The Next US President is....

[Frenchy]

Yes. The "promised" second term has acted as a check on his behavior. When it arrives it will be his "pay day". He will make sure he is adequately compensated for his "service". The Orange Marcos is coming.

... then if Melania spends as much on shoes and dresses as Imelda did, it will be good for French fashion houses!

 

[Frenchy]

I dont think you can so easily say Obama was any less or more effective or productive than any other President. Off the top of my head many people mostly correctly credit him with:
- cutting the unemployment rate from around ten percent to about half over his tenure
- pushed through the affordable cate act which provided health insurance to over 20 million uninsured people
- ended the war in Iraq
- ordered the killing of Osama Bin Laden
- passed the 800 billion $ actot to restart the economy
- pushed hard for gay marriage and other gay rights
- let a lot of drug offenders out of jail
- bailed out the auto industry
- supported a lot of efforts to get the US on the path to clean energy independance
- started to pull troops out of afghanistan
- reversed torture policies
- normalized Cuba relations
- did the Iran Nuke deal
- brought class and elegance into the White House
- gave a lot of POC hope and confidence

My point is not that he was a great President, but only that history will show that he actually got quite a bit done in spite of the fact that it was under his Presidency that the long history of pragmatic compromise across parties and between the Congress, Senate and White House came to a grinding halt. His fault? I dont know. But he was the guy in charge at the time.

I think Joe Public will vote for Joe Biden, but not because of some fact-based accounting of what Trump has done or not done, but because they know he is a disgusting sad sack of a human being. Conservative, white working class Americans have had a very hard time overlooking his racism, sexism, arroogance and lack of decency.

... and yet he could still win , because the vote of a Joe Public in Alabama and such is worth more than the vote of a Joe Public in California or New-York.
And Justice For All....

 

[warubuta]

... and yet he could still win , because the vote of a Joe Public in Alabama and such is worth more than the vote of a Joe Public in California or New-York.
And Justice For All....

Yup. And the other thing is that even if Joe or Bernie wins, he will have a very weak mandate: "I didnt vote for Joe/Bernie, I vioted against Trump"

 

[TheScientist]

- ended the war in Iraq

Uh...

- bailed out the auto industry

A few other presidents have had to do that as well.

- did the Iran Nuke deal

Not an achievement. Didn't work as planned but the plan was written with rose colored ink anyway.

at the expense of Clinton’s message.

"Basket of deplorables"? That message?

The coastal elites and Dems deserve another 4 years of Trump as punishment for ignoring half the country for all of those years.

This much we can agree on.

 

[MikeH]

So either the world is not so sure about the current Stable Genius captain’s ability to deal with choppy waters (my take) or they’re afraid of the potential new captain, or both

I don't care which one, I just hope the Bank of Japan shits their pants and intervene. Because I bought dollar today.

 

[Durg50]

Yup. And the other thing is that even if Joe or Bernie wins, he will have a very weak mandate: "I didnt vote for Joe/Bernie, I vioted against Trump"

Yeah im confused as to why Warren didnt get much support. From what Ive seen of her, she’s much more intelligent and like-able than all the other candidates.

 

[RandomTokyoGuy]

Yeah im confused as to why Warren didnt get much support. From what Ive seen of her, she’s much more intelligent and like-able than all the other candidates.

Tells you something about the Americans, doesn't it?

Apparently she is too intelligent and informed about various topics (doesn't mean I share her positions), making it difficult later to just put some advisors by her side.

 

[MossBoss]

Yeah im confused as to why Warren didnt get much support. From what Ive seen of her, she’s much more intelligent and like-able than all the other candidates.

You have probably only seen her in small doses. She comes across as a hectoring academic who talks down to the masses. She doesn’t have popular appeal.

 

[MossBoss]

Is Colonel Sanders still going to wipe off the trillions in student debt? The millionaire lawyers and doctors will appreciate it at least.

The main losers from this policy will be the working class students who worked their way through college to keep down their debt. And blue collar workers who will be taxed more to pay for the middle classes to send their kids to college.

 

[Ken1988]

Theres sthg weird going on with the USD/JPY . It drops faster than the EUR/JPY (Euro, this currency of weaklings , members of a failed union bla bla bla). Normally in times of crisis USD is a shelter (less so than JPY, but more than EUR).
So either the world is not so sure about the current Stable Genius captain’s ability to deal with choppy waters (my take) or they’re afraid of the potential new captain, or both

It's just because so many traders had been selling yen forward. They were triggered to close their shorts in yen. USD will bounce back against JPY soon whoever POTUS is.

