Comments on: Translating Trumpian tweets

By: om

om — Thu, 03 Jan 2019 15:12:14 +0000

And of course there was the “red hot” (not) economy under FDR which is blamed on a progressive Republican, Hoover. For some reason Democrats don’t tout FDR’s economic record except to say that FDR didn’t go far enough. Can’t argue with success I guess.

By: huxley

huxley — Wed, 02 Jan 2019 20:28:37 +0000

There’s a standard argument on the left that the economy is better under Democrat presidents, mostly because of the red-hot runs under JFK, LBJ and Clinton, but there’s not many data points and I don’t think it’s that simple. Here’s a good article questioning that faith:

https://www.usnews.com/news/blogs/data-mine/2015/10/28/which-presidents-have-been-best-for-the-economy

By: Mike K

Mike K — Wed, 02 Jan 2019 15:59:14 +0000

“The longest bull market in history” has been a topic of conversation recently well outside the realm of political talking points. It began in 2009.

I assume you are referring to the Reagan Bull Market that began in 1982, accelerated with the 1994 election that made the GOP the majority in both Houses and continued until 2008. After 2008, Obama and the Fed used the ZIRP to force all investment to the stock market while the economy slid along at the bottom. GDP growth of 2% was the “new normal” until Trump came along and started cancelling regulations.

By: huxley

huxley — Wed, 02 Jan 2019 14:53:08 +0000

Manju: Maybe you could make a closely-reasoned argument for a change instead of your “What about this?” j’accuse style of commenting.

It’s a tricky business lining up market movements with presidential administrations. I’m pretty sure you would find a way to rationalize whatever happens with praising Democrats and condemning Republicans.

Or rather you would read about it elsewhere and parrot it here.

By: Manju

Manju — Wed, 02 Jan 2019 11:27:44 +0000

Manju has the DNC talking points, even the ridiculous one about Obama’s “Bull Market,” down pat.

I didn’t know “the longest bull market in history” was a DNC talking point. I knew it was a Trump one. But Obama AFAIK did not brag about the stock market per se. He talked about the underlying economy. Indeed, the first proclamation of the end of this historic bull run that I read came from a pro-Trump website:

The Longest Bull Market In History Is Over As S&P Suffers Worst Christmas Eve Crash On Record

“The longest bull market in history” has been a topic of conversation recently well outside the realm of political talking points. It began in 2009. It was longer than Reagan’s, longer than Clinton’s even. But now, the stock market has been entering bear territory. Bond markets are flashing an inverted yield curve for some treasuries, a major indicator of a recession. The last time we saw this indicator was right before Bush’s Great Recession. How did we get here?

By: AesopFan

AesopFan — Wed, 02 Jan 2019 06:30:39 +0000

Ann on January 1, 2019 at 7:44 pm at 7:44 pm said:
Of course “sources” are not the final word. But that doesn’t mean we can simply dismiss those quoted Trump comments re McChrystal at that rally in 2015.
* * *
No, but we can decode them with our Secret Decoder Rings.

Trump seemed to hint at the controversy and getting McChrystal involved in his potential administration during a rally in Birmingham, Alabama, in November 2015.

“We had one general who is really tough — I won’t say his name — but he got fired because he was very, very, nasty, he wasn’t politically correct and everybody said he was our best general, and he used foul language all the time, and he got fired because they interviewed him and he was cursing all over the magazine,” he said, with an audience member quickly yelling “Bring him back!”

“Bring him back,” Trump responded. “And we might.”

* * *
This happened before Trump swept the GOP primaries; before he had cemented his platform messages with his fans; and probably before he knew much about McChrystal’s long-time cred as a Democrat (he voted for Obama, even if he didn’t agree with his Prez later as CiC).

So, if your audience is yelling for someone to be added to the team, what aspiring politician is going to say up-front to their faces: not a chance — even if he had no particular interest in the General at the time.

By: AesopFan

AesopFan — Wed, 02 Jan 2019 06:24:23 +0000

McChrystal “won’t work for immoral liers,” but he loved him some Hillary, because she backed his plan against Obama.
What would he have done if she had been elected?
Any bets he would have resigned over her (a) lies about Benghazi; (b) lies about her emails; (c) lies about the Trump dossier; (d) lies about Uranium One; (e) bribes disguised as charitable donations; …..

By: Mike K

Mike K — Wed, 02 Jan 2019 04:46:08 +0000

Ann seems determined to hold a NeverTrump position. I don’t really care. I quit Ricochet when my account was suspended for two days after I used the term “TDS” to describe the rants of one member.

There are a lot of people who have Trump Derangement Syndrome. It seems especially prevalent in California and in DC. I consider it a mild psychosis.

By: Ann

Ann — Wed, 02 Jan 2019 00:44:48 +0000

Of course “sources” are not the final word. But that doesn’t mean we can simply dismiss those quoted Trump comments re McChrystal at that rally in 2015.

By: Art Deco

Art Deco — Wed, 02 Jan 2019 00:00:19 +0000

Trump once considered having McChyrstal as his VP:

Yeah, ‘sources’ are just so bloody credible.