5 Questions After A Chaotic Week In The Trump White House

[Dianalorena 1,158]

 

I just read this article by Mara Liasson, and found it very interesting.  What I've noticed is that when it comes to Trump, people either love him and blindly support him, ore are completely against him and make fun of him. 

I am somewhat in the middle. I'm worried, and every time I voice my concerns I'm insulted,  discredited as a ''libertard'' or ''snowflake'' But I'm neither. I just don't trust everything he says or agree with everything he does.  I want to make sense of it all, and understand if this is the change you wanted. Are the supporters still on board with everything, or are there things they dislike? What's your take on this, as legal immigrants living in the U.S or planning to move to the U.S  who like/support Trump? 

                                          

http://www.npr.org/2017/02/19/516049981/5-questions-after-a-chaotic-week-in-the-trump-white-house

What a week it was for Donald Trump.

As if everyone didn't know this already — Donald Trump is governing just the way he campaigned. He's a one-man band with an impulsive, seat-of-the-pants management style. As his former rival Jeb Bush correctly predicted way back in the primaries, he's the "chaos candidate" and now the "chaos president." While it's too soon to subscribe to some of the hyperventilating headlines about a "crisis" in the West Wing, there's no doubt Trump's has been the most chaotic start to any administration in modern times.

Here are five questions about Trump's extraordinary fourth week in office.

1. Has Trump done more in one month than any other president?

Maybe — but not exactly the way he means.

This week started with Trump firing Mike Flynn, his national security adviser, after a news story that Flynn had lied to Vice President Mike Pence about what Flynn said to the Russian ambassador. (Trump had known about that for almost two weeks and failed to inform Pence.) The week ended with the news that the man Trump chose as his new national security adviser, retired Vice Adm. Robert Harward, had turned him down. Ouch. In between, there was the withdrawal of Trump's nominee for labor secretary, and the announcement that three congressional committees were investigating repeated contacts between Trump campaign aides and Russian intelligence — including during the time period when U.S. intelligence agencies say Russians were interfering in the U.S. election.

 

 

Those were the big things. There was also a myriad of smaller controversies, like the repeated and false insistence by Trump that millions of people voted illegally for his opponent, and the fights he keeps picking with foreign leaders, intelligence agencies and department stores. Then there was a press conference for the ages, in which Trump insisted he wasn't "ranting and raving. I love this," he said. "I'm having a good time doing it."

And there was one more thing. Gallup has Trump at a 38 percent approval rating, the lowest ever for a president this early in his term.

2. Is this what Trump voters wanted?

Trump's performance at his news conference — at times defensive, aggrieved, wheedling, frustrated and combative — thrilled his hardcore supporters. They love it when he takes on the press. By the end of the week he was tweeting that the media is "the enemy of the American People."

Still, Trump is losing some support. Gallup and Pew — two respected polls — have him around 40 percent approval or below. He's holding steady with his core white non-college-educated supporters, but his support from white college-educated voters is down since Election Day. Those are the voters who voted for Trump even though they had reservations about his temperament and qualifications.

They were willing to give him a chance to disrupt the system because the system wasn't working. But is this the kind of disruption they had in mind? They wanted him to "drain the swamp," vanquish ISIS, and above all, bring back jobs. But he's been talking about Russians instead of renegotiating NAFTA; promising to punish "low-life leakers" instead of proposing tax reform; and fighting with the media instead of unveiling his infrastructure program.

3. Is this what Republicans on Capitol Hill wanted?

No. After Thursday's news conference it was hard to find a congressional Republican who thought Trump has helped himself. Republicans have a very compartmentalized view of Trump. They love that after eight long years of Obama they finally have a president who will sign their bills. For that alone, they're happy to ignore the tweeting, the obsession with his vote totals, and the flirting with Vladimir Putin. But if Trump's approval ratings keep dropping to the point where he looks like he'll be a drag on their re-elections, that forbearance might disappear.

Although Republicans in Congress are intimidated by Trump's tweets and his hardcore supporters — who make up a large share of the party's base — Trump doesn't have a real constituency on Capitol Hill the way Mike Pence does. Pence is a former member of House leadership and there are plenty of Republicans who would much rather have him in the Oval Office.