 

[Frenchy]

It's just because so many traders had been selling yen forward. They were triggered to close their shorts in yen. USD will bounce back against JPY soon whoever POTUS is.

Yes, hopefully

 

[warubuta]

Is Colonel Sanders still going to wipe off the trillions in student debt? The millionaire lawyers and doctors will appreciate it at least.

The main losers from this policy will be the working class students who worked their way through college to keep down their debt. And blue collar workers who will be taxed more to pay for the middle classes to send their kids to college.

I think the plan is to tax the rich more. At least comparatively more anyway. And if the middle class has to pay a bit more to clear the debts, remember it is the kids of the middle class who hold the debt anyway. Rich kids paid cash. Regardless, college costs have risen faster in the passed 25 years than just about anything else. And there is no justifcation for it. There has been almost no innovation in the education sector. Its the same thing, just more expensive. Lets get the debts cleared and force the costs down. We should also push for more measurement of quality and disclosure of results. 80% of US colleges pretty much suck. Not true in Canada, UK, Australia and other countries where the mean quality is much higher, and the price much lower.

 

[warubuta]

Yeah im confused as to why Warren didnt get much support. From what Ive seen of her, she’s much more intelligent and like-able than all the other candidates.

I liked her earlier when she was making the Wall streeters squirm. But lately she seems to have become a whining bitch. Brings out my inner-Clint: Nag, nag, nag.

 

[namae]

POTUS being POTUS.

https://www.newyorker.com/news/letter-from-trumps-washington/a-president-unequal-to-the-moment

It will be interesting to see how Corona plays out and what impact it has on Trumps re-election. At the moment, I think he is a position to paint himself as the saviour and claim "I told you so", but if things go all "Italy" on him and the panic levels max out, then he may be in trouble.

 

[Sudsy]

POTUS being POTUS.

https://www.newyorker.com/news/letter-from-trumps-washington/a-president-unequal-to-the-moment

It will be interesting to see how Corona plays out and what impact it has on Trumps re-election. At the moment, I think he is a position to paint himself as the saviour and claim "I told you so", but if things go all "Italy" on him and the panic levels max out, then he may be in trouble.

Or if he actually catches it, he’s in the high fatality age bracket.

 

[Keihan]

Or if he actually catches it, he’s in the high fatality age bracket.

If I've learned only one thing in current politics (and I say this as someone who played a national titled role in trying to stop him from getting the GOP nomination) it's this: Only The Donald can stop The Donald.

Take a look at the desperate media's focus now. Trump's neglecting the virus! Trump's not doing his job! Trump dropped the ball! Trump is a national danger! Trump will end the world! It will fail and fail predictably and miserably, just like RUSSIA!! and COLLUSION!! and then OBSTRUCTION!! and then ABUSE OF POWER!! and then IMPEACH!! and then RUSSIA!! again and now HE STARTED THE OUTBREAK!! I didn't vote for the guy but this is seriously pathetic and all it's going to do is basically guarantee his re-election. I mean, the impeachment bullshit already guaranteed another 4 years but this is just icing on the cake.

The pandemic is going to wind down as summer kicks in and all the while Trump will be on TV and Twitter bragging about his administration and taking credit for it. True or not, he's going to come out on top, as he always does, and only because his opposition is just so useless and misguided and moronic. Democrats had three years to come up with a challenger and the best they've got are two geriatric, decrepit old white men where one's a deranged communist and the other can't even remember his name or what office he's running for.

But look on the bright side. At least SNL will have plenty of material. They should bring back Darryl Hammond to play Trump and fire Alec Baldwin. Hammond's skits were pure genius.

 

[RandomTokyoGuy]

I think as much credit Donald might want to take for when the spread is contained (if he survives ... As @Sudsy pointed out, there are chances for a different outcome), the economy is going to crash so hard and the US has literally no social safety net, that people won't care. It's not Donald who stopped the Virus, but Donald who failed to stop it from coming to the US.
You can maybe postpone buying a new car, electronics etc., but all the business that rely on continuous usage like restaurants/entertainment, hairdressers etc., the money they don't make during the outbreak is lost and won't get recovered, when there is a vaccine.
This year will be economically though on many people and Trump will have to pull off a really good PR stunt to not get credit for this. Especially since he was so smart to dissolve the unit that was tasked with taking care of exactly the situations we have now.

