Ten Second Conversions...
Apr 16, 2017 07:49:44 #
Twardlow
Loc: Arkansas
SundayReview | EDITORIAL. The New York Times
Mr. Trump’s 10-Second Convictions
By THE EDITORIAL BOARD. APRIL 15, 2017
Donald Trump has made so many promises, from wiping out the national debt — a pledge dismissed last week by his own budget director as “hyperbole” — to changing the name of the Denali peak back to Mount McKinley, that it can be hard to keep track of how many he’s breaking. So here’s a partial list of his reversals and revisions, large and small, to date:
SYRIA In 2013, when Barack Obama sought congressional approval for military action in response to President Bashar al-Assad’s use of chemical weapons in Syria, Mr. Trump rejected any intervention, in a storm of tweets. On April 6, without consulting Congress, the administration attacked Syria, with the surreal explanation that Mr. Obama’s “weakness and irresolution” made it necessary.
RUSSIA Mr. Trump has lavished praise on Russia, complicit for years in Mr. Assad’s brutality; he has even encouraged its meddling in the affairs of other nations, like the United States. On April 5, under heavy fire for his campaign’s ties with Russia, he declared relations with Russia worse than ever, “because they’re aligned” with Syria. In another reversal, he denies knowing Vladimir Putin.
NATO For months, Mr. Trump condemned NATO as “obsolete,” falsely claiming that it doesn’t fight terrorism. Last week, after meeting with NATO’s secretary general, Mr. Trump declared, “It’s no longer obsolete … they made a change and now they do fight terrorism.” NATO didn’t change; Mr. Trump’s mind did.
HEALTH CARE Mr. Trump vowed not to cut Medicare or Medicaid, then embraced a Republican Obamacare replacement that would drastically raise costs for older Americans. It failed. Now he says he’ll force Democrats to negotiate by cutting Obamacare’s health insurance subsidies for seven million poor people.
TAX REFORM After his health care overhaul failed, Mr. Trump said he’d pivot to tax reform. Last week he roiled markets by saying he might pivot back to health care (see above).
TRAVEL Criticizing Mr. Obama’s summer vacation, Mr. Trump said that as president he “would rarely leave the White House because there’s so much work to be done.” Thanks to his weekends in Mar-a-Lago, he’s on target to ring up more bills for travel in his first year than Mr. Obama did in eight years. (And, yes, he used to accuse the Obamas of extravagantly spending taxpayer money.)
PRESCRIPTION DRUGS In December, the newly elected president pledged to use his fabled deal-making powers to “bring down drug prices.” After he met with drug company chiefs in the White House in January, that promise evaporated.
TAX LOOPHOLES Mr. Trump said last year that he would close "special interest loopholes that have been so good for Wall Street investors, and people like me, but unfair to American workers.” He then picked Stephen Schwarzman, a financier who has compared closing those loopholes to Hitler’s invasion of Poland, to lead a White House “strategic and policy forum.”
CHINA Mr. Trump targeted China throughout the campaign, saying that on his first day he’d label it a currency manipulator and act to reverse its entry into the World Trade Organization. Last week, after his first meeting with the Chinese president, he declared that China is no longer a currency manipulator, and said little about its trade practices.
NAFTA Mr. Trump told workers in Michigan that on Day 1, “A Trump administration will renegotiate Nafta and if we don’t get the deal we want, we will terminate Nafta and get a much better deal for our workers and our companies. 100 percent.” He’s failed to take any action.
THE TRUMP ORGANIZATION Mr. Trump repeatedly vowed that as president he would give up his business. Instead, he passed day-to-day operations to his oldest sons, while he continues to receive regular updates; is able to withdraw profits; and travels to promote his properties, at taxpayer expense, through high-profile visits.
THE FED Last year, Mr. Trump blasted the Federal Reserve for keeping interest rates low for political purposes. Last week, he told The Wall Street Journal that he respects Janet Yellen, the Fed chairwoman, adding, “I do like a low-interest-rate policy.”
