The Art Of The Deal?

 

"First, the President-elect must make a stab at uniting the country, after a scorched-earth campaign in which he consciously tore at the nation's gender, racial and economic fault lines to build a movement to win power. He's practicing some unusual humility.

 

"I pledge to every citizen of our lands that I will be the president for the American people," Trump said in his victory speech Tuesday. "For those who have chosen not to support me in the past, for which there were a few people, I'm reaching out to you for your guidance and your help so we can work together and unify our great country."

 

But his challenges were on clear display Wednesday as protests broke out from Boston to Los Angeles."

 

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The crazies with their foreheads painted "not my president" don't bother me.  They can march around the big cities all they want.  Rain will come.  Snow and wind will come and they will go home.  The progressive cause has taken a mighty hit but it will re-assert itself.

There are two real question facing the US as to what sort of president will Trump be.

1.   Thus far he looks to me to be a man who will run a tight ship deciding major issues himself and will make deals with whomever has the power to enable him to reach his goals.

IMO that means that the Republicans in Congress will either go along with Trump's legislative proposals or see Trump go across the aisle to seek votes.

A good example would be whatever it is that Trump decides that he  wants to do about the obvious failure that is the ACA, presently sinking under the weight of far higher costs than expected and smaller enrollments.   Democrats understand that the law must be modified to survive and to preserve the increase in health care coverage that it has brought.  The hardline Republicans in both Houses of Congress want to destroy Obamacare and they have no realistic alternative other than the usual blather about private health accounts.   Trump will not want to alienate his working class followers.  Why would Trump not make a deal with the Democrats to get what he wants and needs?

2.   There is also a danger that the neocon faction among Trump's advisers will succeed in achieving power in his cabinet.  The appointment of John Bolton to State, would be ,IMO, an unmitigated disaster.  pl 

http://www.cnn.com/2016/11/10/politics/donald-trump-barack-obama-transition/index.html

Comments

[BillWade]

"Sore Losers Organization", kinda rhymes with Soros. lol

[begob]

Interesting suggestion I read today on nakedcapitalism of Trump's sister for supreme court.

[Sam Peralta]

Does anyone know who the members of Trump's transition team are? All I know is Chris Christie. In which orbit does he travel? Wall St? neocon?

[turcopolier]

All

IMO all you Trump haters do not understand the man. I do not include Edward Amame in this larger group. He thinks like Mika B. that the end of the world has come and a Stalinist dusk is falling over the US. Actually EA suggesting that Trump will enrich himself and his family while in office is funny considering EA's support of the Clintons. The business guys here may want to argue with me but in my experience Trump is typical of the large scale entrepreneurial "live by your wits" deal closer. What he says while he is stroking your leg to make the deal matters not. What matters for these people is getting to closure. After that he wants to make nice, as today with Obama, so that the arrangement reached can go forward. The specifics of what he said don't matter at all to him. What matters to him is survival. He will want a second term. He knows that his Army of Deplorable descamisados would be essential to making a deal for a second term. He is not a party man and doesn't give a damn for the Republican Party and its petty ideology about killing entitlements, etc. You all mistake him for the image he created during the campaign. IMO he will dominate his cabinet and those who thwart him will be removed. We do not have a parliamentary form of government. The cabinet officers are his subordinates, not a committee of his peers. If you think he is a Zionist go look at the Israeli fear of his inauguration. pl

[BraveNewWorld]

Some positions to be filled are going to require confirmation hearings and that means Trump can suggest but doesn't get the final say. Ask Obama how that works out. The nut case Carter certainly wasn't his first choice. What will Trump have to trade away to get the people he does care about confirmed?

[BraveNewWorld]

The art of the con?

"Trump aides said to tell Arab states to ignore anti-Muslim campaign rhetoric
Months after call to ban Muslims from US, staff reportedly reach out to embassies to say he would not govern in accordance with promises"

http://www.timesofisrael.com/trump-aides-said-to-tell-arab-states-to-ignore-anti-muslim-campaign-rhetoric/

http://www.timesofisrael.com/muslim-ban-culled-from-trump-website/

[turcopolier]

BraveNewWorld

"The art of the con?" Childish naiveté. pl

[O'Bryan]

Trump has praised single-payer healthcare, on many occasions, even acknowledging that others in his party won't like it. As recently as December 2015. As a business owner he has had to sponsor health insurance for a lot of people, for a long time, at great expense. I imagine that he understands the cost savings as only a businessman can.

[Martin Oline]

PFC Chuck:

Soros you say. I wondered why it reminded me of the "Color Revolutions" of eastern Europe. I suppose they'd be banging pots and pans together except their utensils of choice are Styrofoam take-out containers.
There are probably many powerful people who believe they won't be able to manipulate our president-elect. I suspect that Tel Aviv would much rather deal with Mike Pense than the Donald. I'm not a religious person but I think I'll start praying for Trump's health.
I remember Nixon supposedly saying he selected Agnew as his vice president because no one would try to assassinate him because they'd get Spiro. Seeing the winner of his first presidential campaign getting shot probably made him much more aware of that possibility than the average citizen. I don't know if he chose Spiro for that reason but it was interesting that Agnew was removed just before his administration came to an end.

