Donald John Trump: 2016 President-Elect

[Ceindreadh]

8 hours ago, ruby24 said:

God, those numbers. This seems so, so wrong every time I look at it. What kind of democracy are we if the person who gets 2 million LESS votes gets handed the presidency anyway?

I wish there was SOME sort of contingency plan in the Constitution for a situation like this, where the gap was this dramatic. Something that said, in the case of a million more votes given to the candidate who lost the EC then...I don't know, some sort of run-off must take place.

The EC is the contingency plan. The whole point of it was to make sure than an unqualified candidate- no matter how popular they were with the masses - wouldn't automatically become president.  

Thats why people are keeping their fingers crossed for 'faithless Electors' who aren't necessarily going to vote for Trump just because he 'won' their state. 

[slf]

12 hours ago, Jordan27 said:

That her and cohorts knew those emails were a problem and were looking for ways to get rid of them.

That's a bit vague, could you please be more specific. Like if you had to single out one email as an example...

Quote

 

I've only seen plenty of angry libs, antagonistic libs, hateful libs and violent liberal protests. 

Mostly just crybabies because they lost the election.

 

Unfortunately I've seen otherwise. I've seen Muslim women harassed as they've walked down the street, I've watched as as people screamed at Latino children to get out of America, I've seen "selfies" of pro-Trump militia-style groups from more than a dozen states saying they're ready to "take back their country". And more. Almost every day I've watched the news since Trump was elected (but even before) there are right-wing individuals and groups being hateful. Trump's really stirred the pot.

[PatsyandEddie]

IA slf. Trump stirred the pot to get elected. He bullied from his podium and now people think that it's completely fine to verbally or physically attack others. 

People aren't protesting that they lost,they are protesting that the process was rigged in Trump's favour by outsiders hacking into the system and the spread of fake news by internet trolls and "useful idiots". 

[mythoughtis]

Cruz and other Republican politicians post nuanced thoughtful responses to Fidel Castro dying. Trump sends out a tweet 'Fidel Castro is dead!'.  Why did he even bother if that is all he has to say?  Our least informed president- elect ever.  

[Jolee]

12 hours ago, ruby24 said:

God, those numbers. This seems so, so wrong every time I look at it. What kind of democracy are we if the person who gets 2 million LESS votes gets handed the presidency anyway?

I wish there was SOME sort of contingency plan in the Constitution for a situation like this, where the gap was this dramatic. Something that said, in the case of a million more votes given to the candidate who lost the EC then...I don't know, some sort of run-off must take place.

The Electoral College is the contingency plan, written into the Constitution.

The EC is to prevent "mob" rule, or large population areas from deciding for the rest of the Country.

[fishcakes]

The Electoral College was not about preventing mob rule; it was about protecting the financial interests of slaveholders. It was proposed by James Madison to give southern slaveholding states more influence in national elections. At the time, blacks made up nearly nearly half the population of Virginia, where Madison lived and owned slaves, but because blacks could not vote, northern free states would outnumber southern slave states in a popular vote system. Therefore, Madison proposed the Electoral College, which included the three-fifths compromise, allowing states to count a black person as 3/5 of a person in order to give the southern states more electoral votes. The total number of electoral college votes needed to win the 1789 election was 69. By counting slaves, Virginia got 10 electoral votes, which made it one of the most influential states in determining the president. Pennsylvania and Massachusetts also had 10 votes, but both had smaller black populations, meaning that an individual vote in Virginia was worth more than an individual vote in either Pennsylvania or Massachusetts. With the exception of the 1796 election of John Adams, the first ten presidential elections were won by slaveholders from Virginia.

Edited November 26, 2016 by fishcakes

[Chicken Wing]

Quote

The Electoral College was not about preventing mob rule; it was about protecting the financial interests of slaveholders.

Both are true. There were many reasons behind the Founders' logic in creating the EC, very few of them having any real relevance today...

[fishcakes]

Both are true only if the founders believed that "states that have more voters should have more say" = "mob rule." Which I guess they did, but the basis for that is their own economic and political interests.

[needschocolate]

Well, I didn't think it would last...I needed a laugh so I checked out my newest favorite laugh source - the Amazon paige for the "Trump Make America Great Again Red Cap Collectible Ornament" and someone at Amazon must have been pushing the delete key recently.  Last time I checked, there were over 3.700 reviews, now there are less than 400.  However, the "top critical review" and the "top positive review" are both anti-Trump so I am not sure what parameters they used to figure out which ones to delete.

On the plus side, the number of questions and answers has increased and they are a good source of laughs.

[potatoradio]

Yo, Tubbo orange cruddy toenail fungus -

I'm following the Carrier Heating/AC story. You know, your big promise to keep/move jobs back to 'Murrca? You said you would 100% guarantee (sound like an infomercial? Nah...) that you would keep Carrier in Indy. You said you were working SOOOOOO hard, even on THANKGSIVING, to make this happen and that you'd know soon. 