INCOME TAXES Mr. Trump first said he’d release his taxes after an audit, and then, after he was president. Two days after his inauguration, he reneged.
EMPLOYMENT NUMBERS As a candidate, Mr. Trump made up his own numbers, putting unemployment rates as high as 42 percent, calling the government’s statistics “phony.” As president he touts the official numbers, when they’re good.
EXPORT-IMPORT BANK In 2015, Mr. Trump slammed the export financing agency as “featherbedding” for politicians and big corporations. Last week, he called the Ex-Im Bank “a very good thing,” saying that “lots of small companies are really helped.”
In some instances, President Trump has adopted, for the moment, more sensible positions than the sweeping, outlandish ones he took during the campaign. Some commentators point to the comforting possibility that his reversals mean that Mr. Trump is growing in office, adapting postures born of ignorance or political calculus as he meets the realities of governing.
But then you’d have to overlook the nasty positions he’s stuck to, as he caters to the oligarchs who surround him, builds his personal fortune and stirs the darker passions of his base. Why else would he break his promise to release his taxes or relinquish control of his business? Mr. Trump now surrounds himself with the bankers he once lambasted; he’s lagged behind on promises of infrastructure jobs, manufacturing revival and health care, while opening up bidding on the wall. He’s decried Syria’s gas attack on “beautiful babies” but continues to bar Syria’s children from America.
To attribute the president’s pirouettes to personal growth would also require ignoring what’s actually staring us in the face — that there is no foundation to this presidency. With his all-important ratings tanking, the reality-TV maestro is rewriting the script, enthusiastically swapping out any position in pursuit of a “deal.” He is revealing himself to be a tactical, transactional president, with no guiding convictions or principles beyond “winning.” Not winning for everyone, as he so famously promised. Winning for Mr. Trump.
Democrats or House Freedom Caucus members, NATO members or Middle East dictators, potential allies or adversaries — all must be deeply unsettled by the one clear pattern emerging here, a pattern that is consistent with Mr. Trump’s treatment of others in private life, from his stiffing of his creditors to his swindling of students at Trump University: betrayal.
And where does that leave the working-class voters who pinned their hopes on this man? They can live with what Mr. Trump calls successes, and hope that his interests align enough with theirs to achieve some peripheral benefit. Or they can press their legislators, and demand from Mr. Trump himself, that he stop spinning and start delivering.
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/15/opinion/sunday/mr-trumps-10-second-convictions.html?action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=opinion-c-col-left-region®ion=opinion-c-col-left-region&WT.nav=opinion-c-col-left-region
Mr. Trump’s 10-Second Convictions
By THE EDITORIAL BOARD. APRIL 15, 2017
Donald Trump has made so many promises, from wiping out the national debt — a pledge dismissed last week by his own budget director as “hyperbole” — to changing the name of the Denali peak back to Mount McKinley, that it can be hard to keep track of how many he’s breaking. So here’s a partial list of his reversals and revisions, large and small, to date:
SYRIA In 2013, when Barack Obama sought congressional approval for military action in response to President Bashar al-Assad’s use of chemical weapons in Syria, Mr. Trump rejected any intervention, in a storm of tweets. On April 6, without consulting Congress, the administration attacked Syria, with the surreal explanation that Mr. Obama’s “weakness and irresolution” made it necessary.
RUSSIA Mr. Trump has lavished praise on Russia, complicit for years in Mr. Assad’s brutality; he has even encouraged its meddling in the affairs of other nations, like the United States. On April 5, under heavy fire for his campaign’s ties with Russia, he declared relations with Russia worse than ever, “because they’re aligned” with Syria. In another reversal, he denies knowing Vladimir Putin.
NATO For months, Mr. Trump condemned NATO as “obsolete,” falsely claiming that it doesn’t fight terrorism. Last week, after meeting with NATO’s secretary general, Mr. Trump declared, “It’s no longer obsolete … they made a change and now they do fight terrorism.” NATO didn’t change; Mr. Trump’s mind did.