 

[Keihan]

I think as much credit Donald might want to take for when the spread is contained (if he survives ... As @Sudsy pointed out, there are chances for a different outcome), the economy is going to crash so hard and the US has literally no social safety net, that people won't care. It's not Donald who stopped the Virus, but Donald who failed to stop it from coming to the US.
You can maybe postpone buying a new car, electronics etc., but all the business that rely on continuous usage like restaurants/entertainment, hairdressers etc., the money they don't make during the outbreak is lost and won't get recovered, when there is a vaccine.
This year will be economically though on many people and Trump will have to pull off a really good PR stunt to not get credit for this. Especially since he was so smart to dissolve the unit that was tasked with taking care of exactly the situations we have now.

At the end of the day, it's going to come down to who people blame as the genesis of the coronavirus. We all know that's the Chinese. And Trump is doing a very effective job at labeling this a Chinese invention (now calling it "The Wuhan Virus"). Try as they might, Democrats and their partners in the media won't be able to focus blame on "mishandling" of the virus as by April the entire world is going to obviously have "mishandled" the virus and the pandemic will transcend individual governments. People will naturally focus on where this plague came from, and once again, it came from China. They'll get the blame for this.

I may not be the best political operator but I like to think I'm pretty good at what I do. What Trump will focus on is the economy HE BUILT before those filthy communists unleashed their current plague on the world, meaning the strongest stock market in the history of the American stock market and record economic numbers and lowest unemployment and minority unemployment in 60 years. And he'll be pitching these themes in June or July when the pandemic will inevitably be dying off and the market is recovering and the general population will be so relieved and ecstatic to have toilet paper and canned goods again that they'll have zero tolerance for the typical Democrat partisan whining. The country will be in healing mode, and when in healing mode, desperate wailing and shrieking of "TRUMP IS DESTROYING THE WORLD!!!" just isn't going to play well any more, although you can bet the Democrats will try it. And by that point, Joe Biden--who is obviously mentally ill-- will have been ordained the 2020 nominee and will probably be so fucking demented that his handlers may not even allow him onto the debate stage with The Donald.

There are but a few inevitable truths here. This "PANDEMIC" isn't the windfall the Democrats hope it will be. The world will get over it, and probably before summer is over. The Dow Jones will come roaring back to +30k. Joe Biden's family will probably force him to quit this campaign and go into a nursing home where he belongs. Hillary will get called up from the bench, only to lose by an even bigger margin than last time. Donald Trump will spend the next four years bragging on Twitter about saving the world from the pandemic, being the only President in history to be impeached and re-elected and also being "amazing, wonderful, the greatest, believe me, that I can tell you."

Just be ready for four more years.

 

[namae]

Or if he actually catches it, he’s in the high fatality age bracket.

I think he has been trying to catch it ........ not a suitable host it seems.

I could see him "dying" in a hospital bed. Playing the cameras everyday .... still running the show, staying with his ship, a leader, a patriot....and recovering of course.

 

[Frenchy]

At the end of the day, it's going to come down to who people blame as the genesis of the coronavirus. We all know that's the Chinese. And Trump is doing a very effective job at labeling this a Chinese invention (now calling it "The Wuhan Virus"). Try as they might, Democrats and their partners in the media won't be able to focus blame on "mishandling" of the virus as by April the entire world is going to obviously have "mishandled" the virus and the pandemic will transcend individual governments. People will naturally focus on where this plague came from, and once again, it came from China. They'll get the blame for this.

I may not be the best political operator but I like to think I'm pretty good at what I do. What Trump will focus on is the economy HE BUILT before those filthy communists unleashed their current plague on the world, meaning the strongest stock market in the history of the American stock market and record economic numbers and lowest unemployment and minority unemployment in 60 years. And he'll be pitching these themes in June or July when the pandemic will inevitably be dying off and the market is recovering and the general population will be so relieved and ecstatic to have toilet paper and canned goods again that they'll have zero tolerance for the typical Democrat partisan whining. The country will be in healing mode, and when in healing mode, desperate wailing and shrieking of "TRUMP IS DESTROYING THE WORLD!!!" just isn't going to play well any more, although you can bet the Democrats will try it. And by that point, Joe Biden--who is obviously mentally ill-- will have been ordained the 2020 nominee and will probably be so fucking demented that his handlers may not even allow him onto the debate stage with The Donald.

