Let The S*** Show Begin

[River Dog]

Did you guys get a load of some of Trump's appointees? Matt Gaetz for attorney general, Fox News anchor Pete Hegseth as Defense Secretary, Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy heading up a new Department of Government Efficiency? This is the nightmare scenario I've been imagining since just after the Dem convention when Harris began to lose her momentum, and it became apparent (to me, anyway) that Trump was going to win that has haunted me since.

And it's only just the beginning. At least in 2016, Trump appointed well qualified people to these positions. Now, the only qualification they need is to be a brown noser of Trump's rear end.

[Aseahawkfan]

I'm wondering if they will be confirmed by the Senate as Trump has to go through the process, though there is some rumor he can do recess appointments. I'm not sure he can as last time he tried to get Homan in and he was unable to get him confirmed, which would have been done could he bypass Congress.

I'm also wondering how much a Department of Government Efficiency can do given Congress controls the purse strings meaning budget and spending.

John Thune was elected leader of the Senate and I don't know much about this guy at all. It is my understanding he was not Elon's choice. Seems to be a guy pushed by McConnell.

Always good to test your government's safety rails and see how well they work. This should be a nice test.

I don't think these people are Trump loyalists to be honest with you, at least not one's to worry about. Gaetz is a joke of a House rep with some weird background of dating a 17 year old or something. I'm wondering if he'll get passed during the vetting process. Tulsi Gabbard is a former Democrat who will turn on Trump if they get in an argument who is also a whacky person who believes whack crap much like RFK. Hegseth I know next to nothing about, but he's young with no government connections which will make it hard for him to make moves without contacts, much like Trump had trouble making moves. Outsiders don't do well in Washington D.C.

Elon and Vivek will be in some new department of questionable power.

I think it should be interesting to see how much they can do absent the contacts and support necessary to make government work well. Trump had loyalists in his last regime, didn't do much as you still have to have contacts to make things work.

I have zero idea why Americans think our government operates like some dictatorship or monarchy where the president appoints loyalists and they do what they want. Not how the American government works or has ever worked. American government works on consensus and shared power. So Trump could put mindless puppets he magically dominated to obey him and he would still find the government doesn't obey or move like he wants it to. It is one of the great elements of Constitutional design from the older "Founding Fathers" people want to pretend they're smarter than in the modern day.

Suffice it to say I want to see if these picks are real, if they will be backed by the party, or this is Trump maintaining their support as he promised but knowing they are not likely to get confirmed. We shall see. He has a red Congress. One thing I know for sure will happen is extension of the Trump tax cuts and economic agenda with at least some token immigration reform. The rest I'm not sure of as last time when Trump had a red Congress, he didn't get much else done.

Like I said, I would not spend much thought on Trump winding up your panties for 4 years unnecessarily. Trump ain't worth it. If he's going to do much bad, he's got a red Congress like he had during his first term. So this is his chance and it will come early if it's going to happen. I don't think he has enough consensus to do much bad, but I'm sure he'll try a few stupid things, but mostly be held in check as before. I think a lot of these appointees will fail as they don't have the necessary connections to make things work like they want to.

Guys like Vivek and Elon are lousy for government. They are used to be making unliteral decisions that are obeyed, government is anything but unilateral decision making immediately carried out. Elon and Vivek I don't think last very long as they find out that their power is nearly worthless.

Another money wasting decision by Elon like buying Twitter.

[River Dog]

One of the things that I worry about is what kind of effect some of these moonbat appointments, like Gaetz at Justice, will do to some of the people working in those departments. Will there be mass resignations? And yes, Gaetz has been under an ethics investigation. As a matter of fact, the House Ethics Committee was preparing to release a report on Gaetz's alleged illegal drug use and sexual misconduct, an investigation that has been going on for years. By law, they couldn't release it within a certain amount of time before the election and they were scheduled to release it tomorrow, and it was supposedly very critical of him. This nomination may change things.

Gaetz has already resigned, and FL Gov DeSantis is going to have to come up with a special election to replace him. Speaker Johnson has been begging Trump to quit poaching House reps for his new Administration as they currently hold just 218 seats, and they can't afford to lose a single one of them. Gaetz's seat is likely safe, but if he chooses someone from a competitive district for his administration, they could lose their one seat majority. Trump doesn't seem to give a rip.

It will be an interesting test for Trump. The R's have a 53-47 majority, but there are a number of R Senators who have expressed misgivings about the Gaetz nomination, like Collins of ME and Murkowski of AK. But it's going to require a lot of guts to go against Trump's wishes as we all know how vindictive he is.

I try not to let this stuff bother me. I make the wife turn off the evening news, go into the other room, or put my headphones on when the national news comes on. Some of this stuff just makes me sick to my stomach. It is truly what the thread title says it is.

[Aseahawkfan]

One of the things that I worry about is what kind of effect some of these moonbat appointments, like Gaetz at Justice, will do to some of the people working in those departments. Will there be mass resignations? And yes, Gaetz has been under an ethics investigation. As a matter of fact, the House Ethics Committee was preparing to release a report on Gaetz's alleged illegal drug use and sexual misconduct, an investigation that has been going on for years. By law, they couldn't release it within a certain amount of time before the election and they were scheduled to release it tomorrow, and it was supposedly very critical of him. This nomination may change things.

