The Trump Presidency

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Galted wrote:

Pal Joey wrote:Just between us few on here... I have a feeling the Queen likes Trump.

Don't ask me to explain why but their body language seemed to be in a sort of comfortable harmony when they stood beside each other in June or whenever it was. And I think he quite likes all of that pomp and ceremony... as someone who likes being the centre of attention would.

He's a cross between a court jester and a village idiot so she would love him. Probably lets him run round the grounds with the corgis.

Yes... and also the fact that he has just a touch of olde worlde charm (probably brutally drummed into him from the NY Military Academy) despite his apparently frightening unpredictability in this day and age.

TRUSSMAN66 wrote:You admit to being ill-informed and then accuse others of believing in conspiracies...Interesting concept for sure...

Never said Trump should get a free pass..

Just have the ability to be a little objective and to multi-task....Don't knock it until you have tried it..

Multi-tasking?? You expect me to believe that? You're a man.

I've never understood this thing about men not being able to mulit-task. I'm quite capable of being angry about loads of things at the same time.

Latest head to heads...

Trump........45 Clinton 45
Trump........46 Harris..46
Warren.......48 Trump.46
Sanders......49 Trump.45
Biden.........51 Trump 44

Interesting that Warren is still not resonating with independents..

Biden is the candidate that People scared of change and dislike Trump are happiest with.....Sanders is doing remarkably well considering that usually a heart attack would make voters think he won't last the course..

Please let's not have Hillary in the race....

Quite a strange phenomenon in the US polls..

Trump's ratings are dire and falling and yet in the marginals his vote is holding up..

Trump's rating is 37% which is way below where any President should even think of being elected.......But where it matters..

Ohio

Trump....47 Warren 47
Trump....47 Sanders 47
Biden.....48 Trump 46
Trump....47 Harris 43
Trump....47 Buttigieg 43

North Carolina

Trump.....49 Buttigieg 47
Trump.....49 Harris 47
Trump.....49 Warren 48
Sanders...50 Trump 49
Biden.......50 Trump 46

Warren might be flying in the Democrat race.....But she is still third in head to heads..

Ocasio Cortez to endorse Bernie....Big scalp for Bernie the youngest progressive in the US..

Good move for her.. When Bernie retires she can be the figurehead for the progressive left..

Make no mistake it might be slowly but the US is becoming more progressive..

Certainly Sanders would have beaten Trump in 2016.

Bit like Brexit (where voting opinions haven't really changed since 2016), I think it's much the same in US re. Trump. Pity that a narcissistic **** of a demagogue like Trump (who is one of the 'Establishment' etc) has taken advantage of genuine discontent with loads of things that haven't been working for too many people for too long.

At least the U.S. Constitution will limit him to just the two terms. I suspect many countries will simply sit on their hands (as much as they can) re. trade, foreign policy etc until he's gone.

TRUSSMAN66 wrote:Ocasio Cortez to endorse Bernie....Big scalp for Bernie the youngest progressive in the US..

Good move for her.. When Bernie retires she can be the figurehead for the progressive left..

Make no mistake it might be slowly but the US is becoming more progressive..

Certainly Sanders would have beaten Trump in 2016.

Interesting. She seems a bit 'marmite' from what I can gather. Sanders at least seems to be one person in the Democratic race who appears to genuinely want to shake a lot of things up.

Shake his pockets. They're full. No big surprise. Bernie plays a game called politics.

SecretFly wrote:Shake his pockets.  They're full.  No big surprise.  Bernie plays a game called politics.  

Of course they are. They have to be, because US 'democracy' is as FUBAR as is the U.K.'s. You can't stand for anything unless you're either independently hugely wealthy (and just how did you become so rich?) or you've sold your soul to lobbyists or other interests.

navyblueshorts wrote:

SecretFly wrote:Shake his pockets.  They're full.  No big surprise.  Bernie plays a game called politics.  

Of course they are. They have to be, because US 'democracy' is as FUBAR as is the U.K.'s. You can't stand for anything unless you're either independently hugely wealthy (and just how did you become so rich?) or you've sold your soul to lobbyists or other interests.

Sanders was an independent Mayor.......Independent Congressman and then elected as an Independent Senator....

Doesn't take any money from Healthcare Companies or Banks and has a maximum donation limit...Was fighting for Civil rights before it was sexy...Was fighting for an NHS system and a living wage too...while Democrats looked for GOP votes..

He isn't 'Super wealthy' either..

I thought I'd clue you in....So next time you have a better idea of what you are writing about..

Anyways last quarter fundraising...

Sanders $25.3m
Warren $24.6m
Buttigieg $19.1m
Biden $15.6m
Harris $11.5m

Gabbard has certainly put a halt on Kamala's funding...Biden suffering too with the Warren surge....Buttigieg building a good kitty.

