Say something good about the Trump presidency. I’m serious.

[Orca of Peace 109]

most Trump haters, if not all, will favor his sanctions on Iran. I don't think there is a single person on Surly who will oppose that Trump policy, meaning they support it as a "good" 

[Blotto 23,560]

24 minutes ago, Orca of Peace said:

most Trump haters, if not all, will favor his sanctions on Iran. I don't think there is a single person on Surly who will oppose that Trump policy, meaning they support it as a "good" 

From the Venezuela thread....

50 minutes ago, Orca of Peace said:

didn't work for the Iraqi people.  Sanctions are always bad for the general population and is a terribly obtuse and inhumane method to conduct foreign policy.  

Can't figure out if this dude is trolling or has just attained Swam levels of retardation. 

Edited August 6, 2018 by Blotto

[kopp0e 1,135]

I was hoping with Trump in office, that GM would be more likely to bring back the Hummer brand: (I think that qualifies as a good thought)...

 

[Hugo Stiglitz 23,367]

15 minutes ago, Blotto said:

Can't figure out if this dude is trolling or has just attained Swam levels of retardation. 

[Onboard 2.0 9,083]

3 hours ago, Brisketexan said:

The cuyahoga river thanks you.

It's a Jungle out there I tell ya.

[Orca of Peace 109]

1 hour ago, Blotto said:

From the Venezuela thread....

Can't figure out if this dude is trolling or has just attained Swam levels of retardation. 

debate it, instead of this useless fluff. 

1. do you support Trump's Iran sanctions?

2. Sanctions are inhumane and ineffective. Don't be so ignorant to ignore the suffering of the Iraqi people under the sanctions regime. 

let's see how you respond. 

Edited August 6, 2018 by Orca of Peace

[Bookman 4,639]

No matter how bad it is now, it could've been worse.

[SuingToGetAMessageBoard? 3,861]

On 4/26/2018 at 1:00 PM, SuingToGetAMessageBoard? said:

I expect super sarcasm, but I am interested to see if people see any positives. 

 

Me: he doesn’t seem to be as much interventionist/War hawky as our last many many presidents and how I expect Hillary would be.  We will see how Bolton influences.  If we look back at the end of his term and see we aren’t marching on every country that gives us the stink eye, that’ll be something. 

 

 

Well, cross him off then.

[Nivek 16,946]

 
 
Well, cross him off then.

I like his idea of $15 a year health insurance that covers more.

[F250 28,791]

On 4/26/2018 at 1:15 PM, F250 said:

To date, he isn't a war monger.

 

Scratch this one off of the list.

 

[F250 28,791]

On 7/11/2018 at 4:10 PM, retread said:

What is this show about and why do all the Fox News T&A gifs seem to be captures from it?

Maybe I should just see for myself, for research purposes.

[bad_teammate 13,218]

Say something good about the Trump presidency. I’m serious.

No

[Blotto 23,560]

I used to think "George W Bush is the dumbest motherfucker that ever has or ever will hold the office of President of the United States." Against all odds, Dotard has proven that way of thinking to be completely false. 

[gmr548 16,587]

Progressive activism and youth engagement have both seen surges. It shouldn't have taken this though. That's about the only good thing directly attributable. Job market/economy was already very strong, so that one doesn't really mean anything. Especially when he is doing his best to undermine it.

Sent from my SM-G920V using Tapatalk

[henrygandorf 29,194]

trump would've probably been the perfect president.  in 1840 or so.

no twitter.  no fox news.  very little press coverage on his actual personality.  no real foreign powers to deal with or foreign leaders to fall in love with.  not many federal agencies to micromanage or dismantle.  racism is totally ok.  sexism is totally ok.  corruption is commonplace.  philandering is expected.  great self-promoter, so he probably wins twice.

of course, there's also no secret service, so he also probably gets whacked.  win-win.

[immortal13 4,059]

No Hillry

[Dbeasy 15,073]

I’ve gone from hoping that some of his policies might be worthwhile early in his Presidency to realizing he is an absolute disaster. Every single policy issue has been fumbled, not because of the general idea but because of his infantile, ridiculous approach to the issues.

