Maybe I'm wrong, but a tariff is a tax. Aren't taxes supposed to be imposed by Congress, and not by presidential decree?
1
Make no mistake. This is Trump's idea of winning bigly.
1
TRUMP: “I was a Democrat for a period of time early on.
And then I was also an independent.
And then I became a Republican.”
July 8, 2015: Trump’s interview with CNN. Trump explains his unstable & unhinged political alliances, which Republicans deserve & dislike.
1
For most of its history, the GOP was the party of protectionist tariffs. To label free trade as Republicans' "longstanding orthodoxy" is an exaggeration at best. Remember that both Reagan and G.W. Bush put tariffs on steel imports. Most Republican politicians and businessmen who are objecting do so because they can see how stupid these particular tariffs are, not because of any principled support for the chimera of "free trade" and certainly not out of any concern for the American workers in metal-using industries who will be harmed.
3
"Now here comes Mr. Trump with his sudden proposal to rebuild the country’s steel and aluminum industries through steep tariffs on imports from...."...
Sudden? What cave have you been hanging out in? He campaigned on it. The legitimacy of the action is indisputable.
But.....why now? Intentionally crippling the economic growth cycle is stunningly wrong. Unless......you have something really big to gain from it.
Like selling short.
Looking for a deep state conspiracy, Rush? You fellas at Fox News? Glen Beck, where are you when we need you?
How about insider trading?
One twitch of the Tweeter and the market drops xxxx. If you have millions riding on short sales, you're in tall cotton.
Benghazi? If they're going to launch a congressional investigation into a 70 year old woman killing three people halfway around the globe in here sleep, I't suggest that a subpoena of Trump, Lighthizer and Navarro's stock transactions over the last week would be highly in order.
If at any point-- say, half an hour before Trump caused a 400 point drop with his tariff fulmination- any of the three's stock portfolio's showed a short sale order, it would certainly be no surprise to me.
There's a certain weary resignation that's set in. Maybe the all time Hall of Fame insider trading scandal is what we really and truly need to wake up and smell the coffee.
To drain the swamp? No. To burn the vipers out of the nest.
3
These are the same people who thought that rigging the system through gerrymandering would give them unchallenged control, only to have the radical element take over by getting out the vote for alternative candidates....never crossed their minds that anyone would challenge them. Now the system they set up is being used against them and it comes as a big shock?
Compromise is not a four letter word. Time to come to their senses.
2
You sleep with dogs, you wake up with fleas.
The Republicans are an absolute un-American DISGRACE.
9
It's not their allegiance to Trump that has caught up with them. It's their zombie obedience to their corporate donors that command their revolt.
6
What ever happened to "the character issue"? Many Trump supporters are the same folks who years ago claimed this issue alone was the best reason to vote against Bill Clinton and some other liberal candidates for office. I would like to ask people like Mitch McConnell, Orin Hatch, Paul Ryan etc if this issue is still important to them. For the record, I'm not anti-republican, but anti-Trump. I have lost faith in most high profile Republicans, since they decided to support Trump even though they certainly know better. Country over party and personal gain. It's the character issue!
4
"I never thought that leopard would tear off my face," said the person who voted for the Leopard's Who Tear Off People's Faces candidate. Twits, every last one of the GOP who backed Donald J. Trump for Head Leopard.
2
Boo hoo. They own him.
3
OK congress now is the time to step up and save our democracy. You are a big part of the problem so try and do the RIGHT thing.
Republicans can be sure what they'll get from Trump. They're just trying to throw away a cobra without getting bitten fatally. My advice is, first you kill the cobra, then you toss it away. Impeach, indict, discredit, Imprison Trump. Provide enough strategic amnesty while you still have a Republican majority. You will lose all that soon and matters can become scary and Jacobean as the public's anger rises and the screams for the blood of Mitch McConnell, Paul Ryan, and all those other likeable fellows.
2
I do not care about any remorse the GOP may have.
They are, after all, merely more honest about their corruption than the Democrats are, and thus got themselves painted into a corner by this moron.
And sadly, we all have to pay for this. Except the 1 percent. They get paid win or lose.
2
People don't understand that a trade imbalance isn't a bad thing,. It means that Americans have a lot of money, and other countries, especially in Asia, have cheap labor.
It looks like Trump will impose the tariff and then the price of everything from cars to beer cans will go up. Will people be happy about that?
I wish the Democrats had the guts to say that trade deficits are not bad, But they seem only to be willing to talk about a limited select number of issues, and afraid to try to change public opinion about major misconceptions,
3
Are you kidding? The only thing the Republicans might regret is having their true colors show--and I don't mean to include red. They are the creators of this Frankenstein's monster, as they continue to ignore how hideous he has been all along. Remember Reagan's "11th Commandment"? It's come back to haunt them, assuming they have even a shred of decency.
2
Given the negative assessments of steel and aluminum tariffs by economists and trade authorities, I am puzzled by DJT's stubborn insistence that they must be put in place. I question what would become of tariff money. If it goes into general revenues, perhaps Trump feels it would offset at least a small portion of the debt that huge tax breaks for the wealthiest will create. Rising costs for consumers and job losses that will result from tariffs may be seen as a small price to pay for the ability to claim less than predicted deficits when reelection time comes. Or maybe there really is no rational motive at all, as he knows his base just swoons when he lashes out...
3
Republicans are OK with almost anything Trump wants to do: collude with Russians and pornstars, indulge in self-dealing and nepotism, ignore the constitution, democratic norms, and the rule of law. They’re down with that.
But if he wants to do anything that might alienate the big campaign donors—the Chamber of Commerce, the NRA, the Koch brothers—he’s got a fight on his hands.
6
Well, they have learned to flatter Trump and to pretend he's always right and needs neither experience nor guidance in his august majesty. Can they slither him into agreement by pretending that it's his idea to back off? Can they provide a face-saving escape from his current folly, as they see it? Some real or ostensible deal-making that would give him a "victory" in exchange for allowing the global corporate free-for-all to continue without impediment? Stay tuned, dear audience. To Trump, all the world's a reality show and all the men and women merely players, to misquote the bard. For his part, he's the king, the sun, the only real boy in New York--he'll get his steak and wine and soft bed and servants no matter what.
2
“Over the past week, congressional Republicans have gotten a glimpse of the President Trump they hoped to never see.”
Really, just over the last week, huh? Republicans sold their souls way before this past week and deserve every bit of karmic retribution the universe can muster. While time has a way of softening the edges, history and the next generations will remember that Republicans stood idly by while this lying, pathological miscreant fleeced our country in every way possible. Their tepid (at best) reaction to Russian interference in our election is enough to make one question their oft mentioned American “values”. Just to get their way? Way to go.
1
When trying to pass the tax bill, the GOP rhetoric was all about 4 percent growth. Once it passed, it became all about the urgent need to make sure inflation doesn't heat up.
When trying to pass the tax bill, the GOP rhetoric was all about helping workers. Now, regarding tariffs, it is all about the interests of big business, the Chamber and the Kochs.
When trying to pass the tax bill, the GOP rhetoric was all about how terrible the economy was, but now it is somehow so magically wonderful that we musn't do anything to disturb the 180-degree-turned-completely-around-on-a-dime miracle that has occurred since passage of the tax bill.
And they say it all with a straight face.
3
No pity for the GOP from me.
They knew he was a snake when they picked him up!!
38
I, for one, never had any doubts about Trump...
22
Instead of reporting the news, The NYT attacks Trump on a daily basis. The NYT said Trump couldn't beat Carson, Christie, Perry, Cruz, and could never beat Mrs. Clinton. They assured everyone that it was Trump at 30% for the 2016 Presidential election and Mrs. Clinton at 70%. How could they be so wrong so many times? The Russia-Trump collusion argument is falling apart on a daily basis although we have heard the hype for over a year. It looks like actually Podesta and the Clintons are more tied to Russia and the election meddling along with a few high ranking FBI folks. Why aren't we hearing from more from the disenfranchised Bernie supporters?
1
Well, now that we are beginning know how much influence the Russian state exerted on the election, a new picture emerges. The argument is actually more credible with every passing day, even if you aren't in agreement. You can cling to your beliefs -- we all do to a certain extent -- but Russia reaching 120 million households is pretty big. Half the country, man! The disenfranchised Bernie supporters were also influenced by the Russian meddling and furthermore, Trump and his enablers represent exactly the opposite of what they hoped for. Bernie Sanders is still active in the Senate, and a very useful member too.
1
The NYT is both reporting news (don't you read it?) and engaging in the highest form of patriotism by exposing Trump's misdeeds. Not sure why patriotic reporting troubles you.
1
"The Russia-Trump collusion argument is falling apart on a daily basis..."
Mmm-hmm. Except for all the indictments and guilty pleas.
4
TRUMP: “I was a Democrat for a period of time early on.
And then I was also an independent.
And then I became a Republican.”
July 8, 2015: Trump’s interview with CNN. Trump explains his unstable & unhinged political alliances, which Republicans deserve & dislike.
8
We have an unstable and FRIGHTENED person at the helm. The closer Mueller gets to the inevitable Indictment of Trump the more frightened and DANGEROUS the Donald will be. Batten down the hatches.
21
But what of treason? On that, Trump's Republican enablers in Congress are SILENT. Toss them all out in November!
26
I've never understood how we get from the "master race" mentality of the right, to their being aghast at the right to abortion. Who do they think have, or would want, the most abortions -- the healthy religious white folk, or those downtrodden who can't educate and care for more kids.
O.K. I happen to buy the reality that absolute socialism can be a "Road to Serfdom" (Look up the book by Friedrich Heyak ) but the U.S. has never been close to this. We have done well with the interplay of left and right, which is what the filibuster helped maintain.
Trump is not so much conservative, as demagogic, which is why his inter-day reversal of policy doesn't cost him anything with his base (and now the party itself) This is the right of a true leader, whose whims have the patina of brilliant insight, and his shifting policy as like the footwork of a great boxer, keeping the enemy off balance.
When Trump defies accepted bi-partisan consensus, it only shows that he is able and willing to rise above this. And as one older than Trump, there's a lot of us, left and right, who are reeling from the speed of social and technological change.
And if he manages to bring Kim Chong un to the table, and get rid of his nukes, this will be something that the last three Presidents failed to achieve, and he will get points for it.
1
@al rodbell Hayek's "Road to Serfdom" argument isn't all bad, that's for sure. And I have to think that he got much of the idea from reading Suetonius, back in the day when educated people read Latin authors. But we are in some kind of ideological maelstrom where our fractured federal state, with total taxation rate (at all levels) among the lowest in the western world, is incessantly vilified alternately as malevolent and incompetent. The noise is deafening.
