Less than a day goes by...

[henryp]

wallym Wrote:
In the post you replied to, I said the Benghazi story was just political manipulation of the public. 

That's a various obvious example but I will certainly give you the benefit of any doubt about your independance. 

You didn't reply to my first post so I'll rephrase. 
Is there not enough evidence already for you that Trump is incompetent? 

His handling of the Russian hack is a perfect example of how a President should not behave even if you don't believe anything he did falls to the level of an impeachable offence.
Asking the FBI director to back off was a really stupid thing to do. Firing him for it is even dumber. Inviting the Russians to the Oval office in the midst of all this is off the scale stupid and barring American Media while allowing Russian media is indescribably stupid. 
The fact that Putin now holds transcripts of a conversation that occurred in the Oval office is proof of incredible incompetence on Trump's part. There is no one else to blame for Putin being the holder of those transcripts other than Trump.

It should be obvious by now that Trump had absolutely no knowledge about health care. "nobody knew healthcare could be so complicated" Really? Coming from the guy who promised everyone he would fix it quickly and that it would be easy? It is guaranteed that many of the people who post on this forum are far more knowledgeable about health care than Trump ever was. 

It should be obvious by now that Trump had absolutely no knowledge about the tax system. A one page tax plan is a joke that even his most ardent critics did not see coming. He does not understand the first thing about the system that he is presiding over. Im sure he hired good accountants to handle his taxes but that has nothing to do with a national taxation system. 

It was very obvious prior to the election that Trump just spoke in talking points and had no idea whatsoever about the structure, priorities, and policies of government. He was a low information voter and nothing more. Now, we can see clearly that he has no idea what he is doing. The items I listed above are just scratching the surface of all the incompetent behavior coming from this guy. 

Idiots thought that "he's rich so he's smart". Idiots thought that "he's not a politician so he will be more honest than a politician" 
Historians will look back at this and try to figure out how an incompetent boob became president. Right now, the most important thing is to be honest enough to recognize the incompetent boob for what he really is. It's past time to set aside partisan politics and admit that somehow a truly incompetent fool somehow made it to the Oval office.

I'm certainly not independent.  But I'm not particularly swayed by things that aren't important.

Saying he asked the FBI director to 'back off' isn't exactly what we were told he said.  Saying Comey was fired specifically for it rather than a totality of his work is debatable.  The russian visit was scheduled well in advance.  But, as you say, this all points to political incompetence even if it's not illegal/nefarious.  But I don't think political competence is that important any more.  The political waters have become so absurd, it no longer matters (hence Trump being president).  The boy who cried wolf environment, where every statement is presented as some huge disqualifying atrocity, has jumped the shark.

Again, I saw the "Nobody new..." statement.  You frame it as him being surprised by how complicated it was.  In context, I'd say he's speaking to the general unwieldiness of our healthcare system.  Like "Nobody knew Football could be so popular."  You wouldn't say "Wow, he didn't know football was popular?"  vs. "Nobody envisioned that one day football would become as popular as it is now."  

His tax plan being released was definitely a joke (stupid, not haha).  I'd assume it served some political purpose in somebody's eyes.  Although, that is not evidence of him not understanding the tax system.  Not that I expect a president to write a tax plan anyway.  All that stuff is delegated to 'experts'.  But the general premise is probably a guideline to those people.  Just like I'm sure Obama had a few things he wanted included in the ACA.  But he was pretty badly informed on the nature of the plan, because he's a lawyer, not a writer of health care plans.

But you're right about not knowing how to govern the way things have been governed.  But we fairly unanimously hate the way our government works.  So it's not a big loss.  I wonder sometimes how changing from The West Wing, which depicted our leaders as wise altruistic people, to Veep and House of Cards, where they are dopes and slimeballs, more akin to sleezy/idiotic middle management types.  I think that may tie into why the DNC hack was so damaging.  Seeing Donna Brazile working for CNN and passing questions to Hillary, and then getting caught, and then being put in charge of the DNC had to be a worm in the ear of the voters.  It gave off a DNC vs. Voters vibe.  So when you look on the other side, and see the RNC trying to squash Trump, and him winning, I think people liked that.  

Anyway, for me, I'm interested in 2 things:
1) Actual results 
2) Actual broken laws.

Everything else is just noise.  Now, I'd rather have someone who is clearly competent in charge.  I liked Mitt Romney.  That's my brand of Republicanism.  Smart as hell, competent, and practical.  But I'd rather role the dice for 4 years with Trump than have Ted Cruz or Hillary.  We're going to have endless more chances to have people exactly like Hillary for pretty much forever.  And hopefully, never have a Ted Cruz type.  

So in 2020 (assuming no impeachment), there will be jobs reports.  There will be GDP growth.  We will see our foreign policy situation.  We'll have some health care in place.  Immigration results will be available.   That's what I'm really watching for now.  I keep an eye on the stuff going on now out of curiosity, but I signed up for 4 years (again, assuming no impeachment) and that's what I'll judge him on.  Not some soundbite or the spin on an unconfirmed memo.