President Trump: The NEW one and only politics thread

It's not a point of contention.

 

Trump has been on every side of this issue. It's on tape, but facts don't matter. When it comes time to act, he sends Sessions out to talk and kicks it to Congress. As he hides.

The Congress should do its job. Doesn't make Tough Guy any less of a coward when he hides behind others.

When he took both sides of the issue, which one was I supposed to take seriously?

His goal is to appease the worst racist instincts of his base and be able to lay blame or take credit on the outcome.

Definition of a coward. Wasn't he supposed to be a leader? Everything was gonna be easy. So simple. And beautiful. Bigly.

And when the stupid, pointless, expensive, boondoggle of The Wall to Nowhere is attached to any legislation? What then?

Oh, I forgot. Mexico will pay for it. Right. Coward and a liar.

Trump is a con man from womb to wig. And millions of people fell for it.

 

If only people had listened to New Yorkers who have known this for decades. But they decided to ignore personal knowledge and experience and fall for the con.

 

Anybody who paid even cursory attention to pro football and the USFL fiasco saga knew it 30 years ago.

 

America is regressing to have the economic and political structure of a developing nation, an MIT economist has warned.

Peter Temin says the world's’ largest economy has roads and bridges that look more like those in Thailand and Venezuela than those in parts of Europe.

In his new book, “The Vanishing Middle Class", reviewed by the Institute for New Economic Thinking, Mr Temin says the fracture of US society is leading the middle class to disappear. ...

Mr Temin also claims that this dual-economy has a “racist” undertone.

“The desire to preserve the inferior status of blacks has motivated policies against all members of the low-wage sector.

“We have a structure that predetermines winners and losers. We are not getting the benefits of all the people who could contribute to the growth of the economy, to advances in medicine or science which could improve the quality of life for everyone — including some of the rich people," he writes.

An MIT economist says the US has regressed to a developing nation status

 

Um, when the "Muslim Ban" got before a court that wasn't politicized, it was largely upheld.

DAPA wasn't. DACA likely wouldn't.

This is as Republican as it gets, and Congress used to be bipartisan in fighting Presidents who attempted to usurp its powers.

Paul Ryan made the case in 2014:

“First of all, it’s unconstitutional so we’re already going through the court system on other unconstitutional executive orders that [Obama] has worked on and we would add this to the pile.

If he were to do that, by the way, he would put millions of people in legal limbo, poison the well for Congress, and do something that’s so blatantly unconstitutional so we’re telling the administration don’t even think about doing this.

If you want to change a law, then go to Congress. You can’t unilaterally write a law as the executive.”

 

What does unconstitutional REALLY mean?

 

That's some dramatic weight loss.

 

It's very complex, Della.

 

On Betsy DeVos...

I don't expect the This American Life segment to change anyone's mind about whether she's well qualified to be Secretary of Education.

But, it is interesting, and worth listening to.

They play a montage of folks -- including the head of one of the two largest teachers' union saying that she's "never stepped foot inside of a public school."

Well, we now know that charge was false. She spent five years mentoring poor, public school kids, at their school.

She bought one child's mom a car, and then paid for her private school tuition when she completed grade school (5th grade). She helped a second child get into a better school, and employs her mother (who's health issues made it hard for her to hold down a steady job), and employs the second child as well during the summer.

The second child spoke with This American Life, and she and her family clearly appreciate what DeVos has done for them.

Her actions aren't that of a person who doesn't "like" poor people or immigrants. She clearly made a personal -- and obviously a financial -- investment in these kids.

But, her decision to pay the tuition for the fist child was characterized as insulting by some of the public school teachers/administrators/advocates.

As for her expertise on the subject, let's be honest, the folks who oppose her don't give her any credit for being an expert on the issues because they don't like her solutions.

She's immersed herself in education issues for decades. That she didn't attend a public school is besides the point.

I don't expect any of the folks who accused her of having never steeped foot inside a public school to revise their statements, or give her any credit for the time she did spend inside public schools either.

Doesn't really matter. She'll be judged on her results by those who are fair.