Trump's America, March 2017: Using His Inside VOICE

a trial balloon to see how they can weather bad approval ratings before the real shit starts going down

i've observed this tactic used in numerous authoritarian regimes

whats sorta confusing to me, and maybe its explained by spin, but when trump was a candidate his businesses were hurting, except now as president it seems like all the reports are that business is booming.. people love a winner a guess? the grift is real?

the Trump team appears to have zero awareness of how to even start turning this around

Is there any reason to think they care?

The Baby-in-Chief doesn't; he professes to not believe in the polls. (And with good reason! Every poll said he'd never get this far.) For him, the only poll he needs is the front six rows of one of his rallies. Since he can always have a rally (and a bunch of red-hat yahoos will always go), he can continue to ensconce himself in a bubble of approbation.

The powers-behind-the-throne - e.g. Bannon - have ideological goals to pursue that don't require high job approval. Indeed, for culture warriors, being embattled on all sides feels right. They know it will feed the base's sense of grievance, which is the fuel that keeps their engine turning.

The court servants - Conway, Spicer - will just keep heading out to do their assigned spinning no matter what. And the more negative the reception they get, the better. The more media hostility the better, obv. Because, see above.

As long as the red hatters view their cause as an embattled and storm-tossed ship, with enemies all around, they will cling to the rigging with ever more tenacity. To do otherwise would require admitting they've been conned.

lol marcos

I think Trump would absolutely love to have high approval ratings and be universally loved and praised and seen as a big success. He seems to think the way to get there is by whining, complaining, and shifting blame for everything.

xp

As long as the red hatters view their cause as an embattled and storm-tossed ship, with enemies all around, they will cling to the rigging with ever more tenacity. To do otherwise would require admitting they've been conned.

― been there, not done that (Ye Mad Puffin), Wednesday, March 29, 2017 5:59 PM (three minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

and it seems that all trump needs to do is 'do what he promised' on the campaign to make these idiots happy.

so far he hasn't delivered on a goddamn thing

There seem to have been a measurable number of trump voters who viewed him as a high-risk candidate but found the risk acceptable. I recall one news story just before the election where a trump voter said trump would either be one of the best presidents ever or one of the worst, but he (of course it was a man) was voting for him anyway. I presume that voters like that guy are starting to swing toward the realization he's one of the worst.

all is forgiven b/c Gorsuch

wow: http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/446224/looking-trump-record-after-69-days

nice

Eduardo Porter in the NYT biz section today starts off w/ calling Yam's campaign 'economic populism'... "brilliant." (As a means to an end, I suppose.) Then he comes around to "Could it have all been a CON?"

gee how will we ever know

he's learned so much

Four days after blaming Democrats for the failure of the Republican plan to repeal and replace Obamacare — and vowing to let his predecessor’s signature health care law “explode” — President Trump told a roomful of senators that he expects lawmakers will easily be able to reach a deal on health care.

“I have no doubt that that’s going to happen very quickly,” Trump said at a bipartisan reception for senators and their spouses at the White House Tuesday night. “That’s such an easy one.”

where's the tax returns?

xp I saw that "such and easy one" clip on the news this morning and my eyes still hurt from all the eyerolling.

so far he hasn't delivered on a goddamn thing

No one ever has (for them). But he's been seen to be TRYING, which other Republicans haven't.

Health care? From other Republicans it's "blah blah blah procedures, blah funding, blah veto threat." Trump says "Obamacare is a disaster and we're gonna have something so great in its place, believe me."

Immigration? From other Republicans it's "blah blah blah enforcement blah virtual blah blah self-deport blah e-Verify." Trump says "build a wall and make Mexico pay."

Jobs? From other Republicans it's "blah blah retraining blah incentives blah blah." Trump says "Look at Carrier, look at Ford. I'm saving the jobs."

Shit, if I were one of those chuckleheads I can see which line of bullshit I'd prefer.

in addition to his lovely -24 (which mind you, Bill Clinton never went below 37% approval on Gallup even as he was going through impeachment hearings), Trump is

-12% on Rasmussen (tied for his lowest there)
-5% on Economist/Yougov
-12% on CBS News (

the fact that he's gotten so low after only two months is astounding. and that's with the economy in relatively good shape - imagine when the Dow starts crashing! I don't know how he can turn it around, either - his brand of politics is so scorched earth and spiteful that I can't imagine what's going to turn the "haters and losers" over to his side.

imagine during the polls during postwar fallout

Yeah, his poll numbers will probably go up once a few EMPs wipe out communications in major cities. That should give him something to look forward to!

The half-melted mutants in the rust belt love me, bigly.

so far he hasn't delivered on a goddamn thing

― Οὖτις, Wednesday, March 29, 2017 6:05 PM (one hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

he said he was going to be an asshole to everyone, especially women and browns. he's killing that game right now.

to wit
https://twitter.com/nowthisnews/status/847156414132903936

mayor jingleberries otm

I feel some relief (and hope), after watching that Burr/Warner press conference, that the senate russia investigation won't become the sham that the house one is

“The border is complicated, as far as building a physical wall,” Zinke said during an appearance at the Public Land Council’s Legislative Conference, as reported by E&E News.

