Can he Govern?

[jeff37923]

Sounds like a bunch of excuses to me. No one said it was easy. But having a solid majority of Republicans ought to make this a fairly simple matter for him. And much of what has made it difficult has been his own choices. Even if the media isn't treating him fairly, it is like he is going out of his way to make things easy for them. And while it is true a lot of the major news organizations like CNN are no fans of Trump, he has support at Fox News, on Talk Radio, and on a lot of social media driven sources and websites (which isn't nothing in this day and age). A waning mainstream press might not like him, but there are plenty of venues for him to get his message out. Again, just sounds like excuses to me. this far in, complaining about the media just rings a little hollow.

If that solid majority of Republicans is like John McCain the quisling, there might be some obstructionism.

[S'mon]

I'm not sure his style lends itself well to success in politics. OTOH he faces huge opposition and a media that will not report any success he might have.

My guess is he may be reelected whereas the chances of the wall being built appear rather slim. Likewise not much departure from neoliberal consensus policies despite the rhetoric.

[TrippyHippy]

He is an idiot President, who is creating turmoil internally and internationally. To a degree, this is what some of his voters wanted - the grand 'shake up', so to speak. It's probably what Putin and Wikileaks wanted too, although his recent desperate lurch towards military advisers over Breitbart-Nationalists may have backfired somewhat.

His proclamations upon Neo-Nazi marches are probably going to end up causing more major civil unrest, he won't actually get anything practical done while he is in office including the pointless wall, the US economy is starting to slow and splutter, he may provoke war abroad of the most serious intensity, and has possibly already caused long term, catastrophic environmental damage by reneging on international agreements. Outside of the US he is seen as a joke figure and an icon of US and Western decline, by US allies and enemies alike. He is unquestionably the worst US President in living memory, and maybe in all US history, and is comparable to a third world leader of a banana republic in terms of his competence.

In NZ, we are just thankful he probably can't find us on the map.

[-E.]

My thought is no.  But then I never thought he would be a good president. I understand why a lot of people voted for him and find no fault in that logic.  

But 6 month in hows he doing?  

Here are a couple articles suggesting he isn't even trying to govern. But I am honstly asking.  Its not an ambush.

https://www.propublica.org/article/is-anybody-home-at-hud-secretary-ben-carson

http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2017/08/the-republican-budget-fight-explained-in-5-minutes.html

He seems to be struggling to get things done, and infighting with the rest of the party isn't helping.

On one hand, a lot of things sort of run themselves. I don't think the's going to fuck up the Army, for instance.

On the other hand, if there's a crisis we're fucked.

And if they can't do the basics of governance like raising the debt ceiling so we can pay our debt, then we are well and truly fucked.

The culture warrior stuff is sad and possibly explosive. It's a sad thing when we have a president that galvanizes white extremists.

But I'm worried about him to basically act as a president. I hope we see things work better going forward, but I've been waiting for them to get their act together since January 20th.

-E.

[Doom]

He has solid republican majorities.

Well, you can say it over and over again but...it's still not the truth.

The onus is on you to demonstrate that he is governing at this point.

Weird, I thought this thread was about how he cannot govern. You're honestly claiming that this thread began with an assertion he's governing?

No one said he had the support of republicans. But he has solid republican majorities in ALL BRANCHES.

Using all caps doesn't make it true, any more than repeating it. Focus: the Democrat and Republican parties are essentially the same party, they're united on most things...one of those things is a pure hatred of Trump.

Sharing a political party with congress is a lot. That is a substantial amount to work with.

If it were true, sure. Sadly, it is not. Until we get to the point of realizing that we've basically had one party of government dividing up the spoils, we're not going to figure out what happened to this country.

I get that he is a bit of an outsider,

"a bit" of an outsider? Folks, we may have the winner for "Understatement of the Year, 2017".

but he has also been trying to push through basic republican stuff. A lot of what he is trying to get through, many republicans can get behind.

For example, what? You've kinda checkmated yourself with this one. If it's basic Republican stuff as you say, and he has Republicans voting his way because he's the president as you say, then these things you allege should have happened. Cognitive disconnect much?

