President Trump: The NEW one and only politics thread

We are truly in a post-racial America. Nice to see you taking a break from masturbating to your 401k summary and not giving a shit about anyone else, tho.

 

I didn't say Trump doesn't make me feel weird. There's a lot I don't like about the guy.

If Congress wants to pass a law requiring presidential candidates to disclose their taxes, do that. Or Congress can compel him to produce it. Do that, then.

But you see how the media gets bound up in this. And I'm suggesting it shouldn't be as invested in doing the work of unraveling anyone's tax returns when there are entire government agencies tasked with this. And there is Congress, as well.

The way media and the government is intertwined is concerning to me. To the extent media holds big political names accountable, it also enshrines a massive bureaucracy of sources that don't do a whole hell of a lot because the media is busy doing much of it for them. The media, sadly, is glad to grant anonymity for all these sources and leaks without at least considering the possibility that perhaps government would function better if, instead of outsourcing accountability to reporters, it did a little of that on its own.

 

(Then it is not a guardrail.)

Voluntary release is a thing to write about and pick through and talk about for the creation of news and content. If we're honest, voluntary release isn't about much of anything. Congress can compel, and should compel, and, beyond that, what are we talking about?

One more thing: It's not anti-corruption measure at all because it's not even a measure. It's a thing that exists because the media would just as soon have it, and will come up with reasons for having it that include that, if we don't have it, well, someone might hide something. You mean, like Trump has?

The irony of voluntary release is the one guy who didn't wasn't punished by voters for not doing it. What's the point of it? There is no point. From hereon, not a single candidate should do it, either. A declination to share something you don't have to is not the equivalent of hiding something. We've merely created the idea that two conflate.

 

I think all candidates should release all their medical records. You never know, someone could be hiding some affliction (or a congenital issue that could bite them in the middle of their term). All we know is their age. We need to know more!

 

Since the first days of his campaign, Donald Trump has worked actively to obscure his conflicts of interest.

It's not the media's fault.

 

I know you think this is a big gotcha, but it isn't. Tax records and medical records are not the same thing. Also, if push comes to shove, I really don't mind this. Don't like it? Don't run for president.

 

According to Leerhsen, Trump's obsession with carpets and curtains appeared to stem from his lack of understanding of much more important business decisions. The writer recounted one decision Trump reportedly made that exposed his complete lack of ability as a businessman.

“One of his aides once told me that every room at the Plaza could be filled at the ‘rack rate’ (list price) every night and the revenue still wouldn’t cover the monthly payment of the loan he’d taken out to buy the place,” said Leerhsen. “In other words, he’d made a ridiculous deal. Neither he nor the banks had done the math beforehand.”

He's got the best brain ever, though. Just ask him.

 

Let's hope he has the spine to actually conduct oversight in the Senate. They can vote it down, but having the facts drawn out into the open would help.

 

In a country that routinely drug screens for jobs at Jiffy Lube and runs pre-employment credit checks on grocery cashiers , it doesn't seem unreasonable to ask for transparency when voting for a president.

 

And if we are to believe Stormy Daniels ... we're fucked.

 

You're missing my point.

The point isn't that Trump hasn't lied. Or that Congress shouldn't compel release. The point is: Let Congress do that. It's time for the media to stop being policymakers without teeth, foist the responsibility back on people hired and elected for it, actually see what happens, and cover that.

Government doesn't function in part because of BS like "voluntary release of tax returns." If it matters, put it in law. That only works for people who can be shamed into it, and it hardly matters, since I'm confident almost no one can recall what anyone's tax returns did or didn't say 3 4, 5 election cycles ago. Can you?

 

So you want a Congress that couldn't agree on a lunch order to pass groundbreaking election legislation?