2
He called lil Kim's bluff... so far.
1
When Trump first entered race for Republican nomination I said very loudly and quite often that he would be great for the party but very bad for our country
4
He’s wrecking his party and the country. Lord help us if the Russians get him another term.
2
Republicans used to be worried about the National Debt and the huge new deficit. From the 'tax and spend' criticism of the past, they jumped into 'cut taxes and spend more'.
16
This tariff is a smart move. Once again, Trump has maneuvered himself into an area where he will get votes from rank and file Democrats. The blue wave in November may not come....
1
The sane people have left the White House. Now Trump takes his advice from Peter Navarro, the man who came up with the idea of huge tariffs to "punish China" (more so the rest of the world) and also seems to think we need to go to war with China. I suspect Navarro came up with the idea of sending a US carrier fleet to Taiwan, to coincide with the DPP vote to declare independence from China, coming soon. Next up-Trump plans to replace McMaster with John Bolton, the man who thinks we need to go to war with North Korea (Trump apparently has trouble differentiating between North and South Korea). This is NOT going to have a good ending.
13
"About the trade deficit: These days the United States imports far more than it exports. Last year the trade deficit exceeded $600 billion. The flip side of the trade deficit is a reorientation of our economy away from industries that export or compete with imports, especially manufacturing, to industries that are insulated from foreign competition, such as housing. Since 2000, we've lost about three million jobs in manufacturing, while membership in the National Association of Realtors has risen 50 percent.
The trade deficit isn't sustainable. We can run huge deficits for the time being, because foreigners -- in particular, foreign governments -- are willing to lend us huge sums. But one of these days the easy credit will come to an end, and the United States will have to start paying its way in the world economy.
To do that, we'll have to reorient our economy back toward producing things we can export or use to replace imports. And that will mean pulling a lot of workers back into manufacturing."
Was this written by Trump ? Nope. A Nobel Memoriam Winner, and self appointed Conscience of a Liberal
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/11/25/opinion/bad-for-the-country.html
If you accept above, you need to accept tariffs to protect manufacturing industries during the rebuilding period
2
Woof,
Context matters. BTW, I must have missed the line in that piece where Krugman endorsed tariffs. Could you direct me to that passage? Wait, what? You can't because he didn't endorse tariffs and was in the end arguing for health care reform.
14
Yes, it's a problem. Nobody disputes it. However, tariffs on broad categories (like steel) are known to not help with it.
5
Dear Woof,
You do realize that the article you linked to is mostly about the need for national health insurance so that companies aren't left to foot the bill for their workers' health care which drives up costs relative to those same industries in other countries which have national coverage? From the article:
"But G.M.'s woes are yet another reminder of the urgent need to fix our health care system. It's long past time to move to a national system that would reduce cost, diminish the burden on employers who try to do the right thing and relieve working American families from the fear of lost coverage. Fixing health care would be good for General Motors, and good for the country."
Here's a good idea from Steven Forbes:
"HERE'S A HUGELY winning issue for President Donald Trump that would deal with a gross trading abuse and simultaneously advance his goal of reducing the prices of prescription drugs: Insist that foreign buyers of American pharmaceuticals--almost without exception government agencies--pay their fair share of the research and development costs of these medicines. Currently, Americans are subsidizing overseas users of our drugs."*
You know, come to think about, Steve Forbes might be a good replacement for Gary Cohn!
*Source:https://www.forbes.com/sites/steveforbes/2018/03/06/heres-a-real-trade-a...
1
You're joking, right? Forcing those in foreign countries to pay more for drugs produced by U.S. pharma companies would result in precisely $0.00 in savings to U.S. consumers. The companies maximize their revenues in each and every market they operate in, and there is zero (0) incentive for them to drop prices in the U.S. in response to _anything_ that happens _anywhere_ else in the world. Full stop.
9
With Cohn exiting, maybe Ryan and McConnell will come out of their bunker and at at least pretend to lead. Kidding, they're quite comfortable letting Trump run wild now that the tax cut has passed and they know the midterms are going to be a bloodbath.
8
Trump is the GOP. The GOP is Trump. Together, they have been grafted. There could be no better mascot for this new mutant political party than the image of the severed, bloodied elephant trunk in the hands of the 40-year old Tump Jr.
23
The president is an empty suit and the leaders of the GOP full well known that. They are taking advantage of the fireworks produced by Trump's mishandling of everything to push through their agenda: more pollution, less female autonomy, great financial inequality, and an non and anti-scientific agenda. And it's working admirably.
10
Republicans can certainly be confident that in Trump they have a lying, thieving scoundrel just like themselves, only with neurotic and racist glitches and maybe not as smart. They all need to be replaced and then thoroughly investigated.
18
Republicans need to remember the immortal words of Forrest Gump: “My mom always said Trump was like a box of chocolates. You never know what you're gonna get.”
5
Now,if the Fox news watching voters who were too lazy to read up on the real history of this Grifter in Chief, who doesn’t give a fig about them,would wake up and smell the stench of the swamp...
13
Great! I for one am looking forward to watching the loathsome republicans squirm and grimace as Mr. Trump and his republican cronies suddenly find themselves "at cross purposes at an inauspicious moment on the political calendar."
10
Conservatives are supposed to be historically astute. The GOP in congress are not conservative since, as noted about the Bourbon dynasty in France (not the Kentucky whisky distillers), they remember nothing. They were warned and they persisted. Now, they not only look greedy and grasping, but foolish and easily scammed as well.
7
You are correct. I would add that politics is also about expediency as much or more than about ideology. Values change with circumstances and what politician doesn't try to take advantage of favorable circumstances? On top of this the historical consciousness of the general public - without Wickipedia - is pretty shallow. For those professional pols in the GOP who weren't around (all of them) when Smoot-Hawley was passed in 1930 it was an attempt to strengthen our economy and had the opposite impact.
2
Conservatives are 'historically astute' about everything after about, say, 7000 years ago.
Any earlier than that and they loose all 'astuteness' and enter amnesia/denial territory.
What ever happened to "Never Trump"? Just put party over country, bake for 1 year at 97.6 degrees F., and serve.
4
The Republicans' self-inflicted misery now will feel trivial when, before year's end, Mr. Mueller will unleash the equivalent of an arrest warrant for Trump and his co-conspirators. The materials will include eyewitness testimony of malfeasance, conspiricy, obstruction of justice, money laundering, tax fraud, and treason and implicate various Trumps, those who already pleaded, and a few surprises. The party of Lincoln will then have to decide whether to continue with a criminal traitor as chief executive or do the right thing.
14
If only it were as simple as you make it sound. Indictments still have to be prosecuted. Unless the Dems gain a majority in one or both houses of Congress in November, any prosecutions could drag on for years.
2
With a few exceptions' Congress and the president need to be replaced with people who care about people, not their images or under the counter deals or supporting power brokers and millionaires. There is a deep rot within this administration and its supporters that anyone should be able to smell. I remain hopeful the slumbering masses will eventually wake up and act before it is too late.
11
Yeah - they can wake up all mad and vote for Jill Stein again in swing States! That'll show em!! Solved everything last time.
1
Let's keep gloating about our party's unwillingness to allow dissent or democracy. Superdelegates are an affront to democracy. At least the Republicans accepted the votes of their constituents.
1
You need to move on. Reality beckons.
1
When, exactly, where Republicans “weary” of Trump? They jettisoned every last shred of principled conservativism the moment they saw the Trump train gaining populist momentum.
Where was their weariness when the horrific tax plan was being frankensteined? Where was their weariness when sitting Judges and rule of law were being undermined? Where was there weariness when NeverTrump slowly transformed into AtLeastItsNotHerAndTheresAlsoThoseSupreneCourtVacancies?
Now that Trump’s policies threaten multinational corporate revenues—having already decimated the middle and lower classes and especially students, women, and people of color—NOW we’re supposed to accept that Republicans were “weary” of Trump, and (even more insultingly) that it is only now that Republicans are finding reasons to validate their (nonexistent) weariness?
Give me a break.
15
Can conress impose pose a tariff, at least on trump’s tweets?
Perhaps better to invoke Amendment 25, so that we can keep the American dream alive.
4
Hmmm. So if employment is up and profits are up, please explain why a trade war makes sense right now?
The GOP tax scam was sold under the same dubious pretext. But this time, it's the Republican donor class who would bear the brunt of a trade war, not ordinary Americans. So their hired hands in congress are suddenly standing up to Trump.
9
I think Trump is seeing this as a no lose situation. If the economy starts to tank he can lift the tariff and in 2020 his base will not remember. But if more jobs are created he can take credit for it and campaign on his financial acumen and ability to change Washington. The Republicans will just play follow the leader.
1
I believe there is a better-than-fifty-percent chance he will be long gone by time 2020 rolls around - perhaps even before the mid-term elections or shortly afterward.
1
Hey Republicans: You own Trump. And don't even think for a nanosecond voters won't remember that when it's voting time. He's stuck to you like the glue in his hair.
Signed, Educated Voters
30
Republicans own Trump or does Trump own the Republicans?
4
Now, if we only had just a few educated voters, Trump might be in trouble. Who was it that said to "never underestimate..." etc. or "there's a sucker born every minute." Per the polls, you'd think that there are plenty of suckers.
3
Trump's consistencies are far worse than his inconsistencies.
For example: his racism, pathological lying, and self-serving greed are all 100% consistent.
30
The wimp Ryan will fade away as he always does. The byzantine McConnell will see what concessions he can wring out of it to let it go through, as he always does.
The frogs are now in nearly boiling water and they still don't realize it as they are about to start par-boiling.
15
"... the president has loudly broken with longstanding party orthodoxy ..." - oh come on - the GOP hasn't had any orthodoxy for years other than 'greed is good' and grab power and hold onto it by any means possible. Everything else has been a sham.
15
Right-wing wave makers have liked simple-minded candidates in the past. W and the amiable dupe come to mind.
I think they miscalculated this time. They were right that Donald would cut their taxes but they thought that, given his inexperience, he would take direction.
It's a little late to discover the Trump brand is toxic.
21
Just wait until Republicans' stock portfolios start to collapse. Then they'll turn on Trump and run for the exits, knocking one another down on their way out the door. Mark my word.
15
If anyone ever wondered how corrupt a US administration could become ('worse than Harding's'?) now has the answer.
Trump's administration is the most corrupt, criminal, incompetent administration in modern times.
Period. Will the GOP even realize it? Treasonous.
32
"Will the GOP even realize it?" Are you kidding? They are celebrating! Did Al Capone's crew rue their corruption and incompetence? NO. they celebrated and reveled in it. I don't see any difference here.
