The Trump implosion thread!

Quote: Nareed

I've figured out by now the "law and order" types love the law only when it's a cudgel to bash the heads of people they dislike, and at no other time.

How many types are there? If there are only two types, one being as you mentioned "law and order "types. What do the rest want, no law and no order?

Saint Joe is considering running for Jeff Flakes senate seat; http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/joe-arpaio-may-challenge-jeff-flake/article/2632732

"Arpaio was convicted of contempt last month for defying a judge's order that his department not arrest suspected illegal immigrants without suspicion that they committed a state crime. He faced a maximum six months in prison.

The ex-sheriff said he may sue journalists who have called him racist or misreported details of the case against him"

The Orange Twit sets himself up for another fall:
https://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2017/08/28/trump_to_launch_tax_reform_push_but_hurdles_are_steep_134854.html

Get the popcorn ready.

If tax reform fails, then the GOP will abandon Donald en masse. It's why they've been putting up with his severe mental illness for the past 7 months.

Cutting taxes for the rich is literally the only thing the GOP exists for these days. Everything else is secondary.

In the end, we'll end up getting a tax "cut" package that adds unfathomable amounts to the deficit.

Quote: ams288

In the end, we'll end up getting a tax "cut" package that adds unfathomable amounts to the deficit.

You mean the deficit they complained about that doesn't get paid down while he's giving tax breaks to corporations and the rich?

Quote: ams288

If tax reform fails, then the GOP will abandon Donald en masse.

One can hope.

Quote:

Cutting taxes for the rich is literally the only thing the GOP exists for these days. Everything else is secondary.

Sort of. There is a good case to be made for reforming the tax code. This is true not only in the US but in almost every other country, and not just today but at every other time in history.

And that's the problem.

Ideally tax rates should be reasonable(*), the rules should be simple(*), deductions should be few(*) and well-defined(*), loopholes ought to be closed(*) along with exemptions(*) and exceptions(*), incentives should not provide the sole gain for investment(*), etc(*)

(Fields marked with an asterisk (*) are those that prove to be problematic.)

Plus everyone and their kid brother has The One Tax that Will Solve Everything: flat tax, carbon tax, progressive tax, consumption tax, import tax, etc.

That said, there are many things which can be done. But just about none, if you want meaningful reform and not just a tax cut advertised as reform, you can do on the strength of one party and within the strictures of budget reconciliation.

But if Trump thought he could shirk responsibility by saying that "nobody knew healthcare was so complicated," he's in for a shock.

His tax plan is like his health care plan and his plan to defeat ISIS - non-existent.

A few vague ideas and literally having congressional committees "work out the details"

I caught another interview with Mike Duncan. This time he talked more about likely parallels between Rome and America, with all the usual caveats.

What got my attention was the progression of executive power. Everyone knows in the US executive power has been growing steadily since Teddy Roosevelt, and exploded with his cousin Franklin and WWII. While at the same time congress kept shirking large portions of responsibility and authority. But now America has a man occupying the Oval Office who's not interested in governing, so Congress is retaking responsibility and authority.

What Duncan left out is that this same thing happened in Rome. Not once, but over and over. Caligula, Nero, Commodus, Elagabalus, and any I've left out. And when that happened, the result was civil war, coup, civil war and coup, increased raids at the border, The Crisis of the Third Century (though that happened only once), etc.

Except near the end in the 400s, when the result was the Fall of the Roman Empire in the West.

Another curious coincidence, is that in the late Western empire a lot of power was given by the uninterested, incompetent emperors to the generals.

Hm. Kelly, Mattis, McMaster....

The question for the rapidly approaching Autumn is: how will the Orange Twit and "his" party fail to pass tax "reform"?

I want to clarify you cannot possibly reform the tax code sufficiently with budget reconciliation. If the GOP were serious about reform (we know Golden boy isn't), they'd be negotiating with the Democrats as a means to begin making headway.

LOLOLOL!