Gaetz has already resigned, and FL Gov DeSantis is going to have to come up with a special election to replace him. Speaker Johnson has been begging Trump to quit poaching House reps for his new Administration as they currently hold just 218 seats, and they can't afford to lose a single one of them. Gaetz's seat is likely safe, but if he chooses someone from a competitive district for his administration, they could lose their one seat majority. Trump doesn't seem to give a rip.

It will be an interesting test for Trump. The R's have a 53-47 majority, but there are a number of R Senators who have expressed misgivings about the Gaetz nomination, like Collins of ME and Murkowski of AK. But it's going to require a lot of guts to go against Trump's wishes as we all know how vindictive he is.

I try not to let this stuff bother me. I make the wife turn off the evening news, go into the other room, or put my headphones on when the national news comes on. Some of this stuff just makes me sick to my stomach. It is truly what the thread title says it is.

If it makes you feel any better, you remember what happened with sitting presidents that were lame ducks in previous elections: people turn on them as they go out of power. Trump's power is on the clock with four years to go. Kingmaker has had his run and now his time is ending and politicians, notoriously fickle as they are, must position for the post-Trump world. The Red Congress has two years to execute their main agenda points, which I think will be mainly economic as that is all they have consensus on.

Trump is vindictive. So far no one has helped him pursue his grudges other than sacrificing Hunter Biden because he was so dirty not even his sitting president father could protect him. Smoking men in backrooms may sacrifice a few politicians to Trump to appease him, but mostly he doesn't have the juice to go after the big dog Democrats like Pelosi or Schumer or Newsome or the Clintons or Obamas. Just like the "Me Too" movement they may sacrifice a few small fry like they did Al Franken to appease the Republican Party, likely negotiated behind closed doors.

I've heard even Trump's own party doesn't like Gaetz. He looks like Beavis. Weird dude.

[River Dog]

If it makes you feel any better, you remember what happened with sitting presidents that were lame ducks in previous elections: people turn on them as they go out of power. Trump's power is on the clock with four years to go. Kingmaker has had his run and now his time is ending and politicians, notoriously fickle as they are, must position for the post-Trump world. The Red Congress has two years to execute their main agenda points, which I think will be mainly economic as that is all they have consensus on.

I don't necessarily want to see the R's go out of power. The only reason I vote for any Democrat, at least over these past 8 years, is to get rid of Trump and his cronies. I want the moonbats out of there, the people like Trump, Gaetz, MTG, and so on. The person who I'd really like to see get some traction once Trump is gone is Nikki Haley.

Trump is vindictive. So far no one has helped him pursue his grudges other than sacrificing Hunter Biden because he was so dirty not even his sitting president father could not protect him. Smoking men in backrooms may sacrifice a few politicians to Trump to appease him, but mostly he doesn't have the juice to go after the big dog Democrats like Pelosi or Schumer or Newsome or the Clintons or Obamas. Just like the "Me Too" movement they may sacrifice a few small fry like they did Al Franken to appease the Republican Party, likely negotiated behind closed doors.

I've heard even Trump's own party doesn't like Gaetz. He looks like Beavis. Weird dude.

Yeah, I've read that there were a lot of eyes rolling when the R's found out who Trump's nominee for AG was. Some R's were glad that he's leaving Congress. But expressing disappointment and voting against him are two different things. Speculation is that Gaetz resigned so soon after his nomination so as to avoid the release of the ethics committee report. And you're right, he does look like Bevis with that greasy hair goop he wears.

I see that a former FBI director, Andrew McCabe, said that Gaetz couldn't get hired by the FBI, and he's probably right. Heck, you can't get a security clearance with some of the crap Gaetz has in his closet, like illegal drug use.

[c_hawkbob]

Our criminal president has now chosen an alleged rapist (of a minor) for Attorney General, a virtual Russian asset for Director of National Intelligence, a Faux News personality for Defense Department, an antivaxer and conspiracy theorist for the FDA and a climate denier for the EΡΑ.

Exactly as expected.

[River Dog]

Our criminal president has now chosen an alleged rapist (of a minor) for Attorney General, a virtual Russian asset for Director of National Intelligence, a Faux News personality for Defense Department, an antivaxer and conspiracy theorist for the FDA and a climate denier for the EΡΑ.

Exactly as expected.

I didn't expect it, at least I didn't expect that he'd have the balls to nominate someone like Gaetz as the top cop in the country. I wasn't surprised that he demanded fealty out of his nominees, but if you look at his 2016 appointments, they weren't nearly as controversial as these ones have been.

[c_hawkbob]

But this time it's "Trump without guardrails", no adult in the room and him with retribution as his primary motivation. For me this is 100% as expected.

[Aseahawkfan]

I didn't expect it, at least I didn't expect that he'd have the balls to nominate someone like Gaetz as the top cop in the country. I wasn't surprised that he demanded fealty out of his nominees, but if you look at his 2016 appointments, they weren't nearly as controversial as these ones have been.

You also have to remember that some of his appointments were not his first choice even in his first administration. He churned through them like he was changing underwear. Republican Party said no to quite a few of his first term nominees like that one guy who was busted for Russian associations he wanted for Defense Secretary. What was that guy's name? Quite a few others bounced in and out. Carl Icahn was going to be a cabinet member, but said no after he learned of the vetting process.

Doesn't surprise me. He was going to reward those who supported him. It's how he works. Whether or not they actually make it past the nomination process to make this more than a token show of support, well, we shall see.

