mission Accomplished

I won't bore you with all of the positive spin BS surrounding Viet Nam.
Polls showed that popular too.
Until it wasn't

[57Brave]

LOLGOP
‏ @LOLGOP
30m30 minutes ago

LOLGOP Retweeted Glenn Kessler

Skyrocketing gas prices, disastrous war in the Middle East,

millions uninsured, trillions transferred to the richest...

We shouldn't have to remind ourselves not to do this every eight years.

[nsacpi]

Federal Deficit (2017 is actual, other years are CBO projections)

2017 665B
2018 804B
2019 981B
2021 1008B

Easy to gin up the economy if you blow a yuge hole in federal finances.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch we have the following for the price of oil (West Texas Intermediate)

December 2016 $52.09 per barrel
December 2017 $57.86 per barrel
May 7, 2018 $70.67 per barrel

In part due to rising prices, real compensation per hour fell 0.4% in 2017.

maga

[Julio3000]

In all seriousness though; you guys gotta decide if Cohen is an idiot or a dark arts savant.

It doesn’t work both ways.

I don't think he's a dark arts savant. He is pretty obviously a crook, though. This is not a mind-bending logic puzzle.

[57Brave]

Palmer Report
‏Verified account @PalmerReport

Donald Trump has now been caught using privately hired goons

to dig up dirt on former Obama administration officials. Trump has recently

hinted that he has dirt on two Senators.

What kind of gestapo bull**** is Trump running here?

[nsacpi]

I don't think he's a dark arts savant. He is pretty obviously a crook, though. This is not a mind-bending logic puzzle.

Grifter. Neither especially dumb nor especially smart. But used to operating in a way that will not stand up to close scrutiny. That is the problem with many people around Trump, including Trump himself and his children. They have operated their businesses in a way that will be problematic when subjected to close scrutiny.

Moral of the story: If you are planning on holding high public office arrange your affairs in a manner that can withstand the scrutiny that comes with holding high public office. Because that scrutiny will come.

[Julio3000]

Grifter. Neither especially dumb nor especially smart. But used to operating in a way that will not stand up to close scrutiny. That is the problem with many people around Trump, including Trump himself and his children. They have operated their businesses in a way that will be problematic when subjected to close scrutiny.

Moral of the story: If you are planning on holding high public office arrange your affairs in a manner that can withstand the scrutiny that comes with holding high public office. Because that scrutiny will come.

Yeah, that's it in a nutshell.

Tangentially, that's one of the things that consistently blew my mind about the whole Trump phenomenon. I have always thought that nothing he had his paws in would hold up to the kind of scrutiny that comes with a full-bore federal investigation...one which seemed pretty much inevitable. Why one would vote for this guy or Stan for him after the fact is just beyond me.

[Julio3000]

i'd rather be in a cult than be a lemming

I understand and relate to your feelings about the #Resistance, really.

On the other hand, I think that tying yourself to Trump is more accurately described as the suicide mission here. It's gonna end badly, and it seems to me that has been obvious from the jump.

[nsacpi]

Yeah, that's it in a nutshell.

Tangentially, that's one of the things that consistently blew my mind about the whole Trump phenomenon. I have always thought that nothing he had his paws in would hold up to the kind of scrutiny that comes with a full-bore federal investigation...one which seemed pretty much inevitable. Why one would vote for this guy or Stan for him after the fact is just beyond me.

There is no single answer. It is a combination of many things. The Dems nominated their own deeply flawed candidate. The tide was flowing to the GOP anyhow, the usual phenomenon where the opposition party has an edge after the other party has had the opportunity to piss off voters for eight years. Then there was this desire to try someone who wasn't a standard politician. This last part has been there for a while and just kept growing and growing in potency. Even with all that going for him he still lost the popular vote. I think a lot of people who voted for him (including part of the base) hasn't really absorbed the magnitude of his legal problems. Even those of us following it closely don't have the full picture. Not releasing his tax returns is a big hint. But his voters were willing to overlook that along with everything else.

[Hawk]

I don't think he's a dark arts savant. He is pretty obviously a crook, though. This is not a mind-bending logic puzzle.

Right...

[Hawk]

I understand and relate to your feelings about the #Resistance, really.

On the other hand, I think that tying yourself to Trump is more accurately described as the suicide mission here. It's gonna end badly, and it seems to me that has been obvious from the jump.

That’s what I’ve heard for the past two years.

[thethe]

Federal Deficit (2017 is actual, other years are CBO projections)

2017 665B
2018 804B
2019 981B
2021 1008B

Easy to gin up the economy if you blow a yuge hole in federal finances.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch we have the following for the price of oil (West Texas Intermediate)

December 2016 $52.09 per barrel
December 2017 $57.86 per barrel
May 7, 2018 $70.67 per barrel

In part due to rising prices, real compensation per hour fell 0.4% in 2017.

maga

The price of oil is the administrations fault? Thats interesting...

[nsacpi]

The price of oil is the administrations fault? Thats interesting...

I will make the observation that advocates of a lighter regulatory hand on oil exploration and drilling have made the claim that this will benefit the economy by bringing down prices.

I am not a believer that oil prices are primarily the adminstration's fault. But I don't give it much credit for higher stock prices either.

