Presidential Race

[coltssb 1,044]

I agree... My biggest fear/concern with Trump was actually foreign affairs. Unfortunatly, in my opinion, those fears may be justified. I dont want this to turn into a Trump vs Hillary conversation, as I am simply looking at Trump himself, regardless of who he was up against.

 

I completely agree with this. He could had run against Ronald Regan or Ghengis Khan. My fear would had been the same. I'm just holding my breath and hoping he doesn't do something wreck less.

[Kelly Gruene 26]

I work for big insurance. I am really curious on how you feel, related to this thread, how Trump is going to fix this situation? Do you think he even can think at this intellectual level to understand what you are talking about? I don't, and his cabinet people don't. So what is the point?

I agree with you. But you voted for the man for some reason. Maybe it was bombastic personality (I would probably say he needs a psych assessment) that got you excited. I don't know. I am truly puzzled why with this information you presented you would logically vote for him. Nonetheless, your just 1 person and 2.6 million more votes for Clinton and counting.

QUOTE]

 

I'm curious exactly what you do for "big insurance", and which "big insurance" company it is.

I also have done some insurance work, still do as a matter of fact. I am involved in medical insurance specifically, more on the Medicare side of things than on private insurance. You?

I have never ever viewed anything any candidate says during a presidential race as something that he/she can actually do once they assume office. The president does not make the laws. He/she (see what I'm doing there?) can chart direction, maybe set a framework, maybe bring some people together who can then draft laws that the president may sign. It's not Trump's place to "fix the situation". It is the House and Senate that will fix the situation. I have never pretended to be smart enough to know all the ins-and-outs of everything involved in trying to make healthcare in this country work well for everyone at a cost that's reasonable to the vast majority. Obama had his chance. He brought in Harry and Nancy and had a supermajority in the Senate and they passed a version of what they thought might work. It has done a couple good things (no pre-existing conditions, keep kids on until 26). It has not stopped increased spending in healthcare. It has made a LOT of people have to change from their doctor to someone else. It has made deductibles go through the roof. Premiums continue to skyrocket. So, there will be a better solution out there. There will be pain for everyone, just as there has been for the "fix" Obama provided.

I just hope the House and Senate bring in smart people, including some physicians and others who actually have to provide the care, and figure this thing out in more of a bipartisan, open way, rather than the way the current system was created behind closed doors and then rammed down everyone's throats. Will it happen? Politicians are politicians (until this blonde menace, I guess) and I don't have faith in any of them.

Now, about being intellectual...

Trump went to Penn. You may have heard of it. That's an Ivy League school. I have a son at an Ivy League school. Not everyone at every Ivy League school is brilliant (and I include my son in that comment). What I can tell you is that everyone at his school is at least very smart, even the athletes (of which he knows and is friends with many), even the well-connected. So, can Trump think at this intellectual level? That's really a silly question. It radiates bias. And, truly if I were President, I would bring in really smart people of all disciplines and let them do the work. I'd have some input but I would understand my personal limitations in terms of time and ability. I'm pretty sure that's what Trump's going to do. I'm pretty sure that's what our current President did. I just don't like what the current President and the 2008 House/Senate came up with. And I guess I missed out on the articles where "his cabinet people" have expressed doubt as to Trump's ability to "think at this intellectual level".

Jim: Please please please quit assuming things about me. I have never ever been excited about Donald Trump. Never. However, as I have repeatedly pointed out in post after post, I have NO faith in Hillary Clinton. It's kind of like a football game. She looks great on paper. But put her in the game and she's a disaster. Trump? He doesn't look good on paper at all. I haven't seen him in the game yet. I've seen him walking around campus and he looks a little sketchy. Don't know how he'll do in the game. But I know how Hillary does, and apparently enough other people think similarly that she's not taking the field in January.

