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Do you like Trump?

Do you like Trump as President?

  • Yes

    Votes: 33 29.5%

  • No

    Votes: 77 68.8%

  • I don't know

    Votes: 2 1.8%
  • Total voters
    112
  • Poll closed .
Checkerboard Strangler said:
It has nothing to do with literal hacking.
The Russians are too sophisticated to use blunt tools.
Click to expand...
If I remember correctly, the article also goes into the "collusion" charges.

Just because you dislike Trump does not mean that you have to believe that he's "Putin's puppet."
 
The Lurker said:
If I remember correctly, the article also goes into the "collusion" charges.

Just because you dislike Trump does not mean that you have to believe that he's "Putin's puppet."
Click to expand...

Just because you like Trump does not mean that you have to believe that he's not "Putin's puppet."
 
The Lurker said:
If I remember correctly, the article also goes into the "collusion" charges.

Just because you dislike Trump does not mean that you have to believe that he's "Putin's puppet."
Click to expand...

Likewise, the use of "X = not invented here, therefore Putin OK" does not mean you have to pretend you are not a fan of Putin, so please just go ahead and own it.
I'll respect your talking points a lot more if you do, even if I still think they're misinformed.

The reasons I think Trump is Putin's puppet is purely due to MONEY. Trump is, by HIS OWN ADMISSION (or shall we go ahead and say BOAST) heavily leveraged in Russia.
Thus he OWES Putin a great many favors, and has for some time. Trump is extremely useful to Vladimir Putin.

DISCLAIMER: I worked for American-Russian Television for six years, 1986-1992, and experienced the USSR firsthand prior to the collapse, and the Russian Republic immediately after, during two trips there, 1989 and 1992. My father was a nuclear physicist who was a SALT Talks negotiator who also was there twice.
 
Checkerboard Strangler said:
Likewise, the use of "X = not invented here, therefore Putin OK" does not mean you have to pretend you are not a fan of Putin, so please just go ahead and own it.
I'll respect your talking points a lot more if you do, even if I still think they're misinformed.

The reasons I think Trump is Putin's puppet is purely due to MONEY. Trump is, by HIS OWN ADMISSION (or shall we go ahead and say BOAST) heavily leveraged in Russia.
Thus he OWES Putin a great many favors, and has for some time. Trump is extremely useful to Vladimir Putin.

DISCLAIMER: I worked for American-Russian Television for six years, 1986-1992, and experienced the USSR firsthand prior to the collapse, and the Russian Republic immediately after, during two trips there, 1989 and 1992. My father was a nuclear physicist who was a SALT Talks negotiator who also was there twice.
Click to expand...

I'm not a fan of Putin. I say that Trump is not Putin's puppet because there is no there there. And Trump has only recently given arms to Ukraine, which will only escalate tensions with Russia. I have seen nothing that shows that he's "heavily leveraged in Russia."

Please, read the article. You don't have to, but I would recommend it.
 
The Lurker said:
By this, I mean are you overall OK with his policies as President? Do you think he's done a good job? Are you not sure what to think of Trump's Presidency? Please answer in the poll.

I personally think he's no different from the Presidents that came before.
Click to expand...


No, no and no.
 
I don't like him, and sat out the vote this past election.

But I do love reading the "librul" meltdowns.
 
In addition, despite the fact that I admire Jackson Lears' rather objectively written article, I and thousands of others witnessed something Facebook admitted to before Congress: PAID Russian trolls.
I'll go into a lot more detail later, after the holidays, but in the meantime I want to ask you if you participated in ANY of the Facebook groups devoted to either Democratic candidate during the runup to the 2016 elections.
Were you online, ON any of those pages or in any of those social media groups, as a supporter or otherwise.
You're not required to answer but if you choose to, please do so honestly.
The reason I ask is, if you were, you would have witnessed what thousands witnessed, and witnessed its departure.
If you were there, you know what I am talking about already, without any further description.

