6 ms·

I can understand how people can rationalize some of his failures, but, the second time around, how can someone vote for a guy who has failed on delivering on a

by dfxm12 6y ago

I can understand how people can rationalize some of his failures, but, the second time around, how can someone vote for a guy who has failed on delivering on a very simple and basic campaign promise, one that he can do that unilaterally? “The country wasn’t based on executive orders,” Trump said at a South Carolina campaign stop in February 2016. “Right now, Obama goes around signing executive orders. He can’t even get along with the Democrats, and he goes around signing all these executive orders. It’s a basic disaster. You can’t do it.” I know I'm probably pissing in the wind here, but I was looking forward to a president ceding some of his power back to congress, so this one really sticks in my craw. Oh well.

praestigiare 6y ago
Because, while this is not true of individual republicans, republican party media strategy has been based on positional ethics for a long time. Free speech is good when it is our free speech. Executive orders are bad when they are your executive orders.
- ocdtrekkie 6y ago
  Both parties do this. For instance, Republicans are generally the party of "states' rights", but Democrats are jumping up and down about how the federal government shouldn't overrule the rights of liberal states now. Things like the fighting the FCC trying to prohibit states from making their own net neutrality rules, or legalizing marijuana, which is still technically illegal nationwide according to the federal government. Generally, if you run the federal government, you don't want states objecting to your agenda. And if the opposition is running the federal government, you insist on your right to do things at the state level. Watching Democrats and Republicans make the exact same arguments depending on whose in power is absolutely hilarious, and it leads to great soundbites, like those of Trump and McConnell talking about what the President should and shouldn't do... depending who the President is.
  - jakelazaroff 6y ago
    Conservative support of "states' rights" has always been a dog whistle for restricting civil liberties. Civil Rights Act? States' rights issue. Same–sex marriage? Let the states decide. Abortion? States should be free to ban. Edit: swapped "Republican" with "Conservative", since the parties' ideologies have shifted over time.
    - rayiner 6y ago
      > Civil Rights Act? States' rights issue. Every law called "the Civil Rights Act" passed with overwhelming Republican support. All but one passed with more Republican support than Democratic support. The landmark Civil Rights Act of 1964 received 80% of the republican vote in the house, but only 61% of the democratic vote.
      - wool_gather 6y ago
        Current party lines blur to to the point of falling apart in the context of the 1964 Act, because it was a huge precipitating event for politicians switching parties (particularly Southern Democrats becoming Republicans). You can't directly map "Rs voted for the Act" onto party membership today: there was a very different mix of platforms at that time, only loosely comparable to what we have now.
        kmonsen 6y ago
        This is the real answer, due to the civil rights movement the DNC lost the south due to the less civil minded parts of the party switched to the republicans.
        rayiner 6y ago
        That makes literally no sense. Republicans supported the civil rights acts of 1957 through 1968 with supermajorities, by far larger margins than democrats did. How can it be that "due to the civil rights movement," "less civil minded" people switched from a party that voted for the Civil Rights Acts, to the party that voted for the Civil Rights Acts by even larger margins? The realignment of southern democrats is due more to the fact that, once segregation--which democrats tolerated and republicans didn't--was off the table, they were more aligned with republicans on other issues, such as religion, gun control, abortion, business regulation, taxes, etc.
FireBeyond 6y ago
> but I was looking forward to a president ceding some of his power back to congress And you were expecting that from someone who draws a significant amount of fame from "You're fired!", and "I'm the boss", "I have total authority"??
- dfxm12 6y ago
  It was less "expecting", and more like "looking for a silver lining".
- walshemj 6y ago
  If Trump presidency ends badly, I could see the President becoming more like the Doge in Venice, every time the Doge failed they tended to lose power. Probably for Mr Trumps relatives the best way out is hope he dies or have him sectioned - in return for a presidential pardon.

by dfxm12 6y ago

praestigiare 6y ago

Because, while this is not true of individual republicans, republican party media strategy has been based on positional ethics for a long time. Free speech is good when it is our free speech. Executive orders are bad when they are your executive orders.

ocdtrekkie 6y ago
Both parties do this. For instance, Republicans are generally the party of "states' rights", but Democrats are jumping up and down about how the federal government shouldn't overrule the rights of liberal states now. Things like the fighting the FCC trying to prohibit states from making their own net neutrality rules, or legalizing marijuana, which is still technically illegal nationwide according to the federal government. Generally, if you run the federal government, you don't want states objecting to your agenda. And if the opposition is running the federal government, you insist on your right to do things at the state level. Watching Democrats and Republicans make the exact same arguments depending on whose in power is absolutely hilarious, and it leads to great soundbites, like those of Trump and McConnell talking about what the President should and shouldn't do... depending who the President is.
- jakelazaroff 6y ago
  Conservative support of "states' rights" has always been a dog whistle for restricting civil liberties. Civil Rights Act? States' rights issue. Same–sex marriage? Let the states decide. Abortion? States should be free to ban. Edit: swapped "Republican" with "Conservative", since the parties' ideologies have shifted over time.
  - rayiner 6y ago
    > Civil Rights Act? States' rights issue. Every law called "the Civil Rights Act" passed with overwhelming Republican support. All but one passed with more Republican support than Democratic support. The landmark Civil Rights Act of 1964 received 80% of the republican vote in the house, but only 61% of the democratic vote.
    - wool_gather 6y ago
      Current party lines blur to to the point of falling apart in the context of the 1964 Act, because it was a huge precipitating event for politicians switching parties (particularly Southern Democrats becoming Republicans). You can't directly map "Rs voted for the Act" onto party membership today: there was a very different mix of platforms at that time, only loosely comparable to what we have now.
      - kmonsen 6y ago
        This is the real answer, due to the civil rights movement the DNC lost the south due to the less civil minded parts of the party switched to the republicans.
        rayiner 6y ago
        That makes literally no sense. Republicans supported the civil rights acts of 1957 through 1968 with supermajorities, by far larger margins than democrats did. How can it be that "due to the civil rights movement," "less civil minded" people switched from a party that voted for the Civil Rights Acts, to the party that voted for the Civil Rights Acts by even larger margins? The realignment of southern democrats is due more to the fact that, once segregation--which democrats tolerated and republicans didn't--was off the table, they were more aligned with republicans on other issues, such as religion, gun control, abortion, business regulation, taxes, etc.

FireBeyond 6y ago

> but I was looking forward to a president ceding some of his power back to congress And you were expecting that from someone who draws a significant amount of fame from "You're fired!", and "I'm the boss", "I have total authority"??

dfxm12 6y ago
It was less "expecting", and more like "looking for a silver lining".
walshemj 6y ago
If Trump presidency ends badly, I could see the President becoming more like the Doge in Venice, every time the Doge failed they tended to lose power. Probably for Mr Trumps relatives the best way out is hope he dies or have him sectioned - in return for a presidential pardon.