American Politics the 2016 edition

Not if Jefferson Sessions has anything to say about that. 

Not long ago someone told us all the Republican Party was on it's way out.

Here is an Idea maybe a real estate scam led recovery will save America, oh you tried that already damn..............

In the context of his agenda, Trump gave an excellent speech.  He has the potential to have a very successful term if he keeps his promises.

Seeing the inauguration yesterday, I realised that I last experienced such a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach on new years eve of to 1984.

What I had to witness yesterday was just too close to what began in 1933. The tone was just too damn similar.

The speech reminded me a lot of Modi's wonderful speech on his first I-day as PM, in the sense of fearlessly speaking openly about the rotten republic in a way politicians had previously shied away from and also fervently invoking patriotism.  Yes, it was great oratory in that sense.  The problem is with this mandate Trump will be expected to deliver and the pressure will mount on him to do so as time passes by.  Even better/worse is the Senate can't stop him either (whereas Modi's party lacked numbers in the Upper House), so he has no excuses.  The worst our right wing hero could do to assuage high expectations was seize the bulk of our currency and bleed farmers when they were looking forward to a bountiful harvest after years.  The worst the American President can do is much worse because he is far more powerful.  So best wishes to Trump and hope he succeeds because quite frankly I fear the consequences if he doesn't.

Edited by rogerthat - January 21 2017 at 05:14

timothy leary wrote: Not long ago someone told us all the Republican Party was on it's way out.

and nothing has changed...  Trump is likely to merely accelerate the process.

If sticks to what he preaches.. he... and the Republican Party will alienate the Hispanic population for generations, as they did with the blacks, and that will be teh death of the party. short of going full blown police state and neofacist regime.. the Hispanics will still be coming.. and soon will we, the white will be a minority in this country. That is, in a nutshell, what those that voted for Trump were all about.  Forget the sugarcoating about the economics.

There is a reason 'W' wondered outloud if he was going to be the last Repblican president. The handwriitng is on the wall for that party, and Trump was likely the final nail.

Why do you thinkn his own party was so afraid of him being elected.  He has the potential to destroy the party.

as well as the country... it took 8 years to clean up Bush.. who at least was well meaning if completely over his head.  How long might it take to clean up after Trump?

Peter Wehner, a senior fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center, served in the previous three Republican administrations and is a contributing opinion writer.

Why I Cannot Fall in Line Behind Trump
Peter Wehner JAN. 21, 2017

A year ago, I declared on these pages that despite being a Republican my whole life, I would not under any circumstances vote for Donald J. Trump for president. Since then, I’ve been asked by other Republicans if I kept that promise (I did) and whether I regret it (I don’t).

Republicans who disagree with my stance make the following argument: Mr. Trump, while flawed, is preferable to Hillary Clinton. His cabinet appointments, they say, have been reassuring, and it’s true that several of them are. In addition, the nominee to replace Antonin Scalia on the Supreme Court is certain to be more of an originalist than a Clinton appointment would be. On top of that, Republicans are in control of Congress, meaning they are likely to drive much of the agenda, particularly given Mr. Trump’s notable lack of interest in policy. Whatever misgivings anti-Trump conservatives might have had about him, he’ll undo much of the agenda of his liberal predecessor while Mrs. Clinton would have built on it.

This case is hardly irrational, and over time it may be proved right. President Trump may govern well and in a conservative manner, and my concerns about him may eventually look misguided and silly.

But I doubt it.

To understand why, it’s worth keeping in mind that my chief worries about Mr. Trump were never strictly ideological; they had to do with temperament and character.
This isn’t to say that I didn’t have worries based on Mr. Trump’s deviations from conservatism, a political philosophy he seems to have no real interest in or acquaintance with. Yet it was always a guarantee that on policy he would do more things conservatives would like than Mrs. Clinton would. But that was outweighed by other considerations.

The more pressing concern many of us had about Mr. Trump is that he simply isn’t up to the job of being president. And much that has happened during the transition period has confirmed those concerns. One example: Last weekend Mr. Trump gave an interview to the Washington Post in which he said his administration would quickly put out its own health proposal, which would cover everyone now insured and cost much less.

One problem: There is no Trump proposal. As Yuval Levin, my colleague at the Ethics and Public Policy Center, points out, it was the creation of his own imagination. Republicans on Capitol Hill and Mr. Trump’s own team were utterly perplexed by what Mr. Trump said, and not for the first time. The extraordinary and unenviable task facing the White House staff is to contain Mr. Trump, to keep a dysfunctional president from producing a dysfunctional presidency. ...

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/21/...-fall-in-line-behind-trump.html?smid=tw-share

Look up the newly-coined term "alternative facts", then reread 1984. "...Oceania had always been at war with Eurasia."