Who knows what is in the pervert Hot Dog's emails? And if he wasn't married to Hillary's aide, Huma, it wouldn't affect her. In fact, since the FBI doesn't know what is in those emails, I don't know how they know it might involve Hillary. But they got their subpoena and now they can figure it out.
I suspect it will be nothing. But that has not stopped some people (I cannot imagine who they are or on what basis they decide who they will vote for), from saying to pollsters that they are changing their vote from Hillary to Trump. I guess they have forgotten all the unstable things he has done.
Michael Gerson looks at the issue from more objective eyes than I have, but reached the same conclusion. As a nation we would have to be absolutely crazy to elect Donald Trump our President.
Link to Gerson column
and Jennifer Rubin piles on with Trump's Russia smoke. He had a server connected to a Russian bank for private communication.
Both of Gerson and Rubin are GOP pundits.
Link to Rubin column
Showing posts with label Clinton vs Trump2016. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Clinton vs Trump2016. Show all posts
Tuesday, November 1, 2016
Sunday, May 8, 2016
Sunday Musings 5/8/16 Free Trade is not the Issue
Perhaps campaigns have always been like this, catering to voter's preconceived notions of what needs to happen. I am quite sure Donald Trump's and Bernie Sander's supporters would agree that is what should be happening.
But then there is reality.
U.S. manufacturing is not in the toilet. U.S. manufacturing now produces 47% more than it did 20 years ago. The problem is automation allows that production to occur with 29% fewer workers. Meanwhile, energy production has shifted from coal to natural gas and it takes far fewer workers to produce and use natural gas than it does coal in the production of electricity. As a result, many younger workers are industries that have a global presence and are both earning a living being globally competitive and producing good returns for shareholders. That is how a competitive economy operates.
We have a 5% rate of unemployment.
The level of manufacturing and employment is the result of good economic policy with free trade agreements in place. Tearing up those free trade agreements cannot be a positive for economic stability. Those who are not able to find work in the global economy need a different kind of assistance. And that assistance should vary greatly between people of different ages and skills.
But that is not a pithy campaign line nor does it cater to angry preconceived notions on the part of certain categories of voters.
Meanwhile, Ross Douthat produced a scathing column on why Donald Trump is not fit to be President.
But then there is reality.
U.S. manufacturing is not in the toilet. U.S. manufacturing now produces 47% more than it did 20 years ago. The problem is automation allows that production to occur with 29% fewer workers. Meanwhile, energy production has shifted from coal to natural gas and it takes far fewer workers to produce and use natural gas than it does coal in the production of electricity. As a result, many younger workers are industries that have a global presence and are both earning a living being globally competitive and producing good returns for shareholders. That is how a competitive economy operates.
We have a 5% rate of unemployment.
The level of manufacturing and employment is the result of good economic policy with free trade agreements in place. Tearing up those free trade agreements cannot be a positive for economic stability. Those who are not able to find work in the global economy need a different kind of assistance. And that assistance should vary greatly between people of different ages and skills.
But that is not a pithy campaign line nor does it cater to angry preconceived notions on the part of certain categories of voters.
Meanwhile, Ross Douthat produced a scathing column on why Donald Trump is not fit to be President.
"But there still remains the problem of Trump himself. Even if you find things to appreciate in Trumpism — as I have, and still do — the man who has raised those issues is still unfit for an office as awesomely powerful as the presidency of the United States."
"His unfitness starts with basic issues of temperament. It encompasses the race-baiting, the conspiracy theorizing, the flirtations with violence, and the pathological lying that have been his campaign-trail stock in trade."
"But above all it is Trump’s authoritarianism that makes him unfit for the presidency — his stated admiration for Putin and the Chinese Politburo, his promise to use the power of the presidency against private enterprises, the casual threats he and his surrogates toss off against party donors, military officers, the press, the speaker of the House, and more."
.......
"Trump would not be an American Mussolini; even our sclerotic institutions would resist him more effectively than that. But he could test them as no modern president has tested them before — and with them, the health of our economy, the civil peace of our society and the stability of an increasingly perilous world."
"In sum: It would be possible to justify support for Trump if he merely promised a period of chaos for conservatism. But to support Trump for the presidency is to invite chaos upon the republic and the world. No policy goal, no court appointment, can justify such recklessness."
"To Trumpism’s appeal, to Trump’s constituents, conservatives should listen and answer “yes,” or “maybe,” or “not that, but how about…”
"But to Trump himself, there is no patriotic answer except “no."
Once again the professional pundit writes it better than I can, which is why they get paid to do this.
