STOP ME IF YOU'VE HEARD THIS ONE BEFORE

[smilesammich 10,727]

To distract ourselves from the clown car of halfwits currently being installed into positions of authority and influence in the Executive Branch, let's take a closer look at something that received only token attention during the election: Trump's "First 100 days" agenda. At the time, given his poor performance in the polls, it seemed like a cute attempt to play President for a day. In the new un-reality it deserves a closer look. Nothing here will strike you as strange or unfamiliar, I promise.

Trump's agenda is essentially the far-right part of the Republican Party's economic platform with a smattering of populist-centrist stuff thrown in to make Trump look "different" from the standard Old Republican White Guy. What will undoubtedly happen, now that Mitch McConnell and Paul Ryan are in charge (nominally, in Ryan's case) of a chamber of Congress, is that all the folksy Populism will be a non-starter in the Capitol. The agenda will be shredded, and when the knives are put away we'll be left with – stop me if you've heard this before – big tax cuts, a partial Health Care Reform repeal (they lack the balls to get rid of the popular parts), and more big tax cuts.

The parts of the Trump agenda fall into three categories: blatantly unconstitutional, totally unrealistic, and standard GOP fare that any Republican suit would bring to the White House and has been since the 70s. Consider, for example, these populist proposals to clean up corruption:

* FIRST, propose a Constitutional Amendment to impose term limits on all members of Congress;

* SECOND, a hiring freeze on all federal employees to reduce federal workforce through attrition (exempting military, public safety, and public health);

* THIRD, a requirement that for every new federal regulation, two existing regulations must be eliminated;

* FOURTH, a 5 year-ban on White House and Congressional officials becoming lobbyists after they leave government service;

* FIFTH, a lifetime ban on White House officials lobbying on behalf of a foreign government;

* SIXTH, a complete ban on foreign lobbyists raising money for American elections.

One: good luck passing an Amendment. Two is within the president's power for some Federal agencies. Three is unconstitutional on its face and looks like a middle school kid wrote it. Four and Five, blatantly unconstitutional. Six is redundant on existing FEC rules. I'm not cherry-picking here. This is how the entire thing unfolds.

"End offshoring" with "tariffs," spend massively to improve infrastructure…yeah, Mitch McConnell is definitely going to be cool with that. School vouchers? That drum has been banged for 15 years; where is the money going to come from? Building a wall? Unless it's a chain-link fence from Menard's, show me where the money is supposed to come from. Oh, right – those big tax cuts, including slashing the corporate tax rate by more than half, are gonna generate SO MUCH revenue that the lower rate will actually result in more tax dollars. Any of this sounding familiar? If you're the kind of person who "reads books" and stops believing in theories when they're "proven not to work" you may have noticed that Supply Side Economics has a rather…dismal track record. Yet, here we go again.

Attempts at restricting immigration in some draconian fashion, at which he only hints in his agenda, are likely to be the only substantive part of the agenda aside from the tax cuts that Congress is willing to touch. Even then, Congressional Republicans are likely to trim off a lot of the crazy in a cynical effort to win back some ground with Latino voters. Then again, they may go all-in with their new demagogue. Many of them, particularly in the House, are nihilistic enough to do it.

http://www.ginandtacos.com/2016/11/13/stop-me-if-youve-heard-this-one-before/

[Dakine10 5,452]

Jimmy Kimmel does the Halloween episodes where they film kids who think all their candy is gone, and a Christmas one where they see the reaction to kids getting empty boxes. He really should consider getting one with Trump supporters around March or so. I want to see what that face looks like on adults.

[smilesammich 10,727]

Jimmy Kimmel does the Halloween episodes where they film kids who think all their candy is gone, and a Christmas one where they see the reaction to kids getting empty boxes. He really should consider getting one with Trump supporters around March or so. I want to see what that face looks like on adults.

maybe kimmel should cover all the post-campaign campaign rallies that trump would like to continue. will be entertaining, i'm sure.

[The Nature Boy 7,659]

One of my favorite songs

[smilesammich 10,727]

One of my favorite songs

really? we can be friends.

[The Nature Boy 7,659]

really? we can be friends.

I thought we were. Butt hurt now ?

[smilesammich 10,727]

I thought we were. Butt hurt now ?

if you're trying to manipulate my emotions by feigning affection for the smiths, i am butt hurt as well. and you know what happens to snowflakes when they cry.

[The Nature Boy 7,659]

if you're trying to manipulate my emotions by feigning affection for the smiths, i am butt hurt as well. and you know what happens to snowflakes when they cry.

I dated a little hippie Athens ga REM moonbat back in the day. Turned me on to them

[smilesammich 10,727]

I dated a little hippie Athens ga REM moonbat back in the day. Turned me on to them

oooh. rem is another good one.

[The Nature Boy 7,659]

oooh. rem is another good one.

A friend turned me onto this. Bad A all the way.... Very appropriate

Edited November 16, 2016 by Nature Boy Flair

[smilesammich 10,727]

i prefer the original on that one..

[Voice of Reason 10,298]

Why wait til next year? He could do one right now with all the "adults" bemoaning Trump's victory. The faces are already there for you to see, just gotta look around.

Jimmy Kimmel does the Halloween episodes where they film kids who think all their candy is gone, and a Christmas one where they see the reaction to kids getting empty boxes. He really should consider getting one with Trump supporters around March or so. I want to see what that face looks like on adults.

[Dakine10 5,452]

Why wait til next year? He could do one right now with all the "adults" bemoaning Trump's victory. The faces are already there for you to see, just gotta look around.

Apparently you've never seen one of the episodes. That's OK. You can't force it. February or March. Stay tuned.

[smilesammich 10,727]

Why wait til next year? He could do one right now with all the "adults" bemoaning Trump's victory. The faces are already there for you to see, just gotta look around.

we've progressed from bemoaning, those who are paying attention are currently rubber necking the disaster that is the trump team. it seems they did zero preparation for the job they campaigned for. Edited November 16, 2016 by smilesammich

[eieio 1,594]

it seems they did zero preparation for the job they campaigned for.

Kind of like "He has no ground game"?