The axe fell on Steve Bannon Friday.
Mid-day, mainstream media proclaimed stocks were up because of the firing. Stocks closed the day down. Apparently, stocks were both up and down due to Bannon.
Now Bannon is Back on the Outside, back at Breitbart, and happy to be there.
Stephen K. Bannon has always been more comfortable when he was trying to tear down institutions — not work inside them.
With his return to Breitbart News, Mr. Bannon will be free to lead the kind of ferocious assault on the political establishment that he relishes, even if sometimes that means turning his wrath on the White House itself.
Hours after his ouster from the West Wing, he was named to his former position of executive chairman at the hard-charging right-wing website and led its evening editorial meeting. And Mr. Bannon appeared eager to move onto his next fight.
“In many ways, I think I can be more effective fighting from the outside for the agenda President Trump ran on,” he said Friday. “And anyone who stands in our way, we will go to war with.”
Among those already in Mr. Bannon’s sights: Speaker Paul D. Ryan; Senator Mitch McConnell, the majority leader; the president’s daughter Ivanka Trump and son-in-law, Jared Kushner; and Gary D. Cohn, the former president of Goldman Sachs who now directs the White House’s National Economic Council.
Thanks But No Thanks
Trump thanked Bannon for his help during the campaign, but not for his tenure in the WhiteHouse.
New York Times Parting Shot
The New York Times editorial, Exit Steve Bannon, gave Bannon a swift kick on his way out the door.
Mr. Bannon’s exit is, of course, a relief. As the well-financed Pied Piper of the alt-right Breitbart crowd, Mr. Bannon at the pinnacle of White House policy making was a nightmare come to life.
But Mr. Bannon, who promptly returned to Breitbart as its executive chairman on Friday, still poses a danger for our broader politics. Outside the White House, he is freer to rally his forces against anyone who doesn’t toe his nationalist-protectionist line. A Bannon-led right-wing backlash against Mr. Trump, who unleashed the worst impulses of nationalists in service to himself, would be a fitting comeuppance.
More Fun to Throw Mud
Clearly, it’s far more fun to throw mud than have it thrown at you.
Lost in the Bannon and Trump bashing is one key question: Who is really the bigger threat, Hillary, Trump, or Bannon?
Why We Are Where We Are
We are in this mess because Obamanomics, war mongering, Fed policies, and social handouts created a budget mess but did not solve any problems. People revolted, and Trump got elected.
When it comes to trade and protectionism, Trump is wrong. So is Bannon.
Those who think Hillary would have been any better on trade policy are mistaken. If you believe differently, then please take Today’s Quiz: Donald Trump, Bernie Sanders, Hillary Clinton – Who Said It?
We would have a no-fly zone over Syria, had Hillary won. That would have risked a confrontation with Russia. Hillary wrecked Libya, and of course Obama and Bush had extremely misguided warmongering policies in the Mideast.
Obamacare was a failure, but no one on either side seems able or willing to fix it.
So here we are, with everything broken, and we still cannot get anything done. Republicans want more military spending and Democrats want more social spending. Warmongers on both sides want more war.
Art of Compromise
Compromise in Washington is more military spending and more social spending.
Repetitive “compromises” sent deficits soaring out of sight. On top of it all, the Fed blew massive bubbles in just about everything.
Problems Too Big and Too Many To Fix
One thing I expect Trump will get right, at least from a public union standpoint, regards appointments to the supreme court.
Overall, I hoped Trump would do better on many fronts. It was not to be. Trump could not drain the swamp. Partisan politics interfered, there was too much infighting, and there is nonsensical Russia bashing on both sides of the aisle.
The problems are too big and too many to fix. If you think Hillary would have fixed them you are delusional.
Mike “Mish” Shedlock
After Charlottesville
Donald Trump has no grasp of what it means to be president
U-turns, self-regard and equivocation are not what it takes
Aug 19th 2017
DEFENDERS of President Donald Trump offer two arguments in his favour—that he is a businessman who will curb the excesses of the state; and that he will help America stand tall again by demolishing the politically correct taboos of left-leaning, establishment elites. From the start, these arguments looked like wishful thinking. After Mr Trump’s press conference in New York on August 15th they lie in ruins.
The unscripted remarks were his third attempt to deal with violent clashes in Charlottesville, Virginia, over the weekend (see article). In them the president stepped back from Monday’s—scripted—condemnation of the white supremacists who had marched to protest against the removal of a statue of Robert E. Lee, a Confederate general, and fought with counter-demonstrators, including some from the left. In New York, as his new chief of staff looked on dejected, Mr Trump let rip, stressing once again that there was blame “on both sides”. He left no doubt which of those sides lies closer to his heart.
Mr Trump is not a white supremacist. He repeated his criticism of neo-Nazis and spoke out against the murder of Heather Heyer (see our Obituary). Even so, his unsteady response contains a terrible message for Americans. Far from being the saviour of the Republic, their president is politically inept, morally barren and temperamentally unfit for office.
….
https://www.economist.com/news/leaders/21726696-u-turns-self-regard-and-equivocation-are-not-what-it-takes-donald-trump-has-no-grasp-what-it
LikeLike
Only another 3 1/2 yrs of Trump but if Banon doesn’t have a mishap he will be around much longer and cause more trouble for the liberal left from the outside than on the inside.
Breitbart will be on steroids.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Perhaps you should catch up to speed
That “leftist group” is currently in Boston attacking a Free Speech Group and the Police
…and thank God finally getting arrested
LikeLiked by 1 person
What is most encouraging is that nobody has rushed to judgment. (sarc)
Pray tell, has an official police report even been filed yet?
Every CEO in corporate America has weighed in and commented.
Meanwhile, a whole lot of silence from law enforcement continues.
LikeLike
How many people shop at Walmart for low prices, versus how many give two farts what the CEO thinks about political issues? If Walmart has the lowest price or the nearest store, that’s where people are going to shop. Walmart shoppers are not philosophy majors.
How many people decide what bank is going to lose their money based on the ethics rants of Jamie Dimon? If the nearest ATM says “Chase” on it, that is where bar patrons will fork over a $4 ATM fee. It doesn’t matter that Dimon lost $6 billion on a spreadsheet error and called it tempest in a teapot.
The cult of personality that motivated a number of CEOs to mouth off about Charllotesville says a lot more about the size of the CEO egos than anything else.
And things that get the media worked up tend not to be things that get the public worked up.
We already endured 6 months of unadulterated bullsh!t about Russia and Putin. Media pundits predicted Trump would be impeached within seconds; the public was far less convinced.
In a perfect world, the public would talk about state’s rights versus federalism (which has been an issue in the USA since the Articles of Confederation right up through unfunded mandates and Obamacare). In a perfect world, we would debate how Obama managed to set racial relations back decades — when so many expected the opposite. In a perfect world, extremist groups like KKK, George Soros’ Open Society, and Chicago’s Weathermen would not be allowed to incite political violence.
But we live in a world of media hype, and most people are exhausted of the infantile stupidity that passes for “news” in recent years. There will be a lot of screaming and yelling and hysteria about Charlottesville — and mostly nothing is going to come of it.
Its not personal, its business. So the CEOs with outsized egos are going to get pushed out. Their job is to lead the business to make money, not use the business as a political podium. They failed at their jobs, they mouthed off instead. So the CEOs will go.
LikeLike
You speak more leftist propaganda. That’s all.
