The Trump swamp

[EdyKel]

It's hard not to have seen this coming. Trump, on the campaign trail, touted that he would drain the swamp in DC. Well, that hasn't happened, it only got worse, with him draining the other swamp to fill his own, with bigger and nastier swamp beasts, including himself.

You have former neurosurgeon, Ben Carson, running HUD, who has no discernible experience in the department he runs, ordering a $31,000 dining set for his personal office.

You haven Interior Secretary, cowboy riding into Washington on a horse, Ryan Zinke, going home on the weekends, or to fundraisers, or other secretive events charging the tax payers over 200,000 for that,and loves to hide his paper trail.

You have fossil fuel loving EPA chief, who hob nobs with the oil industry, Scott Pruitt, traveling first class to everywhere he goes, because he hates traveling with the riff raff.

You got former Goldman Sachs exec, now Treasury Secretary, Steven Mnuchin, who loves to travel by military aircraft, along with his wife (who brags about it), giving a whopping $800,000 bill to the the tax payer, in his first year.

Then there is Trump's son in law, Jaraed Kushner, who no one knows what he actually does, or why he has a security clarence - even if it was recently downgraded. What he has done is used his father-in-law's position to create some lucrative connections and deals for himself. Now, it comes out that there were countries who sought to use this to manipulate him for their own ends.

Then there is Trump, who is so flagrant with making money from his office, and soaking taxpayer with the bill, it's hard to know where to even begin. From his making money from the secret service and billing the taxpayer with his constant travels to his properties and residence there, to all the lobbyists and foreign dignitaries buying up space, and paying up events, at his properties - not to mention those who pay into Trump's golf membership.

Looking at Trump, and his campaign entourage, is like watching a bunch of wealthy people rushing to an all you can grab government buffet of taxpayer money, taking it, and or using it to make even more, while telling everyone who will listen that you are against doing that.

[Heretic-Anchorite]

At 3/2/18 01:32 PM, EdyKel wrote:
Looking at Trump, and his campaign entourage, is like watching a bunch of wealthy people rushing to an all you can grab government buffet of taxpayer money, taking it, and or using it to make even more, while telling everyone who will listen that you are against doing that.

Herp derp

CLINTON EMAILS

LOCK HER UP

Herp derp.

[orangebomb]

At 3/2/18 02:12 PM, Heretic-Anchorite wrote:

At 3/2/18 01:32 PM, EdyKel wrote:
Looking at Trump, and his campaign entourage, is like watching a bunch of wealthy people rushing to an all you can grab government buffet of taxpayer money, taking it, and or using it to make even more, while telling everyone who will listen that you are against doing that.

Herp derp

CLINTON EMAILS

LOCK HER UP

Herp derp.

In hindsight, a garden-variety scandal that was blown out of proportion sounds far better than anything Trump has done so far in his presidency. In a way though, this can be both a blessing and a curse, but only if the Democrats (and liberals for that matter) can put aside their bickering long enough to take back Congress this year and the presidency in 2020. While we’re on this, with all of the protests and outrage on Trump and his inaction on racism and ignorance, will this really be the tipping point where voters give a damn about America’s future, or do we just bow down to those with outdated world views that nobody wants?

We can debate on Clinton as a candidate and as a person all we want, but we certainly wouldn’t be in this situation if she were in office right now, but ifs and buts were candy and nuts, I suppose.

[EdyKel]

This may not much matter to die-hard Trump supporters, or even the mainstream conservative media, but all this does chip away confidence in him from those groups. They can't always say it just fake news, or try and distract with Clinton. There is only so much that they can support, or defend, when it's constantly coming out. It's partly The GOP Congres's fault since they set the bar so low where anyone can just walk over it.

Here's another one. Carl Icahn, an Ex-economic advisor to Trump, recently sold 30 million in stocks in companies that relied on steal imports, days before Trump announced his plans on tariffs. I mean, this is a form of insider trading. Martha Stewart went to jail on much less. But it's unlikely he will face any severe consequences.

Then you got Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, who has been on the talk shows, trying to defend Trump's decision on the tariffs, carrying around Campbell's soup and a soda can, talking about how minuscule the cost will be, while avoiding bigger products like cars, and dishwasher, ect. And what he doesn't tell you is that he made his money in steel, and he has all these hidden financial holdings, that like Trump, he didn't truly divest from, opening him up to conflicts of interests and corruption.

