[Discussion] The Donald Trump Administration

Let's follow and discuss what our newest presidential administration gets up to, the good, the bad, the lawsuits.

I wonder when the reality sinks in with Trump voters that he pulled a bait and switch on them. He ran big guns on "build the wall", but is already walking it back. He repeated over and over how the elite and insiders were the problem, yet seems perfectly happy to put those people in his transition team and potentially his candidate. Are they going to continue supporting him, or not? Or do they not pay close enough attention to know/care?

Chaz wrote:

I wonder when the reality sinks in with Trump voters that he pulled a bait and switch on them. He ran big guns on "build the wall", but is already walking it back. He repeated over and over how the elite and insiders were the problem, yet seems perfectly happy to put those people in his transition team and potentially his candidate. Are they going to continue supporting him, or not? Or do they not pay close enough attention to know/care?

Trump’s voters won’t mind if he doesn’t keep all his promises

Many Trump supporters don’t believe his wildest promises — and they don’t care

I'll go one further and say that the examples of incompetence that we're seeing in this transition are going to be celebrated by those who think they show how much of an outsider he is.

JC wrote:
garion333 wrote:

It's the best, isn't it?

You should be more concerned that Bannon is now his top advisor. A man that thrives off of sowing hatred and outright lies is now the top advisor to the president...

Bannon, at least, is holding with what Trump campaigned on.

Bannon is likely in charge of everything, but didn't want the crap job of being Chief of Staff, so they threw a bone to the RNC. I'm a little surprised they threw any bones their way.

Classic Trump. When your subordinates have clear factions, it's easier to keep them in line, because they spend their time fighting each other rather than trying to take stage away from the boss and occupy it themselves...

Chaz wrote:

I wonder when the reality sinks in with Trump voters that he pulled a bait and switch on them. He ran big guns on "build the wall", but is already walking it back. He repeated over and over how the elite and insiders were the problem, yet seems perfectly happy to put those people in his transition team and potentially his candidate. Are they going to continue supporting him, or not? Or do they not pay close enough attention to know/care?

The only thing that matters to his supporters is that he has an (R) after his name. Seriously. That's it. As was pointed out in other threads, maybe even this one, everything that goes badly will be blamed on the previous administration.

To take a moderate stance to this, the article basically quotes a bunch of people saying "this will help recruitment", but I also expect the extremists quoted there would have said the exact same thing in different terms had Clinton been elected.

imbiginjapan wrote:

To take a moderate stance to this, the article basically quotes a bunch of people saying "this will help recruitment", but I also expect the extremists quoted there would have said the exact same thing in different terms had Clinton been elected.

Maybe, though Trump has been a boon to recruitment throughout the campaign.

Gremlin wrote:
Chaz wrote:

I wonder when the reality sinks in with Trump voters that he pulled a bait and switch on them. He ran big guns on "build the wall", but is already walking it back. He repeated over and over how the elite and insiders were the problem, yet seems perfectly happy to put those people in his transition team and potentially his candidate. Are they going to continue supporting him, or not? Or do they not pay close enough attention to know/care?

Trump’s voters won’t mind if he doesn’t keep all his promises

Many Trump supporters don’t believe his wildest promises — and they don’t care

I'll go one further and say that the examples of incompetence that we're seeing in this transition are going to be celebrated by those who think they show how much of an outsider he is.

Further enforces my belief that Trump is all about the racism.. nothing about actual change. Trump supporters don't really care about change.

TheGameguru wrote:
Gremlin wrote:
Chaz wrote:

I wonder when the reality sinks in with Trump voters that he pulled a bait and switch on them. He ran big guns on "build the wall", but is already walking it back. He repeated over and over how the elite and insiders were the problem, yet seems perfectly happy to put those people in his transition team and potentially his candidate. Are they going to continue supporting him, or not? Or do they not pay close enough attention to know/care?

Trump’s voters won’t mind if he doesn’t keep all his promises

Many Trump supporters don’t believe his wildest promises — and they don’t care

I'll go one further and say that the examples of incompetence that we're seeing in this transition are going to be celebrated by those who think they show how much of an outsider he is.

Further enforces my belief that Trump is all about the racism.. nothing about actual change. Trump supporters don't really care about change.

http://prospect.org/article/unpersua...

Good point. I don't think she would have won over *many* of Trump's voters. But a different candidate or Clinton running with a completely different message might have turnout out more of the similar voters who stayed home.