They weren't hackers at all, but they played a much larger and much more important role than any IT netizens working on the bits and bytes infrastructure, because what they did mattered a lot more.

I am only alluding to all of this in a secondary manner to save time and effort.
I am too lazy this morning to pound out a blow by blow treatise on something thousands of others have already written about in great detail.

And as for the Democratic Party, we exist in a two party system which isn't going to ever change without a lot of committed work of a generational nature, something which will take twenty to thirty years to accomplish. So if you or even I are wholly dissatisfied WITH the Democratic Party as it exists today, there is a solution, and Americans have witnessed solutions like it applied to BOTH parties on several milestone occasions in the modern era.
In fact, we all witnessed that solution applied to the Republican Party in 2009, and it was applied with alarming accuracy and speed.
Parties get retooled and rebooted all the time.
It can be done, it has been done and it should be done to the current Democratic Party as we know it today, and 2018 is a mighty good time to do it.
We have a little less than a year to make it happen.

That would solve a lot of the issues that Lears refers to in his article.
If you're too busy loving on Vladimir Putin, I won't waste any more time with you on this subject, that of fixing our political parties, that is.
 
The Lurker said:
And Trump has only recently given arms to Ukraine, which will only escalate tensions with Russia.
Click to expand...

What action Mr. Trump might take remained unclear until Congress was notified the Javelins would be sent to provide Ukraine with “enhanced defensive capabilities.” That decision, reported Friday by The Wall Street Journal, was recommended by State Department and Pentagon officials earlier this year. Plans had already been drawn up on where the Ukrainian forces might be trained to use the weapons. The decision came in the wake of an earlier move that also rankled Moscow. In November, the State Department announced that it had approved the sale of Javelin missiles to Georgia, another former Soviet Republic whose territory has been partially occupied by Russian-backed separatists and Russian troops.
Click to expand...
U.S. Decision to Send Lethal Arms to Ukraine Signals Tougher Stance on Russia

Seems only fair. Those 650 Russian battle tanks/MLRS systems used by Russian forces in Donbas (eastern Ukraine) didn't miraculously fall out of the sky
 
Trump is an elitist whose family and him have no idea what it like for the rest of America.

Nobody in any generation of his family has ever served in the military. Even the Royals of England have served in their military.

They will have to air out the White House for weeks to get the stench out after he leaves.
 
Crosscheck said:
They will have to air out the White House for weeks to get the stench out after he leaves.
Click to expand...

And toss all that gauche and gaudy Trump furniture. Aesthetically horrible and pretentious taste.
 
Rogue Valley said:
U.S. Decision to Send Lethal Arms to Ukraine Signals Tougher Stance on Russia

Seems only fair. Those 650 Russian battle tanks/MLRS systems used by Russian forces in Donbas (eastern Ukraine) didn't miraculously fall out of the sky
Click to expand...

Russia sees Ukraine as it's backyard and if Ukraine is consolidated by the Western powers, I believe that it will go for Russia next. Keep in mind that the present government in Ukraine has no legitimacy. It arose threw a coup. NATO has been making war games along Russia's border, the largest military build-up along their border since 1941, I think.

Here's an interesting article on it:

https://www.strategic-culture.org/n...e-confrontation-with-russia-over-ukraine.html

With over 10,000 dead, the conflict in Ukraine is a humanitarian travesty but of minimal security consequence to America and Europe. Indeed, Kiev’s status never was key to Europe’s status. An integral part of the Soviet Union and before that the Russian Empire, Ukraine turned into an unexpected bonus for the allies by seceding from the Soviet Union, greatly diminishing the latter’s population and territory. Russia’s seizure of Crimea and battle in the Donbass destabilized an already semi-failed state, but did not materially alter the European balance of power. Or demonstrate anything other than Moscow’s brutal yet limited ambitions.

