View original postRepublicans in Congress who are actually trying to implement conservative policies
But you are myopically assuming that last statement is true. The minute the GOP got Congress and to their surprise, the White House, the catchphrase against Obamacare became "Repeal and Replace". Suddenly those last two words were added, when all any ideological conservatives wanted and had been talking about for seven years was the first one. Mitch McConnell is great at lining up a unanimous Republican opposition to the ACA knowing it doesn't matter, because the Democrats have 60 Senators. But when something is actually on the line, he caves. They all do. The whole leadership. Trump was NOT elected to fight the Democrats, apart from keeping one particular Democrat out of the White House, he was elected in opposition to the leadership of his own party. The ACTUAL ideological conservative who has been the most principled and consistent in the Senate, and has pre-Senate connections to add to his credibility, is just as opposed to these so-called "conservative" policies. Gorusch's nomination was an actual conservative act, and Trump didn't oppose that.
- and then somehow try to pretend that it's because Trump is conservative and the people in Congress are not (at least, they tried to pretend that until the last couple of weeks - just now this may have become just a tad implausible even by their standards).
Trump is not remotely a conservative. In this way he differs from exactly NO presidents in nearly 90 years. If the choice is Progessivism+Bullshit or Progressivism+Entertainment, we'll take door number two any day.
Congratulations, Left-wing Communication Hegemony, you have finally killed our hopes for good. We are coming to accept we will never, ever get what we want. You no longer have any bargaining power, and now we just want to watch the world burn. You killed Ned Stark. You killed Robb Stark. You killed the Red Viper. You sent Tyrion into exile. You chopped off Theon's dick. You denied Victarion the crown. You shanked Jon Snow. You made Cersei be unjustly persecuted and a feminist icon. We absolutely have no investment in anything other than watching the continent literally burn, the most sympathetic characters left in the series are enthusiastically embracing a suicide mission, and the readership is cheering acts of cannibalism. aSoI&F is American Politics! woot! And of course, the mainstream media version gets it completely wrong.
The part where they somehow manage to persuade themselves that a billionaire egocentric real estate magnate who doesn't even dare to release his tax returns is going to shift the balance of money and power back from the 1 percent to the average American
You don't even get a little bit how absolutely those things don't even matter to the average American, do you? The average American, who doesn't tend to talk politics with his Belgian friends, sees the IRS as the enemy. If they found out Trump was up to some dodgy, but technically legal, means of keeping some of his money out of their hands, they would be more likely than not to say "Good for him." Their happiness does not have anything to do with what other people possess. Most normal, average Americans, most Trump voters, don't give a shit about this 1% nonsense. Trump emerged into the public consciousness as a figure synonymous with decadence and excess, and nobody cares, because while we all like to think that we'd be "better" in his shoes, we can at least understand the appeal and self-interest that drives him to be what he is. People can only empathize in the abstract with a Clinton's or Obama's insatiable drive to run people's lives. You don't catch Trump scolding people for much other than violence or being politicians and unpatriotic sell-outs. People understand that it could be them Obama or Clinton is scolding for finding themselves with a seat when the PC music stops, but they can't see themselves rioting against demonstrators or people they don't like, they can't empathize with politicians and industrialists who work to see trade deals passed that allow them to exploit foreign workers for a few more bucks. But they can understand Trump letting a foreign country make his ties, because that's how the system has been set up, he's not a sanctimonious ideologue to nitpick over that type of stuff.
Dick Cheney released his tax returns, but how much good did it do his public image to find out that he gave 70% of his income to charity? Normal people know he's still got plenty, and could live quiet comfortably themselves on 30% of Dick Cheney's money. Normal people also are relieved they are not be subjected to a whole round of media nitpicking over minutiae in Trump's tax returns.
I mean, it's one thing to be a fan of Milo Yiannopoulis, or Ann Coulter,
You DO know who both of them enthusiastically endorsed for President from the outset, don't you?
or other commentators who like to intentionally provoke the PC crowd. They are writers or speakers who build a career on this, and good for them and for their fans - I would even say good for the public debate, sometimes. But in a president? Does the job description really entail that little? Even for conservatives who perhaps see government inaction and gridlock not so much as a bug as as a feature, it can't be a good thing in the end to have a president who just randomly
Randomly? When you are surrounded, the bright spot in your situation is that you can shoot in any direction you like and be assured of hitting a target. Trump is only acting "randomly" in the sense that he is not taking the tack you would prefer he did, or that you would find easy to criticize on the basis that you understand perfectly what he is doing and why you think it is foolish.
lashes out and needlessly antagonizes people both inside and outside the country
Right after the speech in question, Nikki Haley said that the President of Uganda had picked up on, and was using,
"Rocket Man" as a term for Kim. Uganda hasn't been nearly as much of a blight on American history as just about every country in the EU.
on a literally daily basis, while achieving little of note beyond the anti-PC fight.
What is he supposed to achieve? Everything has to start with words. We can't get rid of the UN, or replace the Security Council with a bunch of Americans and our puppets, or get unanimous veto over the Human Rights Commission until someone is willing to bell the cat and call a spade a spade and point out the Emperor's state of undress.