2
I think their doubts will be well founded after we hear more from Stormy Daniels and her sexcapdes with "The Don"!
7
I wish I could agree. His "base" is applauding; they think he's "got game". How ignorant and disgusting. It's up to his "model" wife to emulate Laurina Bobbitt and do something definitive, if she can find a target. Why SHE has stayed with this narcissistic sociopath is beyond me, unless he made her sign an NDA like Stormy plus a whopper of a prenup. No self respect!
4
Two words: November elections. #votethemout
25
So much damage to do and so little time! The Republican party is winning for Putin way beyond his expectations.
11
If only the GOP would stop acting like a bunch of celebrity apprentices.
6
To say that Trump 'is not a Republican' ignores the chasm between the Republican voting 'base' and Republican Party apparatchiks.
The voters are the direct descendants of the bible-thumping Dixiecrat segregationists who fled to the Republican Party of Goldwater, Nixon and George Wallace after the Democratic Party became the party of the Civil Rights and Voting Rights Acts and the Great Society. They have been drinking the right wing kool aid the GOP propaganda machine has been pumping out for decades, including the all-powerful Fox and Sinclair 'news' syndicates and various big ticket 'think tanks' like the American Enterprise Institute, the Center for Immigration Studies, Federation for Immigration Reform, Immigration Control Foundation, ad nauseam.
The Party apparatus was, is and remains the direct descendant of industrial age Social Darwinist corporate capitalism.
What the Party sells to pander to the base instincts of its voters and the Party doctrine are very different things. Were that not true, you would not have red states that rely on federal safety net dollars for their very survival voting overwhelmingly in favor of GOP politicians dead set on strangling federal health care, education, unemployment, disability, retirement, infrastructure, consumer and environmental protection programs - while cutting taxes for shareholders, wealthy individuals and estates worth over $10 million, all in the name of 'family values.'
Trump is the lie the GOP has been selling.
16
Trumps keeps trying to divert everyone's attention from the Russia investigation...,, but Mueller keeps on digging! Eventually this will all catch up with the Republicans and they will find they have outsmarted themselves.
7
As long as he says he is "Pro Life" anything goes with his base. Anything.
12
Trump is a centrist. That has been obvious all along. Here is an example:
["He's for single payer," Perry said. "How can anyone who's a conservative stand up and say I am for single-payer health care?"
Perry’s campaign referred us to a Buzzfeed piece and a PunditFact article that noted Trump’s past support for a Canadian-style, single-payer plan.]
Source: Politifact.
The problem is that the Republicans blame him for being a centrist, and YOU give him no credit for being centrist.
I think he is a tough man but will he crack?
3
His ineptness, intellectual laziness, temper, moral failings, and failure to lead are far more important than whether he gets credit or blame for being a centrist.
3
Trump is neither liberal, conservative or centrist - he's simply a narcissistic sociopath who has been given the keys to the kingdom by a base of disenfranchised voters who have been conned into believing that he stands for anything but himself.
Even Mueller's evidence of treason and high crimes won't dissuade these misfits from supporting him. Their Tribe is more important than any ethical or moral values or Constitutional freedoms.
7
While the president has preached tariffs against imports for years, he is now acting as on his word. Yet, the impact of unintended consequences will play a significant role if the tariffs are imposed. There will likely be environmental challenges if new or refurbished mills are opened that require coking coal to manufacture steel. At the same time, can American mills meet current and future demands for steel and aluminum at affordable prices? And what happens when the glut of steel and aluminum on world markets is reduced and demand surges? Which country is better able to adjust quickly to changing demand?
While the EU and other countries may levy counter tariffs on Harley Davidson cycles, Levi jeans, and Kentucky bourbon, they might also go after American beef and poultry exports. Negotiated agreements that cover these agriculture exports might come under fire in retaliation for clamping tariffs on steel from Canada, Germany, Brazil, and Mexico. Those who currently argue that new tariffs won’t raise the prices on imported steel and aluminum products should factor in the costs that consumers will bear for increases in prices of other imported products. Tariffs do not exist in vacuums. They can alter the cycle of supply and demand in unforeseen negative ways.
Countries have always found ways to skirt tariffs. Backdoor deal-making is one of them. Thus tariffs on steel and aluminum can create ripple effects with unforeseen consequences.
5
Our Boy President is keeping the promise he made to his base, along with threat he made to the Republican establishment. The Republican Congressional majority has been supine all along, ignoring Trump's personal qualities and praying that his erratic policy instincts could be contained. Well, apparently this one can't.
This should be a gift to Democrats in the '18 elections and destructive of Republican leadership as well. It will also harm his base, since not many of them work in steel mills but they all buy products made of steel and aluminum. This is one promise they will regret he kep, but he could care less. There are some mighty big chickens coming home to roost.
12
Let's hope this turns out to be the Pottery Barn scenario: Trump and the GOP broke the government; they own it. Turnout this year is key for the Dems.
7
Does this mean that the GOP doesn't care that Trump is connected to a huge number of Russians; or that Trump had out-of-wedlock affairs with a porn star and a playmate; or that Trump and his family are embroiled in Mueller's investigation' ot that, based on Jane Mayer's reporting in The New Yorker, Trump committed treason in allowing Putin to have input on the Secretary of State nomination?
Is no one in the GOP angered by Trump's behavior?
36
Henry, I am angered by YOUR behavior.
George Bush invaded both Afghanistan and Iraq.
Barack Obama practiced regime change in both Libya and Ukraine, and tried to do it in Syria, with disastrous results.
So far, Trump has invaded no countries and not practiced regime change anywhere.
To me, these facts count far more than his sleeping around with a porn star (assuming he did).
To you, sexual morality counts for more than the lives of people. MY values are different.
2
Ludwig - If you care so much for the lives of people perhaps you could start paying attention to the lives lost because of gun violence or perhaps the lives lost due to a lack of affordable health care.
3
Ludwig I noticed you only mentioned the trump affairs, but Henry also pointed out other important issues that I think most Americans would like to know the truth about and we hope Mueller finds it before your "so-called" who has no morality ruins our country.
2
Never, ever forget that Trump was and still is the King Birther, using those lies to worm his way into the presidency. It is shocking more citizens didn't punish him for those lies and many more. That the GOP rewarded Trump will be a stain on them forever.
24
The GOP didn't reward Trump. Republicans make up less than 30% of the electorate, so it was a LOT more than just republicans. He should also be thanking Hillary Clinton (who I voted for), because she was a tainted blast from the past. For too many people she was not an answer to festering issues and was forever linked to that guy Bill Clinton. Baggage, anyone?
1
This Presidency reminds of the tale of the scorpion (Trump) and the frog (GOP) and their attempt to cross a river (USA).
Both animals perish but the river still flows.
#one term
12
I wish the Democrats behaved the same way with Obama. They should have supported his policies more and tried to push them through, even though Rep. controlled Congress.
3
You're dreaming. Not a single republican vote for O's stimulus package during the worst recession in our lifetimes. But the same republicans who decry deficits (only during democratic presidencies, of course) were the first to suggest and support stimulus packages during W's presidency, which increased the national debt massively.
2
Trump did for the GOP what Alaric did for Rome, what William did for England, and what salmonella in the salad does for a hungry crowd. They're just figuring this out?
5
Gowdymandering:
the misuse of government resources to persecute the innocent and obstruct justice for political gain.
The Republican party has become the party of Gowdymandering, just as Trump is the beneficiary of it. Don't look for the Tea Party Gowdymandering caucus to stray far from Trump.
8
The gop has no excuse for the folly it has wrought on America and its allies. The gop should have been wary enough long ago of mr trump. The gop has relentlessly put party ahead of country in an
egregious lack of patriotism. Shame on them.
14
It seems to me that there is often something much deeper in all of this that gets overlooked, probably because it is so disturbing.
Trump doesn't have positions or views. He doesn't do or say anything that "fits" with the Republicans or the Democrats. Because he has a severe narcissistic character disorder, he is really in his own world that consists of nothing but "me, me me."
So, when people have normal responses; trying to analyze what he has said, an important point is being missed. He never says anything that belongs to the reality we are living in. It is only about what is going on inside his massively confused and insecure head; whatever his impulses tell him will get noticed or applauded at moment.
The mistake is thinking that he ever "says" anything. What happens is that narcissistically-driven noises come out of the hole at the bottom of his face which, basically mean nothing, in the normal sense; in the real world.
23
Too late.
The GOP bought all the way in on Trump, wrapped themselves around him.
Trump is the leader of the GOP. And Americans everywhere will remember this at the polls in the midterms.
15
I hope so.
6
It is so discouraging, after learning the lesson time after time, that there are still large groups of people who believe that the end justifies the means. Usually, as is the case now, most of us have no idea what the "end" is supposed to be, but seeing the "means" being used, we can have some pretty frightening ideas. One thing that always, always happens, is that the "means" always, unsurprisingly, creates worse conditions for most of us, and further enriches the least of us, while seriously fraying the bonds that hold civilization and Democracy together. Not able to see either truth or reason in our leaders has begun a frightening slide down, away from sense and decency while blaming each other. We should all be very afraid.
66
The frogs wanted a king. Zeus sent them a crane; it ate them.
(Moral- you should be careful what you wish for.)
Couldn't happen to a nicer bunch of guys (and a few gals)
10
I thought they would eventually get here, but resistance may be too late now.
He is entrenched and their own filthy agitprop against all opposition has poisoned the entire political landscape.
They have a Everest sized climbdown ahead, and just about as many die descending Everest as going up.
Sad.
5
Election day is coming. I just wonder how the American people will express their gratitude to the Republican party for all it has done for our country and making Russia great again.
51
Trump is not a republican.
The mistake the GOP made was to underestimate him when they let him run as a member of their party.
The republican party will soon self destruct and the people of our great nation will finally have a real two party system: Democrats and Liberals.
20
Oh, he belonged. They might've started out as rich fellas using the racist, belligerent, ignorant folks they conned so long, but the republicans are learning that what you pretend long enough becomes the truth. Their final folly was ginning up the wild-eyed tea party faction. That gave their chumps a focus and power of their own, not so amenable to the faux fellowship of the corporate class. So, Trump, the renegade businessman who's a real con, who knows his marks; he's playing them for himself, boys, too bad for you.
2
Yeah, I feel sooooo sorry for them that they're experiencing buyer's remorse.
20
No sympathies for the GOP. They ask for it. At least DJT is sticking to his words, his campaign slogan and promise he made to his voters. Can the GOP not see that he has started his 2020 campaign? Let the Americans see an increase in their grocery bills and wonder why the sudden hike in food prices. This man is not loyal to any party nor does he relate to any political ideology, he is out there because he thought he could and he did. GOPs were and are still feeding his ego.
