2016 POTUS Election Thread

L.T. Fan said:

But the quote is from the Bible reference of the churches and in particular the Laodician church.

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I think you took my joke way too seriously.

Genghis Khan said:

I think you took my joke way too seriously.

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I didn't sense it as a joke. To subtle I guess. Sorry.

Trump Campaigned Against Lobbyists, but Now They’re on His Transition Team

Trump Campaigned Against Lobbyists, but Now They’re on His Transition Team

WASHINGTON — President-elect Donald J. Trump, who campaigned against the corrupt power of special interests, is filling his transition team with some of the very sort of people who he has complained have too much clout in Washington: corporate consultants and lobbyists.

Jeffrey Eisenach, a consultant who has worked for years on behalf of Verizon and other telecommunications clients, is the head of the team that is helping to pick staff members at the Federal Communications Commission.

Michael Catanzaro, a lobbyist whose clients include Devon Energy and Encana Oil and Gas, holds the “energy independence” portfolio.

Michael Torrey, a lobbyist who runs a firm that has earned millions of dollars helping food industry players such as the American Beverage Association and the dairy giant Dean Foods, is helping set up the new team at the Department of Agriculture.

Mr. Trump was swept to power in large part by white working-class voters who responded to his vow to restore the voices of forgotten people, ones drowned out by big business and Wall Street. But in his transition to power, some of the most prominent voices will be those of advisers who come from the same industries for which they are being asked to help set the regulatory groundwork.

The president-elect’s spokeswoman, Hope Hicks, declined a request for comment, as did nearly a dozen corporate executives, consultants and lobbyists serving on his transition team, which was outlined in a list distributed widely in Washington on Thursday.

A number of the people on that list are well-established experts with no clear interest in helping private-sector clients. But to critics of Mr. Trump — both Democrats and Republicans — the inclusion of advisers with industry ties is a first sign that he may not follow through on all of his promises.

“This whole idea that he was an outsider and going to destroy the political establishment and drain the swamp were the lines of a con man, and guess what — he is being exposed as just that,” said Peter Wehner, who served in the administrations of Ronald Reagan and George Bush before becoming a speechwriter for George W. Bush. “He is failing the first test, and he should be held accountable for it.”

Transition teams help new presidents pick the new cabinet, as well as up to 4,000 political appointees who will take over top posts in agencies across the government. President Obama, after he was first elected, instituted rules that prohibited individuals who had served as registered lobbyists in the prior year from serving as transition advisers in the areas in which they represented private clients. They were also prohibited, after the administration took power, from lobbying in the parts of the government they helped set up.

“They wanted to make sure that people were not putting their thumb on the scale, or even the perception of that,” said Martha Joynt Kumar, the director of a nonprofit group called the White House Transition Project, which has studied two decades of presidential transitions.

Among the advisers assisting Mr. Trump who have no clear private-sector ties are Brian Johnson, a top lawyer for the House Financial Services Committee, who is helping to pick top staff members for the federal government’s many financial services agencies.

Edwin Meese III, who served as attorney general under Mr. Reagan and is now associated with the Heritage Foundation, the conservative think tank, is helping oversee management and budget issues, along with Kay Coles James, a Bush administration official who now runs an institute that trains future African-American leaders.

Former Representative Mike Rogers, Republican of Michigan, who served as chairman of the House Intelligence Committee and was once a special agent in the F.B.I., is overseeing issues related to national security, including the intelligence agencies and the Department of Homeland Security.

But in other areas, most notably the energy sector, the transition team advisers are far from independent.

Mr. Catanzaro’s client list is a who’s who of major corporate players — such as the Hess Corporation and Devon Energy — that have tried to challenge the Obama administration’s environmental and energy policies on issues such as how much methane gas can be released at oil and gas drilling sites, lobbying disclosure reports show.

He also worked with oil industry players to help push through major legislation goals, such as allowing the export of crude oil. He will now help pick Mr. Trump’s energy team.