There are but a few inevitable truths here. This "PANDEMIC" isn't the windfall the Democrats hope it will be. The world will get over it, and probably before summer is over. The Dow Jones will come roaring back to +30k. Joe Biden's family will probably force him to quit this campaign and go into a nursing home where he belongs. Hillary will get called up from the bench, only to lose by an even bigger margin than last time. Donald Trump will spend the next four years bragging on Twitter about saving the world from the pandemic, being the only President in history to be impeached and re-elected and also being "amazing, wonderful, the greatest, believe me, that I can tell you."

Just be ready for four more years.

its not so much about what he did or didn’t do ... frankly all governments worldwide have only a few options which are all not great , at this stage

its about his communication so far .
You can’t deny that even by his own standards it has been all over the place , and it showed

 

[Keihan]

its not so much about what he did or didn’t do ... frankly all governments worldwide have only a few options which are all not great , at this stage

its about his communication so far .
You can’t deny that even by his own standards it has been all over the place , and it showed

Obviously the guy wasn't prepared for this level of pandemic because he's an egomaniacal optimist--he always looks on the bright side because things have always gone his way. So by his standards, I would say his messaging was very much predictable: "This is no problem, we're the greatest nation on earth, this will be no problem, believe me, that I can tell you," then went to "We're prepared like no nation one earth, we've got the greatest economy in history, believe me, that I can tell you," and when the inevitable outbreak finally arrived and tanked our stock market it become "We're going to destroy this thing, wipe it out, wipe it off the face of the planet, we're the greatest country on earth, and then our economy is going to be booming greater than ever, believe me, that I can tell you."

If anything, I give the guy credit for actually admitting, finally, that this is a crisis. I wasn't sure he was capable of doing that. However, I definitely do not agree with his "MASSIVE, IMMEDIATE" response when stories began to break coming out of China. We all know how this story goes from past experiences with the Middle Kingdom and its history of filth and plagues. The Donald brags that he shut down travel with China within three weeks. I would've demanded it in the first week. And I would've demanded a total, absolute shut-down of all travel into the U.S. from any Asian country, and that includes American citizens abroad. By the following week I would've banned all international flights and vessels from entering the country, period.

Now, due to the nature of geopolitics that's simply not possible. No leader is going to court international outrage. But had we done that, the U.S., at least, wouldn't be where it is today.

As far as I'm concerned, if catching the virus is inevitable then I've got more than enough vodka, lime sparkling water and fine Dominican, Nicaraguan and Cuban cigars for my extended exile at home. Moreover, I'm in fucking love with this bullshit "stimulus" package that both Republicans and Democrats seem to be in favor of, with (Shit)t Romney proposing giving every American citizen $1,000 to go buy shit and stimulate the economy. Free money? Yes, I can. I'm gonna blow my government check on fine white wines and fancy California Zinfandels, cheeses, Italian meat trays, Moet, Rocky Patel cigars, expensive dark chocolates and a premier membership on Pornhub. Then I can spend my three weeks quarantine propped up at my computer desk, wrapped in a comforter, shivering and shaking and aching and feverishly masturbating until the pretty nurse in hazmat suit comes by to take my anal temperature and give me the all-clear to follow her home.

 

[Frenchy]

Obviously the guy wasn't prepared for this level of pandemic because he's an egomaniacal optimist--he always looks on the bright side because things have always gone his way. So by his standards, I would say his messaging was very much predictable: "This is no problem, we're the greatest nation on earth, this will be no problem, believe me, that I can tell you," then went to "We're prepared like no nation one earth, we've got the greatest economy in history, believe me, that I can tell you," and when the inevitable outbreak finally arrived and tanked our stock market it become "We're going to destroy this thing, wipe it out, wipe it off the face of the planet, we're the greatest country on earth, and then our economy is going to be booming greater than ever, believe me, that I can tell you."

If anything, I give the guy credit for actually admitting, finally, that this is a crisis. I wasn't sure he was capable of doing that. However, I definitely do not agree with his "MASSIVE, IMMEDIATE" response when stories began to break coming out of China. We all know how this story goes from past experiences with the Middle Kingdom and its history of filth and plagues. The Donald brags that he shut down travel with China within three weeks. I would've demanded it in the first week. And I would've demanded a total, absolute shut-down of all travel into the U.S. from any Asian country, and that includes American citizens abroad. By the following week I would've banned all international flights and vessels from entering the country, period.

