United States USMCA Signed Into Law

[Bacle]

Trump signs revised trade deal with Mexico, Canada but shuts Democrats out of celebration

Of course this article has bitching about Dems being shut out, but the fact this deal was finally signed is a massive win for Trump. The MSM have obviously been mum about this, as they are with most of the good things Trump accomplishes,

 

[Emperor Tippy]

Keeping the Dem's out was a slight win for Trump politically but it was also petty. Ugh, why can't we have a President with broadly the same policies but something approaching the ability (and willingness) to act Presidential on a regular and consistent basis.

 

[Bacle]

Keeping the Dem's out was a slight win for Trump politically but it was also petty. Ugh, why can't we have a President with broadly the same policies but something approaching the ability (and willingness) to act Presidential on a regular and consistent basis.

Keeping them out is hardly petty, considering what they have tried, and still are, trying to do to him.

 

[Terthna]

Keeping the Dem's out was a slight win for Trump politically but it was also petty. Ugh, why can't we have a President with broadly the same policies but something approaching the ability (and willingness) to act Presidential on a regular and consistent basis.

Acting "Presidential" is just that, an act, and I prefer Trump's honesty compared to his predecessors.

 

[Emperor Tippy]

Acting "Presidential" is just that, an act, and I prefer Trump's honesty compared to his predecessors.

His predecessors were by and large honest in how they acted. They just also had the self awareness, historical awareness, decency, and plain old good sense to not act like petulant entitled children who spend half their time high on sugar.

Trump could be honest without lying through his teeth or burnishing his own ego. Or saying some of the most stupid fucking shit to ever come out of a national politicians mouth.

The man is the President of the United States for gods sake. He's won. He's gotten himself permanently into the history books. He is literally the most powerful single human being to have ever lived in all of human history.

So yes, I do expect people who hold that position to act like it; and Trump doesn't.

Although honestly the worst of it is that he won't even bother to actually follow through or act. Trump talks tough but on most topics he doesn't do much if he gets any real pushback.

 

[Bacle]

His predecessors were by and large honest in how they acted. They just also had the self awareness, historical awareness, decency, and plain old good sense to not act like petulant entitled children who spend half their time high on sugar.

Trump could be honest without lying through his teeth or burnishing his own ego. Or saying some of the most stupid fucking shit to ever come out of a national politicians mouth.

The man is the President of the United States for gods sake. He's won. He's gotten himself permanently into the history books. He is literally the most powerful single human being to have ever lived in all of human history.

So yes, I do expect people who hold that position to act like it; and Trump doesn't.

Although honestly the worst of it is that he won't even bother to actually follow through or act. Trump talks tough but on most topics he doesn't do much if he gets any real pushback.

He won, yes.

But Trump has also been fighting a farce of an 'investigation'/impeachment since day one effectively. He also knows the average joe doesn't care that much if he bluffs or bullshits sometimes, so long as the substance of the point or promise is there.

Unlike all the other POTUS's, he wasn't a politician or general before he came into office, and carried mannerisms over from his private life. You can bitch about him not being a stuffed suit all you want, but to those of us outside the Beltway, we are far less concerned with such crap.

 

[Terthna]

His predecessors were by and large honest in how they acted. They just also had the self awareness, historical awareness, decency, and plain old good sense to not act like petulant entitled children who spend half their time high on sugar.

Trump could be honest without lying through his teeth or burnishing his own ego. Or saying some of the most stupid fucking shit to ever come out of a national politicians mouth.

The man is the President of the United States for gods sake. He's won. He's gotten himself permanently into the history books. He is literally the most powerful single human being to have ever lived in all of human history.

So yes, I do expect people who hold that position to act like it; and Trump doesn't.

Although honestly the worst of it is that he won't even bother to actually follow through or act. Trump talks tough but on most topics he doesn't do much if he gets any real pushback.

His predecessors were lying scumbags who left this country worse off than it had been when they entered office. Obama, Bush Jr., Clinton; all of them were terrible presidents who mostly only had their charisma going for them. Each in turn damaged our economy, violated the rights of American citizens, and exploited their positions for personal gain.

If charisma is all you're looking for in a President, all I can say is that you have shallow standards; I'd rather have a President who's willing to do right by the American people.

 

[Emperor Tippy]

He won, yes.

But Trump has also been fighting a farce of an 'investigation'/impeachment since day one effectively. He also knows the average joe doesn't care that much if he bluffs or bullshits sometimes, so long as the substance of the point or promise is there.

Trump brought those investigations on himself. He had a cast iron excuse to fire Comey with bipartisan support day one (Comey's press conference about Hillary) and could have replaced him with someone who would support him. Do that and there is no Mueller probe.

Once he became aware, or at least reasonable expected, that the FBI had been investigating his campaign he had a cast iron excuse to put together an independent audit of the entire affair. Between the mishandling of the Clinton probe, the allegations of spying against his campaign, and the allegations of Russian interference he had all the excuse that he needed to put the FBI and State Department's under microscopes.

