What does a TRUMP presidency look like?

[viper37]

It is kind of amazing, really.

He is telling everyone that he lied about his intentions. He is telling that to the very people who voted for him, and of course they just eat it up and cheer him more.

"We are going to lock up Hillary!"
"Well, that played well - but who cares now?"
"We will drain the swamp!"
"Yeah, I thought that was lame when I said it, lets hire a bunch of lobbyists and corporate shills instead"

He is literally telling his sheeple that he lied to them, and they are happy to hear it.

Nothing amazing about their reluctance to face up to their colossal fuckup.  Hell, we have people here who still won't admit they voted for him, and his fuckups are only starting.

Aside Siege, who do you think voted for him?

[CountDeMoney]

It is kind of amazing, really.

He is telling everyone that he lied about his intentions. He is telling that to the very people who voted for him, and of course they just eat it up and cheer him more.

"We are going to lock up Hillary!"
"Well, that played well - but who cares now?"
"We will drain the swamp!"
"Yeah, I thought that was lame when I said it, lets hire a bunch of lobbyists and corporate shills instead"

He is literally telling his sheeple that he lied to them, and they are happy to hear it.

I can't do it from the phone, but you've got to dig up the post-election PPP poll results; as a bloc,  pro-Trump GOP voters are the only voting demographic that believes in substantial numbers that overall, under Obama, the stock market has dropped (up over +11,000 points since 2008 ), unemployment has gone up(this nation has 9m more jobs than it did in 2008), and believe that Trump does not have to release his tax returns and they do not care about any potential conflicts of interest.

When the electoral body politic is not only not educated, but they don't even care, then you know real democracy is pretty much DOA. 
Dumbfuckistan uber alles.

[Syt]

http://www.politico.com/story/2016/12/donald-trump-divisions-tower-232607?cmpid=sf

Divisions deepen inside Trump Tower

Donald Trump's White House-in-waiting is already being roiled by divisions, with the conservative outsiders who helped power his historic victory colliding with a Republican Party establishment muscling its way in.

Insiders paint a picture of constant score-keeping and simmering suspicion within Trump world — one even called it "vitriolic." And they foresee incoming White House chief of staff Reince Priebus, the party stalwart, and chief strategist Steve Bannon, the populist firebrand, headed for an inevitable clash.

Some have begun to chafe at the power being exhibited by Priebus — who, along with a team of lieutenants, is exerting broad influence over hiring decisions.

During one recent meeting, Trump told former campaign manager Kellyanne Conway and Priebus that Conway, who is aligned with Bannon and is one of the president-elect's closest aides, would get whatever post she wanted. Priebus jumped in, responding that Conway would take a position in the administration and that he was working with her on a role, according to two people familiar with the exchange.

But Conway, who has been undecided about whether to work for Trump in the West Wing or outside the White House, sharply rejected that assertion.

Priebus, Conway said, doesn't speak for her.

Trump appeared taken aback. "Oh, she's tough," he told Priebus.

Trump, a businessman-turned-politician, has long encouraged competition among factions within his organizations, creating a pressure-cooker environment where almost every decision resulted in a winner and a loser. In the end, one side would be vanquished and another would take its place, and the cycle would repeat.

Trump's campaign was for months paralyzed as his two top aides, Paul Manafort and Corey Lewandowski, locked horns. Manafort would eventually prevail, with Lewandowski's firing, but it wasn't long before Manafort was supplanted by the trio of Bannon, Conway and conservative activist David Bossie.

Now, as Trump builds out his government, little seems to have changed. If anything, transition officials say, Trump seems to be relishing the idea of presiding over a divided administration.

A few weeks ago, Trump, Bannon and Conway rode in a motorcade from Trump Tower to the Long Island estate of Rebekah Mercer, an influential megadonor who has funded conservative causes at odds with the party establishment, for a "Heroes and Villains" costume party. Priebus was conspicuously absent.

When Trump addressed the crowd that evening, he made a point of thanking Bannon and Conway — both of whom are closely allied with Mercer — as well as Mercer herself, according to two people briefed on Trump's remarks.

Then, Trump asked, "Where's Reince?"

While it was not clear whether Trump intended the remark as a joke at Priebus' expense, it nonetheless prompted knowing laughter from attendees, who regarded the chief of staff as unwelcome among the anti-establishment set.

One of the biggest flare-ups centered on the race to succeed Priebus as Republican National Committee chair, an internal battle in which Priebus got the upper hand — but not before it degenerated into an insider-vs.-outsider showdown.

Bannon, joined by Vice President-elect Mike Pence, Conway and Mercer, pushed for Georgia-based Nick Ayers, an RNC outsider and Pence adviser, to get the job. Priebus, meanwhile, threw his support to Ronna Romney McDaniel, an ally who, as the sitting chair of the Michigan GOP, is a current RNC member.

