I thought being POTUS would be easier...

[thraashman]

The really sad thing ("sad, sad thing") is that the Democratic Party could not come up with a strategy and execution to beat Trump. I haven't really listened much to the debates or interviews with Hillary during the elections. (I'm not American, I wasn't gonna vote anyway). But I wonder how she (and the other Democrats) could not present an overwhelming amount of reasons to vote for her. Both rational and emotional reasons. The Democrats have really fucked this up. Just like they fucked up during the Gore/Bush elections in 2000.

The problem with presenting reasons is that you have to be presenting them to reasonable people. Those who voted for Trump are the most unreasonable people in the country.

 

[Jaskalas]

I thought being POTUS would be easier...

The difficulty in being POTUS is in trying to do the wrong things while being lead around on a leash by a fractured GOP.
He promised people he'd take care of them on healthcare, but so long as he sticks to one party that will never happen.
Trump is apparently too weak willed to blaze the independent path that would drag a bipartisan group together.

I take this as a sign that he is a failed leader, and will ultimately be a failed President.

 

[fskimospy]

I'm excited to see him blame the low growth of Q1 on Obama after taking credit for all the other good economic news during Q1.

I mean I believe Obama owns Q1 in an economic sense but by Trump's own logic he should own it.

 

[Jaskalas]

Economic growth is a simple one. What goes up must come down. Our bubble is overdue for a rude awakening.
Volatility surrounding Trump is also going to encourage investors to pull back and ride out the storm.
It's a 1-2 punch... now all the market has to do is preform its natural reflex.

 

[trenchfoot]

How's this for an outside the box theory: Trump's biggest problem is that he has a House and Senate that hails from the same party he leads. Now in any other circumstance, that would be a really good thing because Trump and the Repubs who currently own the gov't, (just like Bush and Cheney did) they're all in favor of Ronnie Raygun's theory of that 'ol trickle down thingy whereby "to get yours, we're going to have to be the ones to decide whether to give it to you....or not, and guess what?".

However, Trump made all of these pie in the sky fantasyland promises to America that he never intended to keep, (well, just like a lot of other politicians do in campaign mode) but he made these promises so outlandish, so unbelievable that they had to be believable that it stuck in people's minds when in the usual way, the average voter would have forgotten about them the moment after he got elected.

He put himself and the party behind the eight ball even before he got elected. He handed to the party a wish list that was in defiance of most every ideological chiseled in stone tenet the party had been religiously following except the one about giving the rich everything they demand while sticking it to the peasants because it's the correct order of things.

He said he'd give the people a really good health plan that was so much better than Obama's. He said he'd bring the jobs back. He said he'd build a wall and make Mexico pay for it. He said a lot of other fanciful things with so much "apparent" conviction like any snake oil salesman extraordinaire does, that it was impossible for even those idiots that make up his base support to forget, let alone forgive.

He now wants the House and Senate to fulfill those wishes that contradict the principles the Repub Party is grounded on. And the party itself walked themselves out on a plank that ended up being the plank off of a pirate ship of state by promising the nation that they would repeal and replace Obamacare without really meaning it.

The party does not want to bring the jobs back. The party does not want to replace Obamacare with something that's more affordable and much more packed with really good things that rival the best of the other first world nations have to offer. The party does not want Trump as their leader because he is not of their pedigree. The party does not want to give the working class a leg up on their lifestyle and create a threat worse than Trump. The party does not want to give the working class tax cuts that should only be reserved for the very wealthy, nor does the party want to lose mid term elections because Trump made promises the party can't keep.

Trump really is the nightmare that the party deserves. The only problem with that is that the Repubs will make certain that the only folks who are going to be made to suffer for it are the ones that didn't vote for him and themselves. Their base of working class idiots? They're not going to suffer because the party have conditioned them to accept any sacrifice demanded of them. The fools.

 

[MomentsofSanity]

I'm excited to see him blame the low growth of Q1 on Obama after taking credit for all the other good economic news during Q1.

I mean I believe Obama owns Q1 in an economic sense but by Trump's own logic he should own it.

When Obama was president he was responsible for everything bad that happened and never deserved credit for the good. Why should that change now that someone else is president?

 

[woolfe9998]

"My God, this is a hell of a job!"

- Warren G. Harding

 

[purbeast0]

I guess building that wall in real life wasn't quite as simple as it was in his head.

 

[soundforbjt]

He thought it would just be like running his business, except now he's not really the boss and he's just starting to figure that out.

 

[Phokus]

He thought it would just be like running his business, except now he's not really the boss and he's just starting to figure that out.

The issue is that he wasn't really doing much when he was in private business. A lot of his business was just allowing other real estate developers to use his name in licensing deals. There's a Trump luxury tower in my city, but it's not actually owned by Trump.

He just has lawyers and actual smart people drafting these deals for him. You guys actually think he had anything to do with Trump U (certainly not, according to the lawsuit) or Trump Steaks?

He's complaining that it's more work, yet he's golfing like 2-3 days a week, he was probably golfing even more than that in the private sector.

