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[Guileless]

My father in law was talking about how he really thought the redneck voter would see through the bs. He felt Trump was mocking the blue collar worker throughout the campaign with his antics. Said it felt like the Duke boys just voted for Boss Hogg.

This is a great line. Although the problem was that Hillary was seen as a a visitor to Hazzard who presents herself as a damsel in distress to the Dukes, but turns out to actually be a jewel thief on the run from the FBI and her jilted partners in crime.

(Boss finds out who she is and hatches a plan to get the jewels she originally stole, but the Dukes foil Boss' plan. The FBI takes her back to Atlanta, but before they hustle her into an unmarked car, she kisses Bo and asks him to visit her in prison).

 

[shinra-bansho]

Out of curiousity... What happens if it becomes obvious Trump is breaking the Title of Nobility Clause in the Constitution? Does it still require impeachment proceedings by Congress? Or is there some other recourse? It seems hellishly unlikely the GOP will impeach straight away, and the longer they leave it, the more Trump will break rules, and the more it'll be normalised.

Hillary must be alternately laughing and weeping at how stupid voters are.

She's probably drinking.

Someone can bring legal proceedings outside of the impeachment process. They would have standing to bring a case on these grounds according to the GWB WH ethics lawyer Richard Painter (who filed a complaint against Comey for potentially breaching the Hatch Act) as well as Harvard constitutional law Professor Laurence Tribe. But the claimant would have to go up against the President.

 

[TheLaughingStock]

How is Mitt not a spineless coward?

He's not for the same reasons that Pres. Obama and many others are not. Chewing Trump out in public is a big gamble and remember these are politicians/elites putting on a show. Much of their behavior and rhetoric during the campaign was an act.

 

[Kurtofan]

SNL


https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/800329364986626048

 

[Pixieking]

She's probably drinking.

Someone can bring legal proceedings outside of the impeachment process. They would have standing to bring a case on these grounds according to the GWB WH ethics lawyer Richard Painter (who filed a complaint against Comey for potentially breaching the Hatch Act) as well as Harvard constitutional law Professor Laurence Tribe. But the claimant would have to go up against the President.

Tequila or rum?

Interesting to note who can do that. "go up against the President" is a scary thing when it's a Barack Obama or even a GWB, but Trump? I can see a charity auction for who gets the pleasure bringing in a lot of cash.

Oh shit! I just thought of Hillary bringing the case against Trump. That's a fanfic waiting to happen right there!

 

[GrapeApes]

SNL


https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/800329364986626048

Is Trump calling for a fairness doctrine of some kind?

 

[balladofwindfishes]

SNL


https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/800329364986626048

Just watched the skit and it was hilarious

He needs to laugh at himself sometimes. There isn't anyone else, Donald, you're the president in two months. There's no other candidates to mock or anyone else to be "fair" with.

 

[Neodiablo22]

Just watched the skit and it was hilarious

He needs to laugh at himself sometimes. There isn't anyone else, Donald, you're the president in two months. There's no other candidates to mock or anyone else to be "fair" with.

If he was capable of that, he would never of run for President, and we wouldn't be in this mess.

 

[gaugebozo]

This is unnecessarily pessimistic. If inflation and the deficit spike because of the proposed huge stimulus spending and general malaise in the markets about uncertainty, the Tea Party types will lose their minds and make life hell for him like they did for Boehner.

And if the economy deteriorates (even if it's only tangentially related to anything Trump actually does), he will be on a short leash with the electorate and the Republican caucus.

Tea Party "patriots" didn't hate the spending because they don't like spending. They are fine with huge defense budgets and Medicare spending. What they hated was the guy who was doing the spending. If Trump did the same things, they're willing to ignore all facts and reason to continue supporting him.

 

[Plinko]

Tea Party "patriots" didn't hate the spending because they don't like spending. They are fine with huge defense budgets and Medicare spending. What they hated was the guy who was doing the spending. If Trump did the same things, they're willing to ignore all facts and reason to continue supporting him.

This. We saw this numerous times over the course of Obama's administration.

Those on the right like to do a lot of hand-waving. National debt? Huge problem under Obama. Colossal. Now, though? We won't hear a peep.

If a democrat had made that "Satan" comment from Bannon the other day? He/she'd be labeled the anti-Christ and all we'd hear is how our country needs to turn back to God because Satan is infiltrating our government. And, yet, the evangelicals I've talked to this weekend brush it off because, "Oh, that liberal media again." It's infuriating.