1. North Korea - at first the novel approach seemed interesting until it became clear that he just wanted photo ops and to be seen trying to do something. Total farce.

2. Tax cut - wrong structure that harmed the middle class and ballooned the deficit.

3. China Trade - its all hat no cattle.

4. NAFTA - see #3.

5. Pulling troops from Afghanistan and Syria - not necessarily a bad idea but handled like a moron.

6. Healthcare - nada.

7. EPA - terrible appointment and massive over-rotation to the objectively bad policy.

8. Immigration - he’s accomplished nothing, and even worse he’s polarized the country over a stupid wall when he could have been working on reasonable compromises that made sense.

9. Trade - see #3.

10. Supreme Court Appointment - too conservative, ie Stone Age mentality.

11. Israel - unabashed pandering, rather than objective recognition of the rights of Palestinians.

12. Iran - no observable value at this point to blowing up the agreement. Maybe something comes out of it but I highly doubt it given the moron’s track record.

13. Deficit - worst ever.

14. Trade deficit - terrible.

15. Country Unity - horrific.

16. Maturity - non existent.

17. Integrity - none. He lies every single day, multiple times a day.

18. Military Transexual Policy - he could have addressed the issue of using the military health benefits as a means for free sex changes differently, rather than just banning them all. For example, military doesn’t pay for sex change treatments. If these folks want to be warriors for our country, we should support them.

19. Education - appointed an absolute idiot. There might be some merit to innovative private school structures and school choice, but unqualified morons can’t create a sensible policy and that’s who he put in charge.

20. Energy - Drill baby drill, with zero thought to the environmental aspects of the policy.

I honestly can’t think of one single thing he’s done successfully. It’s just a giant shell game that will eventually come crashing down once the over-stimulus of excess spending to prop up the economy eventually fails.

[Irwin F Fletcher 3,550]

"He's not a cannibal" - John Stewart




See the Late Night Talk Show thread for details

[workswithseed 2,111]

Supreme Court Appointment - too conservative, ie Stone Age mentality. 

I think this is wrong. Kavanaugh is moderate right.

[LABEVO 928]

Catalyst for broad based civil engagement hopefully leading to structural reform after R lose in a landslide election this Nov

[Snake Diggity 4,625]

I hate the motherfucker.  And I don’t really like any of his policies.  I believe in remaining loyal to Israel, which he’s done.  
 

Even if you’re not a Trumpkin, and just a moderate Republican, there are 2 accomplishments his base will anchor to:

Tax cut 

Conservative judges

 

Any claims he makes for credit for improvement in the economy, healthcare, education, infrastructure, immigration reform, trade, dealing with enemies, dealing with non-Israel allies, or energy...are lies.
 

He’s easily the most divisive president in the last 100 years, presiding over the most tumultuous time in our country since the Civil War.  He fucking sucks.

Edited June 8, 2020 by Snake Diggity

[mdmost 43,009]

Sarah Cooper

[Upgrayedd 5,815]

13 minutes ago, mdmost said:

Sarah Cooper

^This

[DigglerontheHoof 21,205]

1 hour ago, mdmost said:

Sarah Cooper

Yep.  And it's not even close.

[CowboyFred 1,151]

On 8/5/2018 at 8:04 PM, Blotto said:

From the Venezuela thread....

Can't figure out if this dude is trolling or has just attained Swam levels of retardation. 

and those 2 posts were less than 30 minutes apart...impressive.

[Biff Tannen 45,694]

57 minutes ago, CowboyFred said:

and those 2 posts were less than 30 minutes apart...impressive.

And what you just quoted is almost 2 years old.  Also impressive.

[BehoId, The Underminer! 11,669]

4 hours ago, Snake Diggity said:

the most tumultuous time in our country since the Civil War.

i think that is his fault too.  the protests wouldn't be nearly as bad if there was some belief that the people at the top were somewhat sympathetic to this issue.  you'd just have coronavirus -- not any more important than say, cuban missile crisis, 9/11, oil crisis, 2008 financial crisis, the entirety of the 1960s.  

