Media, Politics

DONALD J. TRUMP — AMERICA’S 45TH PRESIDENT

donald_trump_president-elect_portrait_croppedAs I discussed in my column yesterday, I stayed at home today to watch the inauguration with my kids and to celebrate America’s 71st time that a democratically elected president has taken the oath of office (and our 58th formal inauguration). While my brother and family from Chicago went to the Mall to protest, we raised a toast to the country and the new president for the future. On this day, we celebrate a constitutional system that has weathered wars, depression, social unrest and every type of national crisis. Yet, it (and we) remain. There are many constitutions that are more poetic in language or detailed in powers, but none has the record of this amazing document. It is the common article of faith of a free people and today’s ceremony represented our commitment to a nation governed by a free people.

I was on the mall last night to do interviews and it was a rather surreal experience with streets cut off and massive tents on the Mall. I watched the fireworks from the media tent between the Capitol and the Lincoln Memorial. In a foreshadowing of today, there was a protest at the Trump Hotel where pepper spray was used by police. Over all, it was quiet however and, away from the White House, the streets like Constitution were largely abandoned late at night. Since my car could not get anywhere near the Mall (a change from prior inaugurations), I ended up walking a couple miles to find the car sent by the studio. It was actually very interesting to walk through the streets the night before. There was a sense of something immense about to happen.

I tend to be a stickler for tradition and, for that reason, I was very disappointed to see Nancy Pelosi sporting a button to protect health care. Politicians are expected to put politics aside and appear in a unified nonpartisan front. She was right to appear and not yield to the impulse of over 50 Democratic members to boycott the Inauguration. However, she snatched pettiness out of the jaws of dignity by wearing a political button.  I share the concern over health care but there is a time and place for advocacy.  I noticed that in the executive order signing shortly after the Inauguration, Pelosi was no longer wearing a button.

I had the same reaction to those people in the crowd chanting “Lock Her Up” when Hillary Clinton came out. It was a remarkably classless act and trashed our tradition of coming together as a nation.

224 thoughts on “DONALD J. TRUMP — AMERICA’S 45TH PRESIDENT”

  2. Rumor has it Hillary was overheard entering her Suburban after the ceremony mumbling the words, “Podesta, Podesta give me back my electors!”

    1. mespo – there weren’t rumors of her sending legions to a certain forest in Germany looking for them? 🙂

  3. Duplicate question, but also relevant to this thread:

    Oh, and another thing— exactly where does the U.S. Constitution give citizens the right to “protest.”??? Because I can’t find that “right” anywhere in there.

    This is a legal blog, and people are always saying that “right”exists, but where???

    Squeeky Fromm
    Girl Reporter

    1. It’s in that ol’ “peaceably to assemble and to petition the government for a redress of grievances ” phrase in the First Amendment.

      1. Yes, the right to “peaceably assemble” is in the First Amendment, but aren’t we guilty of conflating that right with the “right to protest”? Because when people “peaceably assemble”, you don’t need police in riot gear. I do not think “peaceable assembly” really fits it with our colloquial use of the word, “protest.”

        Protesters routinely block traffic, block streets, threaten people, taunt police, throw things at them, get rowdy, burn flags, etc. Heck, try going downtown with a 55 gallon drum full of garbage and set it on fire. See if you don’t get a ticket for it. Nobody is going to say that is your “right”, unless you are involved in a “protest”.

        The “protesters” in DC have openly stated a desire to “disrupt” the city. I submit that Intentionally causing “disruption” is not at all the same thing as “peaceably assembling to petition for a redress of grievances.” And that we all have simply become sloppy in our use of some terms, such as that one, and specifically including, but not limited to, the infamous, “we have three co-equal branches of government.” No we don’t. That is silly.

        Squeeky Fromm
        Girl Reporter

      2. mespo – I thought that peaceably assemble thing was just something the activists thought up in the 60s.

  5. With this inauguration, I am taking my leave from the Turley blog. When I first started following it, a number of years ago, it offered a fairly balanced set of views, with politeness the general rule.

    However, in recent months, it has turned increasingly into a right-wing insult patch, with name-calling the primary mode of posting. I have been dismayed at the continuing deterioration of comments. So many of you are mirroring the approach of our new President, sorry to say. Even Turley himself is turning increasingly right-wing. But at least he hasn’t descended to name-calling. Yet.