4. Is it a finely tuned machine or a dysfunctional mess?

Trump says everything is running just fine, but Republicans on Capitol Hill say they have no idea who's in charge. At the press conference, Trump said his White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus is "putting out fires" when Priebus would rather deal with tax reform and health care.

But the character of any White House is set by the personality of the president. We've gone from no-drama Obama to chaos-all-the-time Trump. This worked for Trump when he was a reality TV star. He would pit one contestant against another, creating drama and keeping the spotlight on himself.

Now it looks like there's no one in the White House to tell Trump when something is a bad idea. The news conference was reportedly his own idea, and it must have been a cathartic experience for him after weeks of complaining about how ineffectively his surrogates were defending him on television. So he decided to do it himself.

When Trump says he'd run the country like a business, was this chaotic week what he meant?

Trump is famous for seeking lots of advice — from almost anyone. He's gone table to table polling diners at Mar-a-Lago about who he should appoint to the Cabinet. And he's known for agreeing with the last person he talked to. The Permanent Campaign 

 

5. Can this ship be stabilized?

Other administrations started chaotically, though probably not as dizzyingly as this one.

Bill Clinton had a famously rocky start but went on to pass NAFTA and welfare reform — and with the country at peace and prosperous, he won re-election.

Trump has inherited a good economy that's improving by the day. If he can avoid a crisis like Ebola or Hurricane Katrina and get a seasoned hand or two in the White House, he might be able to move past this rough patch.

But there is nothing we've seen so far that shows he actually wants that. His first song at the inaugural ball sums up what seems to be Trump's ambition — he'd rather do things "My Way" — for better or for worse.

[eieio 1,594]

1 hour ago, Dilorena said:

 

I just read this article by Mara Liasson, and found it very interesting.  What I've noticed is that when it comes to Trump, people either love him and blindly support him, ore are completely against him and make fun of him. 

I am somewhat in the middle. I'm worried, and every time I voice my concerns I'm insulted,  discredited as a ''libertard'' or ''snowflake'' But I'm neither. I just don't trust everything he says or agree with everything he does.  I want to make sense of it all, and understand if this is the change you wanted. Are the supporters still on board with everything, or are there things they dislike? What's your take on this, as legal immigrants living in the U.S or planning to move to the U.S  who like/support Trump? 

                                          

http://www.npr.org/2017/02/19/516049981/5-questions-after-a-chaotic-week-in-the-trump-white-house

What a week it was for Donald Trump.

As if everyone didn't know this already — Donald Trump is governing just the way he campaigned. He's a one-man band with an impulsive, seat-of-the-pants management style. As his former rival Jeb Bush correctly predicted way back in the primaries, he's the "chaos candidate" and now the "chaos president." While it's too soon to subscribe to some of the hyperventilating headlines about a "crisis" in the West Wing, there's no doubt Trump's has been the most chaotic start to any administration in modern times.

Here are five questions about Trump's extraordinary fourth week in office.

1. Has Trump done more in one month than any other president?

Maybe — but not exactly the way he means.

This week started with Trump firing Mike Flynn, his national security adviser, after a news story that Flynn had lied to Vice President Mike Pence about what Flynn said to the Russian ambassador. (Trump had known about that for almost two weeks and failed to inform Pence.) The week ended with the news that the man Trump chose as his new national security adviser, retired Vice Adm. Robert Harward, had turned him down. Ouch. In between, there was the withdrawal of Trump's nominee for labor secretary, and the announcement that three congressional committees were investigating repeated contacts between Trump campaign aides and Russian intelligence — including during the time period when U.S. intelligence agencies say Russians were interfering in the U.S. election.

 

 

Those were the big things. There was also a myriad of smaller controversies, like the repeated and false insistence by Trump that millions of people voted illegally for his opponent, and the fights he keeps picking with foreign leaders, intelligence agencies and department stores. Then there was a press conference for the ages, in which Trump insisted he wasn't "ranting and raving. I love this," he said. "I'm having a good time doing it."

And there was one more thing. Gallup has Trump at a 38 percent approval rating, the lowest ever for a president this early in his term.