TRUSSMAN66 wrote:

navyblueshorts wrote:

SecretFly wrote:Shake his pockets.  They're full.  No big surprise.  Bernie plays a game called politics.  

Of course they are. They have to be, because US 'democracy' is as FUBAR as is the U.K.'s. You can't stand for anything unless you're either independently hugely wealthy (and just how did you become so rich?) or you've sold your soul to lobbyists or other interests.

Sanders was an independent Mayor.......Independent Congressman and then elected as an Independent Senator....

Doesn't take any money from Healthcare Companies or Banks and has a maximum donation limit...Was fighting for Civil rights before it was sexy...Was fighting for an NHS system and a living wage too...while Democrats looked for GOP votes..

He isn't 'Super wealthy' either..

I thought I'd clue you in....So next time you have a better idea of what you are writing about..

Anyways last quarter fundraising...

Sanders $25.3m
Warren $24.6m
Buttigieg $19.1m
Biden $15.6m
Harris $11.5m

Gabbard has certainly put a halt on Kamala's funding...Biden suffering too with the Warren surge....Buttigieg building a good kitty.

Cheers. Thanks for you expert input. I know enough already thanks and the so-called wonderful democracy of the U.S. is even more FUBAR than that of the U.K. Corrupt doesn't even begin to approach it.

Iowa head to heads...

Trump 51....Warren 49
Trump 51....Biden 49
Sanders 51....Trump 49...

Trump impeachment....Poll of polls..

Yes 50%
No...44%

I see Gordon Gekko is backing Bernie again for the same reason as me..(Great minds and all that).....Velocity of money....

Simple even for a Tory...Give the Top 1% a tax break they spend maybe 1-5% of it.....Give tax breaks to struggling families and they spend 80-100%.....More money in the system...Bigger Consumer base for business...

Roosevelt Economics = Fiscal stimulation......

Bolllox to trickle down....Where the trickle stops abruptly...

First primary....New Hampshire..

CNN..

Sanders 21 +2
Warren..18  -1
Biden.....15 -9
Buttigieg 10 =

Biden's Ukrainian episode hurting him..

Anyone see the Mattis speech from last week? Something about him getting his spurs on the battlefield but Drumpf getting his from his doctor.

A kind of window into how Trump is viewed overseas in this poll..

Yougov....."Is Trump endorsing Johnson helpful to the PM ??

Yes.........................10%
No..........................54%
Makes no difference..23%

Most interesting with Consevative voters...

Yes.........................14%
No..........................48%
Makes no difference..32%..

Enjoy the weekend..

Well, you know which side of any argument you are on if you find yourself allied with BJ, Trump and Jacob Rees-Smug...

The wrong one.

Slightly more seriously, I've spent much of this month in Canada, and been exposed to CNN and Fox News - trying to understand any partisan story (such as the Trump impeachment investigations) from their coverage is impossible. It's not just spin, but they appear to view the story from entirely different factual bases, and interpret the law and constitution so differently as to make any understanding of the situation impossible (obviously: CNN = Trump is the Devil incarnate, and any accusation is proof of this. Fox = Trump is the victim of a Liberal witch hunt, and Hunter Biden is obviously corrupt, so why is he not the main subject of Congress's investigation [obviously ignoring the fact that Congress would not have any investigative powers over him]). Of course, the stories are also mostly told by 'talking head' experts rather than journalists who are attempting to demonstrate the actual facts of the case.


For all we complain about our media (and lets be honest, the print media is mainly right leaning and the TV liberal (rather than left) leaning), at least most of the time I don't think it's anywhere near as manipulative as the US networks.

Poll of polls on impeachment is in interesting so far as it is..

Yes 48%
No..46%

Pretty much the result of WH2016..

Going to be a close race in 2020...GOP voters see a witch hunt and Democrats see the Devil incarnate.

Great to see the feud between Tulsi Gabbard and Kanala Harris continue at the latest debate..

What a Woman Tulsi is...Gorgeous...Intelligent...Quick witted..Interesting.

Shame see isn't doing better.

How Biden is still polling so well is beyond me. Does he remind anyone else of Clint Eastwood's character in Gran Torino?

Pr4wn wrote:How Biden is still polling so well is beyond me.

This is the country that elected Donald Trump as president. Logic is not a factor

Afro wrote:

Pr4wn wrote:How Biden is still polling so well is beyond me.

This is the country that elected Donald Trump as president. Logic is not a factor

Polling well among Democrats, that is.

Pr4wn wrote:

Afro wrote:

Pr4wn wrote:How Biden is still polling so well is beyond me.

This is the country that elected Donald Trump as president. Logic is not a factor

Polling well among Democrats, that is.

All the same, I'll generalise and tar them all with the same brush

Afro wrote:

Pr4wn wrote:

Afro wrote:

Pr4wn wrote:How Biden is still polling so well is beyond me.