Michael McKenna, another lobbyist helping to pick key administration officials who will oversee energy policy, has a client list that this year has included the Southern Company, one of the most vocal critics of efforts to prevent climate change by putting limits on emissions from coal-burning power plants.

Advisers with ties to other industries include Martin Whitmer, who is overseeing “transportation and infrastructure” for the Trump transition. He is the chairman of a Washington law firm whose lobbying clients include the Association of American Railroads and the National Asphalt Pavement Association.

David Malpass, the former chief economist at Bear Stearns, the Wall Street investment bank that collapsed during the 2008 financial crisis, is overseeing the “economic issues” portfolio of the transition, as well as operations at the Treasury Department. Mr. Malpass now runs a firm called Encima Global, which sells economic research to institutional investors and corporate clients.

Mr. Eisenach, as a telecom industry consultant, has worked to help major cellular companies fight back against regulations proposed by the F.C.C. that would mandate so-called net neutrality — requiring providers to give equal access to their networks to outside companies. He is now helping to oversee the rebuilding of the staff at the F.C.C.

Dan DiMicco, a former chief executive of the steelmaking company Nucor, who now serves on the board of directors of Duke Energy, is heading the transition team for the Office of the United States Trade Representative. Mr. DiMicco has long argued that China is unfairly subsidizing its manufacturing sector at the expense of American jobs.

In his campaign, Mr. Trump promised to take steps to close the so-called revolving door, through which government officials leave their posts and then personally profit by helping private companies reap rewards from policies or programs they had recently managed.

In October, declaring that “it’s time to drain the swamp in Washington,” he promised to institute a five-year ban in which all executive branch officials would be prevented from lobbying the government after they left. He has also promised to expand the definition of a lobbyist, so it includes corporate consultants who do not register as lobbyists but still often act like one.

Bruce F. Freed, the president of a nonprofit group called the Center for Political Accountability, which is pressing major corporations to be more transparent about their political spending, said Mr. Trump’s transition team had sent an unfortunate signal to his followers.

“This is one of the reasons you had such anger among voters — people rigging the system, gaming the system,” Mr. Freed said. “This represents more of the same.”

Trump appears open to compromise on Obamacare

Trump appears open to compromise on Obamacare

Washington (CNN)President-elect Donald Trump appeared open Friday to compromising on his oft-repeated pledge to repeal and replace Obamacare -- citing a conversation with none other than President Barack Obama himself.

But the openness was complicated by a shift in the official positions listed on his website.

The comments, made in an interview with the Wall Street Journal, signal less of a policy shift for Trump than a change from the rhetoric that helped win him the presidency just three days ago and could set up a fight with conservatives.

Trump told the paper he was reconsidering his stance after Thursday's meeting with Obama, who urged him to protect parts of the law. Trump said he would like to keep the provision forbidding discrimination based on pre-existing conditions and to allow young Americans to remain on their parents' healthcare plans.

"Either Obamacare will be amended, or repealed and replaced," he said, acknowledging that it was Obama, who met with Trump in the Oval Office for 90 minutes, who encouraged him to reconsider. "I told him I will look at his suggestions, and out of respect, I will do that."

Trump reiterated his plan in an interview with CBS's "60 Minutes" to ensure individuals with pre-existing conditions continue to have coverage.
"Yes, because it happens to be one of the strongest assets," Trump said.

Trump went on to explain to CBS that he would also try to keep the measure that allows young people to stay on their parents' insurance plans until age 26.

"We're going to very much try to keep that. It adds cost but it's very much something we're going to try to keep," Trump said.

When pressed about the time between repealing and replacing Obamacare, Trump assured CBS correspondent Leslie Stahl that the two would happen "simultaneously."

