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BS44325 said:

HughFreakingDillon said:

BS44325 said:

HughFreakingDillon said:

BS44325 said:

oftenreading said:

Deflating the "Trump as mastermind" theory....... which I believe we've heard here on AMT.

http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/politics/2017/02/tracking_the_conspiracy_theories_about_donald_trump_s_first_weeks_in_office.html

I have put forth this theory and as I said earlier I flip back and forth on it all the time. Clearly he ran a genius general election campaign with respect to media management and general strategy while spending extremely little money. Even if you hate him or you dislike his style of campaigning (I dislike his style!) you must recognize that on the campaign front his instincts were remarkable. Now the question following this is can campaigning "genius" be converted to a "genius" in governing? The jury is still out on this and again I think it is wrong to not at least ask yourself the question. When I ask it of myself I consider his behaviour and say "If he is a genius and his style is intentional what could be long term benefits of his current behaviour and how would that compare to the long term risk?". I have some theories that I doubt any of you care about but when I break it down I still see some possible benefits of his continued "politically provocative rhetoric/actions" even though I personally find the style to be distasteful (a point which I have been consistent on since I said he could win many months ago). The biggest problem with the #resistance, the democratic party, and of course the AMT is the level of certainty you all have. By thinking you're infallible you are tempting fate instead.

I don't think you can call Hillary a horrible candidate and Trump's campaign a genius strategy at the same time. it's one or the other.

I have zero idea how the media got it so horribly wrong with their estimates of him having as low as a 3% chance of winning the election. But I don't think he was brilliant. I think he goofed his way into the white house. Looking back, I think had it been any other republican candidate the margin of victory would have been much bigger.

I think it can be both. I also think what started with a lot of "goofing" became more tailored as time went on even if the style was still objectionable.

so winning a race against a horrible candidate is genius? is michael jordan declared the greatest of all time because he beat ricky gervais in a game of 21?

I honestly think he was winging it the whole time. looking back at his speeches, they were all off the cuff, nothing of substance, rambling, "bing bing bing" and whatnot. it wasn't genius or calculated. it seems clear now that a rabid monkey could have beat hillary. and he did.

There was certainly some degree of winging it. I said he was making it up as he went along many times. There were "instincts" though that subconsciously were very accurate in terms of messaging. We can laugh about the meaning of Make America Great Again but just as Yes We Can was brilliant so was MAGA. Both shallow as hell but both equally brilliant. In terms about running against Hillary it is not just that but his defeat of the entire Republican establishment. Part of that was recognizing the timing in running during a race that was ready to be Bush vs Clinton. Sometimes genius is recognizing moments of opportunity and his instincts were right that this was the time that Americans (a percentage anyway) would be ready for an outsider. I believe that he was completely surprised that his strategy worked in the end but that doesn't make his strategy any less "smart". I am also not convinced that another republican would have won even though I supported every other republican before Trump. The want for an "outsider" was pretty paramount...anybody else might have been seen as part of the status quo which was deemed unacceptable.

This still doesn't quantify him being qualified to be the sitting president !!

Godfather. said:

BS44325 said:

oftenreading said:

Sure, Trump can recognize opportunities. Unfortunately, his history shows that he generally fucks them up in some manner.

History shows the exact opposite. His successes far outnumber his failures. This cannot be denied. The only question is whether this history of success can be translated to effective governing. Nobody has the answer to this yet.

so far he's doing great !

You're always bringing the laughs. I'm afraid you're sincere, though.

Godfather. said:

BS44325 said:

oftenreading said:

Sure, Trump can recognize opportunities. Unfortunately, his history shows that he generally fucks them up in some manner.

History shows the exact opposite. His successes far outnumber his failures. This cannot be denied. The only question is whether this history of success can be translated to effective governing. Nobody has the answer to this yet.

so far he's doing great !

How do you measure great ? Do you see it st restaurants are there no more Spanish bus boys clearing your tables or maybe no more Spanish men cutting your lawns or Spanish women cleaning your houses ? Is that what you mean by great ?

mfc2006 said:

Wow.

http://sacramentodispatch.com/trump-denies-ca-plea-for-federal-funds-cites-sanctuary-cities/

if this part of the article has even a fucking shred of truth to it, he needs to be removed IMMEDIATELY:

“The President has no incentive in helping the state of California. The state harbors more illegal immigrants than any other state and has multiple sanctuary cities that violate federal laws. The state very publicly supported Hillary Clinton throughout the election and the President views the state as being responsible for his loss in the popular vote, something he has had trouble with accepting. They have also recently threatened to leave the Union through their #CalExit campaign, and the President sees this as an opportunity to let them deal with the consequences of their exit. There is a sickness within the liberals in this country that they are not willing to address. Until they understand what ails them can they hope to find the cure. This is a step in the right direction in finding the #CureForWellness. “

HughFreakingDillon said:

mfc2006 said:

Wow.

http://sacramentodispatch.com/trump-denies-ca-plea-for-federal-funds-cites-sanctuary-cities/

if this part of the article has even a fucking shred of truth to it, he needs to be removed IMMEDIATELY:

“The President has no incentive in helping the state of California. The state harbors more illegal immigrants than any other state and has multiple sanctuary cities that violate federal laws. The state very publicly supported Hillary Clinton throughout the election and the President views the state as being responsible for his loss in the popular vote, something he has had trouble with accepting. They have also recently threatened to leave the Union through their #CalExit campaign, and the President sees this as an opportunity to let them deal with the consequences of their exit. There is a sickness within the liberals in this country that they are not willing to address. Until they understand what ails them can they hope to find the cure. This is a step in the right direction in finding the #CureForWellness. “

yup. I'm actually starting to think that he wants to be removed.