Because you're just such a killer negotiator. 

And, gee, you worked SO Hard on Thanksgiving to "reach out" to Carrier. Yes, "reach out." You made a phone call? You talked to someone? THAT'S working hard? Ohhh, color me impressed.

See, this is kinda interesting because these "deals" you think you're going to make are actually pretty complicated, so see if your orange cheese goo brain can try to follow along:

1. To impose a tariff on Carrier if they move to Mexico, you'd have to dismantle NAFTA before the end of 2017. 

2. You can't slap a tax on a business as president. Congress does that.

3. Think you could step in and convince even your most boot-licking rats to withdraw from NAFTA and tax a corporation? Think again. You'll step in it bigly. 

I'm sure your Death Eater Little miss will come up with a way to make it seem like someone else's fault, but then you've pissed off Congress because you make them look bad and they need votes sooner than you do.

So much for your business acumen. Even Snotty Walker knows to blame the unions for good-paying jobs and safe conditions and real legal clout. 

But I'll be following these stories because I'm going to need them as evidence that you have no idea how to create jobs for people who are hurting and who you conned. 

Edited November 26, 2016 by potatoradio

[Padma]

7 hours ago, Ceindreadh said:

The EC is the contingency plan. The whole point of it was to make sure than an unqualified candidate- no matter how popular they were with the masses - wouldn't automatically become president.  

Thats why people are keeping their fingers crossed for 'faithless Electors' who aren't necessarily going to vote for Trump just because he 'won' their state. 

I think they should uncross their fingers. I think that when we vote for a candidate what we're really doing is voting for THEIR electors to be the ones voting from our state.  So it's not like they're the same electors for all candidates. These are Trump electors. They're not switching.

And isn't it ironic how differently this would be handled if the situation were reversed? You know darn well #1 he would never have conceded until all votes were counted and #2 He would never concede if he was ahead by even ONE popular vote! 

Moreover, his supporters would be in the streets, every day, yelling about the "rigged system" and how "crooked Hillary" was stealing a democratic election through the Electoral College and ignoring the will of the people!

But...it's Democrats who have the popular vote win so, of course, they roll over on Day 1 and are, from the top, annoyingly passive.

So..once again...even though it doesn't address the systematic voter suppression that was designed to invalidate thousands of Hillary Clinton votes in battleground states, I still say...Thank you, Jill Stein!

[KerleyQ]

14 hours ago, bitchin camaro said:

Exactly. And the thing about the EC is that we really have no idea what the actual will of the people is. If you live in a red state, you've got to love the candidate or love the process to bother getting out there to vote. Same goes for Republicans in the blue states. The fact that half the country didn't even bother to show up is telling. (Although I may be being a little optimistic in thinking very many of those people have ever heard of the electoral college, much less understand how it works.)

I think you're right.  It amazes me how, every four years, you see people asking what the electoral college is.  I think their basic understanding of it pretty much falls to something like this - "my state always goes blue/red, all that matters is what happens in {insert swing state here}."  I'd be willing to bet that the vast majority don't know, for example, that the actual results aren't going to be official until December 19th, or that it is even possible that a state could go against the person who won it.  I'm guessing that more people know that this year than in the past, since it's been brought up on social media so much over the past two weeks, but I think they still don't actually get the concept.  

6 hours ago, slf said:

That's a bit vague, could you please be more specific. Like if you had to single out one email as an example...

Unfortunately I've seen otherwise. I've seen Muslim women harassed as they've walked down the street, I've watched as as people screamed at Latino children to get out of America, I've seen "selfies" of pro-Trump militia-style groups from more than a dozen states saying they're ready to "take back their country". And more. Almost every day I've watched the news since Trump was elected (but even before) there are right-wing individuals and groups being hateful. Trump's really stirred the pot.

Exactly.  I think that most of us who are upset aren't being sore losers.  If Hillary had lost to a Jeb or a Kasich, there wouldn't be so much anger and protesting.  Yes, there would still be some people who are angry that the person who took more than 2 million more votes lost, but that would eventually die down or at least quiet down to some die hards over time.  But, the situation we have now is not like that.  A lot of us are in genuine fear for various communities in this country who are going to be targeted both by his stated policies and by the hatred and anger towards them that he stoked and validated among his supporters.  

