Category Archives: Trump
Obama Turns Over National Security Apparatus Keys
The Daily Beast is alarmed by the massive national security apparatus The President is turning over to The Donald. It kills by drone and fights wars without congressional approval.
Whenever George W. Bush started a war he made sure to to pack a Congressional resolution. President Obama, not so much.
Obama ended “torture” of enemy combatants. Instead he blows them up by drone. Even American citizens make the hit list.
He also engineered a nuke treaty with Iran without Senate approval. He simply deemed it not a treaty.
Now all that power is in the tiny hands of President-elect Trump.
National Security Apparatus
Here’s Jameel Jaffer, the director of the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University:
“Many Americans were willing to invest broad power in the presidency because they trusted the president. But obviously the powers that we invest outlast any particular president, and now those powers are available to Trump.”
Oh.
Trump Binding Wounds
Donald Trump was gracious in his acceptance speech. He called on the country to bind it’s wounds.
Binding Wounds
So, the president-elect got busy binding wounds of his own party by inviting Reince Priebus to join him onstage.
Until last night plenty of people thought he would kill his adopted party. On October 9 Ezra Kline at Vox wrote, “Trump doesn’t give a damn about what the Republican Party needs.” And that he’s willing to destroy the party for a chance to win.
Yet, as of early this morning, Republicans control the House, the Senate, the majority of states, and the White House.
Election Day Known Unknown
Maureen Dowd and the Wall Street Journal editorial page both agree this election is a race between a known and an unknown. So it must be an idea worth stealing. Or as Rumsfeld would say a known known vs. a known unknown.
Known Unknown
Here’s the WSJ:
The choice comes down to the very high, if relatively predictable, costs of four more years of brute progressive government under Hillary Clinton versus a gamble on the political unknown of Donald Trump.
And Maureen Dowd:
The problem with Donald Trump is: We don’t know which of the characters he has created he would bring to the Oval Office
The trouble with Hillary Clinton is: We do know. Nobody gets less paranoid in the White House.
Ruling Class
Thomas Frank has a great little essay in the Guardian about how the ruling class works. The details are emerging from John Podesta’s WikiLeaks. He sits at the head of the ruling class and is asked for favors and jobs by other members of the elite group.
Ruling Class In-Group
CNN expelled Donna Brazile for slipping debate questions to classmate Hillary Clinton. Brazile is acting chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee. That’s because she replaced another classmate, Debbie Wasserman Schultz. Schultz didn’t work well with others – especially Bernie Sanders.
Bernie, like The Donald, isn’t part of the in-group.
Election Day Shower Forecast
Hillary’s under FBI investigation again thanks to Anthony Weiner. And now The Donald is really yuge. Time for a shower.
