Trump Thread

[Montmorency]

There was a point in time where I thought the long game, 4d chess narrative had some merit to it. I no longer think this is the case. Trump was an outsider candidate who had to surround himself with outsiders in the GOP tent. He has essentially ousted the traditional GOP people and has doubled down on pandering to his nativist base (cue him hugging the flag yesterday). I don't think there is really much more to it than that.

I think these people have power and are simply willing to inflict pain. Their bumbling implementation of these policies is proof of that. I don't think Miller is particularly smart or capable. I think Miller has simply seized the levers of power. I would caution against conflating this and some type of long term plan.

Of course this does not make anything they are doing any better or not horrible. It does however underwrite the need for direct action. A congress that could get it's shit together could put a clamp on these mouth breathers in pretty short order. The executive branch doesn't have a plan or a legal basis for what they do (See all the travel ban).

I agree, but I should lay some distinctions.

1. Trump does not have principles, but he does have instincts.
2. Bannon, Miller, and others in and out of the admin evidently do have some sort of "plan", or better put, an agenda. Even something as simple as a series of broad steps or sequence of policy or social outcomes. To say they have an agenda is certainly not to say that they are geniuses or masterminds, or that everything has been charted beforehand.

The northern triangle is a disaster and this is a refugee crisis. It is a moral imperative to help these people.

Every economic and social reform we envision for Latin America depends on the decline of cartel violence as a prerequisite. We set three policy areas that have empowered and continue to empower cartels:

1. War on Drugs
2. Firearms proliferation
3. Restrictive immigration and border control policy.

What are the three pillars of cartel revenue and activity?

1. Drug trafficking
2. Arms trafficking
3. People trafficking

Our policies are what created the Central American refugee crisis, what plunged some of the safest and coziest countries on the planet into the most violent warzones within just one decade.

We owe reform to ourselves, to the people of the Americas, and to the World.

Cruzs bill is only there so Beto does not outflank him on this issue. This is extremely unpopular in Texas and the kind of thing that could cause Cruz to lose his seat. Call me cynical.

Cruz' proposal is so narrowly and marginally preferable to both the status quo and Trump's extension of it, he should switch parties.

The GOP has always been closer to my preferred 'government at the lowest level practicable' approach...but all too often in words only.

So shouldn't you be one of those "vote Republican local, vote Democratic national" types?