Trump supporters tend to find it handy to break down Hillary supporters to a very broad and simple generalization.  First it was "you're only voting for her because she's a woman."  Now, it's "you're just being crybabies because your candidate didn't win."  Neither is accurate.  Might there be some who fall into those camps?  Of course.  But, there are a whole lot of us who were voting for her because we took the time to research the policies proposed by both candidates and we felt hers were the best for our country.  And there are a lot of us who aren't taking this like it's a loss for their favorite sports team, but we're taking it as a loss for humanity.  We're concerned that this man, with his combination of hateful, careless rhetoric and complete lack of preparation for and understanding of the job, will be a genuine danger to people in our country and around the world.  We're concerned that this man has deep ties to Russia, that those deep ties resulted in various hacks to his opponent's campaign and into government systems.  We're concerned that he's expressed a desire to decimate our relationships with our allies in favor of supporting Putin and his regime's desire to take over various small countries in his region.  We're concerned that his alignment with Putin may mean that we join Putin in supporting Bassad's murderous regime in Syria, which has led to countless deaths of innocents, including children.  We're concerned that his cabinet appointments will be disastrous for our economy, our environment, and our education system, so, basically disastrous for our children's future, our grandchildren's future.  We're concerned because he has a casual, almost eager attitude towards nuclear weapons.  We're concerned because he's proudly pro-torture.  We're concerned because he will destroy decades or centuries old alliances because he doesn't like the way the leader of another nation blinked when meeting him.  

No crybaby mentality here.  My candidates have lost in the past, and they'll lose in the future.  That's how the system works.  But never before has my candidate lost to someone who's reign (and let's make no mistake about it, he thinks of this as a reign) can be so damaging to so many.  And not simply on an economic level, but on a life and death level.  On a being able to walk to school or the store without being harassed or physically harmed level.  There is nothing in me that will allow me to not speak up when this stuff happens.  

30 minutes ago, Padma said:

I think they should uncross their fingers. I think that when we vote for a candidate what we're really doing is voting for THEIR electors to be the ones voting from our state.  So it's not like they're the same electors for all candidates. These are Trump electors. They're not switching.

And isn't it ironic how differently this would be handled if the situation were reversed? You know darn well #1 he would never have conceded until all votes were counted and #2 He would never concede if he was ahead by even ONE popular vote! 

Moreover, his supporters would be in the streets, every day, yelling about the "rigged system" and how "crooked Hillary" was stealing a democratic election through the Electoral College and ignoring the will of the people!

But...it's Democrats who have the popular vote win so, of course, they roll over on Day 1 and are, from the top, annoyingly passive.

So..once again...even though it doesn't address the systematic voter suppression that was designed to invalidate thousands of Hillary Clinton votes in battleground states, I still say...Thank you, Jill Stein!

Trump himself whined about the "unfair" EC system back in 2012.  And, another fail on the media here - it's still out there, and the media hasn't brought it up at all, even in light of the extreme disparity between the EC and popular vote this time.  How can they not ask Trump, or one of his minions, about his anger at the EC back then, and how it ended up that the EC system is what got him the win, regardless of the actual vote totals?  

[Rapunzel]

According to various news sources (real ones), apparently Obama was the one that urged Hillary to concede on Election Night. Her campaign urged her to wait until all the votes were counted and that is what Hillary intended to do originally, however, Obama called her when he saw how MI, PA and WI came in and “urged her to concede.”

It seems a bit unlike him, so I wonder why he wouldn’t have agreed with her to wait a while longer. Some claim that this is part of the “go high” strategy and to basically make a graceful exit and not look like a sore loser. In any case, I don’t think waiting another day or so would have hurt anything – especially given that was suspicion that Russia had interfered. Hell, people speculated Russia would tamper with the votes even before the voting started.

From The Hill:

Quote

“You need to concede,” Obama told his former secretary of State as she, her family, and her top aides continued to watch results trickle in from the key Rust Belt states of Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania. The latter state, called after 1:30 a.m. by The Associated Press, was the clear tipping point for the White House race, ensuring Trump would crest over the 270 electoral-vote threshold needed to win. 

Clinton ultimately heeded Obama’s advice and called Trump to acknowledge her defeat in the early morning hours Wednesday.

White House officials did not immediately return requests for comment Friday. 

Obama’s call left a sour taste in the mouths of some Clinton allies who believe she should have waited longer, and there’s now a fight playing out between the Obama and Clinton camps over whether to support an effort to force the Rust Belt states to recount their votes.

Inside Clinton’s room at the Peninsula Hotel in Manhattan, where aides were on the phone with boiler rooms at the campaign headquarters in Brooklyn and the Clintons’ midtown office, there was still hope as election night stretched on. Their goal was to hold off as long as possible.  

Obama’s call changed that.

“There was a lot of discussion about Michigan and Wisconsin and whether the numbers could flip it,” said one of the sources, all of whom spoke on the condition of anonymity. This source said the final numbers were so close that Clinton might not have placed her call to Trump without a push.

“If anybody knew what actually happened that night, no one would have conceded,” the source said.

