Sound The TRUMPets! A Thread for Presidential Pondering 2016-2020(?)

[Turner]

Trump has taken very few intelligence briefings, Pence has had them almost daily
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/trump-turning-away-intelligence-briefers-since-election-win/2016/11/23/5cc643c4-b1ae-11e6-be1c-8cec35b1ad25_story.html

Donald Trump Jr. already working as a diplomat in Paris, regarding Syria
http://www.wsj.com/articles/donald-trump-jr-held-talks-on-syria-with-russia-supporters-1479920753?mod=e2tw

Flynn´s lobbying firm in dubious deal?
https://www.buzzfeed.com/borzoudaragahi/new-details-show-flynn-contract-may-have-broken-foreign-agen

[Monsieur Croche]

There are legitimate reasons to ban performances of Sorabji's music unrelated to personal attributes of the composer.  Sorabji's 27 devoted fans in the US would be hurt and angered, to be sure.

[ahinton]

See #411, #413, #414 & #419.

Been at the nitrous oxide, have we?

[Todd]

Right. Now I'm sorry I was treating your posts as serious and sincere.

You do know his sister is a federal appeals court judge, yes?

[Spineur]

Wilbur Ross, Trump new secretary of commerce is an 80 year old billionnaire who made his fortune buying bankrupt companies, firing most of their employees and selling them back to somebody else.  Kind of an old vultur, of modern times.

On the more positive side, he has a phenomenal art collection (some 25 Magritte,..)

[Jo498]

Wilbur Ross, Trump new secretary of commerce is an 80 year old billionnaire who made his fortune buying bankrupt companies, firing most of their employees and selling them back to somebody else.  Kind of an old vultur, of modern times.

Wasn't this basically the business model of Romney's company as well? You just have to understand that this is just in a meritocracy. Its SMART to come up with business models like that and get away with it, so they really deserve what they reap.

[Todd]

Wasn't this basically the business model of Romney's company as well? You just have to understand that this is just in a meritocracy. Its SMART to come up with business models like that and get away with it, so they really deserve what they reap.

Ross is a preeminent vulture investor, though he dislikes the word.  I know it is intellectually fashionable to decry such an approach, but when a company files bankruptcy, if no one (or group of people) steps in to reorganize and either sell the company, or significantly downsize operations, the assets are usually just liquidated and few, if any, jobs are salvaged.  In the case of Mr Ross, some of his investments have been in US companies in industries that have basically fled the US to much lower cost areas (eg, steel).  Ross does what good investors do: he buys low and sells high. 

I often wonder what people who offer complaints about such people and approaches would do to salvage a distressed company.  Would the preferred solution be to impose tariffs to protect such a firm?  Heavy state subsidies?  A ban on capital investment that leads to greater automation and reduced labor requirements, which is a larger driver of deindustrialization than "free" trade?  Should government policy be focused on export led economic activity?  (This can only work for half of all trade related activity at any one time, remember.)  What are the workable business alternatives, and just what government policies should be implemented in tandem with those solutions?

Whatever the case, at least Commerce will probably not have much of a culture adjustment, going from one billionaire running it today to another in January.

[kishnevi]

Ross is a preeminent vulture investor, though he dislikes the word.  I know it is intellectually fashionable to decry such an approach, but when a company files bankruptcy, if no one (or group of people) steps in to reorganize and either sell the company, or significantly downsize operations, the assets are usually just liquidated and few, if any, jobs are salvaged.  In the case of Mr Ross, some of his investments have been in US companies in industries that have basically fled the US to much lower cost areas (eg, steel).  Ross does what good investors do: he buys low and sells high. 

I often wonder what people who offer complaints about such people and approaches would do to salvage a distressed company.  Would the preferred solution be to impose tariffs to protect such a firm?  Heavy state subsidies?  A ban on capital investment that leads to greater automation and reduced labor requirements, which is a larger driver of deindustrialization than "free" trade?  Should government policy be focused on export led economic activity?  (This can only work for half of all trade related activity at any one time, remember.)  What are the workable business alternatives, and just what government policies should be implemented in tandem with those solutions?

Whatever the case, at least Commerce will probably not have much of a culture adjustment, going from one billionaire running it today to another in January.

Now I'm curious to know who currently holds the job.
Which is a measure of how high profile and influential the job actually is.  The last SoC I recall is Ron Brown, and I remember him only because the Clintons killed him in a plane crash   

[SimonNZ]

Now I'm curious to know who currently holds the job.
Which is a measure of how high profile and influential the job actually is.  The last SoC I recall is Ron Brown, and I remember him only because the Clintons killed him in a plane crash   

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penny_Pritzker

[Todd]

Clinton campaign joins recount effort in Wisconsin!

Even if the Badger State flips, Clinton wouldn't have 270 electoral votes.  If the three supposedly contested states all undertake recounts, and in particular the manual ones that are apparently being requested, that would mean that the deadline of December 13th for final decision as to the validity of electors might not be met in all three states.  (This seems a remote possibility.)  Is the end game here to force a vote for President in the House, or merely to bolster a case for a Constitutional Amendment to abolish or change the Electoral College?  Since the latter cannot make it out of the next Congress, that leaves the only practicable path forward changing state election laws pertaining to the Electoral College (eg, The National Popular Vote initiative).