In fact, present allied policy makes continuation of the current conflict almost inevitable. Newly released documents demonstrate that Soviet officials reasonably believed that releasing their Warsaw Pact captives would not lead to NATO’s expansion to Russia’s border. Well, well. Look what actually happened—the very dramatic increase in tensions that George F. Kennan predicted would occur. For Russia sees geographical space and buffer states as critical for its security, and none are more important than Ukraine.
Expanding NATO, disregarding Moscow’s historic interests in the Balkans, dismantling onetime Slavic ally Serbia, aiding “color revolutions” that brought anti-Russian governments to power along its border, announcing the intention of inducting both Georgia and Ukraine into the alliance created to confront Moscow, and finally ostentatiously backing a street revolution against a corrupt but elected leader friendly to Russia—going to far as to discuss who should rule after his planned ouster—could not help but be viewed as hostile in Moscow. One can easily imagine how Washington would react to similar events in Canada or Mexico.

Russia’s response was unjustified but efficient and, most important, limited. Moscow grabbed Crimea, the only part of Ukraine with a majority of Russian-speakers (who probably favored joining Russia, though the subsequent referendum occurred in what was occupied Crimea). Moscow further backed separatists in Eastern Ukraine, perhaps in hopes of grabbing territory or merely bleeding Kiev.

Some Western responses were near hysteria, imagining a blitzkrieg attack on Ukraine, conquering the country. The Baltic States saw themselves as the next targets. Poland remembered its twentieth century conflicts with Moscow. At least one observer added Finland to Moscow’s potential target list. Others worried about intimidation of allied states, borders being withdrawn, and challenges to the European order. Some afflicted with war fever feared an attempt to reconstitute the Soviet Union and perhaps roll west from there.

None of which happened.
Click to expand...

Also noteworthy is the fragility of the Ukrainian state. Kiev’s self-inflicted wounds are a more important cause than Russian pressure. The government is hobbled by divisions between East and West, violent neo-fascist forces, bitter political factionalism, economic failure, and pervasive corruption. The recent specter of former Georgian President and Ukrainian Governor Mikheil Saakashvili clambering across rooftops, escaping arrest, and railing against President Petro Poroshenko epitomized Ukraine’s problems. Kiev, to put it mildly, is not a reliable military partner against its nuclear-armed neighbor.

A better approach would be to negotiate for Russian de-escalation by offering to take NATO membership for Ukraine (and Georgia) off the table. In fact, expanding the alliance is not in America’s interest: the U.S., not, say, Luxembourg, is the country expected to back up NATO’s defense promises. And neither Kiev nor Tbilisi warrants the risk of war with a great power, especially one armed with nukes. Eliminating that possibility would reduce Moscow’s incentive to maintain a frozen conflict in the Donbass. Backing away also would create the possibility of reversing military build-ups by both sides elsewhere, especially around Poland and the Baltic States.
Click to expand...
 
The Lurker said:
By this, I mean are you overall OK with his policies as President? Do you think he's done a good job?
Click to expand...

I have been pleasantly surprised by the policies he has advocated as our President. I did not vote for Trump. There were a variety of things that made me leery of him; however, he so far has done a good job of favoring what he ran on. There are still many things that have yet to be proposed as bills and some that he and the GOP Congress have proposed have not gone from being a bill to being a law. Hopefully, he will continue to push for those his second and third years.
 
Risky Thicket said:
Trump is a one trick pony, a buffoon, a real bigot, a huckster, an idiot, a man of godawful bad taste, a person devoid of integrity, ethics and morals. He has never done one thing for America. NOTHING! He is not a fine American. He is not a patriot. He is not a veteran. He is not a leader. Hell, his daddy bought his way into 2 years of Wharton.

Trump is a sham, an opportunist, a terrible chancer who doesn't have any special knowledge or education or skill. Most of the people who support Trump have more common sense than he does. Unfortunately many have Sycophant Syndrome. We're dealing with that.
Click to expand...

