Comments on: Trump plans to enact conservative budget-cutting program

By: Big Maq

Big Maq — Sun, 22 Jan 2017 21:47:30 +0000

While trump talks at a high level and seems to have difficulty explaining much policy with any depth, the man trump put in charge of running one of the inauguration parties (a man who claims he is a long time trump friend, another developer in NYC), had an interesting and different perspective, on an interview aired Friday or Saturday.

He claimed he refused an offer to work for trump’s admin because trump is such a “micro-manager”.

His most recent example was how trump was on him about “what type and color napkins were going to be used” (paraphrased from memory).

Just one more data point into understanding who our POTUS is.
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As such, I wouldn’t buy into the idea that trump would be so hands off operationally.

The more interesting question is likely to be can he stick to a policy position without turning on a dime, in short notice, on all his staff?

He seems to say one thing to one audience, and another to yet another audience.

In campaign mode, there might not be as much consequence (at least with running against as flawed a candidate as clinton), but unless he plans to operate by fiat, he needs to bring along many to help him implement what he wants.

Hard to be so convincing when the contradictions or inconsistencies are so public.

By: MikeII

MikeII — Fri, 20 Jan 2017 23:51:46 +0000

Clay: Thanks for your liberal view of the topic. Go back to listening to NPR. How many rounds of golf did your dear Leader play? Guess he was there for the common folk right? If you like your plan you can keep it- knowing it was a bald faced Lie. I was not a Trump supporter until he was the last man standing but he does seem to have the country’s good at heart. Now if all the no-trumpers would simply shut up and hope the establishment gop doesn’t sink the ship we will see what he can do.

By: Clay

Clay — Fri, 20 Jan 2017 23:06:37 +0000

My theory is different: I don’t think Trump has any political ideas of his own, minus some vague self-serving ones. He wanted the presidency to increase his own popularity and brand, and once elected he was glad to offload the thinking to those around him: in this case, the conservative establishment, minus the ones that had pissed him off.

They’ll be making the decisions while he sits back and basks in the presidential glory. My prediction is he won’t work that hard; he’ll do the bare minimum while Pence and co. run the show. This is actually a good thing, given his temperament.

By: Big Maq

Big Maq — Fri, 20 Jan 2017 17:33:41 +0000

Don’t know if it is 5% or not, but like parker says, it is an indicator of the right direction to be happy about.

It really only covers some of the expansion in spending over the obama years (include GWB for the emergency $1T deficit in his final year budget) – i.e. it puts us back to about 2007 budget levels in relative terms.

We need far more than that for a cut if we hope to make headway.

Massive reduction in size and scope of government, and “entitlement” reforms are where the core budget problems are to be solved. This is also where economic growth is to be accelerated. Without that growth, we won’t ever be in a position to carry the debt load that is coming.

By: Tim Turner

Tim Turner — Fri, 20 Jan 2017 05:44:59 +0000

“One is that experiences Trump had on the campaign trail have made him more conservative than he was when he started out.”
Unlikely, I think.

1. Trump is a dealer. He’ll come to the table if you come to the table. Republicans came to the table and Democrats are stomping their feet. Trump has no reason to give Democrats anything – why should he?

2. Trump is following an age-old bargaining tactic – overshooting his position. He’ll demand such huge budget cuts that opponents will promise anything to stop him. He’ll make moves for a trillion-dollar cut, and they’ll concede to $200 billion.

3. Trump is rolling in strong – an initial show of force to beat down opposition and make future battles easier. Why would he choose to show weakness?

By: Jim Miller

Jim Miller — Fri, 20 Jan 2017 04:17:42 +0000

If we actually drained the swamp, swamp creatures like Roy Cohn, Roger Stone, Paul Manafort, and, of course, Donald Trump, would die.

If anyone had any doubts about Trump being a swamp creature, his boast that he bribed politicians should have settled the matter.

(I’m not sure about Jared Kushner, but his hiring of Jamie Gorelick is suggestive.)

By: Frog

Frog — Thu, 19 Jan 2017 22:55:41 +0000

Chester Draws is once again endeavoring a misdirection attempt. “Defence [sic] will be one issue that he will struggle to fight off fellow Republicans”.

By: Irene

Irene — Thu, 19 Jan 2017 22:39:02 +0000

The Prez-elect is famous for bringing in his multi-multi-million dollar projects ahead of schedule and under budget. People shouldn’t be surprised he’d bring the same scrutiny to Washington.

He’s returning 20% of the transition budget. Good start.

By: parker

parker — Thu, 19 Jan 2017 21:49:54 +0000

Budget cuts would be wonderful and well past due. I would be happy with a 5% cut as a start down the path to fiscal sanity. I will take back all my negative thoughts about Trump and the gop if they can accomplish that during djt’s first year. As with all things, we’ll see.

By: Geoffrey Britain

Geoffrey Britain — Thu, 19 Jan 2017 21:31:25 +0000

DRAIN the Swamp. Let the chips fall where they may. Full speed ahead and DAMN the ‘torpedoes’ of political correctness.

99% of the people who will be outraged voted for Hillary.