And finally, if you don't like the electoral system, call a constitutional convention and see if you can get it changed. Buena suerte con eso, amigo. As the Trump camp has said all along, it's not a race to the most votes, it's a race to 270. It doesn't matter what states those come from, but you must get 270. He did. She didn't. It's the constitution. It's the law of the land. She and her team played the wrong game, lost to the "better" team. And I use that word 'better' hesitantly.

Edited December 15, 2016 by Kelly Gruene

[Soko 128]

This is an interesting or slightly depressing read if any of you are looking for a background on what is happening right now in the US.

 

Quite a few of the names here have appeared in Tump's cabinet so far either directly or indirectly - the DeVos family (who are completely insane btw), Harald Hamm, the Koch bothers... they have succeeded in buying their way into government and are now calling the shots hence the frankly insane nominations Trump has made so far for his cabinet.

 

https://www.amazon.com/Dark-Money-History-Billionaires-Radical/dp/0385535597

[JTennant 290]

This is an interesting or slightly depressing read if any of you are looking for a background on what is happening right now in the US.

 

Quite a few of the names here have appeared in Tump's cabinet so far either directly or indirectly - the DeVos family (who are completely insane btw), Harald Hamm, the Koch bothers... they have succeeded in buying their way into government and are now calling the shots hence the frankly insane nominations Trump has made so far for his cabinet.

 

https://www.amazon.com/Dark-Money-History-Billionaires-Radical/dp/0385535597

 

Scarier than Saudi nations contributing to Hillary's "Clinton Foundation" which is worth more than 250 million?

[Soko 128]

Scarier than Saudi nations contributing to Hillary's "Clinton Foundation" which is worth more than 250 million?

 

Yes, much worse. I don't see Clinton in any seat of power.

 

The US-Saudi relations have been bent since the 70s so I don't see why people are only now raising a stink about it. They have been polluting and corrupting the ME for decades but they also fill US government coffers with lots and lots of cash so president after president will choose to look the other way. The US and Saudi are very strange bedfellows.

 

I would find a group of extremely wealthy donors working subversively to bend the public's narrative to their way of thinking and eventually fill the president's cabinet with their 'guys' to be a far more worrying event. Each to their own though. Lets see how the next 4 years pan out but I am concerned.

[Synoptico 334]

Gotta admit that it takes balls to appoint two people who have been investigated for sharing classified information to high level positions.

[Soko 128]

Gotta admit that it takes balls to appoint two people who have been investigated for sharing classified information to high level positions.

 

And considered a third for the longest time who had been convicted of the same crime for secretary of state! The hypocrisy here knows no bounds.

[Kelly Gruene 26]

This is an interesting or slightly depressing read if any of you are looking for a background on what is happening right now in the US.

 

Quite a few of the names here have appeared in Tump's cabinet so far either directly or indirectly - the DeVos family (who are completely insane btw), Harald Hamm, the Koch bothers... they have succeeded in buying their way into government and are now calling the shots hence the frankly insane nominations Trump has made so far for his cabinet.

 

https://www.amazon.com/Dark-Money-History-Billionaires-Radical/dp/0385535597

 

Just to be fair, it should be noted that politicians on both sides have had big money behind them, and big money pretty much always dictates policies, whether the money-men are in cabinet positions or directing policy positions from behind the scenes:

 

Soros (has been to the White House 13 times): http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2016/09/07/leaked-soros-memo-advance-obamas-use-executive-actions/

 

Clinton foundation: https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/hacked-emails-show-extent-of-foreign-government-donations-to-clinton-foundation/2016/10/16/ce871a82-9319-11e6-a6a3-d50061aa9fae_story.html?utm_term=.ae40ae50ca99

 

Pritzker: http://www.truthdig.com/eartotheground/item/penny_pritzker_barack_obamas_fairy_godmother_20130504

 

 

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/richest-members-obama-cabinet-article-1.1861803

 

And Jack Lew, who worked at Citigroup when it bet on the collapse of the housing market: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/richest-members-obama-cabinet-article-1.1861803

Edited December 16, 2016 by Kelly Gruene