President-Elect Donald Trump: The Thread

[illinilaw08]

Nah, it's really not. My wife and I are near that joint income range and an extra ~1600 bucks over the course of the year is not a huge deal in the grand scheme of our budget/financial plans. Would I like to have that money instead of paying that in taxes? Sure, absolutely. But it's not debilitating to my family's lifestyle. And if he's going to increase other tax incentives or credits, like child care credits, as he said he would, it ends up being a wash anyway.

 

That doesn't mean I agree that a married couple making 225k/year should pay more than a married couple making 1.5 million a year. That's just dumb. And I've said before the right's protection of the rich in this country is nonsensical. I've always been a conservative, even a fiscal conservative, who isn't concerned with more taxes on the rich. I'm also not under the delusion that taxing the rich is going to solve our economic problems and I still think the middle class to lower upper class pays far too much.

 

edit: and i guess more to the point, using someone making 130k/year or a family making 225k/year paying .05% of their annual salary more in taxes as the "victim" isn't going to win you many PR battles.

 

It's an inefficient tax policy though, so it shouldn't be about PR battles. My wife and I are also near that joint income range, and that extra $1600 is more likely to go back into the economy from us than it would from the top whatever percent are seeing the reduction in the top tax brackets (and are more likely to save that money than spend it).

 

For me, I'm happy to pay more in taxes if I get additional benefits (universal healthcare for instance), or if it's strengthening the safety net (God forbid I ever need that). But I'm not real happy about the idea of paying more in taxes to fund a tax break for the really wealthy.

[Kyyle23]

Post security briefing

 

Trump: the hacking had no effect on the election. They hacked the DNC because they were dumb and had bad security. They tried to hack the RNC but they are superior and it was fought off bravely.

 

Intel: we have made no assessment.

[greg775]

Post security briefing

 

Trump: the hacking had no effect on the election. They hacked the DNC because they were dumb and had bad security. They tried to hack the RNC but they are superior and it was fought off bravely.

 

Intel: we have made no assessment.

Like I said before, I'd be OK with him getting kicked out of office before he takes office. Let McCain or Herman Cain or somebody like that be president. Or cite an emergency and let Obama serve two more years and have another election in two years. As long as it's not Hillary I'm OK with dumping Trump over this Russian interference issue. Even Bill would be OK, just not Hillary. If it can be proven Russia doctored votes then I'd think Trump could be declared ineligible for office. It's unprecedented, but if Russia influenced the vote, don't we need another election?

Edited January 6, 2017 by greg775

[Quin]

Like I said before, I'd be OK with him getting kicked out of office before he takes office. Let McCain or Herman Cain or somebody like that be president. Or cite an emergency and let Obama serve two more years and have another election in two years. As long as it's not Hillary I'm OK with dumping Trump over this Russian interference issue. Even Bill would be OK, just not Hillary. If it can be proven Russia doctored votes then I'd think Trump could be declared ineligible for office. It's unprecedented, but if Russia influenced the vote, don't we need another election?

 

Do you have any idea how the government works?

 

Trump

Pence

Ryan

Hatch

Tillerson

Mnuchin

Mattis

Sessions

Zinke

Ross

Puzder

Carson

Chao

Perry

DeVos

Kelly

 

That's the Presidential line of succession once Trump takes office.

[greg775]

Do you have any idea how the government works?

 

Trump

Pence

Ryan

Hatch

Tillerson

Mnuchin

Mattis

Sessions

Zinke

Ross

Puzder

Carson

Chao

Perry

DeVos

Kelly

 

That's the Presidential line of succession once Trump takes office.

 

I said if Russia is guilty of switching votes, etc., this is UNPRECEDENTED. Why would the VP of Trump be allowed to be president when the Russians got him in office as well?

[Quin]

I said if Russia is guilty of switching votes, etc., this is UNPRECEDENTED. Why would the VP of Trump be allowed to be president when the Russians got him in office as well?

 

Because we have literally zero protocol for this.

[Balta1701]

I said if Russia is guilty of switching votes, etc., this is UNPRECEDENTED. Why would the VP of Trump be allowed to be president when the Russians got him in office as well?

They didn't switch any votes. They just committed crimes to convince people willing to listen that his opponent couldn't be voted for. It'd be like if someone hacked into your personal files, got something you didn't want people to see, then sent it to a potential employer on a job interview. The employer would still have made the decision, but a crime would have been committed to support that decision. That doesn't mean that the person who didn't have their files broken into wasn't far worse, but the person committing the crime only chose to reveal one of them based on what was best for that person.