 

But he keeps loosing it on twitter, attacking his allies, failing to be presidential at key moments, and can't do basic things to shake the whole 'is he a puppet for Putin' thing. I get that you think he has been treated unfairly. But the guy is a total disaster.

He tweets alot, no doubt about that...but you only hear the worst possible misinterpretation of what he says (cf, Covfefe). You keep hearing he's attacking his allies (might be a misrepresentation there, eh?). As for "failing to be presidential", well, all our presidents fail to be presidential at key moments, but this is the first time the media has had this level of hostility in revealing it.

He can't shake the "Putin puppet" thing. Seriously? Beyond the initial "document" being an obvious hoax, beyond hypocrisy of piffling level of accusations at best (see here for the best discussion of all the evidence against Trump in this regard), beyond CNN admitting on camera that the Trump/Russia story is bullshit, beyond the considerable evidence the story is demonstrably false...what could he do to "shake" this story?

Seriously, I want know: what could Trump possibly do to the Left wing Hate media to "shake" this story?




[quoteLuckily, he hasn't been able to get much done....because he sucks at governing.[/QUOTE]

Well that is beautifully circular...but I encourage you to check alternative media sources to learn that Trump has done some things.

[TrippyHippy]

He can't shake the "Putin puppet" thing. Seriously? Beyond the initial "document" being an obvious hoax, beyond hypocrisy of piffling level of accusations at best (see here for the best discussion of all the evidence against Trump in this regard), beyond CNN admitting on camera that the Trump/Russia story is bullshit, beyond the considerable evidence the story is demonstrably false...what could he do to "shake" this story.

I dunno. In the meantime you might start citing sources that are what you say they are, and not just some Trump supporting goon ranting at a camera.

Fake news? You are living in it.

[Koltar]

Try flipping the question to the other side as an experiment - Did President Barack Obama 'govern'?

Or was he often 'coasting'?

- Ed C.

[Bedrockbrendan]

If that solid majority of Republicans is like John McCain the quisling, there might be some obstructionism.

Probably a lot less obstructionism than Obama had to deal with. I think if he can't figure out a way to navigate that it says something about his ability to govern.

[Doom]

Thank you for actually attempting to back up the assertion, rather than using circularity as proof of circularity.

Things that have gone wrong.

Nazi marching openly in the streets.

Heh, holy crap, this is some pretty heavy spin. So you're honestly asserting that no so-called "hate groups" have ever marched in the streets of America before Trump's presidency? 30 alleged Nazis (assuming they weren't agents provacateur), maybe, were at Charlottesville, hundreds of free speech protesters. But the media only focuses on the alleged Nazis.

Not even a little curious, are you?

Armed protesters on both sides.  

Well, it's well documented that the DNC has hired people to incite violence at Trump rallies, and "someone" is hiring protesters. Now, the first time around, you were wrong, it was only the leftists who were armed.  After that, you're correct, as the people who knew they were going to be physically attacked elected to defend themselves...but this is the first time the opposition, after losing the election, actually started paying for armed goons to incite violence.

Are you really asserting that this it's Trump's fault his enemies are hiring armed thugs to incite violence? That's...a little unfair, eh?

The country is inching closer to race riots and real problems.

Can you prove that Black Lives Matter did not exist before Trump? How did 8 years of work by the God of Non-Racism, Obama, get undone in a few months by the totally incompetent Trump? Bit of a cognitive disconnect there, eh?

Failed to pass Trump care.

Ok, got one...with the Democans and Republicrats both against him, it was hardly unsurprising.

3 press secretaries in less than a year.

Well, being press secretary is a bit frustrating when the media is completely hostile and lies about it all anyway. On top of that, Trump does have a reputation of going through his employees.

Say, Trump went through three campaign managers for his presidential campaign. Are you sure he lost the presidential campaign, like the media said he would?

A pissing contest with a nuclear mad man.  

You honestly don't recall any issues the US has had with North Korea before Trump came into office?

That's a bit part of the problem we have as a nation, most people have no knowledge or memory of much beyond the most current news cycle.

FBI investigations that grind on, slowly uncovering more and more.

Neat! For example?

Regisnations from his cabnite.

Yeah, it's totally surprising that a guy famous for the catchphrase "you're fired" goes through employees pretty fast.

