As much fun as that would've been, that meme was actually fake. He's been talking about running for President since the 90s and even back then he was saying he's a registered Republican but talked more like he was considering running as an independent. I don't think his earlier days as a Democrat mean all that much. People's minds change. It would be far from the first time someone got old and richer (and watched twenty years of Fox) and switched to being a Republican.
I believed in a lot of nutty things when I was six years old, but even then I knew not to dare look at an eclipse of the sun. He's a comedian's wet dream for material. If every fuck up he had was a cinder block, you could build a clone of the Brussels Palace Of Justice with them.
Funny as my aunt and uncle were just in town and they were the family's resident super libs growing up, they haven't changed, except for doing super well for themselves. They make north of 300k a year and sure as fuck take every advantage they can so they can leave the most they can for their kids and grandkids. It's the richer, business owners, that ruin the communities by taking advantage of tax loopholes according to them. They're innocent working class folks that just do well because they have advanced degrees. Theyve been looking into getting a vacation home in Ireland. It's funny watching people holding to their principles when it directly effects them.
Well, it's good to see a shake-up in the status quo in Afghanistan is coming. I'm glad more control is going back to the commanders in Afghanistan, I'm hoping that there are serious changes along the border with Pakistan.....mostly meaning that we force Pakistan to strangle out ISI support for the Taliban and actually fight the Taliban on their side of the border. Additionally, it appears that we are going to start showing the Afghan government some tough love and they will need to start being more effective or otherwise......something will happen? I really wish we would just rip the band aid off at this point. It's been 17 years, nothing we do or could have done will change the reality on the ground there, everyday we are there fighting, we are just delaying the inevitable.
Serious question, what are we still doing there? It's covered so little these days I thought we had reduced down to a token force like we did in Iraq? We just peace keepers at this point and it'll turn right back to the Taliban if we left?
The taliban really have no place to go. Our mission there is basically endless. We can try to kill them all but it's not really possible and probably not worth it.
Short Answer: It is more efficient to fight the Taliban over there then it is to fight them over here. Long Answer: By having an active peacekeeping force in a place like Afghanistan the people who are lured in by whatever Al-Qaeda and the Taliban are offering will go there to fight America instead of trying to make it to American soil. The secondary benefit is that America gets justification to have a lot of military equipment right beside Iran, Pakistan, India, China, and the remaining -stan countries.
I thought ISIS up-ended the "roach motel" strategy, as did the Syria insurgency. In other words, for your average jihadi looking to kill yankees, Afghanistan was a good place to go until right around the Arab Spring, then you could pick from Syria, Isis-controlled territory, or hell...Egypt? Another serious question: Why in the fuck is Trump holding rallies? I get how useful they are leading up to an election, but what do they accomplish for him?
Probably ego. He wants to see that he still has idiots who believe in him, and to receive applause when he bitches about the media blasting him for Charlottesville when really all they did was point a fucking camera at him while his mouth was moving.
Since Obama ushered in the era of constant campaigning/fund raising, would you expect any different from any president going forward? I think Crown is spot on too, he likes one sided debate, he wants to hear himself talk while he receives the opposite of the criticism he'd get facing the media.
Right, but...is Trump fundraising? I mean, I don't see these rallies gathering him actual political support, more of just a forum that allows him more than 140 characters.
Im not saying it's some genius strategy, or intentional beyond ego stroking for him, but it is maintaining the only real political capital he has at this point. The diehard support of his true believers.
It feels like his survival depends on his ability to stay in the headlines, not actually doing the job. He knows (as most Republicans have figured out) that actually dismantling the government the way they claim is outrageously unpopular. So, doing some of the things he promised would crush his base (see: the repeal of Obamacare). Also, in the event of his official demise, he can sort of be a martyr, unfairly targeted by (insert blame target here), and his rallies somewhat defend him from that. A healthy chunk of the population voted for and still support him, and will be very vocal (and will hold grudges) about his removal from office. That's MY read on this, but I don't think Trump is that savvy, and with Bannon out of his ear, his media, PR & communications strategy will only be more directionless.
Trump pardons Arpaio As if it wasn't clear enough that Trump gives not one shit for the good of the country.
I honestly wonder if he's thinking he's doing something good that people will recognize as such, or if he's just fucking clueless. I'd really like to know what his motivation for this is.
Aside from whatever-feeds-his-narcissism, the only reliable political stance he has had has been being rabidly anti-immigrant. His base absolutely eats it up. Arpaio was anti-immigrant (like... "convicted in federal court" level anti-immigrant), and thus Trump thinks he should be able to do whatever he wants towards that end. Trump has no concept of the rule of law, due process, or horrible-god-awful-precedent.