In any case, as we now know, Jill Stein has raised the money to get recounts in MI, PA and WI, which are states that may have been tampered with. Stein knows that this isn’t going to improve her chances, so it seems she is basically doing this to help Hillary and also perhaps to help prevent any future tampering from taking place as Russia’s involvement in this election, along with that of Comey, was unusual. Trump's all to cozy relationship with Russia is odd, as is the fact that it is believed he won't releases his taxes, in part, because he's borrowed money from Russia.

Intelligence Agencies know that Russia hacked the e-mails and the DNC, they definitely could have hacked voting machines and the fact that they only hacked the e-mails on one side of the campaign is truly suspect and also, some of the MSNBC shows have mentioned that the Trump camp appeared to have advance knowledge of when the news on the e-mails was going to be leaked and also likely knew there was nothing damning on them. Hillary lost by about 10k votes in MI and, in the disputed states, there were apparent discrepancies between counties that voted electronically vs. those that used paper ballots. A win by so few votes in a state by Trump, especially when he lost the popular vote so "bigly" and the gap continues to grow there, should definitely warrant a recount and additional investigation.

Also, according to Clinton's campaign counsel, it appears they are  now going to get behind the recount as well.

This should be interesting. I can only hope that that Orange Blob of Goo is told he actually lost and that the whole world knows he cheated. How likely it is, I don't know, but many things that have happened this election have been truly unprecedented. If there were ever a time for something like this to happen and to have the recount reverse the outcome, this would be it. I won't get my hopes up too high, but at least they're now doing something about it.

Edited November 26, 2016 by Rapunzel
Typos

[sistermagpie]

4 hours ago, PatsyandEddie said:

People aren't protesting that they lost,they are protesting that the process was rigged in Trump's favour by outsiders hacking into the system and the spread of fake news by internet trolls and "useful idiots". 

I think many are protesting simply to stand up against the values that Trump ran on and stands for. It’s important to say that even though we now have a government that’s based on attacking a lot of innocent people, and run by an incompetent who’s in it purely for personal gain, who's proven he’ll cover up for a foreign power spying on the US if it benefits him personally—even when US intelligence has confirmed that spying for him, the majority of the country doesn’t support those values and will be standing up to protect them.

[KerleyQ]

I just saw that Putin said at an event last night (I think last night) that Russia's borders do not end anywhere.  Of course, I could discount it as the normal boastings of a dictator, but, considering his ties to Trump and Trump's Putin-friendly foreign policy ideals, it's a bit unnerving.  

I've seen more than one person say they voted Trump because Putin said that, if Hillary won, there would be war.  My response was "did it ever occur to you to wonder why he's so invested in our outcome and in Trump's win?  And, why would you want to condone a hostile foreign leader's attempts to influence our electoral process?"  

There's a reason that man so badly wanted Trump in the White House.  I'm genuinely concerned as to how we'll all find out what that reason was.  

[mojoween]

I was cleaning up the DVR today and watched the magnificent film "Before the Flood."  It made me fall more in love with Leonardo DiCaprio and wish that FOX News could be extinguished from the airwaves because the shit their anchors say on the regular is not only wrong, it's dangerous.

What it also did was make me very sad, and not for the reasons you would think.  Leo was SO HOPEFUL with the Paris negotiations.  He was so happy that the signatures meant some real positive change was going to come sooner than later.

Then what happens.  An orange, small-handed, race-baiting, misogynistic, homophobic, flip-flopping, short-tempered tyrant who is in bed with the Russians and has the most deplorable temperament and choice of allies steals the election and climbs into bed with idiots who declare climate change a fantastic hoax drummed up by liberal scientists for some reason the dumbasses cannot articulate.  And he has already declared that he is going to break the Paris Agreement.  Most likely because there is no money in it for him so what the fuck does he care?

I hate him.  I hate everything he stands for.  I hate that he's going to get away with and I hate that I cannot understand why.

[SoSueMe]

5 hours ago, mythoughtis said:

Cruz and other Republican politicians post nuanced thoughtful responses to Fidel Castro dying. Trump sends out a tweet 'Fidel Castro is dead!'.  Why did he even bother if that is all he has to say?  Our least informed president- elect ever.  

I agree. As pointed out on the news, the exclamation point made it appear celebratory. Not very statesmanlike.

[DollEyes]

On 11/22/2016 at 0:28 PM, izabella said:

Well, so far, he's been right about the rules.  He not a king, but he IS an Emperor with No Clothes as long as enough people play along with, which they did to elect him.  He DID just summon the press to his castle and lecture them and got away with it, I'm sure to many cheers from his base for going after MSM.  He CAN just go wherever he wants, though he has to take SS with him, AND he can call for a parade of people to come visit him in trump castle as a teaser for who he might select for his cabinet - the trump reality show has begun.  He DOESN'T have to reveal his tax returns like every other candidate.  He DOESN'T have to distance himself from conflicts of interest with his businesses and he CAN keep his children as his unofficial advisors as long as he doesn't make them Cabinet members.  He CAN and DOES love Putin.  He DOESN'T and WON'T come out and condemn the white supremacists who love him and are joyful to have him in office.  He CAN and DOES tweet all day long, shaping his narrative and distracting everyone from his fraud settlement.  He HAS already backtracked on his campaign promises, and his base still thinks he's the best thing ever.

