Tag: Political Promises

What Happened To Campaign Promises?

Does anyone recall the rhetoric coming from candidate Trump?  There were many and even some that I agreed with, at least in principle…..but since his election to the presidency they seem to be falling away one by one.

And yet his supporters do not care that they were lied to….their support is as strong as ever….and some of us are asking why?

America use to hold their elected officials to a high standard but those days are long gone…..and still people are asking the eternal question….what the Hell happened?

I read an attempt to explain what is happening to the promises made on the campaign trail…..

Back in December of 2016 I wrote an article titled “Trump Is Exactly Where The Elites Want Him”, which I think was very difficult for a large part of the liberty movement to read and accept. In that article I outlined the future of the Trump presidency; a future dominated by Washington insiders, Goldman Sachs internationalists and Neo-Con warmongers. Trump, at the very onset of his administration, broke one of his most important campaign promises — to “drain the swamp.” Instead, he filled his cabinet with all of the same swamp creatures he originally attacked; the same swamp creatures Hillary Clinton was notorious for serving.

I also warned in numerous articles that because of this initial broken promise, conservatives should not expect that Trump would fulfill most if any of his original plans. In the BEST CASE SCENARIO scenario, Trump is surrounded by enemies dictating policy from every corner and corridor of the White House.

Source: The Real Reasons Why Trump Has Flipped On His Campaign Promises

It is a good piece that explains the flipping of Trump….but there are still other questions that need explaining…..but I do not think I am the one that can do the subject justice…..

If you bothered to read the post….what do you think?

What About NAFTA?

During his run up to the victory….Mr. Trump was adamant that NAFTA and other trade agreements were bad deals and once he was elected they would be torn up and re-negotiated…..does anyone recall this?

Well once again…if anyone cares….we may have been played…..

After repeatedly referring to NAFTA as “the worst trade deal maybe ever signed anywhere” during the presidential campaign, the Trump administration seems to be softening it’s protectionist rhetoric.  According to The Hill, in speaking to a group of concerned business leaders, Trump advisor Anthony Scaramucci said that the new administration isn’t looking to “rip up NAFTA” but rather to “right-size it and make it fairer.” 

Source: Trump Advisor Says Administration Not Looking To “Rip Up NAFTA” Or Impose “Quote-Unquote Tariffs” | Zero Hedge

Another source for this statement…….

Members of the Trump transition team are trying to tamp down concerns among corporate leaders that the incoming administration may spark trade wars with Mexico, Canada and other major trading partners over the next four years.

Anthony Scaramucci, a senior advisor on the Trump transition team, told a group of business leaders convened at a bipartisan meeting by the group No Labels that President-elect Donald Trump is a free-trader who is looking to make trade deals more fair, not scrap them.

Source: Transition official: Trump will not rip up NAFTA | TheHill

Almost daily his promises are falling by the wayside….and yet NO one seems concerned that he is crapping on the deals that he campaigned on…..now if this had been Clinton it would indeed be a big deal….but as usual….Trump will get a free ride from those that he played….

“I Will Not Let You Down”

That was the declaration from Donald Trump, president-elect of the US of A, during his acceptance speech on Nov. 8, 2016…..

After it became official that he had won the electoral college I stated that I would at least give him a chance to make good on the promises he made to his supporters and the people of this country.  My biggest concern is that of foreign policy….he made some bold statements about the international situations and I want to know if he will follow through….

Two days after his election and I am already disappointed…..fist, he railed about the DC insiders and that will change…..but yet he is using insiders to advise him on cabinet positions…..one strike

Word has come out about his foreign policy……he promised to pull troops from Korea and that the Iranian nuke deal was dead if he is elected……

New reports from South Korea’s Yonhap news agency suggest President-elect Donald Trump is already reneging on one of his key campaign promises, to make nations like South Korea pay more of the cost for their own defense or face the loss of US troops.

What about the nuke deal?

While the US could conceivably renege on its obligations under the deal, and indeed that has been what some Congressional resolutions suggested doing, it wouldn’t overturn the entire deal so much as render the US the sole violator of it. If anything, such a move risks an international backlash from the other P5+1 nations, particularly those in Europe.

This reality has already been obvious in the first year of the deal, with the Obama Treasury Department slow to keep US obligations related to lifting sanctions, a fact which sparked criticism from Iran, but far more criticism from Western Europe, whose companies are losing out on massive deals with Iran because of US banking sanctions.

Faced with the reality that he can’t effectively “change” the Iran nuclear deal, Trump really has no reason to risk isolating the US economically by trying to roll back US compliance. There is simply nothing to gain, and plenty to lose.

