Is Trump already a lame duck president?

[Aryeh Jay]

Curly was much better than Shemp.

And Shemp was better than Curly Joe.

 

[TLK Valentine]

What is striking about DJT is how unpopular he is among members of his own party. And so soon in the game. A fair number of mainstream Republicans truly hate the man's guts. I can't recall any President in my lifetime so disliked by his party so early into his term. Richard Nixon and Jimmy Carter certainly dismayed a lot of people. But the only Democrat I can can think of coming close to arousing such intense, visceral animosity might be LBJ. And that was because of the Viet Nam war.

Well you have to remember how DJT campaigned... no jibe was too personal, no blow too low. He sacrificed any chance of reconciliation with his soon to be allies in order to score points with the voters for his "anti-establishment" attitude.

Now that he has the big chair, of course, it's not the voters who are going help him get things done... it's the same "establishment" he spent the campaign burning bridges with. He sacrificed the long term to attain the short-term goal.

 

[TLK Valentine]

Any GOP politician with an eye on re-election (and that's pretty much all of them at any given moment) is turning over in their heads their odds in a Trump presidency vs a non-Trump presidency... and probably finding the latter more appealing.

Trump made it to the WH on an "anti-Establishment" platform... now he is the Establishment... which means that future such claims might actually mean something.

 

[Rion]

Thing is I was willing to give Trump time. Then he started rolling out horrible action one after another. He's thoroughly demonstrated himself to be even worse than feared. I'm really hoping we don't have to endure ~46 more months of this monster, its already been too much wasted time.

Monster...? Bush and Obama must've been terrible for you.

 

[TLK Valentine]

Monster...? Bush and Obama must've been terrible for you.

Bush, at least in the later years, had a certain "deer in the headlights" quality about him which made it hard to blame him too hard for anything... you knew it was the men behind the curtain doing the real damage... this was probably by design -- I'd heard it said from sources near him that Bush tended to put on a stupid act in order to be less intimidating and more appealing... if this is true, it worked.

Obama.... I'm just not seeing the horror there. Minus the Right's Narrative, and he'll probably go down in history as an incredibly average president...

I don't think anyone gets either of those feelings from Mr. Trump.

 

[AirPo]

Bush, at least in the later years, had a certain "deer in the headlights" quality about him which made it hard to blame him too hard for anything... you knew it was the men behind the curtain doing the real damage... this was probably by design -- I'd heard it said from sources near him that Bush tended to put on a stupid act in order to be less intimidating and more appealing... if this is true, it worked.

Obama.... I'm just not seeing the horror there. Minus the Right's Narrative, and he'll probably go down in history as an incredibly average president...

I don't think anyone gets either of those feelings from Mr. Trump.

In the later years??? Do you remember 9/11?

 

[Rion]

Bush, at least in the later years, had a certain "deer in the headlights" quality about him which made it hard to blame him too hard for anything... you knew it was the men behind the curtain doing the real damage... this was probably by design -- I'd heard it said from sources near him that Bush tended to put on a stupid act in order to be less intimidating and more appealing... if this is true, it worked.

Obama.... I'm just not seeing the horror there. Minus the Right's Narrative, and he'll probably go down in history as an incredibly average president...

I don't think anyone gets either of those feelings from Mr. Trump.

Considering how much of Obama was just the third and fourth terms of W., with a side order of race baiting, I find it pretty hilarious you have such a different response to both of them. As for Trump, he may or may not end up worse than both of them, but for now he has yet to be the monster both of them were. He is just starting out though, so who knows?

 

[TLK Valentine]

In the later years??? Do you remember 9/11?

Yes. And that was his good time. Check out his SOTU that he gave immediately afterwards, on 9/20/01 --

I'll be the first to admit -- he had me with this speech. If he had stayed this course, he would've kept me... and probably a lot more of the country.... but he didn't, and as a result left office with a lower approval rating than root canal.

He had the support of the country and the world... true, it didn't take long after that to squander it, but my point is that it didn't take long after that to make it clear that there were other, darker forces at work *cough*Cheney*cough*Rumsfeld**cough* -- or at least, to make it look that way. That folksy "Texas act," as I've heard it called, worked... to a degree.

Trump can't pull that stunt... even if it was obvious that the likes of Bannon and Sessions are pulling the strings (as they probably are), Trump has no such charm to hide behind.

 

[TLK Valentine]

Considering how much of Obama was just the third and fourth terms of W., with a side order of race baiting, I find it pretty hilarious you have such a different response to both of them.

Well, your sense of humor does escape a lot of people... hilarity noted.

Obama at least made it clear that he was trying to undo what the previous administration had wrought. How much of that failure was on him, and how much was on the Obstructionism he faced, I leave to the history books. He at least made the effort... and let the world see him making the effort.

Too much in the Bush Administration's plan involved getting out of Dodge before the excrement hit the air conditioner... not necessarily his plan, although in the end, he has to take responsibility for that.

As for Trump, he may or may not end up worse than both of them, but for now he has yet to be the monster both of them were. He is just starting out though, so who knows?

Monster? More like bull in a China shop.

 

[Rion]

Well, your sense of humor does escape a lot of people... hilarity noted.

Obama at least made it clear that he was trying to undo what the previous administration had wrought. How much of that failure was on him, and how much was on the Obstructionism he faced, I leave to the history books. He at least made the effort... and let the world see him making the effort.

Can you point to examples...? Because I'm not seeing it.

 

[The Barbarian]

What is going on is that both parties are experiencing a paradigm shift,

Yeah, kinda. If you told someone in the 1960s that the republicans would elect someone who bragged about sexually assaulting women, and did a part in a soft-core inappropriate content flick, with a first lady who poses for nude pictures, they would have had you committed.

It's not your father's republican party. It's Larry Flynn's party.

 

[The Barbarian]

The real question is whether the American electorate will be willing to continue rewarding Republicans with majorities in the House and Senate in 2018, if they are unable to get their act together!

They are, by inclination an opposition party, not capable of governing.

 

[TLK Valentine]

Can you point to examples...? Because I'm not seeing it.

For eight years the GOP blasted Obama for his foreign policy... criticizing his "apology tours."

Were they hallucinating?

 

[Rion]

For eight years the GOP blasted Obama for his foreign policy... criticizing his "apology tours."

Were they hallucinating?

I'm talking actual policy. Not grandstanding.

 

[TLK Valentine]

I'm talking actual policy. Not grandstanding.

I'm talking about anything. I said "making the effort, and be seen making it."

Appearance is reality in politics, grasshopper...

 

[Rion]

BTW, anyone see Lawrence O'Donnell's piece on this? He made Keith Oberman look sane by comparison.