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3 Things to Like About President Trump; 3 Things Not to Like
We’re six months into the Trump Era, and there’s no sign of the gay concentration camps Rachel Maddow said were forthcoming. But surely we must be developing some opinions on how he’s doing so far. So here’s my list(icle) of three things I like about PDT so far, and three things I really don’t care for. First, what I likes:
- I like that he doesn’t let himself be a punching bag for the Democrat Media Complex. The last two Republican presidents seemed to think that defending their administration’s policies from Democrat attacks was ungentlemanly. Trump has also identified the weak point of the media establishment — their egos. Most of the media operatives, especially on television, are dumb, vain, and egomaniacal. Trump knows that if he pokes them, they will go into paroxysms of “How Dare He Criticize Us” vituperation. He provokes the very media temper tantrums that discredit the media.
- I like that some of Obama’s executive overreach has been repealed, and that some of Obama’s worst policy decisions are being revoked. We’re out of the Paris “Redistribution of Wealth to the Third World” Accords. Criminal aliens are being deported once again. Israel isn’t being treated as a pariah state. More of this, please.
- Neil Gorsuch was an outstanding Supreme Court appointment. Good Lord, can you imagine the horrible people Hillary would be putting on the court? Sotomayor and Kagan were bad enough. Try Justice Kamala Harris on for size. (Not that it would be her, but it would be someone just as hard left, just as hyperpartisan, and just as corrupt). Democrat presidents never nominate swing votes.
Now, three things that I don’t like about Trump’s presidency so far:
- I don’t care for the Tweeting. It’s not the Tweeting itself I mind. I understand that PDT needs a way to get his side directly to the people because the Democrat Media Complex is bent on his destruction. But there’s too much “Angry Old Man” and not enough “Leader of the Free World” in his Tweets for my taste.
- It doesn’t really seem like the Swamp is being drained. Maybe it’s part of a longer term strategy, but so far, there seems to be very little movement in the direction of changing the way the political class conducts business. The bureaucracy remains out of control, and his cabinet picks have done little to reform their departments.
- Being a deficit hawk, I’m disappointed that Trump signed off on the massive omnibus bill. (Remember when Paul Ryan promised no more omnibuses? That federal departments would be funded by individual appropriations bills once the Republicans took over? Yeah, that. Trump doesn’t seem, on the whole, very concerned about debt or deficits.
I could have made other choices in either category, but I think those are my top three. What are yours?
Published in General
Why would Trump supporters want to participate in pot-stirring? We have been told that the early participants do not like us. We knew that, of course, but it seems unproductive to make such a big deal of it.
I could not say whether this diminishes effectiveness of President Trump’s leadership.
I did not like the twitter storm. But I don’t do twitter. It seems like a tempest in a teapot to me, but President Trump has found some value there.
I don’t have to like his style to be a partisan in his corner.
I wish that were true.
I plead guilty to omitting the smiley after pot stirring. And I’m going to apologize a bit. While I have some interest in knowing the views of Trump’s tweeting from his real fans, it was rather lame of me to comment on others’ failure to post. Sorry.
He’s doing exactly what I want him to do: stand up to the fake news media.
This is hilarious: fourteen celebrity meltdowns reacting to Trumps tweet, including a fake Abraham Lincoln quote by J.K. Rowling. Dolts.
I think President Trump is just a continuation of the race to the bottom of presidential dignity started by President Obama. It’s a long list including ESPN tournament picks, interview with the lady who bathed in cereal on YouTube, Tracking Ankle Bracelets going off in the White House from his Rap friends, a gift of his speeches to the queen of England, and many more.
I don’t know which “strong supporters” you have in mind, I’ve read, Liked, and liked, comments by some of my faves on this thread. But this post is mild compared to the other anti-Trump vitriol spewed elsewhere on Rico yesterday. We gotta conserve our strength.
Um, I hesitate to even ask, since the answer is likely going to be more about tigers or some such, but is this how you wanted him to do it? I’ve been waiting a long time for a Republican leader with the guts to come out and take on false narratives – by showing they are demonstrably false. (For example, by pointing out that the oft-referred to “Muslim Ban” is not a ban on Muslims, but a ban on people from particular countries, etc. I admit, I am not a supporter of that policy, but the way the media has managed to shorthand it into “Muslim Ban” is remarkable. And frustrating.)
I have not been waiting for a leader who will simply shout insults at reporters to no good end. I mean, come on – he’s ceded the high road to Mika Brzezinski! She now looks like a noble pursuer of truth being unfairly attacked by the most powerful man in the world for her IQ and some dumb narrative that she crashed a party and he didn’t let her in (with face lift scars? I mean, what?). Is that really what you long hoped for?
I see no reason why Trump should not expose Mika’n Joe’s unrelenting animosity toward him for what we now know it to be: the revenge of the bad fairy who wasn’t invited to the party!
Yes, Mika had to admit, she did have a facelift–“just chin work” as she puts it–at that time.
With all the ridicule that has been lobbed at trump’s personal appearance–and I do not believe there has ever been anything comparable in our political history–why shouldn’t he give a little back?
Just cuz she’s a woman? I thought that kind of soft bigotry had fallen out of favor…
And the stuff she and her jo are saying about Trump is hardly courageous, issue-based news reporting. It consists of personal attacks, the worst kind, looking sorrowfully onto the camera and intoning that they’re “worried” he’s “not well”….
Yuh? On what basis? That he’s mad at them for their betrayal? Is this news?
