Donald Trump Presidency-Day One

[sukumvit boy]

The Trump White House tests a nation's capacity for outrage.
http://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/24/us...bush-trump.htm

[bluesoul]

an army veteran who voted for the guy who says she shouldn't serve

https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/20...low%3Afacebook

lesson: make stupid votes; win stupid leaders

[bluesoul]

trump just encouraged cops "not to be nice" with suspects

“When you see these towns, and you see these thugs being thrown into the back of a paddy wagon, you see ‘em thrown in, rough. I said, ‘Please don’t be too nice,’” he said. “Like when you guys put somebody in the car, when you’re protecting their head—the way you put the hand over, like, don’t hit their head, and they’ve just killed somebody, don’t hit their head? I said, ‘You can take the hand away, okay.’” Just as chilling, his words were met with applause and cheers.

[Fitzcarraldo]

http://worldofwonder.net/breaking-ne...ny-scaramucci/

[Stavros]

One of the basic engines of US government is the relationship between the President and Congress. One of the problems generated by the increasingly polarised House and Senate, is that the President is seen as an outsider. Budget proposals from the White House are these days ignored, while the failure to 'repeal and replace Obamacare' underlines the extent to which even the Republican Party is divided, unable to pass legislation in a chamber where it has a majority.

What makes the dismissal of Reince Priebus interesting in this context is that it means that the President has cut a direct link he had with Congress and the Republican Party, I believe now only Mike Pence can be that link, which he has used to break tied votes in the Senate. I am not sure what Paul Ryan's role is here, as he seems to be marginal to the Presidency and an ineffective leader in the House. Instead of being described as a 're-set' this looks like a retreat into the White House bunker, with the President appointing another military man to his senior staff. As tax reform is the next major issue he wants Congress to consider, presumably beginning in September or October, who is going to bridge the gap between the White House and Congress, not least when, as with health care the Republicans cannot agree among themselves what tax reform should include or exclude? This suggests that unless a tax reform bill can be put together than satisfies enough people it too could fail. Either way, the President seems to be more isolated in his first year than has been the case with most recent Presidents.

This may suit his claims that the 'System' is broken and enable him to continue attacking members of Congress and claim he intends to 'drain the swamp' but in practical terms the problem is that he has yet to 'win a deal' on his favoured policies, and with the Russia investigation expanding, this first year could be a year of failure -indeed he has stated more than once that existing health care should be allowed to fail, which is an astonishing position for a President to take on one of the most important policies that affects people every day. There is a view that Stephen Bannon wants the system to collapse because the long term aim is to create a new one, but in the meantime, the administration is not looking competent, and it remains to be seen if the new team in the White House can form a working partnership or be just as divided as the previous one.

In a curious way, because the two systems are different, there are deep divisions among the Tories in the UK over the exit from the EU in its emerging details, and divisions in Labour too. We seem to be living in an age when parties that were once solid representatives of a particular view offering voters a clear choice, are now incoherent, divided, and lacking in any imagination or policies that address the future needs of the people. Whether or not system reform would resolve these divisions I do not know.

[blackchubby38]

trump just encouraged cops "not to be nice" with suspects

Its truly amazing that even when he tries to deliver the right message, like one about going after violent gangs, Trump can't help himself and turn the whole thing into a stand up act.

[bluesoul]

[bluesoul]

the smoochi is already out? WTF?

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/31/u...ite-house.html

[trish]

Awe - so soon?

[Stavros]

When it goes wrong, send in the military. Who's next?