The Trump Presidency - an analysis

[Marty_d]

8 minutes ago, facthunter said:

Arnie is not as dumb as people might like to think. I'm an admirer. Rule out compulsive LIARS and we might get somewhere.. Muslims can tell lies to infidels. Americans can tell lies if there's a dollar in it. Beware of false Prophets making big Profits.  Nev

Not only is he pretty intelligent, he's a comedic genius.

 

There's a scene in one movie where he says to a thug "Hey, you want to be a farmboy?  Here's a couple of acres!" before kicking him in the fork.

[kgwilson]

It doesn't matter who makes a political speech in the US. It always has to end with God bless you all and God bless America. Religion, mostly devout Christian ones are so ingrained into American society that when the political spectrum splinters to extremes it does so WITH religion. So you get the ultra right wing with ultra fundamentalist, evangelical and corrupted christian religious nut jobs egging them on and providing what they consider to be legitimacy. There is no separation of church and state even though there should be. Even the statement "In god we trust" seals it although the official seal with an Eagle and motto E pluribis unum (out of many, one) apparently contributed by Franklin is a total anachronism that is now totally meaningless.

 

Well the impeachment process is underway. It will pass congress but likely not the Senate 2/3rd majority required even after the inauguration. All it needs though is a 50% majority to prevent Trump from ever running for office again and will also strip him of many ex Presidential benefits.

Edited January 11, 2021 by kgwilson

[Yenn]

They say that Trump is going to pardon many people before his time runs out. From what I have seen of his behaviour I doubt that he will bother to pardon many. His thoughts will be "I am going down so you lot can also go down"

I doubt that he will even cover Rudi Guiliani his lawyer.

[old man emu]

Don't you feel that waiting for 4:00 am Thursday 21st January (Sydney Time) is like waiting for Christmas morning, or your birthday when you were a kid?

 

4:00 am Thursday is 12 midday 20th January in Washington DC

[old man emu]

Just came across this article in the newspaper USA Today which discusses Trump's legacy.

 

 President Donald Trump's time in the White House will come to an end Wednesday, but his influence – for better or worse – will continue to shape politics in Washington and the rest of the nation far beyond his four years in office. From early legislative victories, such as the massive overhaul of federal taxes in 2017, to the depths of a second, historic impeachment this month after riots at the U.S. Capitol, Trump's tenure has been marked by a norm-busting approach to the job that has delighted supporters and alarmed critics on a nearly 24-hour-a-day basis.  

 

Worth a read if you can avoid the implanted ads. 

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2021/01/18/heres-how-trumps-tumultuous-four-years-president-changed-america/4165708001/

[onetrack]

A massive, unfinished wall between the U.S. and Mexico is one major blot on Trumps legacy. In centuries to come, people will laugh and point at Trumps unfinished Wall legacy.

 

In addition, it has cost $11B so far, out of an estimated $15B total cost. But when Joe Biden is inaugurated, he will immediately take an executive decision to cease construction of Trumps wall.

 

That will immediately initiate a raft of compensation claims from contracts being rescinded. There could be another $1B in compensation claims - let alone settling the current lawsuits centred around the wall - from environmentalists through to aggrieved land owners, who have had land forcibly removed from their possession. It will be some legacy he leaves behind in that Wall.

 

https://www.texastribune.org/2020/10/27/border-wall-texas-cost-rising-trump/

 

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-46824649

[pmccarthy]

They should finish the wall, it was a good idea. 

[old man emu]

16 minutes ago, pmccarthy said:

They should finish the wall, it was a good idea. 

Yeah - To keep the Yanks in their own country.

[onetrack]

No wall, not even a Great Wall of China equivalent, could ever stop Mexicans totally determined to get either themselves, or their drugs, into the U.S.A.

Their creativeness is legendary. Home-built subs, tunnels, illegal night-time flights at low levels, drugs hidden in compartments in freight and vehicles, they spend all their time creating new ways to beat the border.

[old man emu]

Things must be pretty crook in Central America if the people think that sneaking into the USA will give them a better life. 

