What does a TRUMP presidency look like?

[Monoriu]

More fun is the new UN rep...who once cited D-Day as evidence of strong US-German relations. 

I looked this up.  It is true

[Valmy]

Well they haven't gotten worse since that day at least.

[Eddie Teach]

Well they haven't gotten worse since that day at least.

I think they got worse when we saw the camps.

[HisMajestyBOB]

More fun is the new UN rep...who once cited D-Day as evidence of strong US-German relations. 

Well, we did have very strong feelings towards the other...

[Solmyr]

Hopefully, Trump will decide that the way to improve relations with Europe is a new Marshal Plan and not a new D-Day.

[garbon]

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/dec/08/john-kelly-trump-white-house-chief-of-staff

John Kelly to leave as Trump White House chief of staff at end of year

[mongers]

Hopefully, Trump will decide that the way to improve relations with Europe is a new Marshal Plan and not a new D-Day.

Do you think he'd give up on an operation specifically made after himself? 

[mongers]

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/dec/08/john-kelly-trump-white-house-chief-of-staff

John Kelly to leave as Trump White House chief of staff at end of year

Who will stop him pressing the button now?

[Syt]

Not only Trump, but GOP in general:
https://www.propublica.org/article/how-the-irs-was-gutted?utm_content=bufferda01e&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter&utm_campaign=buffer

An eight-year campaign to slash the agency's budget has left it understaffed, hamstrung and operating with archaic equipment. The result: billions less to fund the government. That's good news for corporations and the wealthy.

[Valmy]

See that is the thing. I support the idea of a smaller and leaner government that operates at the level closest to the people as possible. What I do not particularly like, and this has been going on since the Dubya days, is intentionally just running everything in the ground and letting corruption flourish through mismanagement and neglect. The idea is to be more efficient and effective, not less.

[Tamas]

See that is the thing. I support the idea of a smaller and leaner government that operates at the level closest to the people as possible. What I do not particularly like, and this has been going on since the Dubya days, is intentionally just running everything in the ground and letting corruption flourish through mismanagement and neglect. The idea is to be more efficient and effective, not less.

Letting it run into the ground and stealing what you can in the meantime is drastically less effort, though.

[Tonitrus]

I dunno I buy this idea that "if the IRS were only better funded, they'd squeeze more dough out of those evil fat cats!!!11".  That is similar to saying that better funding police agencies more will mean they'll more likely bring down the top echelons of drug cartels and organized crime. 

No...they'll more likely still be lazy and go after the easy targets and low-hanging fruit of mostly ignorant, regular taxpayers, who don't know accounting tricks nor will hire experts/lawyers (or the crime equivalent of drug users/street pushers/prostitutes).

[Syt]

I dunno I buy this idea that "if the IRS were only better funded, they'd squeeze more dough out of those evil fat cats!!!11".  That is similar to saying that better funding police agencies more will mean they'll more likely bring down the top echelons of drug cartels and organized crime. 

No...they'll more likely still be lazy and go after the easy targets and low-hanging fruit of mostly ignorant, regular taxpayers, who don't know accounting tricks nor will hire experts/lawyers (or the crime equivalent of drug users/street pushers/prostitutes).

The article has a graph that shows that the top 1% (drop from 8 to 2.5%), and 200k-500k incomes (drop from 2.7 to 0.7%) get audited significantly less 2017 vs 2011, compared to bottom 36% (drop from 1.2 to 0.7%).

[Valmy]

I dunno I buy this idea that "if the IRS were only better funded, they'd squeeze more dough out of those evil fat cats!!!11".  That is similar to saying that better funding police agencies more will mean they'll more likely bring down the top echelons of drug cartels and organized crime. 

No...they'll more likely still be lazy and go after the easy targets and low-hanging fruit of mostly ignorant, regular taxpayers, who don't know accounting tricks nor will hire experts/lawyers (or the crime equivalent of drug users/street pushers/prostitutes).

Maybe. But the agency should still managed as well as possible under the circumstances, especially with our giant deficit and national debt.

[Berkut]

I dunno I buy this idea that "if the IRS were only better funded, they'd squeeze more dough out of those evil fat cats!!!11".  That is similar to saying that better funding police agencies more will mean they'll more likely bring down the top echelons of drug cartels and organized crime. 

No...they'll more likely still be lazy and go after the easy targets and low-hanging fruit of mostly ignorant, regular taxpayers, who don't know accounting tricks nor will hire experts/lawyers (or the crime equivalent of drug users/street pushers/prostitutes).

Uhhh, I think it goes without saying that better funded police departments are more likely, all other things being equal, to take down higher level criminals.

I mean, I guess if you just believe that they are all equally incompetent and hopeless no matter what...well, then, I guess you are one of those people who think that we might as well not fund agencies, since they are not capable of acting in anything other than the worst possible manner anyway.