As the talks intensified, some Trump aides who supported Ayers grew frustrated. Priebus, they felt, was getting behind McDaniel, the niece of former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, simply because he wanted to maintain influence over the committee.

In the end, it was McDaniel who got Trump's approval. On Friday evening, the president-elect stood backstage with McDaniel prior to a rally in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and told her he looked forward to working together.

But there was a twist, one that underscored the deepening divide in Trump Tower.

After much horse-trading and negotiating, Trump decided that McDaniel's RNC co-chair wouldn't be a fellow establishment figure, but rather Bob Paduchik, a campaign loyalist who oversaw his campaign in Ohio. (Trump has yet to officially announce the McDaniel-Paduchik RNC partnership, though it is expected to be rolled out in the coming days.)

Priebus has prevailed in other early personnel contests. Two of his top lieutenants, Katie Walsh and Sean Spicer, are all but certain to get senior positions, and there has been talk that Raj Shah, who oversaw Priebus' research shop at the RNC, will be hired, too.

"Those are huge wins for Reince," said one transition adviser. "Trump works on a power proximity matrix, so if he's seeing Reince and his people every day in the White House, that gives him a lot of juice."

Priebus' momentum has stoked concern among Trump's conservative loyalists, who fear they will be left out in the cold after risking their careers to support him when few Republican operatives would. Some of them described the RNC forces as highly organized and said there was rising concern that they would move swiftly to lock down the most coveted West Wing jobs. And while RNC staffers have a supporter in Priebus, loyalists say, it's not always clear who's advocating on their behalf.

As anxiety has increased, so, too, has suspicion. One Trump aide, who has yet to lock down a job, said he recently observed a closed room full of RNC staffers in Trump Tower pecking away at laptops and wondered what they were up to.

"The transition has taken a decidedly nasty and more vitriolic turn," said another aide, who said each day brought "more division and more pieces of contention to argue over."

Trump is aware of the rancor. Last week, after POLITICO published a story detailing how many of Trump's longest-serving loyalists hadn't been contacted about jobs, the president-elect responded angrily. He told Priebus to fix it, four transition sources said.

Priebus subsequently reached out to a number of loyalists, including Lewandowski, to reassure them. They would be taken care of, he promised — there had simply been more focus on filling high-level Cabinet posts than on West Wing staffing.

Those close to Priebus dispute the idea that he's stocking the administration with his allies. During staffing discussions, they say, RNC officials have been working with former Trump campaign staffers to ensure that neither side is getting a disproportionate share of posts, according to a transition team official.

"There is constant horse-trading and balancing," said the official. "Every one piece you take off the board is another less piece that you have to bargain with."

But there's no hostility, the official argued, stressing that it's the president-elect who makes the final call on every staffing decision.

And, as is often the case with Trump, he sometimes goes his own way — without regard for his staff's sensitivities.

[MadImmortalMan]

Looks like Trump wants Larry Kudlow as an econ advisor.

Larry's pet issue is lowering the corporate tax rate and doing a deal to bring overseas cash into the country.

[CountDeMoney]

Lol so they get lower taxes and still don't bring cash back into the country.

[HVC]

If you ignore the craziness and the racism* trumps like the perfect republican. He can do what the other republicans want in the open without having to pay lip service.

*well the racism over and above the republican norm.

[FunkMonk]

Looks like Trump wants Larry Kudlow as an econ advisor.

Larry's pet issue is lowering the corporate tax rate and doing a deal to bring overseas cash into the country.

Oh dear

[The Minsky Moment]

http://www.politico.com/story/2016/12/donald-trump-divisions-tower-232607?cmpid=sf

Like I said.
In the Court of the Orange King

[Ed Anger]

I checked my wine cellar, all the wine turned to blood. Thanks Trump.

[The Minsky Moment]

Looks like Trump wants Larry Kudlow as an econ advisor.

Larry's pet issue is lowering the corporate tax rate and doing a deal to bring overseas cash into the country.

Larry Kudlow is an entertainer.  He'd be better off hiring Larry David.

[Ed Anger]

JimCramer4OMB

[Eddie Teach]

http://www.politico.com/story/2016/12/donald-trump-divisions-tower-232607?cmpid=sf

Like I said.
In the Court of the Orange King

Can't we dye him crimson?

[jimmy olsen]

Slowly turning the clock back to the '50s, absolutely disgusting.

Tons of embedded links within
http://www.slate.com/blogs/outward/2016/12/15/north_carolina_legislative_coup_an_attack_on_democracy.html

North Carolina Republicans' Legislative Coup Is an Attack on Democracy

By Mark Joseph Stern

Republicans in the North Carolina General Assembly staged a shocking legislative coup on Wednesday night, calling a second special session and proposing a raft of measures designed to strip power from the newly progressive state Supreme Court and governorship. This last-minute power grab marks an alarming departure from basic democratic norms—a blatant attempt to overturn the results of an election by curtailing judicial independence and restructuring the government to seize authority lawfully delegated to the incoming Democratic governor.

