Trump General Discussion III

[BVS]

The illuminati is real...


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[gump]

http://www.vox.com/2016/12/13/13901874/obamacare-trump-voter-health-insurance-repeal

This Trump voter didn't think Trump was serious about repealing her health insurance
Sarah Kliff
So what do you think about Obamacare as a law? I know it's not especially popular.

Debbie Mills
I have liked the fact that it gave us health insurance, you know, and I know some have not. Some have not been wanting to be forced to have it. But other ones, I know it has helped. I know a lot of people that have gotten it that did not have health insurance before.

Sarah Kliff
Did it change your opinion of President Obama at all? I know nothing about your politics at all, but if you did like him—

Debbie Mills
I’m not really a fan of his policies, but I like the fact that he gave me health insurance. And I have been worried about the fact that, you know, is it going to go away because, like I said, we're in a situation now where I can't afford to pay $1,200 a month. And I can't go without insurance because he has to have it in order, you know … a transplant could be a million

Sarah Kliff
Are you surprised how much Republicans are talking about repeal?

Debbie Mills
No.

Sarah Kliff
Did you expect — do you think they'll do it, or do you think it'll be too hard?

Debbie Mills
I'm hoping that they don't, ’cause, I mean, what would they do then? Would this go away? I mean, I mean, will the insurance? It will go away?

Sarah Kliff
It will go, if they repeal it. I mean, it’ll … that's what they promised to do in so many elections.

Debbie Mills
Right, so, I don't know … I don't know what we'll do if it does go away.

Sarah Kliff
Do you think if it does go away, you'll regret your vote in any way? Thinking, “I voted for this person who took away my health insurance.” Or … it's like, that's one of so many things, like you said, jobs, the economy?

Debbie Mills
I don't know. I guess I thought that, you know, he would not do this. That they would not do this, would not take the insurance away. Knowing that it's affecting so many people’s lives. I mean, what are you to do then if you cannot … purchase, cannot pay for the insurance?

You know, what are we to do?

Shoot me now.

 

[digitize]

The Energy Department just got Ron Swansoned.

Oops.


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[Danny Boy]

Here's a heart-warming story about a happy Trump voter:

Trump voter lost home, blames incoming Treasury secretary | The Seattle Times

 

[BoMac]

Trump also met with Jim Brown and Ray Lewis. What racism?

 

[Irvine511]

Kanye just arrived at Trump Tower for a meeting.

Is this real life?

it's another distraction so we stop talking about Russia.

 

[BEAL]

Would have been real interesting seeing his tax returns. Don't know if it stops him from being elected, because well, I do actually think he could have shot someone and been elected.

We have rules in place, we have standards for our officials. All have been thrown out the window. What's scary is that Trump may not the the worst, only the first for future candidates.

 

[BVS]

For those that can't read past a headline or a meme, this is why Trump's picks and ties to Russia is a big deal:



#yougotconned


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[Moonlit_Angel]

So Mitch McConnell was planning to actually blackmail Obama over this CIA report back in September, but NOW, as noted a few pages back, he's suddenly willing to support investigating this?

Gee, thanks, McConnell. Way to be non-partisan and mature about this .

 

[corianderstem]

Canceled his press conference about his businesses, meets with Kanye West to divert attention from this, maybe?

How Donald Trump's Business Ties Are Already Jeopardizing U.S. Interests

 

[deep]

it's another distraction so we stop talking about Russia.

because the Russians control Kanye?

the big fake news now, is that the Russians released the Democrat emails

 

[deep]

So how many of the 306 electors that Trump legitimately won will not vote for him?

right now we have one, some whack job from Texas, never-Trumper that was all in for Cruz

Clinton and Podesta are desperately trying to peel a few more off, will they have any success?

 

[deep]

Canceled his press conference about his businesses, meets with Kanye West to divert attention from this, maybe?

How Donald Trump's Business Ties Are Already Jeopardizing U.S. Interests

he is obviously doing it so people will not notice his small hands

 

[anitram]

I love this new "Democrats shouldn't oppose/fight EVERYTHING that Trump does" meme.

Coming from the people who literally obstructed every single thing Obama did for 8 years. Can't make this shit up if you tried.

 

[Bluer White]

because the Russians control Kanye?

Ray Lewis too.

Seriously, though, President Obama is absolutely right getting the ball rolling on cyber security again. Whatever the election hijinks turn out to be, this kinda stuff been going on for decades and accelerating. The White House, DoD, other sensitive agencies have all had networks hit. And who knows what kind of attacks haven't been made public.

 

[Irvine511]

we call them Vichycrats.

 

[Irvine511]

because the Russians control Kanye?

because Donald is going to need Kanye to win over the nonvoter vote.

 

[Irvine511]

i will say that putting Rick Perry in charge of the department he wanted to cut but couldn't remember its name is some next-level trolling -- he's been put in charge of a department he wanted to cut (is this Trump telling Perry to go fuck himself? to kill himself? who can say?) and the bonus is that everyone got reminded of his almost-too-beautiful-to-be-true "oops" moment replayed all day on the news networks.

Ryan Lochte is officially only the second dumbest DWTS alum.

 

[LuckyNumber7]

I don't think it's Trump trolling Perry. I think it's Trump trolling us. Saying this is how much I don't give a shit about the department of energy.

