GOP Columnist David Brooks Opines…

[UtahFanSir]

Trump is ripe to be played…

From the NYTs…In 77 Chaotic Minutes…

1,433

[BaldHatu]

Started to read it but couldn’t get through.  Personally… I don’t know what to think about Trump.  What I see instead is a nation in chaos.  Not a president per se.  The media is just as unhinged as The Donald.  Trump is succeeding at what he set out to do and what many people wanted… That is he is turning the establishment on it’s ear.  He is NOT a smooth talking kiss your baby while he steals his candy baby politician. He is the ANTI politician.  He is anti-establishment.

I am in a wait and see mode still.  I want to see what he does with national security.  I want to see what he does with North Korea.  I want to see what he does to the economy.  I want to see what he does with respect to strengthening the borders.  I want to see what he does with national relations all before I pass judgement and I DID NOT VOTE FOR HIM.

I believe in a free press and would put my life on the line to protect their freedoms.  However… I think the press is turrible and a big part of our current problem now.  News ceased to be about news and is tabloidesque.  They are contributing to as many of the problems as anyone else.

What a s**tshow.

[PDXUteFan]

I want to see what he does with national security.  I want to see what he does with North Korea.  I want to see what he does to the economy.  I want to see what he does with respect to strengthening the borders.

 

I don’t, I’ve already seen what he can do with his executive orders, his utterly incompetent levels of law knowledge, how he treats the other branches of the government, how he treats his staff, how he spins/deflects EVERYTHING away from himself instead of taking responsibility for clear and obvious shortcomings, how he BLATANTLY lies about things that are so easily fact checked and then when he gets called out he spins/deflects responsibility for his lies. The man is a sociopath, if your idea of change is to flip everything into chaos then get the f**k away from me. Were there a lot of things wrong prior to Trump taking office? Yes. But you don’t stop a leaking gas pump by lighting a match. Trump is on an extraordinarily dangerous path right now, it’s only a matter of time before he does or says something that results in a significant emergency. Protests are one thing, all-out riots, even revolt against one of his orders appears to be inevitable. And at what point does he do something that is so against the will of an individual state/states that those states just flat out say “no” and go against the will of the president?

Meanwhile the rest of the world is just sitting and watching (laughing) this absolute circus, this country just rip itself to shreds. It’s a total dumpster fire and Trump is backing up the gas tanker ready to fuel the flames.

[96GradAlum]

President Trump can push all the pretty buttons on the command deck of the Starship Enterprise, but don’t expect anything to actually happen, because they are not attached.

LOL … gawd I hope that’s true.  

[SkinyUte]

I can’t help but feel like Trump is out front commanding all the attention, while the actual players are using that distraction to pass things that otherwise might p**s people off. For example, anyone else hear about overturning the regulation yesterday which prevents coal mines from dumping their debris into streams? How about him gutting the Endangered Species Protection Act? (those are both Fox News links, btw, so they’re safe for conservatives to click on. :))

They both passed pretty quietly because everyone was paying attention to Trump’s weekly s**tshow. I have a sneaking suspicion that we’ll see more of this same sort of thing as the weeks and months go on. How long Trump will continue to be useful in that regard remains to be seen.

[Rick]

You claim that they sneaked around everyone’s back with these actions but overturning onerous regulations was a flat out promise from Trump himself.  He is doing EXACTLY what he said he was going to do and calling his bluff would be a huge mistake at this point.

[SkinyUte]

You claim that they sneaked around everyone’s back with these actions but overturning onerous regulations was a flat out promise from Trump himself. He is doing EXACTLY what he said he was going to do and calling his bluff would be a huge mistake at this point.

Passing potentially controversial legislation while the attention is focused elsewhere is quite different than “sneaking around everyone’s back”. One is a political tactic that both sides use (one that seems to be working especially effectively right now) and the other implies something illegal or borderline unethical. I claimed the former, and make no assumptions to the latter. I just wonder how long Trump will continue to be useful in that regard.

Kinda sad that we’ve gotten to the point where not dumping mining waste directly into rivers and streams and protecting wildlife from extinction is considered to be “onerous regulation”. Anything for the almighty dollar, I suppose.

[Riot West]

I hate illegal immigrants from Mexcio only! We are a nation of laws! F**k clean water! Goddamned spotted owls are taking our jobs! Nordstrom is a crappy store! I’m going to be doing all my shopping at the Woolworths!

[AZswayze]

Taxes breaks for TJ Maxx!

[UtahFanSir]

Psst, I have a piece of property you might be interested in, beautiful, great price, terrific neighborhood. You’ll even love the name of the place, Love Canal. I’ll let you in on the ground floor.

[PorterRockwell]

Excellent links, Trump can’t be happy that even Fox news doesn’t support the border wall. The environmental impact of this wall could be devastating to wildlife.
Perhaps we need to step back and look at immigration reform, helping other countries like Mexico et al build their economies so their citizens don’t feel like they have to come here and pick crops or do day labor just to make a buck.
The real solution to immigration across our southern border seems to be a non starter for some.

[SkinyUte]

Side note: I find it amusing that the board censors “p iss”, but not “s**tshow”. 🙂

[AZswayze]

His deregulation executive order was absolutely insane, not from a policy perspective, but from a sanity perspective. It barely registered a blip on the media’s radar. 

[zeous]

I can’t help but feel like Trump is out front commanding all the attention, while the actual players are using that distraction to pass things that otherwise might p**s people off.

