Swamp-draining Trump pushes ex-AT&T lobbyist to oversee AT&T mega-merger One of the most popular applause lines from Donald Trump's presidential campaign was that he would "drain the swamp" – meaning put an end to the corrupt, revolving door of government and private practice that virtually defines modern Washington, DC. As president, however, that plan has gone from unrealized to actively dropped …
I don't know to upvote you for that observation or to weep at the truth it reflects. (I did both.)
Most lobbyests & politicians haven't a thing in their head & thus Nature struggles to fill in those voids, which would explain why Trump sucks like a nuclear powered Hoover with a shredder attachment.
/s?
Trump just made promises he knew would win votes and applause, and never had any intention of keeping those promises. Almost everyone outside of Washington hates the revolving door between government and lobbying/Wall Street/corporations, so it is easy to tell people you're going to stop that. No one is against that except the insiders in the revolving door.
Unfortunately he's been appointing insiders right and left, same as every administration before him. His supporters won't care, he will simply lie and tell them he's drained the swamp and they'll believe him. When the media disputes it he'll claim it is the liberal media out to get him - he's positioned things so that his supporters believe a guy who lies most of the time his mouth his open over all mainstream media. Its almost like a cult.
Ordinary republicans who didn't necessarily support him are fine with it because they are 'republican insiders' who replaced Obama's terrible 'democrat insiders'. They (and democrats who feel likewise when they get in power) are mostly to blame, because they don't ever hold their side to task, only complain about insiders when they are the wrong kind of insider!
Look at the "build a wall and make Mexico pay for it" thing. Reportedly his administration wants to put funding for the wall in the "must pass" legislation that will raise the debt ceiling and keep the government funded. His excuse for why taxpayers need to pay for it now is that we need to get started on it right away, and claims that Mexico will repay us in some fashion. He'll keep pushing off the date that happens as Mexico obviously has no intention of ever paying for it, until he's out of office. He can't do it via tariffs or Mexico will simply slap tariffs on their exports to us - and since we have a trade deficit with Mexico a trade war costs us a lot more than it costs them!
I'm willing to bet any amount of money once he leaves office he'll still be claiming Mexico will repay us, and then he'll blame his successor for not keeping Mexico to "the great deal I negotiated" and his mindless supporters will STILL believe him when he feeds them that crap!
IIRC, Donald never threatened a tax on exports to Mexico - that would simply cause Mexicans to import from elsewhere and cause unemployment in the US. The plan was an import tax, sometimes just on goods from Mexico, and sometimes a generic import tax. Prices in the US would have gone up to cover the tax, so Americans would be paying for the wall even if Donald got is tax through congress.
A 30% import tax on some item can cause a few local manufacturing jobs. It causes local manufacture of that item to be 29% less cost effective than the rest of the world, so no export market, reduced economies of scale and every other business that uses that item gets extra costs compared to foreign competitors. As a bonus, the boarder patrol get a pile free stuff from smugglers in return for not spotting the holes in the wall big enough to drive trucks through.
> IIRC, Donald never threatened a tax on exports to Mexico
He did threaten to steal money being 'exported' by workers in the US to their families in Mexico.
It is several billion a year and Trump thought they would still keep sending it even though the families would not be getting it.
I hope my upvote makes it to the correct Anonymous Coward (grandson of Noel?).
I don't know how to do this being totally inept including artistic skills, but could someone please fashion one of those little pictures that some posters can affix to their messages - one that looks like a very shriveled tangerine with a puckered ahole (or mouth - hard to distinguish)?
This ignominious asshole will go down in history - if there is one - as the most inept, ugly, lying, dangerous, sack-o-shit that was ever "elected" by a group of moronic voters/electors. I hope his grandchildren all change their names and skin colors as soon as they can. I wouldn't wish for them to all die of severe genetic inbreeding or just extremely poor genetic stock, however...
Having an orange face does not mean someone will make a bad president. Having small hands does not mean someone will make a bad president. Unfortunately, being self-serving is a requirement for being elected, with bonus points for acting like a fuckwitted moron.
I must admit that when I see 'Big John' on the left, I lower my expectations, switch from reading to skimming and hover the pointer over the down vote button. This time, his comments were short, to the point and I agreed with them 100%. Please try to read what is actually written, not just who writes it, otherwise there will be violent liberal mobs handing out summary beatings. Please try to listen. Consider the possibility that someone you dislike might actually get something right once per decade and that politely explaining why you believe they are mistaken stands a better chance of changing minds than a verbal clue bat.
Big businessman become president and installs business friendly cronies and policies. Be honest, who didn't see this coming?
On the other hand, even those politicians who get elected on a "drain the swamp" manifesto seem to always cave eventually and join the flow. Trump set a new record for turning on his "blue collar, grass root" and shafting them with the same old, same old.
Yes, that is a sliver lining in the cloudy administration; the blue collar supporters who swept him in are getting the shaft, and they are still cheering all the way to the poor house. Another funny aspect is that while Trump is quick to dismiss his failure to release his tax information, he is generally in charge of the people who run the IRS, yet he can't do anything substantial, ala the tea-bag party's wish to dismantle the IRS. In fact, he is a slave to the IRS because they are the ones bringing in all the money. So guess what you'll never see; Trump vs the IRS. He is now their biggest, secret, supporter. Much to the dismay of his supporters, if they could only open their eyes and see it.
Donald 'caved' before he was elected. He named several of his appointees as a part of his manifesto, They were all people with the most to gain from regulatory capture. I assumed that was how he got Robert Mercer's support. The only surprise was exactly what Donald wanted to keep out of the news with his recent vague comment about sending people to Mars in his first term. Now we know.
But this is excellent news.
All that's needed now is a full Cabinet meeting in a room with a smallish bomb in it. *
Signed
Americans for Democratic Anarchy. (Wiping out corruption in govt by wiping out govt).
*Although getting that much slime off the walls afterward could be quite messy.
Not between Mexico & America, but around Washington DC & the rest of the world, ala that movie with Snake Pliskin. Wall off Washington, sever its ability to communicate with the rest of the world, gun down anyone trying to leave, & then go ahead & "drain the swamp"... INTO the walled off part. Drown that festering fetid cesspool in it's own feces & then nuke it from orbit.
Build that wall, it'll stop Trump from ever shitting all over the rest of us!
/s?
Look, it turns out that swamp draining is harder than it looks (kinda like healthcare reform), so as a stopgap he just brought in enough alligators that you can walk from K street to the Casa Blanca without getting your wingtips soiled. Just don't drop the envelopes, because rumor has it that _some_ folks won't take _really_ dirty money.
That or he liked the "Chicken in every pot" slogan and decided to go for "A fox in every henhouse". Hey, either way, chickens fulfill their manifest destiny.
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