Saturday, May 7, 2016
GOP Conservative Inconsistency Revealed
I happen to believe that within Donald Trump there is conservative compassion for people's personal sexuality. However, he has no compassion for 1.8 billion Muslims or 11 million undocumented residents. How Trump reconciles that internally is a puzzle to me.
Now we have the specter of the far right House of Representatives lining up behind Trump who is hardly a perfect model of policies consistent with conservatism, given his love of Putin and the Chinese leaders (absent trade of course) after they threw John Boehner out of office for being inconsistent while trying to govern the country. But lest we forget, John Boehner likes Trump so perhaps the far right will learn to like John Boehner again.
Meanwhile, Paul Ryan is sticking to his agenda to develop a set of conservative policies that will address issues of importance to the country after 6 years of stalemate governance. Tax Reform, sorely needed, will hopefully be at the top of his list and given the absolute need for some transparency on the issue, perhaps what would replace ObamaCare if the GOP were in charge might be next. I could throw All Lives Matter on that list but then that would mean you would have to address background checks on gun purchases and forbid straw man purchases and the NRA opposes both of those. There is no room for compassion in a true conservatives's policy bag. Witness Tom Brownback's Kansas policies.
So all in all, it seems to me that all the GOP is about is having power and using it to implement their agenda, what the 5?% of the population that supports Democrats want be damned. And what we really have in the GOP right is not an adherence to the Constitution and Democracy with respect for the views of all, with policies developed by compromise, but rather a desire for an Imperial Presidency that makes all policies only those approved by fiat by the GOP far right legislators.
I was wrong when I said the Tea Party seemed very quiet. They are alive and well and somehow support Donald Trump. I could be wrong, but it might all be tied to his anti-Islam, anti-immigrant message and have racist core to it. Except Donald Trump is not anti-black and believes Planned Parenthood does good work. So the Tea Party can be inconsistent as shown by their support for entitlements that benefit the elderly while cutting entitlements that help younger people.
Now we have the specter of the far right House of Representatives lining up behind Trump who is hardly a perfect model of policies consistent with conservatism, given his love of Putin and the Chinese leaders (absent trade of course) after they threw John Boehner out of office for being inconsistent while trying to govern the country. But lest we forget, John Boehner likes Trump so perhaps the far right will learn to like John Boehner again.
Meanwhile, Paul Ryan is sticking to his agenda to develop a set of conservative policies that will address issues of importance to the country after 6 years of stalemate governance. Tax Reform, sorely needed, will hopefully be at the top of his list and given the absolute need for some transparency on the issue, perhaps what would replace ObamaCare if the GOP were in charge might be next. I could throw All Lives Matter on that list but then that would mean you would have to address background checks on gun purchases and forbid straw man purchases and the NRA opposes both of those. There is no room for compassion in a true conservatives's policy bag. Witness Tom Brownback's Kansas policies.
So all in all, it seems to me that all the GOP is about is having power and using it to implement their agenda, what the 5?% of the population that supports Democrats want be damned. And what we really have in the GOP right is not an adherence to the Constitution and Democracy with respect for the views of all, with policies developed by compromise, but rather a desire for an Imperial Presidency that makes all policies only those approved by fiat by the GOP far right legislators.
I was wrong when I said the Tea Party seemed very quiet. They are alive and well and somehow support Donald Trump. I could be wrong, but it might all be tied to his anti-Islam, anti-immigrant message and have racist core to it. Except Donald Trump is not anti-black and believes Planned Parenthood does good work. So the Tea Party can be inconsistent as shown by their support for entitlements that benefit the elderly while cutting entitlements that help younger people.
Thursday, May 5, 2016
The Case Against Donald Trump
The paper this morning is full of stories about all things Trump. The result is that his severe character flaws are being given a drape of respectability. So lest any of my readers are tempted to succumb to his reasonableness as a candidate, I am writing this post.
The man in his past has used the legal structure to protect himself financially from his own bad decisions of which there were many. He has run poorly casinos using too much leverage, the proceeds of which flowed to him personally. He started an airline that went no where financially and then went out of business. He started a "university" that didn't teach people what it said it would and is now subject to potential class action law suits that are working their way through the court system as we speak. The profits of this university flowed to Trump while the student loans that financed this scam are a burden to those students. The only thing Trump does really well in business is lease his name in a risk free way. Others pay him in the hope that his name will bring them greater profits.
Put that all together, and Donald Trump is a financial rat. And none of that history illustrates to me a great propensity for him to be a steady leader of the nation who can work well with others. As far as I can tell from what I have seen of the type of people who work for Trump, he attracts dim witted yes men.
