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Author | Topic: The Trump Presidency | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
caffeine Member (Idle past 1051 days) Posts: 1800 From: Prague, Czech Republic Joined: |
Somebody posted an article about it here. Sorry, I missed that one.
At least Trump has gotten around to appointing a diplomat for your country. It's not my country, I just have family connections. Trump has appointed a new ambassador to Czech Republic as well. He's not on the news because he's much more circumspect; and has said nothing controversial or offensive. He's diplomatic, which you'd expect a diplomat to be. It can't be that simple, though, because this is Trump. He was one of the guys who arranged the Watergate break-in. He held the US attorney-general's wife hostage in a hotel room. And now he's a US ambassador. You couldn't make this shit up.
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Percy Member Posts: 22499 From: New Hampshire Joined: Member Rating: 4.9
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Trump's most recent punch-self-in-nose crisis (I'm talking about his denigrating comments about El Salvador, Haiti and Africa) raises the question, "Why is Trump doing this, and why is the Republican Party, especially Republican members of Congress, acting as enablers?"
The answer is demographics. Minorities tend to vote Democratic, and by 2040 minorities will be the majority group in the US. This Republican crisis looms large on their horizon because it means the end of their political domination at the local, state and federal level. There's also a component that wishes the country to remain as they see it, predominantly and dominantly white. So they are fighting this impending change by all available means. They're gerrymandering election districts. They're restricting the rights of minorities to vote. They're deporting as many immigrants as they can (children of immigrants are citizens). And they're attempting to close the doors to immigration from as many countries of minority races as possible. Trump today tweeted, "America First!" as a rebuttal, as if immigrants were not a strength of American character. Nothing puts America first more than insuring a steady inflow of new energy and ideas by keeping the doors open to immigration, especially from countries burdened by hardship. We don't need an influx of professionals and Masters and PhDs but of the poor and indigent and uneducated who will do the same as immigrant populations before them: work hard, improve their lot, and thereby improve the country. We also don't want to halt what has been termed chain migration, because separating and breaking up families makes success harder. Trump has been defended by some as just speaking the plain truth, saying what many are thinking but fear saying out loud. Conservative commentator Tomi Lahren said, "If they aren’t shithole countries, why don’t their citizens stay there? Let’s be honest. Call it like it is." This attitude ignores that the motivation to emigrate is from regions of distress, not from regions of prosperity and stability like Norway, a country Trump endorsed. It also flies in the face of the concept of the American melting pot and of the American ideal of showing compassion toward those in distress, which is why the El Salvadorans (earthquake) and Haitians (earthquake, too) are here. But most importantly it evades the true meaning of Trump's words, which is that if these are shithole countries then their people are shithole people, and shithole people shouldn't be allowed in. The realization that immigrants are a benefit, not a threat, comes hard for some. This country has had recurring difficulties living up to the ideal of welcoming immigrants (never more deplorably than in the years leading up to WWII when we made immigration by Jews from eastern Europe extremely difficult), showing that recognition that immigrants bring great benefits only comes with difficulty. The tendency to feel threatened is great, especially and legitimately by those in the least skilled professions where new immigrants are most likely to compete for jobs. These issues must be faced forthrightly, and frequently they're not. This isn't the first time the country has had the discussion of who and how many should be allowed in, and this is a discussion we should have, but it *is* the first time we've had such a vicious, acrimonious and callous racist-in-chief. The Washington Post just ran an editorial that uses this recent example of Trump shooting himself in the foot to make the point that Trump is his own worst enemy. Here are some excerpts:
quote: --Percy
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NoNukes Inactive Member |
It's not my country, I just have family connections. Yes. I should have noticed that you were not from the Netherlands.
He held the US attorney-general's wife hostage in a hotel room. And now he's a US ambassador. You couldn't make this shit up. Ineptitude is not a strategy. I suspect that Trump did not know all of that stuff. Let's remember that Trump appointed a man to be a federal district court judge who had no idea how to conduct a trial. Under a government which imprisons any unjustly, the true place for a just man is also in prison. Thoreau: Civil Disobedience (1846) "Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, the wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door! We got a thousand points of light for the homeless man. We've got a kinder, gentler, machine gun hand. Neil Young, Rockin' in the Free World. Worrying about the "browning of America" is not racism. -- Faith I hate you all, you hate me -- Faith
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Percy Member Posts: 22499 From: New Hampshire Joined: Member Rating: 4.9 |
Well said! Before seeing your message I posted Message 1682, and I think it echoes many of the things you say.
