Trump: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

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Rusha

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Trump fired Bannon. :noway:

I need to head east and talk to Graham about the Duck. Graham said the Duck was wacky:hammer:

It is true that the market went up on a promise of a business minded president, and pro-business agenda, however, no one but Graham thought the Duck would have lost the CEOs over something as pedestrian as race issues.

Did Graham soften his opinion of the Duck, or did he simply hide his true beliefs?

Like so many who thought the Duck would be more controlled and business-minded, did not expect so much attention seeking behaviour after the Duck became president, yet I suspected he would continue to play the media star game.

Too bad for the fully invested; it will be hard to pull out next week. I have already pulled out at near tops on the majority, because I never trusted the Duck, I wanted to see him do well, but I never trusted the Duck, not at all!

I wonder if Graham ever trusted the Duck??? :idunno:

The Duck. :chuckle: Anyways, I don't believe that Graham OR the republicans (with the exception of a select few) ever trusted him. They believed they could write the legislation and he would go along with it ... minus to ongoing soap-opera of a migraine he has caused them since his inauguration.
 

Ktoyou

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Hall of Fame
The Duck. :chuckle: Anyways, I don't believe that Graham OR the republicans (with the exception of a select few) ever trusted him. They believed they could write the legislation and he would go along with it ... minus to ongoing soap-opera of a migraine he has caused them since his inauguration.

I think you are right. He will be seen as worse than Bush II. He needed those clowns to get elected, then he should have let that act go and deal with the Republican party, which seems Republicans had hoped he would put the presidency first. This media nonsense will be the ruin of the Republican party.

Look for Democrats picking up seats in congress in 2018, and a good chance for wining the next presidency.
 

WizardofOz

New member
@WizardofOz

From whitehouse.gov:

1. August 12: Remarks by President Trump at Signing of the VA Choice and Quality Employment Act

2. August 14: Statement by President Trump

As far as I can tell, there's no transcript of his August 15 remarks at whitehouse.gov.

So from NPR

3. August 15: Transcript: Trump Shifts Tone Again On White Nationalist Rally In Charlottesville


And in between all these there've been some crazy tweets which bear examination as well, like his unpresidential bashing of CEOs leaving his councils, shutting down the councils before they tendered their own closure, attacking (R) members of Congress and in general lashing out in all directions. This isn't normal.

Thank you for taking the time to post this. I have read them and agree with him on his remarks. Please quote what words he offended you with. I conceded that he was wrong about "without a permit" as the counter-protesters did indeed have a permit so he goofed there. Otherwise, I don't see much to criticize. :idunno:
 

annabenedetti

like marbles on glass
Thank you for taking the time to post this. I have read them and agree with him on his remarks. Please quote what words he offended you with. I conceded that he was wrong about "without a permit" as the counter-protesters did indeed have a permit so he goofed there. Otherwise, I don't see much to criticize. :idunno:

You're welcome. I don't think offended is the right word, disgusted is probably better.

As for what in particular, I've already laid that out in several posts throughout the last pages. I can gather those for you, but a word-for-word annotation isn't going to change anything I've already said.
 

WizardofOz

New member
You're welcome. I don't think offended is the right word, disgusted is probably better.

As for what in particular, I've already laid that out in several posts throughout the last pages. I can gather those for you, but a word-for-word annotation isn't going to change anything I've already said.

Fair enough. I've been AFK for the most part since we last spoke so I'll due my due diligence and go back to read these posts. I'll see what I can find and we'll take it from there :cheers:
 

WizardofOz

New member
Thanks for posting the transcripts in full - I started here last night with the links and then I ended up spending my time on a different thread.

My list:

Ugh - I hate defending Trump but I think too much is being made out of what he said. Once I read through all three transcripts I don't see reason for uproar.

1. I'll be very careful how many times I say "very" or "many" in the future. He's ruined me for these (as well as other words). I did a search on "very" in the last transcript and he said it 13 times. Three times it was "very, very."

He's not a great public speaker. He lacks eloquence and intelligence when speaking. I'd get him a speechwriter and a teleprompter whenever he's willing. He badly needs polish.