(antiwar.com)

So far 2 promises are about to be broken……how many more?  We still have about 60 days before the swearing in….plenty of time……

While I was asking that question more news hit the wires…..remember at his rallies all the chanting “Build the wall”?  Keep that warm fuzzy feeling……

Prominent Trump aide Newt Gingrich told reportersThursday Trump’s promise to have Mexico pay for a border wall may have been just a “campaign talk.” “He’ll spend a lot of time controlling the border,” said Gingrich, who is expected to have a senior role in Trump’s White House. “He may not spend very much time trying to get Mexico to pay for it, but it was a great campaign device.”

I am sure that the rabid supporters will find some illogical method to justify the lies told to the American people…..they are already whining about the protests the day after the vote…..

But sorry…..a lie is a fucking lie!  You CANNOT justify a LIE!

Back Away Slowly

Do you know how many Trump supporters gave me grief over my opinion that the rhetoric will not match the candidate if he were to win the big enchilada?

Many!  They told me that everything would change when was elected…..but will it?

His biggest draw was that he was an outsider and that is what is needed to break the strangle hold of the “elitist” the DC insiders on the levers of power.,….

Well that is a lie….why?  Look who is his chief of staff……one of the biggest insiders……

President-elect Trump has named Republican National Committee chairman Reince Priebus as his chief of staff, NBC reports. The choice was widely believed to be between Priebus and Steve Bannon, Trump’s campaign CEO and executive chairman of Breitbart News. In the end, both will stay on board. While Priebus won the big job, Politico reports that Bannon will be Trump’s chief strategist. “I am thrilled to have my very successful team continue with me in leading our country,” Trump said in a statement. “Steve and Reince are highly qualified leaders who worked well together on our campaign and led us to a historic victory.”

Bannon and Priebus represent two camps expected to be fighting for influence over the Trump presidency: Priebus is an establishment Republican with years of experience in politics, while Bannon is a fiery ideologue whose conservative media powerhouse, Breitbart News, is described as a “must-read for antiestablishment conservatives” by the Wall Street Journal. Other establishment Republicans may find some comfort knowing Priebus will play such a central role in the Trump White House, CNN reports. Priebus, who has led the Republican Party since 2011, is widely viewed as a moderating influence who may be able to forge alliances with Republicans like Paul Ryan.

Word is that it will NOT stop there…….

Donald Trump has only been president-elect of the United States for a few days but some of his biggest campaign promises are already looking shaky—including his promise to repeal ObamaCare. Failure to deliver on pledges like the border wall could alienate some of his “most fervent supporters,” though Trump has previously backed away from hardline positions only to return to them later, the Washington Post reports. A round-up of coverage:

  • Prominent Trump aide Newt Gingrich told reporters Thursday Trump’s promise to have Mexico pay for a border wall may have been just a “campaign talk.” “He’ll spend a lot of time controlling the border,” said Gingrich, who is expected to have a senior role in Trump’s White House. “He may not spend very much time trying to get Mexico to pay for it, but it was a great campaign device.”
  • Trump, whose supporters chanted “Lock her up” at campaign rallies, has softened his tone on Hillary Clinton considerably, the Guardian reports. In a 60 Minutes interview that will air Sunday, he described his former rival as a “very strong and very smart” woman who conceded in a “lovely” phone call. “She couldn’t have been nicer. She just said ‘congratulations Donald, well done,'” said Trump. He said Bill Clinton also called, and he “couldn’t have been more gracious.” In a Wall Street Journal interview, Trump said he hadn’t given a lot of thought to his promise to have a special prosecutor investigate Hillary Clinton.
  • The Times of Israel reports that Trump foreign policy adviser Walid Phares cast doubt on several Trump policies in an interview with BBC radio, saying that Trump might not move the US Embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem without “consensus,” and that “ripping it up” might be too strong a term for what Trump plans to do with the Iran nuclear deal. He “will take the agreement, review it, send it to Congress, demand from the Iranians to restore a few issues or change a few issues, and there will be a discussion,” Phares said.
  • Politico looks at the Trump team’s efforts to vet Cabinet nominees and plan for his first 100 days, and finds that the man who pledged to “drain the swamp” is assembling a team full of GOP insiders, lobbyists, and people with close ties to Wall Street. Some top members of the Trump transition team served in both Bush administrations.
  • CNN notes that Trump’s suggestion that he will keep parts of ObamaCare goes against his pledge to immediately repeal and replace the law, but much earlier in the campaign, he expressed support for keeping popular parts of the law—and even suggested he would be open to universal health care. “Everybody’s got to be covered. This is an un-Republican thing for me to say,” he told CBS last year. “I am going to take care of everybody. I don’t care if it costs me votes or not. Everybody’s going to be taken care of much better than they’re taken care of now.”
  • Trump hasn’t provided many concrete policy details since his win, but he’s still promising great things. “This will prove to be a great time in the lives of ALL Americans. We will unite and we will win, win, win!” he tweeted Saturday.