 

Have you ever noticed in US TV shows that there is no job security? How many times do you see main character walk into the boss's office to be fired on the spot. No warning, no recourse to review. Add that to the fact that the USA is the only country in the world where some form of paid annual vacation does not exist. Plus their wages are low and their taxes both Federal and local are high. Then there are their appalling health costs, with no economically sustainable insurance system.

[Old Koreelah]

10 hours ago, onetrack said:

No wall, not even a Great Wall of China equivalent, could ever stop Mexicans totally determined to get either themselves, or their drugs, into the U.S.A...

If statesmen ran the USA, an enlightened policy would be to help neighbours develop their own economies to reduce the incentives for mass emigratation. 
Unfortunately, America’s insatiable demand for drugs guarantees that lowlifes will get control of these nations. 
 

A wall is an admission that America can’t do complex solutions.

[Bruce Tuncks]

Here's what a billion dollars could buy ... a million $1000 rewards for shopping your drug supplier.

And that is without considering the asset confiscations which should pay for the rewards anyway.

A policeman I know said that rewards were already in use in Australia, so I tried to find one, putting myself mentally in the place of a user. Nothing was there, just some vague maybe stuff "at the discretion" of the cops etc..

 

Yes I know and agree that decriminalization would be better, but since that is not going to happen anytime soon, in the meantime we should be using the power of greed against the drug lords.

[spacesailor]

Decriminalization Will not cure any Addiction.

Give an alcoholic a shot of whiskey a day !, on the PBS ,of course, while diabetes have to pay for Their insulin needles, druggies get them Free !.

spacesailor

[Marty_d]

2 hours ago, spacesailor said:

Decriminalization Will not cure any Addiction.

Give an alcoholic a shot of whiskey a day !, on the PBS ,of course, while diabetes have to pay for Their insulin needles, druggies get them Free !.

spacesailor

The point of decriminalisation is not to CURE addiction.

It's to remove all the criminal activity associated with addiction.

 

When the US had Prohibition, people didn't stop drinking.  Instead they went to shonky secret bars, where liquor was smuggled in (at higher cost) by criminal gangs, and being criminal, used violence and destruction to protect their high profit business model.

 

Just like drug gangs do today.

 

If the drugs were legalised and sold through pharmacies, all of a sudden there's no market for the criminal gangs.  No reason for cartels in South American countries to use slavery, murder and high level corruption.  No reason for kids from poor neighbourhoods to become involved in gangs.  And no reason for an addict who's paying far more than they can afford to for overpriced smuggled drugs to steal from their relatives to feed the habit.

 

By the way saying that druggies get free needles is like saying alcoholics get free bottles around their scotch.  They still have to pay for the stuff that goes in the needles.

[old man emu]

8 minutes ago, Marty_d said:

No reason for kids from poor neighbourhoods to become involved in gangs.

Drugs are just another activity of youth gangs. The desperation of poverty has always been the catalyst for victims to gang up for individual protection and mutual benefit. Think of the example of Fagin and the Artful Dodger in Victorian London. The larrikins of The Rocks and Little Lonsdale Street.

[Yenn]

Trump has given an end of presidency speech in which he brags about the achievments of his time in office. His achievments with covid 19 for instance.

If that is what he is leaving as his legacy, I wonder what he could do if he failed.

He has stated that the movement he has started is only just beginning. That sounds like good news for the future.

If he is not thrown out by impeachment, and we don't know if he can be tried after his time expires. What is to stop him proceeding to become a second term president.

If he is taken to court for sins he has committed he will not be convicted, because he or his lawyers will point out that he is insane. Something the Republicans should have realised years ago.

[Marty_d]

There's nothing to stop him from running for President again UNLESS 2/3 of the Senate uphold the impeachment, and furthermore do another vote to prevent him from ever running for public office.  Even if he has a felony conviction in the next 4 years that doesn't preclude him from running.

 

This may well happen, it all hinges on what Mitch McConnell decides to do.  If he decides that the Republican party has a better chance without Trump anywhere near it, he'll possibly vote to convict, and if he does that he'll get at least another 16 Republicans to do the same, which is all that's needed in the Senate (providing every Democrat senator votes to convict).