I will openly admit I have been wrong about trying to reach across through the rural white bubble. After this past week and interacting with these people, I'm literally not seeing how it is possible at this point. We're way, way too polarized in this country. Enough to where I want to leave. It's dangerous. It's scary to raise kids in this atmosphere. I think the democrats need to keep on the same track, get some better advisers in charge at this point, restructure from the bottom up, and learn from the major mistakes they made this past election. 52% of millennial votes went to Trump this time. Focus on that. Get those people back on board. Why did Bernie appeal to them and not Hillary? Energize your efforts there.

 

[sc0la]

This is unnecessarily pessimistic. If inflation and the deficit spike because of the proposed huge stimulus spending and general malaise in the markets about uncertainty, the Tea Party types will lose their minds and make life hell for him like they did for Boehner.

And if the economy deteriorates (even if it's only tangentially related to anything Trump actually does), he will be on a short leash with the electorate and the Republican caucus.

Here's a neat trick. The tea party won't care about deficits when their guy is in the White House. Also to what degree there is a stimulus it's effect on the deficit will be small compared to whatever monstrosity of a tax cut the enact.

 

[ArkhamFantasy]

Also remember Obama was using MISLEADING statistics for his unemployment rate because he wasnt including the unemployed children and old people that cant work.

Im sure Trump is a man of honor who will not continue such a dishonest tradition.

 

[Ignatz Mouse]

More than 30 minutes without a post. We're heading back to pre election speed (meaning I can keep up).

So, are Congress and Trump going to fight, or rubber stamp each other?

 

[lyrick]

More than 30 minutes without a post. We're heading back to pre election speed (meaning I can keep up).

So, are Congress and Trump going to fight, or rubber stamp each other?

Probably depends on if the Pres works with Dems on Infrastructure.

 

[Brawly Likes to Brawl]

This. We saw this numerous times over the course of Obama's administration.

Those on the right like to do a lot of hand-waving. National debt? Huge problem under Obama. Colossal. Now, though? We won't hear a peep.

If a democrat had made that "Satan" comment from Bannon the other day? He/she'd be labeled the anti-Christ and all we'd hear is how our country needs to turn back to God because Satan is infiltrating our government. And, yet, the evangelicals I've talked to this weekend brush it off because, "Oh, that liberal media again." It's infuriating.

I will openly admit I have been wrong about trying to reach across through the rural white bubble. After this past week and interacting with these people, I'm literally not seeing how it is possible at this point. We're way, way too polarized in this country. Enough to where I want to leave. It's dangerous. It's scary to raise kids in this atmosphere. I think the democrats need to keep on the same track, get some better advisers in charge at this point, restructure from the bottom up, and learn from the major mistakes they made this past election. 52% of millennial votes went to Trump this time. Focus on that. Get those people back on board. Why did Bernie appeal to them and not Hillary? Energize your efforts there.

The political divide is only going to get worse in this country. Like, I'm seeing people suggest that those who live in blue states should try moving to red/swing states to change the tide, and while that sounds pretty, that's not going to happen. There's an identity war going on in this country and it's being compounded with the media preferring ratings over informing and personal validation bubbles getting harder to crack.

I think we're going to win in 2020 due to this embarrassing loss lighting a fire under our asses, but America as a whole is regressing in a really bad way when it comes to unity and I'm afraid it's going to leave us open to more dangerous movements going forward.

 

[bangbang i'm a timpani]

all of these "the trump whitehouse is unprepared and falling behind and its a serious problem and everyone is angry!" stories are stupid. they were the same kind of things released over the last like 6 months of the campaign and hillary still blew it. if we get actual stories about "hey this is how they can do XYZ policy" as opposed to bullshit conjecture I would read the news more. Now.......wapo, nyt, politico, etc etc just look stupid.

 

[Maledict]

all of these "the trump whitehouse is unprepared and falling behind and its a serious problem and everyone is angry!" stories are stupid. they were the same kind of things released over the last like 6 months of the campaign and hillary still blew it. if we get actual stories about "hey this is how they can do XYZ policy" as opposed to bullshit conjecture I would read the news more. Now.......wapo, nyt, politico, etc etc just look stupid.

It's process stories. It's what you get at this time because there's nothing else out there - journalists will make the process the story until they start getting more names and seeing more details.