LikeLiked by 1 person
the economist is owned by the rothschild conglomerate. the editor is a marxist. she is skilled at talking and living off the fat off others work. she has achived nothing other than foisting divisive global socialist ideals – all the while pretending that she knows what makes the bottom 90% better ott – very much a case of do as i say, not as i do. you would do better to get quotes from the two other husbands she burned off before she climbed the rothschilds career ladder.
The publication belongs to the Economist Group. It is 50% owned by the English branch of the Rothschild family and by the Agnelli family through its holding company Exor. The remaining 50% is held by private investors including the editors and staff.
Lynn Forester de Rothschild, a 61-year-old lawyer, businesswoman and prominent fundraiser for Hillary Clinton, manages her family’s 21 percent stake in the magazine.
don’t get played by a snake-oil salesman..umm salesperson.
LikeLike
You’re busy warning others about being played. Remember, they play both sides.
LikeLike
Peter is right the political viewpoints in the Economist are garbage. Used to think that was a haven for independent cool headed news, no more. The Economist treated Obama like God for 8 years, could do no wrong. TE articles on purely the economy or markets may be OK, but the articles about U.S. politics are pure trash. I mean to the point of being so biased they are a joke. Barf. I stopped wasting my time reading that propaganda.
LikeLike
The guy has no clue about running a successful business. He has simply been a money launderer for the kosher nostra the past 25 years or so. This is the primary reason he will not release tax returns or any info on his business dealings. This is also his connection to Russia, not Putin but the oligarchs & khazarian bolshevik mafia. He is basically a Kardashian with an even bigger ego.
LikeLike
Huh? The Economist? Isn’t that the Rothchild magazine that was endorsing the c**t for president? Very little has been done, but that sure beats a Clinton agenda… by a mile.
LikeLike
Yes, it does Greg. Lock her up!
LikeLike
“After Charlottesville
Donald Trump has no grasp of what it means to be president”
That’s just left wing propaganda. Antifa is a violent radical left wing hate group. Trump was right to condemn hate, bigotry and violence on many sides.
LikeLiked by 1 person
There is an old saying attributed to Thomas Jefferson (probably incorrectly) “That government is best which governs least.” This government is not governing at all. Is this, then, the ideal government, and if so, why are so many complaining?
LikeLike
This country ungovernable in its current situation , but it will work itself out I just do not think the people are ready for what is coming
LikeLike
Can’t stand Branson and his ilk but a # of people would have to be him when this photo was taken.
https://static1.squarespace.com/static/56f6b4299f72666afb503c8a/t/589a052f37c58194fc38083b/1486488883451/
LikeLike
A lot of people would have liked for Obama to have been PM of England, messing up Branson’s country instead of the USA.
But we accepted the election results like Americans, instead of acting like Hillary’s banana republic clowns. We are still angry about the damage Obama did to our country, and we still want his ruinous executive edicts to be annulled under the new guy. But we accepted the election results.
Most of the losers protesting in Boston were waving signs that they still don’t accept the election results. Charlottesville is just the latest Russiagate nothing-burger.
Its just a bunch of safe space infants who continue to think they can change the election outcome if they just cry and soil their diapers enough times.
There are many real issues underneath the media chaos, but no adults around to discuss them.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yeah. These are “safe space infants”… with baseball bats and pepper spray.
LikeLike
They certainly have the mentality of infants
LikeLike
Instead of trying to build consensus Trump has alienated and disaffected all elements that supported his election, he’s not going to get anything done in his remaining time in office. Relying on the Shyster and his shiksa is the formula for further disaster.
LikeLike
a 50:50 elecoral splt, indicates the country was divided well before turmp. trump won becuase he polarized and activated a well designed ELECTORAL COLLEGE campaign. this is a cultural war – snowflakes v rednecks – those in between don’t get a say, because there “middle of the road” representatives have no vision, accountability or brains to move the country forward.
trump is better than clinton because he stands the chance of doing some good, instead of perpetuating 5 decades of welfarism that has ALREADY bankrupted the country.
LikeLike
I personally know of not one person who voted for Trump who has been “disaffected” by this crap. It has only made them madder and more committed to ending the swamp. Trump has driven them into the light, as it has you my friend.
The blatant call for illegal and unconstitutional actions in some supposed effort to end hate and fascism, has highlighted exactly how hateful and fascistic the movement to silence Trump’s supporters really is. When Michael Moore appears on national TV declaring that all Trump supporters are racist, and the broadcasting media refutes NONE of it, it tells us ALL exactly what it is we face. It should YOU as well.
LikeLike
The Left is the new Fascist.
That debate/discussion is raging in some circles in the UK too.
Intolerance and the use of fear/violence to silence debate is from the Left.
Interesting Boston was anti-free speech which is exactly what the Left were using to stop free speech.
What they mean is you can say what you want so long as it lines up with their ideas else get filtered.
LikeLike
I have not heard anyone use that term, “building consensus” in a dozen years or more. It is a term of dubious distinction since in order to build consensus among a very large group of individuals one must appeal to the lowest common denominator of intelligence and pander to the most amount of bias. One is guaranteed to accomplish as little as possible.
LikeLike
Trump isn’t getting that much done because the Republicrats don’t support him. They only support their Big donors, and preen for the dying MSM….The only thing that could really help is going to a zero corporate tax, so all business could be like Silicon Valley, and there isn’t support for it…..As long as Trump stays out of wars, however, he should be able to beat the likes of Kamala Harris, as long as the Fed doesn’t lower the boom on him…Which I think they will….
LikeLike
honestly the economy can’t git much weaker!only thing growing is gov’t (surprise!),so even if el presidente shoots for (a legit)1% GDP print,that would be a huge improvement over 9 years of (make believe) 2% growth,can’t even imagine what (real) solid 1% economy is like after 9 years of scraping bottom of the barrel
LikeLike
Who next, I know, Brutus!
LikeLike
This makes me sad. Trump is going to be the scapegoat when it all falls apart and his supporters will be unmercifully attacked. Oh well, they already are as racist white supremacist Nazis. White nationalists. KKK.
White supremacists are such a small number of people and who are powerless especially compared to La Raza. It is amazing how the fifth column media has created the presumption that the country is full of racist Nazis.
This didn’t just happen. The left does contain many people and many are powerful. They are relentless. And they always win.
It amazes me further that the likes of the Merck CEO support leftist violence, as did all the other CEOs that quit their advisory groups. Big business has been crony socialism for what? fifteen years now.
LikeLike
The mud covered masses are much smarter than the media gives us credit for
LikeLike
“It amazes me further that the likes of the Merck CEO support leftist violence, as did all the other CEOs that quit their advisory groups.”
Worth repeating. They have a double standard.
LikeLike
Trump is the problem. He should’ve disavowed the alt-right a long time ago. Hate is not a political stance. Calling for the removal of American citizens because of their race or religion is not an acceptable political position. The alt-right needs to be confronted at all times. I’m glad they are getting exposed.
LikeLike
Over 93,000,000 US voters elected Trump, the most of any Republican candidate in history. They are glad they did.