15
As the #1 economy in the world, of course we buy more than smaller nations.
Isn't it our voluntary consumption that creates the trade surplus?
We buy more from smaller nations instead of the old days of giving them foreign aid...wonderful way to get them to be self sufficient.
California will always have a trade deficit with Rhode Island....if Trump's protectionism kicks in and we only have each other to deal with...
Trump seems to equate the trade deficit as actual dollars lost ...this "genius" needs to be educated or impeached...whatever.
12
At what point does the republican party let go? Has anyone told them that all the steel comes from outside the United States. It is time for congress to file the articles of impeachment!
14
As if they could ever contain the mad president.
If there was ever any doubt how clueless and hypocritical the republicans are their current predicament should dispel any thoughts to the contrary. McConnell and Ryan, devoid of any vestige of legitimacy, cowards who brought dishonor to their offices and their country, will eventually skulk back to their home states and begin the review of their many miscalculations and failures.
Trump will roam the halls of the White House, bewildered and angry. Why, he will wonder, do they all hate him. That question may be answered by a judge.
17
The GOP is gutless and without any real heart when it comes to standing up to Trump.
15
Trump has never told a truth in his life this must be why he makes a perfect fit with the utterly incompetent and corrupt GOP as they are all Trump's in sheep's clothing continually in a state of selective ignorance.
20
GOP willingly and enthusiastically made a deal with the devil. It was only a matter of time before they regretted it and reneged on him. GOP gets what it deserves. But the rest of us don’t deserve to be their collateral damage.
21
Yup. Because it's only EVER about money for them.
13
Morally bankrupt.
No Majority.
No Mandate.
Know Nothing.
23
The Republicans have doubts about President Trump! As we've seen, except for some mouthing off, they still support him anyway! That makes things more surreal, and sadly toxic for the American people!
12
I think Donald Trump wants most of all to be remembered.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
He can be remembered for good things and for bad things.
Trump trumps everyone, because he gets media attention, one way or another way. That is his goal. With respect to trade, he might later decide to reverse himself and then he becomes wise and heroic. Trade is a win for Trump.
We are becoming a "United States of Trump", and now with trade wars, we may get "Planet Trump". Donald Trump wins, any way you look at it...
3
There are no good memories connected with Trump. He will go down in history as one of the most vile beings the planet ever produced.
7
I would suggest the writers, readers , and commenters here that your in denial.
Right now the USA is in an excellent position on almost every front.
The problem is Trump hatred and that is a shame....as these same folks often have the lawn signs saying, " hate has no home here ".
1
Trump is bad for the economy. Just watch what happens if he okay's tariffs!. LOL
8
Congressional Republicans deserve what they're getting by going to bed with this so called president. And, they're about to really be enlightened after the midterms!
14
Mitch McConnell, Paul Ryan and the rest of the GOP so deserve what they are getting with Trump. They have remained complicit during this entire clown rodeo.
19
Trump is an abysmal failure.
Though I PRAY it doesn't happen (as we would all be impacted by the fallout), there's some measure of irony in Trump wrecking a healthy US economy.
No matter what this man does, he fails. He is arguably the worst "businessman" to of ever lived.
Trump Airlines, Trump Beverages, Trump University, Trump Casinos, Trump Magazine, Trump Steaks, Trump Vodka, Trump Tower (Panama), Trump Tower (Toronto), Trump's Scottish Golf Courses......next, a robust American economy.
As recourse, the publisher of "The Art of the Deal" should be forced to recall all of the books in existence, for "unforeseen mechanical & operational issues." It's the next VW scandal.....except people actually buy VWs.
11
Frankenstein's monster has broken loose and is on a rampage. Doesn't this movie end with pitchfork-waving peasants at the gates, and both the monster and his creator being destroyed?
19
The country has doubts about Trump, period.
12
It's a hard pill to swallow. Welcome to the real world.
1
Why wasn't Trump concerned about steel dumping when he was purchasing "dumped" steel for his buildings?
12
Trump is now aligned with the Republican Party in the minds of most voters. And the old adage still holds: Those who lie down with dogs get up with fleas. I am perhaps being unkind to dogs in using this old saying. But when there is a sewage leak one must look for the source.
11
The GOP really doesn’t care who their President is so long as they are in power. Same with their opinion of the NRA so long as they get their donations. No moral fiber. And yes Trump, I did look at my 401k balance and it’s going down. Hopefully just like you.
14
You own him Ryan, McConnell and the rest of the complicit Republicans! And we will never forget what you have done. You are a disgrace to this country. While you have been lining your pockets while holing up behind closed doors as our country has been attacked by Russians, our economy is unstable, and all of our friends and allies are leaving our side, we have to look at you as the leaders who have shirked their responsibilities out of your own self-interest. You have lost our respect and that is nearly impossible to recover. Get off the stage.
16
Welcome to reality GOP. What's that saying kids learn in preschool, "You get what you get and you don't get upset."?
Yeah, that.
3
So the Republicans are only aware of their "doubts" about Trump when he does something that could hurt the big donors of the party who make billions through industries that utilize steel and aluminum.
Otherwise, the Republicans have no doubts about Trump, no matter how reckless, dangerous, and unconstitutional his actions become...OK we got that straight.
10
Even witout a trade war, which we will have anyway with disatrous consequences, has Trump taken in consideration that with his tariffs, the price of imported steel and aluminum will increase, and so will every item made with them. And that it will, not only increase their price in the US, but will also dicourage our own exports.
Our competitors in the world market are lol
2
Trump was clear and blunt about what he would do during the campaign-that was why he was elected. So..,.if professional politicians are confused-it can only be attributed to the fact that they did not listen either to Trump-nor to the voters who did listen to him. These terms/labels "Republican and Democratic" have no meaning-some Democrats like Sanders are closer to Lenin than the Swedish Prime Minister. Some are closer to Mussolini. Some Republicans embrace leftist ideas. So the labels are misleading. We need critical thinking-which according to most scientists is in swift decline. Even language is under attack-words have lost meaning. Globalism is a primitive primal force emerging from the collective unconscious-and when it is not filtered by differentiate thinking- babble emerges-and even languages become meaningless.
1
Let's get something straight here. When Senator John Thune of South Dakota says, “The economy is moving in the right direction; that is what we are working on," he is implying that this is something new that has occurred under President Trump. Remember who got us out of the Great Recession 8 years ago - Barack Obama and Democrats. Who got us into that recession - George W. Bush and Republicans. Though the situation is not quite that simplistic, of course, neither is it to say that Trump and Republicans are moving the economy in the right direction. The economy has been moving in the right direction for 8 whole years.
6
It's completely hilarious that the Congressional Republicans still don't see they have been cast as minor supporting actors in the Trump Reality Presidency. Policy doesn't matter, long held principles don't matter. Only that Donald is at the center of the news cycle.
Now that the GOP has validated Trump's intuition that he can get more headlines by gun control talk and starting a trade war, he will go right ahead and do just that. Wide eyed Mitch McConnell press conferences are the best comic part of the show. If only he wore pearls to clutch.
Hilarious.
7
Nothing is done on the principle of it being the right thing any more, it's just all what they can get out of it.
2
I have not heard Trump's position on robots and automation as it pertains to the loss of jobs of hard working but less educated Americans. Many of these steel jobs were lost to more efficient plants with an eye more on profits and less on people, particularly older workers.
3
Trump only wants attention. He loves it when everyone is talking about him. which is all the time now. We should not worry about his proposals to initiate a trade war. He is the chameleon President. His colors or tune changes with the last person he speaks to. Never consistent and always unreliable.
6
Did more Texas Democrats vote than Republicans?
In short: No.
Before Election Day, a snapshot of the 10 counties in Texas with the highest number of registered voters showed motivated Democrats casting ballots early. But totals in the primaries for U.S. Senate told a different story: More than 1.5 million people voted in the Republican primary, with close to 100 percent reporting, compared to about 1 million Democrats, also with a near 100 percent reporting. The Texas Tribune
2
Even if Trump does not follow through with his tariffs, he can still tank the economy just by scaring people into believing he will. That is how Reagan helped plunge the economy into what was then the worst recession since the Great Depression (only to be completely outdone by the genius of George W. Bush). All Reagan had to do was announce that he would drastically cut spending and the markets reacted. Later, it became evident that Reagan lied, that he was quite content to double the national debt to keep government spending on an upward trajectory, and the economy rebounded.
Up until now, the markets seem to have assumed that Trump’s pledge to raise tariffs was just another of the thousands of lies he told as a candidate and a first-year president. Now, however, with the few remaining adult supervisors heading for the exits and only isolationists and white nationalists retaining the man-child's confidence, Republican politicians and their corporate benefactors are doing a double take. They realize that Trump is angry and volatile, again, and with past as prologue, he is likely to strike out at whatever he is obsessing about. Where once he was determined to destroy Obamacare or DACA, this time he has set his sights on free trade and NAFTA. And, unlike those other policy positions, this is an area where he can act impulsively, whether Congress likes it or not.
At a minimum Trump's reckless and uncertain behavior means more market volatility, which drives down stock prices.
4
"They are also treading carefully to avoid antagonizing a mercurial figure whose mind they still hope to change as they have in previous cases"
There has to be a mind there in the first place to change.
This is really plating out like that Bill Mumy "cornfield" Twilight Zone episode.
1
Few presidents could have as wildly different agendas and policies as Ike and St. Ronnie, yet they were both Republicans. G.W.H. Bush and 45 are wildly different, too, and wear the same label. Then who are the Republicans? What is Republicanism, as in the political party? It's a foggy, slippery, squishy mystery to me; it's analogous to Islam and Catholicism: both are religions, but so different from one another, despite a very few similarities in practice.
I need a Baedeker guide.
4
The Senate can over-ride Trump's trade tariffs with a 2/3rd majority vote.
In a rational world, this would be quite easy to attain- All Democrats would support this move and most Republicans would support this move.
But, we are not in rational times - GOP and Democrats are footballing this problem instead of showing the leadership in managing an idiopathic Trump-Pence executive branch.
Trump-Pence continue to provide our country and especially Congress with a focused view of our problems, yet Congress and voters remain polarized instead of taking action to correct our long term problems.
1
Sorry GOP leaders! It is too late now! The Democrats have learned their lessons. They will not join you in impeaching Mr. Trump or going ahead with any legal procedure that could persuade him to resign. They know quite well that if that happens, they will be running against Mike Pence in 2020. And that may mean losing their chances - which, by the way, look pretty good these days - for controlling both the House and the Senate. So, if you really want to get rid of him, you better look for a solution that does not involve Democrats.