The problem with Trump is that he tries to play the DC game while trying to attack it at the same time. He isn't capable of playing that game so the right choice is to not play it. He is the President, he has the power to tear into the DC bureaucracy in a way that they can't really resist.

Want a Citizenship Question on the Census? Trump should have just signed an Executive Order ordering the Census bureau to ask the question unless it was their determination that doing so would be unconstitutional.

Want DACA ended? A Presidential Executive order saying that, in the President's view, any kind of generalized or formalized provision of a refusal to enforce a Constitutional law is a violation of the charge to the executive branch to faithfully execute the laws of the United States and so it is ended is all it takes.

Want to fight illegal immigration and the states aiding and abetting it? Trump could order the FBI into every sanctuary city or state with orders to strongly enforce immigration law with an eye towards prosecuting anyone who is found to have knowingly employed an illegal or otherwise violated immigration law. Order the Treasury to promulgate a rule that all financial transactions crossing the US border require proof of identity that meets federal standards.

Want to fight illegals getting drivers licenses? A rule establishing the standards for what meets Real ID legislation is entirely within the power of DHS and could easily be written so that any state granting an ID to illegal residents has all of its ID's determined to be deficient for federal identification purposes. How long do you think a California law lasts when you can't fly out of LAX without a passport as a California Resident?

Trump has a great deal of power and could easily do far more than he has done, but instead he lives in a half world and gets the worst of both.

More broadly speaking, HE IS THE PRESIDENT. Whining about investigations should be beneath him. You let surrogates whine for you while you said something like "I don't much care about the politically motivated antics of sore losers; my time and effort is better spent carrying out my duties as President of the United States."

Unlike all the other POTUS's, he wasn't a politician or general before he came into office, and carried mannerisms over from his private life. You can bitch about him not being a stuffed suit all you want, but to those of us outside the Beltway, we are far less concerned with such crap.

Except you aren't. Trump absent his abysmal personality would be probably ten points more popular and crushing it.

 

[Terthna]

Except you aren't. Trump absent his abysmal personality would be probably ten points more popular and crushing it.

Trump absent the Dems constantly trying to undermine him and attack his reputation in the media would likely be at least twenty points more popular. That said, I do agree that he could have done a lot better than he has; he's far from a perfect president, but he's a step up from what we've had for most of my lifetime.

 

[Bacle]

Trump absent the Dems constantly trying to undermine him and attack his reputation in the media would likely be at least twenty points more popular. That said, I do agree that he could have done a lot better than he has; he's far from a perfect president, but he's a step up from what we've had for most of my lifetime.

Yes, not getting rid of Comey sooner was a mistake.

However, the stuff he could have done with Exec Orders or agency rules, is stuff that can be reversed rather easily by a Dem POTUS. His base wants laws, regs, and rules to help them, that cannot be overturned as easily as Trump has overturned Obama's legacy of Exec Orders and agency rule changes. That is why he has done things the way he has.

His base want different things from him, in terms of substance and action, than what DC insiders think is the 'proper' way to handle these things.

 

[Cherico]

At the end of the day we have to compare Trump with all of his faults and compare him to the authoritarian mess the democrats have turned into.

2020 is going to be an election where we have to choose the lesser of two evils.

 

[Emperor Tippy]

However, the stuff he could have done with Exec Orders or agency rules, is stuff that can be reversed rather easily by a Dem POTUS. His base wants laws, regs, and rules to help them, that cannot be overturned as easily as Trump has overturned Obama's legacy of Exec Orders and agency rule changes. That is why he has done things the way he has.

Final agency rules aren't actually that easy to overturn. As for the broader point, yes laws are better than executive action but when laws can't be passed you work with what you have. You also use those tools to compel action.

Trump ending DACA via executive order, proposing an immigration package that includes funding for his border wall, a method to permanent residency for DACA individuals (that specifically bars them from ever becoming US citizens), and a broader overhaul of the immigration fixes (that is slanted towards the Republican positions), and then telling everyone publicly that the executive branch will be prioritizing DACA deportations over everything but felony criminal conviction deportations starting six months from that date, and that he will veto any immigration package that doesn't include his requests; would focus minds greatly.

The Republicans would have, and could have before 2018, attempted to ram it through with all Republican votes. If the Democrats refuse then the Republicans get to blame them for the DACA deportations (afterall, the Republicans voted for legal permanent residency for them) and if they help it pass then Trump (and the Republicans) get to trumpet how they are actually solving the problem.

His base want different things from him, in terms of substance and action, than what DC insiders think is the 'proper' way to handle these things.

No, what his base wanted from him was Federalist Society judges, to not go weak on abortion, to not start any foreign wars (and end the ones we were already in), to stand up to China, and to go to war with the DC bureaucracy and system.

His personality and antics are simply a price that the base is willing to accept in exchange for getting their policy priorities. Can you name anyone who disagrees with Trump on a policy level but votes for him simply because they like his personality?

