Current events thread
- Thread starter bucshon
- Start date
Healthy debate here. I am curious how this plays out.
Plenty of Rs coming out against the Trump AG pick that voted yes for M Garland. It is going to be hard to reconcile that back home.
Cornyn just showed why he didn’t belong as the Majority Leader. He’s a two-faced pud.
Trump wants to thin out bureaucracy. I am guessing he will be fine with the federal employees threatening to leave over his nominations. They will make it easy to spot who should go 🤣
John Brennan is a lying sack of you know what. Spreading garbage about Tulsi Gabbard. He needs to lose his security clearance permanently.
Then we have some DOJ attorneys who were happy to go after Trump and J6ers that weren’t even part of J6 talking about Orwell and Republicans going after political opponents. So hilarious. As if those mofos hadn’t done that for 4-8 years.
Then we have some DOJ attorneys who were happy to go after Trump and J6ers that weren’t even part of J6 talking about Orwell and Republicans going after political opponents. So hilarious. As if those mofos hadn’t done that for 4-8 years.
The DoJ has put themselves in an adversarial posture regarding Trump. They've got a lot of gall if they want him to want him to play nice after they rifled his wife's underwear drawer. I don't know if replacing the current partisan hack with his own partisan bulldog is wise and furthers his ends. Makes me wonder if this is the opening move to strike a deal to get someone tough-minded and fair, but less controversial and who will taken seriously.
Most voters do not care about Cabinet appointments. They just vote and get on with their lives.
I am sure he never imagined that Trump would pick clowns like Gaetz and Kennedy. Even Republicans cannot stand Gaetz.
Thune gave an interview and essentially said he believes a President should get who he has picked. It doesn’t matter that I think Gaetz is a poor choice either. Cornyn flipped what he said from 1 day to the very next. That’s laughable. And apparently he’s a sore loser.
Most vote and get on with their lives. Liz Cheney says "Hi"
I would also submit that the new R money people have figured out how to get votes across the finish line when it matters.
The government is getting more efficient and Trump hasn’t even been inaugurated yet! LOL.
I think the disconnect is this.
If the country had voted to maintain the status quo in DC, then a team of bureaucrats who are products of the status quo to fill all these appointments would be the appropriate choices. But that's not what Trump ran on and not what the country voted for in the majority. It will take people from the outside to implement change because the M.O. from the inside of all of these agencies and extraconstitutional entities is to protect and grow the power they've amassed. And the more "eminently qualified" a potential nominee would seem to be to the DC elite and their coattail hangers, the more certain it is that they are already under the sway of the bureaucracy. I'm not going to sit here and laud all the names that have surfaced so far, a few I really like, some I am unfamiliar with, and one I even scratch my head over. But they all seem to be doers rather than managers.
As far as the 'loyalist' hand wringing, I'm much more comfortable with people who are loyal to and believe in an agenda populating the executive branch than people apt to subvert it. The big caveat is that those loyal and believing people have to be honorable enough to refuse an illegal order, just like we expect out of our military. I mentioned above I think POTUS-elect might be using some of these nominations in a similar manner to how he's used the threat of tariffs to get people to show for trade negotiations. Or to smoke out disingenuous players ala Cornyn. But I might be mistaken in that--he might be dead serious with each and every one.
Most people voted for Trump for two reasons: the economy and immigration. They don't necessarily agree or care about anything else Trump says. They just want a better economy and secure borders.
Also, when did winning an election by 2 percentage points become a mandate? It used to require a victory of say 55/45 to be called a mandate.
Trump is winning 312 to 226. As for the popular vote, the last president to get 55% of the vote was Ronald Reagan 40 years ago.
I don't think I've ever used the word mandate in this thread, even the prior incarnations. You can define mandate in whatever way you like.
As far as the rest, we'll see what happens in his more economic-focused appointments. He put together a broad coalition with platform issues of interest to a variety of people and viewpoints. I'm not sure everyone's interest ends at the top one or two on their personal lists, nor am I sure that a lot of these things aren't more interrelated than they are given credit for.
The electoral count does not reflect the popularity of a President. Let's say a candidate won every state by 10,000 votes.
That candidate would have won all the electoral votes but would have won the popular vote by a less than a percentage point.
I did not mean to direct the mandate question at you. My apologies. It was just a side comment.
The Gaetz appointment is really the only one that bothers me. That throws all the “we really do want to protect women” argument in the trash for the GOP. If any of the allegations against him are true, he’s a predator. Quite the gamble by Trump, but you have to realize he doesn’t care if he causes damage to the party long term.
The “South American theft groups” have made their way to Aspen. The liberal elite might start to care.
All four suspects from south of the border.