    You are all entitled to your opinions, but it has become too tedious for me. As I said up above, God Help the United States of America – we’re going to need it. Today I have sold off a substantial part of retirement assets into cash, as I expect at some point a market meltdown a la 1929. I expect that the Republicans will work strenuously to assure their perpetual power, by making it increasingly difficult for anyone not white and not rural to vote. I expect unprecedented levels of financial corruption, which the President will sweep under the rug. I expect almost any news source other than Fox to be suppressed. I expect that the effort to repeat the Kansas experiment on a national scale will be tried, and will fail equally spectacularly. I expect that the Medicare and Social Security which I currently enjoy, will be stripped away. I expect that the health insurance that many millions of Americans have recently gained, will get vaporized. I expect we will become more and more like a third world country, with those at the top doing very very well, and those below being squeezed into destitution and ill health. But due to clever propaganda, the destitute and sick will continue to vote against their own interests. Internationally, I expect we will be a faithful vassal to Russia, ignoring our former friends. And lastly, as a parting shot at the New Deal, I expect the new Republican oligarchy to replace FDR with Reagan on the face of the dime…..

    Adios.

    3. Oh, you just have your panties in a wad because it’s not a DNC Echo Chamber here anymore. Plus, “politeness” is way over-rated. Do you ever watch how the Brits ridicule the heck out of each other in Parliament? That is why their politicians are so much wittier and clever than ours.

      The question you have to ask yourself is, do you want to become wittier and cleverer and learn how to think, or do you just want to be a little mew-baby kitten who nurses off a DNC Narrative-Approved Website?

      Squeeky Fromm
      Girl Reporter

      2. Squeeky,
        Politeness is not over-rated. Wit does not have to be at someone else’s expense. And, points can be made without coarseness or name-calling.

        Plenty of vitriol has been slung from both sides of the aisle and the atmosphere is overheated.

        Ridicule does nothing to legitimately further an argument. All you get is anger and resentment, not because someone is being a sore loser, but because of the manipulative power tactics used to belittle others. It’s no better than liberals calling anyone who opposed President Obama for anything a racist.

        I do not want any echo chamber. There are enough problems in the world that need examination and introspection to be effectively addressed. Ridicule hampers that. This blog helps to civily air people’s concerns, lay out arguments, and understand opposing views better, which is exactly what our country needs in the face of so much partisanship and ideological tribalism.

        1. True. But calling people names is really, really fun! Plus, it isn’t exactly like if you take the time to explain something to people in a patient and understanding way, that they are going to change their minds. Because most of the time they still won’t admit they are wrong. Sooo, if you are going to get the same result, i.e. the person who is wrong is going to keep on being wrong, then why not have some fun and just ridicule the beejesus out of them???

          Plus, like Mark Twain once said,

          Will a day come when the race will detect the funniness of these juvenilities and laugh at them–and by laughing at them destroy them? For your race, in its poverty, has unquestionably one really effective weapon–laughter. Power, Money, Persuasion, Supplication, Persecution–these can lift at a colossal humbug,–push it a little– crowd it a little–weaken it a little, century by century: but only Laughter can blow it to rags and atoms at a blast. Against the assault of Laughter nothing can stand.

          – “The Chronicle of Young Satan,” Mysterious Stranger Manuscripts

          As a practical matter, think of Meryl Streep’s recent drama-queen crap at the Golden Globes. One could write a dissertation on why she was wrong, and Trump didn’t do it, and how the awards were no place for that sort of juvenile antics. Which would go nowhere. At the end of the day, people who agree with her would support her, and people who disagree with her would still think she was tetched.

          BUT, mention that she gave a standing ovation to child-sodomizer Roman Polanski, and maybe even do a funny picture to go along with it, and she is destroyed. Her credibility is shot, and she is revealed for the silly tart that she is. Even those who agree with her are going to have a hard time swallowing that one. Now in a logical sense, supporting a child-sodomizer and falsely accusing Trump of teasing a gimpy reporter are not related. BUT, Meryl Streep’s voice as calm, rational, non-partisan purveyor of Truth is kaput.

          And being a fool or a liar, doesn’t she really deserve that???

          Squeeky Fromm
          Girl Reporter

          1. Swing dancing is fun.

            Your response is also very cynical. I get frustrated, too, but causing divides for a bit of “fun” just does not strike me as helpful in the long term. People can change. It may not seem to be the case after a single debate, but over time they can.

            Building bridges, asking questions, and trying to find some kind of commonality is probably more effective at getting people to even consider considering an opposing perspective.

            Mark Twain’s quote better applies to ideas than to people.

            Regarding Meryl Streep, yes, she put herself out there to be challenged. (I did not know about her support of Roman Polanski.) Asking her to reconcile her stances on these two men would require introspection to answer. She has several options: to fairly examine their actions, to try to justify one over the other, or to go into a mental block where she cannot face the inconsistency. In any case, a seed of doubt or wonder may take hold and 10 years down the road she gains a new perspective.