"It will be just fine. That's what I do, I do a good job. You know, I know how to do this stuff. We're going to repeal it and replace it. We're not going to have, like, a two-day period, and we're not going to have a two-year period where there's nothing. It will be repealed and replaced and we'll know. And it will be great health care for much less money," Trump said.

But the President-elect did not offer a replacement plan.

Trump also told the Journal that he would bring the country together and that "I want a country that loves each other." But that grace did not extend to any reflection on his coarse rhetoric.

When asked about whether his language was inappropriate, Trump said: "No. I won."

Trump's positions on Friday are not entirely new, as he's previously voiced support for certain parts of Obamacare as a candidate. But the statement, three days after Americans elected him president, is a fresh sign that he may be willing to distance himself from some of his campaign positioning, such as calling for the immediate repeal and replace of Obamacare.

And it's a far cry from what Trump uttered during the primary to his boisterous fans at rallies.

"Look at the mess, and look at the corruption," Trump said at a rally just a day before Election Day in Scranton, Pennsylvania. "Real change begins immediately with the repealing and replacing of the disaster known as Obamacare."

Trump also told the paper that he would bring the country together and that "I want a country that loves each other." But that grace did not extend to any reflection on his coarse rhetoric. When asked about whether his language was inappropriate, Trump said: "No. I won."

But also on Friday, The Washington Post reported that Trump has revised his health care agenda to steer it more in line with Republican Party orthodoxy.

The paper said the presidential transition website has been edited to now include allowing health care workers to not perform acts that would violate their religious or moral beliefs and to "protect innocent human life from conception to natural death."

The paper also said the website omits Trump's call to allow Americans to import prescription drugs from other countries where they are sold at lower prices.
Trump has previously voiced support for other provisions of Obamacare.

At CNN's town hall in February, Trump said he likes the Obamacare mandate that requires every American to be insured. He went even further in a "60 Minutes" interview last year.

"Everybody's got to be covered. This is an un-Republican thing for me to say," he told CBS's Scott Pelley. "I am going to take care of everybody. I don't care if it costs me votes or not. Everybody's going to be taken care of much better than they're taken care of now."

But in his plan, he says: "Our elected representatives must eliminate the individual mandate. No person should be required to buy insurance unless he or she wants to."

At CNN's GOP debate in February, Trump said he would get rid of Obamacare but maintain the provision that insurers must cover people with pre-existing conditions.

"I want to keep pre-existing conditions. I think we need it. I think it's a modern age. And I think we have to have it," he told Dana Bash.

His plan, however, offers no defense of those with pre-existing conditions. Instead, he said Obamacare must be repealed "completely."

Trump was most emphatic when talking about having the government take care of poor people who are sick.

"You cannot let people die on the street, OK? Now, some people would say, 'That's not a very Republican thing to say.' Every time I say this at a rally ... it got a standing ovation," he said at a CNN town hall in February. "The problem is that everybody thinks that you people, as Republicans, hate the concept of taking care of people that are really, really sick and are gonna die. We gotta take care of people that can't take care of themselves."

On the trail, Trump sketched different ways of accomplishing this. He's mentioned making deals with hospitals and "concepts of Medicare."

But in his plan, he only says that no one should slip through the cracks because they can't afford coverage. While he wants to repeal Obamacare's Medicaid expansion provision, he says it could be accomplished by reviewing "basic options for Medicaid" and working with states to ensure health care is provided to those who want it.

BipolarFan said:

WASHINGTON — President-elect Donald J. Trump, who campaigned against the corrupt power of special interests, is filling his transition team with some of the very sort of people who he has complained have too much clout in Washington: corporate consultants and lobbyists.

Jeffrey Eisenach, a consultant who has worked for years on behalf of Verizon and other telecommunications clients, is the head of the team that is helping to pick staff members at the Federal Communications Commission.

Michael Catanzaro, a lobbyist whose clients include Devon Energy and Encana Oil and Gas, holds the “energy independence” portfolio.