3
The timing of Trump's announcement of his proposed tariffs is suspect since just before making the threats news of both Kushner and his daughter's misconduct had been putting heat on him. So, he throws out the steel and aluminum proposed tariffs for distraction, and everyone takes the bait. This is consistent with his normal huckster behavior. Yet no one seems to have noticed this and both the press and public has taken the bait.
5
Remember, these are supposedly national security tariffs. That’s the specious argument Trump is using to invoke a power given to the President by Congress. Where does that power end? If Ryan and McConnell are willing to swallow such shallow cover, what won’t they accept?
4
As a Republican voter, who didn't vote for Trump but instead wrote-in an actual "Republican" presidential candidate, I'm most disappointed in GOP leaders who waited from something like tariffs to finally distance themselves from the nativist demagogue Trump. If anything, Trump's passivity (at best) towards Putin and Russia should have been the stepping off point for the GOP, but they have placidly gone along with Trump's dismantling of a Reagan-like approach to Russia. In fact, GOP leaders have been in full denial on Trump's odd penchant for protecting Putin. But Trump's fascination with autocrats from Putin, to Xi Jinping of China to Rodrigo Duterte in the Philippines should have been a line in the sand for the GOP which traditionally stood for democracy over autocracy. Shame on leaders like Ryan, McConnell and others for waiting on something as minor as tariffs (on which Trump is also wrong) to be the line of demarcation.
46
The GOP stands for absolutely nothing, save expediency, opportunism and naked greed. They need to be in jail, not running a government they so profess to hate, on behalf of people they consider suckers, and whom they have only contempt for.
5
Trump was never really a Democrat just as he's not truly a Republican. Trump is in favor of anything that makes money for him, lets him look good, or gives him a reason to rant. He's not someone to count on for anything but acting in his own self interest. Perhaps he's just a bit more blatant about it than our more seasoned legislators. Or maybe he really believes every flip flop in position he makes. To paraphrase from "Finian's Rainbow" with many apologies to the lyricist: When he's not near the idea he loves, he loves the idea he's near.
In the opinion of this reader/citizen/voter, the GOP is getting exactly what it deserves. A president who cannot be counted on and who is as obstructionist and petty as they have been.
106
Totally agree......I'm amazed that the Republican party always claims to be "totally surprised" at anything that comes out of the current administration...we are witnessing a turning of the "wheel of history" right now.....back to a few leaders from the past in both the US (19th century) and other countries: Argenitina, Germany, etc.
The real concern should be what our country will look like and be after the current "hack job" on human rights and democracy
6
It's sad and troubling that only when issues regarding profit are involved does the GOP become concerned about Trump. They're willing, including Republican women and conservative Christians, to disregard Trump's morality, including allegations of an affair with a porno star and sexual abuse.
80
I hope Americans teach GOP a lesson in the next elections. Trump is not only harming the USA, he also poses a great threat to the world. The republicans should have never allowed Trump to be their nominee in the first place, let alone be president. I hope Dems fight hard this time..
79
The Dems gave the last election everything they have and lost to the worst candidate in U.S. history. The only thing I see different regarding the upcoming midterms is that so-far, Hillary Clinton is not running for office. Other than that, same playbook, same strategies, same leaders, etc.
And if we continue to rail loudly and intractably to the point of insanity for dwindling-grassroots-support projects like crazed immigration, this jackboot menace will inexplicably win again.
It is plain the Russians did interfere in how our nation is run in order to ruin it. The GOP enabled that and we're getting the data now on how bad it is.
We on the left need to pause, take a breath, and question whether Russia may be also behind strange, unprecedented things we Democrats' party has also been doing recently. How about our party's sudden fever for identity politics and promiscuous immigration? Where did that come from? How did we get from Kennedy to this?
First look to Europe and how its integrity has now weakened from within by the rise of the right. This alt-right rise happened because (italics) something or someone (/italics) influenced millions of dark immigrants to suddenly all move due northward into Europe which has shown long term irritation with dark folk doing so, and a penchant for overreacting violently. Note next to none chose to move to Russia. Why? It is almost as though (italics) they were smiled at and persuaded "the other parts of Europe will be better for you. Go there."
Then look to our country. Same pattern, with the exception of course of Russia as an option. Who's behind it? Well, ask "Cui bono?" Are we being duped, too?
We are fighting hard, but old-line Democrats are excellent at siezing defeat from the jaws of victory, as the saying goes. And it's a very long way until November. The man and his enablers will continue to do untold damage until then.
McConnell:
"we are urging caution that this develop into something much more dramatic that could send the economy in the wrong direction.”"
Something dramatic that could send the economy in the wrong direction?
Republicans already did that: their' debt-exploding tax cut for the wealthy.
40
The one thing Republicans have going for themselves in the sheer incompetence of this administration---someone always has to implement in an organization---and it appears that someone in the White House is now no one.
6
Trump does not care about aluminum or steel, he cares about Trump and he needs his base to adulate him so he does whatever gets them jacked up. The good news for the Democrats is that Trump is shooting the Republican party, and their candidates up for election this year, in the foot. The bad news for all of America is that he is dragging down the whole country in the process. The damage he is doing to America, both at home and abroad, is shameful. It will take years to recover from this disastrous presidency.
40
They lay down with a dog and they're surprised that they got up with fleas?
38
Lie with dogs and you will get up with fleas the adage goes.
If the GOP is surprise then they have brainwashed themselves.
The problem is this infestation is drug resistant.
Thoughts & prayers.
10
Nonsense! The GOP has no doubts about trump. The GOP is trump. Trump is the GOP. Every republican in America is exactly the same as Donald "The Draft Dodger" Trump. Lying Donald is exactly the same as every republican in America: greedy, opportunistic, a liar as long as the lie suits their immediate needs, and all are whining crybabies. All republicans are the same. Boo Hoo. Get used to it.
44
As seven year olds say, Duh.
12
The GOP representatives have given each other tax cuts--my example is Sen. Corcker, holding up the tax bill until he got his reduction. Now they are "worried". I hope they something to worry about on Nov 6! Vote them, the GOP, all out of office
24
Surprise, surprise - Donald Trump is no financial genius. He's not a Warren Buffet or a Bill Gates. He's a hustler and con man, but most of us knew that long before he became president. There is an answer though and that is time for the Republican Congress to do their job and get rid of this guy. The country is waiting!
40
I think that a lot of the country knew Trump from TV only; they did not know him as we do in the northeast...
3
Hopefully Republicans, from Ryan and McConnell on down, will have time to reflect on these matters after November 2018, once they are in prison, where they all belong.
24
I was hoping the Easter bunny would bring me a winning lotto ticket, but I know better. How can anyone anyone who is smarter than a carrot believe that this person would be reliable, predictable, or even reasonable to work with?
25
No pity for Republicans who embraced Trump. None. You bought it, you own it.
40
Will this tip the scales toward impeachment?
9
No. They are afraid of and beholden to Trump's base. 80% of Republicans (a shrinking number of people in total) are in favor of Trump. As long as that's the case, he won't be impeached.
2
I am a liberal and am in favor of lifting up depressed economic areas of our nation so that we can compete globally. I liked Bernie Sanders because he spoke about how free trade as adversely affected small towns and rural communities across this country. I didn't hear much of that from Clinton, unfortunately (but voted for her anyway). The Republican party has been pretty brutal to the workforce when it comes to helping corporations without any regulation at all, not even a thought to what their policies mean to every day Americans. Because of that, I am glad that Trump is actually challenging them. I worry however that this challenge is not smart and is fueled by politics rather than economic policy. I have no doubt that at the end of the day, even more Americans will be hurt and we will back in 2020 still angry over outsourcing, wages, and jobs.
7
To compete in manufacturing, we have to lift those depressed areas without increasing the price of housing, which is one of the main headwinds for manufacturing... you have to pay workers enough to get housing. Where housing is inexpensive, you can get inexpensive workers.
2
The modern GOP's obsession with social conservatism is what has culminated in trump being their president. For decades, GOP was mostly open to all who support lower taxes and laissez-faire approach by government toward business. What has happened is that white working class populism has infiltrated the party along with very harsh social conservative platform issues , which tend to counter to the economic policies held by the GOP for many years. The party really needs to make a choice.
3
The Republican Party made its choice and now they will have to live (or die) with it.
2
The real question is, does the GOP voter care? Trump doesn't as long as that crowd still turns out to cheer for him. Are any of his positions intended for any other purpose?
14
Of course, the GOP got their tax cuts through for their donor class first.
THEN they suddenly remember their doubts about Trump.
As in... "Doubt there's anything else we need him for."
16
" But this break could prove to be real, putting Mr. Trump and his Republican allies at cross-purposes at an inauspicious moment on the political calendar."
This is fantasy. Even overlooking Trump's habit of changing his mind every thirty seconds, the GOP will remain in lockstep, since it believes in essentially nothing too.
10
They believe in two things: 1) No taxes (ideally) 2) Winning elections at all costs -
even if it means selling our country out to Russian influence. Beyond that, they have no beliefs or principles to follow at all as evidenced by their behavior since Trump won the primaries.
2
Have the Reps not figured out by now that Trump will not settle down after he "learns the job" because he already knows how to do it, will always be chaotic and unpredictable, and he TOLD us during the campaign this is how it would be? And that he adopted conservative principles because that was the only way he could get back at Obama, as in spending the entire first year of his presidency undoing as much of Obama's legacy as he could? It's not about being conservative with Trump. It's about revenge and he doesn't care one bit about the Republican Party. And they still won't take off their ideological blindfold and get it.
8
Trump won’t step too far from Traditional GOP doctrine. They have the ultimate leverage. They can stop looking the other way and covering for him regarding
His collusion with Russia.
Ultimately Donnie will tow the line.
6
Many of them have ties and/or have benefited from Russian influence as well, McConnell and Ryan included.
3
Indeed, there is now a stealth third party that has emerged from the true "deep state". It is the Corpricrats and they have assumed power in the guise of conservatism. At the end of the day, the true Republican Moderates and Conservatives well may be the power behind the infamous words "Et Tu Brute?"
2
Let Trump impose his tariffs and spark a trade war. After all, this is exactly what Trump supporters want.
Now let them bear the brunt of higher prices and loss of jobs due to the trade wars. The top 1% and corporations got their "Huuuge" tax cuts, so they don't care how Trump supporters or the rest of the nation suffer.
The GOP made a Faustian Pact by supporting Trump. They now responsible for all the economic damages of his actions.