LikeLike
Would you care to define the Alt-right? According to the fake media it consists of skin-heads, neo nazis, white supremacists, racists of every stripe, and and any other non progressive thinking person. Well, i am not a neo nazi or a skin head or a white supremacist or a racist. I am a moderate to conservative, one of Hillary’s deplorables. I am not a member of the republican establishment or a necon. I am registered as an independent voter. I pay my taxes, support the local police, obey the law in as much as I can, and believe in the freedoms that my parents, their parents, and the many others before them fought for. I served my country in Vietnam and I honor those veterans and the current military for their service. I am a member of that general group called the “Alt-right”. There are millions of us of similar persuasion and back ground. We are your neighbors who look after the safety of your children as they walk down the street. We come to your aid when you ask for help around your house. We are the everyday good people who give of ourselves in both time and resources. And we vote for those whom we feel deserve our votes. We don’t need to be confronted but apparently you do. Think before you label people according to CNN standards.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Me too. Exactly same as is everyone I know. Thank you sir. I did 2 tours.
LikeLike
Great comment William.
LikeLike
Alt-right was coined recently to denote white nationalism. According to white nationalist Samuel T. Francis, it is “a movement that rejects equality as an ideal and insists on an enduring core of human nature transmitted by heredity.”
First and foremost the alt-right is against the bill of rights. William you seem confused on who the alt-right is. Read up on it before you label yourself that.
LikeLike
I am not confused at all. The term alt right has been for about ten years and did not consistently refer to the white nationalist movement. It was never a political organization. Now that term has been hi-jacked and given all sorts of political BS. Just as the “liberal” have been reconstituted into something they never were as well as progressives. The old alt right was a haven for libertarians of various beliefs. But fake news and so many politicians have relabeled the alt-right because it suits their purposes. fact is, as soon as individuals like myself start a new label we will be tarred with that same racist and fascist brush.
do i really care what some white nationalist thinks or believes? Let Mr Francis say what he believes. Is there a grain of truth in his assertions? Perhaps, but he and his people always had a minimal effect on the original alt-right. You might do a better job of researching political terms. But no, like so many you can’t be bothered. Fact is, the alt-right was always a loose conglomeration of individuals with no central tendency towards a political belief. I understand that google makes it hard to follow the trail back to the origins since they appear to want to wipe history clean of what they perceive as right wing perversion. All the more reason to declare google and face book and the other large media sites monopolies and put them under FCC regulations.
As for the rest, you might as well attempt to call 4chan white supremacist, or a dozen other different web sites that catered to us Alt-righters. But that is what the main stream fake media does. Anyone who isn’t rabidly a progressive liberal must be a white supremacist.
Now that I have got that off my chest, a word of advice. it’s easy to believe BS when you don’t bother to check your sources. I’ve had access to the internet (not dial up bulletin boards) since 93 when there was only one web browser and it wasn’t microsoft or google. It has changed greatly since Al gore invented it. It was a new world of wonder and one could explore all manner of information safely and securely. There was very little BS because it cost real money bat then to have your own site. Today the web is a cesspit. The push for social media did that and still continues today. Oh, I can still find excellent sites full of good information. I can access real data of medicine, engineering, history, and the like. Or I can go to the dark side, social media, and fill my head with all manner of stupidity. It’s social media that changes so much now, changes so quickly. But none of it ever changes for the better. It has become the bane of mankind. As I remember that great scene from the film Network, Howard Beale, the fictional television news anchor turned angry profit denouncing the hypocrisy of our times, said. “we’re television, for god’s sakes! We lie to you, we’ll tell you anything lie want to hear. Most of you grew up with the tube and it’s all you’ve ever known.” The quote may not be quite accurate but it’s close enough. For someone born after 1980, television and the internet is all they know. It’s where they get their information. Have you been to a library lately? Where’s the damn books? Go the the fiction aisles and try to find the old classics or the old popular fiction. Chances are they are gone. Go to the science aisle and take a look at what’s available. Not much. But computers, or at least terminals are everywhere. What does that tell you? How many text books, books on science, novels, history books, and so on have you read on line? Well, a few do subscribe to books on Amazon readers, but Amazon has not sold more than a billion readers. So most people get their information in dribs and drabs and blurbs off the web. They type in some topic and are instantly given an answer according to the algorithm programmed into the search engine. They must trust that the search is honest and that the information is trustworthy. What is the probability of that happening? Given what has come out of google and many other search engines, not very high. Doesn’t matter what you are looking for. Even science has become politicized. History revised according to the political beliefs of the CEO. So now we have two generations that have been raised on a great number of lies. The information keeps changing and often not so subtlety. they go to the various schools and learn the new, constantly changing rules and answers. Think for yourself and give the wrong answer and you are ostracized. The anticlerical, anti-religion epidemic has turned upon itself, it has become a religion all to its own. But the worst of it is that it expects strict obedience to its cant. It’s history, you can’t make this stuff up. It took Christianity thirteen centuries to bring the message of individual equality to the world, it took the modern ages less that fifty years to destroy that message. It took Christianity some thousand years to bring the idea of the equality of rule of law to the heads of the various states of Europe. Since the enlightenment, the heads of state have been fighting it. Today, in America, we find that the rule of law is only a convenience for the politically correct. How far have we traveled to get where we are today? Will the fake news media ever ask these questions? No, never, for if they did they would need to question their assumptions and beliefs and that will never happen. Is this 1984 or Brave New World? Hard to tell at the moment.
LikeLike
Big business has been cozying up to government for, yeah, just 15 years. Or maybe just since Charlottesville. The certainly did no cozying under FDR and the New Deal, no sirree, they had no choice then. And after that was over they of course went straight back to being pure proponents of laissez-faire capitalism. Yes, sir, that’s the truth of it. Ahem.
LikeLike
Trump is now the global fall guy for any populist candidate and movement that remains…Prepare accordingly…
LikeLike
seems to me that the democrats stand for the “bonfire of the minorities” against any and all white men.
this is the “!swampy” battle ground the democrats have chosen to fight on and which they think reflects a position of strength.
if trump fights in the swamp he will lose – the swamp is not his strength.
he should retreat to the moral and economically superior high ground of creating fields of trade and profit.
germany and china are trade cheaters – witness the diesel emissions scandal, airbag and ignition scandals in the motor trade (germany and japan) and the stealing of intellectual property by china.
fair trade – proven by trade that is in balance – benefits the US, china, germany and japan. germany hides behind the morons in the EU whilst china and japan simply pay lip service to the rules and quality standards.
can trump fix this? no he can’t – why? because congress is getting paid backhanders by existing actors to prevent any progress.
does it matter?
well does an increase in government debt from 20 trillion to 40 trillion in ten years matter PLUS the need to pay 80 trillion i unfuned federal liabilities?
corruption = congress, possible transformational change agent = trump – otherwise its a continuation of stealing americas future via perpetual deficits (see japan for the future – at best).
LikeLike
Bannon left because he cannot talk with President Trump. You don’t get past General Kelly without an agenda and a list of attendees. Kellyanne Conway is in the same predicament. It remains to be seen whether Jared and Ivanka have access other than the occasional dinner.
The change is good. The press needs to sell clicks. Their business demands they make much ado about nothing.
Bannon will organize a well funded campaign against RINOs. Susan Collins, Mitch McConnell and Paul Ryan are key targets. 2018 should be interesting.
LikeLike
As you say, the press needs to sell clicks. They are even more desperate in summer months when the “smart money” is on vacation with their families, cut off from the media’s constant childishness.
Way too much ink is being spilled on white house egos and capital building egos. If Gen Kelly somehow manages to get Trump to tweet the dumbest thing ever, or the smartest thing ever … how does that make health care COSTS affordable? How does it make it safe for my kid to walk to school? How does it reduce money wasted on school central administration, and attract good teachers and up to date books?
It doesn’t.
