And America Continues to Show it's True Colors. . .

[CensoredAlso]

But he needs to accept that that's the way it is going to be and get on with what he has promised - cutting taxes, creating jobs, etc.

That's what remains in question for me.

 

[MuppetsRule]

That's what remains in question for me.

Well, yeah it remains in question for me too. But he's only 30 days in. He's already delivered on a few of his promises, whether one agrees with them or not. He promised to nominate a conservative for the Supreme Court and he did that. He promised to temporarily halt immigration from terrorist-supporting countries and he did that as well. He's taken the first steps to repeal Obamacare as well. Now, one might agree or disagree with those, but he has delivered on a few of his promises already. I see no reason so far as to why he wouldn't make good on the others. I'm willing to give him the proper time to do so. After 4 years, if he did and did it in an acceptable manner, I'll vote for him for re-election. If not, on to the next woman or man.

 

[CensoredAlso]

He promised to nominate a conservative for the Supreme Court and he did that.

That is true.

He promised to temporarily halt immigration from terrorist-supporting countries and he did that as well.

That I think he botched. He didn't seem to realize that much of the terrorism in the US came from nutty lone wolves already born here, not refugees or immigrants. Like that Fort Hood guy, he was born in Virginia. We already have a very lengthy vetting system and it works. Terrorism is not the normal in the US. Unlike Germany and France; why not ban the Muslims who are on watch lists there? And why not ban Saudi Arabia or Egypt or Afghanistan? I feel like he says the right things, but hasn't been doing the research.

He's taken the first steps to repeal Obamacare as well.

I know people who hated it, and people who are now very panicked to be without it (and they're not on welfare or anything). I don't know how that's going to turn out. I don't believe the Republicans have a back up plan.

 

[Oscarfan]

Wasn't part of the problem on the travel ban was that he didn't consult with pretty much anyone who he should've consulted with before putting it into place?

 

[D'Snowth]

At this point, President Trump could cure cancer and some would complain that he is taking work away from the undertakers.

You know, there's actually a number of conspiracy theorists out there who claim that doctors have had a cure for cancer all this time, but won't reveal that information for the very reasons you mentioned: not necessarily undertakers, mind you, but certainly putting a dent in the medical professionals who treat cancer patients.

I've asked you questions in the past and they have been totally ignored. I've asked you to expand on a couple of your posts in order to better understand where you are coming from but those were totally ignored as well.

Well, y'know, after a while of you dismissing everything I expand on as being "left-leaning propaganda," I just sort of threw in the towel on that one, because I figure there's no point in trying to further anything else you'll just dismiss as such propaganda - seemed like a waste of both of our time, really.

For example, you again and again blame your increase in health insurance costs and the latest, having to switch health insurance next year on President Trump, when, in fact, it has nothing to do with President Trump or any policy he has proposed. I didn't see how you saw that as President Trump's fault and would have liked for you to expand. But I didn't get any response. And that was fine with me. I really didn't expect you to respond as I didn't think you fully understood the pros and cons of Obamacare and were just parroting something you had read elsewhere. I had hoped though, that it would have sparked some sort of curiousity in you that you might do some research as to why your health insurance costs were actually going up and hopefully you would understand the issue better. Instead, it became apparent you didn't when you recently blamed President Trump for having to switch companies next year. We all need to take the time to understand the issues before we post a knee-jerk reaction.

It's really got nothing to do with cost as it does having to constantly having to find other insurance companies because they keep dropping coverage for people altogether - this will be the third or fourth time I've had to do that, and it's clear that these insurance agents care nothing about trying to find the best coverage options for you as much as they do just simply making a commission off selling you your coverage . . . once they do that, good luck trying to ever get ahold of them ever again with other questions or concerns. But the reason I'm blaming Trump this time is because, as per the article I linked (which comes my local hometown paper, which is very Republican biased), this is happening as a result of Trump repealing "Obamacare." Previously this has happened simply because the insurance companies didn't like "Obamacare," but now that it's officially being repealed, now they're free to back out all they want. And what's the point in even having insurance if nobody wants to cover you anyway? I've been with Blue Cross/Blue Shield, Humana (twice), and UnitedHealth . . . who's left? The pickin's are gettin' slim, and because I've yet to see Trump or his Administration come forward with what sort of replacement plan they claim they're going to implement, then yes, for all intents and purposes, I'm blaming Trump this time for the eventual losing of coverage that I just got three months ago after I lost my previous coverage because they didn't want to cover individuals anymore. And I mean, the current coverage I've got right now is among the best I've ever had, because I can now finally afford generics of certainy prescriptions that I otherwise couldn't afford that were upward of $300 and $400 that insurance previously wouldn't pay for - now I can get generics of basically $7 a piece. I was probably more excited than I should be at being able to get those prescriptions rather than live off of bags of sample my doctor would give me out of the kindess of her heart.

