President Trump: The NEW one and only politics thread

Another jobs victory for PEOTUS Trump.

 

Consumer confidence is up since the election. The dollar is up. Stocks are up.

So, while liberals have stopped dating, have lost their sex drive, or admitted themselves for a psych evaluation, the rest of us our optimistic, and thrilled to have a president who believes in the potential of the American worker.



Consumer Confidence in U.S. Surges Thanks to Optimism About Trump

 

Thanks, Comrade Trump!

 

The stock market goes up after every election. It didn't immediately in 2008 because the crisis was in full swing, but by March 2009, the rebound started. In fact, the stock market goes up in December many more years than not.

 

LOL. December can be a good month. They even have a term, the "Santa Claus rally" for it, but, let's not pretend it's that predictable, or that it's what we were told would be the market's reaction to a Trump victory.

 

Grad-school classmate of my wife mentioned on Facebook the other day that he'd actually gone to see his doctor about how bad he'd been feeling since the election. This is a guy who just a couple of years ago was undergoing chemotherapy for non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. I'm thinking, fuck man, ain't you got bigger fish to fry?

 

Mental health issues are real, and folks should address them if they feel they need help.

But, when I read about someone who goes from Hillary's "victory party" to the psych ward in the course of a few hours, I think his problems are bigger that who was elected president, and he probably needs more help than he realizes:

I texted a flare to my friend and plus-one, Sean, who soon appeared in the stairwell and cradled me in my hysterics. We kept in touch with a therapist friend of mine, Austin, through phone and text. Austin strongly urged me to leave the party. Hearing that I was suicidal, he proposed that I have myself committed.

Sean and I were among the first to leave the Javits Center — we fled, really — at about 10:30 that evening. I couldn’t bear to see the party devolve into a wake.

By around four o’clock the following morning, I was so lonesome in my emergency psych wing cot, I got up to see if the man sitting over by the dreaded television would talk to me. He spoke of his attempt to hang himself and of his struggles with heroin addiction, with trying to make it as an artist, with paying his ever-increasing rent. His bitter eyes were glazed from three sleepless nights, his hair greasy and matted from two showerless weeks.

A couple of hours later, they finally wheeled me up to the locked psych ward. As I wept in the hallway over the shock of landing in this prison of my own making, a baby-faced patient with thinning hair and a crooked nose gently reassured me. After I asked him why he was in the ward, he said he’d been hearing voices. Like the man from downstairs, he was probably a few years younger than I am—I’m 38 — but the cruelty of time had etched much deeper tales of hardship across each of their faces. Homeless, my new friend longed to get his SSDI check and buy a three-day bus trip back to his beloved birthplace, where life was better.

I seemed to be the only garden variety anxious-depressive in the ward, and was probably the only one gainfully employed, certainly the sole Ivy League grad. As far as I could estimate, most of the two dozen or so other men and women were homeless or unstably housed and largely suffered from psychosis.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry...llary-fundraisers_us_583d2ae0e4b0bb2962f17854

 

I tend to think this story is made up -- the Ann Coulter book, after the thrill of spotting the David Sedaris book, is a step too far for me -- but the very idea that this could be a thing, and that it got published, is hysterical.

But the night progressed. We went out to some other bars, had some more drinks, and he invited me back to his place. I was super excited, because I was really into this guy. We hooked up, and it was incredible. There was a lot face-touching and intense eye contact. He was cool as hell. I was completely smitten.

At some point I got up and sauntered over to his bookcase, because I wanted to see what he was into. I saw a few photos, and then a David Sedaris book that I love. I asked him about the Sedaris book and he said he hadn’t read it yet. But then, right beside it, I saw a book about Donald Trump. It wasn’t The Art of the Deal or one of his how-to-succeed-in-business books. It was In Trump We Trust, by Ann Coulter. So I asked him about it. I was like, “Ha ha, this is funny.”

And he responded, “Well, actually the guy raises some valid points. Mexicans are taking our jobs.”

Meanwhile I’m a Canadian expat who just moved to America. I pointed that out and he went, “No, no. It’s different.” Why? Because I’m white and in my twenties?

He started talking disparagingly about Black Lives Matter. This entire conversation happened in five minutes, while I was frantically getting dressed to leave. I wasn’t there to argue, and I felt deeply uncomfortable.

I got a Lyft home and I thought I was done with him. The next day he messaged me on Tinder. He said, “Hope you’re still not upset over politics LOL.” I explained that it’s hard for me to remain attracted to someone whose views are so different from mine, and who believes in bigotry and xenophobia—which sucked, because the sex was amazing.

Then he said, “Not accepting other people’s beliefs is the definition of bigotry.”

So apparently it was my fault.

He sent me a “hey” message a week later, which I never replied to.

I couldn’t do it again. It feels taboo to sleep with a Trump supporter. But here’s the thing: I’ve slept with a lot of people in my life. This guy ranked in the top five. I thought maybe I’d try him again one night at 3 a.m., when I was drunk enough to overlook his political views. But I couldn’t bring myself to do it.

I don’t want to wake up next to a guy who blames Mexicans for his woes and thinks “bigly” is a word, no matter how handsome he is.

 

If I remember correctly, the markets took a bit of a hit last December when the Feds raised rates a tick. This year we have a confluence of strong indicators -- third-quarter growth over 3 pct., further tightening of the labor market, deals cut by oil-producing countries, etc. European and Asian economies/markets are trending a little better, too.

The "Trump bump" seems to be primarily based on the promise of tax reform, particularly lowering the corporate rate to a more internationally competitive level, and a raft of other business-friendly policy initiatives that will be unleashed by a GOP majority. The Fed will raise rates another quarter point on Wednesday, which won't cause much stir because it's considered a certainty, but they markets will be trying to divine the pace of 2017 rate increases.

 

Met a guy on Tinder in San Diego and shocked he's a Trump supporter? Guess there are rules for Tinder hookups.

 

This is what an over-fascination of politics leads to. Selective walks of shame.

 

The guy's version: Met this chick, got laid. She's into politics. Nice tits, though.