Makes me sick to say it, but yes, the rules seem to have no impact.

ETA - and while I'm on my rant, as long as everyone keeps calling the white supremacists "nationialists," it legitimizes them!  Stop playing along MSM!  Stop calling them nationalists, and stop calling his first corporate tax cut an "infrastructure" plan!! 

Oh, I already know about all those things; my point is that Trump needs as many reality checks as possible, whether it's someone telling him how tough the job of President really is or it's someone reminding the orange-tinted turd that he not only didn't win the popular vote, he's losing it by 2 million votes-and counting. The more Trump crosses the line, the more he needs to get put on blast, in no uncertain terms. If Trump thinks he's just gonna get his way for the next 4 years-if he lasts that long, that is-then he's in for one rude awakening after another. 

Edited November 28, 2016 by DollEyes

[Duke Silver]

https://twitter.com/PGourevitch/status/802577516737216513

[ruby24]

I'm upset that Obama urged her to concede and she did it. He's been part of the problem in terms of treating this like it's normal, when there isn't anything normal about it. The stakes are too high and the country is in grave danger. It'd be a different story if it was any other Republican. And there are way too many fishy things going on! With the Russian interference alone, I mean that's crazy!

Also, this popular vote spread is insane, and it needs to be emphasized as much as possible. This is WRONG. It's wrong that she could win by millions of votes and lose the election, that is not democracy. It's also unprecedented, it's not a normal, "nothing to see here" kind of thing. Obama hasn't even said anything about this, has he?

See, I don't like it, I feel like he's perpetuating Trump's normalization and there needs to be resistance from the start on this. Everything is wrong and completely unacceptable here.

[Rapunzel]

1 hour ago, ruby24 said:

I'm upset that Obama urged her to concede and she did it. He's been part of the problem in terms of treating this like it's normal, when there isn't anything normal about it. The stakes are too high and the country is in grave danger. It'd be a different story if it was any other Republican. And there are way too many fishy things going on! With the Russian interference alone, I mean that's crazy!

Also, this popular vote spread is insane, and it needs to be emphasized as much as possible. This is WRONG. It's wrong that she could win by millions of votes and lose the election, that is not democracy. It's also unprecedented, it's not a normal, "nothing to see here" kind of thing. Obama hasn't even said anything about this, has he?

See, I don't like it, I feel like he's perpetuating Trump's normalization and there needs to be resistance from the start on this. Everything is wrong and completely unacceptable here.

I agree. I had a hard time reading about it which is why I posted about it here. I would have thought Obama would have waited a little bit before asking her to concede, or at least have a face to face with her to go over the pros and cons of waiting until all the votes were counted.

I mentioned early on in the campaign that the "When they go low, we go high" slogan, while a good motto to live by and, generally a good way to deal with bullies, may have hurt the campaign here as well. As much as I love the Obamas and as much as I think he is a great President and did a lot of great things, especially when you consider the nightmare he walked into in 2008, I think there is a time when you have to go a little low. Campaigning against a dirtbag like Trump who pulled in Russia, who threw out the rule book, who outright lied and cheated his way to the Presidency, is one of those times. You do not have to drag it into the gutter, but the man has so many flaws, so many issues and so many things that could have been used against him in fairly powerful ways. If things like that were brought up enough by the Dems (the abuse of his "charity," the hacking of the e-mails and the DNC by Russia and why Trump wasn't also hacked, Comey's involvement, Trump claiming not to know Putin, Trump's conflict of interest issues regarding his personal business, how he ran that personal business and the 6 times he filed for bankruptcy and the trickle down effect that had on the laborers that he refused to pay, the sexual abuse, the ties to the KKK, his relentless, petty, Twitter tantrums filled with lies, his hypersensitivity, his inability to handle himself in a manner fit to be a human being, let alone be President, etc.), perhaps things would have been different and the MSM would have given things like this more coverage if it were pushed more by the Dems. They seemed to really want to stick with the "When they go low, we go high," however, and they likely didn't want to appear hypocritical and, again, overall it's a good motto to live by - it just isn't very effective against a misogynistic, lying, hypocritical, bigoted, homophobic, demented, sociopathic racist like Trump.