So far the appointees that are being named right now is terrible for an “outsider”….Trump is wading into the stagnant water of Washington…and few seem to care….funny that is not what they said during the process….but I guess when you have NO principles a lot of things are acceptable.

It will be some enjoyment to watch all those rabid, insulting supporters trying to justify being lied to in the process….

Let me say again….a LIE is still a LIE no matter what you try to do to justify…..but I guess some people like being lied to…..

It is fascinating to see everyone furiously attempt to read the tea leaves to try figure out what is inside the mysterious early Christmas present (that over half of American voters didn’t want) which we were all given last Tuesday. I think we have it narrowed down to Donald Trump as president will be most like… Ronald Reagan, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Barack Obama, Jessie Ventura, or Adolf Hitler.  (Personally, I do not like using the AH reference and that makes me better than about half of the Trump supporters who do not hesitate to make such analogies)

Regardless, it will be so exciting to find out what we got in exchange for debasing our entire political process for at least the next generation!

Source: Trump’s Base of Supporters Clearly Doesn’t Care That He’s Already Broken Campaign Promises | Mediaite

Trump: The Outsider Goes Inside

The people fell for the DC outsider con.  Trump promised to break the cycle of corruption of the political establishment when elected….so far to me it is looking like the con worked……he won the electoral college and has become the 45th president of the USA.

Now comes the formation of his administration….I have said that it will be very telling to see how and who he picks for the various positions of government.

Since he has zero experience in governing….how will he pick the people to run the country?

It appears that he will go the way of all politicians…..he will go to the Washington insiders……

As Donald Trump finishes his campaign with a promise to break the control of Washington by political insiders, his transition team is preparing to hand his administration over to a cozy clique of corporate lobbyists and Republican power brokers.“Our movement is about replacing a failed and corrupt political establishment with a new government controlled by you the American people,” Trump says in his closing campaign advertisement, followed by flashing images of K Street, Wall Street, and Goldman Sachs Chief Executive Lloyd Blankfein.But the Trump transition team is a who’s who of influence peddlers, including: energy adviser Michael Catanzaro, a lobbyist for Koch Industries and the Walt Disney Company; adviser Eric Ueland, a Senate Republican staffer who previously lobbied for Goldman Sachs; and Transition General Counsel William Palatucci, an attorney in New Jersey whose lobbying firm represents Aetna and Verizon. Rick Holt, Christine Ciccone, Rich Bagger, and Mike Ferguson are among the other corporate lobbyists helping to manage the transition effort.

Source: Donald Trump Recruits Corporate Lobbyists to Select His Future Administration

That is one promise broken……how many will follow?

In his acceptance speech he said….”I will not let you down”…..if this is fact then it is too late….he already has…..and is not even prez yet.

I will bet that the supporters will make a good “excuse” for this lie…….can anyone say “apologist’?

I will take a much needed break tomorrow….it is Veterans Day and I will be posting nothing but vet posts…..enjoy my friends…..

My First Hundred Days

Since most normal humans are fed up with this election season….the sane ones that is…..so I thought I would inject a bit of humor into the last couple of weeks……

Every candidate for president sees to always issue some sort of report that says what they will try to accomplish in the first 100 days in office…..and 2016 is no different……Clinton and Trump have both made mention of this situation…..

Let us begin with Mrs. Clinton…….

  • Choose only strong, independent appointees — not Wall Streeters. Clinton can ensure that her Administration will be free of those “deep-seated cultural and ethical failures” by choosing appointees who’ll enforce the rules without fear or favor – and by not appointing anyone from a major bank to a senior government position.
  • Investigate Stumpf’s trades. If the SEC hasn’t moved swiftly to investigate those trades, itsalready-embattled director has some explaining to do. But the next president must make sure that promptly opens an investigation into Stumpf’s stock trading in the month before the185 million settlement.
  • Investigate the 2 million phony accounts. The SEC and Department of Justice should also investigate Stumpf, his senior executives (including Sloan), and the Wells Fargo board regarding this account fraud.
  • Protect and expand the CFPB. Wells Fargo’s crimes prove that we need the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. It should be defended from the Republicans who seek to gut it. Its budget and oversight responsibilities should be expanded to meet the ongoing threat posed by criminal bankers.
  • Break up the big banks. We agree with Republicans and Democrats who say that Wells Fargo proves too-big-to-fail banks are still a threat to the economy. The next president should direct her Treasury Secretary to develop a plan to break up Wells Fargo and others of comparable size.
  • Restore Glass-Steagall. The new president should also press for a 21st-Century Glass-Steagall Act separating consumer banking from investment activities, so that shareholders and executives will no longer be bailed out when they engage in fraud or mismanagement.
  • Investigate big-bank involvement in payday lending. The new president should direct her regulators to investigate the current state of big-bank involvement in the payday lending industry, and to publish a report of its findings that includes the social cost of this activity and more constructive alternatives for the so-called “unbanked” population.
  • Ensure justice for all. Lastly, she should demonstrate in word and deed what has unfortunately yet to be demonstrated in the nation’s capital: that the law will be enforced on Wall Street as well as on Main Street without fear or favor. Whether those crimes consist of investor fraud, consumer fraud, theft, or racial discrimination, no bank executive should ever again believe he or she is above the law.