Gaetz is the one I am most surprised at and least expect to be confirmed. Trump must be throwing him a bone for his support and Gaetz was probably looking for a way out before he gets screwed hard.

Hegseth I know so little about that I'm not sure he has the juice to pass the nomination process. I know he's a veteran and Fox News commentator.

Tulsi Gabbard was a Democrat most of her life. Somehow she ended up in Trumpville because apparently Hilary Clinton hates her according to my buddies and is trying to sell her as a Russian asset like she did Trump, which is obviously finding some support as c-bob seems to believe lifelong Democrat Tulsi Gabbard is a Russian asset. She does seem to state some straight out of Putin's mouth propaganda about Ukraine. I still wonder who is pushing this propaganda in the Republican Party. Seems to be the Libertarian non-interventionist arm of the party who considers all war made up since Bush Jr. went into Iraq and Afghanistan. They believe in the Loose Change documentary and think any military engagement is driven by the Neocons.

We'll see what the final cabinet looks like. I don't expect all these initial nominees to pass, but Trump at least gets to tell them, "Not my fault, I tried."

[Aseahawkfan]

But this time it's "Trump without guardrails", no adult in the room and him with retribution as his primary motivation. For me this is 100% as expected.

Guardrails are still on. I'm not sure why you believe this trash. Guardrails were never taken off. We don't live in a monarchy or a dictatorship.

This country doesn't work like you're trying to pretend it does. I don't know why a man who must be in his 60s at this point is buying into this false narrative.

I've watched six presidents come and go myself in my 50 plus years. I've heard every claim you're making now made against presidents in both parties. None of the fantastical BS about tyrants and "no guardrails" and this horseshit idea America is going to be destroyed has ever been true. A lot of men far more powerful, driven, and connected than Trump have tried.

I'm going to make a prediction right now that your consternation about Trump is going to be about useless as it was his first three years as the stock market rose, America was absolutely fine, and things didn't change for the worst until the pandemic.

That no guard rails nonsense is spouted by Democrats who didn't bother to read the Supreme Court ruling on presidential power and just lapped up the narrative put out by their party which was pure lying horsecrap, same kind of horsecrap that led to their utter loss in the most recent election because you Democratic supporters can't stop lying either and be led by Trump's puppet strings.

This is the worst part of Trump, he even plays people who hate him for fools and uses them to get what he wants. Good c-bob, all your stupid false believe in Trump's "badness" did was martyr him and make him into a non-stop media superstar that everyone kept talking about for doing nothing but running his mouth.

Got the Dems still living in his world and his dreams as their boogiemen. You were half the reason for his constant popularity. Just couldn't ignore the man and let him disappear. Just had to keep investigating him and making him seem like the poor martyred Republican being persecuted by the Democrats until he used that free media coverage to propel himself back to the presidency. Even now you can't let Trump go.

You Dems helped build him up. I wish I had control of you as I would have said best way to beat Trump is ignore him, not give him free media coverage, and let him implode. But you just couldn't do it.

[c_hawkbob]

I believe what I see, not what you spin.

[Aseahawkfan]

I believe what I see, not what you spin.

You don't believe what you see. You believe what the Democratic media puts out. Been pushing that trash the whole time the tune of a Red Wave crushing the Democrats. Not just Trump won, but a clean sweep by the Republican Party.

If what you saw was so real, why did your Democrats get crushed? You the only party and Americans that can see the truth? That it? You're the special blue Democrats who see the truth and all those red voters are just bad people doing wrong bad stuff because the Democratic media told you so.

Maybe because of how much you Democrats lie and push lies that any middle swing voter can see is horsecrap you made truth cheap and unnecessary.

Democrats got no standards, just fake outrage as they cover for their own politicians believe rubbish.

Like I told, I5, country better be burnt to the ground in four years or you Democraft leftists are going to look like real liars and fools. Then Americans will take the Democrats even less seriously than they do now. Literally, America sees Democrats as worse than Trump. That is a sad, sad line.

Who am I kidding? In four years, everyone will forget what happened the previous four years and do this all again where they pretend each other are terrible people based on who they vote for. Political media rules this country, not Americans any more.

[Aseahawkfan]

Riverdog,

Even you gotta find it strange as a life-long Republican that the country thinks the Democratic Party is so bad that they view Trump as the better option. It is pretty insane that after all the crazy stuff Trump said, did, and all the division he caused, Americans still looked at the Democratic Party and went, "Man, I still prefer Trump over the Democrats. They look too crazy."

As much as I'm not going to get too wound up about it, I can't help but look and think how crazy and bad do you have to look for Americans and swing voters to think you're the worse choice over a guy who lies all the time, says awful crap, and caused January 6th to happen.

And the Democrats are still not looking in the mirror and going, "What do we look like to America that we look worse than Donald Trump as president?"

Biden managed to win, so the Democrats should have still been able to beat Trump. But for some reason, the swing voters of America looked at Kamala and the Democratic Party and went, "Nope" to the tune of an all Republican government.

And Dems still won't assess their platform to see why. You would think if you had your ass kicked by your opponent losing the presidency, the Senate, and the House you might spend some time reflecting on what you're doing wrong, especially when you're opponent is a guy who lies because he thinks it sounds good and has whacky supporters.

Man, if I were the Dems, I'd be doing some real dissection of this election to see where they went wrong.

[River Dog]

But this time it's "Trump without guardrails", no adult in the room and him with retribution as his primary motivation. For me this is 100% as expected.

