General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsCNN finally says it: The real reason Trump is so dead set on crushing Obamacare
Trump's entire political life -- dating all the way back to his adoption of birtherism earlier this decade -- is positioned against all things Obama. Why? Because for many Trump supporters in this country, Obama -- and his beliefs about society and government -- were the antithesis of what they believed. (Yes, Obama's race -- and multicultural vision of the country and the world -- were part of that mix as well.)
The best way to distinguish yourself in Republican politics during Obama's time in office was to position yourself against, literally, everything about Obama -- up to and including his legitimacy to be president due to fact-free claims about where he was born.
. . .
Trump's calculation -- and he placed a VERY big bet on this -- was that he could win the GOP nod (and get elected president) by being the polar opposite of Obama on, well, pretty much everything. That started with his condemnation of Obamacare but has continued with his decision to de-certify the Iran nuclear deal, his pullout from the Paris climate accords, his support for the Keystone XL pipeline, his regulatory rollbacks, his plan to end DACA and lots (and lots) of other policy decision from this administration in its first nine months.
. . .
The problem with that approach, of course, is that being against what the last guy did isn't a proactive set of policy solutions. Unlike in a campaign -- in which saying, essentially, "I'll do the opposite of what the last guy did" -- where running against something often works better than running for something, governing is a very different animal.
http://www.cnn.com/2017/10/13/politics/trump-obamacare-subsidies/index.html
WinkyDink
(51,311 posts)Still In Wisconsin
(4,450 posts)Last edited Fri Oct 13, 2017, 02:02 PM - Edit history (1)
smash everything Obama built, or at least try. It's all about payback/revenge. There's never been any political calculation in all of this- TRUMP is governed solely by impulse and rage- they are all he knows and rule him completely.
BlancheSplanchnik
(20,219 posts)yuiyoshida
(41,759 posts)the moment this whole thing started, his hate for Obama.
thesquanderer
(11,953 posts)So it started even sooner. But I'm sure that made it worse.
yuiyoshida
(41,759 posts)Yes, there was the Birth Certificate thing, but than he full out decided to run for public office so he could destroy Obama's legacy after being mocked at that dinner.
thesquanderer
(11,953 posts)Eliot Rosewater
(31,096 posts)GOP silent.
He is actively trying to kill you and he makes no bones about it.
KentuckyWoman
(6,666 posts)you are correct
I don't doubt even the plumbing fixtures in the Whitehouse during Obama's presidency have been removed.
ginnyinWI
(17,276 posts)According to and essay Ta-Nehisi Coates wrote for The Atlantic, it is this:
Trump is at his core a White Supremacist. Which means that black people are only fit for menial and subservient positions in society. Certainly not the Presidency! So Obama becoming President blows that belief right out of the water, and negates everything Trump has believed all his life. He has to obliterate this anomaly and Make America Great Again--which means, of course, make an America made up of only white people's talents and ideas and hard work. Because only then it can be truly great.
He further believes, then, that any idea of his, no matter how half-baked, has to by definition be better than his predecessor's. (He's always been convinced that he's a genius). And his base feels the same way--rid America of this tragic error in history! And that is exactly how and why he was ever elected. He promised to Make America White Again.
This essay was in the Oct 2017 Atlantic, but is excerpted from his new book, We Were Eight Years in Power. I have learned so much reading this guy's work. Especially because I am white and don't have the benefit of his perspective.
spiderpig
(10,419 posts)That revenge against anyone who ever slighted him is his prime motivator.
Eliot Rosewater
(31,096 posts)He actually, for real, does not care if millions die, if billions die, as long as he gets revenge.
and FIFTY MILLION AMERICANS are cheering his mass murdering on...
fuck me
trc
(823 posts)for running for president. I told one of my repug siblings that all trump wanted to do was stand at the podium on inauguration day, look President Obama in the face and say "see, wasn't that hard".
certainot
(9,090 posts)there are millions of asshole repubs wanting to kill obamacare because they've been hearing about it on the radio for years and years.
Iliyah
(25,111 posts)more popular with total respect. So his demented mind in destroying Pres O's legacy is only hurting the USA's citizens whom he was to protect. Sick a-hole.
WinkyDink
(51,311 posts)RKP5637
(67,030 posts)Johonny
(20,675 posts)Trump isn't anti-Obama, he's pro-crushing America.
