Has U.S. Democracy Been Trumped?

[ggwhiz]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lP5Xv7QqXiM

 

I went home with the waitress

the way I always do

How was I to know

she was with the

Russians too?

[kenberg]

Typical for a A+ snob. How naive are you? All politicians are constantly lying. The big difference is the left-wing media is 24/7 writing negative stories on Trump, while ignoring the negatives on Obama and Hillary.

 

I have been called naive (for example I have said that I think Comey did waht he did because he thought it was right, bit because he was playing political games) , I have been called a sexist (for example because I was only vaguely aware of Huma Abedin's role in the Clinton campaign), I have been called uniformed (see Abedin again), also both racist and uninformed for having no idea who TNC is, and many other things. I have been compared to Forrest Gump. To the best of my knowledge this is the first time I have been called a snob, A+ or otherwise. I would have to hire some help if I wanted to respond to everyone who calls me a name.

 

I'm resting easy.But I just checked the latest John Sandford nook out of the library and I have to get to it. All us snobs follow the adventures of effing Flowers.

[barmar]

The big difference is that neither Hillary Clinton nor Barack Obama is in a government position.

I think he's comparing the media's current treatment of Trump to how they treated Clinton and Obama when they were in office.

[cherdano]

I have been called naive [...] also both racist and uninformed for having no idea who TNC is,

Wait what?

[Winstonm]

I think he's comparing the media's current treatment of Trump to how they treated Clinton and Obama when they were in office.

 

No, I don't think so. (emphasis added)

The big difference is the left-wing media is 24/7 writing negative stories on Trump, while ignoring the negatives on Obama and Hillary.

 

The emphasized areas are present tense, indicating that he thinks the press should still be writing negatively about Obama and Hillary, which is exactly what the far right and alt right media is doing.

[barmar]

The emphasized areas are present tense, indicating that he thinks the press should still be writing negatively about Obama and Hillary, which is exactly what the far right and alt right media is doing.

"writing" is both the present tense and also "present continuous", which is used for ongoing activity. I'll give him the benefit of the doubt and interpret the "ongoing" period as going back to when Obama and Trump were in the news, so there was something to write about. It's only a few months ago, not ancient history, and it's essentially the same media outlets.

 

There are enough issues with what the Trump supporters say that we don't need to make new ones based on grammar glitches. Similarly, some of the late night comics have pointed out Trump's misspelling of "tapp" in his tweet -- there's far more to worry about than a typo on a cellphone (I wonder why he turned off auto-correct?).

[PassedOut]

Here's the dumb-ass thing tweeted this morning:

 

President Trump

@POTUS

 

122 vicious prisoners, released by the Obama Administration from Gitmo, have returned to the battlefield. Just another terrible decision!

 

8:03 AM - 7 Mar 2017

As president of the US, Trump has easy access to any information he wants, and of course only 9 of those 122 were released during Obama's administration, 113 under Bush's administration. And you'd have to be pretty far out of the loop not to realize that the original tweet was way off base. And yet, there it is.

 

Seems to me that Trump should prefer to avoid making voters decide whether he's a reflexive liar or whether he's merely stupid. Whenever the media points out that what Trump says is completely false, he blames the media instead of taking responsibility for his own actions. Of course he's going to get negative stories when he gives the media no choice.

[kenberg]

Wait what?

 

Well, maybe that one was just that I was uninformed.

 

Anyway, snobbish me, naive me, bigoted me, and uninformed me all have a book to read.

[jogs]

The emphasized areas are present tense, indicating that he thinks the press should still be writing negatively about Obama and Hillary, which is exactly what the far right and alt right media is doing.

I'm speaking of the last 8 years. Trump isn't really a member of the far right. Trump is truly an independent.

I assure you, FOXNews is NOT non stop praising Trump.

[jogs]

As president of the US, Trump has easy access to any information he wants, and of course only 9 of those 122 were released during Obama's administration, 113 under Bush's administration. And you'd have to be pretty far out of the loop not to realize that the original tweet was way off base. And yet, there it is.

 

 

What easy access? All those Obama holdovers hate Trump.

[PassedOut]

What easy access? All those Obama holdovers hate Trump.

The administration is allowed to use Google.

[Winstonm]

I'm speaking of the last 8 years. Trump isn't really a member of the far right. Trump is truly an independent.

I assure you, FOXNews is NOT non stop praising Trump.

I said nothing about praise of Trump. I said that the far right and alt right are still trashing Clinton and Obama although neither is in office.

 

It is you who seems upset that ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, and others are not following suit. That seems to me the same as complaining about major media not reporting the alien abductions claims found in the National Inquirer.

[Al_U_Card]

I said nothing about praise of Trump. I said that the far right and alt right are still trashing Clinton and Obama although neither is in office.

 

It is you who seems upset that ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, and others are not following suit. That seems to me the same as complaining about major media not reporting the alien abductions claims found in the National Inquirer.

But it does distract and keep them from having to address Trump's latest flight of fancy. The media cycles are ever faster and Trump is using the "chaff" technique of misdirection. No squirrels in Manhattan I guess.... ;)

[Al_U_Card]

But it does distract and keep them from having to address Trump's latest flight of fancy. The media cycles are ever faster and Trump is using the "chaff" technique of misdirection. No squirrels in Manhattan I guess.... ;)

He may be changing the lexicon and the usage of "to trump" something rather than being superior to will come to mean overwhelm instead.