HEALTH CARE Mr. Trump vowed not to cut Medicare or Medicaid, then embraced a Republican Obamacare replacement that would drastically raise costs for older Americans. It failed. Now he says he’ll force Democrats to negotiate by cutting Obamacare’s health insurance subsidies for seven million poor people.
TAX REFORM After his health care overhaul failed, Mr. Trump said he’d pivot to tax reform. Last week he roiled markets by saying he might pivot back to health care (see above).
TRAVEL Criticizing Mr. Obama’s summer vacation, Mr. Trump said that as president he “would rarely leave the White House because there’s so much work to be done.” Thanks to his weekends in Mar-a-Lago, he’s on target to ring up more bills for travel in his first year than Mr. Obama did in eight years. (And, yes, he used to accuse the Obamas of extravagantly spending taxpayer money.)
PRESCRIPTION DRUGS In December, the newly elected president pledged to use his fabled deal-making powers to “bring down drug prices.” After he met with drug company chiefs in the White House in January, that promise evaporated.
TAX LOOPHOLES Mr. Trump said last year that he would close "special interest loopholes that have been so good for Wall Street investors, and people like me, but unfair to American workers.” He then picked Stephen Schwarzman, a financier who has compared closing those loopholes to Hitler’s invasion of Poland, to lead a White House “strategic and policy forum.”
CHINA Mr. Trump targeted China throughout the campaign, saying that on his first day he’d label it a currency manipulator and act to reverse its entry into the World Trade Organization. Last week, after his first meeting with the Chinese president, he declared that China is no longer a currency manipulator, and said little about its trade practices.
NAFTA Mr. Trump told workers in Michigan that on Day 1, “A Trump administration will renegotiate Nafta and if we don’t get the deal we want, we will terminate Nafta and get a much better deal for our workers and our companies. 100 percent.” He’s failed to take any action.
THE TRUMP ORGANIZATION Mr. Trump repeatedly vowed that as president he would give up his business. Instead, he passed day-to-day operations to his oldest sons, while he continues to receive regular updates; is able to withdraw profits; and travels to promote his properties, at taxpayer expense, through high-profile visits.
THE FED Last year, Mr. Trump blasted the Federal Reserve for keeping interest rates low for political purposes. Last week, he told The Wall Street Journal that he respects Janet Yellen, the Fed chairwoman, adding, “I do like a low-interest-rate policy.”
INCOME TAXES Mr. Trump first said he’d release his taxes after an audit, and then, after he was president. Two days after his inauguration, he reneged.
EMPLOYMENT NUMBERS As a candidate, Mr. Trump made up his own numbers, putting unemployment rates as high as 42 percent, calling the government’s statistics “phony.” As president he touts the official numbers, when they’re good.
EXPORT-IMPORT BANK In 2015, Mr. Trump slammed the export financing agency as “featherbedding” for politicians and big corporations. Last week, he called the Ex-Im Bank “a very good thing,” saying that “lots of small companies are really helped.”
In some instances, President Trump has adopted, for the moment, more sensible positions than the sweeping, outlandish ones he took during the campaign. Some commentators point to the comforting possibility that his reversals mean that Mr. Trump is growing in office, adapting postures born of ignorance or political calculus as he meets the realities of governing.
But then you’d have to overlook the nasty positions he’s stuck to, as he caters to the oligarchs who surround him, builds his personal fortune and stirs the darker passions of his base. Why else would he break his promise to release his taxes or relinquish control of his business? Mr. Trump now surrounds himself with the bankers he once lambasted; he’s lagged behind on promises of infrastructure jobs, manufacturing revival and health care, while opening up bidding on the wall. He’s decried Syria’s gas attack on “beautiful babies” but continues to bar Syria’s children from America.
To attribute the president’s pirouettes to personal growth would also require ignoring what’s actually staring us in the face — that there is no foundation to this presidency. With his all-important ratings tanking, the reality-TV maestro is rewriting the script, enthusiastically swapping out any position in pursuit of a “deal.” He is revealing himself to be a tactical, transactional president, with no guiding convictions or principles beyond “winning.” Not winning for everyone, as he so famously promised. Winning for Mr. Trump.