BBG
(2,476 posts)America is collateral damage to his racist based hatred of Obama.
iluvtennis
(19,756 posts)HipChick
(25,485 posts)but President Obama will always be highly regarded and beloved worldwide
Beartracks
(12,761 posts)It's ironic that the Republicans are helping to highlight the great achievements of President Obama by electing and supporting such a dotard as Trump, whose incompetent buffoonery sets off Obama's legacy in such sharp relief.
History will not be kind to Trump.
==========
malaise
(267,791 posts)network over and over for years. Lies like that one against the first sitting African-American President should not have been given airplay.
Fuck 'em!
pangaia
(24,324 posts)iluvtennis
(19,756 posts)Heartstrings
(7,349 posts)BumRushDaShow
(127,270 posts)Doodley
(8,976 posts)republicans hate it that a BLACK man resided in the WHITE House for eight years.
demigoddess
(6,640 posts)we might elect more black presidents. That would really rock their world and they don't want it to happen. It would make black men and women equal in all things.
ginnyinWI
(17,276 posts)It destroys the White Supremacist worldview, which says that black people are only fit to be janitors or day laborers. People who need to be told what to do because they don't have the brains think for themselves.
There is a cognitive dissonance that they want to resolve. The world isn't going to be right again until it is White!
joshdawg
(2,637 posts)ATL Ebony
(1,097 posts)the "real" DJT on the world stage and he's not as great as he believed he was. As well as failing so badly at everything he's done or trying to do -- for all the world to see. He honestly believed, IMHO, that he's be a rock star, shake things up and not only destroy Obama's legacy but show how great he is, boy big failure -- no wonder he's unraveling. He just can show up Obama, no way, no how.
InAbLuEsTaTe
(24,110 posts)Girard442
(6,058 posts)...is that 8 years of a black man in the Oval Office drove a big bunch of people in this country right off their rockers. They'd rather see their children and grandchildren die before their eyes with a white president than live and prosper with a black man or a woman of any color in the White House.
Sophiegirl
(2,338 posts)Hortensis
(58,785 posts)not electing his choice for their senator, a humiliating rejection he's reportedly taking harder than people realize.
I'm only speculating, of course, but look at the timing. He's famous for vindictiveness, proud of always hitting back harder, and his current destruction of Obamacare by executive orders may well be a vengeful hit back at a base that is failing him. And the rest of us, of course. He always had the power to do this, but is doing this now as he rages after that blow and many others.
lancelyons
(988 posts)First off i will say I am a 54 year old white man..
When Obama became president, a black man, it pissed off a huge chunk of white rural people that couldnt understand a black man getting ahead of them in life. Republicans (white elderly men) pushed to obstruct the black man..and thats what they did for 8 years. The hatred was so built up that the next election was a wave against him and the rise of white supremacy and the election of their President... who was going to undo the black mans work, and the country (his supporters) where going to rise up and take their country back from who they perceived as undoing it. People of color. Now they couldnt just vent against people of color that where US citizens so they built up their hatred for any people of color that where immigrants or illegals.
History will show Trump and this Era as a White rising.. How long it will last is any bodies guess. The only recourse we have is to VOTE, VOTE and VOTE.
Everybody has to Vote.
Lonestarblue
(9,874 posts)Its hard enough to get people interested enough in elections to get them to the polls, but we have no guarantees that all of those votes will count. The Russians destabilized the 2016 election with their social media campaigns. If that was their sole purpose, why did they also hack the voting systems? If they did not change votes, there was no reason to bother. Nothing has been done to prevent the hacking of our voting systems by anyone who has the skills to do so. The 2018 election is not safe from vote changing by Russia, Republicans, or just plain mischief makers. How will we know that election results are true?
LenaBaby61
(6,965 posts)THIS ^^^^
WILL THEY?
Caliman73
(11,690 posts)Trump won the EC by between 80k to 110k votes across several states. I would not say that was a wave. The problem was that with all the suppression of votes, the negative advertising against Hillary Clinton, and the cheating by collusion with Russia; they barely squeaked by.
You are right that the motivation for Trump supporters was a reassertion of White Christian dominance. The numbers are declining and many racially motivated people think that Women and people of color will bias society against them when they become politically stronger. They already do think that thanks to Fox News and other right wing media.
Demit
(11,238 posts)I tracked it for weeks, all the way through to the last official certified total.
Cosmocat
(14,543 posts)a white man ...
They hated Clinton with a passion, spent 6 investigating him every which way possible until the stumbled on the blue dress, then managed get impeachment to the senate over his lying about a blowjob.
