Sobering: how the Trump presidency is succeeding

[Fast Walker 52]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/powerpost/paloma/daily-202/2017/03/27/daily-202-how-trump-s-presidency-is-succeeding/58d88409e9b69b72b2551039/?utm_term=.6e35dca60210

Basically it boils down to 3 things that they are doing, many that aren't high profile:

1) rolling back huge number of regulations and environmental protections

2) cutting down the size of the federal bureaucracy (deconstructing the administrative state)

3) they will like succeed in getting Gorsuch on, who will be there a long time and is very anti-regulatory and pro-business

[Bucky]

1. Yes, sobering, but a useful reality check to the rah-rah crowd.

I enjoy a good victory (or a good defeat of an opponent's horrible plans). But the gloating was starting to bother me. It felt too much like the can't-fail attitude Clinton supporters were chuckling around with the day before the election. He's an idiot, yes, but idiocy works, to a certain extent, in our political culture. Dubya was an idiot, book learning wise (despite being an avid reader), but he was a hard working idiot and he knew exactly what he was doing. Trump doesn't know and doesn't know that he doesn't know. But it'd be foolish to think he's not going to figure it out eventually.

[R B Garr]

5. The reality check is to vote for the Democrat. nt

[ismnotwasm]

9. No shit and plus infinity

[DemocratSinceBirth]

12. "The reality check is to vote for the Democrat./nt"

[Fast Walker 52]

22. Yes, I would think Trump might learn, but he's 70, and already showing signs of senility

Still, the presidency is a powerful position, and assholes like Bannon and the rest of his misbegotten administration can milk a lot from it.

[Blue_true]

2. Maybe the damage will cause the far left to finally get it's fucking head screwed on.

The far left was warned that their behavior stunted progress and could set back important societal issues like protecting the environment and wildlife many decades, they were warned that women's health would be at risk, they were warned that if republicans gained total control, the 1% would grow richer, consumer rights would be destroyed and unions destroyed. I don't like what Trump is doing at all, but I can sleep at night knowing that I tried to prevent him and republicans from gaining office.

[leftstreet]

3. There is no 'far left' in the US

There's hardly any Left left.

[Blue_true]

10. There are robust left wing people in this country, most of active Democrats

fall into that group. True progressives realized the danger of Trump and republican control and fought hard to prevent Trump and republicans from taking power. Far left third party "vote my conscious" people assisted Trump and republicans in gaining power.

[leftstreet]

17. No evidence 3rd party and indy voters are always left

See Ross Perot

sigh

Susan Sarandon (or Jill Stein or this week's scapegoat) did not cost Hillary the election

[Blue_true]

21. I laughed. Something like 36,000 Stein votes across three

or four states would have given us President Clinton and we would not be having this discussion. Are you saying those Stein voters were not far left, because that is what they insist they are (as pure of deep forest snow, in their closeted minds).

[Fast Walker 52]

23. what? There are certasinly enough to fuck up the election of Hilary, they played a killer role

in November 2016.

[Wounded Bear]

4. It's not really about the far left IMNSHO...

It's about those millions of people who are basically in the center who don't bother to vote, especially in mid-terms.

The Women's March and its aftermath have generated some heat. Let's hope it is maintained for several years.

[Blue_true]

11. The far left, embodied by Sarandon, West and others

could have helped prevent Trump from gaining power, they chose not to. Now, the consequences are coming home to roost. I will be isolated from the damage in all cases but when I do my several times per week runs, I am single, have no girlfriend, my sisters and their few daughters no longer are having children or need many of the services that younger people need, I am a professional with a good career, my family are businesspeople who are likely to benefit from the shit that Trump does, my and my family members often voted against our interests to keep Trump and republicans out of power, the fact that far left people did not burns my ass and I am still enraged. Maybe Trump making a fucking sewer of American will wake people up to the political realities of insisting that they know every fucking thing, especially the far left.

[R B Garr]

7. +1000, well said.

[onenote]

6. A further reality check. Yes they're doing bad things, but to put it in perspective

I wouldn't say they've rolled back a "huge" number of regulations and environmental protections and, as far as I know, the regulations they've rolled back thus far are regulations that had never gone into effect (because they were adopted late in the Obama administration).

As for Gorsuch, it's awful that he will be on the Court for a long time in a seat that should have been filled by Obama. But in terms of its impact on the Court as it existed before Scalia died, its pretty much a wash -- he's not going to be worse than Scalia, so it puts us back to where we were. The bigger concern will be what happens if/when one of the members of the liberal wing leave the court.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

13. We can't check the powers invested in the executive branch and that hurts, a lot.

We can check everything else.

[onenote]

15. No doubt that there is more bad stuff coming

But I think the assertion that Trump's getting a lot done so far is a stretch. His first two months have been marked by failure and declining support.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

18. His deregulation on steroids hurts average Americans.

I doubt he even knows what he's signing. It's also driving down his approval.

[onenote]

19. Everything he does hurts average Americans. It's his reason for being as far as I can tell.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

20. He ran as a populist. All his actions so far have served the interest of big business.

Only the most gullible among us still believe him.

[Fast Walker 52]

24. some regulation repeals have gone through congress

but yes, your points are well taken

[gratuitous]

8. A curious measure

How would the Democrats stop the administration from rolling back regulations and protections? Those are the purview of the Executive, and there aren't many Democrats in the White House right now. Same with "deconstructing the administrative state" (Just call it "failing to fill appointed positions&quot : How do you get the White House to fill those positions? As for Gorsuch, it looks like Senate Democrats are going to do what they can under the rules to slow the Gorsuch nomination, and it's still up in the air whether he will get a floor vote.

However, as far as public perception of the administration goes, I'd say that President Trump is more unpopular than ever, and whatever cachet his so-called winning streak lent him, it's gone for good. Democrats should put their energy into areas where they can have an effect, and where they can't, point out the failures of the Trump administration. There will be bad results to follow from Trump's failure to attend to the nuts and bolts of running the office of the president, but there's not much Democrats can do at this point to force him to do his job.

[Blue_true]

14. Right on. The same people that often bash Democrats want Democrats to stop an on rushing train

that the Democrat bashers fueled and put into motion. The time to stop Trump and republicans was November 8, 2016, anyone that didn't vote to prevent Trump and republicans from gaining power need to sit down and STFU.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

16. We have ruined his presidency, so far.

A 36% approval rating during the presidential honeymoon period is an unmitigated disaster.

[Fast Walker 52]

25. normally yes-- but these seem to be abnormal times and as always IOKIYAR

36% approval now would be an absolute killer for a Dem, but a Repub, oh, you know-- he'll turn it around any day now!