            I can be patient and hopeful. 🙂

    4. OH, PS: You were smart to convert to cash. The market is over-priced, and frankly the only thing that will save the country in a financial sense, is either:

      1. Massive GDP Growth fueled by deficit spending with the hope that the growth significantly outsizes the debt, and allows it to be paid down;

      2. Massive financial de-leveraging (aka a big f*cking Great Depression) which removes the debt, which can probably never be paid off, from the system.

      The other alternative is a switch off of the Federal Reserve System, and a slow, measured monetization of the national debt including the un-funded liabilities (about $100 Trillion), which will fundamentally change the nation nd the world, probably for the better in the long run.

      Squeeky Fromm
      Girl Reporter

      1. There won’t be massive GDP growth. There’s be a secular trend toward a return to 19th century rates of growth in per capita product. If new debt accumulation is halted, the contextual significance of the extant public and private debt will decline fairly rapidly as nominal gdp increases. As we speak, household debt service ratios and financial obligation ratios are near 35 year lows.

        1. The rates flucuate over time. But a $20 Trillion deficit is still a $20 Trillion deficit. If birth rates are down, and the population is aging and retiring, the burden has to carried by fewer and fewer workers. Add $60-$80 Trillion in under-funded and unfunded liabilities, then the burden becomes crushing. I suspect that maybe one reason the 1% are in favor of illegal immigration and open borders is to protect their interests in the debt. I heard Obama say once that immigrants were necessary to offset the lower birth rates and that we were lucky while Europe was not so fortunate.

          I suspect that there will be massive GDP growth for a short time under Trump, but I do not think that big GDP growth is sustainable anymore in the long run. Plus, remember that GDP tends to go up as a population increases, and thru inflation, simply because of financial interactions between the “new” people and the ones who were here, and the nominal amount of dollars changing hands.

          Yet, GDP is not reduced to a “per capita” and “inflation adjusted” basis that I am aware of in most publications.

          Squeeky Fromm
          Girl Reporter

            1. Not in day to day news. The CIA publishes it, and several other publishers and bloggers. But on CNN and MSNBC and FOXNews you usually just hear that “GDP grew at 1.4%” last quarter/year whatever, with no mention of “real” or “inflation adjusted.”

              As a measurement, GDP is a pretty blunt macroeconomics tool. Let me give you an example:

              If I made $50,000 in 2015 and $51,000 2016, then my Personal GDP went up 2%. (assumes I spent or invested the whole shebang, and the taxes withheld were all spent by government.)

              BUT, if I got a credit card in 2016, and spent $9,000 on guitars and shoes, then my GDP for 2016 is $60,000, and my GDP increases not 1%, but 20%. Yet all I have done is commit myself to pay back the $9,000 in the future, plus interest, which will not count in my future GDP.

              Sooo, if I pay it all back in 2017, which payment does not count as GDP, then my GDP has fallen about 20ish% for 2017. IIRC, if you take the government’s deficit spending since 1980, and deduct it from GDP, there has been ZERO GDP growth since that point.

              There are other measurement problems, which if you are interested in, you can a short scope of here:

              http://www.economist.com/news/briefing/21697845-gross-domestic-product-gdp-increasingly-poor-measure-prosperity-it-not-even

              It’s kind of weird that Europe is adding prostitution services to its GDP calculations.

              Squeeky Fromm
              Girl Reporter

    5. Lots of these folks are paid by a right wing organization, I do believe. No use helping them earn their money.

      2. Joe – do you have the name of the right wing organization they are writing for? I could use extra cash.

    7. However, in recent months, it has turned increasingly into a right-wing insult patch, with name-calling the primary mode of posting. I have been dismayed at the continuing deterioration of comments.

      You know, Jay, we often don’t see ourselves as others do.

    8. I agree. This blog, including many of the commentators, is becoming increasingly offensive.Time to sign off. I would have expected more from ties to a great institution, the University of Chicago, where my daughter went to school. Looks like the corruption in the world corrupts.

    9. You have a long post. I disagree with most of what you write and that is fine. I do however agree with your first observation, that the comments have become more polarized. When I started reading the turkey blog a few years ago I also thought it well reasoned, and more importantly than Turley’s ideas, the comments section was polite and also full of interesting points. Not so much anymore. I still like Turley’s writing. I disagree with you with regard to his writing. I find Turley a breath of fresh air with his regard for our Constitution and the rule of law. It is the juvenile comments I find most disturbing. Too many people making comments about others that they have no idea about. Anyway, your choice. I do wish the comments were more polite.

    10. Good for you JayS – That you have assests to liquidate. this president has been chosen because you stupid Dems allowed the knee capping of Sanders. So cheers to you

    11. Buy gold and volatility. A lunatic that cares only for himself and his own wealth is in charge.

  6. say desperatelyseekingsusan…I was wondering same thing. maybe their rent-a-kid agreement ran out. did not see them when christmas tree was delivered either.