15
This is the first time Trump has ever turned on his associates, reneged on an agreement, or cheated anyone. How could a person with such a reputation for honesty and integrity suddenly start saying one thing and doing another? It baffles the imagination.
11
Suddenly, the GOP remembers its doubts about Trump? Most normal, thinking voters remember only that he was a joke when he ran for president. The fact that he won for various, and nefarious, reasons should have been enough to jog their memory. Republicans who have enabled this man to lead our country are just as complicit in the destruction of our government as he is. I hope that he will bring them all down in 2018 so they will remember the oath they took to "support and defend the Constitution."
9
Republicans learned from 2012 that they needed to build a bigger, kinder, more inclusive tent to compete with America's changing demographics.
Instead, they went and created a monster who would give them to reshape the federal government in their image, gain control of the courts, and allow them to consolidate power in the red States that they think they own.
Funny thing about monsters, though, is that they always spin out of control.
They climbed high for a moment there in their hubris.
Now they're praying they survive the fall.
5
It is regrettable and unconscionable that the Republican Party and Trump voters knowingly put the country through this mayhem. However, if this unmitigated disaster results in the permanent wipeout of the Republican trickle-down con artists and the easy-answers charlatan brigade on Fox and talk-radio there will at least be a silver lining. Hopefully, voters put them out to pasture in 2018.
8
It will be fitting to see the Republicans go down with Trump in the 2018 elections. Vote the Republicans out in 2018!
5
All I am concerned about is limiting the congressional support for the policies of the president by changing the majority. We sorely need checks on the presidency, but no matter the supposed Republican concerns, Republicans in congress have continually supported presidential policies.
16
Trump never was, and never will be, a person who follows the entire Republican playbook, down the line. He ran in the primaries against those pure Republicans, and defeated them all. Maybe the traditional Republicans would have preferred Hillary as President (probably would have). Because if Trump had not been the nominee, Hillary certainly would have won.
11
Too little, too late, GOP! You took an oath of office to uphold and defend the Constitution. You have forgotten your duties. America is fed up with your refusal to defend our Country!
88
GOP/NRA Party : You reap, what you sow.
The harvest is in November.
114
There is no doubt that lifelong adult government benefits and employment dole welfare kings Republican Speaker of the House Paul Davis Ryan and Republican Senate Majority Leader Addison Mitchell McConnell, Jr. are primarily concerned about preserving their partisan political power and privilege.
Neither man has been bravely honorable and patriotic enough to wear the military uniform of any American armed force. Nor have they ever served in any community civil rights humanitarian service. Standing for the love of guns and money is their prime directive.
72
Ryan's and McConnell's quotes at the end of this article scream wishful thinking, denial and ignorance. That about sums up the Republican Party's sorry state. That wouldn't bother me if a firewall could be built around the Grand Old Party to keep it from damaging our increasingly fragile democracy any further, which is also wishful thinking.
17
Just wait a few minutes and he'll change his mind. It will all depend on the last person he spoke with. And this has pushed gun control into the background, so certainly the Repubs must be happy about that.
15
"Over the past week, congressional Republicans have gotten a glimpse of the President Trump they hoped to never see."
How's that pivot coming?
15
"“There’s a high level of concern about interfering with what appears to be an economy that’s taking off in every respect,” Mr. McConnell said. "
He is talking about the Obama Economy that is working, no thanks to McConnell and Ryan who worked tirelessly to sabotage every effort to bring it back from the dead, at first in order to deny Obama a second term and then just out of spite to try to prevent any kudos to Obama for anything.
History will prove Obama was an excellent President who had to contend with a corrupt, traitorous Republican Party who ALWAYS put party before country. Shame on them.
255
A few more whimpers from Republicans, sure to become whispers tomorrow, followed by a contortion that enables them to support Trump. Every day, Trump pretends he didn't say something he is on tape as having said. However, I would LOVE it if Republicans finally had no choice but to rid us of the man, though I am far from wild about the possibility of having the robotic Mr Pence step up.
22
Deregulation always leads to "boom and bust". Trump's trade war will simply shorten the time frame for bust, which is bad for Americans but good for getting out the GOP.
17
By "getting out the GOP" I hope you mean"getting the GOP out," not "getting out the GOP vote."
You have to distinguish what Trump SAYS from what he DOES. He is liable to say anything, and contradict himself in the next sentence. But in his actions, he has been a very reliable, hard-core conservative Republican---slashing taxes for the wealthy, de-regulating big business and appointing ultra-conservative judges selected by the Federalist Society.
13
Most voters were 100% sure what they would get with Trump and we were 100% right on. In fact he is exactly what we thought and I have exhausted all negative descriptions that I can fling at him.The Republicans knew what they were getting and sold their souls for a brief victory and to do their owners bidding.
The ship of state is heading into some dark waters and all that can be hoped is that it will take a lot of time and the reasoning power of a lot of Americans to correct this self inflicted wound. Vote GOP out now.
30
Mere turbulence in the cabin as the outsider, non-career pilot refuses to pull up. Complicit Republicans like Mitch and Paul will only understand by losing their jobs. But we all may hit the ground before then.
35
I am far from an economist, and I am a Democrat who believes in unions for protection of workers' rights. But I also believe in free and fair trade. Like it or not we are still a capitalistic country, it being a fundamental of our economic system.
I neither endorse the McConnell's nor the, God help us, Trump's of this country. As far as I am concerned, they both care not one whit for the every day American's welfare. It is all about them, Wall Street, and the affluent. However, there use to be a time - I can barely remember - when compromise and negotiation where the tunes of the day. With the self-serving agenda spewing from the White House and Congress, it seems as if that time is destined to never return. But it will, with your and my help.
11
I think too many people are attributing a level of thoughtfulness to Trump like he is similar to a normal adult. That is wrong and will make it impossible to ever understand or predict his actions. The crazy stuff that comes from his mouth on occasion is not speaking before he thinks, it is stating what he actually believes.
The GOP hope that he will leave good enough alone with the economy fundamentally misunderstands his unbridled need to be at the center of the news. If it is quiet and nobody is talking about Trump, then he needs to insert himself into the public eye. He can never get enough attention - after all he is just a very old child.
The result of all this is we will continue to see these kind of crazy interventions based on the economics he learned in the 1960s. Unfortunately, he has learned nothing since except to get a good lawyer to draft an ironclad nondisclosure when dealing with people.
We should be very, very worried!
20
The GOP presents itself as the party of business; yet the business practices that brought about the Collapse of 2008 under Republican GWBush are being put back into place by the current set of GOP lawmakers. Bernanke and Yellen pulled the US back from the brink of total collapse because they did not trust banks to do the prudent thing. New Fed Chair Powell seems totally disinterested in controlling bank irrational behavior. Mike Mulvaney is single handedly wrecking the device protecting consumers from business rip-offs - the Consumer Financial Protection Board. Derivatives that helped bring about the 2008 collapse are 10X as numerous as they were under GWB. Yesterday the US Comptroller of the Currency lifted the Obama era cap on private equity buy out prices.
We are now returning to the "run and gun" wild west business practices that allowed Wall St to crucify US taxpayers with enormous debt while Wall St paid itself huge bonuses.
A trade war with allies is the last thing the US needs. This President who bankrupted 4 casinos, Trump Air, The New Jersey Generals football team and had repeated business failures - Trump limosines, Trump magazine, Trump University, etc etc is taking the US into economic bankruptcy. There is little wonder he flunked out of Fordham before his Dad wrote a $230,000 check to Wharton to get him admitted there. We did this to ourselves. We knew he was not qualified to be President.
31
I'm no Trump apologist. What he has done over the last year has been devastating from my perspective, particularly with his horrendous agency appointments all of whom are busy destroying much of what value in the US while Trump tweets to keep us distracted.
But my guess is that had Trump broken from GOP orthodoxy from the beginning, working with both parties on those things he promised on the campaign trail -- major investments in infrastructure and American jobs, tax cuts for the middle and working classes (i.e., not the rich), reasonable gun legislation etc. -- he would have had quite a different kind of presidency.
His problem, and ours, is that he jumped on the GOP bandwagon as soon as he was elected instead of working as an independent, where I think his heart is. He's now faced with the problem of satisfying no one and looking like he hasn't a clue what he is doing. That may be true, but he could have salvaged an otherwise bad situation if he had governed as an independent just as he had campaigned.
7
avrds: "He jumped on the GOP bandwagon as soon as he was elected instead of working as an independent, where I think his heart is." That makes total sense, except for one thing: Trump is a nutcase. You're viewing him as a normal person; he's not. In his mind, he's the star of the ultimate reality show. This is not simply a well-intentioned guy who made mistakes.
1
"They are also treading carefully to avoid antagonizing a mercurial figure whose mind they still hope to change as they have in previous cases where he drifted from the party line, such as on immigration." Good luck with that one, GOP. He's getting crazier by the minute with all of the continued chaos in his misadministration. Captain Chaos is not going to be controlled or cajoled, he's too paranoid and narcissistic for that.
17
The breaking point for the GOP is not that Trump is misogynistic, racist, paranoid, environmentally desctructive, and megalomaniacal, it’s these tariffs? And what they might do to the longer term Republican agenda? At this point I hold those like McConnell, Ryan and the rest of their ilk in even lower regard than Trump. To knowingly turn a blind eye to all the other stuff is simply unforgiveably cynical and black hearted.
19
"First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out. . ."
Are you experiencing buyers' remorse, GOP? If so, welcome to the club of millions of Americans who have watched our country go off the rails over the last year while the Republican ostriches had their collective heads buried in the ground, or somewhere else, as this president trashes the office he holds and thumbs his nose at proper presidential decorum that he disdains on a daily basis.
Is Republican outrage expressed out of a sense of decency or is it because the Koch Brothers disapprove of a trade war and raised tariffs that would defeat the purpose of the tax bill they foisted on the American people last December?
Instead of being Santa Claus, the president has turned out to be the unwelcome Scrooge who's going to upset the apple cart and scrooge his own party. Well, GOP, this is what you asked for. You aren't getting any sympathy from the American people whom you ignored since January 2017.
27
Its very amusing to observe the Republicans being swept up and impacted by their own hypocrisy and silence towards the transgressions and lies of this president on just about every policy position or law since his election. It's also deeply disconcerting that Congress has failed to do its duty in challenging a president whose decisions are inevitably based on the last person who had his ear or the most recent episode of Fox and Friends.
9
The GOP remembers its doubts? DOUBTS??? Although he's unprincipled enough that you can't predict precisely which way he will veer, Trump gave Ryan and McConnell and the other GOP leaders CERTAINTIES!!!
