Is Trump Mad?

[meic]

You aren't one of those who still believes in the Laffer Curve, are you? That's now well known as the equivalent of believing the earth is flat.

Strange, Wikipedia and the UK Office for budget responsibility seemed to have missed that!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laffer_cu ... e_analysis

[Psamathe]

I see the White House has now banned the CNN reporter from White House breifings because his hand hade contact with the female employees arm

Announcing Mr Acosta’s suspension, Ms Sanders said the White House would “never tolerate a reporter placing his hands on a young woman just trying to do her job”

Whereas for Trump

He [Trump] added, "I don't even wait. And when you're a star, they let you do it. You can do anything. Grab them by the pussy. You can do anything."

So maybe the reporter touched the wrong bit of her anatomy?

Ian

[kwackers]

So maybe the reporter touched the wrong bit of her anatomy?

Ian

Her arm? And even 'touched' would be pushing it (literally).

[PDQ Mobile]

I see the White House has now banned the CNN reporter from White House breifings because his hand hade contact with the female employees arm

Announcing Mr Acosta’s suspension, Ms Sanders said the White House would “never tolerate a reporter placing his hands on a young woman just trying to do her job”

Whereas for Trump

He [Trump] added, "I don't even wait. And when you're a star, they let you do it. You can do anything. Grab them by the Upussy. You can do anything."

So maybe the reporter touched the wrong bit of her anatomy?

Ian

Her arm? And even 'touched' would be pushing it (literally).

It is quite extraordinary.
The reporter accidentally contacts the womans arm with the back of his hand (and apologizes) as she tries to forcibly grab the mic.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-46133268

Then for Ms Saunders (Trump's press secretary) to use that as grounds for the reporter's suspension totally beggars belief.
Absolutely intolerable in a so called democracy.

Trump clearly has something to hide in this,
Jeff Sessions, his one time loyal supporter, sacked too?

Imagine a President that is so compromised, such a bad thing for all of us.

[Vorpal]

Apparently Trump cut business taxes from 35% to 21% and tax revenues have increased by $3.3 trillion!

Al

Corporate tax revenues may have increased 3.3 trillion, but considering it went from 294.1 trillion to 297.4 trillion, that is less than the rate of inflation, so it doesn't look like success to me.

[Cugel]

What will the loon do as the pressures mount on him? Going by past behaviour, he will escalate his loon (the inner then the outer) until it performs some highly nasty, dangerous and perhaps lethal act. After all, he believes that he can not only grab [moderated] when he wants but also go down the street shooting people and still get his "support" .

The worrying thing is that even after two years of his madness and evil doings, the Republican Party has adopted him and his ways; and they still have vast support, as evidenced by their increase in Senators via the mid-terms. The USA truly has become a place stuffed to the brim with barmpots of the most swivel-eyed ilk. Mind, it always was like that. But now the inmates are running the asylum, in just the way you'd expect crazy people to run anything.

Cugel

[Bonefishblues]

What will the loon do as the pressures mount on him? Going by past behaviour, he will escalate his loon (the inner then the outer) until it performs some highly nasty, dangerous and perhaps lethal act. After all, he believes that he can not only grab [moderated] when he wants but also go down the street shooting people and still get his "support" .

The worrying thing is that even after two years of his madness and evil doings, the Republican Party has adopted him and his ways; and they still have vast support, as evidenced by their increase in Senators via the mid-terms. The USA truly has become a place stuffed to the brim with barmpots of the most swivel-eyed ilk. Mind, it always was like that. But now the inmates are running the asylum, in just the way you'd expect crazy people to run anything.

Cugel

I think it's more subtle and nuanced than that. I heard Republicans who don't at all approve of his personal conduct who were still voting Red. if the economy goes bad, he's toast IMHO. Whilst the economy is still buoyant, then it's the devil you know. The Republican Party hasn't adopted him in any way, shape or form. They loathe and detest him, but they crave power even more.

Remember that only 42% of Americans have a passport, and many more could care less about their image abroad.

That said, it is still utterly stupefying that a bullying lying misogynist, sexual assault perpetrator inhabits the World's most powerful office.

[reohn2]

......That said, it is still utterly stupefying that a bullying lying misogynist, sexual assault perpetrator inhabits the World's most powerful office.

I find it extremely worrying.

[Cugel]

There's an interesting Guardian article concerning the fact that the Democrats got 12 million more Senate votes than the Republicans yet got far fewer seats. The article goes on to describe three other aspects of USA voting that appear to greatly favour the Republicans, who can achieve power with far less votes than the Democrats, making the country fundamentally undemocratic. The prime example is Trump, who got 3 million less votes than Clinton yet became President.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/201 ... ority-rule

First is the constitutional arrangement that gives each State similar numbers of senatorial seats despite vast population differences. Their example is that California, with 42 million + voters, gets broadly the same Senate representation as Wyoming with only about half a million people. The low population mid-western states seem to be repositories of the cowboy-redneck ilk of "conservative" types who are something of a bedrock to the once more emergent white supremacist tradition in the USA, now rearing it's ugly head in the Presidency and the Republican Party.

Second is the long term gerrymandering of the Republicans to arrange voting districts that favour themselves, once more giving them more political positions than the overall voting numbers can justify.