The RFK Jr. appointment has to be a surprise. Trump is not, or at least was not, an anti vaxxer, even wanted them to name the Covid vaccines after him. It was the only thing he did right during the pandemic, ie got behind the vaccines.

The Gaetz nomination is going to be a get out yer popcorn out event as more and more R's are expressing concern, want to see the report that the House Ethics committee was about to release until Gaetz resigned. I'm not sure why they can't or won't release it. They used millions of taxpayer dollars to investigate a paid public official, the least they can do is show us what we paid for.

[c_hawkbob]

That report will come out one way or another eventually.

[Aseahawkfan]

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/rfk-jr-stances-health-issues/

Since I have zero interest in buying into the Democratic media's view on Trump's candidates due to their hate for Trump, I've decided to look at their actual policy stances experience.

RFK Jr. doesn't seem qualified to lead the United States Department of Health, but I do like his ideas of cleaning up some of our food production. We have mounds and mounds of evidence that American food production has insufficient oversight when it comes to health. I don't mean doing "Do no harm health", but actually being healthy food products without unnecessary fillers, dyes, and food additives. I would like to see some of this cleaned up. Maybe it will take someone whacky without connections to the food industry to push some changes through. Democrats and Republicans seem very uninterested in improving the quality of food production in America, so let someone offbeat do it as long as you can keep under control his whackier views like those on vaccines and raw milk.

You don't necessarily need to be a doctor to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, so I guess let him do his thing and see if he can make some positive change. He definitely seems interested in making a healthier food environment for Americans.

RFK Jr. isn't a fiscal conservative and doesn't seem interested in doing any damage to Medicare or any of the social safety programs. He mainly seems focused on making some positive change on food production.

Could be ok. I'd like a better food environment. I watch a lot of health information and America definitely has a serious problem with a bad food environment. A lot of lies are told about it like it is expensive to eat healthy and it isn't. It's cheaper to eat healthier, but most people are too lazy to cook. You can buy chicken breast, rice or potatoes, and frozen vegetables cheaper than fast food or even junk food and cook a big healthy meal for cheap, but people don't to cook or don't know how to cook. So they choose to buy cheap, easy to heat up junk or fast food. It's not a great food environment for Americans right now and needs some clean up that isn't on either party's radar. So this could be a surprise positive if he gets confirmed.

[Aseahawkfan]

The RFK Jr. appointment has to be a surprise. Trump is not, or at least was not, an anti vaxxer, even wanted them to name the Covid vaccines after him. It was the only thing he did right during the pandemic, ie got behind the vaccines.

This appointment is pure repayment for support. It may be a surprisingly good choice given some of this other views on health. Of course the media, especially the Democratic media, is going to focus on his most controversial and nutty stances, while ignoring his views that may be helpful to Americans.

The Gaetz nomination is going to be a get out yer popcorn out event as more and more R's are expressing concern, want to see the report that the House Ethics committee was about to release until Gaetz resigned. I'm not sure why they can't or won't release it. They used millions of taxpayer dollars to investigate a paid public official, the least they can do is show us what we paid for.

I can't even see the Republicans supporting Gaetz. I really can't, but maybe they surprise me. I think Trump threw Gaetz a bone knowing he likely won't pass the confirmation process. I guess we'll see.

Or Trump sees Gaetz as willing to go after some Democrats as payback for the Democrats going after him all these years with this political warfare BS we've been watching that Democratic supporters lap up to the tune of an elevated conviction for paying hush money to a pornstar and playboy model so Democratic shills like c-bob can call him a felon like anyone who knows the case knows he's about as much of a felon as Bill Clinton. It's a trumped up charge meant to embarrass Trump. So of course Trump wants payback and Gaetz will pursue petty case like hush money and other such things to embarrass Democrats, which is what Trump wants.

I know you know this, but I've never seen each party not pay the other party back for embarrassing them. That's why I don't care about this type of political warfare as it just causeses each party to use the legal system in an unethical manner for little more than media propaganda to embarrass each side. It doesn't seem to have a long-term meaningful impact in cleaning up our political system or Washington D.C.

[River Dog]

I don't trust RFK Jr. any further than I can spit. Among his claims is that the polio vaccine has killed more people than it has saved. He wants to take fluoride out of drinking water. He claims that the Covid virus was intentionally targeted at blacks and Caucasians and spared Chinese and Jews, has falsely claimed that vaccines cause autism, said that the covid vaccines were "the deadliest vaccines ever made." The guy is a certified nut, and I don't want him in any position of authority whatsoever. How can you trust him to do anything when the guy harbors views such as he has espoused?

[Aseahawkfan]

I don't trust RFK Jr. any further than I can spit. Among his claims is that the polio vaccine has killed more people than it has saved. He wants to take fluoride out of drinking water. He claims that the Covid virus was intentionally targeted at blacks and Caucasians and spared Chinese and Jews, has falsely claimed that vaccines cause autism, said that the covid vaccines were "the deadliest vaccines ever made." The guy is a certified nut, and I don't want him in any position of authority whatsoever. How can you trust him to do anything when the guy harbors views such as he has espoused?

Because he also harbors views like wanting to overhaul the food production system, which every bit of evidence I've read indicates has serious issues. Food environment is a big topic in the health industry and how American food is made with an enormous number of additives and problematic food production leading to these huge problems with obesity and metabolic disorders associated with them. You want to cut down on some of the costs of Medicare, how about improve people's health? That would cut a lot of costs down.