Anyone with a memory that goes back to 2015 and 2016 will see what I mean. Remember how the Republicans once had a little program for outreach to Hispanics? Trump's xenophobic announcement of candidacy, and hundreds of other speeches, did that in, and the GOP leaders accepted it. Remember how Trump announced his dislike for any service member who had become a POW? No problem there either. Bragging about grabbing the genitals of unwilling women? What could be wrong with that? Collusion with Russia including offering pardons if Russians get prosecuted for hacking and publishing Clinton's emails? Why would Ryan and McConnell mind that? I will admit that sometimes some of the Republicans in Congress were uncomfortable that he was so forthright, and that some of them sometimes acted miffed for days. But the GOP leadership SOLIDLY decided that Trump was overall a profit to them.
18
This all reminds me of a marriage gone bad. People talk about their significant other behind their backs. There are constant accusations of cheating. There are lies (some white and some not so). One partner is horrible at money management but the other keeps quiet and pretends that it will get better. But, it doesn't. Promises were made and never kept.
One knows the burglar alarm system isn't working but the other pretends not to care. One screams "You are nothing without me!" but other remains silent, apparently no longer believing in his/her own strength. So far, neither wants to be the first to go for a divorce and all the while the children fear what tomorrow will bring.
9
Trump is as predicable as the Ouija Board he uses to make all his decisions.
8
Honestly, Trump and the GOP deserve each other. Tax Cuts embellished with a Global Trade War? Both flunk Economics. ‘Trickle Down’ not only doesn’t work, it sounds disgusting.
6
It's the Dems that should wake up. Trump's trade solutions are no solution for Dems. They are a warning to do some original recasting of their ideas so that we can actually achieve a viable globalism without taking a long and needless nationalist detour.
3
The big questions for McConnell, Ryan, and the other con men that make up the Robber Baron CONgress, is always how to serve the rich (themselves included) no matter who is President.
They are doing a major “smash and grab” on the country right now.
What Trump does is of little interest to them, unless it interferes with their personal enrichment.
12
Republican fairness:
"Our $1.5 Trillion in tax cuts will give working men and women a few hundred bucks, we are heroes, that's so much money for you, you should be republicans for life!".
Combined with:
"Our new tariffs are taxes that cost working men and women a few hundred bucks, which is nothing, easy to pay, won't even notice it, nothing to see here".
5
So the gelatinous GOP poobahs have changed their position from supine to prayer. Their prayers will be just as effective in this case as they are in reducing gun violence. It will be fascinanting to see who wins the battle for the little Congressional souls, the Koch brothers or Trump?
11
The Party of Stupid is suddenly having some reservations about its 38-year carefully orchestrated campaign of cultured stupidity.
Preaching devolution, religion, science denialism, trickle-down fraud, psychopathic greed and Up Is Down-Down Is Up hypnotism has consequences, Republicans.
Republicans demanded a collapsed IQ and a Fake News-hate radio propaganda complex to reinforce it, and now that collapsed IQ resides in the Oval Office with the all the blessings of the Republican Party and Kremlin consulting services.
You built this, GOP.
Take a seditionist bow !
D to go forward; R for reverse...over the cliffs of stupidity, ignorance and treason.
286
best comment of all time, sadly. I always look forward to your insight Socrates.
6
Trump becoming a republican is likely based on the success of his foray into birtherism where he discovered how very easily republicans can be dog-whistled.
That's why I was so surprised by how quickly the professional republicans in congress went on bended knee to kiss his ring and swear fealty after the election. Did they actually fall for his ruse too? Did they think his priorities were actually their principles and not just his ego?
23
Are they kidding? All of the chaos, all the mercurial changing of mind, all the double crossing, was utterly predictable by anyone who had paid attention to the Trump story over the past 30 years. None of this surprises me at all, what surprises me is how badly uninformed many millions of Americans truly are, who voted for Trump. Here we are, inundated with information, and the only thing his voters knew about him was that he was a reality TV star and a "billionaire?"
133
The republican de-education of America has been very effective.
8
These Republicans licked their venal chops over the opportunity to shove through an agenda that glorified taking access to health care away from 27 million Americans, emptying the public treasury into the grasping hands of the rich, making corporations into people and people into machines, eviscerating protections of voters through a phantom witch hunt for 'illegal' voters, rampant gerrymandering and outright voter suppression, and looking the other way while their long time dog whistle campaign tactics exploded into outright bigotry against anyone who is not white and male. They don't care that Russia infiltrated and upended the 2016 election and is burrowing even deeper for the midterms. They don't even acknowledge the devastation that Trump operatives are inflicting on public education, the environment and faith in government. They don't even flinch at protecting his unending lies, and they were out in force defending this hideous vulgarian from accusations of even more extramarital promiscuity.
But interfere with business and guns? Now they stand up and object.
The Washington GOP is so utterly lost in the Trump Sewer that they feel no compunction to even try to pretend any form of decency or interest in the common good.
199
Destroying public education, the environment, and faith in government has been part of the Republican agenda for as long as I can remember - at least since St. Ronnie made making college unaffordable a priority when he became governor of California.
20
This entire article is moot. Republicans will never break ranks in support of Trump. Sound and fury, signifying nothing.
12
Someone should tell the GOP the story of the scorpion and the frog.
37
So they don't care about racism, misogyny, bragging about habitually sexually assaulting women, racketeering fraud, stiffing contractors, bankrupting businesses, mocking the disabled, a bizarre affection for Putin, increasing indictments of Trump's cronies, daily stories about Mueller getting closer, overwhelming evidence the administration is incompetent, or the fact that Trump needed both a porn star and a playboy play mate to cheat on his third wife after she gave birth to their son.
The Republicans are chill with all of that, but protectionist trade policies they have a problem with? Really?
359
November is COMING. Enjoy.
46
They stuck by him after Charlottesville; apparently they were fine with a racist in the Oval Office. But as soon as he messed with guns and money they began walking away. This says everything that needs to be said about the moral bankruptcy of the modern Republican party.
129
Of course - he says out loud all the things they can't get away with saying unless they use their code words, which they seem to think are fooling us about their greed, corruption, sexism, and racism.
5
Well, maybe something terrible needs to happen - like to the economy - for the remaining Trump supporters to finally realize there is something terribly wrong with this man. ... oh, but then he'll make it Obama's fault and they'll all believe him. No hope.
15
Groundhog Day as national strategy. McConnell wasn't counting on that. Then again do they have Groundhogs in Russia?
7
Nothing can change the glaringly obvious fact that Trump is not fit to be president. Congressional Republicans who try to ignore that fact are causing immense damage to be inflicted on the United States.
115
Trump is too inconsistent for the office. Thus far his seemingly off-the-cuff ideas have had time for debate. But they don't inspire much assurance that the proper decision will be made at a moment of genuine crisis.
1
Congressional republicans don't care about trump's destruction. Because they are republicans.
2
Trump has almost all of the data around trade deficits wrong. No surprise there. He has a bust or picture of Churchill in his office because he thinks that he is Churchill’s twin. He should read Thomas Hicks’ book Church &Orwell. He would find that both men felt very strongly that you had to have accurate data to make any decision. That was the thing that Churchill and Orwell had in common. Trump is like Churchill in only one way, they both liked to bluster. But when Churchill blustered he was worth listening to. And Churchill was a big Navy man unlike the bone spur man.
11
Did they really need a wake-up call based on his proposed tariff war?
I don’t know. Kinda hoped that his Muslim ban, his post Charlottesville odious remarks, his pathological lying, his 20 some women accusers of sexual predation, his insult to gold star parents....you get the idea, his insult to Senator McCain et al might have given our Republican friends across the aisle an intimation of who this man is. Now, because of his proposed taxes on the importation of steel and aluminum, they’ve seen the light at last? Uhm...
Are they really so blind? Are they really so ignorant? Shall we follow the oath of many white evangelicals and give the Republicans the same mulligan they gave to our president?
24
Yes they are but mostly they are tribal. At this point the only thing that matters is that the liberals don't win.. They don't care how many children die, how much the planet is destroyed or .. how many elephants get shot. It's all about wining against the evil liberals
1
Funny how wiping the stardust from one's eyes tends to clear up the view. The GOP might just be waking up, but the rest of us have been aware of the nightmare for a long time now. I even recall seeing Trump preening and smirking at the opening of his Trump Tower.
For the GOP, I offer a little Beatles..."Suddenly, he's not half the man he used to be...."
Yesterday, all your troubles seemed so far away...
18
The Trump Presidency has proven to be every bit the unmitigated catastrophe that people around the world expected. Why is it that Republicans are blind to it? Or are they just willing to overlook this disastrous maladministration’s multitude of shortcomings? I will never understand how anyone could still support or defend Trump after all he has said and done.
46
Trump was never a NY Democrat, he's a political opportunist for whom party affiliations mean nothing. Today, like the GOP, he only represents the corporate CEO's that manage to get close to him and get traction in his limited attention span. The GOP and Trump just seem to be having different meetings with different benefactors. Meanwhile, their constituencies are treated merely as opinions to be managed, voters to be fooled.
346
Trump definitely was a NY liberal democrat. And he will be again - when the situation suits him to say so. Just like now he's a "republican". It suited him to assert that even though it may not be true (trump a liar? How dare I?). Many fell for it - the de-education of America has been very effective over the past 35 years.
3
Buyers Remorse amongst the GOP finally bubbling up.
All of Trump's behaviors; his ignorance and disinterest in policy; his wild overconfidence that he knows more than anyone on any subject – I know more than the generals about fighting ISIS; his impulsive and scattershot behavior; His monumental ego and need for affirmation; All of these things were on display his entire life in the public arena and during the campaign.
He has also willingly displayed his penchant for lying, making things up, and blaming everyone else – mostly HRC and Obama – for anything bad, while taking credit for anything good. His poor judgement has always been front and center. He has a long record of cheating people, suing people, and getting in to fights with people.
EVERYTHING about Trump as a man, a person, was fully on display and predictable. The GOP embraced Trump, and about 35% of the people have intractably done so as well.
Trump was, and is, categorically unfit and unqualified for office. It was obvious to anyone who paid attention to him and his temperament. He is doing incredible damage to the country and the world.
When someone shows you who they actually are, as Trump always has, it is best to pay attention. Many did not.
Thanks a lot.
69
There are no limits to the roots that Donald John Trump has infected the Republican brand.
If they're suddenly remembering their doubts on Trump, they have selective amnesia.
Is this tariff war the tipping point for Republicants? No.
The robotic thinking mule train, A.K.A. the Republican Congress has long past the point of no return.
We WILL revisit this issue in 244 days.
19
Well, they will have the power to impeach him when Mueller is done.
