What does a TRUMP presidency look like?

[FunkMonk]

Agreed.  Democrats should have clearly defined ideas, and they shouldn't be meekly apologizing for having them.  In a way they do have ideas, they're a pragmatic social-democratic party, but they sure are shy about running on that platform openly.

The post-68 Democratic party is cowardly. What is really interesting is that the era of Donald Trump has lit a fire under their collective asses and they're finally starting to find their balls.

[garbon]

Weird that you pick a time about when the Dems had finally cleared out their most obvious support for racist policies.

[Admiral Yi]

What does cowardice and bravery have to do with anything?

[Monoriu]

It breaks my heart that Trump, Obama and Teresa May won't attend Prince Harry's wedding

[Eddie Teach]

Is Pence going to be there? VP usually gets stuck with crap like that.

[Tamas]

Is Pence going to be there? VP usually gets stuck with crap like that.

Why should any other country care for this wedding? aren't there like 5 other persons in line now between Harry and the (meaningless) throne?

[celedhring]

Not related to Trump anymore, but I'll put it here. Steve Bannon has publicly backed our far right party (Vox), which so far has failed to win seats. Apparently he's looking to travel to Spain in the next few months and participate in rallies. I suppose he's going to tour Europe trying to beef up far right parties with a view on the European Parliament election in 2019.

[Grey Fox]

Is Pence going to be there? VP usually gets stuck with crap like that.

Why should any other country care for this wedding? aren't there like 5 other persons in line now between Harry and the (meaningless) throne?

Royals are awesome. Government funded entertainment!

[Valmy]

The government makes money on the deal, which is one of the reasons the monarchy has persisted.

[alfred russel]

Why doesn't get May get an invite (and probably Corbyn too)?

[jimmy olsen]

The Chamber of Commerce is now too centrist for the GOP

https://www.postandcourier.com/politics/all-republican-candidates-for-greenville-seat-in-congress-reject-u/article_66126e1a-3c5b-11e8-8d66-1354828158a6.html

All thirteen Republican candidates running to replace Congressman Trey Gowdy said Monday they would refuse to accept money or an endorsement from the pro-business U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

Several running for the seat, which covers Greenville and Spartanburg counties, proudly declared they don't expect the chamber would even offer it to them.

"The chamber generally hasn't approved of my service in the Senate, so I don't think that will be a problem," said state Sen. William Timmons, R-Greenville, during a Tea Party forum Monday night that featured all of the candidates on stage together for the first time.

"With all the op-eds I've written against the Ex-Im Bank, they probably won't offer it," said former Spartanburg GOP Chairman Josh Kimbrell, referring to the federal financing agency that has often divided Republicans in South Carolina.

"They usually spend money against me," quipped former state Sen. Lee Bright of Spartanburg, who won a straw poll of attendees after the forum concluded.

The unanimous distancing from the chamber in South Carolina's conservative 4th Congressional District served as a notable rebuke to a group that has traditionally been considered one of the leading power players in GOP politics.

The remarks further demonstrate just how far Republican candidates — particularly in a crowded GOP primary to succeed Gowdy — are going to embrace the anti-establishment approach embodied by President Donald Trump.

You are tired, hungry, and fed up with the process. For months now, you and your real estate professional have been searching for the right home, and the agent just called to hook you into yet another day of property visits.

"It's really just reflective of who votes in primaries and it's only the most committed partisans who show up and vote," said Winthrop University political scientist Scott Huffmon.

"So even if the general election is going to have a lot of moderate, pro-business Republicans, the primary is less likely to do so," he added.

On the campaign trail, Trump lambasted the U.S. Chamber as "totally controlled by the special interest groups" and part of the Washington swamp that he vowed to drain. The chamber particularly drew Trump's ire by criticizing his protectionist trade policies, which it has continued to do since he entered the White House.

"Going up against Trump or lining up with anybody who has been any less than pro-Trump is just asking to lose a few votes in an election where a few votes could make all the difference," Huffmon said.

The chamber's brand has also taken a hit among the most conservative voters in South Carolina after the state Chamber of Commerce backed an increase in the gas tax last year, arguing it was important to improve roads in order to attract new business.

While the S.C. Chamber has continued to wield significant influence in the Statehouse, the national group has increasingly become a pariah among rank-and-file conservative activists, including for its support of a pathway to citizenship for illegal immigrants.

