monitoring Trump and relevant contemporary events

The $64,000 question for Democrats seeking to fight back against Donald Trump and a Republican Congress between now and the 2020 elections is whether their recent problems in turning out their voters, especially in nonpresidential contests, can be changed by the energy of a burgeoning anti-Trump resistance.

The first real answer to that question may have occurred this weekend in a special state-senate election in the “First State,” Delaware. And though it would be unwise to assume it to set a reliable pattern, in this one case Democrats passed the test.

The contest was over a seat in a state-senate chamber that was otherwise tied 10–10. It was vacated by Democrat Bethany Hall-Long, who was elected Lieutenant Governor of Delaware last November. Republicans ran as their candidate John Merino, who lost the district by just two points in 2014. Given the exceptionally low turnout typically drawn by special elections, the GOP had every reason to expect a win and thus control of the Delaware Senate for the first time since 1972.

But instead Democrat Stephanie Hansen won the seat by a landslide 58–42 margin. Not coincidentally, over a third of registered voters in the district turned out, which is very good for a special election in midwinter (the weather on Election Day was unseasonably mild, but also included an unseasonably disruptive thunderstorm).

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President Donald Trump’s new national security adviser, Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster, advised him in a closed-door meeting last week to stop using a phrase that was a frequent refrain during the campaign: “radical Islamic terrorism.”

In The Art of the Deal, Donald Trump writes, “You can’t con people, at least not for long. You can create excitement, you can do wonderful promotion and get all kinds of press, and you can throw in a little hyperbole. But if you don’t deliver the goods, people will catch on.”

Trump is having trouble delivering the goods. At this point in his presidency, Barack Obama had far more nominees both named and confirmed, and he had passed the stimulus bill, the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, and a massive expansion of the Children’s Health Insurance Program. As of today, Trump hasn’t signed any major legislation, and none seems close to his desk — in fact, Republicans and Democrats both tell me they’re beginning to doubt that Obamacare gets replaced or a major tax reform bill gets passed at all.

The reason the future looks bleak for Trump’s top priorities is that he seems to be doing everything he can to alienate the partners he needs — particularly Democrats, whose cooperation he needs in the Senate. His playbook has been more Breitbart than Art of the Deal.

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Trump is having trouble delivering the goods. At this point in his presidency, Barack Obama had far more nominees both named and confirmed,

As of today, Trump hasn’t signed any major legislation, and none seems close to his desk

The reason the future looks bleak for Trump’s top priorities is that he seems to be doing everything he can to alienate the partners he needs — particularly Democrats, whose cooperation he needs in the Senate.

In The Art of the Deal, Donald Trump writes, “You can’t con people, at least not for long. You can create excitement, you can do wonderful promotion and get all kinds of press, and you can throw in a little hyperbole. But if you don’t deliver the goods, people will catch on.”

Call it whatever you want. The same has been reported by the Times. And there's a lot of earlier reporting on McMaster urging the same thing to the NSC.

I think you don't understand how reporting works. And I also think you haven't yet comprehended how this particular administration leaks in a manner we've never seen before. There are reasons Spicer grabbed the phones of White House staffers to check those phones to see who staff was communicating with.

Hey Donald, you're a 90 year old geriatric. Time to grow up and start acting like it. Turn off the tv and computer, put down the phone, and get some **** done.

You're a one horse pony; boring.

Anybody else out there watch the address?

cicerone imposter wrote:

You're a one horse pony; boring.

That's a curious saying.

Is a pony more interesting if it includes more than one horse?

Anyway, today is a day for celebration. Trump has revoked Obama's executive order that would have eviscerated the Second Amendment.

Happy Freedom Day everyone!

What's worse is his paranoia, and spreading the fraud that the media is the people's enemy.