[CowboyFred 1,151]

42 minutes ago, Biff Tannen said:

And what you just quoted is almost 2 years old.  Also impressive.

lol I was aware of that

[Goredho 17,412]

People aren’t taking their democracy for granted anymore.

[SydneyCarton 48,112]

White Supremacist groups and domestic terrorism seem to be getting increased and overdue attention. 

[tx 3 putt 77,178]

they only THOUGHT about dropping a nuke on a hurricane !!!!

[Herpa Derpa 6,126]

It's almost over.

[Bookman 4,639]

Our first lady is a Euro-trash whore.

[thepop 4,409]

It revealed the portion of the population who are shitty and should be avoided.

[quigley 1,563]

Limits were placed on the mortgage tax deduction.

While this doesn't benefit me, it caps one of the many unnecessary advantages provided to people who already have greater financial wealth.

 

[Rougarou 594]

7 hours ago, thepop said:

It revealed the portion of the population who are shitty and should be avoided.

And the humor:

 

[Bateshorn 9,928]

We’ve reduced our military presence  in Afghanistan.

[BradInATX 9,208]

In the spirit of the thread title, I appreciate his attempts to shift the dialogue around China and our relationship with them. Now of course his execution has been absolute dog shit because he's an incompetent. But he's the first president in awhile that has stopped tap-dancing around China's market manipulation, IP theft, etc. And it's forced the rest of the government and even the Democrats to stop pussyfooting around and actual adopt some rhetoric calling China out for their crap. It might be the only positive he leaves behind in a wake of awfulness and failure. 

If we can get a competent president that actually stands up to China on trade and IP theft and, unlike Trump, actually cares about the human rights side of things too, that would be good by me.

[mdmost 43,009]

The next President does need to stand up to China but unlike Trump, he or she needs to do it smartly. Like it or not, we're dependent on China because we allowed corporations to be reliant on China for cheap labor because we wanted maximum profits and cheap goods. All Trump succeeded in doing by trying to play strong man to China was jack up the cost of goods and help kill our exports. 

[landman 559]

Tax cuts

Had more covid than anyone in history and beat it.  The doctors were truly amazed at how much he had.  So was Chuck Norris.

 

[BradInATX 9,208]

6 minutes ago, mdmost said:

The next President does need to stand up to China but unlike Trump, he or she needs to do it smartly. 

Exactly. That's my hope. Trump opened the can of worms now let's get someone decent and competent in there to actually take some measured and smart action on it. 

[Jiggy-Z 3,433]

It might just be me getting older (53), but I have never been more politically engaged in my life.  To be honest, I am not really doing anything more than just keeping abreast of issues, voting at every available chance, and using my newly gained knowledge to "push back" on false (mostly conservative) talking points when I encounter them.

Even though I cannot stand this administration and its policies, I am far more familiar with Trump's cabinet than I ever was with any other administration.

Political engagement  feels pretty empowering for me since I have been able to move on from palace intrigue type stuff to looking at actual policy which connects you with those that have different points of view since you are generally in agreement with the desired outcome but differ on the means to get there.  Policy discussion also weeds out those concerned only with emotional wedge issues or personalities. 

This next point remains to be seen, but I think Trump might be the spark that gets the youth of this country engaged politically so that they will be less fucked over in the coming decades than they otherwise would have been.

[Goredho 17,412]

12 minutes ago, BradInATX said:

In the spirit of the thread title, I appreciate his attempts to shift the dialogue around China and our relationship with them. Now of course his execution has been absolute dog shit because he's an incompetent. But he's the first president in awhile that has stopped tap-dancing around China's market manipulation, IP theft, etc. And it's forced the rest of the government and even the Democrats to stop pussyfooting around and actual adopt some rhetoric calling China out for their crap. It might be the only positive he leaves behind in a wake of awfulness and failure. 