[pettie4sox]

Like I said before, I'd be OK with him getting kicked out of office before he takes office. Let McCain or Herman Cain or somebody like that be president. Or cite an emergency and let Obama serve two more years and have another election in two years. As long as it's not Hillary I'm OK with dumping Trump over this Russian interference issue. Even Bill would be OK, just not Hillary. If it can be proven Russia doctored votes then I'd think Trump could be declared ineligible for office. It's unprecedented, but if Russia influenced the vote, don't we need another election?

 

greg you are ready to start the second civil war with that rhetoric

[greg775]

greg you are ready to start the second civil war with that rhetoric

Not meaning to start a war. I think if it was proven Russia altered the election and as Balta explained they probably didn't, then in that case we Americans would be OK with Obama staying in office another year or two and have another election in 2 years. It would make no sense letting Pence take over considering he would have benefited as much as Trump IF the Russians were proven to have altered the voting.

Edited January 7, 2017 by greg775

[Jerksticks]

I guess I don't understand the uproar over any of the Russian election stuff, particularly that the election shouldn't be valid because of it.

 

I mean, I found it interesting as hell and super disturbing at the same time that Bernie never had a chance.

 

Or that Citigroup picked Obama's cabinet for him basically.

Or that Hillary was getting debate questions abead of time.

Or that the media was asking for Hillary's approval for stories.

Or even O'Keefe uncovering the bird-dogging etc.

 

Blame the messenger all you want, but the real story is the corruption. I'm happy for the American people that some of the stink got exposed finally. All because some people were sloppy being stinky.

 

 

 

[caulfield12]

One question, that...in the end, with her lack of debating skills, wouldn't matter. In fact, she's better when not overprepared and over-rehearsed.

 

Which members that had nothing at all to do with economics or finance did Goldman or Citi influence?

 

Trump exerted even more control over interview questions or terms of interviews than any candidate in history...because he was the main show in town and was driving ratings/advertising dollars. He still hasn't given a press conference.

 

 

And Bernie Sanders had at least a 50/50 shot to knock off Clinton but there's no way he was ever going to win South Carolina. She loses there, especially with the African American vote, and her support crumbles.

 

The GOP wanted practically any candidate but Trump to win...everyone could see how their internal firewalls worked out. Being the "outsider" or anti-establishment candidates helped Sanders and Trump immensely.

Edited January 7, 2017 by caulfield12

[Soxbadger]

I guess I don't understand the uproar over any of the Russian election stuff, particularly that the election shouldn't be valid because of it.

 

I mean, I found it interesting as hell and super disturbing at the same time that Bernie never had a chance.

 

Or that Citigroup picked Obama's cabinet for him basically.

Or that Hillary was getting debate questions abead of time.

Or that the media was asking for Hillary's approval for stories.

Or even O'Keefe uncovering the bird-dogging etc.

 

Blame the messenger all you want, but the real story is the corruption. I'm happy for the American people that some of the stink got exposed finally. All because some people were sloppy being stinky.

 

 

If you dont understand the difference between corruption and foreign states trying to manipulate their enemy, I really dont see the point in having the discussion. Last I checked Citigroup didnt invade Ukraine recently.

 

Honestly, Russia is probably laughing about how easy it was. Internet reinvented propaganda.

[Jerksticks]

If you dont understand the difference between corruption and foreign states trying to manipulate their enemy, I really dont see the point in having the discussion. Last I checked Citigroup didnt invade Ukraine recently.

 

Honestly, Russia is probably laughing about how easy it was. Internet reinvented propaganda.

Oh I get it and Russia is laughing just like it's been laughing for years at us now. I was referring to the fact that the emails still existed whether Russia or my mom leaked them. Aren't you glad they were leaked? I feel like even the weird radical leftists (who would tend to support Bernie's super-progressivist ideas) would be happy. These are the people who typically supported Asange & Snowden before they helped Trump, & typically hate the idea of big corporate greed funding campaigns.

 

I can address my personal thoughts on US/Russia in a different post but I think the point here is that blaming the messenger to avoid the message is weird. Let's take the example further- what if the emails proved Hillary say... had some people killed. Would you still only be mad at Russia for proving it true, and still vote for her? Or would you be thankful the corruption was unearthed?

[caulfield12]

So Russia hacked into the GOP and didn't release anything detrimental to Trump. Hmmm...

 

They specifically launched their propaganda campaign to shore up support after the Billy Bush tape was leaked...when nobody thought he could win and there was quite a bit of talk about replacing him on the ticket.

 

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationw...1124-story.html

There were 213 million views of "fake news" attacking Clinton and her campaign. Then you had the FBI October Surprise 10-11 days before the election. Something completely unprecedented in modern US political elections.

 

 

And instead of investigating how Russia is attempting to benefit from this reset...which was clearly political and strategic...we have one leaked debate question to Donna Brazile, Goldman and Citigroup conspiracy theories (and we could spend months discussing the Bush cabinet conflicts of interest and corruption involved with deciding which banks to save and which ones to let implode in 2008)...and that Bernie Sanders wasn't exactly helped by the Democrats.

