Trump the Autocrat.

[Mountain Man]

First off, Tea, Trump is lying, and lying is his schtick.

So Trump is a lying liar who always lies. Except when he says something you think can be used to beat him over the head. Then he's totally telling the truth.

Right...

[JimL]

So Trump is a lying liar who always lies.

Ya got that right.

Except when he says something you think can be used to beat him over the head. Then he's totally telling the truth.

Anything specific in mind?

[Teallaura]

First off, Tea, Trump is lying, and lying is his schtick. The biggist critic and hater of this country is Trump himself. What's interesting is that Trumpsters, at least most of them, never seem to see the lies, they instead defend them. I won't say that they are or not, but it sure makes them look like a bunch of dummies.

If that were true, then he's a lot more incompetent than even his worst detractors think. He's doing a decent job of fulfilling his promises and improving things (yeah, I know you think Obama deserves the credit - I don't). Perfect? Not hardly. But decent - which totally undermines any intention to destroy the country.

[Sparko]

No, not because you are all Russian spies, but because you are easily led, naive members of a party that has been taken over by a wannabe dictator. And btw, Trump just told you he doesn't approve of free speech in this country, not while he's president.

I see our evil plan is progressing perfectly. Even when we admit it, you don't believe us.

[JimL]

I see our evil plan is progressing perfectly. Even when we admit it, you don't believe us.

When you finally admit that you were naively duped by a wannabe dictator and crook, then I will believe you.

[JimL]

If that were true, then he's a lot more incompetent than even his worst detractors think. He's doing a decent job of fulfilling his promises and improving things (yeah, I know you think Obama deserves the credit - I don't). Perfect? Not hardly. But decent - which totally undermines any intention to destroy the country.

So you think filling the swamp with corporate thieves and lobbyists, the swamp he was going to drain, is a good thing for the country. You think that unecessarily increasing the deficit by a trillion dollars is a good thing for the country? The economy is taking care of itself, the unemployment was at 10% when Obama took office, somewhere around 3 or 4% when he left. All Trump has done was to give huge tax cuts to the rich and right wing judges to the dupes. In the meanwhile, he's destroying democratic institutions such as the CIA, FBI, DOJ, Free Press, and appointing sycophants and corporate lobbyists in top administrative positions throughout the government.

[Sparko]

So you think filling the swamp with corporate thieves and lobbyists, the swamp he was going to drain, is a good thing for the country. You think that unecessarily increasing the deficit by a trillion dollars is a good thing for the country? The economy is taking care of itself, the unemployment was at 10% when Obama took office, somewhere around 3 or 4% when he left. All Trump has done was to give huge tax cuts to the rich and right wing judges to the dupes. In the meanwhile, he's destroying democratic institutions such as the CIA, FBI, DOJ, Free Press, and appointing sycophants and corporate lobbyists in top administrative positions throughout the government.

Her point is if he is as incompetent as liberals make him out to be, how is he accomplishing all this stuff? How can he become a dictator if he is as much a lying, incompetent fool as liberals make him out to be?

You can't have it both ways.

[JimL]

Her point is if he is as incompetent as liberals make him out to be, how is he accomplishing all this stuff? How can he become a dictator if he is as much a lying, incompetent fool as liberals make him out to be?

You can't have it both ways.

That's because she moved the goal posts so to speak. I didn't say anything about his competence. He's proving himself to be very competent as an undemocratic despot. We will see who wins out, democracy, or Trump.

[Sparko]

That's because she moved the goal posts so to speak. I didn't say anything about his competence. He's proving himself to be very competent as an undemocratic despot. We will see who wins out, democracy, or Trump.

So you think he is very competent?

[Teallaura]

So you think filling the swamp with corporate thieves and lobbyists, the swamp he was going to drain, is a good thing for the country. You think that unecessarily increasing the deficit by a trillion dollars is a good thing for the country? The economy is taking care of itself, the unemployment was at 10% when Obama took office, somewhere around 3 or 4% when he left. All Trump has done was to give huge tax cuts to the rich and right wing judges to the dupes. In the meanwhile, he's destroying democratic institutions such as the CIA, FBI, DOJ, Free Press, and appointing sycophants and corporate lobbyists in top administrative positions throughout the government.

1) Hyperbole - I get that you don't like his choices but I don't see evidence for the accusation here. I will grant that his swamp draining efforts have not been fruitful so far. They never are - it requires Congress, not the President - but no one seems to realize that.

2) Considering the huge increases in the deficit under Obama, this one is a stretch. Personally, I'd rather we stopped the deficit spending game all together - but again, that ball is in the Congressional court - and I do grant Trump could do more here.

3) Baloney. Yes, the unemployment fell from its ridiculous height but that's not the only metric. The economy was stagnant, staying in a recession most of Obama's time in office. You can only blame so much of that on Bush - most of it was from Obama's deliberately crippling of industries he didn't like.

Unemployment is now at record lows three years in - that's not Obama's work, it's Trump's.

4) Yeah, the middle class actually got tax cuts.

I don't care if you do think I'm a 'dupe' - conservative judges are EXACTLY what I want to see in office and many more of them. One heck of a lot of legal garbage hangs on stupid activist decisions that need to be overturned. Roe, the '64 CRA and dozens like them need to be overturned and only a constructionist Court will do that. I voted for Trump in 2016 because he wasn't Clinton. In 2020, I'll vote for him because he's been appointing conservative judges.

5) The CIA, FBI and DOJ are democratic institutions?!?! They are all administrative institutions. Heck, two of them didn't even exist until the mid Twentieth Century! The DOJ was formed in 1870! And no, Trump isn't 'destroying them'.

The 'free press' I assume you mean the mainstream media that treats with contempt anything that isn't liberal dogma. Yeah, no - they are doing a great job destroying themselves. As Lincoln observed, "you can't fool all of the people all of the time".

Appointments are not usually formally merit based - and Trump's appointments are no different than Obama's, other than he isn't as attentive to race.

[Teallaura]

That's because she moved the goal posts so to speak. I didn't say anything about his competence. He's proving himself to be very competent as an undemocratic despot. We will see who wins out, democracy, or Trump.

Er, Sparky is wrong about what I meant - and I didn't move the goalpost. My point was that for your accusations to be true, Trump would necessarily have to be far more incompetent than even his detractors believe.

[Christian3]

When you finally admit that you were naively duped by a wannabe dictator and crook, then I will believe you.

Considering what you have said in this thread about President Trump and that you don't believe President Trump believes in free speech, then I guess we can expect that President Trump will ban you from posting on TWEB.

[Charles]

Considering what you have said in this thread about President Trump and that you don't believe President Trump believes in free speech, then I guess we can expect that President Trump will ban you from posting on TWEB.

And then while he is at tweb, he leaves a message for all of us: "Two Corinthians, 3:17 that's the whole ball game..."

[Christian3]

And then while he is at tweb, he leaves a message for all of us: "Two Corinthians, 3:17 that's the whole ball game..."

2 Corinthians 3:17 Holman Christian Standard Bible (HCSB)

17 Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.

[One Bad Pig]

2 Corinthians 3:17 Holman Christian Standard Bible (HCSB)

17 Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.

Charles is bringing up an instance where Trump said, "Two Corinthians" instead of "Second Corinthians" which is more normative in English. This obviously means that Trump is just pretending to be a Christian, and can't even fake Christianese correctly.