Democrats or House Freedom Caucus members, NATO members or Middle East dictators, potential allies or adversaries — all must be deeply unsettled by the one clear pattern emerging here, a pattern that is consistent with Mr. Trump’s treatment of others in private life, from his stiffing of his creditors to his swindling of students at Trump University: betrayal.
And where does that leave the working-class voters who pinned their hopes on this man? They can live with what Mr. Trump calls successes, and hope that his interests align enough with theirs to achieve some peripheral benefit. Or they can press their legislators, and demand from Mr. Trump himself, that he stop spinning and start delivering.
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/15/opinion/sunday/mr-trumps-10-second-convictions.html?action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=opinion-c-col-left-region®ion=opinion-c-col-left-region&WT.nav=opinion-c-col-left-region
Apr 16, 2017 08:42:07 #
Twardlow once we see explosions and dead bodies we are happy... once he delivers on "we got nukes why not use them" we will be all aglow. The news, conservative and liberal, will be overjoyed to give us details on the football mentality war... thrill thrill !!
All of the above broken promises will be for naught, for nothing, without meaning.
Has any president pinned purple hearts on the dead bodies of those who have given their last full measure? Full measure of what... blood?? Baby Bush needed a war in Iraq to get re-elected... just that simple... and Trump needs to divert media and voters from that fact that he can not with honesty sign a 1950-60s Loyalty Oath. North Korea here we come.... wahooo**
** Famous line by Chil Wills as he road the nuke bomb down in "Dr Strange Love"
All of the above broken promises will be for naught, for nothing, without meaning.
Has any president pinned purple hearts on the dead bodies of those who have given their last full measure? Full measure of what... blood?? Baby Bush needed a war in Iraq to get re-elected... just that simple... and Trump needs to divert media and voters from that fact that he can not with honesty sign a 1950-60s Loyalty Oath. North Korea here we come.... wahooo**
** Famous line by Chil Wills as he road the nuke bomb down in "Dr Strange Love"
Apr 16, 2017 09:54:51 #
dpullum wrote:
Twardlow once we see explosions and dead bodies we... (show quote)
Time for the Winger chant: "Yeah,but HRC lies!"
Apr 16, 2017 11:30:14 #
DaveO wrote:
Time for the Winger chant: "Yeah,but HRC lies!"
Well, this is no different than the eight years of Obama's flip-flopping on his campaign promises. Same old same old... Some people never learn.
Apr 16, 2017 11:33:48 #
Steven Seward wrote:
Well, this is no different than the eight years of Obama's flip-flopping on his campaign promises. Same old same old... Some people never learn.
Beautiful! The number one reply for Trumps' performance or lack thereof! "But Obama did this or Obama did that..." the patented reply to excuse the liar.
Apr 16, 2017 12:11:08 #
Twardlow
Loc: Arkansas
Steven Seward wrote:
Well, this is no different than the eight years of Obama's flip-flopping on his campaign promises. Same old same old... Some people never learn.
I'm sorry, but I seem to remember Obamacare. Do you? Obama was unable to act on all of his proposals because of he hostility of the Republican senate--which withdrew their own bills if Obama agreed with them!
What we see in this instance, is a man who--with the help of the Russian Government, and maybe at the direction of the Russian Government!--was elected on a program of things he would do and things he would change; but now change seems to be mostly change in the program he was elected upon. He has abandoned and reversed nearly every position he took.
However, he remains consistent in his sexual adventures and lawsuits upon them, scamming his customers and voters, screwing the US Government our of every penney he can, playing golf at every opportunity (at a cost of three million dollars each weekend, paid by the taxpayer) maximizing his profit while being the most ignorant president in US History, incompetent in every way, uninformed about the most basic concepts of governing, ignoble in his moral, ethical and personal responsibilities, threatening war with Iran, Syria, North Korea, China, and Mexico, then appointing the most dishonest and corrupt cabinet in my lifetime or perhaps in history (with perhaps two exceptions), while using his tie as the most grandiose phallic substitute, overcompensating perhaps, but controlling it with scotch tape, hiding what may be his own physical shortcomings!