We will put you beside the crayons, they seam to help.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Though I dislike him, and think at times he is way too childish for my tastes, he has done more than expected

I will give him props for the tax package

Now if someone can just take away his phone.....and make him realize there is a lot of work to be done

At times I wonder if our president is 15....
 
Checkerboard Strangler said:
In addition, despite the fact that I admire Jackson Lears' rather objectively written article, I and thousands of others witnessed something Facebook admitted to before Congress: PAID Russian trolls.
I'll go into a lot more detail later, after the holidays, but in the meantime I want to ask you if you participated in ANY of the Facebook groups devoted to either Democratic candidate during the runup to the 2016 elections.
Were you online, ON any of those pages or in any of those social media groups, as a supporter or otherwise.
You're not required to answer but if you choose to, please do so honestly.
The reason I ask is, if you were, you would have witnessed what thousands witnessed, and witnessed its departure.
If you were there, you know what I am talking about already, without any further description.

They weren't hackers at all, but they played a much larger and much more important role than any IT netizens working on the bits and bytes infrastructure, because what they did mattered a lot more.

I am only alluding to all of this in a secondary manner to save time and effort.
I am too lazy this morning to pound out a blow by blow treatise on something thousands of others have already written about in great detail.

And as for the Democratic Party, we exist in a two party system which isn't going to ever change without a lot of committed work of a generational nature, something which will take twenty to thirty years to accomplish. So if you or even I are wholly dissatisfied WITH the Democratic Party as it exists today, there is a solution, and Americans have witnessed solutions like it applied to BOTH parties on several milestone occasions in the modern era.
In fact, we all witnessed that solution applied to the Republican Party in 2009, and it was applied with alarming accuracy and speed.
Parties get retooled and rebooted all the time.
It can be done, it has been done and it should be done to the current Democratic Party as we know it today, and 2018 is a mighty good time to do it.
We have a little less than a year to make it happen.

That would solve a lot of the issues that Lears refers to in his article.
If you're too busy loving on Vladimir Putin, I won't waste any more time with you on this subject, that of fixing our political parties, that is.
Click to expand...

I'm not sure if "PAID Russian trolls" can even be proven or if it has been proven. I don't know. What exactly did the people at Facebook say? Also, no, I did not participate in any of the Facebook groups.

Also, the higher-ups of the Democratic Party would probably just shoot down anyone that opposes them like they did Bernie Sanders. Either way, what's the point of voting for either Party? They have low approval ratings which makes the political landscape ripe for a third party political movement. In fact, three fourths of millennials want a third party. That's pretty staggering. Regardless, I'm not for either a Democrat or Republican. I've already disavowed them and that's what I'm sticking with.

Edit: Also, I don't love Vladimir Putin.
 
Checkerboard Strangler said:
Likewise, the use of "X = not invented here, therefore Putin OK" does not mean you have to pretend you are not a fan of Putin, so please just go ahead and own it.
I'll respect your talking points a lot more if you do, even if I still think they're misinformed.

The reasons I think Trump is Putin's puppet is purely due to MONEY. Trump is, by HIS OWN ADMISSION (or shall we go ahead and say BOAST) heavily leveraged in Russia.
Thus he OWES Putin a great many favors, and has for some time. Trump is extremely useful to Vladimir Putin.



DISCLAIMER: I worked for American-Russian Television for six years, 1986-1992, and experienced the USSR firsthand prior to the collapse, and the Russian Republic immediately after, during two trips there, 1989 and 1992. My father was a nuclear physicist who was a SALT Talks negotiator who also was there twice.
Click to expand...

I buy this scenario too. I have never liked Trump - he has always been an arrogant ass. I do believe that Putin did what he could to get Trump elected. Putin is ex KGB. I would imagine he studies Trump and his tweets and knows just what to say or do to keep Trump in his favor - not to mention the money.
I have not voted Republican since Sarah Palin. I would have voted for John McCain.
 
Crosscheck said:
Trump is an elitist whose family and him have no idea what it like for the rest of America.