There are a lot of certified nuts in government. What's new?

The one fact you don't seem to be mentioning is we've tried business as usual and it gets us the usual problems: a rising deficit, no real change to just about anything useful. Just more horsecrap media driven divisive politics.

Who knows. RFK Jr may not get approved either. But Trump said he would give him a spot if he won, so he's fulfilling his promise. Apparently RFK Jr. is heavily pro-abortion in all 9 months of pregnancy according to a new story with Pence making the claim. Would cause real problems to appoint him with red state conservative Senators.

Since you've fallen into the "World's going to end" camp with Trump, if you're wrong four years from now, that will be four wasted years of fretting over nothing. For all you know Trump's White House term may be a smooth run to the end absent a pandemic, just like his first three years which were nothing but a rising stock market, lots of money being made, a smoothly operating nation, no wars, and an easy time for America until the pandemic came along and caused severe issues.

You've started to seriously oversell Trump's villainy for emotional reasons, not rational ones. If this nation runs smoothly for his four years, then you're just wasting time.

I'll watch nominations, analyze them, and see which ones actually end up in the cabinet. Trump nominated some whack jobs last time, they didn't make it into the cabinet.

[River Dog]

I don't trust RFK Jr. any further than I can spit. Among his claims is that the polio vaccine has killed more people than it has saved. He wants to take fluoride out of drinking water. He claims that the Covid virus was intentionally targeted at blacks and Caucasians and spared Chinese and Jews, has falsely claimed that vaccines cause autism, said that the covid vaccines were "the deadliest vaccines ever made." The guy is a certified nut, and I don't want him in any position of authority whatsoever. How can you trust him to do anything when the guy harbors views such as he has espoused?

Because he also harbors views like wanting to overhaul the food production system, which every bit of evidence I've read indicates has serious issues. Food environment is a big topic in the health industry and how American food is made with an enormous number of additives and problematic food production leading to these huge problems with obesity and metabolic disorders associated with them. You want to cut down on some of the costs of Medicare, how about improve people's health? That would cut a lot of costs down.

There are a lot of certified nuts in government. What's new?

The one fact you don't seem to be mentioning is we've tried business as usual and it gets us the usual problems: a rising deficit, no real change to just about anything useful. Just more horsecrap media driven divisive politics.

Who knows. RFK Jr may not get approved either. But Trump said he would give him a spot if he won, so he's fulfilling his promise. Apparently RFK Jr. is heavily pro-abortion in all 9 months of pregnancy according to a new story with Pence making the claim. Would cause real problems to appoint him with red state conservative Senators.

Since you've fallen into the "World's going to end" camp with Trump, if you're wrong four years from now, that will be four wasted years of fretting over nothing. For all you know Trump's White House term may be a smooth run to the end absent a pandemic, just like his first three years which were nothing but a rising stock market, lots of money being made, a smoothly operating nation, no wars, and an easy time for America until the pandemic came along and caused severe issues.

You've started to seriously oversell Trump's villainy for emotional reasons, not rational ones. If this nation runs smoothly for his four years, then you're just wasting time.

I'll watch nominations, analyze them, and see which ones actually end up in the cabinet. Trump nominated some whack jobs last time, they didn't make it into the cabinet.

Well, you can hang your hat on one single issue, but not me. RFK Jr. has wrapped his arms around too many conspiracy theories that don't have a shred of truth to them, some outright laughable. Someone manufactured Covid to target blacks and Caucasians? Polio vaccines killed more people than the virus itself? Where does he come up with that stuff? He wants to ban drug companies from advertising. Why? Doesn't he trust people to make their own decisions? So long as they warn of the possible side effects and advise them to talk to their doctor, what's wrong with telling people of a drug they may benefit from? Given all those stances, why would you trust what he has to say about our food supply? He's simply not credible, worse than a snake oil salesman.

And I don't doubt that there's a lot of nuts in our government. But that doesn't mean that it's OK to allow them to head up cabinet level departments.

Trump isn't the first POTUS to hand out cabinet nominations as a return of a favor, a second-place award, or to keep them in their camp, like Obama did with John Kerry and Hillary Clinton. They've all done it to one degree or another. LBJ once said of bringing a political adversary into his cabinet that he'd rather have him inside the tent pissing out than outside the tent pissing in. JFK nominated his own brother as AG. You can't tell me that he was the most qualified to hold that position.

But this is different. Trump has been nominating people based on one criterion and one criterion only: That they possess a fealty towards him. RFK Jr. is a prime example. Even many on the right don't like him because he's pro-abortion, right up until birth. But he kisses Trump's ass, and that's all that matters. Same with Gaetz. Neither of those two have qualification normally present in nominees. Even members of Trump's own party have shook their heads, can't believe that he's serious. These are the types of decisions that worry me.

[Spohawk5092]

Elect a clown, expect a circus. Next!

[c_hawkbob]

Elect a clown, expect a circus. Next!

Yeah, put a clown in the Whitehouse; the clown does not become presidential, the Whitehouse becomes a circus.

[River Dog]

Elect a clown, expect a circus. Next!

Yeah, put a clown in the Whitehouse; the clown does not become presidential, the Whitehouse becomes a circus.

I can't disagree with that analogy, but I like the one I made in the thread title better.