Now, it was worse with BHO, and some of that had to do with his being black, some of it had to do with so much more immediacy with the internet and social media.
Hillary is a white women, and they are equally unhinged about her as BHO.
Being black or being a woman ass fuel to the fire, but the fire is the D behind their names.
TexasBushwhacker
(20,043 posts)ginnyinWI
(17,276 posts)that Democrats see all races as equal, whether black, brown or white. Not what a White Supremacist wants to hear. He doesn't want equal opportunity for all--he wants white men to keep their advantages and dominance. Same goes for all women: keep them in their place, dammit!
The idea that a Democrat would seek to raise up minorities and women to equal status is very very threatening to these guys. It's a zero sum game to them, and they can only see themselves as losing out.
SpankMe
(2,937 posts)smirkymonkey
(63,221 posts)I am so sick of this motherfucker.
brooklynite
(93,836 posts)President Obama made fun of him in public, and people laughed AT HIM while he was in the room.
bdamomma
(63,650 posts)had to drive tRump crazy. Can't take criticism and always wants to be right, so he takes revenge on people. Showing his childlike petulant ways.
KY_EnviroGuy
(14,483 posts)the shit-eating grin on his face after he signed that order.
negoldie
(198 posts)I find it disturbing that he holds up the EO's like a four year old that just learned to write his name. What a fucking lunatic........or worse?
KY_EnviroGuy
(14,483 posts)Then, add a hearty dose of narcissism plus psychopathy - a very dangerous combination. I have to remind myself that tRump lived most of his life in a penthouse, isolated from the real world and lots of people to do his bidding. It's should be no surprise he has no sense of decorum or government function, much less everyday common sense and manners. He has always loved to be a show-off.
It still baffles me how strict conservatives that are every-day working people could vote for him. Try as I may, I can't see the appeal. Of course, most of us liberals don't subscribe to the love of authoritarianism and the "gotta have a big daddy" principle (e.g., Reagan).
bdamomma
(63,650 posts)it was those filthy repigs or the tea party that changed the name. The renaming of the ACA to Obamacare was their way of showing how immature they were and still are immature..
nolabels
(13,133 posts)Mostly it seems the so called US media if filled with a bunch of mediocre wimp reporters and bureau chiefs. And they are put in them places just because that is how they were in the first place.
I going to watch the big picture because mostly everything else is just bullshit
The Velveteen Ocelot
(115,267 posts)The FCC does not license cable TV. In fact, it doesn't license broadcast networks like NBC either - it licenses only broadcast stations, and it doesn't regulate content at all - only whether the station has abided by the rules of the license.
nolabels
(13,133 posts)It was a way to get around that that FCC stuff, and the religious zealots were pissed. People could watch "R" rated mainstream movies on their TV's and nobody could do anything about it.
Actually I was being sarcastic but thanks for caring
Sunlei
(22,651 posts)milestogo
(16,829 posts)underpants
(182,271 posts)Last edited Fri Oct 13, 2017, 12:56 PM - Edit history (1)
Here. Have a cookie
🍪
Boomerproud
(7,888 posts)ProfessorPlum
(11,252 posts)"Obama -- and his beliefs about society and government -- were the antithesis of what they believed"
They know little to nothing about Obama's actual policy positions. The only positions they think they know come from their projection of their fears on to him. The only "belief" that Obama held that they knew they disagreed with was that a black person could hold political power in the US.
bettyellen
(47,209 posts)He has profit motives, not policies.
Vinca
(50,168 posts)the Orange Nightmare would never have run for office. His mission in life is revenge for that dinner.
ginnyinWI
(17,276 posts)Donnie has been a racist his whole life. Yes he wanted to hit back at Obama, but it goes deeper. He tapped into the white supremacist vote who wanted an opposite of Obama or Hillary. Well they got him, didn't they.
Arkansas Granny
(31,483 posts)of anything positive that Obama did while he was in office. His hatred for Obama is so deep that he would tear our country apart to exact revenge.
Maggiemayhem
(804 posts)Somebody tell Trump the right started the term Obamacare as a dig to Obama. It is named the ACA.
Matthew28
(1,796 posts)is that his base is the same base as ted Cruz and the tea party. They're all owned by the mercers and kochs to destroy government. Doesn't matter how many people die.
This isn't only about being laughed at.
LisaM
(27,758 posts)The Republicans meant it as a pejorative. Its real name is the Affordable Care Act.