 

[paskowitz]

Lol, Mike Pence dodging questions like crazy on morning programs. Things are so different now s/

 

[RustyNails]

all of these "the trump whitehouse is unprepared and falling behind and its a serious problem and everyone is angry!" stories are stupid. they were the same kind of things released over the last like 6 months of the campaign and hillary still blew it. if we get actual stories about "hey this is how they can do XYZ policy" as opposed to bullshit conjecture I would read the news more. Now.......wapo, nyt, politico, etc etc just look stupid.

This is how they can do xyz? Lol

It's Trump's job to figure it out. Not failing @nytimes.

 

[geomon]

The joke's on everyone focused on his tweets and not his settlement/conflicts of interest/shady picks

Yup, as soon as he tweeted about this Hamilton shit, everyone dropped the fucking reports about all of his scandals. Unbelievable.

 

[Teggy]

Victoria Brownworth
‏@VABVOX
Wallace asks about #Hamilton.
Pence says the show is great, everyone should see it.
Told his kid, family, booing is #FreeSpeech, cope.

.

 

[teiresias]

.

At this point, I'm with everyone else. Despite his horrendous views on Civil Rights, LGBT issues, etc. at the very least Pence wouldn't be degrading the office itself by his very presence and behavior were he the PE.

 

[Blader]

This is unnecessarily pessimistic. If inflation and the deficit spike because of the proposed huge stimulus spending and general malaise in the markets about uncertainty, the Tea Party types will lose their minds and make life hell for him like they did for Boehner.

And if the economy deteriorates (even if it's only tangentially related to anything Trump actually does), he will be on a short leash with the electorate and the Republican caucus.

DONALD TRUMP IS PRESIDENT

I think all pessimism for the next four years is duly deserved.

 

[excelsiorlef]

.

How fucked is it that I'd rather have that fucker running the show... goddamn

 

[dynamitejim]

.

lol

No change from the campaign, still completely at odds with what his running mate says and does. Or maybe these guys are just working on some bad cop, less bad cop routine.

 

[More_Badass]

.

"That's what freedom sounds like."
http://apne.ws/2g71m8N

 

[dramatis]

+ Rudy Giuliani was the favorite to be selected for Secretary of State, until news came out that he took money from Qatar, Venezula, Iranian exiles.
+ Twitter Announces New Tools Against Online Abuse. Several alt-right accounts are banned.
+ Trump surrogate Carl Higbie told Megyn Kelly (Fox) that Japanese interment camps serve as precedent for a Muslim registry.
+ Fake News-Maker Admits News was Made Up, Trump Voters Believe It Anyway. A Buzzfeed News analysis also indicated that Fake Election News Stories Outperformed Real News On Facebook.
+ How far behind is Donald Trump’s presidential transition? A rough timeline comparison between Trump 2016 and Obama 2008.
+ Michael Flynn is being offered National Security Advisor post. Who is Michael Flynn?
+ Jeff Sessions selected for Attorney General. Scroll on through to learn more about Jeff Sessions.
+ Trump asked Rep. Mike Pompeo of Kansas to be CIA director. Pompeo has called for a "fundamental upgrade" to US spying powers (and more). His words:

Congress should pass a law re-establishing collection of all metadata, and combining it with publicly available financial and lifestyle information into a comprehensive, searchable database. Legal and bureaucratic impediments to surveillance should be removed. That includes Presidential Policy Directive-28, which bestows privacy rights on foreigners and imposes burdensome requirements to justify data collection.

+ Trump agrees to $25 million settlement in Trump University fraud cases. It is an admission that his university was a fraud.
+ The Challenge of Selecting a New Treasury Secretary

The rumored favorite is [Steve] Mnuchin, who now works as a hedge-fund manager. His potential appointment is receiving more scrutiny after two housing advocacy groups filed claims to the Department of Housing and Urban Development calling for an investigation into his former company, OneWest Bank, over allegedly redlining minority home-buyers.

+ Mitt Romney meets with Trump on Saturday, rumored for Secretary of State.
+ Trump poised to violate Constitution his first day in office, George W. Bush’s ethics lawyer says

Friday evening, the Washington Post reported that about 100 foreign diplomats gathered at President-elect Donald Trump’s hotel in Washington, DC to “to sip Trump-branded champagne, dine on sliders and hear a sales pitch about the U.S. president-elect’s newest hotel.” The tour included a look at the hotel’s $20,000 a night “town house” suite. The Post also quoted some of the diplomats saying they intended to stay at the hotel in order to ingratiate themselves to the incoming president.

