RE: So, tell me again what your mirror tells you after voting for that man
November 14, 2016 at 3:22 am
(This post was last modified: November 14, 2016 at 3:28 am by Crossless2.0.)
(November 13, 2016 at 4:27 pm)abaris Wrote:(November 13, 2016 at 4:22 pm)Catholic_Lady Wrote: I agree with your comments about the hysteria and apocalypse type attitude. But that does not mean we shouldn't criticize Trump. I'd be doing it to Hillary too, if it was her. And I did it plenty to Obama. Being president doesn't mean we have to like them.
True. But a Congress at his disposal doesn't bode well. They're more or less in line with most things he claimed to do. I can only repeat - big caveat, he's not Hitler - but it would do well to take him at his word. The biggest stupidity is not taking any authoritarian politician at his word. They mean what they say and they will at least attempt to do what they said. If checks and balances are up to the job is about the only thing remaining to be seen.
History has told us as much.
Here's the thing. Trump is definitely an authoritarian by nature and, like many authoritarians, he really doesn't seem to have many substantive policy ideas rattling around in his head. So he is going to rely on his cabinet and closest advisors in ways that would even make George W. Bush blush for shame. And who are they going to be? Social conservatives cut from the same cloth as Pence on domestic policy and probably a lot of the neo-con crowd advising on foreign policy.
Just because Trump won don't think that the tug-of-war for the GOP's "soul" is over. I suspect the smarter Republicans in Congress and in the foreign affairs community see him as a somewhat pliable negotiating partner (if not a tabula rasa they can write on). And since Trump is not really a conservative, even he and his closest advisors must understand that he is going to have to meet the real conservatives somewhere in the middle if he wants to enact many of his policy proposals, such as they are.
This could easily turn into a worst-case situation in which Trump rubber stamps every regressive piece of legislation on the GOP wish list in order to bring a Congressional majority on board for many of his more controversial campaign promises.