(laprogressive.com)

These all all the things the voters want to hear on the Dem side…..I say less than 10% will actually be accomplished.

Watch Clinton’s appointees…they will tell you just what her agenda really is all about.

Now for the biggies for Mr. Trump……..

Trump eventually turned to his plans for his first 100 days in office, listing six major steps he’ll take once elected—in addition to suing his accusers, presumably—that he called a “contract between myself and the American voter.” Those plans include congressional term limits and more restrictions on government officials becoming lobbyists, the Washington Post reports. Trump said he would immediately deport immigrants in prison for violent crimes and cancel visas for countries that won’t take them back. He said his administration wouldn’t approve of the AT&T/Time Warner merger announced today. He would also implement a hiring freeze on all federal employees outside public health, safety, and the military. According to CNN, there were few policies or details laid out Saturday that Trump hadn’t already discussed elsewhere.

But before he does anything he will sue someone…….

I will be watching the game as it is played and will write about their first 100 days….no matter which one of the toads wins…..

A New American Century or a Century of Wars?

I have heard all sorts of promises from all the prospective candidates over the last year or so……We have heard the America will be great again….and that we are looking at a new American century….and I have said that no matter who wins this election we are looking at many more years of war….possibly several generations…..”same old sh*t, different administration”……

So sports fans……what will it be….something new or more of the same…..?

Vladimir Putin recently manned up and admitted it. The United States remains the planet’s sole superpower, as it has been since the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991. “America,” the Russian president said, “is a great power. Today, probably, the only superpower. We accept that.”

Think of us, in fact, as the default superpower in an ever more recalcitrant world.

Seventy-five years ago, at the edge of a global conflagration among rival great powers and empires, Henry Luce first suggested that the next century could be ours.  In February 1941, in his magazine LIFE, he wrote a famous essay entitled “The American Century.”  In it, he proclaimed that if only Americans would think internationally, surge into the world, and accept that they were already at war, the next hundred years would be theirs.  Just over nine months later, the Japanese attacked the U.S. fleet at Pearl Harbor, plunging the country into World War II.  At the time, however, Americans were still riven and confused about how to deal with spreading regional conflicts in Europe and Asia, as well as the rise of fascism and the Nazis.

Source: A new American Century or a Century of Wars and Refugees? | Informed Comment

It is YOU!  You will decide if were truly have a new American century or a century of wars….Your choice!

Truthful I am not optimistic I mean what can you expect a thoughtful vote from a society that goes looking for Pokemon?

Seriously

“My First 100 Days”

Now that the GOP has it “presumptive” nominee, Donald trump…..he has started trying to sound like a presidential candidate…..he has even given his adoring public his itinerary for his first 100 days…..

With Donald Trump as the presumptive GOP nominee, there’s now a stronger-than-ever chance that President Trump will be sworn in next January—and his first 100 days in office will have just finished by this time next year. The New York Times interviewed Trump three times and spoke to aides and analysts to find out what those 100 days might be like. Some highlights:

  • Inauguration Day will involve some “beautiful” galas, but also the rescinding of President Obama’s executive orders on immigration, Trump says.
  • Trump says on Day 1, he will also speak to military and Homeland Security officials about sealing the border with Mexico. Talks with wall-builders will soon follow.
  • Trump says his first day in office will also involve phone calls to the CEOs of companies like Ford and Nabisco, warning them that they will face 35% tariffs for moving jobs out of the US. “The markets would be fine,” he says.
  • Trump knows which foreign leader he would call on his first day: none of them. “I wouldn’t be calling them up right away and getting more entangled,” he says.
  • Trump and his advisers say the first 100 days will be all about negotiations, most of which will take place in his new office. “The Oval Office would be an amazing place to negotiate,” he says. “It would command immediate respect from the other side, immediate understanding about the nation’s priorities.”
  • By the end of the 100 days, Trump plans to have a ban on Muslim immigration in place and to have made progress in delivering other major campaign promises, including repealing ObamaCare.
  • It’s still going to be the White House, not the Trump House: He “had no ambitious renovation plans,” the Times notes.
  • Trump says he is going to make big changes fast and not everybody will like them—but there’s nothing to worry about. “I know people aren’t sure right now what a President Trump will be like,” he says. “But things will be fine. I’m not running for president to make things unstable for the country.”

