He pardoned Joe Arpaio.

But he's not a racist. 
And I'm not a rapper. 

 pigtail wrote: 
You may be right about everything but the bolded.  All he has to do is not sign a bill that funds the gov and Bamm, that's it.  Or he can veto it.  Yes, he can do it all by himself if he wants to.

At this point, with all the hate flying at him, why wouldn't he ?  Everyone already thinks he's a dick, so he might as well go and be guilty of what everyone is already accusing him of.  He has nothing to lose anymore.  He's just a step away from being impeached already anyway.  I believe formal articles of impeachment have been filed.

think about it ...

 kurtster wrote: 
Ain't gonna happen.  He is just making idle threats that he can't carry out on his own.  He lacks even the basic fundamentals to do this and at this point he is like that crowing rooster that everybody passes by and just ignores.

Donnie isn't draining the swamp: he's making money from it. 


  Trump Hotel at Night: Lobbyists, Cabinet Members, $60 Steaks

In this first tumultuous summer of the Trump administration, the hotelhas cemented its status as a gathering spot for prominent conservatives and a place for the president’s supporters to see, be seen and curry favor with people in power, one $24 chocolate cigar at a time. (The selfies are free.)

The hotel — a melting pot for Trump family members, Trump surrogates, tourists, YouTube celebrities, journalists and the occasional white nationalist — has earned that status in no small part because it is home to the only Washington restaurant that President Trump visits.

...

His company also earns a cut — about $20 million over 15 months, according to financial disclosure forms — which has outraged ethics experts and led to various lawsuits, including one filed in January against the Trump administration by a group of lawyers. They accused the president of violating the Constitution by allowing his hotels and other businesses to accept payments from foreign governments.

“It’s the same old cesspool,” said Richard W. Painter, one of the lawyers in the group and an ethics counsel in the George W. Bush White House. “It’s just that now the president is getting a cut of the revenue.”

 

...

According to federal documents reviewed by The Washington Post, hotel guests spent an average of $652.98 a night, one of the highest rates in Washington, and contributed to the roughly $2 million in profit the Trump Organization made from the hotel during the first four months of this year.

Some members of the Republican Party are happy to pump money into the business. According to recent Federal Election Commission filings, at least 22 Republican political campaigns have spent money at the hotel on lodging, food and event expenses since Mr. Trump was inaugurated.

 

 black321 wrote: 
so do I on this one.

 kurtster wrote: 
Oh, I know we have a President we can't believe, regardless of the topic. It's not a reflection of his political acumen - he's just undereducated, ineloquent, incompetent and lacks vision.

That's why I didn't vote for him, and don't see him doing anything that makes me want to support his version of #MAGA. He's shown us all that he's not able to be a leader of the nation.

 kurtster wrote: 
scary part is, now i do believe him.

 Red_Dragon wrote: 
I didn't believe him when he said Mexico would pay for it in 2016.  

Did you ?

Do you believe him now ?

 VV wrote: 
 The hits just keep on coming!

Newsflash:

Man with world's most thankless job resigns.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/trump-staffer-responsible-finding-positive-085644570.html

 NoEnzLefttoSplit wrote: 











I actually addressed this below and agree with you which is why the most likely form of facism will undoubtedly have to be popular with the majority ergo because of our present demographic and societal bent will most likely come in the guise of a seemingly benevolent and progressive package, not an overtly aggressive and bigoted one. It is now a mark of shame to the majority of Americans to acknowledge that they support Trump, this is no environment for a facist takeover of the present administration. Jes sayin' Trump was narrowly elected in no small part cause Clinton is just so disliked as Miami notated below not because Americans all of the sudden thought Trump was awesome.

Maybe I was being a little obtuse. I take your point that there is something inherently wrong in coercion, either political or economic, to make people choose one way or another. But there are two aspects to a totalitarian state (or something approaching it). One is the violence it exercises or threatens towards dissidents. This can be countered by protest, refusal to cooperate, or even just general apathy until the system collapses.  

