The Trump Presidency

[LunarOrbit]

I'm starting a new thread to chronicle the corruption and bad decisions made by Trump and the Republican controlled Congress.

For starters: remember when Trump (and the Republican party) ran on the promise to "drain the swamp"? Remember when I expressed concern about Trump's behaviour and was told that "he didn't really mean the things he was saying", and even if he did there are "checks and balances" in place to prevent it? Well, ha ha, funny story...

With No Warning, House Republicans Vote to Gut Independent Ethics Office - NY Times

"Republicans claim they want to 'drain the swamp,' but the night before the new Congress gets sworn in, the House G.O.P. has eliminated the only independent ethics oversight of their actions. Evidently, ethics are the first casualty of the new Republican Congress."

- Nancy Pelosi

Trump's behaviour is not an act, and he has shown that those "checks and balances" are working for him, not for the American public.

An independent ethics body has been gutted by Republicans, without debate or warning. This is not something you would do if your goal was to "drain the swamp", it's something you would do if you wanted to do unethical things without consequences.

[Zakalwe]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/impeaching-trump_us_5869b806e4b0eb586489f3a4

[LunarOrbit]

How much support from Republicans would impeachment need?

[gillianren]

Enough for a majority in the House for impeachment and a supermajority in the Senate for conviction and removal from office.  So yeah, it's not going to happen, because the Republicans turn out to be perfectly content to roll over, regardless of the obvious corruption, treason, and general unfitness for office.

[LunarOrbit]

That's what I was afraid of.

Maybe they will support impeachment if it means it will improve their own chances of re-election. Otherwise they might just get tossed out in two years.

[gillianren]

And there's considerable debate in certain circles about whether Pence would be better or worse.  I lean toward "marginally better," in that he doesn't seem as corrupt, he isn't in bed with the Russians and (to my knowledge) neo-Nazis, and he seems far less likely to start a nuclear war.  On the other hand, he is also competent, which means he has a better chance of getting dangerous legislation passed.

[twik]

The oddest thing I see about how Trump will conduct his presidency is that he appears to want to communicate directly by Tweet. Not just to the American people, but to foreign leaders. Not just by Tweets sat on and well-considered by his staff, but by Tweets fired off at random any time day or night. This is going to be a most, ahem, unusual style of presidential communication.

[Ranb]

I'm starting a new thread to chronicle the corruption and bad decisions made by Trump and the Republican controlled Congress.

I don't suppose if Trump makes a good decision it will be included in one of your posts?    I didn't vote for this clown, but it is possible something good might slip by.

[LunarOrbit]

If he does his job with the best interests of ALL Americans in mind then this thread will be empty. I'm not going to praise him for doing what he's supposed to do.

But sure, if he does actually do something that I feel is exceptionally good I will say so.

If he actually does a good job I will tweet an apology to him for doubting him. I'm sure he needs the ego boost.

[twik]

I'll give him credit for at least giving lip service to the idea that maybe the GOP should hold off on eviscerating the ethics committee. But I'll have to take away most of them because he seemed to indicate he wasn't against the idea itself, just the timing.

[LunarOrbit]

Yeah, I think he just came out against it because people noticed the vote and were criticizing it. Trump basically threw the Republican party under the bus so that he wouldn't be blamed for their bone headed move.

[gillianren]

I don't even give him credit for knowing the ethics committee existed before people started getting mad at the GOP for trying to sneak it away.

[Zakalwe]

This is well worth a read:
https://thinkprogress.org/when-everything-is-a-lie-power-is-the-only-truth-1e641751d150#.3y6weaajv

Its interesting to see that Trump has also used Cambridge Analytica, the same company employed by the leave campaign in the recent Brexit vote. There are remarkable similarities in the way both campaigns were conducted and, unfortunately, in the devastating impacts that i expect to see from the outcome of both.

http://www.spectator.co.uk/2016/12/the-british-data-crunchers-who-say-they-helped-donald-trump-to-win/

[twik]

Trump, while rattling the nuclear sabres, has fired the heads of the National Nuclear Security Administration http://gizmodo.com/trump-just-dismissed-the-people-in-charge-of-maintainin-1790908093 . Not unexpected since they're political appointees. What is strange is that he did it with no proposed replacements. I don't know if that's a plan, or if he's still overwhelmed with the realization that he has to actually hire people to run programs, and get Congress to approve them.

When you're busy getting a Secretary of Education who never sent her children to public school, I suppose a little thing like managing the nuke program can slip your mind.

[gillianren]

Never sent her kids to public school hell, is opposed to the idea of public school.  She's part of the shell game that is charter schooling and was associated with a think tank that supported bringing back child labour.