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."

 

-------------

 

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

[Edward Amame]

Anna

Do you remember why there was no banking reform in the aftermath of the 2008 crash? A very frustrated Sen. Dick Durbin admitted on the radio, “And the banks, hard to believe in a time when we’re facing a banking crisis that many of the banks created, are still the most powerful lobby on Capitol Hill. And they frankly own the place.”

Likewise with health insurance reform. HRC ran into an insurance industry/health care industry firestorm when she tried to reform the system in the early 1990s.

That's how we got Obamacare. Democrats had the full support of most of the base because the other side and the the insurance industry/healthcare industry were not willing to even entertain the idea of Medicare for all. We thought Obamacare was something that could get passed in a bi-partisan way because it was a "market-based" solution birthed in the Heritage Foundation that the insurance industry/healthcare industry got sort-of behind.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/theapothecary/2011/10/20/how-a-conservative-think-tank-invented-the-individual-mandate/#7380f885621b

Obamacare got passed without the public option because the insurance industry, the GOP, and some Blue Dog Dems demanded it be gone and yet the final version of Obamacare did not get a single GOP vote.

Based on what do you think Trump and the GOP House/Senate would even consider a major new entitlement like Medicare for all?

[Kooshy]

I should have added that I didn't think Trump can win, I thought they will not allow him to win.

[Jennifer. Green]

Well I remember Congressional leaders stating their goal was to make President Obama a failed president shortly after his first election so perhaps some are following previous example.

[turcopolier]

EA

Oh, come on. "Mornin' Joe?" Really? IMO there is no reason to think Trump would do the Republican lairds' bidding. They opposed his nomination, did not support him in the campaign, mocked him publicly and he detests them. He doesn't need them. They need him. He has a history of obnoxious resistance to authority. No. He will not do their bidding. Trump also doesn't give a s--t about Grover Norquist. Advisors are just advisors unless you are inattentive or disinterested like Obama. Remember he can fire anyone in the Executive Branch. pl

[turcopolier]

Jennifer Green

I'll bet he has a nice talk with Pelosi and Schumer soon. pl

[Tyler]

Ah, the new crop of Soros hasbarahas arrived and the people who were totally wrong during the election continue to be spectacular in their wish to appear foolish.

Edward, you should have put your money where your mouth was. GCP had that conviction at least.

[Pitch Pole]

Soros hasbarahas or deplorable mouth-breather, all the same to me. His vaunted survival instinct and exaggerated sense of self is hardly a basis of governing, indeed self interest might be antithetical to leadership in general. If HRC and the rest of the dems had less self interest, they would have likely feilded a much better candidate to carry the flag and everyone would be singing a different tune.

I'm going to keep an open mind on the trump option of the two terrible choices we were offered. I seriously doubt it will end well. But anyone claiming to have voted for him on any rational basis aside from sticking a finger in the establishment's eye - well, explain that to me given the fact that you have said to treat every word out of his mouth as bullshit, not to mention his serial business failures and given his manifest lack of knowledge or interest in anything related to the job. Speculation as to what he will do is just that, speculation - no one has a clue, most likely including him.

[Anna]

"So I imagine that Russia will weigh in on his foreign policy choices as well."
For what reason? Just because "...quite a few have been staying in touch with Russian representatives?" Then you were not aware of Mr. Morell, the Kagans' clan, AIPAC, and other still quite powerful policy makers. You may also want to learn about the violation of a ceasefire by the US in Syria, which produced dozens of deaths among military personelle (perhaps including a Russian or two) and some 200 wounded; moreover, the violation was followed immediately by an attack by ISIS. Just read carefully the following: "French journalist and Middle East expert Christian Chesnot noted that the duration of the attack (50 minutes), the number of planes involved and the fact that 62 Syrian servicemen died as a result cast doubts on the Pentagon's claims that the Deir ez-Zor attack was a mistake. Like many others, he also pointed to the Pentagon's technical capabilities that seem to indicate that the airstrike could not have been unplanned."
The best the Russians can dream of is a coordination between RF and US in a fight against Daesh.
https://sputniknews.com/politics/201609201045509532-us-syrian-army-warning/

[eakens]

Please stop the nonsense.

[smoke]

Is it possible that Trump's win was not such an upset? That only faulty polling and the clamour of the media made it seem so? An historical model suggests that it might be so.

Deep inside the NYT, where many of the most interesting stories are buried, is an interview with political historian Allan Lichtman, co-creator of a non-quantitative, historically-based model for predicting outcome in presidential elections. In September he anticipated the likelihood of Trump's election.