If we can get a competent president that actually stands up to China on trade and IP theft and, unlike Trump, actually cares about the human rights side of things too, that would be good by me.

 

8 minutes ago, mdmost said:

The next President does need to stand up to China but unlike Trump, he or she needs to do it smartly. Like it or not, we're dependent on China because we allowed corporations to be reliant on China for cheap labor because we wanted maximum profits and cheap goods. All Trump succeeded in doing by trying to play strong man to China was jack up the cost of goods and help kill our exports. 

There are big ideas Trump has that I agree with or don’t object to.  This is one.  Extricating ourselves from foreign entanglements is another.  But it’s at the operational level where he fails miserably.  It takes more than a tweet to address complicated problems and you can wind up in a much worse position with a poor strategy  or no strategy at all in many cases with Trump.

[mchookem 16,338]

Melania's convention dress the second night was absolutely stunning.

 

[Gatorubet 30,264]

Will result in significant ethics reform rules

[Bateshorn 9,928]

Not sure whether good or bad, but we've seen both the first lady and daughters nipples (I'll throw up the links to keep it SFW):

https://uk.news.yahoo.com/melania-trump-slated-wet-t-044900608.html

https://news.yahoo.com/ivanka-trumps-wardrobe-malfunction-un-155634837.html

 

[Pig Bellmont 8,719]

20 minutes ago, Goredho said:

 

There are big ideas Trump has that I agree with or don’t object to.  This is one.  Extricating ourselves from foreign entanglements is another.  But it’s at the operational level where he fails miserably.  It takes more than a tweet to address complicated problems and you can wind up in a much worse position with a poor strategy  or no strategy at all in many cases with Trump.

I know you’re saying Trump ultimately failed these policies with poor execution, but I argue he never actually supports those things. 
 

Supporting China in establishing concentration camps to round up, imprison, and execute minorities is a funny way of standing up to them - it also fucks 2 centuries of reputation we built supporting religious freedom. 
 

Also Trump’s veto to keep US involved in the Yemeni Civil War isn’t exactly ending foreign entanglements. Ignore the “US troops in Afghanistan home by Christmas” tweets and look at real actions by this administration. Even philosophically the policies you cite aren’t actual goals advanced by this administration 

[BehoId, The Underminer! 11,669]

I do struggle to come up with anything that I think is good, which makes me concerned I’m in an information bubble.  But I do like that we haven’t started any more wars, and I like drawing down troops abroad.  I think the national mood on things like drug enforcement has changed for the better, and Trump hasn’t gotten in the way of that. 
 

There are some things that potentially could have been good but were so screwed up from the outside that it’s hard to get any sort of positive angle on it. I think it’s good to have different discussions on immigration than what we’ve had for the previous 25 years because I think that system entirely is broken. Of course Trump picked the worst possible way to go about that, being only racist, wasteful, thoughtless about about WHY certain immigration should/should not be deemed illegal,  and making it a halfwitted vanity project on the one angle that was almost certain to NOT substantially curb illegal immigration.
 

This is contrary to the spirit of this thread because it’s a backhanded compliment, but I think the future looks a lot different now.  Once people start voting, they don’t stop.  If millennials get as engaged as it looks like they are going to, we will have an entirely different outlook on life and government far earlier than we would have otherwise. The average age of a voter might drop by a decade this year. That could have real affects — for the better imo. 

Edited October 9, 2020 by BehoId, The Underminer!

[TwiceHorn 31,510]

9 hours ago, thepop said:

It revealed the portion of the population who are shitty and should be avoided.

It did remind us vividly that we had a latent moron problem.

It's probably important from here on in to have a strategery to deal with the morons.

[tantric superman 4,667]

I like the general idea of getting rid of regulations.  Self imposed rules like "For every new regulation, we need to get rid of two or three".

The problem is, I only want us to get rid of bad regulations, or regulations that are duplicative or the cost clearly outweigh the benefits.  The failure to correctly value environmental regulations is criminal with this administration.