 

[JSt0rm]

The fallacy is that one party can be entirely to blame and this is why Dems fail. The Republicans were going to vote for a Republican, even Trump. So that left the other two significant segments, Dems and Independents. The Dems? They were brainwashed by Trump and his magnificence? I suppose. But then there's the pesky people like me, the unaffiliated.

Here's the exit poll info. Scroll down to "Party ID"

http://www.cnn.com/election/results/exit-polls

Early on Independents went overwhelmingly for Trump because collectively we never trusted Hillary. In the end Trump won with them but not by the huge margin after the primaries.

Something from CNN

http://www.politico.com/story/2016/12/poll-democrats-independents-no-hillary-clinton-2020-232898

Neither Dems or Indies want to see anything but the backside of Hillary again by 2/3. On the other hand Bernie and Biden. The latter would have crushed everyone in this crap race but understandable family circumstances weighed against him running. BTW was Biden awed by Trump? Was he the weak minded Republican convert who saw the flaws like some of us and not blame the Master Race Republicans for it all, because he did. Joe Biden, Trump supporter. Pull the other one.

We aren't brainwashed it's that two awful candidates were put up and by your statements Trump is so brilliant that he must have hypnotized everyone but Hillary voters because otherwise they would have been sniffing her butt with excitement.

Well no. Bad candidate, bad campaign. You put up another Hillary and use the same tactics you'll get beat like a baby seal even after Trump provided the world doesn't end.

Stop doing the wrong things harder and adopting the Trump standard of "It's everyone else, not me".

#justasbad

 

[Hayabusa Rider]

#justasbad

#cantthinkithurtstoomuch

 

[JSt0rm]

#cantthinkithurtstoomuch

#whateveryouneeedtotellyourself

 

[fskimospy]

The fallacy is that one party can be entirely to blame and this is why Dems fail. The Republicans were going to vote for a Republican, even Trump. So that left the other two significant segments, Dems and Independents. The Dems? They were brainwashed by Trump and his magnificence? I suppose. But then there's the pesky people like me, the unaffiliated.

Here's the exit poll info. Scroll down to "Party ID"

http://www.cnn.com/election/results/exit-polls

Early on Independents went overwhelmingly for Trump because collectively we never trusted Hillary. In the end Trump won with them but not by the huge margin after the primaries.

Something from CNN

http://www.politico.com/story/2016/12/poll-democrats-independents-no-hillary-clinton-2020-232898

Neither Dems or Indies want to see anything but the backside of Hillary again by 2/3. On the other hand Bernie and Biden. The latter would have crushed everyone in this crap race but understandable family circumstances weighed against him running. BTW was Biden awed by Trump? Was he the weak minded Republican convert who saw the flaws like some of us and not blame the Master Race Republicans for it all, because he did. Joe Biden, Trump supporter. Pull the other one.

We aren't brainwashed it's that two awful candidates were put up and by your statements Trump is so brilliant that he must have hypnotized everyone but Hillary voters because otherwise they would have been sniffing her butt with excitement.

Well no. Bad candidate, bad campaign. You put up another Hillary and use the same tactics you'll get beat like a baby seal even after Trump provided the world doesn't end.

Stop doing the wrong things harder and adopting the Trump standard of "It's everyone else, not me".

You have to be very, very careful when looking at both 'independent' voters and hypothetical matchups.

Independent voters are almost always closet partisans who claim they are independent but vote in patterns that are basically indistinguishable from partisan voters. In recent years conservatives have been over-represented in self described independents as they stopped claiming they were Republicans but did not change their voting habits. In short, if a poll says someone is independent it's really important to figure out how they made that determination. If it's self-identification it's probably not good.

Hypothetical matchups are also not very good because they take partisanship largely out of the equation. A good example of this is actually Hillary Clinton. As soon as she was no longer the Democratic frontrunner in 2008 Republicans suddenly loved her. You can find all sorts of stories with Republicans saying "Clinton would have been reasonable, not like this crazy ideologue Obama." When she became the nominee in 2016 they went back to hating her. The same thing would have happened with Biden or Sanders.

Look at Biden's approval rating over time:

See that big shift in late 2015? Now look at this news story and the date:

http://www.cnn.com/2015/10/21/politics/joe-biden-not-running-2016-election/

October 21, 2015 - Vice President Joe Biden ended months of intense speculation about his political future on Wednesday with a sudden announcement that he wouldn't seek the presidency, abandoning a dream he's harbored for decades and putting Hillary Clinton in a stronger position to capture the Democratic nomination.

Coincidence? Nah. Biden was no longer a threat, therefore conservatives didn't need to hate him. Had he been the nominee it would have looked very, VERY different.

 

[dank69]

#cantthinkithurtstoomuch

Bro, the only people that aren't thinking are "independents" in this political climate. The GOP flat out admits they are going to push policies that are going to screw the poor and middle class so they can cut taxes for the rich.

 

[Hayabusa Rider]

#whateveryouneeedtotellyourself

And like most people they see flaws in Hillary's campaign. Upvote for... thingy.