"That puts the chamber strongly in line with the Republican Party of George W. Bush and Ronald Reagan," Huffmon said of the chamber's pro-immigration position. "But that same stance is anathema to the Republican Party now."

In recent Republican contests, the U.S. Chamber has often been pitted against the Club for Growth, another influential group that has argued the chamber is insufficiently committed to free-market, small-government principles.

The Club for Growth bested the chamber in a South Carolina race last year when Ralph Norman, whom they supported, defeated Tommy Pope, who had earned the chamber's support, in a hotly contested GOP primary runoff for the 5th Congressional District GOP nomination.

In the 2010 race for governor, the S.C. Chamber ended up backing Democrat Vincent Sheheen over Republican Nikki Haley.

U.S. Chamber spokeswoman Blair Latoff Holmes said the organization has been proud to work with Gowdy, "who has stood up for free enterprise," during his eight years in Congress.

She kept the door open for continued cooperation.

"We are hopeful that his successor continues his leadership with strong support for pro-growth policies that create jobs and increase wages in the district and across the country," she said.

[jimmy olsen]

Fascist peice of shit

https://twitter.com/civilrightsorg/status/984135758440263702

During her confirmation hearing this morning (yes, this morning – in 2018), judicial nominee Wendy Vitter refused to say whether she agreed with the result in Brown v. Board of Education

[garbon]

You are tired, hungry, and fed up with the process. For months now, you and your real estate professional have been searching for the right home, and the agent just called to hook you into yet another day of property visits.

[garbon]

http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/382867-trump-orders-officials-to-look-into-re-entering-tpp-trade-pact

Trump to explore entering Pacific trade pact he once called 'a disaster'

President Trump on Thursday instructed top administration officials to explore re-entering the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) — a trade pact he pulled the U.S. out of last year while calling it a "disaster."

Speaking after a trade meeting with Trump, Republican senators said the president told National Economic Council Director Larry Kudlow and U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer to look into joining the deal, which the 11 other nations signed in March.

"The president multiple times reaffirmed in general to all of us and looked right at Larry Kudlow and said, 'Larry, go get it done,'" Sen. Ben Sasse (R-Neb.), a vocal proponent of free trade, told reporters at the White House.

Sasse cautioned that Trump "is a guy who likes to blue-sky a lot and entertain a lot of different ideas," suggesting the president could eventually change his mind.

If the U.S. were to re-enter TPP, it would be a remarkable about-face for Trump, who repeatedly blasted the trade pact during the 2016 campaign.

During the 2016 campaign, Trump called TPP a "disaster" that is backed by "special interests who want to rape our country."

His decision to pull out of the agreement, one of his first moves as president, was blasted by Republicans who said it put the U.S. at a disadvantage to China on the global stage.

In late February, 25 Senate Republicans wrote a letter to Trump calling on him to rejoin the Pacific Rim agreement, arguing it would broadly boost the U.S. economy.

Trump told lawmakers he now believes TPP "might be easier for us to join now" because the 11 other nations are close to finalizing a deal without the United States, according to the Nebraska senator.

In early March, the 11 other nations signed the renamed Comprehensive and Progressive Trans-Pacific Partnership in Chile after spending the better part of the last year reworking the deal.

Trump's instructions come at a time when he is engaged in a roiling trade dispute with Beijing and also pushing to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement with Canada and Mexico, who are also parties to the TPP.

Before President Obama left office, advocates for the sweeping Pacific Rim deal argued that the agreement was important for the United States because it would anchor the nation in the rapidly growing Pacific region while providing a buffer against China.

Trump earlier this year opened the door to re-entering the Asia-Pacific deal if the terms were more favorable for the United States.

"I would do TPP if we were able to make a substantially better deal," Trump told CNBC during an interview at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

Trump called the Pacific Rim trade pact a "horrible deal" as written.

Besides Canada and Mexico, the members of the pact are Australia, Brunei, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam.

[Jacob]

Just came to post about this. Now Trump wants back in with the TPP: https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/trump-weighs-rejoining-trans-pacific-partnership/2018/04/12/37d59500-3e71-11e8-8d53-eba0ed2371cc_story.html?utm_term=.5452891d0711

Quote from the article I linked:

Still, it remains to be seen what exactly Trump would want to see in a new TPP, and whether the idea is just a passing fancy for the White House or a serious initiative they plan to launch.

"If it holds until this afternoon, that's a good move," remarked Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.), a free trade advocate who was not at the White House meeting.