You probably don't know this, but Trump was in the public eye for decades before running for President (hell, I almost bought his board game). He had a hit show on a major network for years...how do you handle this information with the information that he's a "deplorable racist who's a secret Nazi"? Another cognitive disconnect, I suppose.

No wall, and Mexico says their is no way they will pay for it.

Agreed...but this only emphasizes the cognitive disconnect we have about supposed Republican support for Trump, since if he honestly had the support, this would be happening. But, even with all the resistance, he's still trying.

How much effort did Obama put into shutting down Guantanamo? Exactly.

And he got caught staring directly at the sun.

So you're saying he's blind, now, right?

Of course the truth is, he may well have glanced up at the sun (like a few hundred million other people did), but one camera shot, and it looks like he's staring at the sun for 24 hours straight...and that's how the media plays it.

I could go on.

Absolutely, the lies and wild misrepresentations are pretty much endless. It truly is the only thing I like about Trump: if they're willing to lie this often, this thoroughly, this endlessly...what exactly is he doing to make the psychopaths controlling most of this country so angry?

Please, I encourage you to do some research on your own, see things with your own eyes. As an easy project, consider Trump's speech to the Boy Scouts. The Left wing Hate media presented this as "yet another embarrassment" for Trump which the boy scouts needed to apologize for. But, go and watch the speech with your own eyes...it's basic politician windbag stuff, and not the frothing gibbering lunacy the mainstream media said.

I'm not a Trump fan by any stretch, he is, at best, just another politician...but the endless lies and misrepresentations really expose both how corrupted this country is, and how stupid the general populace is as well.

I think it's best to ask questions and see things with your own eyes, but if you can handle the twisted soundbites and excruciating cognitive disconnects, follow the narrative all you want.

Still waiting for one of those apocalyptic predictions the media said would happen if we voted for the "unelectable" Trump.

[Doom]

I dunno. In the meantime you might start citing sources that are what you say they are, and not just some Trump supporting goon ranting at a camera.

Fake news? You are living in it.

I openly call you out. Which assertion in that link is demonstrably false? I'll put it here again, because it really demonstrates the hypocrisy of the Left Hate Media:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pvYPW_HVW6A

Again, just one demonstrably false statement, by the standards of the media when they talk about Trump's Russian connections.

[Bedrockbrendan]

Using all caps doesn't make it true, any more than repeating it. Focus: the Democrat and Republican parties are essentially the same party, they're united on most things...one of those things is a pure hatred of Trump.
.

Doom you really, really, really need to step outside of whatever echo chamber your in if this is your argument. This is sophistry. The Republicans clearly, demonstrably have a majority. Saying they don't, because you think they aren't real republicans is just nonsense. Pure, complete, nonsense.

[TrippyHippy]

I openly call you out. Which assertion in that link is demonstrably false?

Sure. You just cited this:

"CNN admitting on camera that the Trump/Russia story is bullshit".

The link was to a Trump supporter ranting to the camera about CNN. If you can't tell the difference, then you are a fool.

[Bedrockbrendan]

For example, what? You've kinda checkmated yourself with this one. If it's basic Republican stuff as you say, and he has Republicans voting his way because he's the president as you say, then these things you allege should have happened. Cognitive disconnect much?.

Granted some of his campaign promises place him outside the typical republican agenda, but there are several big items that should not be a problem getting Republicans to agree on. Tax Cuts, the Iran Deal, Obama Care...these are all things Republicans largely agree on. It shouldn't be hard and I think if a more competent Republican were in office, at least two of those would have been achieved. It shouldn't be hard for him to find the places where he can clearly get things done and do them if he is truly effective at governing.

[Doom]

Try flipping the question to the other side as an experiment - Did President Barack Obama 'govern'?

Or was he often 'coasting'?

- Ed C.

Now now, to actually think, to ask fair questions, would be to risk exposing the hypocrisy here, and we don't want that.

[Spinachcat]

I want the Legislature and Judicial branches to reel in the Executive branch which has expanded in power to a bizarre degree since 2000.

If Trump has to freak out of the entire Earth so the asshats of Team Red and Team Blue learn WHY the Founding Fathers didn't want to overpower the Presidency, so be it.