If everyone in Congress was dead tomorrow, or alive, or on vacation or romping in the mud at the bottom of a ditch — it wouldn’t make it safe for my kid to walk to a school filled with greedy bureaucrats and frustrated teachers.
Pelosi and Obama promised ‘affordable’ healthcare, and that loser socialist Bernie promises ‘free’ healthcare — but just like Hugo Chavez in Venezuela, none of them can train more doctors or nurses. None can build a factory (much less operate a factory) to provide band-aids and cough syrup (never mind more advanced care).
Ryan and McConnell promised to repeal the fraud, but when their moment came both men showed they are spineless weasels. Instead McCain wants to start another war, while Ryan and McConell are obsessed with whether other countries attempt to influence US elections the way the US attempts to influence other countries elections.
By contrast, Trump is starting to drain the swamp. I am not sure if it is happening because of him, or in spite of him — but I’ll take it either way. If the swamp wasn’t afraid, they wouldn’t be over-extending themselves making up nonsense. The media wouldn’t be working so hard to distract people with palace intrigue.
No one (who matters) cares whether Bannon is in or out. The swamp is going to be drained whether Washington DC likes it or not; and I don’t expect the swamp to go quietly.
LikeLike
+100.
Banon unfettered.
A rallying point.
LikeLike
Trump has tucked his tail between his legs and surrendered. He found out the swamp is too vast and deep. They broke his spirit. But the people who voted him into office haven’t gone away. Nor have we haven’t changed our minds about what’s wrong with America. Now there’s no doubt that the Republicans do not represent conservatives or our values. We gave them the House, the Senate and the White House and they continue to stab us in the backs.
The Tea Party screwed us and now Trump is in full retreat.
Common people are losing all faith and confidence in a system that throws them under the bus.
It’s not Trump. It’s the dirty corrupted system that’s turning the USA into a Banana Republic.
LikeLike
The Tea Party didn’t screw you. A few score standard issue republicans who pretended to be Tea Party and who, media wise, took the thing over screwed you. They didn’t sincerely mean anything associated with the initial Tea Party movement and foisted on it their authoritarian cultural values.
Ask Karl Denninger over at Market-ticker.com, one of the guys in there at the start of it, about how the thing was hijacked by frauds.
LikeLike
@LFOldtimer — Washington DC screwed you, not Trump or Tea Party or DNC or RNC — it was all of them.
Way too much energy is being wasted on which useless ego is in which office. Whether Steve Bannon is in/out at the White House, its still not safe for your kids to walk to school. School funds continue to be diverted to central administration (not teachers or books). Health care costs are still growing out of control; the supply of doctors still shrinking while the demand for doctors increases even faster as the free sh!t army demands endless benefits.
The US government cannot (is not able) to provide basic government services. And they are all busy arguing about how to edit / sanitize history behind some statues no one cares about.
How do some statues covered in bird poo — regardless of which dead ego the statue represents — somehow help fix schools, or healthcare, or retirement savings?
The swamp is going to get drained, either because of Trump or (my pick) in spite of Trump. Trump is either going to fix the Wolman skating rink (see NYC), or else Trump is going to make City Hall wish they had done so. The distinction matters to big government types, but the people just want to go ice skating.
I don’t know if Trump is going to fix the swamp or if he will break it the rest of the way —
but the swamp is not going to go away quietly. I want the end result, and I don’t care how many politicians or bureaucrats are harmed during the filming.
Too many middle class Americans have been harmed while Washington DC bickers over bird poo covered statues. Show me the politician who can move past the statue distraction and deliver basic government services… or show me a government that is in decline.
I think its very ironic that a big government socialist like Obama marked peak US government.
LikeLike
Medex: MOST EXCELLENT ! (Ever thought of being a radio talk-show host…?)
LikeLike
I wasn’t specific enough. When I said the Tea Party screwed us I didn’t mean the grassroots organizers. I meant the 2010 fake Tea Party candidates who were elected to Congress. Within a year of taking office more than half of them were already accepting “donations” from the TBTF banks that they were elected to fight.
If a candidate makes promises during his or her campaign – and based on those promises receives money and enough votes to get elected to office – and then does an about-face and craps all over his or her constituents by supporting policies that are the exact opposite of what they ran their campaigns on – you bet your ass they’re to blame.
We elected Trump for a reason. The firing of Bannon was an indication that he’s raising the white flag. The guy hasn’t even been in office for a year. Even Bannon said that the Presidency that we wanted is over. That Trump will now become a more conventional (ie. establishment) President – the exact opposite of what his supporters wanted.
No idea how (if) the swamp will get drained. But it won’t be through conventional means. We tried and failed.
LikeLike
Out of weakness comes strength.
Banon (I have no opinion on the man) could be more effective outside than inside at forcing change.
No one can know all ends.
LikeLike
True. None of us know how it will end.
But as it unfolds we can draw certain conclusions.
Trump firing Bannon is not a good sign. Bannon stood for all those things we wanted Trump to promote as our President. When’s the last time Trump talked about building the wall – his premier campaign promise? Trump made a huge statement when he axed Bannon. That’s indisputable. It is what it is.
Perhaps it’s time for a grassroots effort to convince Bannon to run for POTUS in 2020.
LikeLike
@LFOldtimer — we voted for Trump, not for Bannon.
Putting Bannon’s enormous ego aside — the best guy for staging a rebellion might not be the best guy to govern afterwards.
After 8 long years, Obama never learned to stop campaigning and start governing. Obama even tried to make the killing of Bin Laden into a campaign rally.
Trump won the election, even if the safe space infants want to continue crying and soiling their diapers.
So its time (actually a bit overdue) for Trump to switch from campaign mode to governing mode. Bannon might actually be a distraction in this regard (it seems like he is).
If Bannon really cares about the causes he says he does (I’m not arguing) — then he should help in areas where he has strengths (like campaigning, like rallying the base using his online op-eds) and he should step aside in areas where others have greater strength (like governing it seems). Teamwork and all that.
I don’t know if Trump will succeed in draining the swamp, but I do know the swamp isn’t going to go away quietly. The criminal class that dominates Washington DC has a very cushy lifestyle at everyone else’s expense, and they are not going to go back to work if they can avoid it. They have become used to a trust fund baby lifestyle, working isn’t something they want to think about.
Anyway, this is now at least the 20th time that the losers at NYTimes and WaPo have reported the death of the Trump presidency, and at least the 20th time their reports have been greatly exaggerated. Lets keep in mind these dingbats reported “officially” that Trump never had a chance, and Hilary’s ascension was somehow pre-ordained. NYT and WaPo reporters are nuts.
Ryan and McConnell have now set themselves up for failure. Tax reform is necessary, but with a $600 billion budget deficit (and $900 billion spending deficit) — they can’t pay for tax reform without repealing Obamacare (or some other major entitlement program). They will probably have to reduce military adventures, but the Pacific theater is home to future economic growth and the US military presence there has been neglected for decades. The US can cut military spending in the middle east and europe, but not sure how much will be actually cut versus how much will merely shift to the Pacific… from a global economic perspective, Pacific rim is where the money is going forward, so that is where the military needs to go too.
Beyond military cuts, Congress could formally default on the debt (not a good idea given future over-spending needs). Or Congress can cut back on so-called entitlements (more cuts than are already baked in).
Medicare and Obamacare will destroy the USA if they are allowed to continue. This is math, not politics. Aging baby boomers will only make the situation worse, and old people vote.
Congress doesn’t want to admit they are really out of options, but they are. Ryan and McConnell are not the first congressional leaders to try to stick their heads in the sand.