Lastly is the many techniques of Republican-arranged voter suppression that ensure that many black people and native Americans (who tend to vote Democrat) can't vote or will find insurmountable barriers to doing so.

In the USA (and elsewhere) money buys power. Those prepared to buy power in a democracy are already corrupt and fundamentally undemocratic. Thus the Republicans, amoral and corrupt in the extreme, prosper.

Cugel

[Vorpal]

The USA truly has become a place stuffed to the brim with barmpots of the most swivel-eyed ilk. Mind, it always was like that. But now the inmates are running the asylum, in just the way you'd expect crazy people to run anything.

Cugel

I wish that we could explain it away like that. People know that Trump is full of (stuff moderators can't post). But he has a message that sells, and he sells it well. That the economy seems to be doing well helps him.

[Cugel]

The USA truly has become a place stuffed to the brim with barmpots of the most swivel-eyed ilk. Mind, it always was like that. But now the inmates are running the asylum, in just the way you'd expect crazy people to run anything.

Cugel

I wish that we could explain it away like that. People know that Trump is full of (stuff moderators can't post). But he has a message that sells, and he sells it well. That the economy seems to be doing well helps him.

"The economy is doing well". For whom? Not for hordes of the ever-growing underclass in the USA, many of whom were once the middle class but now no more. Of course, if you're a holder of stocks or shares; if you're a financier or rentier - lovely jubbly - you are more free than ever to exploit the bejasus out of everyone else!

Is the economy the only thing that matters? Clinton used to say so, in typical Yank style - "It's the economy, stupid". In fact the economy was greatly improved by Obama after the disasters of Bush but the loons who voted for Trump didn't do so for economic reasons. Well. apart from the already filthy rich who hoped to become even richer via the promised Trump tax cuts to the incomes of the filthy rich. (The peasants got about 10 cents a piece).

Trump voters do look like turkeys voting for Christmas, from the economic point of view (theirs not his). So why did they vote for him? For reasons that might be classed as "undemocratic" amongst other things. They didn't want those not like them to have a voice. Many wish that those not like them could be "cleansed" from the country, one way or another. Trump seems intent on trying to satisfy their dark wants.

You can justify Trump's election with the mantra that he achieved a certain degree of popularity with the masses. But not the majority (in numbers) of the masses. And not via the votes of masses who are debarred from voting by various voter-suppression techniques arranged almost exclusively by Republicans.

Trump is certainly representative of many Americans, though. No doubt there were hordes of Mongols who thought Genghis was great too, even as he did his murderous thing on an enormous scale, even to his fans. That's all right then.

Cugel

[Vorpal]

"The economy is doing well". For whom? Not for hordes of the ever-growing underclass in the USA, many of whom were once the middle class but now no more. Of course, if you're a holder of stocks or shares; if you're a financier or rentier - lovely jubbly - you are more free than ever to exploit the bejasus out of everyone else!

Is the economy the only thing that matters? Clinton used to say so, in typical Yank style - "It's the economy, stupid". In fact the economy was greatly improved by Obama after the disasters of Bush but the loons who voted for Trump didn't do so for economic reasons. Well. apart from the already filthy rich who hoped to become even richer via the promised Trump tax cuts to the incomes of the filthy rich. (The peasants got about 10 cents a piece).

Trump voters do look like turkeys voting for Christmas, from the economic point of view (theirs not his). So why did they vote for him? For reasons that might be classed as "undemocratic" amongst other things. They didn't want those not like them to have a voice. Many wish that those not like them could be "cleansed" from the country, one way or another. Trump seems intent on trying to satisfy their dark wants.

You can justify Trump's election with the mantra that he achieved a certain degree of popularity with the masses. But not the majority (in numbers) of the masses. And not via the votes of masses who are debarred from voting by various voter-suppression techniques arranged almost exclusively by Republicans.

Trump is certainly representative of many Americans, though. No doubt there were hordes of Mongols who thought Genghis was great too, even as he did his murderous thing on an enormous scale, even to his fans. That's all right then.

Cugel

I didn't say that economy is doing well. I said it *seems* to be doing well. Unemployment is going down.

FWIW, I mostly agree with you, but I also know (and am related to) Trump voters who are otherrwise entirely reasonable people.

[Psamathe]

......That the economy seems to be doing well helps him.

I agree that it is helping him, but most commentators on TV (those I've seen are mostly US economists from both left and right) seem to all agree that Trump inherited a booming economy and even he could not turn it into a disaster so quickly. So the economy is doing well but due to the Obama era not Trump (though that isn't stopping Trump from claiming all the credit).

A lot on TV news seems to have adopted the time-filling technique where they hijack random people from the street and ask them what they think. Snow (Channel 4) spent ages (loads of cheap broadcast minutes) doing this and it's a complete waste of time as they can never interview/broadcast enough people to become "representative" and their selection is completely biased (e.g. catch people leaving a Trump rally!). Gawd knows why hey think this is relevant to a news report. But, meaningless as this is, I've been surprised that so few seem to have even considered the economy.

Ian

[Bonefishblues]

I read that it was too wet for him to attend a WW1 commemorative service yesterday.

Because a disgrace.

[661-Pete]

I read that it was too wet for him to attend a WW1 commemorative service yesterday.

Because a disgrace.

Well, for an alleged draft-dodger, that's no surprise...