The other side of it, and the one I was alluding to, is that a free democracy can, in the right circumstances, make a rational choice for something like a totalitarian state (and promptly regret it probably). This is what I meant by the irrational. It remains a risk inherent in any free and open society. You can't acknowledge people's fundamental freedom of choice without also acknowledging their right to vote for a system that is inherently unfree if it suddenly takes their fancy. That is the paradox of a free society and if I am to be honest this is what frightens me more than naked coercion by a police state.
Edit.. meant to type irrational there.. sorry about that.

 miamizsun wrote: 
take the should out of it. Fascism in my view is an expression of the irrational in people. 

 NoEnzLefttoSplit wrote: 

a) well who should choose for them?

b) who should choose for you?

 black321 wrote: 









I'm with you. Reminds me of a Ben Lee song "A lot goes on but nothing happens". The wheels on the bus go round and round as always.

 kcar wrote: 
Right on.  Re. the whole victim thing the trump supporters claim...that really gets me.  Yes absolutely there is much income disparity (and that is growing), yet the average american lives better than a Rockefeller did 100 years ago (i think Buffet said that).  Americans are not victims.  We continue to have one of the greatest economies in history.  Yes, its fueled by credit and the gov has way too much debt...but if we can balance the budget and maintain a couple % growth every year, it could be manageable again in a couple decades.  Sadly, none of our politicians seems interested in this.  I heard a poll today that put healthcare (ok) and racism (???) ahead of the economy as top concerns. 

 miamizsun wrote: 
the trouble with this line of reasoning is that it begins with the individual as a free and rational agent. Unfortunately individuals can quite freely choose totally irrational courses of action and can also quite irrationally choose to become unfree.  

 NoEnzLefttoSplit wrote: 
i think if we investigated we would see that he's done a pretty good job of detailing/reasoning (not that we would agree with everything he's laid out there)

i guess my point is that if we look we see many people of differing opinions in agreement that there is a problem

even someone who is perceived as 180 degrees on the political scale

i agree with chomsky (and many others) in pointing out/identifying problems and the violence that causes them

where we differ is in the solution

the trump nazi hitler card has been overplayed (godwined)

remember a little less than half of the votes cast for trump were actually against hillary (and vice versa)

in three years he should be gone and with "super-obstruction" it is very unlikely that he will accomplish a lot (outside of the normal killing, crushing and destroying of american politics)

and lastly what you're describing may distill to this:

political power = coercion, force and the like (people lose he ability to say no or disagree without eventual violent consequences)

economic power = voluntary transactions, peaceful trade/negotiation, etc.(the ability to say no and disagree to bad actors and /or decide without coercion or the threat of force)

the initiation of violence on peaceful people is never ever ok and will never result in any moral and ethical solution

peace

 kcar wrote: 
I completely concur, that is probably the most accurate portrayal of what's going down. Two points; since this discussion is about analogies, the closes analogy that I can portray is imagine the Trump administration as Sterling Cooper Draper & Campbell with Trump being closest to a more aggressive Roger Sterling sans wit and charm and there you have that.   Secondly, we are all talking about facism, but facism itself has no ideology.  Any facism that may or may not rise in the future will not be based upon ideology and certainly not on ethnicity, we are far too diverse, not gonna happen.  No, the facism we should worry about is based solely on power and global cynicism more of the Orwellian nature.  The rising power of the Executive branch is indeed a scary thought and has skyrocketed since 2001 and is a wholly bi partisan phenomenon.  Maybe I am incredibly jaded, but facism does ultimately have to gain the support of the masses and in this day and age it will take someone much more suave, sophisticated, socially progressive and even well intentioned to seize upon the formidable Executive power and force their will.  The scary part is that they may very well have the technology and firepower to execute their power by the time this scenario plays out. It will not be next Tuesday and I don't even believe we are gonna last that long as a civilization and species to see that day anyway.    Hey, that's what keeps me positive.