Is any of that relevant? The question has always been about who the country (via the states) elects as it's president. That's been decided. If there is any kind of mandate, it's through the people choosing a Senate and House that's in alignment with the president.
edit: I'll add, separately, the idea that voting comes down to "It's the economy, stupid" is an outdated view of elections. An increasing number of people are tired of being told by elites that the economy is fine. They're tired of being told by elites they should celebrate men playing on a women's volleyball team. They're tired of being told by elites that men and women don't deserve separate locker rooms. They're tired of voting for candidates who've hitched their wagons to these views.
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The Gaetz appt bothers me as well. I have tried to research Gaetz on the web but like most news it depends on who is reporting it. Apparently under Barr the Justice Dept started investigating him and the charges seemed to grow as they negotiated with his associates to orovide testimony in exchange for more lenient treatment on charges they were involved with. The main associate still got 11 years in prison and they dropped the Gaetz investigation. Meanwhile the House started investigating him.
Gaetz resigning means the House ends its investigation. I'm not repeating the charges but mainly they sound like sex parties, with Gaetz having an active Venmo account paying for services, with alleged sorid details available if you want. The Justice department dropped the investigation while the Biden admin was still fully in control and you know they would have loved to get an ally of Trump if they could.
Here is what a Republican congressman from NE Ohio says, which sounds plausible: "When it comes to all of his(Trump's) selections, I think all of them have been made with a lot of intent and respect and integrity – when it comes to the selection of Rep. Gaetz, I just think it's silly. I believe that the president is probably rewarding him for being such a loyal soldier," Rep. Max Miller, R-Ohio, told reporters. "But the president is smart enough, and his team is smart enough to know that Mr. Gaetz will never get confirmed by the Senate whatsoever. And so this is just going to be a very long period of time for him, that he's going to get excoriated by members of the Senate on both sides of the aisle, because he's never been a team player and he's never helped out this conference."
(Maybe OhioIllini knows him.)
My conclusion is it is very unlikely Gaetz will get confirmed by the Senate (Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski already sound like no votes). If he does implode I wonder how long before he is replaced as a nominee and who the replacement is. Maybe there is a calculated strategy in this to take the heat off the other nominees and still get a Trump person at Justice. He does love to negotiate.
Gaetz resigning means the House ends its investigation. I'm not repeating the charges but mainly they sound like sex parties, with Gaetz having an active Venmo account paying for services, with alleged sorid details available if you want. The Justice department dropped the investigation while the Biden admin was still fully in control and you know they would have loved to get an ally of Trump if they could.
Here is what a Republican congressman from NE Ohio says, which sounds plausible: "When it comes to all of his(Trump's) selections, I think all of them have been made with a lot of intent and respect and integrity – when it comes to the selection of Rep. Gaetz, I just think it's silly. I believe that the president is probably rewarding him for being such a loyal soldier," Rep. Max Miller, R-Ohio, told reporters. "But the president is smart enough, and his team is smart enough to know that Mr. Gaetz will never get confirmed by the Senate whatsoever. And so this is just going to be a very long period of time for him, that he's going to get excoriated by members of the Senate on both sides of the aisle, because he's never been a team player and he's never helped out this conference."
(Maybe OhioIllini knows him.)
My conclusion is it is very unlikely Gaetz will get confirmed by the Senate (Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski already sound like no votes). If he does implode I wonder how long before he is replaced as a nominee and who the replacement is. Maybe there is a calculated strategy in this to take the heat off the other nominees and still get a Trump person at Justice. He does love to negotiate.
This. The Biden DOJ went out of their way to prosecute their political opponents, but let this rightwing bomb thrower go?? Ya, sure.
He made plenty of enemies on both sides of the isle in congress, but they buried his illegal activity. Not buying any of it.
Because they are blocking the release of the investigation of him, involving human trafficking. We need more transparency, not less.
WOW. You're always so wrong, so it is highly likely it's an excellent post.
Gaetz was not a great choice. That said, the people who are doing long term damage to the Republicans are the neocons.
Could we wait for this BS until Trump actually gets inaugurated?
Republicans didn’t win the election. Trump won despite “Republicans” like you, Train, Rill, the Cheneys, Bushes, Romneys and McCains.
The people most upset are the very people who created a world on fire, forced vaccinations, and got us 36T in debt. Good!! The people have spoken and the right people are upset.
You mean the phony anonymous allegation that the media used to try to take him down? The same allegations the DOJ chose not to pursue? We’ve seen the DOJ has no problem going after political opponents so charging Gaetz would be easy for them if any part of the story was true.
The Deep State going after Gaetz informs that Trump is over the target. Hell, if they stop him, RDS can make him their senatorial colleague.
Some even chose Trump because they don’t like being called garbage and Nazi lovers. Toe the line or else didn’t work very well for the haters. It did attract Jeff and Train.