--Percy
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jar Member (Idle past 421 days) Posts: 34026 From: Texas!! Joined: |
You need to understand there are alternat facts.
Trump is for Americans not furriners.
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Percy Member Posts: 22499 From: New Hampshire Joined: Member Rating: 4.9 |
caffeine writes: Somebody posted an article about it here.
Sorry, I missed that one. If NoNukes was talking about the article that was posted about the news conference introducing the new American ambassador to the Netherlands (why isn't "the" capitalized?), it's in Message 1583. --Percy
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Percy Member Posts: 22499 From: New Hampshire Joined: Member Rating: 4.9 |
Trying to answer my own question about why the "the" in the Netherlands isn't capitalized, I found some very interesting information. First this from What's the Deal with the Netherlands?:
quote: The capital is in one city while the government is in another? That seemed strange, so I looked up "capital" at Dictionary.com, whose definition is basically the same as the one at Oxford Living Dictionaries:
quote: But then I used the dictionary feature on my Mac and got a different definition. I don't know what dictionary it uses:
quote: So that's why it's not a contradiction that Amsterdam is the capital while The Hague (where "the" *is* capitalized) is the seat of government. Concerning why "the" isn't capitalized in the Netherlands, I found this at Language Matters: Capitalization - Look at it Case by Case:
quote: But that still doesn't explain why. The "the" in the Czech Republic isn't capitalized either. Ah, found another website (The Netherlands, the Netherlands or Netherlands?), this seems to be the most relevant part:
quote: --Percy
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NoNukes Inactive Member |
quote: I did not speak about the politics in my post. What I will say, is that I don't see any reason to distinguish between the folks fearing how minorities will vote from the rest of the racists, particularly if their reaction to reality is to stop minorities from voting or to stop folks from coming to this country. And yes, I understand exactly how harsh that sounds. I understand that my remarks apply to some folks who post here. I don't believe most folks, or even most Republican voters are racist. But the prevalence of racism is a bit higher than most folks can comfortably admit. I'll note here that the meeting with Trump was intended to feature just two folks, Senators Durbin and Graham who had been working with a bipartisan group to come up with an immigration proposal. Trump invited several other Republican "immigration hardliners" to join Grahan and Durbin because it was Trump's intent to torpedo the effort. Well, mission accomplished. Republican Lindsey Graham spoke up at the meeting after Trump's remarks. Durbin did as well, and he also was willing to confirm the reports of Trump's offensive remarks. Cudos to those folk. Two of the Republicans hardliners that attended now claim they "don't recall" what Trump said and the others are silent. Expect to hear more folks who are proud to have a president who isn't PC and uses locker room talk. Most of those folks are not racists. But that also is not what the real point is. Edited by NoNukes, : No reason given. Under a government which imprisons any unjustly, the true place for a just man is also in prison. Thoreau: Civil Disobedience (1846) "Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, the wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door! We got a thousand points of light for the homeless man. We've got a kinder, gentler, machine gun hand. Neil Young, Rockin' in the Free World. Worrying about the "browning of America" is not racism. -- Faith I hate you all, you hate me -- Faith
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Percy Member Posts: 22499 From: New Hampshire Joined: Member Rating: 4.9
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From Fox News: MLK's Niece: 'Outrageous' That Critics Are 'Unjustly' Calling Trump Racist
Martin Luther King's niece is defending Trump against charges of racism? Checking her Wikipedia page, she's a Fox News Channel contributor and a Republican. Go figure. --Percy
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NoNukes Inactive Member |
Martin Luther King's niece is defending Trump against charges of racism? And one of his nephews as well. But his defense is the faintest of praise... https://www.essence.com/...jr-nephew-donald-trump-not-racist
quote: Under a government which imprisons any unjustly, the true place for a just man is also in prison. Thoreau: Civil Disobedience (1846) "Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, the wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door! We got a thousand points of light for the homeless man. We've got a kinder, gentler, machine gun hand. Neil Young, Rockin' in the Free World. Worrying about the "browning of America" is not racism. -- Faith I hate you all, you hate me -- Faith
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Percy Member Posts: 22499 From: New Hampshire Joined: Member Rating: 4.9
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This Saturday Trump will have been in office one year, and in honor of that upcoming anniversary CNN describes the first year of Trump in the opinion piece The exhausting first year of Donald Trump's presidency. I'm going to quote the first few paragraphs, but most people will want to read the whole thing. One cannot keep in one's mind at one time all the outrageous actions and tweets of the past year because memory, for most of us, doesn't work that way, so this article accomplishes it for you succinctly and economically:
quote: --Percy
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Percy Member Posts: 22499 From: New Hampshire Joined: Member Rating: 4.9
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When Trump says, "I am not a racist," it brings back memories of Nixon's, "I am not a crook." But Nixon was a crook, and Trump is a racist. The New York Times today ran an opinion piece titled Trump Is a Racist. Period. Best excerpt is a quote by James Baldwin: I can’t believe what you say, because I see what you do.
