[kenberg]

y66, on 2018-January-11, 10:21, said:

From NYT Editorial Board:

I really like this, no doubt at least partially because it is along the lines of my thinking. I have felt from the beginning that the objection to a Trump presidency is Trump. Not his policies,but Trump himself. And I have no psychiatric training. The editorial refers to that book by a bunch of psychiatrists.. I commented on that book at the time . There were a bunch of psychiatrists offering diagnoses, may different diagnoses. That alone made it worthless in my eyes. If it were the almost universal opinion of the medical world that Trump had liver disease then I would say he probably has a liver disease. But if one says liver, another says heart, another says shingles, I would figure they don't know what they are talking about. Same with a mental disorder. Someone in that group really should have asked if they really wanted to put out a book with (almost) each of them offering a diagnosis.

Anyway, the main point is that anyone with any experience in life can assess the Trump personality. Many of us, myself and many others, do not want such a person in the oval office. We were outvoted. Yes I know, HC won the popular vote (really, she did) but elections are decided by the rules as they now stand. What would have happened under different rules? The campaign would have gone differently. Maybe the result would have gone differently, maybe not. It's pointless to speculate. Trump won the votes in the electoral college and that's the way we run our elections.

Trump won't change. Well, he changes often, who is in and who is out is an accelrating revolving door, but his fundamentals won't change. Supporters can take comfort in that, the rest of us will fret. But there will be another election.

[PassedOut]

kenberg, on 2018-January-11, 12:37, said:

I really like this, no doubt at least partially because it is along the lines of my thinking. I have felt from the beginning that the objection to a Trump presidency is Trump. Not his policies,but Trump himself. And I have no psychiatric training. The editorial refers to that book by a bunch of psychiatrists.. I commented on that book at the time . There were a bunch of psychiatrists offering diagnoses, may different diagnoses. That alone made it worthless in my eyes. If it were the almost universal opinion of the medical world that Trump had liver disease then I would say he probably has a liver disease. But if one says liver, another says heart, another says shingles, I would figure they don't know what they are talking about. Same with a mental disorder. Someone in that group really should have asked if they really wanted to put out a book with (almost) each of them offering a diagnosis.

Anyway, the main point is that anyone with any experience in life can assess the Trump personality. Many of us, myself and many others, do not want such a person in the oval office. We were outvoted. Yes I know, HC won the popular vote (really, she did) but elections are decided by the rules as they now stand. What would have happened under different rules? The campaign would have gone differently. Maybe the result would have gone differently, maybe not. It's pointless to speculate. Trump won the votes in the electoral college and that's the way we run our elections.

Trump won't change. Well, he changes often, who is in and who is out is an accelerating revolving door, but his fundamentals won't change. Supporters can take comfort in that, the rest of us will fret. But there will be another election.

I agree with you, and also with the editorial, except for this sentence:

Quote

The chances of any of these steps being taken in today’s political environment are less than zero.

I'm just going with zero.

[Winstonm]

cherdano, on 2018-January-09, 05:29, said:

How will Trump leave office? With all the grace and class that we have come to expect of him.

Yes, class act all the way.

Quote

The president, having grown frustrated during a meeting, lashed out after lawmakers proposed restoring protections for immigrants from Haiti, El Salvador and African countries. “Why are we having all these people from shithole countries come here?” Trump said, according to two people briefed on the meeting.

[barmar]

Not only was his remark incredibly disparaging of the countries, but it betrays a total misunderstanding of TPS. From Wikipedia:

Quote

Congress established a procedure by which the Attorney General may provide temporary protected status to immigrants in the United States who are temporarily unable to safely return to their home country because of ongoing armed conflict, an environmental disaster, or other extraordinary and temporary conditions.

In other words, if someone is allowed in through TPS, their country of origin is by definition a shithole (or was, at the time TPS status was granted).

And why do we allow people from these shitholes to come here? Because it's the humane thing to do. Humanity used to be an American ideal. Unfortunately, it's slowly being replaced with xenophobia and racism.

[Winstonm]

Quinnipiac University poll from Jan 2018 shows: (enphasis added)

Quote

Grading President Trump's first year in office, 39 percent of voters give him an "F," while 17 percent give him a "D." Trump gets an "A" from 16 percent of voters, a "B" from another 16 percent and a "C" from 11 percent of voters, the independent Quinnipiac (KWIN-uh- pe-ack) University Poll finds.

There is the "Trump base", all 16% of them. That hardly calls for much fear for Republicans to oppose him, so those Republicans that support him must agree with his white nationalism.

Personally, I think Americas is better than that and the midterms will show it.