[EdyKel]

At 3/3/18 03:54 PM, Sause wrote:

At 3/3/18 11:06 AM, EdyKel wrote: This may not much matter to die-hard Trump supporters, or even the mainstream conservative media, but all this does chip away confidence in him from those groups.

I'm going to stop you right there. If Trumpists 'left' Trump, who would they go to? Trump is the only one I can think of who is saying and doing what he is saying and doing. And since Trumpists like what he is saying and doing, I don't think they would leave him.

Even with the recent spending bills and gun control push that would make Obama blush, they brush it aside and offer excuses. This is no ordinary loyal fan base we are speaking of.

I'm sure in 10 years it will crystallize and make sense but for the time being I say enjoy the ride and not put this much effort into something none of us can affect.

There were two main reasons why people voted for Trump. He hit all the the right notes on social issues with conservatives, even if those issues were over inflated - and that is where the stubbornness lies. The other is economics, bringing back high paying jobs to blue collar workers. Those are the main reasons people voted for him. These two issues are not always mutual, so while some may not have liked his social issue they voted for his economic one. And some people who voted for him just thought he would become moderate over time, or thought he would shake things up in Washington by being different (an outsider).

I don't expect more than half his base to ever leave him, or lose their support for him, no matter what he does. After all he represents their fears and hatred in this country. They will support him as long as they think he will give them what they want, even if he can't give them everything. But, that's okay, that doesn't win elections for people like him, or keep him in office. Nixon was one of the most popular presidents in this country's history when he won the White House, and near a quarter of the population still supported him after he resigned. So, I don't expect Trump base to entirely abandon him, no matter what he does immorally, or stupidly - unless he does a complete turnaround on them.

But Trump is repelling more people than keeping, and that's by his own actions and policies alone, which is why his polling numbers (aside from Rasmussen) are some of the most dismal numbers for a first year president, ever. And with rumors of inflation, or another recession, on the horizon, he's going to lose even more support if those things come to to pass. And while his diehard base may stubbornly stick with him, it's the fringes, the people who don't like him, but who supported him, are going to flake off from him. And that is what we are slowly seeing.

Even his staunchest supporters, his evangelist base, who were not to thrilled with his moral values over sex and women, but supported him none the less because of his policies, and promises, to put conservative Christians into courts, and other powerful positions, are losing faith in him, because of continued moral failings and his draconian policies over immigrants - kicking out dreamers who have been living here for 30 to 40 years since they were kids.

The point here is that while Trump could shoot someone, and many in his base would defend it, for whatever reason he did it for, it doesn't change the fact that the majority of americans do not support him, and many who did, are rethinking it.

[FUNKbrs]

People who hate politics voted for Trump because people who love politics hate Trump.

Trump was elected to piss off the SJWs.

It worked.

The people who elected him not only didn't think past that point, they really hate the kind of people who WOULD think past that point.

Authoritarianism starts in the home. You have a husband/father/grandfather who's kids won't shut up and obey, who's wife either is leaving or has already left because "she just won't listen," who desperately wants to hear the world's highest authority say as loudly as possible "DO WHAT I SAY; NO EXCUSES!"

But "excuse" is just another word for "reason" that you don't want to listen to.

1: Immigration laws aren't being enforced.
2: ICE "People have walked from Mexico north for thousands of years"
3: Trump "BUILD A WALL! NO EXCUSES FOR ILLEGALS!"
4: ICE "But our economy is hinged on cheap illegal labor, and frankly, drugs...'
5: Trump "YOU HEARD ME! I'M THE BOSS! DO WHAT I SAY OR YOU'RE FIRED!"

The people who voted for Trump HATE thinking. They're against it, in principle.

When the zeitgeist is anti-intellectualism, intellectualism isn't going to work against it.

Until you bother to really understand Hate and how it works, you're not going to understand what made Trump strong enough to win.

Living in denial about how Hate controls politics is what made the Left susceptible to someone like Trump.

Hate controls politics, always have. You will not find an empire in the history of the world established on love, only empires established on Hate, war, destruction, exploitation, and domination.

Not accepting the realities of Hate in a conflict driven by hate is like going into a boxing match wearing a blindfold.

Not thinking about Hate doesn't make it go away.

[EdyKel]

Mr, no-nonsense, cowboy, interior secretary, Ryan Zinke, is back in the news. This times it's for $139,000 in lavish spending for 3 doors, 2 of which opened up to the balcony from his office.

