01-23-2017, 02:06 PM
(01-23-2017, 11:33 AM)Benton Wrote: I was reading my local paper — which is ultra-conservative — on Sunday and started laughing about halfway through. There were four articles on Trump, and in three of them the writer gave Trump or his people room to talk, and then pointed out the error of what they said. Normally, to keep the story from wandering, reporters will only contradict the info if it's pertinent to the story (for example if a story about healthcare providers has a source providing anecdotal and incorrect info on heart disease rates, the reporter usually won't waste inches to contradict the source since it's not directly related to the story).
Thanks to the POTUS's petulance with the media, that's what we've got to look forward to. Four years of his every word dissected not because it pertains to how it effects the people, but because he's dishonest and unwilling to work with the public.
A retiring lawmaker years ago said one of the most important skills (and one disappearing) for a lawmaker is explaining legislation to constituents. That's a big part of the president's job. Trump can't do that effectively if he's trying to speaking to people about healthcare or energy or tort reform, and goes off on tangents about "fake news" or how big his inauguration was.
Agreed.
And yet, like Reagan (the "great communicator" who was really just a great liar) somehow Trump's message does connect with constituents - they believe him, even when he lies, just as they lapped up Reagan's BS like it was sweet honey from the rock. Of course this has happened before under hardcore fascists like Benito and A.H. as well as fascist lights like St. Ronald here at home, so the real question comes down to what is the Trump policy agenda. And, there are rumblings that Trump's policy agenda may look in some ways more like Sanders' would have looked. Both connect to populist frustration over many real issues and Trump was until this election a life long Democrat. If he can get several leagues to the left of Bill Clinton but not as left as Sanders (I know that ain't happenin') we may have the second coming of LBJ, which while not a dream come true, probably is better than a sixth term for Reagan. (Those six terms being Reagan, Reagan, Bush, Obama, Obama, and HRC.)
JOHN ROBERTS: From time to time in the years to come, I hope you will be treated unfairly so that you will come to know the value of justice... I wish you bad luck, again, from time to time so that you will be conscious of the role of chance in life and understand that your success is not completely deserved and that the failure of others is not completely deserved either.