Best thing Trump can do this fall is to go play golf (without bringing his twitter device). Let Ryan / McConnell flail away. When Ryan / McConnell realize that Obamacare repeal isn’t going away, Trump will be rested and ready to sign the repeal.
Controlling health costs will be a much bigger battle, and really can’t be avoided. But its a battle that the federal government simply cannot win. Cost control is not their thing.
LikeLike
The next big question is: Will Trump sign off on the debt ceiling increase?
If so, he dove headfirst into the swamp and swims with the snakes.
It’s time to stop listening to what he says and watch what he does.
LikeLike
Trump is the excuse….for the left and the republicans.
Many believed that Trump would be denied the presidency due to a fraudulent election, so why is it so umimaginable that he could have won due to fraud….but not fraud perpetrated by his supporters, but by those who saw trump as the grand solution, the perfect opportunity.
Hillary was no prize but democrats really were given no choice in the matter as we know the DNC rigged it against Bernie. The state of the nation is no secret, it is simply not discussed in polite company…nor media. trump is the PERFECT fall guy. The left hates him (as well as any republican) but he is an easy target, for no other reason as they once he believed he was one of them. The republicans hate him because he won without them, denied their power base, FAILED to kiss the ring, AND he threatens to undermone the entire political establishment power structure. Drain the swamp indeed!
As trump continues to struggle to advance his agenda he has watched as almost every republican ally he though he had has faded away. He finds himself a man alone in the swamp, and he has no safe channel to ush back on. He cannot pursue any policy, hire or fire any person that does not put him in jeopardy of impeachment…a notion that most of had thought was reserved for criminal acts (like lying to grand jury) but have now come to understand simply reflects congress’s desires. Democracy be damned…a funny thought given so much press devoted to our precious (and evidently fragile) democratic process.
Given that many of our illustrious republican leaders had publicly announced they would vote for Hillary, we cannot be surprised when they fall in line behind the democrats in support of impeachment. Whatever their reservations on Pence, their assumption will be that a Trump impeachment will go a long way in “adjusting” any attitudes that a recalcitrant Pence might have.
We must understand that our economic circumstances are potentially dire and we have clear and obvious evidence for blame….something our political leaders know well. And there has never been a greater threat to their evolved and powerful corrupt “system”. Make no mistake, they are desperate. If they can paint Trump as a racist, a fool and a DANGER, they believe they can push him aside while dumping the world’s ills on his back.
Simply look at our headlines and the mentally “mushified” followers who will march in the streets DEMANDING a tyrannical government crush those who would offend their indoctrinated delicate sensibilities. This is clearly obvious. The media is complicit in promoting this notion that people should be silenced….and not just the KKK, but climate “deniers”, Trump voters and just about anyone else who would demand they actually DEBATE and issues rather than simply shouting down and intimidating EVERYONE.
Honestly, looking at the powers aligned against Trump, I am surprised he has lasted this long, and can only assume that “timing is everything”.
Yeah, I know, I’m a pessimist. I play out these scenarios in my mind looking for patterns and potentials and this one sure seems plausible, and this has been playing out to plan for months. Other than SCOTUS, nothing of consequence has been allowed to happen. Repeal of Obamacare has been a rallying cry for years…and nothing. immigration reform has only seem executive actions and no laws that would actually have a lasting effect. We shall see.
LikeLike
A good succinct summary of which i concur.The welfare/warfare policies will continue. Bannon let the cat out of the bag: we are having an economic war with china (and losing) and goldman sachs has direct influence in washington. Although Trump/Bannon’s views on trade protectionism where somewhat misguided , we really need to stop the momentum of the globalists/establishment and refocus our resources on restoring our economic vitality. If it takes a bit of nationalism then so be it. But as you said it looks like business as usual to me. Next stop the debt ceiling debacle .
LikeLike
Never could figure why a public angry over the policies since 2008, would elect the poster boy for the noveau rich those polices created. And what rural voter thinks a NY RE billionaire knows anything about their problems. I give some weight to Russian meddling, and some to collective failure of people to vote in their own self interests (and to know what those are) and some to the electoral college anachronism and the morons on the Supreme Court who put the whole Bush mobile in motion in 2000, which ended in flames in 2008. It was a miracle Obama could keep the ship of state afloat, and Trump with very little working against him, has scuttled what advantage he had. God Bless the Deep State it allows us all to sleep at night while we drift toward a crisis in leadership. I feel better about America, that the country is stronger than one rich ego maniac.
LikeLike
If only everyone knew what was good for them as well as you know what’s good for them, with your credulous acceptance of the moronic, evidence free accusations of Russian meddling in our elections that even The Nation and Salon have now officially abandoned.
LikeLike
Russian meddling deniers are like Moon Landing deniers, man even if you are right, what have you got?
LikeLike
Good grief, lets examine the DNC server already! At the least we can clear/connect Seth Rich to the Podesta e-mails.
Instead, it’s down one Russian rabbit hole after another.
LikeLike
People’s beliefs are hinged upon what they want to believe. To be human is to have a rational mind….a mind that can actually run itself off the tracks by rationalizing the irrational.
Just look at us.
On the other hand….
Russia could have had spies killing political targets, people undermining financial markets and doing untold nefarious deeds to effect some grand conspiratorial scheme in our elections, and STILL, it would not hold a candle to the incredibly destructive shit we have done in virtually EVERY country of the world to effect not only the outcome of their elections but to overthrow their entire system of government and in many cases support complete violent revolution taking hundreds of thousands of lives.
So there is THAT. In a world of relativism, choke down that thought.
LikeLike
“Russian meddling deniers are like Moon Landing deniers”
William Binney and VIPS proved that the DNC was a leak, not a hack. The down load speed was too fast, thus someone was sitting at the DNC computer console to down load the info.
I have no reason to doubt Russia interfered in our election, but so too did Ukraine, as recently exposed and the European governments were all supporting Hillary. No one talks about their interference. Wikileaks exposed the interference by the American MSM, on behalf of Hillary, in fact colluding with her. Not the definition of a free and fair election.
LikeLike
…”and Trump with very little working against him”,
The 51st state of America….the state of denial.
Trump has had virtually EVERY THING AND PERSON IN GOVERNMENT AND MEDIA WORKING AGAINST HIM.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I can’t believe how many of these comments say that the swamp was too big for Trump to drain. He never tried. It was obvious from the beginning, after all the Goldman appointees, that he was a con. It was as bad as when Obama named Tim Geithner for Treasury. People sure do hate to admit when they’ve been had.
LikeLike
SO, he fires Comey, a many reviled by both left and right, and in return they put a special prosecutor on his ass for an indefinite period of time with no limits on their investigation.
What would YOU have him do? What CAN he do? On those OUTRAGEOUS occasions when Trump speaks TRUTH, he is attacked as a racist or racist sympathizer. And even his supposed republican allies bemoan his untimely and “insensitive” remarks (as republicans can do little else but constantly apologize for saying something “hurtful). They are demanding his impeachment for NO crimes or misdemeanors….NOTHING at all, except hurt feeling and his ongoing character assassination.
They are working tirelessly to build their false consensus, repeating any and every negative allegation continuously, in the belief that his contrived reality will provide all the “evidence’ they need. They are indicting, trying and convicting Trump on zero evidence, fabricated and not even reasonably circumstantial.
