Donald Trump for president?

[Brian96]

7 minutes ago, Lihu said:

China is not this wishy washy country that can't decide what to do. They are decisive, and do what needs to be done. Just like Russia.

Speaking of which, if we leave Russia alone to police their part of the world we would be better of for it.

Wow, I don't know where to start with this and I really don't have time to explain to you just how out of touch with reality these statements are.

[Lihu]

19 minutes ago, Brian96 said:

Wow, I don't know where to start with this and I really don't have time to explain to you just how out of touch with reality these statements are.

It would literally exceed the memory capacity of this site to try to explain everything.

The "out of touch", is just referencing the political mess we've made in those regions, I suppose?

People are people, and decisions are generally made with too much "analysis". When a policy decision begins with "in our best estimate. . .", you pretty much know it's pretty much no better than a wild guess. All the research that follows, no matter how intelligent are the researchers, lead to another "wild guess". Also, while the government might very well employ the top students to perform the analyses, when you put them all together they make the stupidest assertions and decisions anyone can imagine.

On the whole we're just too indecisive as a country to be effective at anything. We overthink too many things and it is a costly process that puts us in a bad place.

[Golfingdad]

27 minutes ago, Lihu said:

... decisions are generally made with too much "analysis".

I've been getting the impression for several weeks or months now that this will most certainly not be a problem for Trump.

[Elmer]

2 hours ago, Braivo said:

The man has a work ethic unlike any other. He will work for the American people if he is elected, just as he has worked tirelessly for his own organization. Would you want a guy in office who screwed over his own company on "principle"? No way. You want a guy who works to the bone for whatever cause he is invested in. 

I have not doubt that by the end of a Trump presidency he will have balanced our budget and put us back on firm financial footing. The folks in DC will not like it because it means the end of cushy 6 figure jobs that accomplish next to nothing. Too bad. Trump has zero tolerance for that kind of waste. If you don't serve a critical function then you will be ousted. 

Sure, he has to deal with a bought and paid for congress, but he has no issue calling them out on it. 

Every single person with a vested interest in the status quo is adamantly opposed to Trump, that should tell you something right there. 

Today, after months of supporting him, I finally get to cast a ballot for Trump. 

Who is trump "ousting"?
Is he going to cut White House Staff? Secret Service?
Maybe downsize the congressional staff?

Government is not like a business. We dont run it like a business who are accountable to "shareholders" who are looking for a profit. purpose of Government is to protect the rights of citizens, write laws and deal with issues not specifically given to the states.

I guarantee you if Trump becomes president His daughter gets a cabinet post!

[Gunther]

28 minutes ago, Elmer said:

Who is trump "ousting"?
Is he going to cut White House Staff? Secret Service?
Maybe downsize the congressional staff?

Government is not like a business. We dont run it like a business who are accountable to "shareholders" who are looking for a profit. purpose of Government is to protect the rights of citizens, write laws and deal with issues not specifically given to the states.

I guarantee you if Trump becomes president His daughter gets a cabinet post!

IRS, EPA, Dept of Ed, lots of cuts could take place.  He will present a budget to Congress and use his influence to get it passed in its original form.  He won't get all of it but hopefully he'll negotiate well enough to start getting this country back to fiscal solvency.

We should only be so lucky as to have Ivanka on the Cabinet, she's much smarter than her old man.  But, I believe all his kids will be tasked with running his company.

[Lihu]

43 minutes ago, Golfingdad said:

I've been getting the impression for several weeks or months now that this will most certainly not be a problem for Trump.

RFLol, but to be honest, that's his appeal to many people. . .

[Dave2512]

2 hours ago, Braivo said:

I never said he wouldn't golf or take vacations. His work ethic is legendary, though. 

Easy to work long hours when you live an otherwise cushy lifestyle, he's not out there breaking rocks.