Gremlin wrote:

Trump’s voters won’t mind if he doesn’t keep all his promises

Many Trump supporters don’t believe his wildest promises — and they don’t care

I'll go one further and say that the examples of incompetence that we're seeing in this transition are going to be celebrated by those who think they show how much of an outsider he is.

A friend of mine who voted Dem posted on Facebook - if you want to help make America great again, put your money where your mouth is and try buying at least one American made product this Christmas. One of his republican friends got all incensed, saying if his kids want stuff made outside the country, that's what he's going to buy, and he's not personally responsible for making America great again, and posting this is just being a sore loser and to just get over it. My head spun so hard it almost popped off. So when Trump's tariff plan increases the cost of goods, I wonder which one of these guys will be complaining.

Gremlin wrote:
Chaz wrote:

I wonder when the reality sinks in with Trump voters that he pulled a bait and switch on them. He ran big guns on "build the wall", but is already walking it back. He repeated over and over how the elite and insiders were the problem, yet seems perfectly happy to put those people in his transition team and potentially his candidate. Are they going to continue supporting him, or not? Or do they not pay close enough attention to know/care?

Trump’s voters won’t mind if he doesn’t keep all his promises

Many Trump supporters don’t believe his wildest promises — and they don’t care

I'll go one further and say that the examples of incompetence that we're seeing in this transition are going to be celebrated by those who think they show how much of an outsider he is.

In general, I group Trump voters into 2 main categories: the ones who wanted Trump and the ones who were voting against Hillary. The former will be most likely to care that Trump is breaking promises, because they really wanted those idiotic things he promised.

The latter group, they're the ones doing mental gymnastics to come to the conclusion that Trump is more trustworthy than Clinton. So I expect them to be more prone to spinning out justifications and rationalizations for every stupid and corrupt thing he does. Because they don't want to admit that they were way off about him.

JC wrote:

You should be more concerned that Bannon is now his top advisor. A man that thrives off of sowing hatred and outright lies is now the top advisor to the president...

A man that thrives off of sowing hatred and outright lies is the president.

Quintin_Stone wrote:
JC wrote:

You should be more concerned that Bannon is now his top advisor. A man that thrives off of sowing hatred and outright lies is now the top advisor to the president...

A man that thrives off of sowing hatred and outright lies is the president.

You have a point.... F###

It's so hard to read these tea leaves right now. He's walking a tightrope between the alt-right and the regular right, and it makes sense that he's got representatives from both groups in high places.

I don't know how Trump can ultimately appease both of them. I think it's clear he's been lying to everybody, and that the various factions in the Republican party so far have been left hoping that Trump was lying to the other groups. When it comes time to actually make policy, he's going to have to take a concrete stance on individual issues, and at least some of these people hoping he's their kind of liar are going to be disappointed.

It won't sink in. Any broken promises will be blamed on someone else. We've been here before.

gore wrote:

When it comes time to actually make policy, he's going to have to take a concrete stance on individual issues, and at least some of these people hoping he's their kind of liar are going to be disappointed.

I expect his "concrete stances" will mostly be to punt and delegate. The only question is whether he punts to Priebus or Bannon.

All while thinking, "Ugh, I didn't sign on for all this nonsense."

oilypenguin wrote:

He's not even planning on living in the white house on the weekends. I think he thinks this is some kind of 9-5 job.

America, your next president wants to spend the weekends relaxing at home and not working for you.

I can only imagine the amount of rage New Yorkers would have towards Trump after four years of the city getting locked down by security every weekend so he can sleep in that that gaudy gold-plated monstrosity of his.

Quintin_Stone wrote:
gore wrote:

When it comes time to actually make policy, he's going to have to take a concrete stance on individual issues, and at least some of these people hoping he's their kind of liar are going to be disappointed.

I expect his "concrete stances" will mostly be to punt and delegate. The only question is whether he punts to Priebus or Bannon.

All while thinking, "Ugh, I didn't sign on for all this nonsense."

Even that's a pretty big statement, though.

I went ahead and described to /r/the_donald, not only because I hate myself, but also because I kind of want to pay attention to the alt-right Trump supporters. Right now, when they do take a break from congratulating each other, they're busy defending "their" version of Trump and downplaying the "normal GOP" version. There's a self delusion at play already.

I don't pretend to understand exactly how they'll react, but I don't think that community would be duped if Trump went "normal GOP" on their key issues by way of blaming Priebus and/or Congress. They expect... something from him, and passing the buck to his lessers seems like it may not cut it, especially since he's sold himself on being so competent.