LikeLike
The majorities in Congress are logrolling for the major donors. Until the president vetoes any legislation, they will treat him as the help in a titulary role. President Ford occupied the Oval Office and vetoed every piece of legislation sent to him, and Congress changed, not him. If President Trump adopts the same strategy, the majorities will discover respect for him.
LikeLike
Trump was elected to drain the swamp, and we all knew the swamp wasn’t going to go away quietly. Anyone who is surprised by the swamp screaming wolf / Russia / racism … clearly hasn’t thought things through.
Trump was and still is the bull horn of people who are fed up with the status quo. That isn’t going to change for the next 3 years. If Trump gets impeached by a corrupt media campaign, the media will not survive. Don’t bother with useless surveys, follow the money. Check how many people are cutting cable TV and canceling news paper subscriptions.
No one trusts the media. Period. CNN was caught red handed admitting they made up the Russiagate story to boost ratings. WaPo has fallen so far that many of their former “star” reporters are pleading with the paper to grow up and act like the business it used to be.
Murdering JFK or MLK silenced the man, but actually made their causes louder. Making Trump into a marter is not going to make anyone respect the swamp.
The swamp can’t pay its bills. It can’t protect its borders. It can’t provide medical care for its veterans. It can’t provide safety, much less schooling for its children. It can’t provide health care at a reasonable cost for voters. It can’t pay protection money (pensions?) to its own staff.
Not that it “will not”, but It “can not”. Big difference between being too corrupt to keep promises, versus being unable to keep promises.
Trump already pulled back the curtain and revealed the wizard is just a fat old guy with special effects machines. The swamp can’t put the toothpaste back in the tube.
If the swamp could conjure up evidence that Trump is a racist and a Putin puppet — both look impossible — but if they could, that wouldn’t make it possible for the swamp to keep any of their promises. That is the real problem the swamp faces.
I assume they will throw lots more temper tantrums as the futility of their position becomes more and more clear.
LikeLike
The idea is Trump will get the blame because promises others contracted to can’t be met.
If he acts for the greater good and not is own ego there is a chance things will improve AFTER him.
Otherwise the game is up with hell to pay.
Succession planning needed.
LikeLike
You are correct about news paper subscriptions. I see perhaps 1 person each day (a mature age female) with a newspaper on my train carriage. I see nobody on the platform reading a paper. Just last week as I past my local newsagent (who recently downsized from a large shop to a small one) and he offered me a paper for free. When I declined he commented “I cannot even give them away”.
LikeLike
Pathetic. You are just as bad as Trump (not surprising since you supported his insanity) scratching for a false equivalency there is none. ” Hillary wrecked Libya”, also reductionist fallacy. (I’ve got to drop you’re political red herrings, and at best catch a few business /econ ones.)
(Did you notice Cons’r Confidence Spread started to roll ever last week? Little more of that and we’ll have to be concerned about econ.)
LikeLike
A lot of the people fed up with the American status quo are not Americans
LikeLike
Any body born on this continent is an American just as any body born in Europe is an European,America is not a country its a continent This is the United States of America.Check your Passeport.
LikeLiked by 1 person
North America is the continent you speak of, last I checked. Our southern friends don’t appreciated being overlooked (again).
LikeLike
America is a continent? If you look closely….we are actually all united by a planetary mass, earth.
So anyone living in your general area is part owner of your home? No lines, no borders, no nation, no identity beyond what our progressive leaders ALLOW us….citizens of the world, right?
Schools must REALLY suck anymore.
LikeLike
We’ll see…..
LikeLike
To defend Trump after last week is just insane. He has to go — the sooner the better
LikeLike
Hmmmmm…the sooner the better…???? Surely ye jest….this ain’t kindergarten…
NOPE. It doesn’t just happen that way. We voted him IN – and may do it again. His job is to KICK OVER THE APPLE CART – the clean out this nest of vipers in the Swamp……
It’s a sloooooow start – but at least it’s a start…..
LikeLiked by 1 person
“To defend Trump after last week is just insane.”
Left wing propaganda.
LikeLike
I applaud Trump. It’s about time we had someone speak truth to media.
The IDEA that we should silence speech we find offensive is as antithetical to our American principles AND our constitution as is imaginable. The FACT that we can allow PAID thugs to use violence to stop and prevent free speech, regardless of its hate and disparagement, should be gut wrenching to any American with a breath and a brain, and to hear our media and our leaders suggest that that hateful speech should be “crushed” should be an imprisonable offense, and to hear our fellow citizens vomit out such crap as this that they imbibe from their media indoctrinators simply makes me ILL..
LikeLike
You’re obviously German believing everything you are told and unable to cope with diversity of opinion or understand nuance?
If so, you are dangerous and brainwashed. I’ve come across such statements from others.
Turn the state controlled media off.
LikeLike
Comment aimed at HTC.
LikeLike
The seeds of destruction: the US was the dominant power after ww2, with manufacturing growing globally competition set in. Papa Bush was the last President that understood foreign policy, what came after him was a bunch of dunces,Hillary being the worst.
LikeLike
Hillary was President? Interesting.
LikeLike
Can’t help but notice the manufactured chaos in Boston.
There was a sea of people (40K according to police) who still refuse to accept the results of last November’s elections. Their protest signs were all anti-Trump and/or pro-Hillary… they weren’t even arguing about Charlottesville or statues of dead historical figures. Charlottesville was just a distraction, these are just infants who refuse to accept election results.
Meanwhile, George Soros sponsored violent protesters were fighting against white supremacists. The media, of course, sees these violent conflicts as ratings bonanzas. Fox TV has their Los Angelos car chases, CNN / NBC has their public riots. No one expects the idiot in the car to escape, and no one thinks Soros’ idiot army has any point besides violence.
And in the midst of it all, there are photos of Boston Police officers — white, black, Latino, Asian, etc etc) standing shoulder to shoulder… struggling to babysit all the miseducated safe space babies, all so the media can get a temporary ratings boost.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I guess pointing out that there are plenty of bad actors at these jacked up events is not good enough for the Trump haters. Well too bad. Trump will continue governing and the silent majority will support him even more so. We’re not so stupid to think that alt-left groups and statue defacers are going to be instructive as what to believe. The media has gone off the rails with zero credibility. There are a whole bunch of sore losers all around this country who are going to have to suck it up, as we did, watching Obama tear apart the country for eight years.
LikeLike
Don’t underestimate Trump. He’s smart and a fighter. He will get tax reduction and simplification. He will be reelected if he wants it. People are fed up and angry and Trump understands it.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I agree that tax reform is needed… but it can’t happen while spending and debt levels continue to spiral out of control.
Obamacare has to get repealed first — because fixing the balance sheet can’t happen when costs are growing 30% and GDP/revenue is growing (ahem) 4-5% (less according to many). And once Obamacare gets repealed (its math, not politics)… addressing the underlying cost structure won’t be easy.
I see the “old guard” in Congress (Pelosi, McCain, Ryan, McConnell, etc etc) to be very very vulnerable. Since 30% is greater than 4.5%, Congress (both parties) has a serious credibility problem.
Stating that earlier legislative bodies always paid their bills won’t convince anyone that this Congress can or will. The US government cannot maintain influence and standing while spending grows several times faster than revenue.
LikeLike
and social handouts created a budget mess Mish
Do you include positive yielding, inherently risk-free sovereign debt, including interest on reserves (IOR), among “social handouts” or is welfare proportional to account balance, rather than need, OK with you?
LikeLike
All you have to do is slash big government and big welfare, and pay off the debt!