For example, Zinke said, electronic devices could be more useful than a physical wall in some areas. He added that the physical features of some areas make the border difficult to cross and make a wall unnecessary.

Zinke also said the Rio Grande River poses a challenge in construction of the wall.

“The Rio Grande, what side of the river are you going to put the wall?” he said. “We’re not going to put it on our side and cede the river to Mexico. And we’re probably not going to put it in the middle of the river.”

fuckin walls, how do they work

Blah blah blah, Zinke. I'm just hearing a whole bunch of excuses. Our Glorious Leader wouldn't demand a wall if it didn't make sense.

to wit
https://twitter.com/nowthisnews/status/847156414132903936

― Οὖτις, Wednesday, March 29, 2017 12:34 PM (fifty-two minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Speaking on not delivering:

http://www.vox.com/energy-and-environment/2017/3/28/14905546/trump-executive-order-climate-coal

NPR had some mayor of a coal town on yesterday and was like 'these jobs arent coming back, deregulation isnt going to do shit' and the mayors response was basically 'well its just so nice to have someone listen to us after 8 years'

http://www.npr.org/2017/03/28/521823495/mayor-of-wyoming-coal-town-reacts-to-trumps-climate-order

SHAPIRO: President Trump is obviously sending a message today by signing this flanked by coal miners. How much of an impact do you think this can really have?

CARTER-KING: I think it will be good for the coal market, but I feel that there are other forces that will help the industry more just as much. But this at least will, you know, help the coal industry know that at least there's an administration that is behind them and not against them.

SHAPIRO: How much of the job losses do you think were because of regulation?

CARTER-KING: You know, I think probably not a lot of them, but I think what it did was - if it wasn't for the regulations, I think the coal mine industry would not have maybe laid off so many because they were probably preparing for the future, saying, not only is the coal market bad now, but it doesn't - they couldn't see a light at the end of the tunnel. So I think when everything started looking up again and Trump got elected, they figured out they better get people back on. One man here described it as Christmas every day since Trump was elected and especially since he was inaugurated.

SHAPIRO: Is that just because of a hope of where things will go next, or is it because of actual changes that you're seeing in town?

CARTER-KING: Well, he has made some big changes. I mean we were pretty happy about his selections for some of his Cabinet members like the EPA. And we are just happy that someone is listening to us. We felt for eight years no one would even listen.

Traumatized local politicos

not only is the coal market bad now, but it doesn't - they couldn't see a light at the end of the tunne

Duh, that's due to all the fucking coal dust.

what is the "clean coal" that Trump keeps referring to. is it a thing or not a thing.

its bullshit. its less filthy coal. the actual clean coal is this shit called natural gas.

Hm hm hm

http://www.cnn.com/2017/03/29/politics/kushner-russian-bank-veb-agent/index.html

As federal prosecutors in New York prepared their case against a man accused of covertly working for Russian intelligence two years ago, they began raising questions about an unidentified "third party" paying the defendant's legal bills.

The defendant's benefactor turned out to be VneshEconomBank, the same financial institution at the center of a recent controversy over its chairman's meeting with Jared Kushner, President Donald Trump's son-in-law and one of his top White House advisers.

On the one it hand it should be no surprise that bank, also known as VEB, was paying for Evgeny Buryakov's legal defense -- Buryakov was one of its employees, after all.

But what made the matter more complicated was what Buryakov was charged with illegally gathering intelligence on behalf of the Russian government and the Russian government owned the bank that provided his cover.

where's the tax returns?

― reggie (qualmsley), Wednesday, 29 March 2017 18:39 (one hour ago) Permalink

all day every day.

this article is old, but it shouldn't go away.

http://theconcourse.deadspin.com/if-you-want-donald-trumps-tax-returns-start-asking-now-1786671720

lol @ DOE banning the phrase "climate change" - if nobody says it, it won't happen!

just following good ol rick scott's lead in florida, the consensus best state

Breaking: Doe now requires employees to substitute the phrase "radical Islamic terrorism" for "climate change", thus hastening the fall of ISIS.

Trump asks roomful of women, "Have you heard of Susan B. Anthony? I'm shocked that you've heard of her."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6v5D6aQVbp4

I think she works at the same company as Frederick Douglass

"Susan B. Anthony...didn't have great tits, and it's hard to be a 10 without the tits."

"When I was first exposed to the work of Susan B. Anthony, I moved on it like a bitch"

can we not

ok ill change the subject - the mercers are helping fund a multi million dollar ad buy to shore up the presidents fee fees

https://www.bloomberg.com/politics/articles/2017-03-29/with-trump-struggling-wealthy-backers-rush-in-to-shore-him-up

Making America Great, a nonprofit run by Rebekah Mercer, one of Trump’s most influential donors, will begin airing $1 million in television ads on Wednesday, coupled with a $300,000 digital advertising campaign. The TV ads will run in the District of Columbia, along with ten states Trump carried in the presidential election where a Democratic senator is up for re-election in 2018: West Virginia, Wisconsin, Missouri, Michigan, North Dakota, Florida, Ohio, Indiana, Montana and Pennsylvania. The digital campaign also will focus on voters in those states.

i'm 90% sure he's speaking tongue in cheek in that clip xxp

funnier to pretend otherwise