Who do you feel was rude to the other - the media to Trump, or vice-versa? Well, neither. Or more accurately I guess, would be both. Quite honestly, I think the whole feud with the media and vice-versa is just silly. I think both sides carry the blame. Trump needs to thicken up his skin and ignore much of the criticism. But the media is also being thin-skinned by thinking they are the high and mighty and beyond reproach. Some of the criticism of the media is warranted. More on that later.

The second answer is that I'm not familiar with the incident with the Fox News reporter you refer to so I won't offer an opinion on it. If I'm not familiar or knowledgeable about something I won't comment on it. It's OK to do that. If I felt it was a big enough issue I'd do some reading up on it but a lot of all this crap is just a side show. Let's concentrate on the main and important issues. But, people calling for the Fox News reporters removal, if it is how you actually stated and there isn't more to it, is just as silly as well. It's like now days you can't disagree with something without having a call for a ban, a protest, or some sort of sit-in.

Shepard Smith is who it is, I found the video that he's under fire for:

So again, from what I understand, Trump supporters are wanting to get rid of him like they did Megan Kelly for "disrespecting Trump." But, I don't know, maybe it's just me, but I find that even some of the people who were otherwise in Trump's circle are even becoming fed up with his behavior, so that probably isn't a good sign for anybody that both sides of the political spectrum have their share of naysayers.

My opinion on the news conference though? I thought it was refreshing to have a president candidly answer questions from the media. I won't get in to whether I liked the answers or not as that is another discussion. But FWIW, I agreed with some and disagreed with others. But I thought the candidness was refreshing. Did you know that when President Obama held a news conference, the questions were provided to him beforehand and he had already chosen the people he called on?

Yeah, that really is conservative propaganda - they're making the same claims about Hillary at the live debates as well.

He's taken the first steps to repeal Obamacare as well.

But at what cost though? People are already losing or are in the process of losing their health insurance coverage, so what's going to happen to them? I know Trump claims there will be a replacement plan, but he's yet to reveal what that plan is, and that's one criticism he's faced about repealing "Obamacare" is that he's doing so without already having a replacement plan in place for when he does. This is basically screwing over millions of Americans that Obama allowed to be covered by insurance who were previously denied coverage altogether because they were too poor to qualify.

Maybe it's just me, but it seems like he should rethink his "America First" policy and help AmericaNS first.

 

[CensoredAlso]

Wasn't part of the problem on the travel ban was that he didn't consult with pretty much anyone who he should've consulted with before putting it into place?

One of the news shows said he called Rudy to ask how he could do it legally and quickly. Other than that it really doesn't seem like he got any advice on the best way to proceed.

 

[Muppet Master]

I don't despise any of the celebrities of having an opinion. I do feel though that their opinion means nothing more than yours or mine though. What I have a problem with is them expressing their opinion during the awards shows. Sometimes it feels like every acceptance speech is a political commentary. When I watch those shows, I just want to be entertained for an hour or two or three and escape from the world of politics.

I agree with the awards show thing, when you win an award you should use it to thank the people who got you there, not talk about politics.

 

[jvcarroll]

Yes, the Republicans played the role of obstructionists. But it's a two way street. When they sat down to discuss Obamacare President Obama's chief of staff looked at the Republicans when they offered suggestions and said, "We won." And who can forget President Obama's line "Elections have consequences."? That's not exactly setting the right tone. And I never liked the word "mandate". To me, that implies that one party or the other has license to completely ignore the other side. Unfortunately, that's the way Washington has become. Both parties need to get away from "winning" for themselves or their party and get back to winning for the public.