These cabinet nominations are truly bizarre. I understand some of the motivation, payback for favors, cronyism, and so on. But as a rule, most nominees have some sort of qualifications. This isn't something we saw in the first Trump administration.

[Spohawk5092]

I can't disagree with that analogy, but I like the one I made in the thread title better.

These cabinet nominations are truly bizarre. I understand some of the motivation, payback for favors, cronyism, and so on. But as a rule, most nominees have some sort of qualifications. This isn't something we saw in the first Trump administration.[/quote]

Consider the source!!!
Qualifications is the LAST things he is looking for/cares about. ALL that matters is they will kiss his ass, nothing else. Next!
Im just hoping we don't get into a world war.

[River Dog]

Consider the source!!!

Qualifications is the LAST things he is looking for/cares about. ALL that matters is they will kiss his ass, nothing else. Next!
Im just hoping we don't get into a world war.

I'm not too worried about a world war, but the fact that three generals, ie Mattis, Kelly, and Miley, all who have served him, have come out and said that he's incompetent is very concerning. You might be able to rationalize one person or even two as having some sort of disagreement or personality conflict, but three of them? How many times have you heard of one general or admiral, let alone 3 of them, come out and publicly say things about their Commander in Chief that these guys have said?

[Aseahawkfan]

Gaetz didn't make it to nomination. I figured Trump threw him a bone knowing he wouldn't make it for his support. That's the game in D.C. Repay the support, but if they don't make it through confirmation that is on them. In Gaetz case, even to confirmation.

[River Dog]

Gaetz didn't make it to nomination. I figured Trump threw him a bone knowing he wouldn't make it for his support. That's the game in D.C. Repay the support, but if they don't make it through confirmation that is on them. In Gaetz case, even to confirmation.

If that was Trump's motivation, to throw Gaetz a bone, then it wasn't very effective as Gaetz sacrificed his House seat, so now he's down on cheerleader.

My guess is that Senate Republicans convinced Gaetz to withdraw as it would have set up a very ugly confirmation hearing, putting a lot of R's on the spot by having to take a stand that almost certainly would have resulted in Gaetz not getting confirmed as reports are that at least 4 Senate R's would have voted against confirmation. And the funny thing is that Gaetz gave up his House seat, although I suppose that he can run on the ballot again. There was also the pressure on R's to release the ethics committee findings.

Trump has already made a nomination to replace him. I know little about her, just that she defended him in his hush money trial and that she's a former Florida state AG, so at least she has some qualifications.

Now, the s*** show spotlight turns to Trump's defense secretary nomination, Fox News host Pete Hegseth, as a detailed police report regarding a sexual assault charge has surfaced. These nominations are truly bizzare.

[Aseahawkfan]

If that was Trump's motivation, to throw Gaetz a bone, then it wasn't very effective as Gaetz sacrificed his House seat, so now he's down on cheerleader.

My guess is that Senate Republicans convinced Gaetz to withdraw as it would have set up a very ugly confirmation hearing, putting a lot of R's on the spot by having to take a stand that almost certainly would have resulted in Gaetz not getting confirmed as reports are that at least 4 Senate R's would have voted against confirmation. And the funny thing is that Gaetz gave up his House seat, although I suppose that he can run on the ballot again. There was also the pressure on R's to release the ethics committee findings.

Trump has already made a nomination to replace him. I know little about her, just that she defended him in his hush money trial and that she's a former Florida state AG, so at least she has some qualifications.

Now, the s*** show spotlight turns to Trump's defense secretary nomination, Fox News host Pete Hegseth, as a detailed police report regarding a sexual assault charge has surfaced. These nominations are truly bizzare.

Gaetz gave up his seat because he's about to get exposed and lose it the hard way. I'm sure behind the scenes the guy is negotiating an escape as much as he can.

My guess is Gaetz asked for the nomination, Trump said ok knowing Gaetz was unlikely to be confirmed. I think Trump has an idea of who he wants and who will not make it, while he is targeting other people we will see soon enough. Trump may not pay close attention, but his advisers know the process and are in touch with people who will do the confirmations.

In D.C. you have to repay support and the confirmation process makes it so a president can nominate someone that supported them to pay them back for support, while knowing the candidate won't make it through confirmation. It's a "not my fault, I tried" D.C. quid pro quo.

Doubt Hegseth makes it at this point, but I guess we'll see. Party still has a lot of say in who makes it in with Congressional control in both Houses.

Lady seems fine to me. She didn't investigate Trump University, she wasn't much involved in the hush money cases. Those were Federal election charges? The misdemeanor elevated to a felony. Democrats been on a fishing spree using the law in the way they don't want used on them: to go after a political opponent. If they had used the legal system in a fashion like this for anything but investigating a guy you don't like, you'd be screaming bloody murder about the wasted time and money spent investigating Trump so the Democrats can scream, "But he's a felon" for hush money to women he's slept with which I personally have no doubt was done for Bill Clinton and likely in the old days for Kennedy and any politician looking to hide all their elicit affairs which are common in D.C.

The legal action against Trump was politically driven attacks that Democrats now fear being directed at them by the "tyrant" Trump. While they were doing it was just them going after a bad man. If Trump does manage to investigate a bunch of them, they better hope they're clean enough to suffer the scrutiny.