Without the big government spendthrifts in Washington, there wouldn’t be a “positive yield” whatever misinformed mumbo you were yelling about.
Go ahead: slash government, pay down the debt, and prevent government from getting bloated again.
Otherwise just admit the facts: big government keynesian policy created the “need” for big debt. You hate the results of left wing policies? Good, so does the right. Go blame that ghetto ex-president of yours for expanding government and doubling the debt subsidy.
LikeLike
All you have to do is slash big government and big welfare, and pay off the debt! Medex Man
Government privileges* for the banks are welfare for the rich, the most so-called “credit worthy” of what is then the PUBLIC’S CREDIT but for private gain. This welfare for the banks and the rich has led to the need for greatly increased welfare** for everyone else. Moreover, this welfare for the banks and the rich should be eliminated first and then we can hope that the need for welfare for everyone else shall diminish. Otherwise, we can expect even larger government as more of the population is cheated and disemployed with what is, in essence, their own legally stolen purchasing power.
*Eg. Why should any citizen have to work through a private depository institution (aka a bank, credit union, etc.) to use his Nation’s fiat or be limited to grubby, unsafe, inconvenient physical fiat, aka “cash”? Cui bono that he/she can’t?
**the Great Depression was caused by the (government privileged) banks as Ben Bernanke has admitted.
LikeLike
The PC attitude in the US is what will undo the country. As odious as the Nazi/KKK mob are, are they not given the same rights as everyone else when it comes to right of assembly and free speech. Trump is right when he says there are extreme elements on both sides.
For the life of me I can’t understand why anyone is allowed to participate in a protest with faces covered and holding weapons of any sort. Stop this and the protests will become genuine ones.
I am still on Trumps side and am hoping the Mid Terms will oust a lot of the ones holding back progress in both parties.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Every USA President from Reagan to Obama has honored troops and SS officers from Nazi Germany buried at WWII cemeteries in Europe. But no, the problem is memorials to 1865 Confederate soldiers, like erasing them from history will make everything right. Lincoln gave all the Confederate soldiers and their wives pensions for life, which should tell you something about how phony and contrived this outrage is.
LikeLike
had some conversations with Trump supporters. They know he’s crazy and undisciplined. They believe its worth it if the system gets fixed. My own thoughts are Trump lacks the discipline to attack any agenda.
LikeLike
Trump defeated Jeb Bush in the primary election. Good riddance, Mr. Bush.
Trump defeated Hillary Clinton in the general election. Good riddance, Mrs. Clinton.
He has everybody in Congress and our completely biased media against him. Corporate CEOs rush away from their busy schedules for a chance to quickly express their disapproval.
Amidst all of it, he would win again today, were there another election. Not because he is a great statesman, but simply because nobody else has any spine. He stumbles, shoots off half-cocked, Twitters too much and demands loyalty from the staff that is repeatedly subject to abrupt dismissals.
LikeLike
Trump’s failures are reflect his divisive nature,lack of policy execution experience ,low intellect/ stupidity and poor people judgment – why are there any surprises in the actual outcomes.
Additionally he appears incapable of learning from his failures – a worrying portent for the future.
Central issue is how much worse can the failures get.
Major policy changes in a hetrogenous/polarised electorate are hard – simplistic rhetoric and twitter finger do not cut it.
LikeLike
I think close to 450k displaced Syrians have returned home according to the UN in 2017 so far. Clearly wouldn’t have happened with Hillary. And no one is talking about it…. come on Mish. Something has dramatically changed in a short period of time….
LikeLike
I can’t understand for the life of me why no one whats to admit the capitalistic system we lived under collapsed in 2007. Both sides of the political aisle can’t accept it. We are heading for a new paradigm.
LikeLike
Capitalism did not collapse, it simply changed the way of doing things,and,changed our culture,however I would agree that it has reached its apex,for the simple reason that infinite growth is physically impossible.If Capitalism cannot grow it dyes.
LikeLike
I agree with your statement. I guess it would have been better to state it has reached it’s limits.
LikeLike
Bull.
Capitalism is only dependent upon growth because the corruption imposed and enabled by government has created a huge frictional drag on it, and in response they have used profligate debt collateralized by fiction to subsidize this drag, but the debt has created a drag of its own that combined with the inherent corruption prevents their necessitated “growth”.
In a capitalistic system commerce is based on all sides of a transaction “winning”, but what we have today, especially considering our “financial industry”, is one where the game is only one side winning and everyone else taking a loss. Debt has been created to cover this loss, but even an idiot knows that THAT CAN’T LAST FOREVER.
The casino will continue to extend your credit line to keep you in the game, only so long as they believe they can squeeze that value out of you at some point. The realization that our utility value has been eclipsed by our debt is finally sinking in….on ALL sides of this equation.
LikeLike
Remember the memorable “sucker is going down”. It did! capitalism was sacrificed to save banks and Bernanke has the temerity to call it “Courage to act”.
LikeLike
I quit watching the news. I know what the left think, I don’t need to read about it everyday. Next election I will vote for trump again like millions others. He is better than any Democrat alive today.
LikeLike
Yep!! Will stand in line to do that!
LikeLike
How Twitter and Reddit mess with your political head. Watch it before it disappears…
LikeLike
There’s a business model to be launched.
Soc Media for free speakers.
Would like to see some real competition to Zuckerberg et al.
FFS – FRONTIER FREE SPEECH.
There’s a URL.
LikeLike
Bannon stupidly leaked to the press and got wacked.
LikeLike
Virginia governor and former DNC top dog Terry McAuliffe and Charlottesville’s Democrat mayor should get TV Emmys for choreography and planning (not down to every detail, but the broad outline). It was absolutely brilliant, getting police to stand and watch idly as club-wielding, “anti-hate counter-protestors” were bussed in to do some bashing in the name of love. The DNC is over 150 years late getting to Robert E. Lee. For most of those intervening 150 years, the Democrat party platform in the South was Jim Crow, segregation, poll taxes, etc. Back in 1865, President Lincoln awarded Confederate soldiers and their spouses pensions for life. Least he could do, after Sherman torched and burned down everything in his path. Democrats are a bunch of cowards, waiting a century and a half until the last Confederate soldier passed before daring to desecrate and destroy their legacies.
Every president since Reagan, including Obama, have gone to German cemeteries and laid wreaths for German WWII soldiers and secret police. Yet Robert E. Lee and Trump are now suddenly worse than the dreaded SS to Democrats. Whatever Trump says, the one-message mass media propaganda machine will imitate Big Brother in George Orwell’s 1984 and say “not good enough,” “took too long,” “racist,” etc. It’s like Campaign 2016 in a permanent 24×7 mode. McAuliffe is obviously thinking in terms of a grander strategy and advancing himself into Democrat presidential front-running in the run-up to the National Park Service opening the refurbished Robert E. Lee plantation and memorial end of the year. Should get interesting. Still early stages of DNC “anti-hate” street fighting.
LikeLike
+ 100
LikeLike
“The problems are too big and too many to fix.”
Yes. And it needs someone with balls of steel to fix it. Obviously it is not going to be Trump. Too egoistic for the job. I will be surprised if he lasts for 4 years.
But he has shown that people want a new fixer not from the establishment. Unfortunately this was the best we got. But I am confident someone better will come and it will not be from the establishment.
“If you think Hillary would have fixed them you are delusional.”
Not Hillary, not anyone from the establishment. It has got to be an outsider. Till the right outsider comes along this will churn. The genie is now out of the bottle so status quo it won’t be.
