John Thune said on election night that our fascist President-Elect needs to balance his “drain the swamp” appeal with practical governance:
“He is somebody who wants to shake up the status quo. I think frankly Washington needs somebody to shake it up and somebody that’ll be a disruptive influence,” U.S. Sen. John Thune, one of those who called for Trump’s resignation a month ago, said following his acceptance speech Tuesday night in Sioux Falls.
Thune continued, “At the same time, we have to govern so we have to find the sweet spot that enables us to get results with the American people” [Dana Ferguson, “With Trump Poised to Take Presidency, Former Skeptics Pivot,” that Sioux Falls paper, 2016.11.08].
The President-Elect’s supporters can’t find “sweet” Trump’s surrounding himself with Bush/Romney insiders and lobbyists on his transition team and picking the leader of the GOP Establishment, RNC chairman Reince Priebus, as his chief of staff.
In an attempt to create some semblance of outsiderdom in his administration, Trump has named as his chief of strategery Breitbart chief Stephen Bannon, a model of Trumpist lying tyranny and a White nationalist Confederate flag defender:
The Southern Poverty Law Center, a hate-watch group, has accused Breitbart of explicitly embracing ethno-nationalism. After Bannon’s elevation was announced, the law center tweeted several controversial stories written by Breitbart under Bannon’s control, including a piece published two weeks after a mass killing at a black church in Charleston, S.C., last year: “Hoist it high and proud: the confederate flag proclaims a glorious heritage.”
“Stephen Bannon was the main driver behind Breitbart becoming a white ethno-nationalist propaganda mill,” the law center wrote via Twitter in its first statements on Bannon’s elevation. “Trump should rescind this hire. In his victory speech, Trump said he intended to be president for ‘all Americans.’ Bannon should go” [links added; Jose A. DelReal, “Trump Draws Sharp Rebuke, Concerns over Newly Appointed Chief White House Strategist Stephen Bannon,” Washington Post, 2016.11.13].
Insiders and Klan enablers—tell me again, Senator Thune, how that combo is in any way “sweet”.
Wingnut status quo- HRC is a crook!
Photo op will fall in line and stand their in the empty suit and nod.He will do whatever he is told to do.Plus wait for all the great lip service he will give.
Is it too soon to think that Priebus is just a front to ease minds of the concerned while the Trumpster listens to Bannon as he pulls the strings behind the curtain? If you had to guess which personality Trump is more aligned with, what would be your guess? I just feel like we are going to relive the ’60s!
You can read a little bit into the fact that Bannon was listed first on the announcement list and Priebus was listed second. Bannon also will not be reporting to Priebus. He will be reporting directly to Trump. There is going to be a power struggle between Bannon, Priebus and Pence, probably with Priebus and Pence on one side and Bannon on the other.
Trump needs Pence to work with Congress and get his legislation passed so I think there will be some checks on Bannon. Bannon will still be able to push the Trumpster into some bad policy decisions, however, especially with regard to executive orders.
Russia just announced a 100 billion dollar transfer of weapons to Iran, on top of a recent delivery of missiles to Iran. Both Deals were probably greenlighted by thug in chief Drumpf to help his bud, Vlad.
In Washington as well as in Pierre, who is an outsider? In the right wing of Washington and Pierre, who is not alt-right? As there is no number answer, it is safe to say..ALL. Has been like that for years man, the reason Clinton lost was because of Black Lives Matter. To me, that is a reason to fight. The reason Clinton lost was because of the immigrants and why they matter to our country as a whole. Read the posts right here on a “liberal blog” and you know I am right. We sometimes get to the point that we have forgotten what we have seen from the haters. This is nothing new what Trump is doing. In order to even have leadership in the FBI or Defense, Obama had to appoint republicans. Comey, Gates or insiders like Eric Holder. We are getting the same thing. We will probably loose again. But we must stand for something that folks of color or the disabled or the religious oppressed can see as a savior to their cause. The Cubs won!
Russia is playing chess while Trump plays checkers. Who are the Trump advisors that are smart enough and gutsy enough to stand up to Trump. Trump, at the insistence of the right wing in Congress, is going to tear up the nuclear deal with Iran. This will mean that the Iranians will go back to making a nuclear weapon which they should have within a year or two at the outside. Trump will then have to bomb the Iranian nuclear facilities to stop them from getting the bomb. They are hardened facilities deep underground, so Trump can’t just use conventional cruise missiles to take them out. We will have to send in planes with bunker busters or nuclear weapons. To send in planes safely we are going to have to take out the new Iranian air defenses that the Russians just provided them. It is going to be a hell of an operation to take out the Iranian/Russian air defenses and then bomb the heck out of the Iranians. This could easily provoke a wider conflict in the Middle East and even a confrontation with Russia.