Now, due to the nature of geopolitics that's simply not possible. No leader is going to court international outrage. But had we done that, the U.S., at least, wouldn't be where it is today.

As far as I'm concerned, if catching the virus is inevitable then I've got more than enough vodka, lime sparkling water and fine Dominican, Nicaraguan and Cuban cigars for my extended exile at home. Moreover, I'm in fucking love with this bullshit "stimulus" package that both Republicans and Democrats seem to be in favor of, with (Shit)t Romney proposing giving every American citizen $1,000 to go buy shit and stimulate the economy. Free money? Yes, I can. I'm gonna blow my government check on fine white wines and fancy California Zinfandels, cheeses, Italian meat trays, Moet, Rocky Patel cigars, expensive dark chocolates and a premier membership on Pornhub. Then I can spend my three weeks quarantine propped up at my computer desk, wrapped in a comforter, shivering and shaking and aching and feverishly masturbating until the pretty nurse in hazmat suit comes by to take my anal temperature and give me the all-clear to follow her home.

yeah... maybe YOU should be the President

 

[RandomTokyoGuy]

Obviously the guy wasn't prepared for this level of pandemic because he's an egomaniacal optimist--he always looks on the bright side because things have always gone his way. So by his standards, I would say his messaging was very much predictable: "This is no problem, we're the greatest nation on earth, this will be no problem, believe me, that I can tell you," then went to "We're prepared like no nation one earth, we've got the greatest economy in history, believe me, that I can tell you," and when the inevitable outbreak finally arrived and tanked our stock market it become "We're going to destroy this thing, wipe it out, wipe it off the face of the planet, we're the greatest country on earth, and then our economy is going to be booming greater than ever, believe me, that I can tell you."

If anything, I give the guy credit for actually admitting, finally, that this is a crisis. I wasn't sure he was capable of doing that. However, I definitely do not agree with his "MASSIVE, IMMEDIATE" response when stories began to break coming out of China. We all know how this story goes from past experiences with the Middle Kingdom and its history of filth and plagues. The Donald brags that he shut down travel with China within three weeks. I would've demanded it in the first week. And I would've demanded a total, absolute shut-down of all travel into the U.S. from any Asian country, and that includes American citizens abroad. By the following week I would've banned all international flights and vessels from entering the country, period.

Now, due to the nature of geopolitics that's simply not possible. No leader is going to court international outrage. But had we done that, the U.S., at least, wouldn't be where it is today.

As far as I'm concerned, if catching the virus is inevitable then I've got more than enough vodka, lime sparkling water and fine Dominican, Nicaraguan and Cuban cigars for my extended exile at home. Moreover, I'm in fucking love with this bullshit "stimulus" package that both Republicans and Democrats seem to be in favor of, with (Shit)t Romney proposing giving every American citizen $1,000 to go buy shit and stimulate the economy. Free money? Yes, I can. I'm gonna blow my government check on fine white wines and fancy California Zinfandels, cheeses, Italian meat trays, Moet, Rocky Patel cigars, expensive dark chocolates and a premier membership on Pornhub. Then I can spend my three weeks quarantine propped up at my computer desk, wrapped in a comforter, shivering and shaking and aching and feverishly masturbating until the pretty nurse in hazmat suit comes by to take my anal temperature and give me the all-clear to follow her home.

For the peace of your mind, Germany is still flying in Corona cases from Iran without any control. Probably the last country in the world to do so. All you have to do is to register upon arrival as of where you going. There is always someone to make the Donal look as if he wasn't the dumbest person in the world.

 

[AMcguyver]

But look on the bright side. At least SNL will have plenty of material. They should bring back Darryl Hammond to play Trump and fire Alec Baldwin. Hammond's skits were pure genius.

That's the one good thing about Trump, he's a comedy goldmine. Too bad Robin Williams and George Carlin are no longer with us.

 

[Keihan]

For the peace of your mind, Germany is still flying in Corona cases from Iran without any control. Probably the last country in the world to do so. All you have to do is to register upon arrival as of where you going. There is always someone to make the Donal look as if he wasn't the dumbest person in the world.

Well, historically speaking...Germans aren't exactly known for their sound reasoning and rational sensibilities. Then again, the local government here is still welcoming in South Koreans by the buttload so it's hard to pretend we're any smarter.