- Joined
- Apr 13, 2014
- Messages
- 5,307
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- 113
There are some good points here and some bad ones. I can only address them from my perspective.
1. Trump has played too much golf. But there are few difference. First, Trump has often golfed with decision makers, not just with his friends. I also think Trump gets more done "while on vacation" then traditional President's (including Obama). Trump also is more mobile than other traditional Presidents and uses his hotels, resorts and country clubs as locations not just to relax, but to get work done and meet with important people. That's my perspective. I also think if you look back during the election process, I wasn't really all that critical of Obama and his golfing. I do think Obama INCREASED his golfing as his term wound down, which indicates to me he was packing it in. We'll see if Trump does the same thing as his term(s) wind down.
2. On the executive order issue you are flat out wrong. Only the conservatives here have ever complained about it under Obama and for the correct reasons. We've stated time and again, Obama's legacy will be how he changed the executive branch to an XO, memorandum and regulation branch of government that EVERY future President would emulate (democrat and republican). To argue now that I don't care that Trump is doing the exact same thing is misplaced. I do care. But when 50% of Trump's executive orders are basically just repealing Obama's executive orders, counting them as over-reach (which you are doing) is false. Plain and simple.
3. What recent "study"? And what "news" organization is releasing this "study"? Look, it's a known fact that more right-wingers are probably conspiracy theorists. And there is certainly a list of websites that pander to "conspiracy" theories to both the left and right. And this also goes to the whole premise of what "fake news" really is. Fake news to me is not just false "fact" reporting, but also how our news today has been infiltrated by "opinion experts" that filter the facts of a story and tell us how we should interpret those facts. The leftist main stream media is not "fake" as much as it's misleading us on the facts by claiming "opinions" are facts. And they are very sneaky and extremely subtle about it. For the right to fight back against the barrage of subliminal left-wing, major city media bias with over-exaggeration, conspiracy theories and attacks is completely reasonable to me (and a necessity). We could have a debate for PAGES on here about the state of news in this country and how it has changed over the last 15 years, but I would be hard-pressed to agree with you that this is a "right-wing" problem they are solely responsible for (in fact, I would strongly argue the opposite).
4. Trump "lies" are just like your interpretation of fake news. Same point of view. To me, Trump exaggerates on purpose to as much rile up his opponents as he does to clearly make a point about an issue. He is actually a master manipulator using both sides against each other (his opponents and his proponents) to bring an issue he wants to the forefront (or in some cases to distract away from an issue he is tired of at the moment). This is nothing new in Washington but Trump just does it better and only NOW that it works against the traditional "powers" inside the beltway is it some moral outrage. I have never once said Trump is a morally superior or more truthful person than previous Presidents. If anything we (myself and others here) have stated it's refreshing to have a President lie straight to our face and know it's a lie rather than lies being told like truths with a forked tongue (which Obama was a master at). I have yet to see any policy he or congress has passed based on his twitter exaggerations that I don't agree with on a fundamental level based on the BASIC truth of his initial statement. He might say 3 million illegals voted (which is an exaggeration) but I agree with him that we should look into how illegals could be given access to vote through stolen SSN# and how illegals are given access to drivers licenses. Again, the lie/exaggeration doesn't mean I don't agree with the outcome or think this isn't a topic to discuss. The media (and the left) is far too worried about what Trump says literally and not nearly worried about what he says figuratively and what the underlying message to the American people really is.
5. What cabinet member do you consider corrupt exactly and what policy change(s) can you cite that proves the tradition Washington powers (i.e. the Swamp) are benefiting as much as they did before (or more so)? Because I don't see that. Giving power back to the banks on Wall Street and reducing regulations is not a swamp issue. That's a conservative/liberal issue that goes back 100 years. If anything reducing regulations IS draining the swamp in my book.
6. I see no hypocrisy right now between defending uniformed police officers and local/state police departments against the recent morality attacks by Black Lives Matter and the leftist media vs. his attacks on the potential "deep state" that is our federal FBI and CIA. Just like BLM don't seem at all interested in the FBI or CIA, there is a HUGE difference between the two right now in this country (which is maybe part of the problem). And his attacks have focused mostly on the career Washington "leaders" of these organizations and their questionable decision making (often based on partisanship) in the last two decades. Again, Trump COMPLAINS about the very true hypocrisy of how our intelligence communities seem to make decisions, but he has not breached any of his executive branch powers on this issue. Not even close in my opinion (despite what the liberal media tells you). He has not committed obstruction of justice. He has not committed "high crimes and misdemeanors". And you know my opinion of the Mueller investigation (which I think is a sham and will find just enough to justify itself while completely unrelated to its original intended purpose).
7. Of course we "whatabout" things. That's how this message board works. Most of us sat on our hands for EIGHT years of Obama/Clinton/Kerry/Holder/Lynch and how they abused and tore apart the executive branch. And we are still, as a country, having to clean up the messes he made on a global level. And we are still in need of some resolution on how to correct the executive branch in Obama's image. Not sure how that's going to happen. Not sure if it's ever going to happen. I think we are no longer a representative republic and instead are being governed/managed by executive orders and regulations and court decisions. Not sure I think that is Trumps fault. And I'm confused how you would think it is either.
