Living with the Trump presidency

Common aren't they?

Yet another election won under false pretences, then.

Given the spectacular failures of Trumps presidency to date, I am beginning to wonder whether he is ditching the far right mafia and listening to the more main stream of his government. If this is the case it can only be a good thing.

Thanks MawBroon, I meant what you said, it was with Gorbachev's knowledge of the speech. I recall seeing the news analysis of it on tv at the time. It was big news. Things had been thawing right along since Chernobyl. Thanks!

politicalscrapbook.net/2017/04/trump-support/

disappearing among his core supporters. Not fast enough, but you can't have everything, Lewlew.

There is no evidence that Gorbachev was among those present BTW but perhaps you didn't mean that when you said "a consented theme given at the Brandenburg Gate with Gorbachev".

Do not as George W. might have said "misunderestimate" Reagan.
He wasn't just an actor capable of delivering the lines, but had had experience from his two terms as Governor of California 1967-71 and 1971-75.
With the benefit of hindsight he was a cannier POTUS than some have given him credit for.
Of course he and Gorbachev had to be singing from the same hymnsheet. Alas for Honecker, he hadn't even had a sight of the hymnbook.

I should have said Evil Empire, not Axis of Evil, that was Bush borrowing Reagan. That was in 1983... and then Chernobyl was in 1986. Finally the Tear Down The Wall speech was a consented theme given at the Brandenburg Gate with Gorbechev. So it was not eloquence that won Gorbachev, but events which overtook the USSR.

Reagan was a professional actor and could deliver the Republican mandate easily because of his craft which made him an approachable person. 'The Great Communicator'. Sadly Bush Jr and Trump are not of that ilk... and can hardly deliver a speech without sounding like a robot, even when it was/is written for them at a level supposed equal to their personal demeanor. Bush would stumble, Trump just looks so bland, you can tell he's not in tune with it.

And yet it was President Reagan who spoke so eloquently in an appeal to Gorbachev and during whose office the Berlin Wall came down.
Reagan may have had his detractors, but when it came to oratory, he was impressive

www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ei1HnWwzmNk

I can remember some idiocy about space military action and big mirrors in order to defend the US against Russia. That was during Reagans term of office.

Ronald Reagan famously got along with the USSR’s Mikhail Gorbachev, bringing about major non-proliferation deals.

Wow, DJ... I find that a bit above quoted in the article a bit odd. I remember back in the early 80s Reagan lumping the USSR into his new term 'Axis of Evil' and ordering Gorbachev to tear down the wall (Iron Curtain). Not much happened IMHO until after Chernobyl when the Soviet regime hit rock bottom.

This is interesting, Lewlew.
I think the heading is referring to Xi Jinping, not trump.

theconversation.com/xi-meets-trump-how-charisma-and-personality-can-ensure-peace-and-prosperity-75870

The Republicans are now threatening the "nuclear option" to approve Trump's nominee for the Supreme Court. This position will affect the civil rights of every American. The "nuclear option" would allow Mr Gorsach to be approved by 52 to 48. Sounds familiar??

www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-39517649

Some things surely are far too important to be approved by such a small margin.

Yikes, Varian ... that is just awful. I can't believe people would do that, but had heard of Halbig who had the nerve to address the school board back when it happened criticising the police and that the whole thing was fake and that the school was a tip.

There was a shocking programme on Radio 4 on Sunday about the conspiracy theorists who deny that the massacre at Sandy Hill Elementary school did not happen. Twenty small children and six adults were shot and killed by a lone gunman who then shot himself dead.

One of the foremost conspiracy theorist is Alex Jones who spreads his alt-right opinions on radio shows and his InfoWars website. His theory is that this and other mass killings were staged by the US government in an attempt to bring in gun control legislation.

One of his fans is Donald Trump who has appeared on his show and has lavished him with praise. Jones appears to be the source of Trump's claim that he actually won the popular vote if you discounted up to 7 million "illegals" (immigrants and dead people) who all voted for Hillary Clinton.

I recommend that you should listen to this programme, but not if you are of a nervous disposition. It certainly scared me!

www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b08ll1q0

That's interesting, Lewlew. I had read something about the trump Foundation before, that he hadn't put any of his own money in, but had spent on stuff he shouldn't. Hadn't realise it was so narcissistic.

Is this more proof that trump can't read?

www.newscientist.com/article/2125575-quarter-of-californias-snowpack-loss-is-from-human-made-warming/

Or that he has no grasp of science and couldn't care less?

I would not care if Trump was a moderate anything... he's a despicable human being who hasn't a clue how government (not politics, there's a difference) works.

He has also trashed every moderate Republican out there. McCain, the Bushes, Cruz... he has NO friends in the party. Watch Speak Ryan's body language when around Trump... even Pence looks wary.

The Clinton Foundation? Really? What about the Trump Foundation?

www.npr.org/2016/10/17/498154413/theres-really-no-comparison-between-the-trump-and-clinton-foundations

Charities experts have an entirely different set of concerns about the Trump Foundation — concerns that go beyond appearance.

