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

[Todd]

A while back there was talk of John Bolton at State.

Yeah, I've read that.  The 'stache shouldn't be allowed in Foggy Bottom.

[ahinton]

Well, I wouldn't put too much emphasis on Trump's communication blunders as he transitions from candidate to President Elect to President which will unfold over the next several months.  There will be some hiccups early on, but I suspect his Twitter account will soon become an official stream of policy announcements.

A stream of semi-consciousness, more like...

Anyway, "Currently Listening to: Anonymous to Zwilich"? No Albéniz, then? Or Alfano? Or Alkan?...

[zamyrabyrd]

I continue to admire your graciousness.

Yeah, right!

[zamyrabyrd]

A while back there was talk of John Bolton at State.  As far as his own staff: Guiliani has said he is not interested in an official job.  I'd guess Gingrich might be some kind of adviser without portfolio.  I've also seen rumors of Stephen Bannon as Chief of Staff, and KellyAnne Conway has reportedly been promised a job doing something.

I heard Trey Gowdy for Attorney General. Now, that's a smart dude!

[ahinton]

Yeah, right!

"Don't ever take a fence down until you know the reason it was put up. G. K. Chesterton".

or

Don't ever take a wall between US and Mexico down until you know that there was never any reason for it to have been put up...

[Mister Sharpe]

Oh, great, now Trump has a French "girlfriend" :  http://www.francetvinfo.fr/elections/presidentielle/pourquoi-marine-le-pen-peut-jubiler-apres-l-election-de-donald-trump_1913019.html

[Archaic Torso of Apollo]

He'll have to use establishment types for some roles.  His appointment to the big three and the NSC are what I'm watching.  I'd love to see [...snipped]

Pepe the Frog should be considered for a position, too.

[ahinton]

Oh, great, now Trump has a French "girlfriend" :  http://www.francetvinfo.fr/elections/presidentielle/pourquoi-marine-le-pen-peut-jubiler-apres-l-election-de-donald-trump_1913019.html

Tell that to the Marines...

[Mister Sharpe]

Tell that to the Marines...

[Herman]

During the transition, he should go to the big cities in Blue America — especially New York, Los Angeles, and San Francisco — and he should make clear that he is going to be president for everyone. Trump should make very clear that his policies are designed to help all Americans, and that he will not stop until he has ended the distinction between the red states and the blue states.[/i]

The problem is, it wouldn't be true, and people would know.

[Pat B]

He'll have to use establishment types for some roles.  His appointment to the big three and the NSC are what I'm watching.  I'd love to see Bob Corker at State.  Steven Mnuchin at Treasury would be a standard type of appointment, what, with his background at Goldman.  Jeff Sessions at defense would also be an establishment choice, and he was a Trump supporter.  I'm thinking Mike Flynn, former head of DIA and current Trump advisor, gets National Security Advisor.  Conservative choices, to be sure, but nothing out of the ordinary.  If Politico is right, and Forrest Lucas goes to Interior, I will laugh heartily.  It will be interesting to see what role, if any, Giuliani and Christie and Gingrich have.  I really don't want to see Gingrich at State, but it's not up to me.  I also dislike Andy Beal, and hope he has no official role in government.  (I'm just wondering if Trump keeps him in reserve for the Fed.)

What happened to Christie for Transportation? I also like Ben Carson for Agriculture.

[zamyrabyrd]

"Don't ever take a fence down until you know the reason it was put up. G. K. Chesterton". or
Don't ever take a wall between US and Mexico down until you know that there was never any reason for it to have been put up...

Something there is that doesn't love a wall,
That sends the frozen-ground-swell under it,
And spills the upper boulders in the sun;
...There where it is we do not need the wall:
He is all pine and I am apple orchard.
My apple trees will never get across
And eat the cones under his pines, I tell him.
He only says, 'Good fences make good neighbors.'