[nevets88]

Crying Trump

Quote

To be fair, it’s not hard to understand why it took the G.O.P. and much of the press so long, too long, to take Donald Trump’s candidacy seriously. Many times before, he flirted with running, and, each time, he quit. His bids were stunts. Still, he learned something from those stunts, and the distance between his earlier bids and this one suggests that, while much in American politics has changed, Trump has not.

..

Trump learned that his best shot was to run as a populist. He said, “I think the kind of people who support me are the workers, the construction workers, the taxicab driver. Rich people don’t like me.” Readers of the Enquirer, Trump said, were his natural followers. “Those are the real people,” he said. “That is the Trump constituency.”

He damned the Republicans. “The Republican Party has just moved too far to the extreme right,” he said. He reserved his greatest ire for Pat Buchanan. “He’s a Hitler lover,” Trump said, on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” “He doesn’t like the blacks; he doesn’t like the gays.” Citing parties he’d been invited to by Puff Daddy, Trump said, “I am just very popular with the black populace.”

...

Much has changed since Trump’s early Presidential bids. Polls have run amok, becoming as tabloid as the Enquirer. A new populism has emerged, fuelled not only by political conviction but also by new forms of political communication. The party system is in disarray. And, not least, the Republican Party has moved even further to the right. Past and present Party leaders like Mitt Romney and John McCain have tried to distance themselves from Trump, and even to stop him, by charging him with being inconsistent. But nearly the only thing different about Trump in 2016 is that, this time, he’s winning.

Four Presidential elections ago, he fell fast. “Trump’s Seriousness Comes into Question,” one headline read by the middle of December. By early January, 2000, www.thedonald2000.org was for sale. Later that month, Citizen Trump watched the G.O.P. debate. “Are these people stiffs, or what?” he asked the Times. He was unimpressed with the Republican field. “They’re losers,” he said. “Who the hell wants to have a person like this for president?”

http://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/crying-trump

[GolfLug]

On ‎3‎/‎7‎/‎2016 at 2:03 PM, Gunther said:

Political capital, Twitter, Facebook.

Republican Establishment is shitting their pants because they know he will out them as the lazy frauds they are.  He's not a good ol boy.  They will work for him or he will use his political capital to get them primaried and ousted.  My guess is he'll be tougher on the GOP than the Dems.  He will shake things up if he gets in, make no mistake.

Cruz will as well but to a lesser degree.  Rubio will just go along with the party line.

Huh..so that's how he will get anything out of Congress.. Straight up blackmail. Don't get me wrong, I will be a fan if he succeeds (iffff he ends up being POTUS in the first place)...

Still many (myself included) fear more what he won't be able to do more than what he can accomplish as POTUS. For good reason too. It just seem like harder a POTUS tries to impress, the more they act unimpressionable collectively. 

If he does not get nominated or he does and does not end up being POTUS, the whole campaign is still a huge win for what it has accomplished already! It will come to be known somewhat as a martyr campaign for giving a voice to the disenfranchised, the anti-establishment folks and how close it came to turning the establishment upside down.   

The man can't lose even if he loses.

[Lihu]

2 minutes ago, GolfLug said:

Huh..so that's how he will get anything out of Congress.. Straight up blackmail. Don't get me wrong, I will be a fan if he succeeds (iffff he ends up being POTUS)...

Still many (myself included) fear more what he won't be able to do more than what he can accomplish as POTUS. For good reason too. It just seem like harder a POTUS tries to impress, the more they act unimpressionable collectively. 

If he does not get nominated or he does and does not end up being POTUS, the whole campaign is still a huge win for what it has accomplished already! It will come to be known somewhat as a martyr campaign for giving a voice to the disenfranchised, the anti-establishment folks and how close it came to turning the establishment upside down.   

The man can't lose even if he loses.

Yes, that's also part of his appeal, and I seriously doubt he would have run at all if this wasn't the case.

[Elmer]

56 minutes ago, Gunther said:

IRS, EPA, Dept of Ed, lots of cuts could take place.  He will present a budget to Congress and use his influence to get it passed in its original form.  He won't get all of it but hopefully he'll negotiate well enough to start getting this country back to fiscal solvency.