And if they do not, suburban moderates and business types cannot pretend anymore that voting GOP, even with their noses held, is something that they can do for economic reasons.
15
And Republicans have no one to blame but themselves. Vote Republicans out of office at the local and Federal level. Donald Trump is an absolute disgrace.
And today, the"drama du jour" - Stormy Daniels, Trump's lover for years- three months after Melania gave birth to their son - is going public about their affair.
All this while the country has significant matters to address - this is what hard-working Americans have to contend with: a liar and cheat who displays delusional impairment.
Special Counsel Robert S. Mueller, III can't present his investigative findings fast enough. I have every confidence in his meticulousness to get to the bottom of how we, as a country, wound up with this inept and corrupt (fill in the blank-------) as President of the United States of America.
14
I'm patiently hoping that Stormy Daniels can produce some sex tapes that star the most famous man in the world. When that happens we will stop talking about tariffs and guns and trade wars and revert to what we do best; getting distracted by the utter absurdity of this administration.
13
I’m looking forward to the episode where Donald, denying the affair, sues to get the $130,000 back
7
No matter what these G.O.P. 'lawmakers' think their legacies might be, in the end it will all come down to one thing: complicit in undermining the security of American institutions and safety of all Americans. Mr. McConnell, Mr. Ryan, others - our grandchildren will remember you for one thing and one thing only ... don't delude yourselves otherwise.
41
Watching these Republicans try and contain an irrational, impulsive, self serving bully like trump would be fun if it wasn't for the dailly damage that they do to our country. November cant get here soon enough.
9
November can’t come soon enough.
14
He's a con man. Everyone in New York City knows what he's about, which is why 90% of us voted for someone other than him.
Now, the rest of the country's finding out. He and his family are a bunch of shameless, ignorant grifters. I don't want to see the country fall apart, but I'm going to admit to a bit of schadenfreude at watching this debacle collapse.
101
Are Congressional Republicans so blind to what the rest of us know and see every day? Trump has no political convictions. Trump has no thoughtful agenda. Trump is all about theater, ratings, and most importantly, Trump.
McConnell, Ryan and the rest of the Republican sycophants kissing Trump’s ring-only to be undermined again and again-is a never ending source of humor in an otherwise dark period in American history.
13
Everyone knew who they were getting when they elected the President. The main thing is we blocked the Clinton machine for ever, so they can no longer darken the political landscape. She was just unacceptable, a smarmy, corrupt politician who found many voters deplorable and beneath contempt. Thankfully she is history, and country is saved for future generations.
...and Trump ISN'T smarmy and corrupt?
11
No, I don't think so. He is far from perfect, obviously, but he won't sell out the country like HRC. No phony foundation to line her pockets, no Russian collusion like HRC, no Email scandal, America is saved from another Clinton, thankfully. Did you happen to notice the economy, wouldn't be possible under HRC. Case closed
I'm a believer in scrutiny of large charitable organizations and think the Clinton Foundation should not be exempt. However, I think the Clinton Foundation has been wrongfully portrayed by parties with a political ax to grind. Most of their funds are spent "in-house" on direct funding of charitable projects rather than the granting of funds to outside agencies. The See the following from FactCheck.org.
https://www.factcheck.org/2015/06/where-does-clinton-foundation-money-go/
3
I'm no fan of Donald Trump's but he at least understands the socially deleterious consequences of unregulated, global capitalism. As a bleeding heart liberal (and yes, "liberal" actually means "capitalist"), I would prefer that he adopt policies like generous support for job re-training and college, guaranteed health care, government spending on job-creating infrastructural development, etc. etc. to cushion the blow, rather than just leave the victims of free trade to the wolves. But Trump at least manifests some social awareness. Paul Ryan, Mitch McConnell, et al. simply ignore the social horrors of their own policies. They honestly do not care about working people. Their primary concern is what Charles Koch will think.
94
Trump as "socially aware". Sorry, does not compute.
7
Be careful. Trump doesn't care about working people either. Nothing in his experience suggests that he has an iota of care or sympathy for "working" folks. His history -- and that of his family generally - is to stiff them when he can and when it benefits him and his. He declares bankruptcy in part so that he doesn't have to pay his bills. And guess who the losers are - those small, independent business owners with whom he contracts.
5
LadyRantsALot said:
"[A]t least [Trump] understands the socially deleterious consequences of unregulated, global capitalism."
First, the case that transnational capitalism has "deleterious consequences" is based on the correct observation that manufacturing moves to places with the lowest wages. Adopt a myopic first-world nationalism view, and indeed manufacturing in rich nations declines--ergo deleterious. Adopt a global perspective, and increased manufacturing in poorer countries is a first level counter balance. Carry the analysis further, and jobs in the first world shift to more education-required service sectors, and the poor become a bit richer and thus add to the total consumption. The total pie increases.
Second, it is utterly delusional to attribute Trump's isolationist trade instincts as motivated by concern for the socially disadvantaged at home. My God, the health care he was willing to sign quite literally would significantly increase the number of American killed by lack of adequate health care. And the tax reform Trump did sign will temporarily give some tax relief to few, but in the longer term it shifts wealth via taxes out of the hands of the lower income citizens. And, don't forget, have created enormous deficit increases to pay for these tax reductions to the rich, the next GOP step will be argue that the deficit must be cut by downgrading entitlement programs.
This is no concern for the "socially deleterious consequences" of capitalism in Trump.
2
Maybe the G.O.P. is remembering its doubts about Trump, but the rest of the world never forgot theirs.
434
DJT's character, or lack of it, was well know to the Republican Party. The Republican Party willingly became the Party of Trump and they deserve that ignominy! Unfortunately they also dragged the American people into that morass and danger! I will NEVER forgive them.
386
If the Republicans are surprised they haven't been paying much attention to Trump's frequent impulsiveness and his propensity to surprise.
He has gone back and forth on immigrants, on gun control and on so many issues, and they only have themselves to blame for being asleep at the wheel and in reinforcing his behavior with silence on so many of his decisions.
69
It is clear that while the Koch funded Republican party is happy to advance a reactionary social agenda, the Trump position on trade is the obverse of their economic interests. Ironically it is this Republican mainstream which is now deeply worried about the person they have chosen to carry the flag. They were willing to ignore his narcissism and whimsicality when only poor and middle class affected. But his latest actions impact on the wealthy, to potentially major affect. Expect some action now to occur.
162
It's just a matter of time before the Trump reality show crashes and burns. He has been lucky so far, but he needs level heads to counteract his wild decision making, and he's losing them. What the NYT's and others have missed is that there is a learning curve for anybody new and during that transition many bad things could happen.
21
This will pass. We have seen this pattern so many times before. Trump takes a position that is antithetical to Republican ideals. Republicans say that the position is a "distraction" or "unhelpful." Then they fall right in line with Trump. Pick any topic that you want- trade, guns, healthcare, regulation, education, the environment, general decency, etc. It's all the same story.
52
Yes, general decency. Did you ever think that in your lifetime you would see a headline about a restraining order concerning the President of the United States and his affair with a) a porn star and b) a former Playmate of the Month while he was married to someone else, who had just borne or was pregnant with his child? Now, I'm hardly prudish but this sort of stretches all credulity. The President of the United States paying for the silence of a porn star?????
1
What keeps Republicans awake at night is not the thought that Trump is ceding America's global leadership role to dictatorships, nor that he has permanently stained the office of the Presidency, nor that he might eat a bad cheeseburger and decide to start a nuclear war.
Its that he might actually follow through on his campaign promises to blue-collar workers. That would be an incredibly dangerous precedent.
65
Imposing tariffs on steel and aluminum will fulfill a campaign promise to workers in those industries. But it will force him to break a promise he made regarding the auto industry in Ohio and Michigan, specifically, to make that industry “bigger and better and stronger than ever before.” Likewise, he’ll have to break a promise to keep US companies from relocating overseas and to restore our crumbling infrastructure (since the cost of doing so will be significantly higher).
For this president, connecting the dots seems beyond comprehension.
15
Kim Jung thought he could predict Trump too and look how that backfired. Time again for a Robo-President that we're sure the controls work with.
3
Kim didn't backfire at all. He brought Putin in. Now that Russia has stated that an attack on North Korea would be an attack on them, Kim doesn't need his nuclear toys.
Another big Trump backfire!
4
“The president’s right to point out that there are abuses,” Mr. Ryan said. “There clearly is dumping and transshipping of steel and aluminum.”
In most if not all of the recent articles about tariffs, it all seems to be one sided. By that I mean the U.S. tells the world we're a dumping ground for their products. Yet we never hear the story about our Country dumping stuff we make on China, the E.U. Latin and South America, Canada, Mexico, and a host of others.
Why? Are we just a bunch of good traders doing the right thing by not undercutting our product costs to get a foothold? Hard to believe in the most capitalistic country on the planet.
14
And don't forget we are the world's largest exporter of arms!
12
We also have lots of legs for sale in certain areas.
(Sorry. I couldn't resist.)
2
Poor Republicans. They have my thoughts and prayers.
377
Nice!
Since the Republicans in Congress talk out of both sides of their mouth why are they so surprised that the President does. Chaos + chaos = 3 more years of one hand not knowing what the other is doing and the American people are going to pay the price for it.
57
Talk about paying for it -- Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts just raised rates in the middle of the term.
It now costs $20,000 per year, after tax, for the Silver health insurance plan.
And that's before the $6,000 of deductible, again, after tax.
So it takes 2 adults $40,000 of pre-tax income, just to buy insurance and go to the doctor for 1 year.
1
That's completely insane. A salary of $20,000 US per year converts to $25,800 per year Canadian. If I had to pay for health insurance.... That may sound like I'm gloating, but I'm not, truly. How are people supposed to live if they get sick? Or god forbid, one of their kids got sick? These are basic questions, basic human questions. You should not have to go bankrupt if you get sick.
5
Trump has never been one to be influenced by reason, facts, and statistics. Republican leaders still haven't learned that the way to get Trump to do something is to urge him to do the exact opposite of what they want. If they gleefully extolled the merits of punitive tariffs, just out of spite Trump would refuse to impose them.
26
No, what they need is to get Obama to come out firmly in favor of tariffs and watch him instantly become an anti-tariff zealot.
8
There isn't a republican alive today who can be swayed by facts.
8
Donald Trump is a definitive contemporary Republican. The policies of the president are precisely those that Republicans support, even if the personal style of the president differs from that of a Paul Ryan. What we have now is a Republican administration supporting and pushing a Republican congress in the directions now favored by Republicans.
At least we need to understand what Republicanism is now about, and that is what the president is about.
58