At least we have a small bit of hope left in this recount, but again, I'm not holding out a lot of hope. I am glad to see we're doing something about it and that Hillary and her people have decided to support it, though it's unclear whether or not Obama supports it. It's relatively new and I don't think I've seen a statement from him on it, but with everything that has gone on in this election and the fact that so many things have been so unprecedented, the chance that the voting machines were hacked or interfered with in some way by Russia is not beyond the realm of possibility. If they even determine that the counts were off but still favored Trump but that there was, indeed, tampering, that would say an awful lot and the Republicans would be more motivated to try to get Trump out. The man has admitted to breaking the law regarding his "charity" and committing perjury - if votes were tampered with on top of that, how can they justify keeping him around? He is going to drag them all down with him if they don't step up and kick his corrupt, orange, lying, cheating ass out of there.

Edited November 26, 2016 by Rapunzel

[Padma]

1 hour ago, ruby24 said:

I'm upset that Obama urged her to concede and she did it. He's been part of the problem in terms of treating this like it's normal, when there isn't anything normal about it. The stakes are too high and the country is in grave danger. It'd be a different story if it was any other Republican. And there are way too many fishy things going on! With the Russian interference alone, I mean that's crazy!

Also, this popular vote spread is insane, and it needs to be emphasized as much as possible. This is WRONG. It's wrong that she could win by millions of votes and lose the election, that is not democracy. It's also unprecedented, it's not a normal, "nothing to see here" kind of thing. Obama hasn't even said anything about this, has he?

See, I don't like it, I feel like he's perpetuating Trump's normalization and there needs to be resistance from the start on this. Everything is wrong and completely unacceptable here.

THIS times a thousand.

[stormy]

ITA with mythoughts.

This supreme asshole can't even put together a decent thought that isn't anymore mature than a 12 year old.

Why should we, as decent humans and Americans, expect anything to come from the mouth of this arrogant goon to sound like what we take for granted from our president.

January 20, 2017 will be the day the earth stood still. 

[KerleyQ]

To be fair to President Obama, he's in a unique situation right now in that he in position to potentially have some influence on Trump through the transition.  Sure, he can aggressively call him out on stuff, but that will just cause Trump to do things just to spite him.  I'm sure he's figured out by now that Trump is, to some degree, malleable if you have his ear and he thinks you like him.   If he's publicly neutral, and if he is friendly during their private conversations, he has a greater chance of influencing decisions.  I'm sure that, privately, he'd love nothing more than for these recount efforts to lead to a change, but until they do, he has to try to do what's best, and, for now, that's maintaining a position to have some level of influence on Trump during the transition.  

[mythoughtis]

Trump has since released a better statement, but it's not his words. Too many complete sentences and multi- syllable words. No way he came up with even a basic outline to give a speechwriter. 

[PatsyandEddie]

4 hours ago, sistermagpie said:

I think many are protesting simply to stand up against the values that Trump ran on and stands for. It’s important to say that even though we now have a government that’s based on attacking a lot of innocent people, and run by an incompetent who’s in it purely for personal gain, who's proven he’ll cover up for a foreign power spying on the US if it benefits him personally—even when US intelligence has confirmed that spying for him, the majority of the country doesn’t support those values and will be standing up to protect them.

Absolutely. You said it much better than I could. People don't want to give power or support to a racist,lying shyster 

[NewDigs]

6 hours ago, Padma said:

But...it's Democrats who have the popular vote win so, of course, they roll over on Day 1 and are, from the top, annoyingly passive.

Exactly. My throat has become ragged from yelling, Fiiiight!!!, over these many years.

9 hours ago, mythoughtis said:

Cruz and other Republican politicians post nuanced thoughtful responses to Fidel Castro dying. Trump sends out a tweet 'Fidel Castro is dead!'.  Why did he even bother if that is all he has to say?  Our least informed president- elect ever.  

He probably wasn't sure if he had any lucrative Cuban business interests before he went out on a limb.

Rumor is he plans on rolling back that EO. 

Well, that one and all the rest.

Edited November 26, 2016 by NewDigs

[SoSueMe]

1 hour ago, KerleyQ said:

To be fair to President Obama, he's in a unique situation right now in that he in position to potentially have some influence on Trump through the transition.  Sure, he can aggressively call him out on stuff, but that will just cause Trump to do things just to spite him.  I'm sure he's figured out by now that Trump is, to some degree, malleable if you have his ear and he thinks you like him.   If he's publicly neutral, and if he is friendly during their private conversations, he has a greater chance of influencing decisions.  I'm sure that, privately, he'd love nothing more than for these recount efforts to lead to a change, but until they do, he has to try to do what's best, and, for now, that's maintaining a position to have some level of influence on Trump during the transition.  

Spot on.

It is really pathetic but Trump reminds me of that little kid in the Twilight Zone movie that had the power to hold his family hostage in cartoon land and they were afraid to challenge him on anything.

