U.S. Politics: Confirming The Trumpocalypse

[Kalbear]

Well, many senior members of various intelligence agencies - something like 4000 from last I heard - said that they would be quitting if Trump got into office, so I suspect part of this will take care of itself. But yeah, I expect a pretty substantial purge in our government, with whoever is left having shown direct loyalty to Trump at some point or having loyalty to those who have. 

It will be a massive dismantling of the intelligence systems in the US. I'm on the fence as to whether or not that by itself is a good thing, but it will severely curtail capabilities for quite a while, one way or another. 

I also strongly suspect that this didn't come from the CIA, it came from the FBI - which has become absurdly leak-heavy as of late, and is the ones who are apparently in the midst of investigating this. 

[Squab]

I imagine they're all moving to Canada with everyone else who said they would. Before Canada builds a wall of course.

[The Wolves]

3 hours ago, Triskan said:

Obama's speech was so great tonight.  I am so sad.  

I'm going to miss him and family so much. That whole speech had me bawling :-(

I wish he could stay. 

[Channel4s-JonSnow]

2 hours ago, The Wolves said:

I'm going to miss him and family so much. That whole speech had me bawling :-(

I wish he could stay. 

I have to wonder if history will look kindly on Obama though, or will he be remembered for the number of balls he dropped on his watch. Did he in fact set the fuse that allowed someone like Trump to get elected.

[butterbumps!]

Quinnipiac just released their second post-election poll, and it appears Trump's ratings are back down to pre-election figures.  Some highlights:

55-39 approve of Obama's job as POTUS.  By contrast, 37-51 approve of how Trump is handling himself as PEOTUS.  This is down from the 44-46 high post election.

Importantly, his overall numbers declined from their post-election bump reflected in the Nov 22 poll:

Quote

53 – 39 percent that he is not honest, compared to 52 – 42 percent November 22; 

49 – 44 percent that he has good leadership skills, compared to 56 – 38 percent; 

52 – 44 percent that he does not care about average Americans, compared to 45 - 51

62 – 33 percent that he is not level-headed, compared to 57 – 38 percent;  

71 – 25 percent that he is a strong person, compared to 74 – 23 percent; 

68 – 27 percent that he is intelligent, compared to 74 – 21 percent.

 

(as a side note, how do 68% believe he's intelligent, 49% that he exhibits good leadership skills, and 71% that he's strong?   At least these numbers are going in the right direction, but god damn).

53% are not confident that his presidency will improve life for their families (44% are confident).

Only 37% approve of Pence (34% disapprove).  Similarly, only 30% approve of his cabinet appointments (40% disapprove, while 28% don't know enough to say).

And voters believe 64-32 he should close his Twitter account.   That number would be much higher if not for Republicans, who believe 49-45 that he should keep it.

[Mr Fixit]

5 hours ago, snake said:

As petty and as vindictive as Trump can get I expect in the first year of his administrations that heads are gonna role.  Not angry tweets but some substantive measure, especially against the CIA. 

And honestly, he'd do well to do it. This bottom-drawer BS just shows how US intelligence community is way beyond political control. These guys are a government unto themselves. The moment someone out of political mainstream comes in, good or bad, they seem to start losing their shit.

[The Marquis de Leech]

1 hour ago, Channel4s-JonSnow said:

I have to wonder if history will look kindly on Obama though, or will he be remembered for the number of balls he dropped on his watch. Did he in fact set the fuse that allowed someone like Trump to get elected.

Obama, like Lincoln before him, has the historical good fortune to serve between two utterly awful Presidents. He will look brilliant in hindsight, even as Trump trashes his legacy.

[SeanF]

9 hours ago, Jaxom 1974 said:

Though to be fair, I'm actually expecting he'll find a reason not to hold the press conference now...

It'll probably be water off a duck's back.

[Mexal]

Well Russia denied it so that's that.

 

[OldGimletEye]

Just now, Channel4s-JonSnow said:

I have to wonder if history will look kindly on Obama though, or will he be remembered for the number of balls he dropped on his watch. Did he in fact set the fuse that allowed someone like Trump to get elected.

Maybe you should elaborate on the balls he dropped in your view.

And why isn't the Republican Party responsible for Trump?

[The guy from the Vale]

So... Trump is about to outsource his intelligence apparatus to Russia? And here I thought Trump wanted to keep jobs in America? We do indeed live in interesting times.