And the peasants danced.

Cute slogans and great applause lines….but that is about as far as any of it will go.

Please do not get too excited….you do recall that there is a Congress that does little to nothing and all his “plans” must go through the Congress.

Do you really see much of his “promises” being law in the first 100 days?

Thanx everyone for your attention this past week….now I begin my weekend of solace and meditation…..hopefully you will enjoy yours also.

The Donald Predicts

I see Trump has jumped on the Glen Beck bandwagon and is predicting doom and gloom for the economy…..the difference is that Beck wants you to buy gold from his sponsors and Trump wants you to vote for him.

Donald is saying that we will be sucking if we do not vote for him…..

In a wide-ranging interview this week, Donald Trump said the US economy is headed for disaster—unless, it seems, he takes the reins. He also compared himself to the Lone Ranger and predicted the American people will “be falling asleep” if he becomes president. Among the highlights of his Washington Post interview with Bob Woodward and Robert Costa:

  • The economy is going into a “very massive recession,” says Trump, despite popular economic forecasts to the contrary. “It’s a terrible time right now” to invest in stocks, he adds. Will his words hurt financial markets? “I know the Wall Street people probably better than anybody knows them. I don’t need them.”
  • “I’m pessimistic,” he says about the economy. “Unless changes are made. Changes could be made. I can fix it. I can fix it pretty quickly.”
  • Trump says he can wipe away $19 trillion in US debt without gouging the nation’s $4 trillion annual budget. “I’m renegotiating all of our deals, the big trade deals that we’re doing so badly on,” he explains. (Barry Bennett, a senior Trump advisor, also says Trump could sell off $16 trillion in government assets—although NBC News notes that the US government values its own assets at just $3.2 trillion.)
  • “I bring rage out,” Trump says of his combative style. “And after it’s all over, [my opponents] end up being my friends. And I see that happening here.” But maybe not his GOP rivals: “I’m not sure they can ever go back to me. I was very rough on Jeb.” He used phrases like “Jeb: Low energy. Little Marco,” Trump recalls. “Names that were devastating.”
  • With his go-it-alone style, is he the Lone Ranger? “I am,” he says. “Because I understand life. And I understand how life works. I’m the Lone Ranger.”
  • “And after I win, I will be so presidential that you won’t even recognize me. You’ll be falling asleep, you’ll be so bored.”

I think he is right….the economy is headed to some treacherous waters but for me it is more the games being played by the financial institutions than who we vote for……

Are we headed for a problem?

Are They In Denial Or Just Arrogant?

Pres. Obama tells us that we need the jobs bill passed….the Repubs tell us that he is out of touch with the mainstream America….or that we Americans want corporations to get all the benefits and Main Street just does not get it….

May I ask?  If we listen to Repub leadership, McConnell or Boehner or Cantor, do they not watch TV or read the news or the tweets?  Apparently, we Americans are more concerned with the economy that the people we elect…..now I ask, how long will we allow these half baked millionaires continue to talk for us?  And how long will conservs continue to follow the lead of people that care NOTHING about their plight?

I know I sound like one of the leftys that the conservs are always going own about, right?  But let me help out…..if the jobs bill is so bad then why is it so necessary for states?  http://bit.ly/oz5SdK

NBC poll….cut payroll taxes, fund new road construction, extend unemployment benefits, and that it would be paid for by increasing taxes on the wealthy — 63 percent say they favor the bill and 32 percent oppose it.

Other polls show the same results…more respondents want a jobs bill, taxes on the wealthy and so on….in other words…it is the Senate and politicians that are confused….they are so out of touch with the American people that they no longer represent the people…..instead they work for themselves and the special interests that fuels their campaigns….

To answer my own question….they are arrogant little toads that should be removed from the political pond and replaced with someone else….the sooner the better……but if you want a plain and simple answer to the question….then George Carlin has it………http://t.co/hU8s0mWE

And listen to John Lennon’s “Working Class Hero”…….YOU ARE NOT IMPORTANT ENOUGH FOR THEM TO CARE!