This is common practice regardless of which party holds more sway, like things passing quietly on Christmas and/or New Years Eve. NDAA 2012 hidden clause springs to mind.

This common practice, in my opinion, lends some credence to the idea that privately the US has been a one party system, publically masquerading as two, for quite a while. At least since 2001, perhaps since 1963. Blocking of other party candidates from ballots and debates is further evidence.

[Utebeam]

Seriously, this is the kind of stuff that gets overblown. I didn’t vote for Trump and I think he is bat sh*t crazy but I am so tired of the media twisting news and not letting us the reader determine the implications of the changes.

@skiny-you do realize that the legisltaion regarding coal mines and streams was a new piece of legistation that the Obama Admin put in place right before Trump came into office. So your statement about allowing the dumping of coal polition into streams is way overblown. The EPA rules for streams are still in place like they have been all along and the water won’t be any more polluted than it has been throughout all of Obama’s administration. 

Referring to the endangered species legisltion; it hasn’t even been brought up for a vote in the House(btw it has to pass both houses of congress) and yet you are talking about it like its a done deal and Trump snuck another by us. Dude, at least read the article and don’t get sucked into the hype. Btw this was not a Faux News article. Check your sources.  Oh, and is taking time to analize the economic impact of the species act really that terrible. I bet you would feel differently if it ment the elimnation of your job or business. 

[SkinyUte]

you do realize that the legisltaion regarding coal mines and streams was a new piece of legistation that the Obama Admin put in place right before Trump came into office. So your statement about allowing the dumping of coal polition into streams is way overblown. The EPA rules for streams are still in place like they have been all along and the water won’t be any more polluted than it has been throughout all of Obama’s administration.

I’m fully aware of that, thanks. Here’s the article I was going to post which has significantly more detail, but figured it would get entirely ignored because anything not from Fox News is “fake news”.

You’ve seen what Trump is currently doing to the EPA, right? Including the bill that was just submitted to dismantle it entirely? You’ll have to forgive me if claiming that those regulations will protect the waterways isn’t very reassuring.

Referring to the endangered species legisltion; it hasn’t even been brought up for a vote in the House(btw it has to pass both houses of congress) and yet you are talking about it like its a done deal and Trump snuck another by us. Dude, at least read the article and don’t get sucked into the hype. Btw this was not a Faux News article. Check your sources. Oh, and is taking time to analize the economic impact of the species act really that terrible. I bet you would feel differently if it ment the elimnation of your job or business.

I’m supposed to believe that the House will somehow not push it through as well? LOL, ok.

When dealing with species that are becoming extinct, time is rather of the essence. So yes, rolling back protections while they “analyze the impact” is kind of a big deal. And I wonder what side those analyses will come out on: the side of protecting the environment, or the side of animals/environment-be-damned-there’s-a-buck-to-make? Gee, I wonder…

You’re correct, it was a Fox affiliate. My mistake.

[Minnesota Ute]

This is what you get with a strong federal government, and in particular, a stong Executive.  You concentrate so much power and wealth in one location and in one office then you are bound to have something like this happen.  If we had a small constitutionally limited government, and a smaller executive branch, somebody like Trump would never have been interested in the office, and even if he was, we wouldn’t care.

This is what absolutely kills me.  When you see what is going on, when you see the slate of candidates not just this year, but for the last quarter century, is this really what we want?  Really?  Isn’t 50 laboratories of democracy preferable to this circus?  The fundemental problem is that our all powerful federal government is completely unaffected by any given citizen, or even any large groups of citizens.  The only thing that makes an impact is money and only because it is incredibly expensive to campaign on a national level and even on a statewide level.

Govenment grows and liberty yeilds, just like the sun rises, it’s a fact of nature.  Eventually when it grows big enough, an authoritarian egomaniac wants to climb astride the beast.  Welcome to the future we created.  The founders saw this throughout Europe and throughout history, and tried to set up something to stave that off, and tried to leave lessons for us in their writings and in their decisions.  We ignored it because we were seduced by the simplicity of nationwide solutions proposed by the cult of personality that resides in DC.  Now we reap what we sow.

[SkinyUte]

Isn’t 50 laboratories of democracy preferable to this circus?

In some ways, yes. In lots of other ways, no. When each state starts deciding their own set of things like environmental regulations or safety standards or financial regulations without any sort of national commonality, you’re just begging for a disaster. In states with very small minority populations, who protects the civil rights of these minorities when the majority feels they are of little importance? Living as a non-LDS person in Utah, the prospect of this state establishing a completely independent set of regulations and laws is utterly terrifying.

It’s never as simple as “States Good, Federal Bad” or vice versa, and the truth lies somewhere in the middle.

[Minnesota Ute]

I disagree.  You fear the unknown and fear that your state will treat you roughly or that some states will treat their resources roughly.  Well guess what, that might happen, and guess what…  ITS OK, STOP BEING AFRAID.  Because rather than fearing it, we’ll be able to see actual results and decide wether it’s worth it.  The voters of that state treating people or resources roughly can vote in a new regime, or you can move to a state that fits your ideology.  If Utah goes off the rails, people and businesses will leave, OR you might be wrong and the state might thrive.  Maybe it will thrive without you because it’s not a state you want to live in, but maybe others would welcome it.

The disaster you think you see, I see as opportunity.  We will never know what we are missing as long as we are suffering under the gigantic thumb of a massive federal government that can not be tamed.  They use your fear to control you and keep you buying in on their solutions, you see where that got us right?

[Author]

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