Trump will flipflop and go along with everything a fawning fan will plant in his head. I heard some audio where Steve Bannon was absolutely feeding him every little thing he wanted Trump to push and Trump was parroting it all right back to him.

[ruby24]

He literally parrots the last person he speaks to. This is why interviews with him are completely worthless. His word is worthless.

I don't even like seeing headlines like "Trump says...." Who CARES what he says? He'll say the opposite in two seconds. He has zero beliefs, principles, ideas, etc. Nothing he ever says can be taken at face value. He will be manipulated by the Republicans, Bannon, his son-in-law, at every turn.

Edited November 27, 2016 by ruby24

[lyric]

Yeah, I'm approaching a level close to hate for this man.  It's unsettling to recognize this.

[Padma]

45 minutes ago, ruby24 said:

He literally parrots the last person he speaks to. This is why interviews with him are completely worthless. His word is worthless.

I don't even like seeing headlines like "Trump says...." Who CARES what he says? He'll say the opposite in two seconds. He has zero beliefs, principles, ideas, etc. Nothing he ever says can be taken at face value. He will be manipulated by the Republicans, Bannon, his son-in-law, at every turn.

Again....THIS!

I don't...can't... excuse Obama. Is he really so naïve?  He himself called Trump "unfit to be president". He was completely right about that. Didn't he believe it, really? Where is the passion to make sure this UNFIT man doesn't take office unlawfully?  (Oh, and I heard the AG wasn't very "up" on fighting voter suppression tactics when we KNEW they were coming. On AM Joy, at least, they said Holder did a much better job of it. Why not be prepared?

And WHY should Obama assume the Republicans won honestly?  There are so many instances where that simply isn't true--and this election, with the interference for Trump by both the FBI director and Putin AND Assange, it's more suspicious than ever!!! Why is he so eager to put it all behind us without at least TRYING to eliminate some of the possible cheating? It's so aggravating. And I'm still so angry that he told Hillary to concede early. History shows us what a bad idea that is--and Podesta had already set it up to wait. Why is he such a wimp???

Also, re: the above post. Trump is amoral and doesn't KNOW anything, but he will do stuff. It will -always- be in his own best interest. Where his interest doesn't come into play, it will be from Bannon, Jerrod, Giuliani, Flynn and a couple of others--the handful of people he listens to. 

Yes, he says nice things about Obama. "I liked him. What a sense of humor! blahblah." Does Obama really think he's going to influence this guy because of his charm?  Trump is a rightwing puppet--not only stupid and greedy but apparently super lazy, too. He's not going to take policy guidance from Barack Obama or Crooked Hillary.

It is going to take a long time, apparently, for Obama to learn that his own word was true.  Donald Trump is "UNFIT", pure and simple--and worse, so are all the rightwing lackeys around him. Obama trying to normalize him at home and abroad just makes me think that, despite what he said in rallies, he really wasn't paying attention.

Trump must not be normalized.  This man is dangerous. 

[khyber]

Current betting odds in London for a trump impeachment, etc.

https://sports.ladbrokes.com/en-gb/betting/politics/american/specials/donald-trump-specials/222881036/

[Pixel]

1 hour ago, lyric said:

Yeah, I'm approaching a level close to hate for this man.  It's unsettling to recognize this.

Welcome to where I was as of a year ago. I loathe the man. 

[theredhead77]

1 hour ago, Padma said:

Again....THIS!

I don't...can't... excuse Obama. Is he really so naïve?  He himself called Trump "unfit to be president". He was completely right about that. Didn't he believe it, really? Where is the passion to make sure this UNFIT man doesn't take office unlawfully? 

I have to tell myself this is one of those times the government is saying one thing but doing another. We don't get to know everything they're doing. I hope this 'peaceful transition of power' front is just a front and there is something going on behind the scenes.

[PrincessEnnui]

I'm mad. Cary Elwes got into a twitter fight with Trump and got blocked by him and his tiny hands and no one here mentioned it. But what makes me angrier is y'all not using nickname Elwes gave him. Prince Trumperdink. Elwes will go down in history for that.

[Jediknight]

Jerry Falwell Jr was offered the position of Secretary of Education.

Oh my Zod, you can't make this stuff up.

[Chicken Wing]

I wish I were making this up:

Letters To California Mosques Praise Donald Trump, Promise Genocide

[SoSueMe]

7 minutes ago, Jediknight said:

Jerry Falwell Jr was offered the position of Secretary of Education.

Oh my Zod, you can't make this stuff up.

Cripes. I need to find out which of these jobs need confirmation from congress. This is so off the rails.

[Jediknight]

5 minutes ago, SoSueMe said:

Cripes. I need to find out which of these jobs need confirmation from congress. This is so off the rails.

All of them have to be approved by the Senate.