Payback is a b**** as they say and I've never been the Republicans not pay back the Democrats and vice versa with their political games. Trump's an outsider and enough Republicans don't like him they might not support his payback like they would an insider like a Bush Jr. We'll see. I'd like to see the Democrats suffer some payback after wasting so much time and taxpayer dollars going after Trump legally to the tune of losing all three elected branches of government in the White House. Gotta thank them for spending all that money to find out Trump cheated on his wife and paid some women to be quiet about it. We've never seen that before...*cough*...Bill Clinton...*cough*. I still remember all the Democrats making excuses for Billy's behavior while voting for him are now the same Democrats crying that Trump won and how bad the people are that voted for him.

The hypocrisy is pathetic.

[River Dog]

If that was Trump's motivation, to throw Gaetz a bone, then it wasn't very effective as Gaetz sacrificed his House seat, so now he's down on cheerleader.

My guess is that Senate Republicans convinced Gaetz to withdraw as it would have set up a very ugly confirmation hearing, putting a lot of R's on the spot by having to take a stand that almost certainly would have resulted in Gaetz not getting confirmed as reports are that at least 4 Senate R's would have voted against confirmation. And the funny thing is that Gaetz gave up his House seat, although I suppose that he can run on the ballot again. There was also the pressure on R's to release the ethics committee findings.

Trump has already made a nomination to replace him. I know little about her, just that she defended him in his hush money trial and that she's a former Florida state AG, so at least she has some qualifications.

Now, the s*** show spotlight turns to Trump's defense secretary nomination, Fox News host Pete Hegseth, as a detailed police report regarding a sexual assault charge has surfaced. These nominations are truly bizzare.

Gaetz gave up his seat because he's about to get exposed and lose it the hard way. I'm sure behind the scenes the guy is negotiating an escape as much as he can.

My guess is Gaetz asked for the nomination, Trump said ok knowing Gaetz was unlikely to be confirmed. I think Trump has an idea of who he wants and who will not make it, while he is targeting other people we will see soon enough. Trump may not pay close attention, but his advisers know the process and are in touch with people who will do the confirmations.

In D.C. you have to repay support and the confirmation process makes it so a president can nominate someone that supported them to pay them back for support, while knowing the candidate won't make it through confirmation. It's a "not my fault, I tried" D.C. quid pro quo.

Doubt Hegseth makes it at this point, but I guess we'll see. Party still has a lot of say in who makes it in with Congressional control in both Houses.

Lady seems fine to me. She didn't investigate Trump University, she wasn't much involved in the hush money cases. Those were Federal election charges? The misdemeanor elevated to a felony. Democrats been on a fishing spree using the law in the way they don't want used on them: to go after a political opponent. If they had used the legal system in a fashion like this for anything but investigating a guy you don't like, you'd be screaming bloody murder about the wasted time and money spent investigating Trump so the Democrats can scream, "But he's a felon" for hush money to women he's slept with which I personally have no doubt was done for Bill Clinton and likely in the old days for Kennedy and any politician looking to hide all their elicit affairs which are common in D.C.

The legal action against Trump was politically driven attacks that Democrats now fear being directed at them by the "tyrant" Trump. While they were doing it was just them going after a bad man. If Trump does manage to investigate a bunch of them, they better hope they're clean enough to suffer the scrutiny.

Payback is a b**** as they say and I've never been the Republicans not pay back the Democrats and vice versa with their political games. Trump's an outsider and enough Republicans don't like him they might not support his payback like they would an insider like a Bush Jr. We'll see. I'd like to see the Democrats suffer some payback after wasting so much time and taxpayer dollars going after Trump legally to the tune of losing all three elected branches of government in the White House. Gotta thank them for spending all that money to find out Trump cheated on his wife and paid some women to be quiet about it. We've never seen that before...*cough*...Bill Clinton...*cough*. I still remember all the Democrats making excuses for Billy's behavior while voting for him are now the same Democrats crying that Trump won and how bad the people are that voted for him.

The hypocrisy is pathetic.

I don't think it a coincidence that Gaetz giving up his House seat and Trump's announcing his nomination came on the same day. IMO he thought that he could delay the release of the report long enough to get confirmed. But who knows. We're both just speculating, and at this point, it doesn't really matter.

The hush money case of which Trump was convicted of was a NY state case prosecuted by a Democratic AG. It was hugely political as we had a prosecutor who had come under heavy fire by the NYPD for reducing felony charges to misdemeanors, turning criminals they had caught back out on the streets only to re-offend, and in this case, a victimless, non-violent white-collar crime, he takes a misdemeanor charge and elevates it to a felony. It didn't change anyone's vote. So what that he was convicted of a crime anyone not named Donald Trump would have even been charged with. If anything, it played into Trump's "witchhunt" narrative and made him more of a martyr fighting for the cause.

And yes, politically motivated behavior by the law has been going on forever. One only has to recall the Chappaquiddick incident where Teddy Kennedy committed what would today be considered vehicular homicide to demonstrate the hypocrisy of the system.

I don't know much about this gal Trump has appointed, either, but I suppose we'll find out soon enough. But as I said, the focus now is going to be on the brewing scandal of Trump's Defense Secretary nomination.

[River Dog]

I saw the other day that the Trump transmission team isn't running FBI background checks on their nominees, which is hugely irresponsible. Even those applying for the most mundane of jobs requiring a security clearance has to undergo a background check, and I've personally been interviewed by the FBI (it's now under some other department).

https://www.cnn.com/2024/11/15/politics ... index.html

Apparently, the Trump team was blindsided when reports surfaced about their Defense Secretary nominee, Pete Hegseth, that they weren't aware that he had been accused of sexual assault and that there was a very detailed police report about it. Just one more bizarre aspect of this s*** show.