ATL Ebony
(1,097 posts)undermine what the court has already ruled against him on. ACA is a complex and comprehensive law (needs some adjustments, but a great start) and cannot be dissected and dismantled in the way DimWit45 is trying to.
That Obama guy is a pretty smart cookie.
world wide wally
(21,718 posts)despicable, lying asshole Satan ever created.
Takket
(21,421 posts)Until drumpf who has no agenda other than to undo everything the previous president did. The jealousy is just oozing out of him in slimy oily orange clumps.
Matthew28
(1,796 posts)is the same as Brownbacks in Kansas and the tea party. Make government small enough to fit in a bath tub.
Sending our country back 2 centuries is his agenda.
humbled_opinion
(4,423 posts)that the reason many of those things are so easy to undo is that Obama did not get them all enshrined into law or treaty. What is becoming clear is that Trump is actually creating the conditions whereby Congress will come together and act in a bipartisan way just to thwart his positions, i.e., by taking this stand on the Iran deal he is forcing Congress to a long term fix, by signing EO's that make the ACA implode he is forcing Congress to come together and fix it, we will see if that is actually what happens.
red dog 1
(27,647 posts)NPR Breaking News:
"Halt In Subsidies For Health Insurers Expected To Drive Up Costs For Middle Class"
(I'm unable to post link due to computer problems)
bettyellen
(47,209 posts)LiberalLovinLug
(14,153 posts)Obamacare was coined by Republicans who wanted the ACA to be tagged this way. I first heard it spoken this way by Republican guests on news shows. Then they would set out to destroy it, make it not work, defund it etc.. and when it ultimately failed, it would forever be associated with Obama and the Dems. That was their plan. And evidence of it starting to work, at least in Repubican voter circles, were those stats that showed half of Republicans thought Obamacare (which they learned to hate) was not the ACA (which they saw was actually better than what they had).
The Dems mistake was to arrogantly call their bluff. Because the believed the ACA would survive and prove the GOP wrong, and thus make the GOP look like fools and watch them backpeddle and try and detach Obama's name from it. So they started also calling it that too. Then I heard Obama himself use the name! And the MSM also began using it all the time.
And the whole purpose of the bill. To make heath insurance more affordable, hence the name the Affordable Care Act, was lost in translation. I contend then and now that the Democrats should have resisted the urge to one up the Repubs, and instead double down on always using the name, not even the acronym, but the full name, the Affordable Care Act whenever they were talking about it. Because it seemed like the whole point, "affordable care" was morphed into some personal 'community organizer' project by one man, and a socialist kenyan muslim at that.
If and when, the ACA gained steam, which it looked to be doing, and would if we had Hillary in the Whitehouse and at least the Senate in Dems hands, THEN, we would have the luxury of conceding with the Republicans on the nickname, while they would be scrambling to call it anything but.
geretogo
(1,281 posts)ill monster in office next to the nuclear codes . The Christian Taliban can't wait for him to launch a
world nuclear Holocaust so Jesus returns and they don't have to think anymore .
Gothmog
(143,998 posts)TheFrenchRazor
(2,116 posts)give the already obscenely rich more of our money.
WinkyDink
(51,311 posts)Crash2Parties
(6,017 posts)any trace a black man was ever President.
Exhibit A: I keep an eye on what they do on the three days a week they work. The GOP Congress has barely gotten anything done *except* repeal hundreds of laws, EO's & regulations that added Obama's legacy to that of America. The Congress has wasted days erasing even the most inconsequential or purely symbolic actions of Obama's that would last beyond his years on office.
WinkyDink
(51,311 posts)SergeStorms
(18,882 posts)"Trump's calculation -- and he placed a VERY big bet on this -- was that he could win the GOP nod (and get elected president) by being the polar opposite of Obama on, well, pretty much everything".
What did Trump ever bet? He said he'd finance his own campaign, but never did. He made money from his campaign, is still making money from his "next" campaign, plus he and his grifter family are robbing the Treasury blind! Exactly what did Trump bet, CNN? His "good reputation"?
Trump wagered nothing. He would have made money had he lost the election. He's likely getting money from Russia, or at the very least getting his debts forgiven. Trump never "wagered" a cent.
calimary
(80,693 posts)Like the human version of what my dog does every time I take her out. She pees on everything, especially when she smells the scent of another dog, and wants to mark that spot as HER territory. This is trump, just peeing on everything he wants, because he wants to mark his territory.