Report Card for Donald Trump

[Eric the Green]

(12-22-2016, 01:14 PM)SomeGuy Wrote: .....I am neither Jewish, nor Christian, nor Arab, nor any combination of the 3.  I simply don't find it to be relevant to me as an American, and to be quite frank deeply resent the extent to which *some* Jewish organizations and public figures, and their evangelical counterparts, have embedded a knee-jerk support for Israel into our foreign policy.  I even have a fairly low opinion of the practice of American citizens going and serving their time in the IDF and then coming back and getting involved in public life as a journalist or what have you.  Especially when they then make an opposition to nationalism elsewhere a centerpiece of their public platform.

However, given that all of these things are, you know, things, the fact of the matter is that the US simply doesn't have that much influence over Israel's internal politics, and that Israel's politics are so right-wing because that's who the Israelis have been voting for.  The Israeli Labor Party's star has long been in eclipse, secular (Non-Russian) Ashkenazim are a waning segment of the population, and nothing has emerged to the left of center to counterbalance Likud and the various parties to its right (Israel Beiteinu, Shas, the Haredi parties).  Given the tumult in the Middle East right now, and the shifting balance of power within and among Western countries, all of the trends are going in what I'm sure you view as the wrong direction.  Sorry.

Unfortunately, Trump has appointed the most militant pro-Israeli people possible to his administration. It is more likely than not that Trump will give a green light to full support of Israel no matter what they do to the Palestinians. And this includes a dangerously-militant approach to Iran.

Quote:I've seen nothing but trial balloons and gossip to date.  So, in the absence of real data, all we can do is hope.  My only words of encouragement here are that Donald Trump is 70 years old, and is not likely to change significantly as a person.  He's built his life on borrowing money to have things built and slapping his name on them, and sleeping with a steady succession of pretty bimbos.  So, running up the deficit to build infrastructure, inflation be damned, seems like it would be right up his alley.  If the net result of his presidency is a construction boom, burgeoning inflation (with a corresponding national debt), and the news that he's been sleeping with, say, Hope Hicks or Kellyanne Conway or <insert woman here>... *shrugs* I would be content. 

Running up the national debt in the long run is the strategy of the Republican Party. The aim is to make it impossible for government to operate in the public interest or help the poor and middle class, so that oligarchs can have a free hand and don't have to pay taxes. This result will be attained when interest rates go up, so that all the tax revenue goes to pay off interest on the debt, and nothing is left over for social or educational programs or investment in new industries that would compete with the old ones that the ruling oligarchs defend. They want to keep the rest of us poor, hungry and ignorant, and running up the debt is an excellent means for them to accomplish this.





"There's a reason education SUCKS, and it's the same reason that it will never, ever, ever be fixed. It's never going to get any better, don't look for it, be happy with what you've got. Because the owners of this country don't want that. I'm talking about the REAL owners, now. The REAL owners, the BIG WEALTHY business interests that control things and make all the important decisions -- forget the politicians. The politicians are put there to give you the idea that you have freedom of choice. YOU DON'T. You have no choice. You have OWNERS. They OWN YOU. They own EVERYTHING. They own all the important land, they own and control the corporations; they've long since bought and paid for the Senate, the Congress, the State houses, the City Halls; they've got the judges in their back pockets, and they own all the big media companies so they control just about all the news and information you get to hear. They gotcha by the BALLS. They spend billions of dollars every year lobbying -- lobbying to get what they want. Well, we know what they want -- they want MORE for themselves and less for everybody else. But I'll tell you what they don't want. They DON'T want a population of citizens capable of critical thinking. They don't want well-informed, well-educated people capable of critical thinking. They're not interested in that, that doesn't help them. That's against their interests. That's right. They don't want people who are smart enough to sit around the kitchen table and figure out how badly they're getting FUCKED by system that threw them overboard 30 fuckin' years ago. They don't want that. You know what they want? They want OBEDIENT WORKERS. OBEDIENT WORKERS. People who are just smart enough to run the machines and do the paperwork, and just dumb enough to passably accept all these increasingly shittier jobs with the lower pay, the longer hours, the reduced benefits, the end of overtime, and the vanishing pension that disappears the minute you go to collect it. And now they're comin' for your SOCIAL SECURITY MONEY. They want your fuckin' retirement money. They want it BACK. So they can give it to their criminal friends on Wall Street. And you know something? They'll get it. They'll get it ALL from you sooner or later -- 'cuz they OWN this fuckin' place. It's a big CLUB. And YOU AIN'T IN IT. You and I are NOT IN the big club. By the way, it's the same big club they use to beat you over the head with all day long when they tell you what to believe. All day long, beating you over the in their media telling you what to believe -- what to think -- and what to buy. The table is tilted, folks. The game is rigged. And nobody seems to notice. Nobody seems to care. Good honest hard-workin people -- white collar, blue collar -- doesn't matter what color shirt you have on. Good honest hard-workin people CONTINUE -- these are people of modest means -- continue to elect these RICH COCKSUCKERS who don't GIVE a fuck about them. They don't give a fuck about you, they don't GIVE A FUCK ABOUT YOU. T HEY DON'T CARE ABOUT YOU -- AT ALL. AT ALL. AT ALL. You know? And nobody seems to notice, nobody seems to care ... that's what the owners count on, the fact that Americans will probably remain willfully ignorant of the big red, white and blue dick that's being jammed up their assholes every day. Because the owners of this country know the truth -- it's called the American Dream ... 'cuz you have to be asleep to believe it."