Michael Torrey, a lobbyist who runs a firm that has earned millions of dollars helping food industry players such as the American Beverage Association and the dairy giant Dean Foods, is helping set up the new team at the Department of Agriculture.

Mr. Trump was swept to power in large part by white working-class voters who responded to his vow to restore the voices of forgotten people, ones drowned out by big business and Wall Street. But in his transition to power, some of the most prominent voices will be those of advisers who come from the same industries for which they are being asked to help set the regulatory groundwork.

The president-elect’s spokeswoman, Hope Hicks, declined a request for comment, as did nearly a dozen corporate executives, consultants and lobbyists serving on his transition team, which was outlined in a list distributed widely in Washington on Thursday.

A number of the people on that list are well-established experts with no clear interest in helping private-sector clients. But to critics of Mr. Trump — both Democrats and Republicans — the inclusion of advisers with industry ties is a first sign that he may not follow through on all of his promises.

“This whole idea that he was an outsider and going to destroy the political establishment and drain the swamp were the lines of a con man, and guess what — he is being exposed as just that,” said Peter Wehner, who served in the administrations of Ronald Reagan and George Bush before becoming a speechwriter for George W. Bush. “He is failing the first test, and he should be held accountable for it.”

Transition teams help new presidents pick the new cabinet, as well as up to 4,000 political appointees who will take over top posts in agencies across the government. President Obama, after he was first elected, instituted rules that prohibited individuals who had served as registered lobbyists in the prior year from serving as transition advisers in the areas in which they represented private clients. They were also prohibited, after the administration took power, from lobbying in the parts of the government they helped set up.

“They wanted to make sure that people were not putting their thumb on the scale, or even the perception of that,” said Martha Joynt Kumar, the director of a nonprofit group called the White House Transition Project, which has studied two decades of presidential transitions.

Among the advisers assisting Mr. Trump who have no clear private-sector ties are Brian Johnson, a top lawyer for the House Financial Services Committee, who is helping to pick top staff members for the federal government’s many financial services agencies.

Edwin Meese III, who served as attorney general under Mr. Reagan and is now associated with the Heritage Foundation, the conservative think tank, is helping oversee management and budget issues, along with Kay Coles James, a Bush administration official who now runs an institute that trains future African-American leaders.

Former Representative Mike Rogers, Republican of Michigan, who served as chairman of the House Intelligence Committee and was once a special agent in the F.B.I., is overseeing issues related to national security, including the intelligence agencies and the Department of Homeland Security.

But in other areas, most notably the energy sector, the transition team advisers are far from independent.

Mr. Catanzaro’s client list is a who’s who of major corporate players — such as the Hess Corporation and Devon Energy — that have tried to challenge the Obama administration’s environmental and energy policies on issues such as how much methane gas can be released at oil and gas drilling sites, lobbying disclosure reports show.

He also worked with oil industry players to help push through major legislation goals, such as allowing the export of crude oil. He will now help pick Mr. Trump’s energy team.

Michael McKenna, another lobbyist helping to pick key administration officials who will oversee energy policy, has a client list that this year has included the Southern Company, one of the most vocal critics of efforts to prevent climate change by putting limits on emissions from coal-burning power plants.

Advisers with ties to other industries include Martin Whitmer, who is overseeing “transportation and infrastructure” for the Trump transition. He is the chairman of a Washington law firm whose lobbying clients include the Association of American Railroads and the National Asphalt Pavement Association.

David Malpass, the former chief economist at Bear Stearns, the Wall Street investment bank that collapsed during the 2008 financial crisis, is overseeing the “economic issues” portfolio of the transition, as well as operations at the Treasury Department. Mr. Malpass now runs a firm called Encima Global, which sells economic research to institutional investors and corporate clients.

Mr. Eisenach, as a telecom industry consultant, has worked to help major cellular companies fight back against regulations proposed by the F.C.C. that would mandate so-called net neutrality — requiring providers to give equal access to their networks to outside companies. He is now helping to oversee the rebuilding of the staff at the F.C.C.