"The model, developed in 1981 with the Russian mathematical geophysicist Vladimir Keilis-Borok and elaborated in the book “Predicting the Next President: The Keys to the White House 2016,” is simple on the surface. It disregards complex formulas in favor of 13 true-or-false statements measuring the underlying force that Dr. Lichtman, based on analyses of elections from 1860 through 1980, believes really matters: the strength of the incumbent party.

The “keys” include statements like “After the midterm elections, the incumbent party holds more seats in the U.S. House of Representatives than after the previous midterm elections”; “The economy is not in recession”; and “The incumbent administration suffers no major failure in foreign or military affairs.”

The dynamic of history always appeals to me, of course, but I had not imagined it engaging in quite this way.

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/10/arts/yes-he-thought-trump-would-win-no-he-didnt-use-hard-data.html?ref=politics&_r=0

[Anna]

"How do I raise a child with no coverage, again I am not a Billionaire..."
Single payer. There is no other sensible solution. Where had been Madame Secretary on this topic? -- Ah, she is accustomed to her personal medical team.

[turcopolier]

eakens

I deleted several of Shaun's comments. They were just nasty BS. pl

[turcopolier]

Anna

It is really funny to hear this talks of the Trump campaign's discussions with the Russian government when you consider how far up Israel's a-s all other candidates are. pl

[turcopolier]

Pete Deer

All presidents are "bullys." They run the Executive Branch. What do you want PTA or League of Women Voters meetings? pl

[Anna]

Look who has been one of the important supporters of Trump - Adelson!
http://www.veteranstoday.com/2016/05/30/trump-is-clearly-a-zionist-puppet/

[ISL]

r whitman,

Oh come on, do you really think that poorly of Americans that we are incapable of doing as poorly as the vast majority of European countries (if not sabotaged by crony capitalism), which have better health outcomes that the US? If we could do as well as Belgium (forget Denmark) costs would be half and people would live years longer.

Its not rocket science. Its that Obama was the single largest receiver of donations of any senator by a factor of TWO from the health insurance industry. Deplorable USA sent a message - the pay to play corruption of the establishment sucks. Expect the same message again in two years if their voice is ignored.

[Edward Amame]

optimax

Thank you!

[Kooshy]

I am also worried of names like Bolton, Juliani, Gingrich, Wolseley, Leeden etc. they are dangerous figures, whom I called the Ceheny cabal, in my view Israeli firstera who operate under a fake American nationalism mask. For those who don't know, the names mentioned are all paid speakers for MKO
which was undeclared of it's previous terrorist organization by Obama state department at the time of HRK. MKO, back in 70' was responsible for assassinating American servicemen in Iran, currently they survive and are paid for, jointly by Israel and SKA, they were instrumental through HRC and Obama to remove them from terrorist organization list.

[turcopolier]

pitch pole

"I seriously doubt it will end well" Perhaps you should flee. There may be fighting in the streets of Waltham. pl

[Edward Amame]

O'Bryan

Maybe Trump has praised single-payer healthcare, but that's a bridge way too far for Ryan/McConnell and company. Not gonna happen.

[The Beaver]

@ BNW

As a businessman, he knows that Ivanka needs the golf market in the Emirates. Thus he says one thing and does another thing.

Look even that Billionaire Saudi prince is crawling back

[turcopolier]

Edward Amame

Is there some sort of radiation wall around Manhattan? He has repeatedly stated his willingness to compromise with the Dems. Why do you think he cares what Ryan and McConnell want? pl

[Edward Amame]

Col Lang

I NEVER watch cable TV news and I don't watch Morning Joe.

All they need Trump for is to sign the budget bill which he will after he gets something in return. Much of the junk that's in Ryan's budget bill (big tax cuts for the wealthy, big increases on military spending) is already in Trump's too, so why do you think he'd balk?

Do you really think he'll understand half the stuff he'll have to digest as president, written or otherwise? His advisors will lead him around by the nose, GWB-style, IMO anyway.

[Kooshy]

Being still on some of the so called democratic organization mailing list, last night I got an email for move on asking supporters to attend anti-Trump demonstrations all over the country.
They even had a zip code link to where you could find. Demonstration/ gathering near you some in private residences. Their agenda and Is to pressure Trump early on, from what I learned on how Trump beat them on the poles, I don't think or hope they can succeed.

[turcopolier]

EA

"Do you really think he'll understand half the stuff he'll have to digest as president?" You don't know that. You are a leftist bigot. Are you going to join your comrades in the streets? pl