This is the country that elected Donald Trump as president. Logic is not a factor

Polling well among Democrats, that is.

All the same, I'll generalise and tar them all with the same brush

We could still elect Boris Johnson......can't hide under the "we didn't choose him to be PM" umbrella then

Buttigieg leading in a couple of Iowa polls..

How depressing like Biden he will tinker around the edges instead of the real change needed.

While giving chapter and verse to the insurance companies and Wall Street.

Another Clinton clone.

The rise of Buttigieg is of concern to those of us that have had their fill of Bill Clinton clones...

Iowa the first big test where momentum can flow.. Four weeks away..

Butty box......26
Warren.........19
Sanders........18

New Hampshire the first primary...

Sanders........26
Butty box......22
Warren..........14
Biden............14

Warren seems to have lost a litle traction lately.....Concerning for her with Iowa in January....Her Healthcare plans which are neither here nor there are coming under more scrutiny..

I can't help but think this impeachment is securing a second term for Trump.

Soul Requiem wrote:I can't help but think this impeachment is securing a second term for Trump.

It will shore up support at his base and push Democrats further away. The question is how it plays amongst the 5-10% who are genuinely floating voters, and I think a lot will depend on what evidence comes out in the Senate - I think the chances of Trump being thrown from office are <1%, as it will rely on a bombshell piece of evidence that hasn't been heard yet. Remember that he lost the popular vote last election, and that in reality his victory over Hillary came down to him just edging a few of the rust belt states:
Michigan (majority about 11K our of 5 million votes)
Wisconsin (majority about 23K of 3 million votes)
Pennsylvania (majority 44K from 6 million)

Also worth noting that overall turnout was about 55%, so there is the potential for a significant swing just from greater mobilisation of a voting base (something Obama reputedly did better than Hillary)

For the record, I believe Trump / his officials and associates did attempt a quid pro quo deal with Ukraine, and that he doesn't think there was anything wrong with doing that (as it was stuff he would do in business all the time). Whether it rises to sufficient level of wrong-doing to justify the impeachment and Senate hearing is a different question.

Soul Requiem wrote:I can't help but think this impeachment is securing a second term for Trump.

I think it's a leap to think that everyone who disapproves of his impeachment will vote for him in 2020. I'm not saying that's what you're doing, but it's a leap people seem to be making.

His approval ratings have gone up, but they're still lower than his all-time high, which is the lowest high of any modern president.

https://news.gallup.com/poll/203198/presidential-approval-ratings-donald-trump.aspx

It's really quite funny watching all this going on. The US system is seriously broken. Putin must be laughing his nuts off.

It will never pass the Senate but he’ll always have that blemish as being only the third ever President to be impeached, which will hurt him more than anything.

Small victories.

navyblueshorts wrote:It's really quite funny watching all this going on. The US system is seriously broken. Putin must be laughing his nuts off.

Navy

See my comments about Fox News and CNN a few comments back - It's not just the party political system that is broken, but the media that supports it. While we can often hear complaints about the bias of the BBC (which isn't really party political, but more their espousal of socially liberal causes), or of certain newspapers (which we all know and understand the editorial biases of), we really have nothing on the Americans in this regard - people who get their news from Fox and living in a different world from those who get theirs from CNN, which probably explains the amount of talking past each other that goes on.

dummy_half wrote:

navyblueshorts wrote:It's really quite funny watching all this going on. The US system is seriously broken. Putin must be laughing his nuts off.

Navy

See my comments about Fox News and CNN a few comments back - It's not just the party political system that is broken, but the media that supports it. While we can often hear complaints about the bias of the BBC (which isn't really party political, but more their espousal of socially liberal causes), or of certain newspapers (which we all know and understand the editorial biases of), we really have nothing on the Americans in this regard - people who get their news from Fox and living in a different world from those who get theirs from CNN, which probably explains the amount of talking past each other that goes on.

I take the point, but it's more than that. Who ever thought there isn't a clear conflict of interest in the President appointing SC Justices??? When did it become so partisan that the supposedly independent three arms of the Executive do things strictly on party lines and not on the basis of the evidence of the case in-hand?

Now it's so blatantly partisan, how can they row back?

dummy_half wrote:

navyblueshorts wrote:It's really quite funny watching all this going on. The US system is seriously broken. Putin must be laughing his nuts off.

Navy

See my comments about Fox News and CNN a few comments back - It's not just the party political system that is broken, but the media that supports it. While we can often hear complaints about the bias of the BBC (which isn't really party political, but more their espousal of socially liberal causes), or of certain newspapers (which we all know and understand the editorial biases of), we really have nothing on the Americans in this regard - people who get their news from Fox and living in a different world from those who get theirs from CNN, which probably explains the amount of talking past each other that goes on.