Dan DiMicco, a former chief executive of the steelmaking company Nucor, who now serves on the board of directors of Duke Energy, is heading the transition team for the Office of the United States Trade Representative. Mr. DiMicco has long argued that China is unfairly subsidizing its manufacturing sector at the expense of American jobs.

In his campaign, Mr. Trump promised to take steps to close the so-called revolving door, through which government officials leave their posts and then personally profit by helping private companies reap rewards from policies or programs they had recently managed.

In October, declaring that “it’s time to drain the swamp in Washington,” he promised to institute a five-year ban in which all executive branch officials would be prevented from lobbying the government after they left. He has also promised to expand the definition of a lobbyist, so it includes corporate consultants who do not register as lobbyists but still often act like one.

Bruce F. Freed, the president of a nonprofit group called the Center for Political Accountability, which is pressing major corporations to be more transparent about their political spending, said Mr. Trump’s transition team had sent an unfortunate signal to his followers.

“This is one of the reasons you had such anger among voters — people rigging the system, gaming the system,” Mr. Freed said. “This represents more of the same.”

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A lobbyist working as an adviser is not the same as taking donations and being obligated to them. He owes them nothing as advisers. I don't see the point here if it's supposed to be an implied scandalous event.

Jiggyfly said:

Ok if you say so.

We all know you are the master of the funny around here.

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You got smoked.

Genghis Khan said:

How so?

You said "most" blacks voted for Obama because he is black.

Sorry but that's retarded. And pretty racist.

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Oh, I see, I use one wrong word when I should have said many blacks that had never voted before or hadn't in a long time, voted for him because of the color of his skin. That is what I should have said. And just because I said most when I meant this does not make me or what I said racist, just mistaken in what I said.
How about this Jiggs, You are exactly what is wrong with people that tend to lean your way in terms of beliefs. Despite the fact that you throw around as much thoughtless and rhetoric filled BS as anyone here I tend to give you a pass, but now because of what I initially typed you feel I'm a racist and a bigot and you have to get all vulgar and in my face with bird flippin smiley. ooooowwwwww. I will now and forever classify you a typical whiney left wing puss that throws out the race card because it suits you. Jackass.

And now I quoted the wrong post. This was intended for Jiggs GK, Sorry

Genghis Khan said:

How so?

You said "most" blacks voted for Obama because he is black.

Sorry but that's retarded. And pretty racist.

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YOu guys both need to stop with the racist BS. It was a poorly chosen wording. What I said here that you quoted is more to the point.

NoDak said:

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I think we can all agree marijuana was the best candidate in the election.

fortsbest said:

Thank God for the electoral college. The founding fathers were genius. And the Twitter celebs all decrying the EC because she won the popular vote kills me. I don't know why I get disappointed when people just confirm my opinion that they are morons to begin with.

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Actually the EC was designed to prevent the tyranny of the majority. To whit, it's designed to prevent the people from getting swept away and electing an unfit candidate to the highest office. If they do the electoral college is supposed to step in and override the will of the people. It's incredibly undemocratic.

In today's politics, the electoral college nearly always follows the people's votes so all it really does is skew Presidential elections towards over-representing smaller states. However, that wasn't the point of the EC.

EDIT: In reading some of your other posts, I have come to the conclusion you should not be calling anybody else a moron.

I agree that protesting Trump is a waste of time. However, I think a lot of people have a problem with this particular person representing them in the world. Any thoughtful person realizes that if he continues to behave the way he has during the election, he will quickly become a national and international embarrassment. I like to think about it as a job interview. Everyone is on their absolute best behavior and shows their best side. Once you get the job, you revert back to your normal asshole self. Well, during the "job interview," Trump showed himself to be a boorish, think-skinned, inconsistent, dishonest bigot.