The Secretary of Education Trump chose is a believer in vouchers, we thought he couldn't have had a worse choice, we were wrong.

Edited November 27, 2016 by Jediknight

[stormy]

trump is so over the top outraged over Jill Stein's recall that he's shitting his pants.  What's the matter, tub  o lard, afraid they might find out the truth?

[windsprints]

[Padma]

1 hour ago, Jediknight said:

Jerry Falwell Jr was offered the position of Secretary of Education.

Oh my Zod, you can't make this stuff up.

I'm speechless.  Lucky for Falwell, SOS is still available.  Tubby excels at something--finding the most unqualified people he can (as long as they suck up).  I'm sure Romney has already figured out the point of last weekend's meeting--to humiliate him as much as possible before announcing SOS would be Giuliani. (Qualified, per Tubby's criteria, by being completely unqualified.)  But, say, Carson can be HUD director because he's lived in a house! And Giuliani has lots of businesses abroad...there! Qualified!

 

1 hour ago, PrincessEnnui said:

But what makes me angrier is y'all not using nickname Elwes gave him. Prince Trumperdink. Elwes will go down in history for that.

That's a good one and there've been a lot of good ones. But for some reason, "Tubby" speaks to me. Partly because he hates fat people so much (look in the mirror sometime, Donald!). And partly because it is insulting-but-cute and makes me smile. Also reminds me of the teletubbies. I know one was purple. Were any orange?

2 hours ago, Pixel said:

Welcome to where I was as of a year ago. I loathe the man. 

I wish I'd saved all that time. Having watched The Apprentice off and on and seen his likeability now and again, it took me a while to realize just how awful he is. But...I may have been slow... but right with y'all now! He is despicable and repulsive. It sickens me to think of him sitting in the room where Lincoln led our country through war. Or defacing JFK's desk with his sweat and spilled Diet Cokes (of course, he'll probably not use any of the WH furniture when he can get the cheap fake Louis-XIV stuff that someone has spray painted gold for him).

Loathe him and his lying, hypocritical ass ("the rigged system of voting is a disgrace and must be changed!... Oh, wait. It's working for me this year to take office without the popular vote? Never mind.") I'm cynical already, but the hypocrisy of Tubby and his followers surprises even me.

Edited November 27, 2016 by Padma

[windsprints]

HOW DONALD TRUMP’S COMPANY VIOLATED THE UNITED STATES EMBARGO AGAINST CUBA

[Duke Silver]

Go Keith go!!  hahahahaha

https://twitter.com/KeithOlbermann/status/802714539095719936

[Toomuchsoap]

4 hours ago, lyric said:

Yeah, I'm approaching a level close to hate for this man.  It's unsettling to recognize this.

Doesn't bother me in the least. My utter disgust and physical repulsion of this .. this .. thing .. ugh. Do pardon me while I excuse myself to vomit. I just thought I loathed Shrub. My god! What halcyon days those were. 

I'll repair to the solarium now. Hell is surprisingly frigid.

Edited November 27, 2016 by Toomuchsoap

[backformore]

1 hour ago, windsprints said:

EVERYBODY who has a twitter account, needs to reply to this -  that when Donald Trump thought he was going to lose - he said the election was rigged. 

[ruby24]

SO presidential and unifying. He is such a disgrace. He's made the country a disgrace to the rest of the world. This is humiliating.

[backformore]

saw this on twitter -  

BuzzFeed News ‏@BuzzFeedNews 5h5 hours ago

Google Maps Shows “Dump Tower” When You Search For NYC’s Trump Tower

 

[lyric]

3 hours ago, PrincessEnnui said:

I'm mad. Cary Elwes got into a twitter fight with Trump and got blocked by him and his tiny hands and no one here mentioned it. But what makes me angrier is y'all not using nickname Elwes gave him. Prince Trumperdink. Elwes will go down in history for that.

Well, I did send a response intimating he's overcompensating for dick size...does that count?  Haven't been blocked as of yet.  

 

55 minutes ago, backformore said:

EVERYBODY who has a twitter account, needs to reply to this -  that when Donald Trump thought he was going to lose - he said the election was rigged. 

Done!

[mojoween]

8 hours ago, Padma said:

Also reminds me of the teletubbies. I know one was purple. Were any orange?

Sadly no.  Red, purple, green and yellow.  

I have fond memories of watching the Teletubbies with my then-toddler son.  I couldn't defile their memory by comparing them to Gropenfuhrer, heh.

Do you guys actually follow him on Twitter?  I get irritated enough when people I follow retweet his nonsense, I couldn't stand if my feed was clogged with his bullshit on purpose.

I get it, but I don't at all understand, how the election was rigged for five months...until he "won."  And now we just need to accept it happened organically.  God.  He is just SUCH an idiot.

Edited November 27, 2016 by mojoween