 

They still have a problem with their deplorables.  Not sure how many of the 74 million who voted for Trump are true "Trumpists" versus normal people who for whatever reason couldn't bring themselves to vote Democrat, but they will be one mightily pissed-off group if their messiah is never allowed to run again.

 

Of course they could try the family dynasty trick, it worked for the Bush father and son - but the only Trump with the looks and media exposure would be Ivanka, and despite being a nasty piece of work in her own right I don't think she's nasty enough for rusted-on morons who think her dad is sent by god.

 

[octave]

I suspect McConnell; will vote for impeachment given his speech yesterday 

 

Sen. Mitch McConnell: "The mob was fed lies. They were provoked by the president..."

 

 

This is likely to provide cover for other Republicans to go against T****.   I suspect any Republicans with half a brain would be looking for a way of distancing themselves from him.

 

 

 

[Marty_d]

56 minutes ago, octave said:

I suspect McConnell; will vote for impeachment given his speech yesterday 

 

Sen. Mitch McConnell: "The mob was fed lies. They were provoked by the president..."

 

 

This is likely to provide cover for other Republicans to go against T****.   I suspect any Republicans with half a brain would be looking for a way of distancing themselves from him.

 

 

 

Let's hope you're right!  

[willedoo]

This is the list of the 143 people Trump pardoned on his last day in office.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-01-20/who-has-donald-trump-pardoned-full-list-143-people/13075508

 

One example:

'John Knock has served 24 years of a life sentence for a first-time, non-violent marijuana only offence. The 73-year-old's sentence has been commuted.'

 

No wonder their jails are full.

 

 

[onetrack]

The Presidential pardon system makes a bigger mockery of the American justice system, than it already is.

 

Your penalty for any major crime in the U.S. is directly related to how good a lawyer you can afford. The poor can't afford top-flight lawyers, so they are jailed out of all proportion to the rich.

 

There's also the perception in the U.S. that white-collar crime is victimless, and not really a serious crime. Unfortunately, a similar attitude prevails here.

 

And of course, the penalties for corruption, embezzlement of Govt funds and bribery, are equally pathetic in both countries.

 

We have a top flight public servant in W.A. on trial for stealing more than $25M, the vast majority of which is unrecoverable, because he spread it around his crooked mates, and blew it on neddies.

I'll wager he'll only end up with about 3 yrs inside.

[willedoo]

8 minutes ago, onetrack said:

The Presidential pardon system makes a bigger mockery of the American justice system, than it already is.

 

Your penalty for any major crime in the U.S. is directly related to how good a lawyer you can afford. The poor can't afford top-flight lawyers, so they are jailed out of all proportion to the rich.

 

There's also the perception in the U.S. that white-collar crime is victimless, and not really a serious crime. Unfortunately, a similar attitude prevails here.

 

And of course, the penalties for corruption, embezzlement of Govt funds and bribery, are equally pathetic in both countries.

 

We have a top flight public servant in W.A. on trial for stealing more than $25M, the vast majority of which is unrecoverable, because he spread it around his crooked mates, and blew it on neddies.

I'll wager he'll only end up with about 3 yrs inside.

I think some of the States in the U.S. have mandatory minimum sentences which results in life sentences for marijuana offences. In a lot of cases, life is life with no parole. It's been that way for a while. I remember reading a magazine back in the early 80's and they had the story of a bloke well into a 20 year sentence for possessing a very small quantity of marijuana. In was in one of the southern states and at the time the same quantity was a small on the spot fine in California.

[willedoo]

In other news, on the day Biden is sworn in, China has imposed sanctions on the clown Pompeo and 27 other Trump cronies. The sanctions ban them and their families from entering mainland China, Hong Kong and the autonomous region of Macao, while companies associated with them are also banned from doing business with China. 

[onetrack]

Well, there goes the Trump golf courses in China, along with the Trump shirt manufacturing, and the multitude of Trump-branded, lines of products! 

 

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/trump-event-touted-made-america-goods-lot-his-merchandise-couldn-n893656

 

 

[spacesailor]

There was also a law. that three convictions saw a mandated custodial sentence. for any misdemeanour. In one state.

spacesailor