The things they ought to be held accountable for are the things that they are supposed to be in charge of. Fiscal policy for example (the Saudis allowing movies and giving drivers' licenses to women would not be an example). Easy to say "the big bad Congress made me do it." Well a presidential signature is need for every tax and spending bill. So that yuge hole that has been blown in federal finances is something that I think it should be given a fairly bad grade for. It is comparable to the irresponsible fiscal policy run by George W Bush. At least Bush had the excuse during the early years of his administration (and the last year too) that the economy was at a point in the business cycle where some fiscal stimulus was justified.

[Hawk]

I don't think he's a dark arts savant. He is pretty obviously a crook, though. This is not a mind-bending logic puzzle.

Since the irony in my original post was (predictably) overlooked:

One day Cohen is an inept JD holder from the "worst" law school in America, the next he's a mafioso pulling off multi-million dollar real estate deals and building a "shadowy business empire".

Only in America, I guess.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/05/b...yer-trump.html

How Michael Cohen, Trump’s Fixer, Built a Shadowy Business Empire

https://www.politico.com/magazine/st...-school-218318

Trump’s Lawyer Went to the Worst Law School in America

---

The worst law school in America is ... saying a lot.

“His legal career is flushing down the toilet,” American Lawyer magazine declared in a columnist’s profile of Cohen that mocked his affiliation with Cooley—“often cited as one of the worst law schools in the nation.” After the FBI raids, television comedian Samantha Bee took a swipe at Cooley on her cable program “Full Frontal,” asking why rich, powerful figures like Trump would retain “a graduate of the actual worst law school in the country?” She described Cohen as “a guy whose whole business model seems to be built around blackmailing mistresses.”


Yet somehow, this gawdawful hire, from the worst law school in America, became this:

Mr. Cohen became a minor real estate baron in his own right.

While his business is dwarfed by Mr. Trump’s assemblage of properties, it is not insignificant. From 2011 to 2015, limited liability companies connected to Mr. Cohen purchased at least five buildings in Manhattan, public records show.

[...]

Together, the two men managed 260 cabs in the late 1990s and early 2000s, some for other owners. Drivers paid them $100 a shift. Millions of dollars in cash flowed in.

[...]

etc. etc. etc.

Like I said: not my narrative.

[Hawk]

Let's pick this up 5-10 years after Korean re unification. Remember when people were so elated at the fall of Mommar Qaddafi ?

lol

[Hawk]

Well, I'm tired of looking at Michael Avenatti. I'm not exactly sure of his point, but he is belaboring it.

But I thought Stormy was the key???

[sturg33]

I will make the observation that advocates of a lighter regulatory hand on oil exploration and drilling have made the claim that this will benefit the economy by bringing down prices.

I am not a believer that oil prices are primarily the adminstration's fault. But I don't give it much credit for higher stock prices either.

The things they ought to be held accountable for are the things that they are supposed to be in charge of. Fiscal policy for example (the Saudis allowing movies and giving drivers' licenses to women would not be an example). Easy to say "the big bad Congress made me do it." Well a presidential signature is need for every tax and spending bill. So that yuge hole that has been blown in federal finances is something that I think it should be given a fairly bad grade for. It is comparable to the irresponsible fiscal policy run by George W Bush. At least Bush had the excuse during the early years of his administration (and the last year too) that the economy was at a point in the business cycle where some fiscal stimulus was justified.

It's truly remarkable to me that you managed to bemoan the deficits of Bush and Obama, without mentioning the $9.1 trillion in deficits Obama racked up

[Julio3000]

Since the irony in my original post was (predictably) overlooked:



https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/05/b...yer-trump.html

How Michael Cohen, Trump’s Fixer, Built a Shadowy Business Empire

https://www.politico.com/magazine/st...-school-218318

Trump’s Lawyer Went to the Worst Law School in America

---

The worst law school in America is ... saying a lot.

“His legal career is flushing down the toilet,” American Lawyer magazine declared in a columnist’s profile of Cohen that mocked his affiliation with Cooley—“often cited as one of the worst law schools in the nation.” After the FBI raids, television comedian Samantha Bee took a swipe at Cooley on her cable program “Full Frontal,” asking why rich, powerful figures like Trump would retain “a graduate of the actual worst law school in the country?” She described Cohen as “a guy whose whole business model seems to be built around blackmailing mistresses.”


Yet somehow, this gawdawful hire, from the worst law school in America, became this:

Mr. Cohen became a minor real estate baron in his own right.

While his business is dwarfed by Mr. Trump’s assemblage of properties, it is not insignificant. From 2011 to 2015, limited liability companies connected to Mr. Cohen purchased at least five buildings in Manhattan, public records show.

[...]

Together, the two men managed 260 cabs in the late 1990s and early 2000s, some for other owners. Drivers paid them $100 a shift. Millions of dollars in cash flowed in.

[...]

etc. etc. etc.

Like I said: not my narrative.

I feel like you're being a tad obtuse here. I gave you my take. I don't feel the need to square that with your interpretation of the NYT take.

[Hawk]

I feel like you're being a tad obtuse here. I gave you my take. I don't feel the need to square that with your interpretation of the NYT take.

Your take that I was an elitist?

For quoting (verbatim) two separate articles, portraying two different Michael Cohen's?

Or your (hot)take that Cohen is a crook?

Which is just, kind of ... I don't know; who cares?

"What difference, at this point, does it make?"