Because I can name a number of people who voted against Trump despite agreeing with him on policy simply because they can't stand how he behaves.

Politically speaking, his personality is a straight negative. The only value it has is that it makes it easier for him to "trigger da libs", causing them to overreact and overcompensate, and in turn driving people away from the Dems (and to Trump by default). That is largely mitigating a negative, not being a net positive, though.

At the end of the day we have to compare Trump with all of his faults and compare him to the authoritarian mess the democrats have turned into.

2020 is going to be an election where we have to choose the lesser of two evils.

Why do you think that I voted for him in 2016, will vote for him come November, and am supporting no Democrats in 2020?

It's not because I like Trump, it is entirely because of what the Democrats are up to. Well that and liking Trump's judicial picks (although any Republican would have essentially the same picks).

 

[Cherico]

Tippy If I could buy you a beer or cup of coffee to help with the pain I would.

Because god damned if this isn't going to be a shit show of a year.

 

[Emperor Tippy]

Tippy If I could buy you a beer or cup of coffee to help with the pain I would.

Because god damned if this isn't going to be a shit show of a year.

You can always contribute to the TS coffee fund

 

[Bacle]

Final agency rules aren't actually that easy to overturn. As for the broader point, yes laws are better than executive action but when laws can't be passed you work with what you have. You also use those tools to compel action.

Trump ending DACA via executive order, proposing an immigration package that includes funding for his border wall, a method to permanent residency for DACA individuals (that specifically bars them from ever becoming US citizens), and a broader overhaul of the immigration fixes (that is slanted towards the Republican positions), and then telling everyone publicly that the executive branch will be prioritizing DACA deportations over everything but felony criminal conviction deportations starting six months from that date, and that he will veto any immigration package that doesn't include his requests; would focus minds greatly.

The Republicans would have, and could have before 2018, attempted to ram it through with all Republican votes. If the Democrats refuse then the Republicans get to blame them for the DACA deportations (afterall, the Republicans voted for legal permanent residency for them) and if they help it pass then Trump (and the Republicans) get to trumpet how they are actually solving the problem.


No, what his base wanted from him was Federalist Society judges, to not go weak on abortion, to not start any foreign wars (and end the ones we were already in), to stand up to China, and to go to war with the DC bureaucracy and system.

His personality and antics are simply a price that the base is willing to accept in exchange for getting their policy priorities. Can you name anyone who disagrees with Trump on a policy level but votes for him simply because they like his personality?

Because I can name a number of people who voted against Trump despite agreeing with him on policy simply because they can't stand how he behaves.

Politically speaking, his personality is a straight negative. The only value it has is that it makes it easier for him to "trigger da libs", causing them to overreact and overcompensate, and in turn driving people away from the Dems (and to Trump by default). That is largely mitigating a negative, not being a net positive, though.

I was doubtful of him too, till I saw the Youtube vids of his charity work and learned a bit more about his treatment of his employees.

He's no angel, but he's...well he's Trump. That's good enough, so far. That's the problem, to many people want perfect instead of good enough.

 

[Emperor Tippy]

I was doubtful of him too, till I saw the Youtube vids of his charity work and learned a bit more about his treatment of his employees.

He's no angel, but he's...well he's Trump. That's good enough, so far. That's the problem, to many people want perfect instead of good enough.

...
I'm not asking for perfect. I'm asking for "normal professional adult levels" of behavior.

 

[Cherico]

...
I'm not asking for perfect. I'm asking for "normal professional adult levels" of behavior.

sadly we don't live in anywhere close to an ideal world, lets just be happy we have this trade deal locked up. That means that the upcoming trade war with China will at most cause a minor recession. Expecially since it looks like we got things locked up with south korea, Japan, Australia, New Zealand and the UK is upcoming because they dont have a choice.

 

[Doomsought]

The Democratic party has been sabotaging the US's foreign relations for years, so of course they have been excluded to prevent sabotage.

 

[Bacle]

...
I'm not asking for perfect. I'm asking for "normal professional adult levels" of behavior.

And his base is asking for all the flaws and warts to be in front of the camera, not hidden for 'image' reasons.

Do you not get that the average Trump supporter wants Trump to be Trump, not someone else, and that means warts and all?

 

[Duke Nukem]

His predecessors were by and large honest in how they acted. They just also had the self awareness, historical awareness, decency, and plain old good sense to not act like petulant entitled children who spend half their time high on sugar.

Trump could be honest without lying through his teeth or burnishing his own ego. Or saying some of the most stupid fucking shit to ever come out of a national politicians mouth.

The man is the President of the United States for gods sake. He's won. He's gotten himself permanently into the history books. He is literally the most powerful single human being to have ever lived in all of human history.

So yes, I do expect people who hold that position to act like it; and Trump doesn't.

Although honestly the worst of it is that he won't even bother to actually follow through or act. Trump talks tough but on most topics he doesn't do much if he gets any real pushback.

Yeah I agree, Trump is an alright President but he acts so immature sometimes.