"The Trump Foundation has engaged in documented, flagrant acts of violation," said Pamela Mann, a former head of the charities bureau in the New York attorney general's office. She is now a partner at Carter Ledyard & Milburn, LLP. "That's really different."

The Trump Foundation is organized as a private foundation. It was originally set up to give away Donald Trump's money. But as reporting by the Washington Post shows, Trump hasn't given any of his own money to the foundation since 2008. Instead, his foundation raises money from other donors, as it did at a fundraiser for veterans Trump held in January that raised $1.6 million in contributions, according to the Trump Foundation's website.

The Trump Foundation broke IRS rules, too, when it made a contribution to a superPAC supporting Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi in 2013. Trump's foundation has described that contribution as a mistake and says Trump paid a penalty to the IRS. But Mann, the former charity watchdog, is skeptical.

"It suggests that they're not deeply concerned with playing by the rules," Mann said. "It's unclear whether that's because they don't know what the rules are, or they are willfully ignoring the rules."

There are also questions about whether the Trump Foundation has spent money on things it shouldn't have, including two paintings of Trump himself, and a Tim Tebow football helmet.

Do all read the 1935 novel "It can't happen here", by Sinclair Lewis. It is on amazon It was written when dictators were emerging in various parts of the world, but not, that far, in the democratic UK and USA. The blurb on the back of the recently re-issued Penguin edition offers this brief synopsis: ‘A vain, outlandish, anti-immigrant demagogue runs for President of the United States … and wins.’

The campaign of the fictional candidate to win the support of traditionally patriotic citizens while casting an ethnic group as the downful of the great US of A, the backing of various reactionary figures in the church and the military, the wish to return to the "old values" when men were men, and women and n*****s had no vote and kept out of important affairs, the use and expansion of presidential powers to make executive decisions in a manufactured "emergency situation", the casting out of anyone who dare disagree, it is all there, and all achieved in a perfectly legitimate manner.

It starts rather slowly (it was written 82 years ago), so those who like their reading to be short and pithy will lose patience, but I am finding it "verrrrry interesting"

Some people didn't like the book at all, but most did , and
a couple of the reviews said,

"This is a really thought provoking novel about listening to false promises and accepting those attacks on freedom which are taken for granted, until they are no longer there." and

"The promise of $5,000 for every man, scapegoating of Jews & Negros, a return to traditional roles for women, fear and war-mongering as political tools (later war), creation of a private militia which is then empowered by the state upon election, massive expansion of military, rhetoric (and action) against communism and fascism yet the adoption of policies like central control over banking and utilities, slave-like labor camps for the unemployed (hired out to private companies cheap, whom then fired their own employees), concentration camps for political prisoners, detention of Supreme Court and Federal Judges and rendering of Congress as merely advisory etc"

and

"There is actually one parallel between Windrip and Trump which was not inevitable, and does seem coincidental at the least. Windrip is no genius - he is no Hitler or Mussolini or Stalin. Instead, he is a big child, drunk on the attention of crowds with charisma but no patience for actual governance . . . . "

You judge a person by the company he keeps.

So Trump was bankrolled by a Nazi supporter, and white supremacist, he is advised by members of the alt right - an extreme right wing outfit.

I would even argue that Trump is not really a Republican, and certainly not moderate.

I had no idea what lucky ducky meant by "Hannity" so I checked with my ever helpful friend Google

"Sean Patrick Hannity is an American radio and television host, author, and conservative (my bold) political commentator. He is the host of The Sean Hannity Show, a nationally syndicated talk radio show that airs throughout the United States"

I think the operative word here is conservative

(How could one not know about RT - a Russian international television network funded by the Russian government operating cable and satellite television channels directed to audiences outside Russia.)

Thankfully there are some moderate Republicans who are at last standing up to Trump. Let's hope they keep him on a restraining leash, especially in his meetings with the Chinese delegation.

I wonder whether, in the light of questions re his literacy skills, that's why he's keeping his daughter and SIL close, to monitor and help him understand documents. Why on earth would a president need his daughter by his side in talks with international delegations otherwise? Just a thought.

I saw that about Dennis Rodman and co at the time LewLew and thought "basketball diplomacy" mission was a strange concept. I recall wondering how Rodman reconciled that with reports of life for the ordinary North Korean.

LuckyDucky Have you had a recent mental health scan? Sorry, but you're bonkers.

I assume you're a troll or a bot.

Have a nice day!

Moderate? I'd hate to have an extreme at the helm.

I used to despise Trump, when I listened to normal media = CNN, BBC etc. I even made the mistake of watching RT. Didn't know that was Russian TV. We watched a presenter twist the latest news

Donald Trump is a moderate Republican.
He's trying, despite the Democrats, to fulfil his promises.

It's Hilary Clinton than need watching. I can't post here about the "Clinton Foundation."

Have you heard of 'deep politics' in the states? It's fascinating learning about "The Hill". We record "Hannity."
they dish it up as it is; no spin at all.