2. He hasn't called it terrorism (nor has he called other domestic terror incidents terrorism). He needs to call it what it is. He hasn't, and I doubt he will.

His comments:
TRUMP: The driver of the car is a disgrace to himself, his family and this country. And that is, you can call it terrorism, you can call it murder, you can call it whatever you want. I would just call it as the fastest one to come up with a good verdict. That's what I'd call it. Because there is a question: Is it murder, is it terrorism? And then you get into legal semantics. The driver of the car is a murderer and what he did was a horrible, horrible, inexcusable thing.



I agree. He doesn't care what it is labeled, he just wants to see a fast conviction. Unlike many politicians, Trump was not a lawyer prior to politics. It's a legal distinction. Sessions had no trouble clarifying.


Attorney General Jeff Sessions said a driver's ramming a car into a crowd of demonstrators in Charlottesville, Virginia, on Saturday, which killed a young woman and sent 19 other people to hospitals, "does meet the definition of domestic terrorism" under U.S. law.

"It does meet the definition of domestic terrorism in our statute," Sessions told ABC News' David Muir on "Good Morning America" today. "We are pursuing it in the [Department of Justice] in every way that we can make a case."

"You can be sure we will charge and advance the investigation towards the most serious charges that can be brought, because this is unequivocally an unacceptable, evil attack," he said. "Terrorism investigators from the FBI are working on the case as well as civil rights division FBI agents."



So there is an actual legal argument from the Trump administration. Sessions is much more well quipped to make this distinction. I think it is important to keep in mind that the point of this particular Q&A was infrastructure. Trump had already spoken about Charlottesville twice prior.

3. David Duke reminded him who put him into office, and he's aware that's who he has to pander to, the rest of the country and moral justice be damned. That was made so clear in the juxtaposition of the one prepared set of comments against Trump unchained in the last transcript. This is also known because his aides were aghast that he said in public what they already knew he said in private. We know we have a president that stands WITH the alt-right and their mix of white supremacism, white nationalism and Nazi ideologies.

David Duke is a nobody is who overstating his own importance. He is trying to prop himself up in anyway he can to gain relevancy. Trump does come out and condemn the neo-nazis and white supremacists and Duke lost it over his comments. Trump should get the credit he deserves for specifically calling them out.

Donnie John said:
Racism is evil. And those who cause violence in its name are criminals and thugs, including the KKK, neo-Nazis, white supremacists, and other hate groups that are repugnant to everything we hold dear as Americans.

We are a nation founded on the truth that all of us are created equal. We are equal in the eyes of our Creator. We are equal under the law. And we are equal under our Constitution. Those who spread violence in the name of bigotry strike at the very core of America.

:thumb: Well said. And Duke didn't like it one bit.

4. He made a reference in one of the transcripts to the statue removal being an attack on America's "culture." This is code for the "blood and soil" chant of the white nationalists. These statues represent Confederate culture, not American culture. They represent a violent tearing apart of our country, not the founding or protection of our country.

Please quote him so we can make sure we're both talking about the same thing.

5. There is no moral equivalency. Period.

I don't think the antifa is any better than the white supremacists. They hate with equal vigor. There is no moral equivalency as in neither of these groups have a claim to make on a morality behind their cause.

What Trump actually said:
Donnie John said:
I'm not putting anybody on a moral plane. What I'm saying is this. You had a group on one side and you had a group on the other and they came at each other with clubs and it was vicious and it was horrible and it was a horrible thing to watch. But there is another side. There was a group on this side, you can call them the left, you've just called them the left, that came, violently attacking the other group. So you can say what you want, but that's the way it is.

REPORTER: You said there was hatred and violence on both sides —

TRUMP: Well, I do think there's blame, yes, I think there's blame on both sides. You look at both sides. I think there's blame on both sides. And I have no doubt about it. And you don't have any doubt about it either. And, and if you reported it accurately, you would say it.

