It's today then ... (Trump thread)

[Chest Rockwell]

The State Department's entire senior management team resigned.

 

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/josh-rogin/wp/2017/01/26/the-state-departments-entire-senior-management-team-just-resigned/?utm_term=.c2f9557aeeb1

 

What a statement.

I've not read the article but I've seen this headline doing the rounds and it is misleading. Every time a new administration comes in, it's standard practice for all of these senior staff to submit their resignation. Then the incoming President decides which ones to accept and who to keep on. Trump has just decided not to keep any of them on.

 

So it's problematic for a different reason in that they've got no experience in their senior team. But essentially he fired them rather than them quitting. Also it's not a surprise anyway, as he said before he was going to do this.

[Onyx2]

 

The State Department's entire senior management team resigned.

 

I've not read the article but I've seen this headline doing the rounds and it is misleading. Every time a new administration comes in, it's standard practice for all of these senior staff to submit their resignation.

It's normal for the existing team to fade out gradually to shadow and handover. This exodus is unusual.

 

“It’s the single biggest simultaneous departure of institutional memory that anyone can remember, and that’s incredibly difficult to replicate,” David Wade, who served as State Department chief of staff under Kerry, told The Washington Post.

 

There should be a transition.

Edited January 26, 2017 by Onyx2

[Devon Malcolm]

Surely that's the only bit of good news in this whole debacle.

 

Not if you get paid in dollars.

[Chest Rockwell]

Sure, absolutely. But it's still disingenuous to say they resigned as some kind of statement against his administration.

 

(In reply to Onyx, obvs)

Edited January 26, 2017 by Chest Rockwell

[Thunderplex]

 

Surely that's the only bit of good news in this whole debacle.

 

 

Not if you get paid in dollars.

Ah, right. Well it's not rocketing, and I can't see it even getting near the average $1.55 for a long time.

[Guest]

I know you are, you said you are, but what am I?

[herbie747]

Wow - this is chilling:

 

https://twitter.com/ava/status/824349943775195136

[Undefeated Steak]

Trump's policies read like a Katie Hopkins column. And I don't mean that in jest, they really do.

[Guest]

I used to believe he was just trolling for bookings, like her, and never expecting to become president. Wishful thinking I suppose.

[FLips]

To someone not as clued up, why is it Trump can just pass all these bills and laws, but when a President that isn't mad is in charge, they don't pass a bunch of really good ones? Because to me, for all his massive, awful faults, he's at least coming across as someone who gets shit done. Even if that shit is actual shit and should never be done.

[Guest]

From what I've read, it's because signing executive orders is always frowned upon and previous presidents have feared the backlash of signing too many. Trump simply doesn't give a shit, and with the House and the Senate on his side, he's precious little reason to.

[BigJag]

Yep. It's scary how much actual power he seems to have gained despite being a raving lunatic. Our Prime minister is meeting with him today. She seems to have gifted him a bust of Winston Churchill.

[Sergio Mendacious]

To someone not as clued up, why is it Trump can just pass all these bills and laws, but when a President that isn't mad is in charge, they don't pass a bunch of really good ones? Because to me, for all his massive, awful faults, he's at least coming across as someone who gets shit done. Even if that shit is actual shit and should never be done.

 

They're mainly executive actions so far — it's possible for the president to issue resolutions (and memoranda, which really amount to "we'll do this/we'd like to do this," but they're just a suggestion from on high, really) on plenty of things, such as restarting the pipelines — those are reversals of orders Obama made. Some things, like the Mexico City Policy on the US approach to family planning abroad, have been batted around by administrations before, like a weird Chuckle Brothers routine — enacted by one admin, deactivated by another. The TPP executive order relates to the fact that nothing is signed into law yet — he's basically announcing that there will be no more discussion re: moving forward on it.

 

In terms of laws: Obama was able to push a lot of stuff at first, as Dems held both the house and the senate. Once the house went red in 2010, it was more of a struggle to get anything through, and that basically ground to a halt in 2014 when they lost the senate. After that, he was pushed into using his veto power (overrode once, I *think*) to stop GoP legislation, and use his "pen and phone" approach to push through executive orders. "Government by fiat!" went up the cry from all corners of the right wing... haven't heard that yet. 

 

Plenty of republicans disagree with at least parts of his agenda; Jeff Flake in the senate and Justin Amash in the house are two people who are furious at the cunt a lot of the time, for ideological reasons — I couldn't agree less with them most of the time, but I appreciate their beliefs at least. It's easy for them in a lot of ways, though — their districts would vote for a pig if you put a red ribbon on it, so they can give out against Trump. A lot of the others have to watch their backs, lest he call them out. They'd possibly end up facing a primary challenge, and in that situation, the outside candidate can often unseat the incumbent before they get the chance to defend their seat (it's not Trump related, but look up Dave Brat's giant toppling of Eric Cantor a couple of years ago).

[Sergio Mendacious]

Yep. It's scary how much actual power he seems to have gained despite being a raving lunatic. Our Prime minister is meeting with him today. She seems to have gifted him a bust of Winston Churchill.

 

Well, they had that for years — apparently, Obama had it taken out of the Oval Office and put in the residence instead, which has led to wailing and gnashing of right-wing teeth for years. Similarly, someone was blocking the view of a bust of MLK last week, and there was a brief kerfuffle over Trump maybe having moved it. His bunch are using that as a lever in their "there's no #FakeNews except for their #FakeNews" offensive.

[Chilly McFreeze]

To someone not as clued up, why is it Trump can just pass all these bills and laws, but when a President that isn't mad is in charge, they don't pass a bunch of really good ones? Because to me, for all his massive, awful faults, he's at least coming across as someone who gets shit done. Even if that shit is actual shit and should never be done.

 

Obama signed a shit load of executive orders.

 

Thing is, an executive order doesn't mean it will happen. Obama signed one to shut down Guantanamo in his early days, and that got no where.

 

For example, the order to build the wall. Just because he has ordered, doesn't mean it will happen. Congress hold the money, and they say what the money is spent on. If they don't give the money, that wall will never be built, or else he will have to find a loop hole, or get the money some other way (a 20% tax increase on Mexican Importing seems to be his preferred choice for now.)

 

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/25/us/politics/donald-trump-mexico-border-wall-congress.html

 

 

 

The president can announce whatever plans he wants. But whether the plan is “build a wall” or “close Guantánamo,” if Congress does not go along, it can amount to wishful thinking. As one Republican lawmaker said of Mr. Obama’s 2009 order on Guantánamo, “This is an executive order that places hope ahead of reality.”