So to recap:

• Bannon, a white nationalist ideologue and the biggest pusher of the Alt-Right, will be Trump's chief strategist.
• Sessions, a man so racist that 80's GOP turned its back on him, will probably be the new AG.
• Flynn, who was utterly despised at the Defense Intelligence Agency, is a crazy islamophobe, appears on RT, dines with Putin and retweets Prison Planet articles will be the new national security advisor, no approval required.
• Pompeo, a total wingnut with no intelligence credentials (let alone actual acumen) and who has gone on the record to proclaim his desire of changing Iran's regime, will be the new head of the CIA.

Additional reading:
Obama Reckons with a Trump Presidency Inside a stunned White House, the President considers his legacy and America's future.
Hillary Clinton aimed at the highest glass ceiling. "Our Founders said all men are created equal," Clinton said. "[But] they left out African-Americans. They left out women. They left out a lot of us."
What a Trump presidency means for NASA and the future of space exploration. NASA’s scientific mission doesn’t make the US space agency immune to the politics of presidential transitions.
The Monkey Cage has county-by-county data on Trump voters.


This is a bit of a sloppy list, but feel free to catch up.

 

[ItWasMeantToBe19]

That didnt take long. Pakistan now saying India's "no 1st use" nuke policy 'ambiguous' as Trump flaunts $ ties to politically-tied Indians.

https://twitter.com/kurteichenwald/status/800132565533278208

I'm glad Trump wanting to do business in India has now increased the odds of nuclear holocaust.

Trump's team views Pakistan as a terrorist state so his first meeting with Pakistan is going to be hugely important... It's gonna be bad.

 

[Totakeke]

Nice post.

I think this one is highly relevant as well.
Pentagon, Intelligence Chiefs Push to Oust NSA Director


But when I was searching for this article, I accidentally stumbled upon this gem. Gotta love the internet.

 

[BreezyLimbo]

.

I can respect that. Booing is what freedom sounds like. I'd rather take that dirt bag than Trump.

 

[Outdoor Miner]

Looks like the story is coming out that Melania and Baron won't be staying with Trump at White House and will remain in NY. Judging by the outlets that have picked it up this looks be another Trump-fed distraction.

 

[geomon]

Looks like the story is coming out that Melania and Baron won't be staying with Trump at White House and will remain in NY. Judging by the outlets that have picked it up this looks be another Trump-fed distraction.

I am perfectly fine with this. The less time Trump(s) spend in the White House, the better.

 

[metalslimer]

I imagine Melania isn't going to do shit as first lady.

 

[CoffeeJanitor]

The joke's on everyone focused on his tweets and not his settlement/conflicts of interest/shady picks

.

Everyone's gotta ignore that shit from here on out

 

[geomon]

Trumped: Coal’s Collapse, Economic Anxiety Motivated Ohio Valley Voters

The Ohio Valley ReSource looked to voters and voting data to learn more about what motivated Donald Trump’s supporters and what they hope he will do as president.

“More than Obama did!” Judy Collier said from a grocery story parking lot in Whitesburg, Kentucky. “We need jobs.”

One obvious factor was the anxiety over the collapse of the region’s coal industry.

“Our coal jobs are gone here in Eastern Kentucky,” Collier said. She lives in Eolia in Letcher County, which has seen a sharp drop in mine production and employment.

David Boggs of nearby Cumberland echoed the hope that Trump will reverse the decline. “He’ll put the coal business back together and straighten this country up a little bit, maybe.”

Resource data reporter Alexandra Kanik looked at the votes for Clinton and Trump in the counties in the three-state region that produce the most coal. (Her results can be seen in the accompanying maps.)

The top coal producing counties in the region had two, three, sometimes six times the support for Trump over Clinton, Kanik found.

Trump seized on coal’s demise and pinned the blame on federal regulations. West Virginia University history professor William Hal Gorby said that fits a long pattern in regional politics.

“Rolling back environmental regulations, what’s called the overreach of EPA, it’s sometimes referred to as the ‘war on coal,’” Gorby said. “That language has had a lot of support, of course, before Trump was running for president.”

The “war on coal” still makes for politically potent rhetoric. However, it does not match well with facts. Executives at electric utilities say their move away from coal has more to do with economics than environmental regulation — natural gas is just cheaper. And since Election Day, some mining industry supporters have walked back their promises of a coal comeback.