It honestly isn't his policies (aside from banning Muslims and building a stupid fucking wall) that I have a problem with as much as the person himself. Legislation is created in the Congress anyway. It's him making decisions regarding foreign policy that terrify me.

But what can I say? I guess I hope he somehow magically becomes someone else but I don't think that's likely. We're in for a bumpy 4 years...

Iamtdg said:

How in hell is that hateful or inflammatory?

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I was being sarcastic.

mschmidt64 said:

I was being sarcastic.

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Sad, because I completely believed some would say that.

lostxn said:

Actually the EC was designed to prevent the tyranny of the majority. To whit, it's designed to prevent the people from getting swept away and electing an unfit candidate to the highest office. If they do the electoral college is supposed to step in and override the will of the people. It's incredibly undemocratic.

In today's politics, the electoral college nearly always follows the people's votes so all it really does is skew Presidential elections towards over-representing smaller states. However, that wasn't the point of the EC.

EDIT: In reading some of your other posts, I have come to the conclusion you should not be calling anybody else a moron.

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Ok lost, don't you start with this too. I fixed my error in wording to read what I believe to be the truth of the matter and what statistics show to be reasonable.
And I know the origins of the EC. It was originally designed as a compromise to give less populous states some ability to have a say in the selection of the president and based on number of senators and representatives. In modern times it helps prevent the populations centers, namely big cities, from being the sole selectors of the president. And lastly, and I know you know this, we are not a strict democracy, we are a republic. So it matters not whether the EC is undemocratic or not.
And as to the post just below this one, all we can do is pray he surrounds himself with good people and will make good choices. I believe his business sense will allow him to do that. I think he will make good supreme court selections and will defend this country with wise counsel. The president is supposed to be the highest law enforcement official in the land and I just could not abide someone who should have been an indicted felon occupying that office.
And yes sir, people rioting and taking to the streets to protest a properly held election, all these schools coddling to these spoiled whiney brat children, and high schools letting kids walk out of class for the same thing is moronic. This is the world liberals are trying to cultivate in schools, universities and beyond. If you all want to label me as a hater of something, then liberalism in its current form is it.

I don't get why some people think Trump is some kind of imbecile.

November 12, 2016 - 11:04 AM EST
Trump wants to split time between DC and NY: report

http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/305708-report-trump-wants-to-split-his-time-between-washington-and-new
BY HARPER NEIDIG
President-elect Donald Trump is reluctant to move into the White House full-time, the New York Times reported Friday.


Trump is reportedly talking to his adviser about splitting his time between Washington and his penthouse apartment in Manhattan, where he would often spend his nights during the campaign.
Advisers told the Times that the president-elect would like to spend his weekends either in his Trump Tower home, his New Jersey golf course or his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida.

But sources told the paper that Trump was impressed by the White House during his meeting with President Obama on Thursday.

Trump has also expressed interest in continuing to hold large rallies as he did throughout the campaign for “the instant gratification and adulation that the cheering crowds provide,” the Times wrote.

----------------------
Nothing weird about that.

fortsbest said:

Oh, I see, I use one wrong word when I should have said many blacks that had never voted before or hadn't in a long time, voted for him because of the color of his skin. That is what I should have said. And just because I said most when I meant this does not make me or what I said racist, just mistaken in what I said.
How about this Jiggs, You are exactly what is wrong with people that tend to lean your way in terms of beliefs. Despite the fact that you throw around as much thoughtless and rhetoric filled BS as anyone here I tend to give you a pass, but now because of what I initially typed you feel I'm a racist and a bigot and you have to get all vulgar and in my face with bird flippin smiley. ooooowwwwww. I will now and forever classify you a typical whiney left wing puss that throws out the race card because it suits you. Jackass.

And now I quoted the wrong post. This was intended for Jiggs GK, Sorry

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I never called you a racist and you threw out the race card with your initial post.

and oh yeah.