[Atlas]

At 3/9/18 01:16 PM, EdyKel wrote: Mr, no-nonsense, cowboy, interior secretary, Ryan Zinke, is back in the news. This times it's for $139,000 in lavish spending for 3 doors, 2 of which opened up to the balcony from his office.

I can't even afford to fix my car door. I bet I could fix that door easily if I just used someone else's money as well.

[sung47sung]

At 3/2/18 01:32 PM, EdyKel wrote: It's hard not to have seen this coming. Trump, on the campaign trail, touted that he would drain the swamp in DC. Well, that hasn't happened, it only got worse, with him draining the other swamp to fill his own, with bigger and nastier swamp beasts, including himself.

Trump's Deputy Drug Czar Is A 24-Year-Old With A Flimsy Work History
Dominique Mosbergen,HuffPost• January 22, 2018

A 24-year-old appointed to a top position in the White House drug policy office has come under scrutiny in recent days for his scanty résumé and lack of qualifications.

A new Washington Post report reveals that one of Taylor Weyeneth’s few previous jobs ended ignominiously. Weyeneth was “let go” from a New York law firm in 2015 because he didn’t show up to work, the paper reports.

Weyeneth was appointed last year as deputy chief of staff of the Office of National Drug Control Policy, or ONDCP, which coordinates federal drug-control efforts, and questions have recently been raised about his fitness for the role.

Prior to his work for the Trump administration, the only job he’d held since graduating from college in 2016 was working on President Donald Trump’s presidential campaign, the Post reported earlier this month. As a high schooler, Weyeneth worked for a family firm that processed health products; and as an undergraduate, he had a job as a legal assistant at the New York law firm O’Dwyer & Bernstien.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/trump-apos-deputy-drug-czar-121016887.html

[EdyKel]

At 3/17/18 05:58 PM, sung47sung wrote:

At 3/2/18 01:32 PM, EdyKel wrote: It's hard not to have seen this coming. Trump, on the campaign trail, touted that he would drain the swamp in DC. Well, that hasn't happened, it only got worse, with him draining the other swamp to fill his own, with bigger and nastier swamp beasts, including himself.

There are so many of them that it's almost impossible to list them all. He basically hired people who either worked in his campaign, or donated millions to him, and they all lacked actually experience, or even knowledge, in the departments that they now run. Case in point, Betsy DeVos, who contributed millions in donations to Republicans and Trump's campaign. Some even joked she paid her way into her current position as Secretary of Education, and she has repeatedly demonstrated she has no clue what she is doing.

[sung47sung]

Puerto Rico Cancels Contract with Energy Company Linked to Trump Administration •October 30, 2017 After controversy last week plagued a $300 million contract to restore power to energy-crippled Puerto Rico, the head of the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority (PREPA) has cancelled the contract. The government-owned utility company’s CEO Ricardo Ramos referred to the controversy surrounding the contract as “an enormous distraction […] negatively impacting the work we’re already doing.” Last month, Ramos signed the contact with Whitefish Energy, a small, unheard of two-person Montana-based private utility firm, which was later revealed to have links to the Trump administration. The cancellation follows Puerto Rico’s governor, Ricardo Rossello, calling for PREPA to cancel the contract on Sunday.At

Trump gave 300 million contract to a two-men's company. I allege he tried to steal the money from aid fund to Puerto-Rico.

[EdyKel]

EPA chief, Scott Pruitt, is back in the news, and not just because of the plans to drop Obama Era rules on fuel efficiency standards for cars, but that he is living in a condo owned by a energy company lobbyist. The same company that he took a $40,000, tax player funded, first class trip Morocco for to promote their product of liquid natural gas - which was not part of his official duties as the head of the EPA.

[EdyKel]

Our favorite EPA chief, Scott Pruitt, keeps on spending tax payer money on questionable things. Not only has he billed taxpayers with a $43,000 secure phone line to the White house on the behalf of his lobbyists, but he keeps thinking that he needs extra security. He billed tax payers with 3 million for his security detail, which is 3 times bigger than his previous predecessors at the EPA - and he spent over $10,000 on bullet proof seat covers in his car. Is the mafia after him?

In other Trump swamp news, Robert Lighthizer, trump's trade rep, spent over $900,000 on renovation of two Washington buildings, while blaming the Obama administration for setting it in motion... I always love a good excuse for people who love to live the good life on the tax payer dime.

[EdyKel]

Just another pay to play day in the Trump admin.

[EdyKel]

Wilbur Ross, Trump's commerce secretary, never divested from companies tied to China and Russia, after he told Congress he did. No surprise.