I couldn’t have envisioned it, but yeah!:
I’m happy with a president who can stand there and take the crap that’s thrown at him ( check!)
and then, ball it up and lob it back where it came from.
Well, if nothing else my comment and this reply form a stark reminder of what a complete impasse we’re at on the right.
I’m never going to be okay with the president lobbing cheap insults across twitter in place of actual arguments.
The Democrats would have had a better chance of stopping this stuff back when Obama was president. So now it’s only a handful of people like you.
…But you ARE okay with major news outlets lobbing cheap and mendacious insults at the president.
What kind of “actual argument” can a president make to the “news” that commentators personally question his mental health?.?
Seems to me exposing the reason for the animus behind it is perfectly fair. Any witness can be impeached by showing bias.
Of course not! But I can be not okay with both of these at the same time. Last I checked, it’s not an either/or proposition. Where we differ is that I don’t believe one justifies the other.
He could point out that they are not in a position to judge his mental health. You know, without adding the extra insults to escalate things.
Any comment about Mika’s IQ assumes facts not in evidence (really. I’m not a fan, but I’ve never seen an IQ test result for her, and assume Trump has not either. It was just a cheap shot). I am skeptical about the party story. For one thing, she’s on MSNBC and hates everything about Trump. She could have attended the party and would still be saying the things about him she does. So his tweets clarify nothing, just give her a chance to assume victim status. So I’m not seeing any grounds for claiming victory here.
I do not have the pleasure of understanding you here.
So she can call him crazy, but he can’t call her stupid?
And see: that’s what I getting at: the “victim status” thing. How’d that work out for Megan Kelly?
Doesn’t really matter. I was going off on a tangent.
Yes. Because she’s a reporter at a low-ratings cable news network and utterly unimportant, and he’s the most powerful man in the world. His words carry consequences hers do not.
I disagree. If she’s so “unimportant” why is this even news? Are you pretending nobody ever heard of her before today? She’s a public figure, with a “bully pulpit (in TR’s words) . just like he is.
I think this attitude is nothing but some kinda outmoded bigotry that women are somehow weaker. “Attacking a defenseless woman!” Of course, I dont hear any Never gents defending Kellyanne Conway, or Ivanka Trump, or Pamela Geller.
Awww, look! Mika’s tears are running down her tucked-up chin! You, Mr President, sir, are a cad and a bounder!
I guess some gents prefer their women “defenseless”…..
So cable news network morning show anchor = president of the United States? Really? Those two positions in the public eye are equal?
Your ability to pull an accusation of misogyny and sexism out of this is worthy of an MSNBC commentator. To clarify: I feel the same way when Trump takes to Twitter to insult men.
“Ability..worthy of an MSNBC commentator”…oh, thank you, sir! I knew I was good, but I never dreamed I was that good !
And in doing so, is showing himself to possess the character and leadership quality of a cheap banana-republic wannabe.
He’s showing courage and perseverance, qualities long missing from the GOP establishment.
White Knighting!
Mika and Joe’s daily vitriolic outpouring of Trump insults is really, really over the top. I wish his tweet had shown how hurt he is by them as they were formerly good friends. Mika started out wanting to be an actress, and I agree that she isn’t very bright, but lately she’s just plain mean. Joe is a traitor through and through and has no right to call himself a Republican. They’ve both gone crazy since they started sleeping together.
You’re excusing his boorishness on the grounds that some morning TV hosts hurt his feelings? Good grief, he’s the most powerful man on the planet, not a 12-year-old girl being made fun of by the popular clique.
This is an impressive attempt to flip things around. You’re a black belt in rhetorical jiu-jitsu. Let me try:
Every time someone defends Trump’s crass boorishness on the grounds that it appeals to “real Americans” or that it’s why he did well in the Rust Belt it’s clear that the speaker has a condescendingly elitist view of those voters; as people so stupid they confuse being a thin-skinned jerk engaged in a series of petty personal squabbles with fighting on behalf of policy or principle.
As somebody who lives in the Rust Belt, what is clear to me is I personally am sick to death of plastic politicians wearing their blue suits and red ties and repeating their canned talking points.
Trumps a pig, but at least he’s not a wind-up toy.
Wow. Thanks for that. I thought you and I agreed on an awful lot. I get you don’t like Trump, but the two of us seem to agree on an awful lot.
I AM a Trump Supporter. I am probably one of the very rare people here who actually voted for him in the primary and wanted to see him win since he claimed Mexico is sending us criminals.
I don’t care if he is President of the United States of Heaven. The culture (the media apparatus included) decided that decency wasn’t necessary, culminating in a President who said some of the most derogatory things in the most decent Manner. Trump is The Beast to Obama’s Gaston. Trump is a big middle finger signed by all the people who wish it still did but recognize it clearly is only chains to bind traditionally minded Americans with while they walk all over our beliefs, politics, and traditions.
Politics is downstream of culture. And culture is just as much our fault as it is the left’s.
Do you actually view his piggishness as being a reason to support him, or as something that you’re willing to live with because you support him?
I’m sure there are indeed some people who think piggishness is a virtue, just as I’m sure there are some who actually “like their women defenseless.” That doesn’t make the comment to which I was responding any less of a slanderously cheap rhetorical trick.
Take some responsibility. The “culture” didn’t decide anything. Voters did. Particularly those who voted against decency in the primary when they had decent conservative alternatives.
I agree with you on this. (While maintaining my objection to the implication that culture is anything but individual people’s choices and values.)