OG_slinger wrote:
oilypenguin wrote:

He's not even planning on living in the white house on the weekends. I think he thinks this is some kind of 9-5 job.

America, your next president wants to spend the weekends relaxing at home and not working for you.

I can only imagine the amount of rage New Yorkers would have towards Trump after four years of the city getting locked down by security every weekend so he can sleep in that that gaudy gold-plated monstrosity of his.

You're under the big assumption that he's not just going to move there permanently. Wouldn't be the first time a dictator has changed the capital of a country.

gore wrote:

I went ahead and described to /r/the_donald, not only because I hate myself, but also because I kind of want to pay attention to the alt-right Trump supporters. Right now, when they do take a break from congratulating each other, they're busy defending "their" version of Trump and downplaying the "normal GOP" version. There's a self delusion at play already.

The_Donald is a unique little niche of delusion. To them, everything Trump did during his campaign was brilliant "5-dimensional chess". They didn't just want Trump, they think he's one of history's great geniuses.

bekkilyn wrote:

You're under the big assumption that he's not just going to move there permanently. Wouldn't be the first time a dictator has changed the capital of a country.

I read Julian Comstock last month. At the time, I thought its post-peak-oil dystopian Dominionist Christian autocracy was a little far-fetched.

But in light of Pence's post-election announcements... did I mention the US capital in Juliian Comstock had been relocated to NYC?

Quintin_Stone wrote:
bekkilyn wrote:

You're under the big assumption that he's not just going to move there permanently. Wouldn't be the first time a dictator has changed the capital of a country.

I read Julian Comstock last month. At the time, I thought its post-peak-oil dystopian Dominionist Christian autocracy was a little far-fetched.

But in light of Pence's post-election announcements... did I mention the US capital in Juliian Comstock had been relocated to NYC?

It may be against my better judgement under current circumstances, but I just requested that book from the library.

I just read the Wikipedia entry and even that is really depressing. The book that keeps going through my head is Handmaid's Tale. I don't know what to do with this depression I'm feeling. I keep hoping these worst case scenarios will leave my head.

bekkilyn wrote:

It may be against my better judgement under current circumstances, but I just requested that book from the library. :)

It's not as good as Spin, but it's better than the Spin sequels.

Oh hey. You know how queer people are terrified of our rights being eroded? Well, with the Trump administration's SCOTUS pick, I'm pretty sure that this sort of thing is just going to keep happening:

Bill filing begins, setting stage for 2017 Texas Legislature

Sen. Bob Hall, R-Edgewood, introduced a bill to overrule city ordinances that prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation, gender identity and other factors not as not been granted by state law. Austin is among the Texas cities that protect lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender residents from employment and housing discrimination.

(In case you've forgotten: Sexual orientation discrimination is forbidden in only 21 states plus the District of Columbia, and gender identity in only 18 plus D.C.. The other states? This could totally happen in all 29 of them.)

And being Texas, there are of course some new anti-abortion-rights laws queued up already, as well.

DSGamer wrote:

The book that keeps going through my head is Handmaid's Tale. I don't know what to do with this depression I'm feeling. I keep hoping these worst case scenarios will leave my head.

Been seeing that book quoted all year, as warning against Trump. Yet here we are

I'm assuming we are in the Escape From LA timeline, but with better CGI.

Stele wrote:
DSGamer wrote:

The book that keeps going through my head is Handmaid's Tale. I don't know what to do with this depression I'm feeling. I keep hoping these worst case scenarios will leave my head.

Been seeing that book quoted all year, as warning against Trump. Yet here we are

I think some people want that world. So, you know.

I've also had Children of Men rattling around in my head as I walk around in a haze. I don't know what to do.

CBS News wrote:

The Trump team has asked the White House to explore the possibility of getting his children the top secret security clearances. Logistically, the children would need to be designated by the current White House as national security advisers to their father to receive top secret clearances. However, once Mr. Trump becomes president, he would be able to put in the request himself.

His children would need to fill out the security questionnaire (SF-86) and go through the requisite background checks.

While nepotism rules prevent the president-elect from hiring his kids to work in the White House, they do not need to be government officials to receive top secret security clearances.

As a reminder, two of Trump's kids--Ivanka and Eric--couldn't be assed to register to vote and now daddy wants them to have access to classified information.