The trouble in North Carolina began when Republican Gov. Pat McCrory lost his re-election bid, likely because of his support for the anti-LGBTQ law known as HB2. At the same time that voters replaced McCrory with Democrat Roy Cooper, they ousted a conservative state Supreme Court justice in favor of a progressive. That tilted the balance of power on the court to a 4–3 liberal majority, ending an era in which the court's conservatives could rubber stamp the legislature's voter suppression and gerrymandering.

Because of this gerrymandering, Republicans retained a supermajority in the state legislature, even while losing the governorship and Supreme Court. (A federal court ordered the legislature to redraw its maps and hold new elections, but those won't occur until 2017.) Rumors floated around the capital that Republican legislators would either throw out the results of the gubernatorial election and reinstall McCrory by citing baseless allegations of election fraud or add two seats to the Supreme Court and let McCrory fill them, restoring Republican control. McCrory eventually conceded defeat when a partial recount could not close his 10,000 vote deficit. But concerns over court-packing grew when McCrory called a special legislative session, ostensibly to pass a disaster relief package.

That session did, indeed, result in a disaster relief bill. However, as it drew to a close on Wednesday, Republican leaders called another special session—with the explicit aim of curbing the authority of both Cooper and the court. They promptly put forth a series of dramatic alterations to the government's structure, including proposals to:

•Overhaul county election boards to prevent Democratic control. Current law states that each county election board must be made up of three members, two of which should come from the governor's party. The new proposal would give each election board four members—two Democrats and two Republicans—to prevent Democrats from taking control of the boards.
•Overhaul the State Board of Elections by merging it with the State Ethics Commission and increasing its size. Right now, the law states that the election board must have five members, with three from the governor's party. The new law would give it eight members—four Democrats and four Republicans—to forestall a Democratic advantage when Cooper takes office.
•Allow a Democrat to chair the State Board of Elections in odd-numbered years—when there are typically no elections—and allow a Republican to chair the board in even-numbered years—when state and federal elections are normally held.
•Make Supreme Court elections partisan and introduce party primaries. Republicans believe they lost the 2016 Supreme Court election because the candidates lacked a partisan identification.
•Completely change the appeals process in order to limit the state Supreme Court's authority. When Republicans took power, they provided citizens with the right to appeal constitutional challenges from superior court directly to the state Supreme Court. The new measure would remove this right, requiring constitutional challenges to be heard by all 15 judges of the court of appeals—which is dominated by Republicans—before reaching the state Supreme Court.
•Allow McCrory to pick the Industrial Commission chairman, who will serve for the next four years. Under current law, Cooper should have the opportunity to fill this position.
•Reduce the number of state employees who serve at the pleasure of the governor. When McCrory took office, Republicans increased this number from 500 to 1,500. They now propose reducing it to 300.
•Remove Cooper's ability to appoint trustees to run campuses in the University of North Carolina system—and transfer that power to the state legislature.
•Require Senate confirmation of Cooper's Cabinet appointments. McCrory's appointments did not require Senate approval.
•Confirm McCrory's closest ally, state budget director Andrew Heath, to a superior court judgeship.
•Abolish car-emissions testing in many counties; eliminate some state environmental reports; and remove scientists from certain state boards tasked with protecting public health, replacing them with industry representatives.

These proposals are not merely designed to negate the will of the voters in this election. They are also intended to maintain Republican-sponsored voter suppression, thereby preventing Democrats from ever regaining control of the North Carolina government. North Carolina Republicans have long strived to prevent black citizens from voting; after the Supreme Court gutted the Voting Rights Act in 2013, they requested data on voting preferences by race, then passed an omnibus voter suppression act that, as one federal appeals court put it, seemed to "target African Americans with almost surgical precision."

Although that court invalidated the law, Republican-controlled county election boards implemented much of it anyway, curtailing early voting and slashing the number of precincts in majority-black counties. These election boards also allowed Republicans to disenfranchise black Democrats—without their knowledge—in violation of federal law. With Cooper's victory, Democrats were poised to take control of these election boards, thereby restoring voting rights throughout the state. The new measures will deny Democrats this right. They will also significantly delay challenges to the legality of voter suppression methods, drawing out the process for years before the state Supreme Court can hear these cases.

What's happening in North Carolina is not politics as usual. It is an extraordinarily disturbing legislative coup, a flagrant effort to maintain one-party rule by rejecting democratic norms and revoking the will of the voters. It is the kind of thing we might expect to see in Venezuela, not a U.S. state. It should terrify every American citizen who believes in the rule of law. This is so much more than a partisan power grab. This is an attack on democracy itself.

[Berkut]

But emails.

[Admiral Yi]

I skimmed an Atlantic article on this NC special session, and it seems that this particular Slate! article is not overly Huffed up.