 

 

Okay.

 

 

Not to mention Bernie Sanders has been an independent for most of his career...honeymooned in Communist Russia during the height of the Cold War...his two trademark positions during the campaign (breaking up big banks and free/universal college education) were 1) completely impractical, 2) not something he would directly control even as president and 3) both of these concepts had zero chance of getting through a GOP-led Congress.

 

But putting roadblocks in the path of someone (Sanders) who has about the same amount of interest and knowledge about foreign policy as Donald Trump is clearly the equivalent of:

 

1) Giving Russia free reign with the Baltic States

http://www.pri.org/stories/2017-01-05/balt...ssia-could-lead

2) Blowing up NATO and ceding more power with the European Union likely to splinter if Merkel loses re-election

3) Crimea and the Ukraine

4) Turkey and Syria

5) Partnership with Tillerson and Exxon/Mobil

6) Plotted to assassinate the Montengran PM in order to delay their entry into NATO and being another vote along with the Baltic States to block Russia

http://www.news.com.au/world/europe/where-...636ac5a0435ac6a

7) Wikileaks/Assange/pro-Trump propaganda

8) Repression of free speech/press

 

 

 

[StrangeSox]

Trump really heaping on the Russia love this morning. It's the one thing he's actually been consistent on, I guess.

[StrangeSox]

Former CIA head Woolsey resigns from transition team citing growing tension over Trump's vision.

 

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/powerpo...m=.a17cb9cb060d

 

[StrangeSox]

Oh I get it and Russia is laughing just like it's been laughing for years at us now. I was referring to the fact that the emails still existed whether Russia or my mom leaked them. Aren't you glad they were leaked? I feel like even the weird radical leftists (who would tend to support Bernie's super-progressivist ideas) would be happy. These are the people who typically supported Asange & Snowden before they helped Trump, & typically hate the idea of big corporate greed funding campaigns.

 

I can address my personal thoughts on US/Russia in a different post but I think the point here is that blaming the messenger to avoid the message is weird. Let's take the example further- what if the emails proved Hillary say... had some people killed. Would you still only be mad at Russia for proving it true, and still vote for her? Or would you be thankful the corruption was unearthed?

 

If people actually cared about corruption they wouldn't have elected Trump.

 

[caulfield12]

https://www.yahoo.com/news/trump-wants-form...--election.html

 

Picking Russia critic Coats as intelligence chief is either brilliant PR or insanity

[Quin]

Oh I get it and Russia is laughing just like it's been laughing for years at us now. I was referring to the fact that the emails still existed whether Russia or my mom leaked them. Aren't you glad they were leaked? I feel like even the weird radical leftists (who would tend to support Bernie's super-progressivist ideas) would be happy. These are the people who typically supported Asange & Snowden before they helped Trump, & typically hate the idea of big corporate greed funding campaigns.

 

I can address my personal thoughts on US/Russia in a different post but I think the point here is that blaming the messenger to avoid the message is weird. Let's take the example further- what if the emails proved Hillary say... had some people killed. Would you still only be mad at Russia for proving it true, and still vote for her? Or would you be thankful the corruption was unearthed?

 

Not really, cause outside of Podesta's risotto recipe nothing in those emails touches a Donald Trump Top 10 Most Worrisome Tweets

[LittleHurt05]

If people actually cared about corruption they wouldn't have elected Trump.

 

If people actually cared about corruption, they wouldn't have given the Democratic nomination to Hillary either. What can you do?

 

[pettie4sox]

If people actually cared about corruption they wouldn't have elected Trump.

 

or hillary?

[Balta1701]

or hillary?

My knees hurt when I jump down from a height of a couple feet.

 

Ergo, I'm going to go jump off the Grand Canyon.

[Balta1701]

Apparently in part because of the failure of the nominees to be forthcoming with documents and in part because the Congress wants to hold hearings for all of them at the same time, this year will be the first time since the office was created 40 years ago that the Senate will be holding confirmation hearings on cabinet members before the Office of Government Ethics has completed reviews of said cabinet members. It is possible the full Congress could be voting on cabinet members without completed reviews.

[Texsox]

Trump really heaping on the Russia love this morning. It's the one thing he's actually been consistent on, I guess.

I find his loyalty to the people that got him elected refreshing.

 

Communist wives? Check

Extensive business dealings in communist countries? Check

Unwilling to see anything wrong with Russia injecting themselves into our elections? Check

 

He's got more communist ties than Oswald.

[caulfield12]

Only 2/3 wives...Czech Republic and Slovenia.

 

Marla Maples, not a Communist! Maybe that's why they attempted to hide Tiffany?