  7. Too bad Turley has no problem with TRUMP calling for jailing Clinton on the campaign or encouraging violence against his opponents. I see that there is NO outrageous act or saying that Trump can make that will prompt him to denounce him. As one famous person once asked, Have you no decency,sir?

        1. I don’t think he will jump. If he did, I would feel bad. Really bad. But he isn’t going to jump. No. He wouldn’t. Would he? I mean he is very emotional and fragile right now, and has a major butthurt, but he wouldn’t jump. No. . . I am 100% sure of that. Well, maybe 95% sure. OMG! He might jump! He is a stupid liberal and they do all kinds of stupid and impulsive things! OH MY!

          Randyjet if you can hear me!!! Pleeeaze don’t jump! I take it all back! Just close the cockpit door, and ask the stewardess to bring you a shot of whiskey and some Valium. But please don’t jump! You’ll live to regret it! Plus, all of us here would miss your “Look! A squirrel!” comments. Oh pleeeeze come back alive!

          Squeeky Fromm
          Girl reporter

    2. She’s guilty of crimes. Of course she should be jailed. The fuzzier question is the degree to which Chelsea shares criminal culpability with her parents.

      1. Chelsea hates her mother. Indict Chelsea and she will flip on her mother in a NY minute. That US Attorney in NY is a mofo.

    4. I see you like to criticize what Prof. Turley writes about. I am pretty sure it is his blog and not yours. Or did I miss something where you have editorial oversight? And where is your blog?

    1. No, however she is related to Leni Riefenstahl. Her dad was injured in WW2. He fell out of a tower @ Auschwitz.

      2. Nick – did he fall out or was he pushed? This is hard to explain on the daily report.

  9. just saw obama and the former female who was at the white house with him at Joint the womanBase Andrews…at another goodbye rally or whatever. anyway…the Pledge of Allegience was being recited and while obama did utter the words visibly…the woman next to him did not. Does this mean she once again is not proud of this country? what an example for our citizens to see.

    2. When emotions overwhelm it is often hard to vocalize. Are gratuitous insults for Michele really necessary?

      1. Guess they are trying to cast shade on the Obama family. Many on those blog have made a career out of it. Probably hard to let go.

        2. You mean the president, Material Girl, and the sullen teenagers, or do you mean the whole complement of his paternal-side relatives camping out here (including the vagrant brother and the illegal-alien-for-life 2d degree relations)? His sister and brother-in-law will continue working their ZMP jobs at the University of Hawaii; they haven’t done anything disagreeable for the last 8 years. As for the President and Mooch, I imagine he’ll make an irritant out of himself and collect six-figure speaking fees for 50 minutes of boilerplate. She’ll clip coupons and enjoy the life at their mansion in DC and their mansion in Riverside County, Ca.

  10. Poor old Nancy is just not properly patriotic. Women need to get with the new authoritarian patriotic administration and get one of these snazzy jackets. They retail for $3800 but word has it that TRUMP INC is manufacturing some cheaper ones so properly patriotic women can buy one to wear the rallies.

      1. She is really lucky to be rich in a world that highly values billionaires and oligarchs.

      2. Nancy is married to an investment guy. They might not be rich Trump’s crowd. Plus she is not a true patriot authoritarian revolutionary.

      1. I’m sure locking you in a closet in the basement of the police department would be a favor to your neighbors. I’m wagering you’re family has long since run screaming across the state line.

  13. pelosi is definition of classless pettiness. say where were obama’s rental kids? missed their warm smiles.

  14. Heavenly Father please protect our Democracy and the freedoms enumerated and protected in The Constitution of the United State Constitution, Thank you for alll the protection and love you have showered on our Republic since our inception

  17. One of my Professors explained it this way. The Declaration of Independence provided the poetry and the Constitution provided the means. Put together about 5,000 words to change the world.

    1. I believe the Declaration of Independence to be our vision. Poetry for sure but an eternal guide for every generation.

  18. Did I see some Roswell, New Mexico films that you represented people who wanted information about its secrets? And that the Government had basically shut your office down, posted a sign and you were the only one allowed into your office?

    1. And pray to God that it passes again soon. Our new president doesn’t have the first clue about governing. Fortunately for him, he plans on ruling, an entirely different matter.

      2. A miserable diictator who looks down on his subjects with the utmost arrogance

      3. Capstone Stable – he took the reigns from someone who didn’t know how to govern either. Obama set the mold. Trump will but follow.

      4. He’s run a business with 22,000 employees and $9.5 bn in revenue. Obama in 2009 had run the Chicago Annenberg Challenge into the ground.

      1. Squeeky – Obama has worked harder in the last month than in the previous 8 years. He has been planting landmines for Trump everyplace he could.

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