Politics Thread

**GoMuskies** · 06-22-2018, 11:34 AM

Originally Posted by Caf

The way he was calling into question 2016 election results before they came out will be in the back of my mind in 2020.

I guess it turned out to be an accidentally brilliant move. Democrats were so adamant that he was a pathetic whiner at the time that it makes it harder to take seriously their complaints now about the legitimacy of the election.

Caf · 06-22-2018, 11:36 AM

Originally Posted by GoMuskies

I guess it turned out to be an accidentally brilliant move. Democrats were so adamant that he was a pathetic whiner at the time that it makes it harder to take seriously their complaints now about the legitimacy of the election.

Exactly - and I think that's ultimately why Obama didn't take action. It was a lose lose. If he intervened either Hilary would win and it would be called into question sparking a constitutional crisis or Trump would win.

**paulxu** · 06-22-2018, 12:37 PM

How can the entire White House staff be so tone deaf to let Melania wear that jacket to visit the immigration center?

Lloyd Braun · 06-22-2018, 01:46 PM

Originally Posted by paulxu

How can the entire White House staff be so tone deaf to let Melania wear that jacket to visit the immigration center?

I don’t think they really care... do u?

**GoMuskies** · 06-22-2018, 02:05 PM

Originally Posted by Lloyd Braun

I don’t think they really care... do u?

Not caring is basically their motto. To be fair, it was also pretty much the campaign platform.

**paulxu** · 06-22-2018, 02:21 PM

Originally Posted by Lloyd Braun

I don’t think they really care... do u?

Originally Posted by GoMuskies

Not caring is basically their motto. To be fair, it was also pretty much the campaign platform.

No, I don't think they really care. But someone in that nuthouse must have an ounce of common sense, and should have said..."hey, you're going to visit the kids; it's a big deal in the media. Let's change the jacket." Really, how much could that take?

**X-man** · 06-22-2018, 03:19 PM

Originally Posted by paulxu

I've tried to understand this tariff stuff as something logical, and not just a bully swinging a stick on the playground.
I'm really having a hard time though.
Anyway, I don't think it's going to help my city/county in the long run. Hope I'm wrong.

Trump is simply a mercantilist even if he doesn't know it. He believes trade is a zero sum game, and that trade deficits are a sign of weakness. Mercantilism was recognized over 200 years ago, by economists like Adam Smith, as completely bogus. But Trump's "economic advisor", Peter Navarro, hasn't figured that out. The only way that anything Trump is doing with trade makes any sense is as a way to move the terms of trade via exchange rate movement. But Trump likely is completely unaware of that and simply believes that a trade deficit means we are "losing". I say "likely" because there is no evidence whatsoever that Trump ever does any work at all trying to understand theories and how policies work in the abstract. Some of Trump's supporters appear to think that this is a strength. I am not in that camp. Policies created out of ignorance and "gut feelings" are bound to fail, or at least have unexpected consequences. And we see that constantly occurring in virtually everything Trump does.