And I think the facts bear this out. Both sides had made their mind up that violence was going to be their mean of protest. Not individuals involved all are guilty but neither 'side' is innocent as a whole.
 

annabenedetti

like marbles on glass
Ugh - I hate defending Trump but I think too much is being made out of what he said. Once I read through all three transcripts I don't see reason for uproar.

I think where we part ways somewhat in how we look at this is that you can't separate things like intent, timing and the absence of words with the words themselves. I hope that makes sense. For example, the words you really liked from Trump's second statement - yes, he said them, but he didn't write them, and more importantly, he didn't believe them. Thus the 24-hour 180 degree turnaround back to statement #3 and what he really thought.

He wants to divide, not unite, because he serves his purposes to do that. Take Boston today, for example.

There was an overwhelmingly large turnout by anti-racists to protest a small turnout for the free speech rally that was originally scheduled. And how did Trump characterize the anti-racist turnout?

He's not a great public speaker. He lacks eloquence and intelligence when speaking. I'd get him a speechwriter and a teleprompter whenever he's willing. He badly needs polish.

I'd easily forgive him for that - if I liked what he said, if I thought his intentions were good, if I believed he put the best interests of this country ahead of his own interests.


I agree. He doesn't care what it is labeled, he just wants to see a fast conviction. Unlike many politicians, Trump was not a lawyer prior to politics. It's a legal distinction. Sessions had no trouble clarifying.

Again, though - those aren't his words. And he was coerced into saying them, and he was angry he had to say them.


"It does meet the definition of domestic terrorism in our statute," Sessions told ABC News' David Muir on "Good Morning America" today. "We are pursuing it in the [Department of Justice] in every way that we can make a case."

So there is an actual legal argument from the Trump administration. Sessions is much more well quipped to make this distinction.

I'm glad Sessions said it. No argument there.

David Duke is a nobody is who overstating his own importance. He is trying to prop himself up in anyway he can to gain relevancy. Trump does come out and condemn the neo-nazis and white supremacists and Duke lost it over his comments. Trump should get the credit he deserves for specifically calling them out.

But David Duke is representative of the specific ideology behind all this so that bears keeping in mind, as does - I'm repeating myself here - Trump only specifically called them out because he was forced into it.

Please quote him so we can make sure we're both talking about the same thing.

Here, statement 3:
George Washington was a slave-owner. Was George Washington a slave-owner? So will George Washington now lose his status — are we going to take down — excuse me. Are we going to take down statues of George Washington? How 'bout Thomas Jefferson? What do you think of Thomas Jefferson? You like him? Ok, good. Are we going to take down the statue because he was a major slave-owner? Now we're going to take down his statue. So you know what, it's fine. You're changing history, you're changing culture. And you had people, and I'm not talking about the neo Nazis or the white nationalists because they should be condemned totally. But you had many people in that group other than neo Nazis and white nationalists, ok? And the press has treated them absolutely unfairly.

That might not seem like a big deal to you, but if you look at what's behind the word, it's the blood and soil, they're changing our (white Christian) culture... it's about the fear of the other, the foreigner, the person of color, the non-Christian Jew or Muslim, it's what drives many of them, even the alt-righters who try to distance themselves from more extreme manifestations of white supremacy and white nationalism.

I don't think the antifa is any better than the white supremacists. They hate with equal vigor. There is no moral equivalency as in neither of these groups have a claim to make on a morality behind their cause.

I may be misunderstanding you, but it looks like you've classified the anti-racist marchers as all antifa, and I can't agree with that. There's no moral equivalency because antifa aren't marching to deny the human rights of people of color, of Jews, of homosexuals. In fact, they're the complete opposite of that.

That's so simplistic, I know. It would take so many words to tease out all these thoughts.

And I think the facts bear this out. Both sides had made their mind up that violence was going to be their mean of protest. Not individuals involved all are guilty but neither 'side' is innocent as a whole.

I said this a few days back (I think - I've lost track of time) that a distinction had to be made, whether someone was violent in self defense or if they were aggressing. It's easy to say both sides were violent, but harder to figure out how each melee began - who attacked, and who defended.
 
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