[Spohawk5092]

I saw the other day that the Trump transmission team isn't running FBI background checks on their nominees, which is hugely irresponsible. Even those applying for the most mundane of jobs requiring a security clearance has to undergo a background check, and I've personally been interviewed by the FBI (it's now under some other department).

https://www.cnn.com/2024/11/15/politics ... index.html

Apparently, the Trump team was blindsided when reports surfaced about their Defense Secretary nominee, Pete Hegseth, that they weren't aware that he had been accused of sexual assault and that there was a very detailed police report about it. Just one more bizarre aspect of this s*** show.

so whats bizarre? About what you would expect IMO. Meanwhile all the people that supported Trump because of the high cost of living. ARe you ready for Trumpflation? LOL. WE will find out.

[River Dog]

I saw the other day that the Trump transmission team isn't running FBI background checks on their nominees, which is hugely irresponsible. Even those applying for the most mundane of jobs requiring a security clearance has to undergo a background check, and I've personally been interviewed by the FBI (it's now under some other department).

https://www.cnn.com/2024/11/15/politics ... index.html

Apparently, the Trump team was blindsided when reports surfaced about their Defense Secretary nominee, Pete Hegseth, that they weren't aware that he had been accused of sexual assault and that there was a very detailed police report about it. Just one more bizarre aspect of this s*** show.

so whats bizarre? About what you would expect IMO. Meanwhile all the people that supported Trump because of the high cost of living. ARe you ready for Trumpflation? LOL. WE will find out.

It might be normal for Trump, but it's bizarre to me.

And you're exactly right about Trumpflation. If he starts slapping tariffs on imported goods, one of two things is going to happen: (1) The company will simply pass the cost of the tariff on to the consumer like they do with any other tax or fee, or (2) they'll quit selling all together, create a shortage, and raise prices. In both cases, the cost of the goods Trump places the tariffs on will go up. Not only that, but the country he's placing tariffs on is very likely to react by putting tariffs on goods they import from us. It's very, very bad economic policy.

Plus, I contend that a healthy trade relationship with an adversarial country like China makes a war less likely.

We'll see if he actually goes through with his threats or if cooler heads talk him out of it. Trump is well known for talking out his arse, speaking whatever happens to be on his mind at that moment. He threatened to place tariffs on countries in his previous administration but never did. It will be the same thing with this threat of his to find and deport 20 million illegal aliens. There's no way in hell that we have the resources to conduct such a purge.

[Spohawk5092]

in so far as we will see what he does you say, as Dr. Phil said, "the best predictor of future behavior, is past behavior. Elect a clown, expect a circus. Next!

[River Dog]

in so far as we will see what he does you say, as Dr. Phil said, "the best predictor of future behavior, is past behavior. Elect a clown, expect a circus. Next!

Which is what I was saying. In 2018, Trump threatened to use tariffs on Candian manufactured steel and aluminum, but he never did. Past behavior as a predictor of future behavior. Whether it's a negotiating tactic or that he blinked when confronted with the economic consequences, we'll never know.

From Scott Lincicome, a trade expert a the libertarian CATO Institute:

"Donald Trump was willing to tweet out tariff threats, usually in the evening, after watching Fox news, and those tweets typically didn't come to much of anything," Lincicome says.

And he's already moderating the rhetoric he used during the campaign:

But China may already be winning this first round. The additional 10% tariff on imports from China that Trump threatened Monday is a fraction of the 60% levy he called for during the campaign.

https://www.npr.org/2024/11/26/nx-s1-52 ... ada-mexico

So we'll just have to wait and see. Like I said, Trump talks out of his arse, just makes random statements, first thing that comes to his mind that he thinks his audience might like.

[Spohawk5092]

elect a CLOWN, expect a circus. Next!

[Spohawk5092]

Elections have consequences. Example A- Spokane had put a bid in to host the 2025 Memorial Cup, and was hands down the favorite due in part to have one of the best facilities in the WHL, the Spokane Arena. Word came down from the CHL a couple of days ago. Spokane was snubbed and Kelowna given the nod. Sucks!!!

[River Dog]

Elections have consequences. Example A- Spokane had put a bid in to host the 2025 Memorial Cup, and was hands down the favorite due in part to have one of the best facilities in the WHL, the Spokane Arena. Word came down from the CHL a couple of days ago. Spokane was snubbed and Kelowna given the nod. Sucks!!!

Could you elaborate? Was the snub a reaction to Trump's threat to slap tariffs on Canada? What do the Canadians hope to gain? Or are they just pissed that we elected Trump?

[Spohawk5092]

In my opinion, as stated it was.

[River Dog]

In my opinion, as stated it was.

Sorry, man, but that doesn't pass the smell test. Trump has yet to take office and he's well known for letting is mouth overload his a$$ with regard to tariffs, and the Canadians are obviously very familiar with his tactics. Besides, even if the action was related to Trump's threats, do you, or they, honestly believe that denying a solid blue state some minor league hockey tournament would cause him to call them off? The thought of it is laughable. The Canadians have a helluva lot more important things to deny us than a minor league hockey tournament if they want to respond to a tariff on their goods.

[Spohawk5092]

doesn't yours, but it does mine. I think I know Canada a bit better than you. I'm 68 and been around Canadians most of my life.