And where are his tax returns? I don't know when Presidential candidates started releasing them, but it is certainly time for Trump to release his.
Now his people suggest that his 1st 100 days will demonstrate that he is putting a team in place to improve things and he will not be disruptive to the economy. Yet, in his 1st 100 days he plans to confront multi-national companies and demand they move manufacturing jobs back to the U.S.. He will confront nations and demand that they pay for the U.S. military, while renegotiating trade agreements, and he will demand that Mexico pay for the wall he will be designing. He will over turn any number of Obama executive orders and start rounding up the 11 mm undocumented workers. And he will sign legislation repealing ObamaCare, without any replacement for those with pre-existing conditions or those who have benefits from the expansion of Medicaid. And he will appoint a Supreme Court justice in the mode of the late Justice Scalia. And he will ban Muslims from coming to America. Who will buy the Condo's in his next building? Will the Saudi's have to sell the Condo's they already own in his building? He doesn't think that all that will be disruptive to the basic economy around the world?
And let us remember his birthism campaign against President Obama. Ignoring the basic fact that there was no truth to it, Trump went on and on and on about it. To what end? What does his ignoring facts and using media to promote an ignorant belief tells us about his character.
If all that were not enough reason to vote for Hillary, there is one more big reason. Trump attracts support from those who are tired of political correctness. At a basic level these are people who think they have the right to not have to be part of anything politically correct because it violates their personal rights. So the remnants of the KKK support Donald Trump. Old Navy puts out an ad with a bi-racial family in it, and social media erupts with hatred for Old Navy for doing so. Trump's success encourages active racism and hatred, even tho he personally is tolerant of races and personal sexuality preferences. If Trump were President, would we be seeing Jim Crow acts start up again? Would minorities have any protection from racist white's?
I could go on citing specifics in the articles, but I am out of time and I think this post is long enough.
I
The man in his past has used the legal structure to protect himself financially from his own bad decisions of which there were many. He has run poorly casinos using too much leverage, the proceeds of which flowed to him personally. He started an airline that went no where financially and then went out of business. He started a "university" that didn't teach people what it said it would and is now subject to potential class action law suits that are working their way through the court system as we speak. The profits of this university flowed to Trump while the student loans that financed this scam are a burden to those students. The only thing Trump does really well in business is lease his name in a risk free way. Others pay him in the hope that his name will bring them greater profits.
Put that all together, and Donald Trump is a financial rat. And none of that history illustrates to me a great propensity for him to be a steady leader of the nation who can work well with others. As far as I can tell from what I have seen of the type of people who work for Trump, he attracts dim witted yes men.
And where are his tax returns? I don't know when Presidential candidates started releasing them, but it is certainly time for Trump to release his.
Now his people suggest that his 1st 100 days will demonstrate that he is putting a team in place to improve things and he will not be disruptive to the economy. Yet, in his 1st 100 days he plans to confront multi-national companies and demand they move manufacturing jobs back to the U.S.. He will confront nations and demand that they pay for the U.S. military, while renegotiating trade agreements, and he will demand that Mexico pay for the wall he will be designing. He will over turn any number of Obama executive orders and start rounding up the 11 mm undocumented workers. And he will sign legislation repealing ObamaCare, without any replacement for those with pre-existing conditions or those who have benefits from the expansion of Medicaid. And he will appoint a Supreme Court justice in the mode of the late Justice Scalia. And he will ban Muslims from coming to America. Who will buy the Condo's in his next building? Will the Saudi's have to sell the Condo's they already own in his building? He doesn't think that all that will be disruptive to the basic economy around the world?
And let us remember his birthism campaign against President Obama. Ignoring the basic fact that there was no truth to it, Trump went on and on and on about it. To what end? What does his ignoring facts and using media to promote an ignorant belief tells us about his character.
If all that were not enough reason to vote for Hillary, there is one more big reason. Trump attracts support from those who are tired of political correctness. At a basic level these are people who think they have the right to not have to be part of anything politically correct because it violates their personal rights. So the remnants of the KKK support Donald Trump. Old Navy puts out an ad with a bi-racial family in it, and social media erupts with hatred for Old Navy for doing so. Trump's success encourages active racism and hatred, even tho he personally is tolerant of races and personal sexuality preferences. If Trump were President, would we be seeing Jim Crow acts start up again? Would minorities have any protection from racist white's?
I could go on citing specifics in the articles, but I am out of time and I think this post is long enough.
I
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