PJfanwillneverleave1 said:

HughFreakingDillon said:

mfc2006 said:

Wow.

http://sacramentodispatch.com/trump-denies-ca-plea-for-federal-funds-cites-sanctuary-cities/

if this part of the article has even a fucking shred of truth to it, he needs to be removed IMMEDIATELY:

“The President has no incentive in helping the state of California. The state harbors more illegal immigrants than any other state and has multiple sanctuary cities that violate federal laws. The state very publicly supported Hillary Clinton throughout the election and the President views the state as being responsible for his loss in the popular vote, something he has had trouble with acceptin. They have also recently threatened to leave the Union through their #CalExit campaign, and the President sees this as an opportunity to let them deal with the consequences of their exit. There is a sickness within the liberals in this country that they are not willing to address. Until they understand what ails them can they hope to find the cure. This is a step in the right direction in finding the #CureForWellness. “

I thought more would be upset of the above bolded.

A true man of "his" people. This kind of attitude is how we get another response to a disaster like Katrina.

Thirty Bills Unpaid said:

tbergs said:

mfc2006 said:

Wow.

http://sacramentodispatch.com/trump-denies-ca-plea-for-federal-funds-cites-sanctuary-cities/

The more troubling article was linked inside that one:

http://sacramentodispatch.com/bombshell-trump-and-putin-spotted-at-swiss-resort-prior-to-election/

Unconfirmed, but what a shit storm that could be.

Lol

I got sidetracked on the movie trailer.

But yeah to the point... it's going to be an endless stream of gaffes and errors and slightly shocking behaviours on the part of the orange one. Realistically, nobody should be surprised at anything he does anymore.

On a side note, I can't recall if there was any public statement made at all when it was reported that Trump got peed on in the hotel room by prostitutes. Was this fake news? Was it factual? Did he address it? Is the bar so low for him that it really doesn't matter?

Recent word was that intelligence confirmed the pee dossier.

Go Beavers said:

Thirty Bills Unpaid said:

tbergs said:

mfc2006 said:

Wow.

http://sacramentodispatch.com/trump-denies-ca-plea-for-federal-funds-cites-sanctuary-cities/

The more troubling article was linked inside that one:

http://sacramentodispatch.com/bombshell-trump-and-putin-spotted-at-swiss-resort-prior-to-election/

Unconfirmed, but what a shit storm that could be.

Lol

I got sidetracked on the movie trailer.

But yeah to the point... it's going to be an endless stream of gaffes and errors and slightly shocking behaviours on the part of the orange one. Realistically, nobody should be surprised at anything he does anymore.

On a side note, I can't recall if there was any public statement made at all when it was reported that Trump got peed on in the hotel room by prostitutes. Was this fake news? Was it factual? Did he address it? Is the bar so low for him that it really doesn't matter?

Recent word was that intelligence confirmed the pee dossier.

They've confirmed some of the dossier but not the pee stuff. The fact that some of it is proven true though should be worrying to the White House. It shows there's smoke to this story, and where there's smoke...there's fire.

So a couple revelations in the last couple of hours has me thinking. First, KellyAnne states that Flynn has the full support of the President. Now it's coming out that Flynn called Pence recently to apologize for misleading him. Flynn has admitted guilt basically and has the full support of the President? If Flynn still has the support of the President after humiliating the VP on national tv, there's only one logical assumption- Trump knew/directed Flynn going into that phone call with the ambassador from Russia to discuss sanctions.

So there's that part of it. Now, think of what this does to the main players in this admin. Flynn misled Pence, Spicer, and Priebus, and all three of those men now look like blatant liars on TV. By siding with Flynn- it shows who really has the Presodent's ear. That would be Flynn, Bannon and Miller. These two factions couldn't be more opposite. The group with the VP are your traditional Republicans with DC experience. If the President wants to get anything through Congress, he needs this group. Then Flynn group is the one who wants to see the world burn. They want to kick ass and take names with anyone who will help them.

Eventually Trump is going to have to start using the Congress. He can't do EOs forever. He's going to need the group headed by the VP to navigate congress. It's interesting to watch. A guy like Pence, he wants to be President. He has an invested interest in this playing out well and if the writings on the wall in 2020- he's gone. I'm amazed he even signed on to this lose-lose deal. But the Bannon group? They never thought they'd get this far and they will probably never come close to it again- so they have nothing to lose.

I'm just shocked the President appears to be siding with Flynn. The perception of it is awful. It makes him look complacent and at the same time humiliating members of his administration that he needs going forward to be successful.