[Todd]

Mrs McConnell gets Transportation.  Talk about an outsider.

[Todd]

No one, including Stein, believes the recount will alter the results in any state.

It is extremely unlikely, which raises the obvious question: what's the real motive?  (Incidentally, I was merely relying on the same type of language as WAPO, though I took the liberty of adding an exclamation mark.)

[Florestan]

Did Hillary not know that the only way to win the presidency is by winning the Electoral College, and that winning the popular vote is not enough?

Is she so mistrustful of the US democratic and transparent voting procedures and process that she needs a recounting of votes?

[Florestan]

Jill Stein, the Green Party candidate, is pushing the recount.  Hillary Clinton's campaign wants to make one thing very clear: They don't want a recount.

Thanks, I misjudged Mrs. Clinton. Now, who is Jill Stein? Never heard 'bout her.

[amw]

It is extremely unlikely, which raises the obvious question: what's the real motive?

raising the profile of the Green Party among disaffected liberals in the hope that they'll vote for Stein (or whoever) in 2020 instead of the Democratic nominee, I'm guessing....

[Todd]

raising the profile of the Green Party among disaffected liberals in the hope that they'll vote for Stein (or whoever) in 2020 instead of the Democratic nominee, I'm guessing....

Possibly.  But will today's actions result in a statistically significant boost in Green Party votes in 2018 and 2020 and beyond?  I have my doubts.

[arpeggio]

I am sixty-nine years old and I was a Christian conservative Goldwater Republican.  Prior to my fiftieth birthday I only voted twice for a Democrat for anything.  Since then the Republican party has changed to the point that I now consider myself an agnostic socialist.  If twenty years ago someone told me that I would twice vote for a black socialist from Mars to be president I would have wacked them over their head with a baseball bat.

One of the problems I have with the current situation is that any observation a democrat tries to make about the election is wrong.

For example Billy Graham's son, Franklin, is currently the president and CEO of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association.  He is a supporter of Trump and actively campaigned for him.  Franklin stated that God's Hand" Influenced Election Result: https://wethevigilant.com/2016/11/18/franklin-graham-gods-hand-influenced-election-result/.  I do not see how one can carry on a rational discussion concerning this election with a person who believes that God supported Trump over Clinton.  If Trump was endorsed by God, and I have some relatives who believe this, what can I say? I guess I am going to Hell.

[The new erato]

I am sixty-nine years old and I was a Christian conservative Goldwater Republican.  Prior to my fiftieth birthday I only voted twice for a Democrat for anything.  Since then the Republican party has changed to the point that I now consider myself an agnostic socialist.  If twenty years ago someone told me that I would twice vote for a black socialist from Mars to be president I would have wacked them over their head with a baseball bat.

One of the problems I have with the current situation is that any observation a democrat tries to make about the election is wrong.

For example Billy Graham's son, Franklin, is currently the president and CEO of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association.  He is a supporter of Trump and actively campaigned for him.  Franklin stated that God's Hand" Influenced Election Result: https://wethevigilant.com/2016/11/18/franklin-graham-gods-hand-influenced-election-result/.  I do not see how one can carry on a rational discussion concerning this election with a person who believes that God supported Trump over Clinton.  If Trump was endorsed by God, and I have some relatives who believe this, what can I say? I guess I am going to Hell.

All us interesting people will be there.

[(poco) Sforzando]

All us interesting people will be there.

"Because hell, Señora, is a place for the wicked. The wicked are quite comfortable in it: it was made for them."

- Shaw, Man and Superman

[kishnevi]

I am sixty-nine years old and I was a Christian conservative Goldwater Republican.  Prior to my fiftieth birthday I only voted twice for a Democrat for anything.  Since then the Republican party has changed to the point that I now consider myself an agnostic socialist.  If twenty years ago someone told me that I would twice vote for a black socialist from Mars to be president I would have wacked them over their head with a baseball bat.

One of the problems I have with the current situation is that any observation a democrat tries to make about the election is wrong.

For example Billy Graham's son, Franklin, is currently the president and CEO of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association.  He is a supporter of Trump and actively campaigned for him.  Franklin stated that God's Hand" Influenced Election Result: https://wethevigilant.com/2016/11/18/franklin-graham-gods-hand-influenced-election-result/.  I do not see how one can carry on a rational discussion concerning this election with a person who believes that God supported Trump over Clinton.  If Trump was endorsed by God, and I have some relatives who believe this, what can I say? I guess I am going to Hell.

An evangelical I know thinks God picked Trump because He wants to punish us.  Others would simply say that God picked Trump because He wanted certain things to happen, and Trump's moral qualities, or lack thereof, were not a factor in His decision.

I suspect Franklin G., however, meant it in the way you think he meant it.