“Trump could not drain the swamp.”
Why even talk of draining given the team he went for.
“Partisan politics interfered, there was too much infighting, and there is nonsensical Russia bashing on both sides of the aisle.”
No one wanted him. Looks like they will ensure his exit one way or the other.
All in all, Americans stills await a leader to pull it out of the morass they are in. Nothing has changed except that chances of a civil war keeps increasing.
LikeLike
Shouldn’t these be arrested for inciting violence/murder.
Meanwhile look at how many US police have Neen shot in the past week.
Disgusting.
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DHnui4kW0AAz7I1?format=jpg
LikeLike
Draining the swamp. Sounds good. What does it mean? Firing people from “their” team & replacing them with “our guys” ? Good luck with that! The hydra will simply grow a new head. Anyway, elections have been between CFR team A and CFR team B since CFR was formed
If it means stopping the people who actually run things from actually running things, well, good luck with that! They have been running things since 1776! But I’m sure they’ll let go the reins if Trump asks nicely.
LikeLike
You’re too pessimistic.
Just get as much Swamp drained as possible. Down channel as much power back to the state level as is possible. Localize the government services that are required and push infrastructure build out control onto state governors.
Take as much power as you can possibly take AWAY from the Senate and House. Sent it all downstream to the 50 state houses . Reverse the political flow of the river lest it re-fill the Swamp that has just been drained.
The CFR teams can go right on being the tyrants that they are. They just won’t have as much power .
LikeLike
That’s the kinda change you can believe in – absolutely no change at all!!!
LikeLike
Many problems can be fixed because humans are problem solvers. Humans can also be very emotional, as can be seen by many posts here. Emotion, though important, can also get in the way of solving our problems.
As a foreign observer, the biggest problems I see are not the ones mentioned by many here. The biggest problems in the US are the polarization of the population and the political system, the level of animosity and even hate, the willingness to use violence, and a willingness or desire to watch the country fall apart rather than work with each other.
Everyone is looking to “blame” someone. Take your pick: president X, Democrats, Republicans, Tea Party, left leaning, right leaning, the Central Bank, big banks, the investment industry, immigrants, outsourcing, automation, the media, unions, trade agreements, the deep state, global cabals, etc. I’ve heard it all on this site.
No one wants to work together to solve problems. They just want to blame someone and sometimes spew their personal hate.
What a waste.
LikeLike
“Problems Too Big and Too Many To Fix: Trump Will Be the Fall Guy”
Of course! I predicted that here even before he was elected.
All of the ridiculous outrage in the left’s lapdog mainstream media over nothingburgers is meant to help that along. Hopefully, people are smart enough to see that and vote the RINOs of the fake “opposition party” which raises money based on that BS claim and Dems out of office in 2018, but I -SERIOUSLY- doubt it.
6 out of 10 Americans only read headlines, pass them along, and base their uniformed and manipulated opinions upon them. Notice how “well designed” those headlines are. The actual article below the headline MIGHT have important caveats contradicting the headline to prevent claims of an outright lie, but only 4 out of 10 will see it.
That makes this easier than ever. It’s not a coordinated conspiracy, it’s just a bunch of collectivists with common goals:
“The conscious and intelligent manipulation of the organized habits and opinions of the masses is an important element in democratic society. Those who manipulate this unseen mechanism of society constitute an invisible government which is the true ruling power of our country… We are governed, our minds are molded, our tastes formed, our ideas suggested, largely by men we have never heard of… In almost every act of our daily lives, whether in the sphere of politics or business, in our social conduct or our ethical thinking, we are dominated by the relatively small number of persons… who understand the mental processes and social patterns of the masses. It is they who pull the wires which control the public mind.” – Edward Bernays in his classic 1928 text “Propaganda”
LikeLike
You bet
Mish, i agree with just about everything you say,……..unfortunately.
Trump is probably his own worst enemy, and is probably so stupid that he would probably impeach himself (or shoot himself in the back)
(he probably even needs to keep reminding himself as to who he voted for in the last election…….)
(‘Keep your friends close and your enemies closer?’ )
now that he is on the outside, looking in,
Steven Bannon may very well turn out to prove his Nemesis.
as Trump has now completely alienated the very people who got him elected
(apart from Putin).
PS Trump reminds me of the late poker player , Stu Ungar
who in an interview once said that there was no poker player who could beat him
other than himself, (and he wasnt stupid enough to do anything like that)
Ungar was right, no other poker player could beat him,
but himself (Death by Cocaine)
LikeLike
The radical left have seen an opportunity to do some real damage here. They’ve stirred the radical right up with their constant demonstrations and outrageous demands. As one looks back on the last 150 years, both groups are bloodthirsty bastards. No good can come of this.
LikeLike
And it was all created by the division caused by the identity and victim politics from the left who -absolutely depend upon it- for their voter base and the media who further support that goal by their refusal to report negatively on it.
LikeLike
I have little sympathy.
Trump and his backers sold him as a magical candidate. Just elect him, the narrative went, and you’ll get 3% economic growth, repeal Obamacare and manufacturing jobs will return en masse to the rust belt.
Anybody with half a brain knew that was all nonsense.
Now his support base are waking up to that fact too.
The additional incompetence and disgraceful immorality around hesitancy to condemn Nazism, along with the constant turnover and endless departures of key personnel, were just the cherry on top of the excrement sundae.
LikeLike
Agree on the silly optimism that Trump could fight the swamp when the swamp is most of DC. However:
“disgraceful immorality around hesitancy to condemn Nazism”
Stop falling for the spin. He simply wasn’t clear enough and the media jumped all over him. Do you ACTUALLY THINK Trump in any way supports Nazis or doesn’t condemn them?
LikeLike
Oh come on.
He failed the most easy and basic test of basic politics: saying “Nazis are bad,” without any hesitation or “nuance.”
He was, at the most charitable, breathtakingly incompetent on one of the simplest matters that a president can address.
Yet his people expect us to believe that he can centrally plan our way to prosperity I n more sophisticated areas, like international trade.
LikeLike
“Compromise in Washington is more military spending and more social spending.”
You nailed it, Mish. Between endless pointless wars overseas and handing out benefits like candy, now even to illegal immigrants, I’m afraid this is going to be America’s epitaph.
As you’ve said before, “What can’t be paid, won’t”.
LikeLike
It appears to me that Democrats are the party of “tax and spend”, while Republicans are the party of “borrow and spend”.
LikeLike
while Republicans are the party of “borrow and spend”. Realist
The purchase of debt from a monetary sovereign should not be thought of as lending* to the monetary sovereign but as obtaining risk-free** storage for one’s fiat. One should expect to pay for risk-free storage, no?
Thus positive(!) yielding sovereign debt is welfare proportional to account balance and it’s no wonder that the party of the rich should be in favor of welfare for the rich.
*Since a monetary sovereign NEVER has to borrow what it can create at will for free.
** Beyond the, in the US, $250,000 limit on government provided deposit insurance.
LikeLike
Not that the Democrats are not the party of the rich too.
LikeLike
Pingback: Problems Too Big And Too Many To Fix: Trump Will Be The Fall Guy « Socio-Economics History Blog
The Deep State which of comprised of 2 corrupt parties, the Press, the entrenched bureaucracy, the financial systems etc. have finally beat Trump down. David Duke is usually paid for his appearances and I am betting the neo-nazis were paid to appear and associate their movements with Trump. Trump did himself no favors by pandering to that vote and now his administration is pretty wonder…finally
LikeLike