Robert Frost

[North Star]

Something there is that doesn't love a wall,
That sends the frozen-ground-swell under it,
And spills the upper boulders in the sun;
And makes gaps even two can pass abreast.
The work of hunters is another thing:
I have come after them and made repair
Where they have left not one stone on a stone,
But they would have the rabbit out of hiding,
To please the yelping dogs. The gaps I mean,
No one has seen them made or heard them made,
But at spring mending-time we find them there.
I let my neighbour know beyond the hill;
And on a day we meet to walk the line
And set the wall between us once again.
We keep the wall between us as we go.
To each the boulders that have fallen to each.
And some are loaves and some so nearly balls
We have to use a spell to make them balance:
"Stay where you are until our backs are turned!"
We wear our fingers rough with handling them.
Oh, just another kind of out-door game,
One on a side. It comes to little more:
There where it is we do not need the wall:
He is all pine and I am apple orchard.
My apple trees will never get across
And eat the cones under his pines, I tell him.
He only says, "Good fences make good neighbours."
Spring is the mischief in me, and I wonder
If I could put a notion in his head:
"Why do they make good neighbours? Isn't it
Where there are cows? But here there are no cows.
Before I built a wall I'd ask to know
What I was walling in or walling out,
And to whom I was like to give offence.
Something there is that doesn't love a wall,
That wants it down." I could say "Elves" to him,
But it's not elves exactly, and I'd rather
He said it for himself. I see him there
Bringing a stone grasped firmly by the top
In each hand, like an old-stone savage armed.
He moves in darkness as it seems to me,
Not of woods only and the shade of trees.
He will not go behind his father's saying,
And he likes having thought of it so well
He says again, "Good fences make good neighbours."

[Todd]

The problem is, it wouldn't be true, and people would know.

True, and the Democrats have already made clear that either Trump is not their president (very meme-y) or they will work actively to block him, so whatever he may say is irrelevant to the American left.  That's why some of the pleas, on this very forum, no less, for him to say something about the protests/riots occurring now are fundamentally disingenuous.

What happened to Christie for Transportation? I also like Ben Carson for Agriculture.

If Giuliani doesn't want AG, Christie may want it.  Christie for Transportation would make for some fun hearings.  Maybe Carson gets HHS.

[Todd]

I don't believe it!

[Todd]

A spiffy, modernized NAFTA on its way?

[kishnevi]

A spiffy, modernized NAFTA on its way?

To be fair to Trump, he said from the start that his first preference was for improving NAFTA, not totally ending it.

Of course, what Canada and Mexico think of as improvements are not likely to match Trump's idea.

[Todd]

To be fair to Trump, he said from the start that his first preference was for improving NAFTA, not totally ending it.

Of course, what Canada and Mexico think of as improvements are not likely to match Trump's idea.

It took only three days from the election to get a response.  It looks like an interested steel boss is Trump's USTR transition guy.  Could be fun for all involved.

[Que]

I don't believe it!

I do....  I guess there is an upside to Trump's unreliability. Didn't Trump hijack the Republican party whilst not being a Conservative at heart on many issues?
I think the Republican party is making a mistake in thinking this is "their" president. No matter how you look at it, Trump has proven to be very much his own man and he doesn't take orders from anyone. In my estimation he is not going to keep the most radical promises he made, and will try to make up for it on the economy and jobs. I actually agree with sanantonio on this.

Before you know it, he might strike a deal with moderate Republicans and Democrats on modifications to "Obamacare" that are actual improvements...
How else is he going to improve the fate of the impoverished rural lower middle class that voted for him? By taking away their health care?
Also, if he wants to give them back their "outsourced" jobs or create new ones, someone has to take the financial burden in terms if lost profit or necessary tax revenues for that. It might be big corporations and high finance that are going to pick up the tab on that?

The money will also come from big expenditure cuts on foreign policy. From a European perspective Trump's isolationism is going to be most interesting.
Trump is no longer willing to pay for keeping NATO afloat, and he is actually quite right. Though whoever pays, is calling the shots - a more isolationist course will decrease the global influence of the US. Since Europeans are going to have fend for themselves in the event that Putin will try to regain some of Russia's sphere of influence,  there is already talk behind the scenes on an European army. The European Union will have to pick itself up and reinvent itself to face the current crises. And we are now on our own. The biggest opposers to a common European defence policy are the Brits, who are conveniently making their way towards the exit...

The Brexiteers were overjoyed by Trump's victory,  him being a kindred spirit and all.. But those who actually thought it over realized that if America comes 1st, the rest of the world will come last.....including Britain. It is slowly sinking in that the US is not going to do Britain any "special favours" and once the UK leaves the EU, it will be "out in the cold alone"... So...Trump's ascent to power will actually work against Brexit, and any similar anti-EU sentiments throughout Europe for that matter...

Q

[Turner]

Contrary to tradition, it seems that Trump will not be living permanently in the White House, since he prefers New York, whereas Melania will.

Also, that "he was shocked to have won the election" (?), and plans to continue his rallies, which "are tremendous opportunities to get his messages out".

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/12/us/politics/trump-president.html?_r=0