The IRS employs 89K people with a buget of 11.2B
EPA 15.4K w/ 8.4B budget 
DOE 5K people w/ 69.8B (2013)

 

So who is collecting Taxes? Who is going to process the taxes, conduct audits? Who is collecting the more than 234 tax returns a year???
Or are we just going to put in an envelope what we think we owe and send it in?
Is Trump going to make the economy great by putting people out of work? Because we know he is good at closing business.
Does he plan on cutting the defense spending?
Will congress agree?
How will he "use his influence to get it passed in its original form"?????

When Trump As Potus decided to cut the IRS, and 89,000 jobs he will have to go to the Senator and Representative of those districts, because the IRS current has 4 computer facilities in different locations. Loss of employment at any of those will affect the local economy.
And no Senator or Representative wants to be the person who votes to cut jobs in their district.

So what does Trump offer to get this passed? Open a Trump national in Memphis or Kansas City? problem that is a conflict of interest for Trump.

these Senator and Representatives are not going to vote to strip their districts of pork because @Gunther or @Lihu wants them too. Or because Trump told them too.

I dont see it happening. Trump is all bluster!
Once again he has never been told "no" until Congress!

Sorry for consecutive posts, But thought this was funny
(let the "they haven't been funny since 1975 rhetoric begin)

 

[Gunther]

8 minutes ago, Elmer said:

The IRS employs 89K people with a buget of 11.2B
EPA 15.4K w/ 8.4B budget 
DOE 5K people w/ 69.8B (2013)

 

So who is collecting Taxes? Who is going to process the taxes, conduct audits? Who is collecting the more than 234 tax returns a year???
Or are we just going to put in an envelope what we think we owe and send it in?
Is Trump going to make the economy great by putting people out of work? Because we know he is good at closing business.
Does he plan on cutting the defense spending?
Will congress agree?
How will he "use his influence to get it passed in its original form"?????

When Trump As Potus decided to cut the IRS, and 89,000 jobs he will have to go to the Senator and Representative of those districts, because the IRS current has 4 computer facilities in different locations. Loss of employment at any of those will affect the local economy.
And no Senator or Representative wants to be the person who votes to cut jobs in their district.

So what does Trump offer to get this passed? Open a Trump national in Memphis or Kansas City? problem that is a conflict of interest for Trump.

these Senator and Representatives are not going to vote to strip their districts of pork because @Gunther or @Lihu wants them too. Or because Trump told them too.

I dont see it happening. Trump is all bluster!
Once again he has never been told "no" until Congress!

Sorry for consecutive posts, But thought this was funny
(let the "they haven't been funny since 1975 rhetoric begin)

 

 

I've been to 2 IRS facilities, Ogden and Austin, both a few times.  The waste is mind boggling.  My boss and I figured we could cut 75% of the staff and operate more efficiently than they do currently.  We need someone with that mindset in the WH, in my opinion.

 I recognize given your worldview, that you believe we can keep spending so we won't agree.  No problem there.  But, hat's what we've had the last 8 years, well, 16 really cuz Bush was a spender too.  I'm hoping for some fiscal responsibility this time around.  

[Elmer]

13 minutes ago, Gunther said:

I've been to 2 IRS facilities, Ogden and Austin, both a few times.  The waste is mind boggling.  My boss and I figured we could cut 75% of the staff and operate more efficiently than they do currently.  We need someone with that mindset in the WH, in my opinion.

 I recognize given your worldview, that you believe we can keep spending so we won't agree.  No problem there.  But, hat's what we've had the last 8 years, well, 16 really cuz Bush was a spender too.  I'm hoping for some fiscal responsibility this time around.  