We have a President whose only genuine accomplishment is in surpassing Groucho Marx!
Apr 16, 2017 12:33:31 #
Steven Seward wrote:
Well, this is no different than the eight years of Obama's flip-flopping on his campaign promises. Same old same old... Some people never learn.
More than before, when confronted with the failings and bad behavior of Trump, the predicted response is that Obama did it too, or that Hillary would have been worse.
Very lame way to avoid the current truth about Trump.
Time to wake up.
Apr 16, 2017 12:57:42 #
DaveO wrote:
Beautiful! The number one reply for Trumps' performance or lack thereof! "But Obama did this or Obama did that..." the patented reply to excuse the liar.
I wasn't using it as an excuse. I was saying that they were both bad. Did you read my reply correctly?
Apr 16, 2017 12:59:36 #
Kmgw9v wrote:
More than before, when confronted with the failings and bad behavior of Trump, the predicted response is that Obama did it too, or that Hillary would have been worse.
Very lame way to avoid the current truth about Trump.
Time to wake up.
Very lame way to avoid the current truth about Trump.
Time to wake up.
You too did not read my reply correctly and just inserted your own insinuations that you were expecting to hear.
Apr 16, 2017 13:19:59 #
Steven Seward wrote:
I wasn't using it as an excuse. I was saying that they were both bad. Did you read my reply correctly?
Guess what,Steve? There are no facial expressions or intonations,so the written word "is what it is or seems to be." Apparently others interpreted as an excuse as well. Emoticons may also help. In addition,it is an excuse frequently used,so don't get too flustered.
Apr 16, 2017 13:58:18 #
DaveO wrote:
Guess what,Steve? There are no facial expressions or intonations,so the written word "is what it is or seems to be." Apparently others interpreted as an excuse as well. Emoticons may also help. In addition,it is an excuse frequently used,so don't get too flustered.
You may be right, as I did not elucidate much. I wanted to say that Trump is in a long line of politicians who promise the heavens but cannot deliver it all, and people keep flocking to them over and over again, without ever learning. I see the same hero worship of Trump as I saw with Obama before him. No difference except for ideology. It is way more important to "worship" good ideas than politicians. When people worship "the man" (or woman, or transgendered pig farmer with exhibitionist and bestial tendencies), they tend to overlook the faults that come with him the same way that a lover will ignore his partner's faults.
Apr 16, 2017 14:05:29 #
Steven Seward wrote:
You may be right, as I did not elucidate much. I ... (show quote)
I look for easier explanations. The stupid polarization we witness runs from Congress all the way down to this forum. Many are dissatisfied for what ever reasons and want change to the extent they will follow the most appealing pied piper. They have hummed the tunes so loudly that they can not recognize lies from facts and essentially are not concerned. Mob mentality...love the Kool-Aid!
Apr 16, 2017 14:09:20 #
DaveO wrote:
I look for easier explanations. The stupid polarization we witness runs from Congress all the way down to this forum. Many are dissatisfied for what ever reasons and want change to the extent they will follow the most appealing pied piper. They have hummed the tunes so loudly that they can not recognize lies from facts and essentially are not concerned. Mob mentality...love the Kool-Aid!
Apr 16, 2017 14:11:06 #
Steven Seward wrote:
I don't really want to pick sides on this cluster*, I can't stand either.
All in fun!Apr 16, 2017 15:01:53 #
Twardlow
Loc: Arkansas
Steven Seward wrote:
I wasn't using it as an excuse. I was saying that they were both bad. Did you read my reply correctly?
I'm sorry. There is no was any civilized and rational and thinking and informed person could compare Obama and Donald Trump.
You post, if sincere, demonstrates a condition that is clinical.
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