 

[ItWasMeantToBe19]

Pakistan and India have hundreds of nuclear bombs and their people are the most nationalistic in the world. This is the biggest potential disaster in the world and Trump needs people to tell him to cool down the rhetoric with Pakistan regardless of what his business partners in India tell him.

 

[SlickShoesRUCrazy]

Trumped: Coal’s Collapse, Economic Anxiety Motivated Ohio Valley Voters

Like I've said many times, all those people can get fucked.

So blind not to realize they were fucking themselves.

And when Ryan and the GOP kill off assistance programs, ACA, hope these fucks enjoy their comeuppance.

Hope they realize all they did was make the rich richer.

That's it

 

[Pixieking]

Talking of people playing themselves, not sure if this was posted?

In Depressed Rural Kentucky, Worries Mount Over Medicaid Cutbacks

For Freida Lockaby, an unemployed 56-year-old woman who lives with her dog in an aging mobile home in Manchester, Ky., one of America's poorest places, the Affordable Care Act was life altering.

The law allowed Kentucky to expand Medicaid in 2014 and made Lockaby – along with 440,000 other low-income state residents – newly eligible for free health care under the state-federal insurance program. Enrollment gave Lockaby her first insurance in 11 years.

...

But Lockaby is worried her good fortune could soon end. Her future access to health care now hinges on a controversial proposal to revamp the program that her state's Republican governor has submitted to the Obama administration.

I see a genuine need for a partisan GOTV organisation that educates voters about what political parties and representatives do, and how they thrive on voter ignorance.

 

[hipsterpants]

Trump just tweeted out praise for Chuck Schumer. How likely is it Dems are working overtime to convince Trump that infrastructure should be his #1 goal?

 

[A Serious Man]

Trump just tweeted out praise for Chuck Schumer. How likely is it Dems are working overtime to convince Trump that infrastructure should be his #1 goal?

They probably should, since it will cause a rift between Trump and the GOP.

 

[Wilsongt]

I am sure most of the people protesting Hamilton couldn't even afford a ticket to go see it.

 

[ItWasMeantToBe19]

Trump just tweeted out praise for Chuck Schumer. How likely is it Dems are working overtime to convince Trump that infrastructure should be his #1 goal?

I mean, he tweeted out that Schumer was a cunning man (Jew) before his Jewish son-in-law deleted that tweet.

Trump's infrastructure plan is garbage and he'll likely steal most of the money in any plan. They should talk about it for months, but just never agree to a specific bill. Just run out the clock.

 

[Holmes]

Yeah but Kentucky last year voted for a governor who told them to their faces he'd take away their health care. Post-election there were articles quoting people saying "I know I'll lose my health care but abortion".

 

[Sianos]

Trumped: Coal’s Collapse, Economic Anxiety Motivated Ohio Valley Voters

THIS should be our takeaway from the election. The economically anxious don't want the truth, all they want is a false hope to blindly follow.

Save the rational plans that acknowledge the limits of reality for the few people who still care about that sort of things.

 

[Guileless]

Hillary must be alternately laughing and weeping at how stupid voters are.

At the Goldman Sachs Builders and Innovators Summit, Clinton responded to a question from chief executive Lloyd Blankfein, who quipped that you “go to Washington” to “make a small fortune.” Clinton agreed with the comment and complained about ethics rules that require officials to divest from certain assets before entering government. “There is such a bias against people who have led successful and/or complicated lives,” Clinton said.

Via

 

[balladofwindfishes]

There is such a bias against people who have led successful and/or complicated lives

Especially the latter. If you have a long, complicated story with ups and downs, people don't care. They want sound bites.

 

[gutter_trash]

LOL Trump tweeting about SNL again,

Donald J. TrumpVerified account
‏@realDonaldTrump
I watched parts of @nbcsnl Saturday Night Live last night. It is a totally one-sided, biased show - nothing funny at all. Equal time for us?

 

[Androidsleeps]

I swear everyday now starts with me going on the internet asking myaelf "What did Trump do today?"

 

[balladofwindfishes]

I swear everyday now starts with me going on the internet asking myaelf "What did Trump do today?"

Welcome to the next four years

 

[Trouble]

LOL Trump tweeting about SNL again,

Donald J. TrumpVerified account
‏@realDonaldTrump
I watched parts of @nbcsnl Saturday Night Live last night. It is a totally one-sided, biased show - nothing funny at all. Equal time for us?

Only if he gives equal time and lets Dems post 50% of his tweets.