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posted by martyb on Friday February 15 2019, @03:52AM   Printer-friendly
from the President's-precedents dept.

"President Trump will sign the border security compromise package on Capitol Hill to avert another government shutdown and will take the extraordinary step of declaring a national emergency to obtain funding for the border wall, the White House announced Thursday."

https://foxnews.com/politics/mcconnell-says-trump-prepared-to-sign-border-security-bill-and-will-declare-national-emergency


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  • (Score: 0, Flamebait) by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 15 2019, @05:19AM (13 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 15 2019, @05:19AM (#801419)

    Democrats have so much fun calling everyone racist that they are trying to drag inanimate objects into the game now. I'm sorry, but "walls are racist" is not a very convincing argument. Trump wants to blow $5B on a wall? So what? Is $5B the only wasteful government spending you can identify? Trump wants to add one more BS emergency to the list of BS emergencies. Why not? If the thing actually does get built everyone will benefit from having one less manufactured controversy to keep hearing about.

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  • (Score: 4, Insightful) by khallow on Friday February 15 2019, @05:29AM (8 children)

    by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Friday February 15 2019, @05:29AM (#801424) Journal
    For me there's two factors. First, that he was willing to squander so much political capital on bullshit. The US has important problems too such as that deficit that is going the wrong way. Second, now he's willing to bend the rules even more for it. When the next loony has the power to bend the rules like this in 2020, what are they going to do next? Better to have not done the "emergency" at all.
    • (Score: 5, Funny) by sjames on Friday February 15 2019, @08:37AM (1 child)

      by sjames (2882) on Friday February 15 2019, @08:37AM (#801458) Journal

      Trump isn't actually that smart and he is not a great businessman. He would be richer today if he had just put daddy's money in an index fund.

      He is a classic financial example of the saying "given sufficient thrust, pigs fly just fine". His nearly half billion inheritance plus an undeserved inheritance of his dad's reputation has been a hell of a JATO.

      • (Score: 4, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 15 2019, @10:21AM

        by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 15 2019, @10:21AM (#801478)

        He is a classic financial example of the saying "given sufficient thrust, pigs fly just fine". His nearly half billion inheritance plus an undeserved inheritance of his dad's reputation has been a hell of a JATO.

        https://qz.com/1411006/trumps-413-million-inheritance-doesnt-explain-his-mysterious-cash-spending/ [qz.com]

        The dude's on the take of Russian mob for over a decade now. Cash flows, literally.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 15 2019, @01:08PM (3 children)

      by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 15 2019, @01:08PM (#801509)

      How do you measure "Political Fapital"? It sounds made up.

      • (Score: 1) by khallow on Friday February 15 2019, @01:25PM (2 children)

        by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Friday February 15 2019, @01:25PM (#801515) Journal

        How do you measure "Political Fapital"?

        Sorry, it's moderately intangible. Look it up [oxforddictionaries.com] in the dictionary. Trump had the power and populist-based leeway to stop some degree of government services for more than a month. He used that power to try to fund a $6(+) billion wall on the border with Mexico. He could have used that power in vastly more constructive ways that I would respect.

        Now, he doesn't have that power anymore. Sure, he could shutdown the government again. But this time, he's unlikely to get any support from his own party (with enough votes, vetos can be overridden). That's what political capital is to me. The power or advantage to do certain things once or a few times, which can be expended.

        There are other examples of political capital such as the period of time after a president gets elected, when implementation of proposed policies and such are relatively easy to push through Congress. Or when Bush was given a pretty big check to do what he wanted after the 9/11 attacks. But those powers/advantages go away.

        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 15 2019, @03:46PM (1 child)

          by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 15 2019, @03:46PM (#801578)

          So there is no way to measure it, and it may magically appear or disappear based on current events? It doesn't sound like something that can be "used up".

          • (Score: 1) by khallow on Saturday February 16 2019, @12:04AM

            by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Saturday February 16 2019, @12:04AM (#801850) Journal

            So there is no way to measure it, and it may magically appear or disappear based on current events?

            Yep.

            It doesn't sound like something that can be "used up".

            And yet, Trump managed it.

    • (Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Friday February 15 2019, @04:04PM

      by Runaway1956 (2926) Subscriber Badge on Friday February 15 2019, @04:04PM (#801606) Journal

      WTF, man? That is the status quo in Washington. Bullshit from start to finish, day in, day out, day after day, for the past - what? 240 years or so? Name something actually IMPORTANT that congress has dealt with, effectively, since the Declaration of Independence? If/when they deal with an issue that is NOT bullshit, they are always a day late, and a dollar short, and usually in the wrong damned place.

    • (Score: 2) by realDonaldTrump on Saturday February 16 2019, @01:14AM

      by realDonaldTrump (6614) on Saturday February 16 2019, @01:14AM (#801873) Homepage Journal

      Don't worry. Because I'll be President in 2020. And through 2020. Unless something horrible happens. Anything can happen, right? But I'm being very very nice to our 2nd. Amendment people so it won't!!!

  • (Score: 2) by c0lo on Friday February 15 2019, @05:51AM (3 children)

    by c0lo (156) Subscriber Badge on Friday February 15 2019, @05:51AM (#801432) Journal

    Why not? If the thing actually does get built everyone will benefit from having one less manufactured controversy to keep hearing about.

    If you take into account that inherently there's more crap than optimal choices, getting rid of a single BS doesn't improve too much your chances the next choice will be better.
    On the other side, if you take into account the cost of getting rid of a one BS...

    --
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
    • (Score: 0, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 15 2019, @11:14AM (2 children)

      by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 15 2019, @11:14AM (#801489)

      On the other side, if you take into account the cost of getting rid of a one BS...

      yeah, so the last shutdown reportedly cost the US 11 billion .... in order to stop 1 bullhit 5.7 billion spending
      way to go democrats

      • (Score: 2) by c0lo on Friday February 15 2019, @11:31AM

        by c0lo (156) Subscriber Badge on Friday February 15 2019, @11:31AM (#801492) Journal

        yeah, so the last shutdown reportedly cost the US 11 billion

        I keep seeing that number circulated here. May I get a run down what is accounted under that number?
        Or is it under "87.5% statistics are made on the spot" category?

        Besides, your remark doesn't address the point I made: one BS down is no warranty the next thing will not be a (divisive) bullshit too.
        I have this nagging feeling that will actually enhance the chances of the next BS ("if they swallowed this one, why not continue to feed them another? Looks like the strategy works.")

        --
        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
      • (Score: 2) by tangomargarine on Friday February 15 2019, @07:54PM

        by tangomargarine (667) on Friday February 15 2019, @07:54PM (#801749)

        If you give a mouse a cookie, he'll want a glass of milk. Giving in to the Republicans pitching a fit and threatening to shut down the government just encourages them to pull out the same threat again the next time they want something.

        But these are the same morons who keep making bad precedents like refusing to approve a Supreme Court nominee for an entire year in the hope that they'll win the next election and flip the court (which admittedly worked, ugh). They keep breaking rules like that that you just know the Democrats will come right back and do the same thing back at them when *they're* in power. Long-term planning is just so passe.

        Or how the Rs finally lost the governorship in Wisconsin to a Dem, so now the R assholes who control the legislature are taking away powers from the governor [nytimes.com] and giving them to themselves. Because it's ours and you can't have it!

        It's not enough for partisan politicians to win; they have to make the other guys look bad in the process.

        --
        "Is that really true?" "I just spent the last hour telling you to think for yourself! Didn't you hear anything I said?"