Yeah, it IS hard to predict. I think at the beginning they'll make nice, pass the huge tax cuts they both want, and then we'll see. Remember, Trump supposedly offered Kasich the chance, if he took the Veep slot, to "be in charge of domestic and foreign policy" while Trump was in charge of "making America great again." Which says that Trump sees himself as a "big picture guy" (a.k.a. has neither the aptitude nor attention span to deal with details). So if he's fairly hands-off on domestic policy (and Congress really isn't supposed to take the lead on foreign policy), they'll probably get along fine. I'm guessing he lets Congress take the lead, and if something seems to work he'll take credit for it, and if it doesn't he'll blame Congress. This would certainly be in character for him too. Of course, Trump could also insert himself at any moment on any topic. This is what's so unpredictable.
I read somewhere that Trump will have handlers (much like Reagan had?), who will afford him the luxury of appearing Presidential (and with all the important importance that goes along with that important importance!), while at the same time keeping him away from the levers of power. God help me I hope they're right. (it seems to already have started, with the news that Priebus apparently lied to Trump about the NYT interview in an attempt to cajole him into cancelling. Naturally, Trump tweeted his displeasure immediately, necessitating a quick reversal, but I'm sure they'll get the hang of it by inauguration day...)
I stand by what I said repeatedly during the campaign. I do not want him impeached. NO PENCE! Rather, let him screw things up so that we retake both Houses in 2018 and the White House in 2020. I hope to live long enough to see the next recovery. I want to see my grandchildren happy again.
My secret (or no longer secret) fantasy is that he doesn't screw things up horrendously (real people get hurt by that), but rather just indulges in the sort of corruption that he's completely susceptible to, and gets caught. This is a process that takes a while, and during that process Pence defends him constantly. There is no smoking gun for a while, but pretty much everyone sees how dirty he is and he's so unpopular that the Democrats are able to stand up to him easily and block his agenda in the Senate. This brings gridlock, but at least we muddle through on the fumes of the decent economy of the last couple of years. Democrats take over the House in 2018 and impeach him late in 2019 when the evidence becomes overwhelming. The Senate convicts because the evidence is overwhelming, Trump's popularity is in the dumpster, they never much liked him anyway, and they're saving their own skins. Pence takes over but is tainted by his association and his constant defense of now-pariah Trump. He doesn't have long enough in office to establish any sort of identity other than "Trump's lackey." Democrats win big in 2020 on all levels. Further in my fantasy, Ruth Bader Ginsberg plows right along in perfect health, and Trump/Pence get to appoint no more SCOTUS justices than Scalia's replacement. The new Democratic president starting in 2021 replaces a bunch, and we finally get a left-leaning SCOTUS for the first time in 40 years. Trump is disgraced for all time, and of course remembered as the only president ever to be impeached and removed. The Republican brand suffers the taint for a decade or more. Hey, it's my fantasy.
That's quite a scenario. Not a bad one at all. (I'm still secretly fantasizing about the Electoral College doing the job they were designed to do.)
Trump successful bamboozled his way into office without being held accountable for anything. I expect with a GOP house and senate, he'll go forward without really being held accountable. I also expect his dismissive actions towards the press will continue to be well received by most conservatives and reactionaries. We are in a whole new reality show ballgame now, and looking at how the old rules used to work will only lead to frustration. I know most of us hope that next time around, a pair of more normal candidates will run, but more and more I'm thinking that THIS is the new normal: All attitude vs. facts and logic. Donald is definitely the square peg in Washington. Of course, many of us can't stand him and are long tired of his act. But nearly half the voters love that he is a bull in a china shop. They love that he is, to them, Rodney Dangerfield in Caddyshack, offending the powerful politicians, offending the liberal press, offending various ethnicities and religions. They love it and are cheering for it. They really don't care about not locking Hillary up or not building a wall, they're into the chaos theater of it all. As long as the mean tweets keep rolling, the quips and zingers keep flying, they'll give him high marks.