2. Is this what Trump voters wanted?

Trump's performance at his news conference — at times defensive, aggrieved, wheedling, frustrated and combative — thrilled his hardcore supporters. They love it when he takes on the press. By the end of the week he was tweeting that the media is "the enemy of the American People."

Still, Trump is losing some support. Gallup and Pew — two respected polls — have him around 40 percent approval or below. He's holding steady with his core white non-college-educated supporters, but his support from white college-educated voters is down since Election Day. Those are the voters who voted for Trump even though they had reservations about his temperament and qualifications.

They were willing to give him a chance to disrupt the system because the system wasn't working. But is this the kind of disruption they had in mind? They wanted him to "drain the swamp," vanquish ISIS, and above all, bring back jobs. But he's been talking about Russians instead of renegotiating NAFTA; promising to punish "low-life leakers" instead of proposing tax reform; and fighting with the media instead of unveiling his infrastructure program.

3. Is this what Republicans on Capitol Hill wanted?

No. After Thursday's news conference it was hard to find a congressional Republican who thought Trump has helped himself. Republicans have a very compartmentalized view of Trump. They love that after eight long years of Obama they finally have a president who will sign their bills. For that alone, they're happy to ignore the tweeting, the obsession with his vote totals, and the flirting with Vladimir Putin. But if Trump's approval ratings keep dropping to the point where he looks like he'll be a drag on their re-elections, that forbearance might disappear.

Although Republicans in Congress are intimidated by Trump's tweets and his hardcore supporters — who make up a large share of the party's base — Trump doesn't have a real constituency on Capitol Hill the way Mike Pence does. Pence is a former member of House leadership and there are plenty of Republicans who would much rather have him in the Oval Office.

4. Is it a finely tuned machine or a dysfunctional mess?

Trump says everything is running just fine, but Republicans on Capitol Hill say they have no idea who's in charge. At the press conference, Trump said his White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus is "putting out fires" when Priebus would rather deal with tax reform and health care.

But the character of any White House is set by the personality of the president. We've gone from no-drama Obama to chaos-all-the-time Trump. This worked for Trump when he was a reality TV star. He would pit one contestant against another, creating drama and keeping the spotlight on himself.

Now it looks like there's no one in the White House to tell Trump when something is a bad idea. The news conference was reportedly his own idea, and it must have been a cathartic experience for him after weeks of complaining about how ineffectively his surrogates were defending him on television. So he decided to do it himself.

When Trump says he'd run the country like a business, was this chaotic week what he meant?

Trump is famous for seeking lots of advice — from almost anyone. He's gone table to table polling diners at Mar-a-Lago about who he should appoint to the Cabinet. And he's known for agreeing with the last person he talked to. The Permanent Campaign 

 

5. Can this ship be stabilized?

Other administrations started chaotically, though probably not as dizzyingly as this one.

Bill Clinton had a famously rocky start but went on to pass NAFTA and welfare reform — and with the country at peace and prosperous, he won re-election.

Trump has inherited a good economy that's improving by the day. If he can avoid a crisis like Ebola or Hurricane Katrina and get a seasoned hand or two in the White House, he might be able to move past this rough patch.

But there is nothing we've seen so far that shows he actually wants that. His first song at the inaugural ball sums up what seems to be Trump's ambition — he'd rather do things "My Way" — for better or for worse.

The article you are linking is omitting some details. It makes no mention of the EO's he has signed. The pipelines are back on track,illegals are being rounded up and deported, there is no more catch and release at the border, illegals are self deporting, great supreme court nominee, most nominees getting approved(mad dog,rex tillerson,jeff sessions etc) All great people,making deals that are actually bring jobs back, cutting costs on airplanes, stock market on the rise,ect.   So without any mention of those things this article is not fair and balanced.

[The Nature Boy 7,659]

1 hour ago, eieio said:

The article you are linking is omitting some details. It makes no mention of the EO's he has signed. The pipelines are back on track,illegals are being rounded up and deported, there is no more catch and release at the border, illegals are self deporting, great supreme court nominee, most nominees getting approved(mad dog,rex tillerson,jeff sessions etc) All great people,making deals that are actually bring jobs back, cutting costs on airplanes, stock market on the rise,ect.   So without any mention of those things this article is not fair and balanced.