 

[Irvine511]

I don't think it's Trump trolling Perry. I think it's Trump trolling us. Saying this is how much I don't give a shit about the department of energy.

i think it's both.

it's becoming quite obvious that Trump views the presidency as a means of personal enrichment (not that it's ever SO simple, but that's the gist of it). the run for the presidency was likely a ploy to up his brand, and when it caught fire the beginning of a new news network, and now it's about merging national interests with the corporate bottom line. everything else he doesn't give a shit about and is basically like 14-year old bullies snapping towels at the bare asses of weak kids in the locker room because he can right now.

one of the more interesting thought pieces i've come across in recent days:

Since Donald Trump's surprise election one month ago, there's been a bubbling conversation about the mammoth conflicts of interest he will have if he is running or even owning his far flung business enterprises while serving as the head of state. I've suggested that the whole notion of 'conflicts of interest' doesn't really capture what we're dealing with here, which is really a pretty open effort to leverage the presidency to expand his family business. But a couple things came together for me today which make me think we've all missed the real issue.

Maybe he can't divest because he's too underwater to do so or more likely he's too dependent on current and expanding cash flow to divest or even turn the reins over to someone else.

Late this afternoon we got news that Trump will remain as executive producer of The Apprentice, now starring Arnold Schwarzenegger. That is, quite simply, weird. The presidency is time consuming and complicated, even for the lazier presidents. Does Trump really need to do this? Can he do it, just in terms of hours in the day? Of course, it may simply be a title that entitles him to draw a check. But does he need the check that bad?

The idea that Trump is heavily leveraged and reliant on on-going cash flow to keep his business empire from coming apart and collapsing into bankruptcy was frequently discussed during the campaign. But it's gotten pretty little attention since he was elected.

Here's something else.

After Trump got into that scuffle with Boeing, reporters asked about his ownership of Boeing stock. Trump replied that he'd already sold that stock. So there was no problem. But there's a bit more to it than that.

According to his spokesman, Trump sold all of his stock back in June, a portfolio which his disclosures suggest was worth as much as $38 million. Trump told Matt Lauer that he sold the stock because he was confident he'd win and "would have a tremendous ... conflict of interest owning all of these different companies" while serving as President.

Now, c'mon. Donald Trump sold off all his equities more than six months before he could become president because he was concerned about conflicts of interest? Please. That doesn't pass the laugh test.

But consider this. During the primaries Donald Trump loaned his campaign roughly $50 million. Over the course of the spring, as it became increasingly likely he'd be the nominee, that loan became increasingly conspicuous. Donors were wary of donating big money because they didn't want him to use it to pay himself back for that loan. Many suggested that he might not actually be able to part with that money. It became a big issue and Trump refused to forgive the loans.

It was only in June that Trump finally gave in and forgave the loan; this was confirmed in the June FEC disclosure that came out in late July. Who knows why Trump sold off all his stock holdings? Maybe he just had a feeling. Maybe he thought the market was too hot. Maybe he just had a spasm of prospective ethical concern. But let's be honest. The most obvious explanation is that forgiving that debt from his campaign required him — through whatever mix of contingencies — to free up more cash, either for the campaign or personal expenses or perhaps to have a certain amount of cash on hand because of terms of other debts. It does not seem plausible at all that the timing is coincidental.

Since we don't have Trump's tax returns, there's just a huge amount we don't know about his businesses. What we do know is that Trump appears to wildly exaggerate the scale of his wealth and exhibit a stinginess that is very hard to square with a man of the kinds of means he claims. A heavily leveraged business, one that is indebted and dependent on cash flow to keep everything moving forward, can be kind of like a shark. It has to keep moving forward or it dies.

Perhaps Trump simply doesn't feel like he can trust anyone else to keep the whole shambling enterprise afloat. More plausibly, and consistent with Trump's history over the last couple decades, Trump's business is dependent on an ever expanding number of deals not just to grow but to stay afloat at all. It is certainly plausible that if Trump simply sold off his company in toto, he'd be in debt. Maybe there wouldn't be anything left to put in a blind trust.

This is all necessarily speculative because Trump has kept the details of his business empire hidden from the public. But behavior, circumstantial evidence and lots of evidence of tight reliance on cash flow to service debts of various sorts suggest that Trump may not be able to divest or separate himself from his business. Why doesn't he? Why does he court all this controversy? Because he can't.

If all this is true, the peril of Trump's foreign deals is larger than we may realize. It's not just a matter of hitting the billionaire big time. It could be a matter of staying afloat at all.

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/maybe-the-answer-is-that-he-can-t-divest

 

[deep]

Does anyone think a President Romney or Ted Cruz would meet with Kanye? People (lefties) should give Trump more credit.

 

[Danny Boy]

On the contrary, I'm considering boycotting all things Kanye because he met with Trump.

 

[gump]

I'm now so glad he cancelled the NYE's show I was going to attend. 250 bucks of mine that are not going into his pocket anymore.

 

[deep]

Are you going to destroy your CDs, LPs, and delete his music?

 

[LuckyNumber7]

Does anyone think a President Romney or Ted Cruz would meet with Kanye? People (lefties) should give Trump more credit.

Credit for what?

I always thought it was dumb as shit that Clinton pandered to people by "meeting with" Jay Z and Beyoncé and Demi Lovato and blah blah blah. Some bullshit appeal to show how hip and cool you are to the younger generation.

 

[deep]

But she got 35000 to a rally in PA with Springsteen, that was a success.

 

[LuckyNumber7]

But she got 35000 to a rally in PA with Springsteen, that was a success.

There's nothing wrong with an artist joining a campaign.

There's a big difference between joining a campaign and pandering bullshit that clearly says "look at my friends."

Sort of like what Trump is doing here.

 

[bono_212]

It's just all around sad.

 

[Vlad n U 2]

Credit for what?

I always thought it was dumb as shit that Clinton pandered to people by "meeting with" Jay Z and Beyoncé and Demi Lovato and blah blah blah. Some bullshit appeal to show how hip and cool you are to the younger generation.

The things with Katy Perry and Lena Dunham.

Awful.

 

[anitram]

It totally makes sense he'd meet with Kanye. He's maybe the only man in America whose ego is in about the same stratosphere as Trump's.