Trump's America

[Griffon64]

We're about four hours north of Fullerton - in the Central Valley. I assume it is work taking you to Fullerton?

[Frelga]

Yep, work. I had a vague memory of someone being in Fullerton area, but I think it was Gimli.

[axordil]

That would be correct.

[Cenedril_Gildinaur]

Trump's cabinet choices have me curious, I must admit.

It almost seems as if his appointments are deliberately crafted to make people call into question the positions themselves, and make the positions as absurd as possible.

[Lalaith]

Or...

http://www.patheos.com/blogs/publiccath ... gaming-us/

[River]

It made me sad at first that people grooved on this sadistic man’s sadism.

People have been grooving on sadism for a long long time. Exhibit A: gladiatorial games. Exhibit B: The German word "Schadenfreude". Exhibit C: The build 'em up and tear 'em down rhythm of celebrity culture. Exhibit D: presidential campaigns that last half a presidential term.

[tinwë]

It almost seems as if his appointments are deliberately crafted to make people call into question the positions themselves, and make the positions as absurd as possible.

This is certainly true of his pick for Education Secretary, a person who has no experience in education, never attended public school, didn’t send their kids to public schools, has espoused disdain for public education in general, and wants to redirect education funds to private and religious schools. Other then her open hostility to public education, her main qualification seems to be the fact she donated 9.5 million dollars to Trump’s campaign. If the goal is the end of public education in this country, then I guess that’s as good a way as any to do it. I know some Libertarians might be happy about that, but I think it just stinks.

Other picks do not fair much better. An Attorney General who was considered too racially insensitive by his own party to be a federal judge, a Health & Human Services secretary whose main goal is to repeal Obamacare, and a UN Ambassador whose entire scope of foreign policy experience is being the daughter of Indian immigrants. Lord help us.

I don’t mean to trivialize a serious tragedy, but this really is how I envision “Trump’s America”:

Language warning

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FMnkmlrJ9GA

[Cerin]

It seems my hope that Trump might prove less Republican than an actual Republican, was a forlorn one.

[Túrin Turambar]

Two big pieces of news this week – the Carrier factory in Indiana and the Taiwan phone call. They seem to suggest that Trump is going to play both foreign and domestic politics as he said he would in the campaign.

Carrier, an air-conditioning and furnace manufacturer in Indiana, was intending to close two factories and outsource some 2,100 jobs to Mexico. Trump persuaded them to keep one of the factories open, preserving some 1,000 jobs. There was a deal between Carrier and the state and federal governments (and Mike Pence is still Governor of Indiana), the exact terms of which are unknown. It seems that Carrier was offered a carrot and a stick – the carrot being tax breaks and the stick being the loss of defence contracts. Officially Carrier was given $7 million in tax breaks over ten years, and agreed to invest another $16 million in Indiana.

It’s difficult to judge how good the deal is, and certainly having the government offer tax breaks on a case-by-case basis to companies isn’t fantastic policy from a fiscal or economic perspective. And the true costs and benefits of a deal like this, including flow-on effects, are hard to judge. But $700,000 a year to preserve 1,000 jobs for ten years does come out to only $700 per year per job, and that does mean that the state of Indiana has to pay less in unemployment relief and gets some of that back in direct and indirect taxes. Plus there’s the extra $16 million invested. At any rate, Trump is living up to his claim that he’s going to be a deal-maker.

Trump has also phoned and spoken directly with the President of Taiwan – no U.S. leader has done so since 1979. The Chinese Government has lodged a protest, arguing that a recognition of the ‘One China’ position is at the foundation of U.S. – China relations. It’s not clear what they’ve spoken about, or if Trump will continue this relationship while in office, but it also implies that he will pay less attention to Beijing than his predecessors.

[Inanna]

The call to Pakistan was also... umm... interesting?

"When Mr. Sharif invited him to visit Pakistan, the president-elect replied that he would “love to come to a fantastic country, fantastic place of fantastic people.” (NY Times)

Fantastic. I wonder how the hard liner Hindu Indians who were praying for Trump to win are feeling now.

[axordil]

The Carrier deal was of course stupidly popular, even though it's pretty pointless:
http://www.businessinsider.com/united-t ... bs-2016-12
http://www.forbes.com/sites/eriksherman ... 2847874c7b
http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/why ... -u-s-jobs/

Whereas Obama, of course, saved the US Auto Industry and caught hell for it. Screw 'em.

And of course his call to Taiwan has to be seen in light of his business dealings there. ALL of his foreign policy should be assumed to be self-serving until proven otherwise.

[eborr]

A buddy of mine has been proselyitizing on social media about what a smart guy Mattis is, he worked for him directly at CentCom for a couple of years and I guess he should know. Perhaps it will be good thing if Trump appoints a Sec of Defense who has the courage to tell him, no you are not going to do that.

[Frelga]

Cadillac disavows casting call for 'neo-Nazi' character in brand ad

Another version of the casting call posted on social media described the planned "Cadillac - Real People" commercial as a "beautifully artistic spot that is capturing (sic) all walks of life in America. Standing together as a union. This is not meant to be offensive in any way. Just a representation of all sides."

Because nothing says unity and diversity like legitimizing Neo-Nazism.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

Trump has nominated ExxonMobil CEO Rex Tillerson, a man who like Trump himself has absolutely no government experience, as Secretary of State. Even some GOP senators (including McCain and Rubio) have expressed concern about Tillerson's ties to Vladimir Putin.

Meanwhile multiple media outlets have reported that Trump has picked former Texas Governor Rick Perry to be Secretary of Energy, a department that Perry famously wanted to eliminate altogether (along with two other departments), but couldn't remember at a debate what department it was.

Oops!

[Nin]

The nomination of Tillerson has caused serious concern in some of the European media...

[Voronwë the Faithful]

Here too, though I can understand why it would be a particular concern in Europe, thousands of miles closer to Russia. Some are predicting that he will have a hard time getting confirmed, but I don't believe it.

[Cenedril_Gildinaur]

Corporatism doesn't work, whether it is Trump or Obama.

[Lalaith]

Besides being funny (and simultaneously creepy ), there were a few things in here of note. Glenn Beck admits that he is responsible for helping to create the divide in this country. I thought that was very insightful of him, and it gives me a bit of hope that, perhaps, there's a way forward to a more united America. Also from his own mouth, though, I now know precisely why I don't think people should listen to him on a regular basis (even if they agree with his political views)—he is a catastrophist. The warning goes both ways, as he points out to Samantha Bee.

[Cerin]

Could you explain 'catastrophist'? I googled, but didn't get much insight.

edit

I should say that I haven't yet watched the clip, so if it is explained in there, please disregard my query.

[Lalaith]

I doubt it's a real word, but it is exactly what it sounds like—a person who makes everything into a catastrophe or who only sees the future as catastrophic. In the context of the clip, Samantha asks Glenn if he's a pessimist (or still a pessimist, I can't remember which now), and he says that he is not—he is a catastrophist.