[Thomas101st]

Colonel (and anyone else):

Where does Mike Pence fall on the neo-con scale, regarding Russia in particular ? More specifically, if something were to happen to Trump and Pence were to become President would we be in the same situation as with Clinton as President ?

Thank you.

[Edward Amame]

Col Lang

I don't know Mika B from Adam. And where did I say that "Trump will enrich himself and his family while in office." Frankly, I could not give a sh*t about that -- it's not even on my list of Trump concerns. My main concern, as I have recently written, is that he will wind up simply turning over the reins of gov't to the GOP-run House and Senate, as Grover Norquist as suggested should happen. However, I agree with you that entitlement "reform" would be off the table. Trump is, as you say, a survivor and not interested in seeing his admin self-immolate.

As for foreign policy, how can anyone know where we're going until advisors are appointed?

[ISL]

Dear Colonel, I would also add he has a reputation for paying back his enemies (neocons, establishment, conventional media), as an object lesson for future negotiations, and he never made an secret about this. He said over and over, we never win in negotiations with China, you have to be willing to walk. Of course he will use the same approach on congress.

[kao_hsien_chih]

Hear, hear. In terms of the opportunities and risks, Trump is in position to be either the greatest president since, or even including, FDR, or be the greatest disaster since James Buchanan. I think we have the duty as citizens to set aside silly embitterment of the past and to help him become the former.

[shaun]

that's a total joke and you know it. That shall not occur. How do I raise a child with no coverage, again I am not a Billionaire as arr his fans. HSAs are for the very very rich....Hello? I went to Heller, sorry I know what's up on this.

[shaun]

we don't do solutions this is the USA./

[Jack]

"You all mistake him for the image he created during the campaign."

Well said, Sir!

All those that opposed him and said he would flame out are at it again. They have yet to recognize that he single handedly defeated the Borg and it's Queen despite all the resources they threw and the media/pundit class onslaught of every conceivable attack.

[shaun]

I bet he resigns by this coming Monday.

[r whitman]

The individuals speaking out against the ACA do not have insurance under that program. They are medically secure under Medicare, Tricare, Corporate care, etc. The 6 people I know personally that have ACA insurance are happy with it within limits compared to their choices if any before the program.

The excuse that the finances are out of whack is a nonstarter. Every government program that subsidizes an area loses money--Medicare, Medicaid, the Military commissary system, the Farm program, AFDC, food stamps. All these were supposed o be self sustaining but as usual politicians lied about them. The ACA deficit is just more of the same. I am sure that it will evolve into a better system in time. In the meantime 20 million US citizens have some health insurance, same as the rest of us.

[kooshy]

Colonel, on this blog I supported Mr. Trump perhaps for different reasons, then Tyler did, and I called him a buffoon, I was wrong, I could not see or understand his new creative and very effective technique of campaigning. IMO for a true successful businessmen like him, what matters is the end result, on how to increase the profits, and move the compony forward, in that, he just proved to the world how innovative he is, which many of us didn’t understand. Thinking/hoping in this same line, I hope like any CEO, in his new position, he work for the benefit the compony and its board, which in this case is 300 million board members.

[AK]

"Do they think they are better than their countrymen?" Short answer: Yes, they do think that, to the extent that they consider middle Americans their countrymen at all.

[JohnH]

"Why would Trump not make a deal with the Democrats ...?"

Trump will be very different from anything we have seen since at least LBJ. First, Trump doesn't need Democrats. The few that he needs will come crawling on their knees to kiss his ring.

Second, Trump is beholden to no one. When someone comes asking for favors, the question, stated or not, will be: 'what will you do for the Donald?' Going along to get along, mutual back-scratching, all for one and one for all that has become the dominant mode of the borg will all be replaced by hard ball negotiations to a degree not seen in our lifetimes.

And what will the career politicians do when Trump refuses to lavish favors on them? Smear him? After all that's been said, Trump has proven that he has a Teflon coat.

Resist him on something that is important to him? Americans will soon see the power of the bully pulpit as they have rarely seen it used in our lifetimes...and virtually forgotten in the Obama administration.

[kooshy]

FYI
"Some of the most controversial proposals Donald Trump made during the campaign have been removed from his website"
http://www.businessinsider.com/trump-muslim-ban-removed-from-website-2016-11

[Jeff Albertson]

You're absolutely right about the neocons, especially Woolsey, however, Bolton was and is perfect for the U.N., like Farage in the European Parliament!

[jld]

I don't think the more damaging problems, inside and outside of the US, will come in any way from how Trump and his team will manage the governement but from the "roting zeitgeist" of overall populations (again, both inside and outside the US), people are getting more and more polarized on variety of issues and seem unable to actually discuss the possible compromises over any disagreement.
This both on the right and on the left, though my impression is that this is more a problem on the left.
I have been dumbfounded to see a large number of people I follow on the web on many topics not at all political to reveal themselves, upon Trump election, to be hard core delusional lefties bordering on insanity.

[optimax]

Welcome back Edward.