(01-31-2017 11:19 PM)OptimisticOwl Wrote:  

(01-31-2017 08:50 PM)RiceLad15 Wrote:  

(01-31-2017 06:45 PM)OptimisticOwl Wrote:  

(01-31-2017 12:43 PM)RiceLad15 Wrote:  

(01-31-2017 12:15 PM)OptimisticOwl Wrote:  I think the key(s) will be be visible improvements in job availability and wages. in September 2018 and September 2020. If American feel they are better off with him there, they will support him, and his base will grow. If not, they will see it as broken promises and failure, and turn against him. If Democrats want to defeat him, they need to make sure he does not accomplish any economic betterment of the nation. they need to be able to point to his failure, and if they can't, they are toast. So the watchword is to obstruct.

His actions so far, other than economic, will have little effect on his popularity. A man who gets his job back or gets a raise and see those as because of Trump is not going to care a lot about some Syrian who got locked out for a day two or four years ago. The Dems hung their hat on trying to make him unpalatable, and that failed, so I think their best bet is to make him fail. Then they can say "I told you so", run Booker, and clean up.

I disagree to the bold.

In reality, all the Dems need to do is get their participation levels up to win back seats in Congress and take back the WH. The level of Republican votes this year mirrored that of years past. The level of Democratic votes lagged behind year's pasts. And so far, Trump is doing a great job organizing liberals.

I don't think the Dems need to obstruct economic legislation by Trump, and if they do, that will be used against them. I mean, how can a Dem run on obstructing a sweeping infrastructure bill?

The Dems tried to hang their hat on him being unpalatable, you're right on that. But a lot of Trump supporters waved that off and said that he didn't mean what he was saying, and he wouldn't do X, Y, or Z because he wasn't serious. Trump is now proving a lot of those voters to be fools and you can bet that the same arguments Dems made in the general election will be more convincing in 2018 and 2020 if Trump keeps going down the path he is going down.

My opinion, is that doubling down on what didn't fly in 2016 will result in another failure for the Democrats, UNLESS he has also failed to bring jobs and prosperity. The people will forgive a lot of character flaws if there is food on their table and their kid's future looks good. JMHO.

for my part, I didn't like a lot of his policies, I thought he was boorish and crass, still do, and yet now I am hopeful, not that he will suddenly become PC, but that he can bring jobs back and bring us back to a position of preeminence in the world. He wasn't my guy, ever, but I sure hope he succeeds. If he does his job, he can tell all the jokes he wants. He is not my role model. I had one of those decades before I ever heard of Trump.

Not sure what abut Trump's policies make you think he will bring us back to a position of preeminence in the world. He wants to gut research funding, break most of our relationships with foreign powers, and isolate/turn inward. Those all seem like ways for us to shrink into irrelevance and allow another super power (e.g. China) to take over our roll as the leading country in the world.

I do think that with lower corporate taxes small businesses will do well, but not sure how that helps our global position...

I don't know that I would call it policies, but more an attitude. Obama never wanted to confront anybody. He told Putin he woulod be more flexible. His red line in syria turned out to be dotted. He never could pick a side in syria, leaving it to Putin ans ISIS to fill the void. I just want us to be a big dog again, not a whipped cur. But as far as Americans are concerned, I think economics is the main test. Bring back jobs and untaxed profits. Help small business. If we get robust growth and prosperity, a lot of people will not care about the things the Democrats want them to care about.

this will be apparent if it comes about in 2-3 years. Right now, it is just a big maybe.

I think there are two issues here. Domestic economic policy and international posturing.

With regards to domestic economic policy, Trump hasn't done much to make me think things will turn out bad or good, simply because he hasn't been in office long enough to push through meaningful legislation. However, his talk about his goals (reducing corporate taxes) does make it seem like he could spur economic activity on the home front. But when you couple it with talk that indicates trade wars with major trading partners may be on the horizon, I'm not sure which one wins.

With regards to international posturing, I get the idea of wanting to project ourselves as the big boy on the corner, but I don't know why that is important. While you may not like how Obama postured the US, how other countries viewed him as a leader was generally very positive because of that posturing. For Trump, while he certainly is getting our name out there, I don't think he is projecting the image you want him to project. Right now, we look more like this dog:
as opposed to this dog:

None of our allies are taking him seriously at the moment, and our potential geopolitical foes (e.g. China) seem to be ramping up their defenses in expectation of a supremely stupid foreign policy decision.