The Donald J. Trump Presidency

Nothing feels real right now.

Last night's speech is still fresh in my mind. How did we let this happen

When you compare the eloquence of President Obama last night to this Trump press conference...

We are well and truly fucked.

The distance between these two men....

It's ludicrous that a single person, including Donald Trump, voted for Donald Trump.

I cried during a lot of last night's speech. I also drove past his motorcade right as V103 was playing Al Green's "Let's Stay Together" to salute President Obama. It was a really touching moment.

But yeah, fuck Donald Trump. Early in the campaign I promised myself that I would move if he won the election. I didn't think it was possible, but I am keeping that promise to myself. I'm going to be bouncing to Italy hopefully before the year ends. It isn't going to be easy, but I still have family out there and can make a few bucks teaching English for a while. It was a fun experiment but it is time to just go back to the ancestral motherland now.

Good luck to everyone.

I moved to Japan after the second Bush win. Was the best decision I ever made!

Just a couple of days ago, my mate was telling me how he plans to move his family from Milan to London should a Lega Nord/Forza Italia far-right coilition succeed in the elections later this year.

It's like a game of musical chairs to the tune of disillusionment.

The elections aren't scheduled to take place until 2018, although they will most likely be moved up. I don't know enough about Italian politics but it seems unlikely at this point that Lega Nord or Forza Italia will be the catalyzing force behind any right-wing, populist shift in the country.

I'll be moving to the southern-most tip of the country. The economic precarity that people my age experience in that region is horrendous, which is kind of scary. But I just don't see myself ever being happy here (maybe that will change) and I might as well go someplace where the scenery is beautiful, the weather is warm, and the people are welcoming.

I wouldn't be so sure. Its a mess atm, even by Italian standards. In the not unlikely event that M5S crumbles, a streamlined far-right alliance could do some damage. A third of the vote would do.

My mate is a politics professor so has a bit of a vested interest.

Still an amazing place to live. I plan to spend a few weeks there myself later this year. Apulia probably.

My girlfriend and I have discussed moving out of the US if neither of our graduate school plans pan out, as a direct result of the Trump win, with Hong Kong sitting atop the list.

Bruegel wrote:Just a couple of days ago, my mate was telling me how he plans to move his family from Milan to London should a Lega Nord/Forza Italia far-right coilition succeed in the elections later this year.

It's like a game of musical chairs to the tune of disillusionment.

Yeah. I have seriously looked into going elsewhere in those first despondent weeks, but, aside from the rather hefty resources required to relocate and the at least semi-comforting knowledge that a healthy plurality rejected this bullshit, what's keeping me here is the fact is that most of the western world is under threat of succumbing to right wing savagery.

Rex Tillerson may be leading my girlfriend/fiancée's country and mine towards a delightful war over the South China Sea. I have to admit I am surprised it happened this quickly, and I genuinely feel a stronger impetus to leave the country.

Where I would go though I'm not sure, as this will only lead to internal feuding in China with Taiwan and likely Hong Kong as well.

Fucking awesome

You should all be moving to Ohio, Florida and Michigan.

You first.

If I wanted to be surrounded by idiots who voted for Trump I wouldn't want to move.

Ҩ wrote:You first.

hey man I did three years in Indiana during Bush II

With a week to go until Donald J. Trump is sworn in as the 45th president of the United States, his transition team has finally locked in a group of guests for the inauguration proceedings. Among the participants is a figure whom video game fans will never be able to forget: the musician known as DJ Ravidrums.
http://www.polygon.com/2017/1/13/14267442/donald-trump-inauguration-ravidrums-wii-music

Why bother with confirmation hearings at all if everyone's just going to be approved by a Republican majority?

Like, half these people literally want to dissolve the agencies they've been put in charge of.

The obvious answer is transparency. Also, having to answer to questions from Democratic opposition is important because it gives the public a deeper understanding of these appointees ideology and, in the case of Betsy DeVos just yesterday, it shows the total incompetency of these people and their complete lack of familiarity with the baseline conversations surrounding these complex issues (see: her not knowing the difference between 'growth' and 'proficiency' in the debate around education policy).

It's frustrating obviously because revealing these people for the almost intentionally incompetent people that they are and then appointing them anyway is absurd, but I think that's an important point to reveal.

When Rick Perry accepted Trump's offer, he had no idea what the Department of Energy does.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/18/us/politics/rick-perry-energy-secretary-donald-trump.html?_r=0

I saw an American flag hanging upside down on an actual flag pole yesterday. I don't think I've ever seen that in person before.

NP this Matt Taibbi interview, some interesting and illuminating insights from up close here:




I listen to this podcast almost every day, fwiw.

Ted Falconi wrote:I saw an American flag hanging upside down on an actual flag pole yesterday.  I don't think I've ever seen that in person before.

The day after the election, my dad got up in the morning, did his morning bus route for the school, came home just before noon, had lunch, took the American flag he had hanging on the side of the house, stuck it into the front yard so it was standing up, and torched it. He watched it burn until the embers flared out and went about the rest of his day like nothing had happened.

My mom told me all this and only because I came over two days later and asked her why this was in the yard.

    

If the town they live in went less than 80% for Trump, I'd be shocked. I was genuinely shook by this and worried that someone would try to get him arrested (it's happened before). Until now I've told only one other person about this.

I should be proud of him and I always found the idea of burning a flag privately thrilling because I don't feel the slightest bit morally conflicted about it and even feel dangerously assured that it's Constitutionally-protected and that I'm going to live to see the day when that's decided for good and be a part of the celebration that follows. Instead, I've been quietly pissed at him for taking such a stupid risk that could pretty much ruin my mom's life along with his.

I've run face-first into my own hypocrisy several times over the last few months and I'm finding out that I'm a lot more prejudiced and conservative than I ever imagined (it's really easy to think you know how you feel about something until it's suddenly a big part of your life) and it's a really sickening experience that I hope no one here has to go through!

Looks like a fucking cool walking staff