[OldGimletEye]

Just now, theguyfromtheVale said:

So... Trump is about to outsource his intelligence apparatus to Russia? And here I thought Trump wanted to keep jobs in America? We do indeed live in interesting times.

Well, maybe he plans on taxing Russian intelligence imports.

[The guy from the Vale]

And here I thought he was getting them for free. I mean, why would the Russians charge him for direct power over what the US president thinks is true and what isn't?

[OldGimletEye]

Good question. Don't know or not sure.

Maybe for the same reason, people paid Mitt Romney, to get loaded up with debt, while Mitt walked with their money.

[Ser Scot A Ellison]

9 hours ago, TheKitttenGuard said:

I really do not care about Trump's sexual kinks.  

I do care about the steady reports of how many conflicts he does have with his business.  That this was not discuss with any depth during the campagin was a major failure.

Very well said.  The "golden showers" stuff, while amusing is a distraction at best, a smoke screen at worst.

[Ice Queen]

13 hours ago, Tywin et al. said:

The problem isn't necessarily that more people got care, but who they were. The amount of sick people who signed up was underestimated and the number of young healthy people was overestimated.

And how much of this is doctors and hospitals gouging the system and ordering unnecessary tests to maximize their profits? The first thing they're going to do when they get new patients is 1) order rounds of testing; and 2) keep them coming back. 

When my mother signed up for Medicare, her doctor suddenly ordered batteries of tests, then told her she needed more tests because she was borderline type 2 diabetic when in fact she wasn't. Not even close to being borderline, as a matter of fact. (University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, one of the biggest monopolies in Pennsylvania.) 

[Ice Queen]

6 hours ago, snake said:

As petty and as vindictive as Trump can get I expect in the first year of his administrations that heads are gonna role.  Not angry tweets but some substantive measure, especially against the CIA. 

Hell, if I were the British government I'd be nervous. 

Gonna be interesting to watch the power struggle and see who wins.

Trump might do well to keep in mind what happened the last time a president pissed off the CIA. 

[Ser Scot A Ellison]

4 minutes ago, Crazy Cat Lady in Training said:

And how much of this is doctors and hospitals gouging the system and ordering unnecessary tests to maximize their profits? The first thing they're going to do when they get new patients is 1) order rounds of testing; and 2) keep them coming back. 

When my mother signed up for Medicare, her doctor suddenly ordered batteries of tests, then told her she needed more tests because she was borderline type 2 diabetic when in fact she wasn't. Not even close to being borderline, as a matter of fact. (University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, one of the biggest monopolies in Pennsylvania.) 

The structure of insurance payments encourages this because the patient is insulted from the real costs of those tests.  Further, if the doctor doesn't order the full battery of tests and misses something that could have been on one of the tests they didn't order as a "cost saving measure for the patient" the physician opens themselves up to a malpractice claim.

[OldGimletEye]

Just now, Ser Scot A Ellison said:

The structure of insurance payments encourages this because the patient is insulted from the real costs of those tests.  Further, if the doctor doesn't order the full battery of tests and misses something that could have been on one of the tests they didn't order as a "cost saving measure for the patient" the physician opens themselves up to a malpractice claim.

Your last part has some to truth. But a couple of things here. Even without the specter of malpractice claims, the doctor does have the incentive to over sell services. While, the insurance company, has the incentive to restrict the services.

Typically, the patient doesn't have the knowledge to dispute the doctor's advice or know whether the insurance companies restrictions are reasonable. And that creates a case for regulation for what an insurance plan, at a minimum, should cover.

[Channel4s-JonSnow]

23 minutes ago, OldGimletEye said:

Maybe you should elaborate on the balls he dropped in your view.

And why isn't the Republican Party responsible for Trump?

The Thin Red Line is probably the big mistake he will be remembered for. Backing down on his own ultimatum and letting Assad call his bluff has led to the situation we have now with a prolonged war only ended when Russia came in and backed a genocidal dictator.  It doesn't help that the US pulling out of Iraq created a power vacuum that ISIS moved into. His weakness has emboldened Russia, Turkey and China.  The world is certainly not a safer place after 8 years of Obama, in fact its worse. 

And thats really just the big one.

I wouldn't let Republicans off the hook for Trump at all, but is Trump a reaction to Obama? He's like the anti Obama in so many ways. The real culprit is the Democrats, who couldn't find a candidate to go up against the most unelectable man in recent history, and for Clinton who couldn't beat him.