Of course not. Its not news its Political opinion and a hit piece 

[jg121783 3,921]

3 hours ago, Nature Boy Flair said:

Of course not. Its not news its Political opinion and a hit piece 

What else would you expect from National Propaganda Radio? To answer the OPs question I support Trump over all but I do disagree with him on a few things. While most of his cabinet picks are sound choices I disagree with a few of them. I also disagree with a border wall as I think there are better ways to deal with illegal aliens such as making it harder for them to find work and cutting off all government assistance for them. These measures would make many of them self deport.

 

I would also add I have no problem with people like the OP who objectively have grievances with Trump. What I do have an issue with is the snow flakes who blindly think Trump is racist, sexist, homophobic, a Russian agent and the devil incarnate.

Edited February 20, 2017 by jg121783

[Dakine10 5,452]

  

   I wouldn't feel any differently if Trump ran as a Democrat. Everything about him is a con job. He may be a Washington outsider, but he's been a sleazeball insider as far back as I can remember. Those of you who can't remember that, my condolences. I'm sorry you fell for his act. 

[bcking 3,157]

15 hours ago, eieio said:

The article you are linking is omitting some details. It makes no mention of the EO's he has signed. The pipelines are back on track,illegals are being rounded up and deported, there is no more catch and release at the border, illegals are self deporting, great supreme court nominee, most nominees getting approved(mad dog,rex tillerson,jeff sessions etc) All great people,making deals that are actually bring jobs back, cutting costs on airplanes, stock market on the rise,ect.   So without any mention of those things this article is not fair and balanced.

Is there any data out there on how many "illegals are being rounded up" right now? Suddenly 1 month after Trump is President are we "catching" that many more? Trump's EOs are very grandiose, but I'm not sure if anything has changed that much so far. In the end things will change I'm sure, but I'm just not sure it happens this fast. The only immigration related thing that would have happened this fast was the ban, which isn't active.

 

Yep all of his nominees were "great people", including the one who resigned/was fired

[eieio 1,594]

34 minutes ago, bcking said:

Is there any data out there on how many "illegals are being rounded up" right now? Suddenly 1 month after Trump is President are we "catching" that many more? Trump's EOs are very grandiose, but I'm not sure if anything has changed that much so far. In the end things will change I'm sure, but I'm just not sure it happens this fast. The only immigration related thing that would have happened this fast was the ban, which isn't active.

 

Yep all of his nominees were "great people", including the one who resigned/was fired

So are you saying that this npr article is telling the whole truth?  To me it just appears as a hit piece.

[bcking 3,157]

22 minutes ago, eieio said:

So are you saying that this npr article is telling the whole truth?  To me it just appears as a hit piece.

No of course not. It clearly leaves things out.

 

I was merely asking you to support some of your claims. Are we willing "rounding up" all the illegals suddenly? I just don't know.

[eieio 1,594]

5 minutes ago, bcking said:

No of course not. It clearly leaves things out.

 

I was merely asking you to support some of your claims. Are we willing "rounding up" all the illegals suddenly? I just don't know.

I never made the claim how many more are being deported. There hasn't been time To do a month end report. At the least the narrative and public perception has changed. Does anyone think that illegal aliens are less likely to be deported? We even have stories that illegals are fleeing to Canada. 

[Dianalorena 1,158]

22 hours ago, Nature Boy Flair said:

Of course not. Its not news its Political opinion and a hit piece 

I agree, it might not show Trump in a good light, but it is the writer's personal opinion.

I was just curious as to what other people think of what's going on, not bashing him/nor supporting him. 

[Dianalorena 1,158]

19 hours ago, jg121783 said:

What else would you expect from National Propaganda Radio? To answer the OPs question I support Trump over all but I do disagree with him on a few things. While most of his cabinet picks are sound choices I disagree with a few of them. I also disagree with a border wall as I think there are better ways to deal with illegal aliens such as making it harder for them to find work and cutting off all government assistance for them. These measures would make many of them self deport.