 

[Hayabusa Rider]

Bro, the only people that aren't thinking are "independents" in this political climate. The GOP flat out admits they are going to push policies that are going to screw the poor and middle class so they can cut taxes for the rich.

Well I disagree. Both candidates were severely lacking but as you know I voted Dem for the other election. What I at least am thinking is that we didn't have Trump and what's her name, you know the one that was disfavored all along.

 

[Hayabusa Rider]

You have to be very, very careful when looking at both 'independent' voters and hypothetical matchups.

Independent voters are almost always closet partisans who claim they are independent but vote in patterns that are basically indistinguishable from partisan voters. In recent years conservatives have been over-represented in self described independents as they stopped claiming they were Republicans but did not change their voting habits. In short, if a poll says someone is independent it's really important to figure out how they made that determination. If it's self-identification it's probably not good.

Hypothetical matchups are also not very good because they take partisanship largely out of the equation. A good example of this is actually Hillary Clinton. As soon as she was no longer the Democratic frontrunner in 2008 Republicans suddenly loved her. You can find all sorts of stories with Republicans saying "Clinton would have been reasonable, not like this crazy ideologue Obama." When she became the nominee in 2016 they went back to hating her. The same thing would have happened with Biden or Sanders.

Look at Biden's approval rating over time:

See that big shift in late 2015? Now look at this news story and the date:

http://www.cnn.com/2015/10/21/politics/joe-biden-not-running-2016-election/



Coincidence? Nah. Biden was no longer a threat, therefore conservatives didn't need to hate him. Had he been the nominee it would have looked very, VERY different.

Conservatives would not have voted for anyone but a supposed conservative candidate.

What you might find (just stopped inside from a home building project and going back out) is to compare the favorability of independents the two who ran and Biden. Remember that Hillary was uninspiring to a great many and as evidence I note that the turnout was the lowest in 20 years. There wasn't a choice available that wasn't seen by many as the lesser of two evils.

So look at Joe. What's the best they have on him, some stupid statements about a shotgun? The Republicans wouldn't have voted for Hillary under any condition and at least Joe knew how to communicate which I submit was a large reason for Hillary's failure. People had no real issue with Joe under Obama, no scandals, no Trump he nor Hillary and that for me would have had me cast a vote for him and still be able to look at myself in the face.

Remember too that Biden was part of the much hated by the right Obama administration. He was already suffering negative consequences from the Conservatives.

 

[Hayabusa Rider]

Bro, the only people that aren't thinking are "independents" in this political climate. The GOP flat out admits they are going to push policies that are going to screw the poor and middle class so they can cut taxes for the rich.

Good thing I didn't vote for Trump then. Something like accelerationism seems to be just about the only thing which will make changes for both sides. Hell they sure need that.

 

[cytg111]

If you go by the Trump narrative I dont see why Sanders cant run as a republican.. Just lie through your teeth and do the opposite when elected.

 

[Vic]

Hayabusa is right. Hillary lost because she let Trump control the narrative. If the Democrats want to win again, they need to take that back.

 

[Jaskalas]

Hayabusa is right. Hillary lost because she let Trump control the narrative. If the Democrats want to win again, they need to take that back.

Voters: "We downing in debt and misery, help us!"
Trump: "I'll fight bad trade and bad hombres, believe me. Nobody knows bad hombres like me. You'll get your jobs back!"
Hillary: "Trump is a racist that said hombres... bad man, vote for me!"

Yes, it's time for a narrative that speaks to helping people. Less hate against the GOP, more love for the lost voter.

 

[ivwshane]

Voters: "We downing in debt and misery, help us!"
Trump: "I'll fight bad trade and bad hombres, believe me. Nobody knows bad hombres like me. You'll get your jobs back!"
Hillary: "Trump is a racist that said hombres... bad man, vote for me!"

Yes, it's time for a narrative that speaks to helping people. Less hate against the GOP, more love for the lost voter.

Lol. I can't believe people still think it was an economic message that allowed trump to win. Its wishful thinking at best and naïveté worst. Republicans are extremely partisan right now and their vote was guaranteed to go to any Republican, period. All the Republicans had to do was turn off a few voters, some independents and some Democrats and they would get the win. 80k is all it took for them to win and it had Jack shit to do with any economic message.

Sorry, guy, you've been duped.

 

[shortylickens]

Voters: "We downing in debt and misery, help us!"
Trump: "I'll fight bad trade and bad hombres, believe me. Nobody knows bad hombres like me. You'll get your jobs back!"
Hillary: "Trump is a racist that said hombres... bad man, vote for me!"

Yes, it's time for a narrative that speaks to helping people. Less hate against the GOP, more love for the lost voter.

My gripe is that is was painfully obvious Trump is completely full of shit. And yet 60 million Americans fell for it.
Thats probably the biggest con in the history of con-men.

 

[theeedude]

He sure seems to have a knack for keeping a certain segment in a state of near constant agitation.

There's an opportunity to make a real statement tomorrow.

That's a statement a lot in Trump supporting demographic have been making for a while.