Agreed. The Republicans should have held confirmation hearings on President Obama's pick for the SCOTUS and based a vote on the qualifications of that pick. Not based on who selected that pick.



I agree with the term limits to the elected officials. We have it with presidents, why not for the Senate or House of Representatives? I think most politicians go to Washington at first with big ideas of making a difference. But I think they get beaten down by the bureaucracy and Washington way. And if our representatives were more concerned about what's right for the people they represent rather than what's good for their political donor for the next re-election bid it's a win for all of us.



I think it's unfair to compare Obama with Trump though. I think they have two different styles. I think Obama was a detail oriented-type person. He had an idea and would work on the details of implementing that. I think Trump, on the other hand, is a big picture type of guy and not so much detailed oriented. I think his style is to lay out the big picture of what he wants to accomplish and let others work on the details of how to accomplish that. Nothing wrong with either style IMHO.

I'm happy to see you agree with a lot of this and I agree with a lot of your points too.

I've never been enamored by the term "mandate" either, but it is tradition. I also think we all can go to extremes sometimes. To say that democrats were somehow railroading republicans seems off to me.

What happened reminds me of one of the projects I managed. Everyone was invited to participate and throw in ideas. Some folk just complained, missed meetings and only came with ideas after all the hard work had been done. You snooze, you lose. The funny thing about the problems with the Affordable Care Act is that it gives too much power to insurance companies. It was Obama's measure to appease republicans that democrats fought against. So it really wasn't a my way or the highway proposition as it was made out to be. Republicans fought tooth and nail to obstruct anything and everything, including veterans affairs, for the sake of obstruction. Democrats can certainly be belligerent, but not on a scale like this. If anything, democrats want to help too much and too often. Also, if anything, Obama's SCOTUS nominee was a very middle-of-the-road choice with the intention of appeasing republicans. I don't see this as comparable to anything Trump has shown so far.

This image I constructed wonderfully illustrates the distinction between styles. One is from a republican when Obama was elected, the other from a democrat when Trump was elected. This is the difference between the two parties. The democrats are definitely in jeopardy of falling to the same tactics, but hasn't happened yet. Resisting for the sake of values is strength. Obstructionist spite is much different.

Full disclosure, I chose and unflattering picture of McConnell, but he doesn't really have any flattering ones. Actually, he doesn't have many kind things to say either. He's really awful all-around, but I put these guys side by side for their comparable leadership positions.

I also take exception to saying that it's just the styles that are different between the two presidents. Obama was gracious, humble and often thought of others. Trump is combative, braggadocios and is preoccupied with winning. It's like, "Dude, you won. That ship has sailed. Now put on your big boy pants and be the president that this country needs you to be." Instead, this billionaire, one who boasts his exploits of sticking it to his own workers, whines about every perceived slight and plays the victim. It's very unattractive. This hubris is absolutely Nixonian and it will be his downfall.

I've said this before. This Russian controversy is huge. It's not going away. I anticipate that it will lead to the front page of every newspaper in the world to reading, "Donald, You're Fired!" Mark my words. The fact that he hasn't even been loyal to his own vice president, a man he handpicked, only further exposes his hubris. I do not understand any excuse of how this can be overlooked. If I were a republican, I'd be fuming over this because I'm absolutely enraged as an American and a democrat.

That said, I am very glad we mostly agree on lots of this. Truly.

 

[Old Thunder]

So I found this the other day, and while it may be a little late posting it I thought it does have a lot of truth to it we need to hear here in 2017. (Warning: some explicit language.)

 

[dwayne1115]

Finally saw the press conference last night. Why is Trump going after the mainstream media? He talked about how divided the country is, and then starts adding coals to an already hot argument between him and the media. If the mainstream media is really out to get Trump and spread lies. Then all Trump should do is get the truth out there. There is A Bible verse that talks about being kind to your enemy is like heap fiery coals in there head. If I was President anyone could say anything about me, and all I would do is defend the truth