Welcome to the new reality of Trump. His advisors will have no stomach for keeping us out of a war in the Middle East. Only the generals will have some say, but not until Trump has already torn up the agreement with Iran. Then, the only question will be whether to attack Iran or not.
Don’t we know that there is a connection between Russian and the US? Russian just announced that they are gonna open up dealing with the US now. As you know, Syria and Russia are joined at the hip and when this conflict is over in Syria, that should repatriate the Syrians who fled out of the borders, solving a lot of issues in Europe and beyond. Iran already has a peaceful nuclear mission and has had it for decades with our blessing and the techniques of the French firms that built them. Iran needs to be treated as what she is, a valuable asset in Middle Eastern decisions.
Bannon’s appointment to Trump’s administration is an open declaration of war against minorities, women, immigrants and more.
Bannon’s obsession with tinfoil hat conspiracies will send him on a relentless quest to find dirt on President Obama to discredit his achievements and legacy.
Here’s a frightening thought, Lee Stranahan, Boworth strategist, is in the White House.
Trump is all about revenge, Bannon is the tool to that end.
Thanks for that subtle reminder, Roger. I had forgotten that Stranahan worked for dead Breitbart.
Bannon was the one mainly responsible for the wild conspiracy theories Drumpf championed.
I’m thinking Iran would not be a problem today if dumbass dubya had stayed the hell out of that region and left Hussein in power.
Over at Huffpost people are donating to Planned Parenthood in Pence’s name. He even receives a certificate thanking him.
This is genius!
ACLU has received over a million bucks in donations recently as well.
We should be able to come up with something similar for Bannon. He’s insulted just about every non-white male on the planet.
mfi, why do you think that Iran is a problem? What do you know about them that puts you in such a way?
Iran isn’t the problem. The problem is wingnuts. Now they controll every aspect of the gubmint they may just cancel the nukular deal with Iran and then when war inevitably comes after wingnuts make all kinds of stoopid demands, your kids and grands get sacrificed to justify more defense spending. Then they will blame it on Obama. Rinse and repeat.
PS I think recent Russian arms sales to Iran were done with eventual war with us in mind.
The solution is Europe. That was a key driving force behind the deal in the first place. Wingnuts have their rapture base to deal with while the business end of things knows full well that if the US waffled on the deal, Europe will do business with Iran and that would shut out a lot of investor money. You forget who runs the place mfi. It is not either party, it is a street full of gold that only wants more.
The EU is kind of spooked at the notion of depending on the US to prevent another number behind World War. http://www.reuters.com/article/us-eu-defence-idUSKBN1391HH
I think the commie club here should start making donations to NAMBLA in Reynold Nesiba’s name. Show your support.
You guys can’t seem to get a break lately, no one votes for you and the guy who runs un-opposed is a predator.
I see your mom must have gone shopping Mr. Deplorable and you accessed the password on the router. Good for you, don’t be to long, consider your homework.
Whatever you say, Deplorable. NAMBLA turned you down, did they?
“mike from iowa” writes:
Stranahan was later rehired at Breitbart by Bannon himself (they’ve known each other for years), which says nothing good about Bannon’s judgment.
“It’s weird. So I know the guy who’s gonna be the chief strategist for the president of the United States. That’s an odd thing.”
—Lee Stranahan
“Also disturbing.”
—Kurt Evans
Greg Deplorable, I think our break is coming. Trump is going to screw up things for our country like no other and his administration will be a failure for the ages. Voters will be begging Democrats to take back control of the government when Trump gets done with his reign of terror and incompetence.
Trump is appointing retired general Flynn as National Security Advisor. Flynn is a guy who has claimed Islam is not a religion, but an ideology. He has stoked anti-Muslim sentiment and fears. He was dismissed from the Pentagon’s top intelligence job because he does not play well with others. He doesn’t understand the difference between Muslims and radical Muslims. He plays right into the terrorist narrative that the West is at war with Islam.
Jeff Sessions as attorney general is going to be interesting as his commitment to civil rights is highly questionable. He argued against including acts against gays and lesbians in hate crime legislation in 2009. He also voted against reauthorizing the Violence Against Women Act.
White supremacists said it was a “White Christmas” and are overjoyed at Trump’s picks. It was said today that instead of a basket of deplorables, there is going to be a cabinet full of them.