As a veteran, what you just said almost makes me want to cry. My country isn't at all what I thought it was, I am discouraged and scared. It is made worse by the fact that I think you are correct. As I wander around at random, not looking for support and backup of my own opinions I have yet to find only one person that thinks that Trump isn't a clown. Only one! How did he get elected. How does a person receive almost 2 million fewer popular (meaning of the people) votes and still be elected President. We have a serious problem that goes way deeper then then the Orange glow snake oil salesman. It is a serious mess up of our Democracy. Perhaps it never showed up as clearly as it has this year because most of the previous candidates had class and respect for our system of government. Your Rodney Dangerfield comparison is right on. The public so involved with media and the misleading aspects of it, absolutely think this is a game. All they have to do if something bad happens is unplug the TV. I have a grandson that spends every free waking moment he can playing war games on his (don't know what system he has). The other day I was watching him and listening to him cheer whenever he had a "kill". He honest to god stood there, stood, for two hours firing away at anything that moved into sight. He will be 17 years old in a couple of months. I asked him how he would feel if he were obligated to go into the military and actually fight a war. He very honestly said he wasn't worried about that because he was really good a flushing out and killing the enemy. I asked him if it had occurred to him that in real life, they shoot back. He just looked at me and said... they shoot back in this game. I said, yes, but, I'm talking about real bullets that can kill you really dead. No signing off and trying again tomorrow. Still no sign of reality sinking in. In the words of Professor Harold Hill... We have trouble my friends, right here in River City. The worse part is that all those people are angry, and if you ask them angry about what, they really don't know. None of what he has been shooting his mouth off about, actually have directly affected them. Most are making a good salary, most are living in comfortable places, taking vacations, enjoying life, but, have some unexplainable reason to be angry about their plight. Sadly, the only real problem that they are having is that they overextended themselves because they couldn't wait for life to happen, they financially forced the issue and are now finding it tough to make ends meet. I know that I am more vocal now then I have ever been in my entire 68 years. I don't plan on letting up whenever I see something that is going against the fundamentals this country was founded on. I'd also like to hang the so called religious leaders by some sensitive spots for ignoring their own jobs of leading people in the proper moral standings that they insist that everyone follow. Hypocrites all. If what they pretend to teach to their flock happens to be correct, they are pretty much destined a pretty miserable and warm eternity.
"have some unexplainable reason to be angry about their plight" Fox News, talk radio and Facebook forwards are there to explain it to them. That's their business model.
>>I'd also like to hang the so called religious leaders by some sensitive spots for ignoring their own jobs of leading people in the proper moral standings that they insist that everyone follow. Hypocrites all. If what they pretend to teach to their flock happens to be correct, they are pretty much destined a pretty miserable and warm eternity.<< I totally agree. They're reading out of some alt-right bible, where Jesus is one of the founding fathers who was for white people only and hates the poor. The use Christianity as a weapon and only when it conveniently fits into their own warped world view. If someone believes in Jesus, how can they support a man who has said the things Trump has said? I am feeling quite cynical and hopeless about politics right now. Beaten down after stressing about this election since day one. I think this country screwed up in a major way with Trump. I truly hope I am wrong about that and that somehow in the next month he develops an entirely new persona and code of ethics. But with every new cabinet appointment, this starts feeling more and more like a dark nightmare. Again, I do hope I am wrong, but I am very worried about the next several years and the lasting damage the Trump administration will do.
The older I get, the more I am convinced that, for most people, God is made in man's image - not vice-versa. I mean, is it any coincidence that white people who hate immigrants, the poor and science - and love guns - have a god that feels the same way? No wonder so many young people are choosing not to believe in god.... http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/13/upshot/the-rise-of-young-americans-who-dont-believe-in-god.html
My father taught me that. Much life and observation have convinced me he was right. He also taught me that to be Christian meant to be Christlike and that is not what I see in these right wing extremists.
The Trump thing has me really confounded because I know of a couple Trump supporters here locally who are in all other ways, very kind and giving people. I have no idea if they are hiding some inner hatred of "the other" but I have seen them actively giving a lot of money to various local and international humanitarian causes. They are both active in our local community on every charitable effort there is. Zero signs of xenophobia or racism -- they travel the world extensively, often for purely charitable reasons. They are fun to be around and have always been kind to me personally, and have never heard them say an unkind word to or about anyone. And yet... they throw their support to someone like Trump.It doesn't add up. Makes no logical sense, at least none I can understand. The Trump we've seen in no way aligns with their personal behavior and charitable nature. So this is why I hold old the thin hope that I am missing something, that Trump will somehow exceed all my expectations and that I will look like a complete idiot for fearing his presidency. Because if I'm not wrong, I'm afraid mawnck's famous quote will come true: W.A.S.S. I am trying to find an opportunity to discuss all this with them, because I really want to understand what they see that I do not.
