President Trump: The NEW one and only politics thread

Anyone who still supports him is part of a cult and needs to seek help with their mental health.

 

Mapping Corruption: The Interactive Exhibit

https://prospect.org/mapping-corrup...VHRauGmDI_CP-wRnkU8az6Y#.XpImPVuzkNp.facebook

The Trump administration has brought its brand of corruption and self-dealing to every agency in the federal government, and it’s hard for anyone to keep on top of it all. We’ve mapped it out for you. Click on any agency building, and unlock an extensive dossier of the activities happening inside.

 

Wait ... he thinks the Captain in that was the hero!?!

 

Captain Ligh
Faker Christian

 

I'm guessing any meeting Donald Trump has with his staff looks something like this.

 

We need to plop his fat ass in a small boat in the middle of the ocean and allow him to prove his perfect Captain skills by sailing it to harbor.

 

I'm going to go ahead and guarantee Trump has never read the book, nor can he remember the movie.

It was the only title he and his crackerjack staff could think of with the word 'mutiny' in it.

He's more Queeg than Bligh in any case.

 

I thought the GOP was for states rights and decentralized government? Get your story straight.

 

Just for discussion's sake, and not because I support Trump's idea of "re-opening the country" ASAP, necessarily, what would be a good time to do it?

Because Trump is not totally wrong in the idea that it needs to happen, or else the economic ramifications of a long-term shutdown will be just as calamitous as the health issues involved with coronavirus.

All you really need to do to see that is to think of it on some personal/local level -- not even on a national scale -- to realize this, and become, yes, a little frightened about it.

I'll give an example: I have a sister who's a hairdresser. By order of the county she lives in, her salon was shut down about a month ago. My sister is not in a good position financially -- she doesn't live on the streets but she's a month-to-month liver -- just like many, many others. That's in part because of her own poor money choices and spending habits and credit-card debt, but, again, she's much like many others. She's not been working -- at least not out of her salon for the past month -- but her $1300/month apartment rent is still due. This week, she was contacted by the salon manager, asking for the $750/month rent on her station in the salon (even though it hasn't been open), because the owner of the building where the salon is needs to pay her mortgage/loan and is asking for her money. See how this goes?...

My sister has been trying to work independently, serving customers/fulfilling appointments at their houses, or out of hers. Last week, she had three appointments, two of which included well-paying colorings, and this money would have helped immensely, at least for the current month. Well, all three customers cancelled, probably out of fear of close contact, etc., even though my sister has been wearing masks and gloves, and offering them to customers with whom she works. So, there went that money. My mom, who is basically down to her last $20,000 of savings on which to live the rest of her life without others' help, has been throwing money to my sister, who can't pay her rent, her salon station rent, her car payment or anything else without robbing Peter to pay Paul. That's the plan for this month.

Next month, we're hopeful that the government stimulus check will be of some use, and I will help with the rest of the bills as much as I can, including probably giving her my stimulus check. But that stimulus check is a one-time thing, and, as someone considered self-employed, my sister has not paid into and is ineligible for unemployment benefits. I'm better off because, even though she has always made more than me (even when I was in newspapers), I have still been able to work at Walmart through this, and I also own my home, and have always been better and smarter with my money than she has. But it's not like I make much, and if this still goes on, my sister will have to continue to turn to others for help -- others who, after too much longer, will be able to ill afford to be, essentially, supporting someone else who has their own life's worth of regular, continuing bills and ongoing debt that is only likely to grow the more they struggle.

Now, think of this situation, or similar ones, in all the families, areas and businesses/lines of work that there are in this country that have been severely impacted by the coronavirus, and think of the havoc that being shut down for another three or six or nine months will cause. And then say you wouldn't want the country to re-open.

 

Mutiny on the Bounty Paper Towels