 

I would also add I have no problem with people like the OP who objectively have grievances with Trump. What I do have an issue with is the snow flakes who blindly think Trump is racist, sexist, homophobic, a Russian agent and the devil incarnate.

 

That's fair. I don't know where to get my news from honestly, since most don't seem to be impartial, but completely anti Trump or pro Trump. 

Do you think partially the cabinet choices missed have to do with how much he is struggling?  And I am 100% with you on the wall, I agree there are better ways to handle ilegal immigration. 

And thank you. I might disagree with many things, but I am not blindly hating him just because. I want to believe he is trying to do good, not everything he does/wants/says is evil, in my opinion. He does seem to want to change the U.S for the better, even if his choice of words or techniques are far from perfect. 

 

[Dianalorena 1,158]

7 hours ago, eieio said:

So are you saying that this npr article is telling the whole truth?  To me it just appears as a hit piece.

Of course it doesn't show the whole truth. It is one person's opinion, asking Trump five things. It would be quite impossible to say everything both good and bad, without triggering some people in the process. Even if he is trying and not everything he wants or does is wrong (I do truly believe so) the reaction that is causing is undeniable. I believe it's a case of ''mostly meaning well but wordings things poorly'' I wish he didn't take things that personally. If he addressed people's concerns,  that a lot of people are unsatisfied, (even if he kept working for the things he believe on and promised) I'd respect him even more. Not everything the news report are ''fake, dishonest or bad'' just as not everything reported about him is true, either. Pinning his supporters against the media and liberals,  wanting people to blindly believe what he says is not the way for us  to see the good that he is actually trying to do for the country, in my opinion. 

 

[Dianalorena 1,158]

14 hours ago, Dakine10 said:

  

   I wouldn't feel any differently if Trump ran as a Democrat. Everything about him is a con job. He may be a Washington outsider, but he's been a sleazeball insider as far back as I can remember. Those of you who can't remember that, my condolences. I'm sorry you fell for his act. 

I think that a lot of my negative feelings toward him has to do with knowing about him from before, as a reality tv star. and socialite.  I want to be proven wrong, but for now, many things he have said and done really rub me the wrong way. I know it might be unfair to judge the president by his past actions mostly, therefore why I'm open to learning more about his policies, and those who support him and why, without instigating fights. 

[CaliCat 3,957]

On 2/19/2017 at 2:09 PM, Dilorena said:

 

I just read this article by Mara Liasson, and found it very interesting.  What I've noticed is that when it comes to Trump, people either love him and blindly support him, ore are completely against him and make fun of him. 

I am somewhat in the middle. I'm worried, and every time I voice my concerns I'm insulted,  discredited as a ''libertard'' or ''snowflake'' But I'm neither. I just don't trust everything he says or agree with everything he does.  I want to make sense of it all, and understand if this is the change you wanted. Are the supporters still on board with everything, or are there things they dislike? What's your take on this, as legal immigrants living in the U.S or planning to move to the U.S  who like/support Trump? 

                  

 

 

 

In all likelihood those calling you names are the same who supported the birther movement, who believe the Earth is about 6,000 years old, and who are staunch Putin supporters.  Their childlike opinions should not affect you.

 

 

 

 

[eieio 1,594]

5 hours ago, Dilorena said:

Of course it doesn't show the whole truth. It is one person's opinion, asking Trump five things. It would be quite impossible to say everything both good and bad, without triggering some people in the process. Even if he is trying and not everything he wants or does is wrong (I do truly believe so) the reaction that is causing is undeniable. I believe it's a case of ''mostly meaning well but wordings things poorly'' I wish he didn't take things that personally. If he addressed people's concerns,  that a lot of people are unsatisfied, (even if he kept working for the things he believe on and promised) I'd respect him even more. Not everything the news report are ''fake, dishonest or bad'' just as not everything reported about him is true, either. Pinning his supporters against the media and liberals,  wanting people to blindly believe what he says is not the way for us  to see the good that he is actually trying to do for the country, in my opinion. 

 

I respect the way you are going about it. Take all news with a few grains of salt.  One thing you must understand is many of us have disliked the main street media and a good percentage of liberals for years.