AbE: Also from the New York Times is this opinion piece documenting the history of Trump's racism: Donald Trump’s Racism: The Definitive List --Percy Edited by Percy, : AbE. Edited by Percy, : Formatting.
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NoNukes Inactive Member |
Trump's recent remarks on race remind me of his remarks on abortion during the campaign. Trump apparently wasn't all that up on what the real Republican platform on abortion at first. So when pressed on the issue he indicated that he favored jailing women who got abortions. After learning that he was out on that limb by himself, he later backed off of those remarks.
I think Trump made a similar error last week. I imagine that groups like FAIR (Federation for American Immigration Reform) and CIS (Center for Immigration Studies) were absolutely appalled to hear Trump sheet, uh, I mean veneer, off their agendas. Perhaps some unintended good will come from Trump's remarks. Trump's current stance is to deny having made the comments while blaming Democrats for killing off DACA. However, his denials come after a weekend of folks making defenses of those same remarks. I don't see how you can have it both ways. But his denials will certainly provide some cover for those folks who are willing to overlook just about anything. Edited by NoNukes, : No reason given. Under a government which imprisons any unjustly, the true place for a just man is also in prison. Thoreau: Civil Disobedience (1846) "Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, the wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door! We got a thousand points of light for the homeless man. We've got a kinder, gentler, machine gun hand. Neil Young, Rockin' in the Free World. Worrying about the "browning of America" is not racism. -- Faith I hate you all, you hate me -- Faith
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PaulK Member Posts: 17827 Joined: Member Rating: 2.3 |
quote: They have always been at war with Eastasia.
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Percy Member Posts: 22499 From: New Hampshire Joined: Member Rating: 4.9 |
Republicans are apparently not only willing to support Trump if it helps further their own agenda, they're even willing to lie for Trump. Never was this more evident than on Sunday on CBS's Face the Nation when Senator Tom Cotton (R-AR), who was at the Oval Office meeting with Trump, not only denied hearing the president refer to El Salvador, Haiti and Africa as "shithole countries," he even denied that Trump had expressed the sentiment at all. He repeatedly iterated his own position that immigration should be merit based and claimed that Trump was actually expressing that position, despite all the evidence to the contrary. Cotton went further and accused Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) of misrepresenting Trump's words and of having a history of misrepresentations. See Sen. Tom Cotton says Trump's words, sentiments on immigration were misrepresented.
Another Republican meeting attendee, Senator David Perdue (R-GA) is also denying that Trump used the "shithole countries" term. He called it a "gross misrepresentation." Another Republican meeting attendee, Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen also denied Trump used the term, saying that she didn't recall Trump using "that exact phrase." What turns these Republicans into liars for Trump? Have they no honesty and integrity? Do they think that "playing politics" is a license for lying, that it doesn't measure their character? Some Republicans are honest. Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC), another meeting attendee, stated that Trump's comments as reported in the media were essentially accurate. --Percy
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