Or who has done the things Trump has done. The man has screwed over average people more times than anyone can count, despite already having (if not billions, as claimed), then hundreds of millions of dollars. He has bragged about his charity (which Jesus specifically condemned), and then it turns out the charities he supposedly gave to have no record of it. The Washington Post could find scant evidence of charitable giving over a decade or more. It seems likely the only thing worse than bragging about one's charity when one actually does give to charity would be to brag about it when one doesn't - i.e. lies about it. His "Foundation" is supposedly a charitable effort, but he has given nothing to it personally for many years. He gets other people to give THEIR money to it, thinking it is a charity. And then he uses at least some of the funds to pay his own personal legal bills or to buy portraits of himself - presumably not what those who donated intended at all. He lies constantly. Then falsely accuses others of lying. He sexually assaults women, then brags about it when he thinks only some "bro" is listening. He pervs underage girls backstage at beauty pageants when they're half (or fully) naked. He refuses to either render unto Caesar what is due Caesar (i.e. his fair share of taxes) OR render unto God what it due God (by treating other people as he would be treated). He tried to force an elderly woman in Atlantic City out of her home so he could build a parking lot for limos. That sounds like a parody or an Onion story, but it's true. He never asks forgiveness from those he has wronged (or even, he once said, from God); instead, he denies he's done anything that needs forgiving. Anyone who's actually read the gospels knows that Jesus decried each of these sorts of things. Repeatedly. Even in the often sketchy world of politicians he may be the least Christ-like person I can think of.
I do not have any friends or family that were supporters of He Who Must Not Be Named. Lucky maybe? I have an acquaintance who just could not stand Hillary. Nothing we could say could keep him from saying, "But she lies." My husband knows one woman who simply, "Will not go against my party." He has another client who seemed rational but absolutely could not see any wrong on his part, only Hillary's. Logical sense, nope not a bit. I am terrified of the next two years and do not think we will end up looking like an idiots. I do think our only hope is for things to go so far south that we retake both houses mid-term. If he makes things look good I think we are in for even worse.
Sadly, we kind of take for granted that our system will make that possible, however, right now it looks like our system is in the toilet. Unfortunately, the men (I use that term loosely) that are in the houses of representatives are as corrupt and misguided as he is. We may not have an election in two years. If we don't, we will have a revolution though. I sure hope that it doesn't come to that, but, the frustration is building... you can feel it. To bad Donald's ego will not allow him to see it. He won, at this point, yet still maintains that the election was rigged. Well, I guess he should know. He rigged it! I had calmed down a lot and decided to give it a chance, but, unfortunately I happened to tune into a program about Adolf and his rise to power and how it happened. Remember that these historical shows were put together years ago and not in response to DT. If you see it, you cannot help but be scared. Everything that Adolf did and said to gain power might as well have been recorded and just played with Trump mouthing the words. Even to the campaign slogan... "Make Germany Great Again". I had to shut it off and just sat there an wonder how all those that supported him could not be convinced to see history and understand what they were supporting. Since one of my relatives did support him, I know that were I to ask her to watch that program, she was say it was left wing influenced and it was all lies. We have reached a new degree of stupid in this country and it is going to hurt us all (unless we are billionaires). I do not understand what is happening. I am trying to believe that unlike the Germans at the time, that were still being held down from WWI, economy in the pits, unemployment and poverty the norm, which meant that they had a real reason to be angry. This country doesn't have that particular problem and those that now are so vocal about how bad they have it, will realize that they just risked it all for that billionaire spell binder. Good luck to us all. Even those that are relying on the thought that God loves this country, may want to think about how he/she might feel when seeing all his "favored" christians act like tyrants and as non-christian as one can imagine.
Right? I questioned some "Christians" on Facebook after they posted something about how happy they were that the Christian candidate won and their answers were shocking. I can't understand it at all. But I think it all ties back into a form of idolatry. An idol is a man-made god and it is pretty easy to see that the god many people believe in is made in man's image. But idols are loved because they are very malleable. They can be anything you want them to be as long as you believe it to be so. I think that American evangelicalism embraces this form of idolatry more than most religions and it helps explain how they supported Trump. He was an idol and his supporters projected onto him what they wanted him to be. For example, they saw someone who was going to outlaw abortion; or someone who was going to protect the second amendment. And, at the same time, they may have believed that he wasn't racist or sexist or a total a--hole. The saw in him only what they wanted to see. The same thing they do with their god. It's idolatry, plain and simple.