We were heading for a corporate plutocracy and we have just eliminated the middle management (politicians). Will Trump be able to overwhelm the board of directors? I doubt it.

[jogs]

Repeal of Obamacare.

 

GOP plan.

 

DOA.

 

All politicians seem to think those without health insurance from their employer are wealthy independent contractors.

No, they are mostly poor people with no money. Tax credits won't help them.

There needs to be a non insurance model.

 

Temp solution. Allow all uninsured to sign up with medicaid with a $10K deductible. Poor people would at least have access to a healthcare network.

[Winstonm]

Repeal of Obamacare.

 

GOP plan.

 

DOA.

 

All politicians seem to think those without health insurance from their employer are wealthy independent contractors.

No, they are mostly poor people with no money. Tax credits won't help them.

There needs to be a non insurance model.

 

Temp solution. Allow all uninsured to sign up with medicaid with a $10K deductible. Poor people would at least have access to a healthcare network.

 

What you want is from the progressive agenda, not from Donald Trump. Why continue to support a con man? I mean, it's O.K. to be conned. We are all susceptible. It is not O.K. to stay conned.

[Winstonm]

I believe this report addresses in an evenhanded manner one of the most critical preservation-of-democracy problems of our modern times:

 

http://www.cjr.org/analysis/breitbart-media-trump-harvard-study.php

 

(emphasis added)

Use of disinformation by partisan media sources is neither new nor limited to the right wing, but the insulation of the partisan right-wing media from traditional journalistic media sources, and the vehemence of its attacks on journalism in common cause with a similarly outspoken president, is new and distinctive.

 

Rebuilding a basis on which Americans can form a shared belief about what is going on is a precondition of democracy, and the most important task confronting the press going forward. Our data strongly suggest that most Americans, including those who access news through social networks, continue to pay attention to traditional media, following professional journalistic practices, and cross-reference what they read on partisan sites with what they read on mass media sites.

 

When you fail to cross check information and rely instead on single sources, you open yourself up to the prospect of being propagandized. This is a bipartisan concern.

[cherdano]

None of my news sources have been able to help me out on this - how is the Republican healthcare plan (endorsed by Trump) going to help the middle class? I am sure ldrews can explain.

[helene_t]

None of my news sources have been able to help me out on this - how is the Republican healthcare plan (endorsed by Trump) going to help the middle class? I am sure ldrews can explain.

By removing the mandate. People who'd rather gamble that they don't need health care are free to do so.

[Winstonm]

None of my news sources have been able to help me out on this - how is the Republican healthcare plan (endorsed by Trump) going to help the middle class? I am sure ldrews can explain.

 

The average compensation for top health insurance executives is in the millions. In 2014 the left-leaning Institute for Policy Studies found that this cap generated $72 million in additional tax revenue. But that cap is being eliminated in the new American Healthcare Act unveiled Monday by Republicans. That means the more health insurance companies pay their executives the less they will pay in taxes.

 

The extra money will allow them to hire more Mexican American cabana boys.

[kenberg]

Health care? What, me worry? Trump has assured us that it will be terrific. They have been working on this and it is ready to go, we can expect the ACA to be abolished and the new plan put in place all within a week or so, perhaps the same day. It will make health care great again.

 

"Buyer's remorse" will soon be seen as a serious understatement of the situation.

 

Here's the plan: We wait another six months or so. Then we poll the public on whether they did or did not vote for Trump. Nobody will admit to having done so. Then we say that indeed Trump was right, there must have been massive voter fraud since according to the polls, nobody actually voted for him.

[billw55]

Here's the plan: We wait another six months or so. Then we poll the public on whether they did or did not vote for Trump. Nobody will admit to having done so. Then we say that indeed Trump was right, there must have been massive voter fraud since according to the polls, nobody actually voted for him.

Cute, but unlikely. Most Trump voters will go to the grave still believing he is their savior.

[PassedOut]

By removing the mandate. People who'd rather gamble that they don't need health care are free to do so.

As we had before, so that those who lost their gamble had their health care paid by those of us who did have health insurance. A big step backward...

[ldrews]

As we had before, so that those who lost their gamble had their health care paid by those of us who did have health insurance. A big step backward...

 

So, the consensus is that the Trump health plan is nonsense, unworkable, etc. The current ACA is imploding, premiums are soaring, deductables are soaring, insurance companies are abandoning, etc.

 

So what is your solution? Or are we to just sit on the sidelines and complain?

[Winstonm]

So, the consensus is that the Trump health plan is nonsense, unworkable, etc. The current ACA is imploding, premiums are soaring, deductables are soaring, insurance companies are abandoning, etc.

 

So what is your solution? Or are we to just sit on the sidelines and complain?

 

A solution cannot be found in partisan rancor and grandstanding. Why not use the ACA backbone and work to make it better? The polls have shown the American people to like the ACA but to not like Obamacare, which would be funny if not such a serious issue about the power of propaganda to misinform and lead astray. If the Republicans in Congress keep calling for repeal of Obamacare - not the ACA - then they are being disingenuous and relying on inaccurate poll answers to justify their actions.