I am all for efficiency and eliminating redundancies.
But I have found that people standing on the outside of a business or bureaucracy tend to prefer a slash and burn approach. they also tend to base their views of waste on anecdotal evidence.
Such simply "get rid of IRS".  
I have to imagine there is some efficiency and redundancies to be eliminated in the $515 Billion military budget

[Gunther]

1 minute ago, Elmer said:

I am all for efficiency and eliminating redundancies.
But I have found that people standing on the outside of a business or bureaucracy tend to prefer a slash and burn approach. they also tend to base their views of waste on anecdotal evidence.
Such simply "get rid of IRS".  
I have to imagine there is some efficiency and redundancies to be eliminated in the $515 Billion military budget

Yes, having spent 6 years in the military, there is plenty of waste there too.  The government tends not to spend money wisely or with efficiency in mind and it frustrates me to no end.  Their goal each year is to spend their entire budget and more so that they'll be allocated the same or more next year.  This is not the way a business is run, it wouldn't survive.  I'm hoping Trump would bring an efficiency mindset to the job.

[Lihu]

1 minute ago, Gunther said:

Yes, having spent 6 years in the military, there is plenty of waste there too.  The government tends not to spend money wisely or with efficiency in mind and it frustrates me to no end.  Their goal each year is to spend their entire budget and more so that they'll be allocated the same or more next year.  This is not the way a business is run, it wouldn't survive.  I'm hoping Trump would bring an efficiency mindset to the job.

Was just about to post the same thing.

[GolfLug]

Why look at only one side of the coin? I don't understand how would Trump (or anybody, for that matter) bring efficiency by 'eliminating' waste? The 'waste' here is people. So you eliminate 75% of workforce, from the IRS or military, and then what turn around and give them food stamps? Then we will complain about how high unemployment is. 

Either way, we will pay for the displaced. Wasteful overemployment by government is just backdoor socialism. At least it is a hidden ruse. 

The nuts and bolts are much harder than the grandiose one liners.   

[Gunther]

3 minutes ago, GolfLug said:

Why look at only one side of the coin? I don't understand how would Trump (or anybody, for that matter) bring efficiency by 'eliminating' waste? The 'waste' here is people. So you eliminate 75% of workforce, from the IRS or military, and then what turn around and give them food stamps? Then we will complain about how high unemployment is. 

Either way, we will pay for the displaced. Wasteful overemployment by government is just backdoor socialism. At least it is a hidden ruse. 

The nuts and bolts are much harder than the grandiose one liners.   

There are lots of ways to do it, chiefly don't backfill when roles turn over through natural attrition.  Doesn't have to be a one-time slash.  True, we'll be paying for severance and pensions because many of these roles are unionized but we must start somewhere. 

[saevel25]

I contest that these are actually not debates at all. If you look at the http://www.speechanddebate.org/HSmanual debate rules, 

Quote

Structure of the Round: All speeches are two minutes in length and all speech times are protected; a speaker may not be interrupted by the other speaker or by the judge. The Proposition debater must affirm the resolution by presenting and defending a sufficient case for that resolution. The Opposition debater must oppose the resolution and/or the Proposition debater’s case.

So I say that high school students behave better than these candidates in debates. Honestly they should just shut off the mic of those who are not talking. These people and all the media outlets running these circuses are giving debates a bad name. 

3 hours ago, Gunther said:

I've been to 2 IRS facilities, Ogden and Austin, both a few times.  The waste is mind boggling.  My boss and I figured we could cut 75% of the staff and operate more efficiently than they do currently.  We need someone with that mindset in the WH, in my opinion.

 I recognize given your worldview, that you believe we can keep spending so we won't agree.  No problem there.  But, hat's what we've had the last 8 years, well, 16 really cuz Bush was a spender too.  I'm hoping for some fiscal responsibility this time around.  

It might be even more so if you simplify the tax code such that GE doesn't have to submit a 57,000 page tax return!!! 

That and we need to trim our federal regulations. There is over 160,000 pages of federal regulations!!!! There is a lot of house cleaning that needs to be done. Is Trump even aware of what needs to be done. Honestly, I have no clue what his goals are. He's so all over the place.