Don't worry, we'll all be able to understand completely once the tw4t in number 10 gets his reforms of the BBC and threats to C4 working

Navy

The Supreme Court justices selection is a ridiculous situation (regardless of which party is nominating them), especially given that they are supposed to be the third independent arm of the American government system. Really the nominations should come from the other Justices, who surely know who the best legal minds are. My understanding is that Gorsuch actually is very well regarded as a legal thinker (the controversy over his nomination being the block of the Obama nomination to replace Scalia), Kavanagh perhaps less so.

As an aside, the partisanship does throw up some interesting issues, like Ruth Bader-Ginsberg and Antonin Scalia having been great friends despite their differences in politics and reading of the Law and Constitution.

So the Jewish leftie Bernie Sanders is an antisemite now...

Well fancy that..

Bernie's share is the one constant in an ever changing race at the moment around 20% as other candidates rise and fall...

A good 2nd in Iowa will give cheer to his flock as the first big state is in New England where he will be formidable..

Biden won't excel till third up South Carolina...But who knows what the dynamics of the game will be then ???

Interesting overnight news.

I wonder how the USA would react if Iran assassinated their defense secretary.

lostinwales wrote:Interesting overnight news.

I wonder how the USA would react if Iran assassinated their defense secretary.

It would be a de facto declaration of war.

I think it's long been clear that Trump is a moron. This just confirms it, if anyone was still in any doubt. He's a typical draft dodging politician, with zero military experience, who thinks he can look macho if he surrounds himself with ex-Generals in his Government and if he 'acts tough' in ways such as this. He's an utter ****wit.

Tried and tested method of struggling Presidents...

Problems at home bomb someone...

Distraction politics.

Reminds me of this Looney Tunes cartoon. I hope it doesn't get too out of hand...

Spoiler:

The Right Honourable Member for Mustique has been predictably quiet on all of this.

Pr4wn wrote:The Right Honourable Member for Mustique has been predictably quiet on all of this.

Didn't realise Mick was an MP.

Iowa...CBS poll.

Biden 23
Sanders 23
Buttigieg 23
Warren 16

Warren suffering at the moment from trying to please everybody and pleasing nobody..

New Hampshire..

Sanders 27
Biden 25
Buttigieg 13..

Buttigieg wins in Iowa....I imagine momentum dictates he will do better in NH than this....Plenty of shallow types like to try to impress other shallow types by saying they backed the eventual Winner etc....Winning Iowa will make him formidable for sure.

Why you hear plenty of morons shouting "Go Tiger" at Golf when they know he wouldn't even urinate on them.

Interesting polling out from the US.....(Yougov USA)

Do you approve of Trump's decison to kill Soleimani ??

Yes 43%
No..38%

Are you sceptical as to the reasons for the assasination ??

Yes 43%
No..35%

We have Iraq war syndrome and with the rise of Social media People can also see how since the US began Presidents from Andrew Jackson to James Polk all the way to George Bush and now Trumpy....Look abroad when things aren't going well...

Polk by the way is the only President to declare he only wanted to serve one term....He smashed Mexico making them accept $15 million for California and New Mexico....Also acquired other land off the British.....(Famous Oregon treaty)...

Youngest ever President at the time was Polky served his one term and then said "I'm leaving...See ya".........Succeeded by Zach "Don't eat the Strawberries" Taylor....

Enjoy the weekend..

Is there no beginning to this man's talents?

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-51063149

D!ckhead. Doubt he's read Macbeth, but hopefully he sees blood all over himself in nightmares forever if it's proved that the downed Iranian airliner was hit by a missile as a direct result of his killing Soleimani.

He's an ass. A supreme ass.

Having said that, part of me admires him for taking the Republican party for an absolute ride. Take his incessant golfing at his own resorts, for example. We can say it's unacceptable, but as long as no Republicans with any power lift a finger against him, then effectively it is acceptable. He's not concerned with how it looks. Can I make money from the presidency? Yes. Are they going to stop me? No. Then why the hell not?

If I was an American taxpayer, I'd feel differently.

Two Weeks to go till Iowa.....Biden moves ahead in two polls..

Biden.......28
Buttigieg..25
Sanders...24
Warren....16

Biden......24
Sanders..18
Buttigieg.17
Warren...15

Last debate is tonight......Great time for a home run.

Anti Semitism hasn't worked so now Bernie is an ISIS loving mysogynist..Bless him..

Morning consult poll of independents...

Sanders 42
Trump....33

Biden.....38
Trump....34

Buttigieg 35
Trump.....34

Trump.....35
Warren....35

Anytime you feel like moaning at the UK political system...Just remember Bloomberg has spent 250m already trying to become Democratic nominee....While millions are being bankrupted for seeing a loved one become ill...

What's worse he has a snowball chance in hell and probably knows it.