Nobody in any generation of his family has ever served in the military. Even the Royals of England have served in their military.

They will have to air out the White House for weeks to get the stench out after he leaves.
Click to expand...

This.
 
The Lurker said:
I'm not sure if "PAID Russian trolls" can even be proven or if it has been proven. I don't know. What exactly did the people at Facebook say? Also, no, I did not participate in any of the Facebook groups.

Also, the higher-ups of the Democratic Party would probably just shoot down anyone that opposes them like they did Bernie Sanders. Either way, what's the point of voting for either Party? They have low approval ratings which makes the political landscape ripe for a third party political movement. In fact, three fourths of millennials want a third party. That's pretty staggering. Regardless, I'm not for either a Democrat or Republican. I've already disavowed them and that's what I'm sticking with.
Click to expand...

Any third party is doomed to fail if it is only the creation of an individual political figure.

Also the polarization of politics has effectively made the political party’s opposing sides of an ideological battle that has no room for middle ground.
 
The Lurker said:
I'm not sure if "PAID Russian trolls" can even be proven or if it has been proven. I don't know. What exactly did the people at Facebook say? Also, no, I did not participate in any of the Facebook groups.

Also, the higher-ups of the Democratic Party would probably just shoot down anyone that opposes them like they did Bernie Sanders. Either way, what's the point of voting for either Party? They have low approval ratings which makes the political landscape ripe for a third party political movement. In fact, three fourths of millennials want a third party. That's pretty staggering. Regardless, I'm not for either a Democrat or Republican. I've already disavowed them and that's what I'm sticking with.

Edit: Also, I don't love Vladimir Putin.
Click to expand...

Read what I said earlier...we can HAVE that conversation about erecting a valid and winning third party but it is generational work.
I laid the entire thing out very succinctly, so do you agree, disagree, not understand or just don't give a sh-t?
I also laid out the case for retooling either one of the major parties.
In 2009, the Kochs tossed out a spare billion to Dick Armey's FreedomWorks and a little over a year later, the Tea Party had completely WIPED OUT the moderate conservatives.
Bernie Sanders raised almost that much by crowdsourcing a few years later.
Imagine what could have been possible if he had done that in 2010 instead, and used the money to overturn the corrupt and corporate backed Democrats and replaced them with real progressives. That would have set the stage for a decisive Bernie Sanders victory INSIDE the newly remade Democratic Party. Fer chrissakes, are you telling me you cannot even see the mechanism at work?
How do you think the Democratic Party became the Civil Rights party? A few years earlier they were the segregationists.
How did that HAPPEN? History SHOWS how it happened. Just look.

In the meantime, you're going to have accept the arithmetic about how elections are won in this present time, because without winning elections, you cannot get the kind of government you want, or even avoid the kind of toxic government that further destroys your future.

City, local, county, even STATE elections are different. There is MUCH more latitude and much more opportunity for third parties or even NON party candidates to leverage power and get seated, and to accomplish something at those levels. That is why third parties MUST absolutely START there.
But presidential and Congressional elections are and have been about two parties for most of the modern era, and we do not HAVE a parliamentary coalition system in either chamber of our bicameral legislature. The fixtures simply do not exist. The furniture doesn't exist, the numbers are practically nonexistent.

Simply put, our General Elections ARE football games, with a winning side and a losing side.
If you want the winning side to represent your needs, then set about blowing up what is INSIDE that party, and make it win with YOUR agendas.
Previous generations have done it, now it is your turn...and the beauty of it is, there is a TON of support BEHIND your generation, from those who went before you.

Now, if you cannot respond to ANY of what I have just said, above and in prior posts, then I will know that I am wasting my time and talking to a brick wall.
Even if you say that you simply do not believe it is possible in any way, at least I will know that you read what I say.
I read the article you posted and responded to it, now it's your turn.

And, as regards social media trolls from Russia, read these, if you care to:

https://tinyurl.com/yb8jy59z
 
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