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Edited by Mrph1 on Nov 30th 2023 at 11:03:59 AM
Another Odd Look into other minds: Dear Donald Trump: Less ‘Casey at the Bat’ and more Hank Aaron
Leo Smith of Smyrna, in charge of minority participation for the Georgia Republican party, was one of the quartet. The CBS video shows Smith giving Trump an “A” for disruption, but his letter was more nuanced. And much longer. Watch it [at the link]:
April 20, 2017
Dear President Trump:
I am Leo Smith from Smyrna, Georgia. I am a businessman and an activist with the Georgia Republican Party. And I voted for you.
I still believe. I am however writing to grade you A-F on your first 100 days of the Presidency on matters important to me.
At the top of my list during the 2016 was the need for a candidate who would disrupt the status quo. We needed to wake Americans up to the reality of our complacency and floundering greatness. Judging by the number of political pundits and foreign heads of state complaining about your lack of predictability and colorful twitter feed, I’d say we woke people up. Folks are engaged like never before. Well done. A-plus!
But before you get carried away I want to point out that while your NBA on court style bombastic tongue wagging is good for letting folks know its game on, your governance will be judged by your assists and scoring. We need you to take some legislation to the hoop. Your leadership will now be measured by your ability to assist Paul Ryan, Tom Price and Congress in getting things done.
The pop quiz of repealing and replacing Obamacare is sadly an F. Your study group worked poorly together and now the final exam depends on your leadership to steer the Affordable Care Act into the realm of reasonable provision and not political propaganda and pandering. In fairness, you did at least present a plan so I am open to an appeal.
Here are some tips for your re-write of the health care plan.
Please look for other low-hanging fruit methods to give affordable care to more Americans. Providing incentives to faith-based and charitable medical providers and their donors should be a highlight of your plan. Tax exemption legislation for charity clinics is within your immediate reach. And in these days of live chat, telemedicine is a cheaper way to advise and counsel the poor about preventive health and treatment. These items will help you recover from a disappointing start on Obamacare.
And yet, Mr. President your leadership still resonates with relevance. Pre-Trump, my 9-year-old son’s aspirant life vision was only matched by his occasional distress about the state of his future as an American. As he learned more about America and the world, he became more and more worried about his safety. He became more and more concerned that spartan family finances would force me into sending him to a low performing, indifferent, and culturally challenging place of learning.
My son Luke has the audacity to dream beyond hope. He wants to be a builder, a maker and an innovator, along with a side gig as a professional baseball player. He didn’t see how enduring Spanish in a math class at an American public school would help with the skill sets he needs. Your attention is needed in addressing schools where English-speaking students have subject time curtailed by the reality that many in the student body cannot understand classes taught in English. We embrace legal immigration, but not at the expense of academic progress. For that reason, we sacrifice greatly to send our children to a private school where diversity is celebrated but learning is not subject to the whims of globalism.
Your edification of putting “American’s First,” even if only by executive orders, bring us at least to the point of hoping. For that you deserve a B. A grade of A is possible once Congress backs you by legislating support and the financing of school choice for middle to low income parents like myself, staying tough on foreign affairs and national defense (A so far), and putting us to work.
You get an A for stimulating market confidence but we need lower and middle class jobs. From I-85 in Atlanta, to cities that need a second airport, implementing your infrastructure plan should endeavor to supply jobs for the general employment seeker to ex-offenders and veterans. As a government agency your administration can set the example on how states can lead this effort. Deregulation and lifting non-essential licensing restrictions are easy fixes that enhance the chance for more Americans to be employed. We need the dignity of work. We need you to demand that Congress acts with innovation and effectiveness in job creating initiatives. You’ve been slow to follow the example of Governor Nathan Deal’s cost-saving, people-building, criminal justice reforms in Georgia. For that, I am giving you an “I” for incomplete. You’ve turned in nothing to grade.
A final word again about your tenor and tone. Your first 100 days has been a reshaping of American vision. You are like the flawed folk hero in a storied composition. We the people who believe in your vision of America seek the meat of your execution and discard the elements that aid your storytelling. We want less “Casey at the Bat” and more Hank Aaron. We are now more interested in the engine of the car and less so the flamboyance of the driver. Deliver the pizza, sir. Americans are hungry.
Thank you for being an “American” President!
Ut Prosim (That I may serve),
Leo Smith
Smyrna, Ga.
Didn't Trump spend somewhere in the area of half as much money on his campaign as Hillary did?
My Tumblr. Currently side-by-side liveblogging Digimon Adventure, sub vs dub.
She's part Native American
Money wins elections. The average Republican for example would go for you if you have an R in front of your name.
edited 28th Apr '17 1:33:40 PM by sgamer82
Free publicity is, by definition, free. It therefore does not count towards money winning elections.
My Tumblr. Currently side-by-side liveblogging Digimon Adventure, sub vs dub.
But it does impact the result so even if he won with less money spent that doesn't necessarily mean that generally they who spends more wins is wrong.
edited 28th Apr '17 1:48:17 PM by Fourthspartan56
"Einstein would turn over in his grave. Not only does God play dice, the dice are loaded." -Chairman Sheng-Ji Yang
Not-Bernie-Bad!
White House Weighs Kicking Out Sebastian Gorka
Gorka’s looming departure from the White House, which one of the sources described as imminent, comes amid mounting controversy over his involvement with a far-right Hungarian group notorious for its collaboration with the Nazi regime during the second world war.
Reached by phone on Friday, Gorka requested that questions be sent in an email, to which he did not reply. The White House did not respond to multiple requests for comment.
According to two senior administration officials, the White House has been seeking a position for Gorka that does not require a security clearance. One said it was looking to classify him as a member of the federal government’s senior executive service.
Plans for Gorka’s move have not been finalized, the officials cautioned. And in this White House—with its reputation for turn-on-a-dime decision-making and competing factions—that means Gorka’s status could change.
@Krieger If you don't agree with me that's fine. But can you try not being a condescending asshole? Or should I start screaming "BERNIE-BAD" to mock you?
Youll need more than that. You're going to need several different angles.
But that was just one angle that I was talking about. It's not the sum of my argument. That's just the part people most heavily disagreed on which is reasonable.
edited 28th Apr '17 2:08:46 PM by MadSkillz
If you're going to mock a group of people that's okay for the most part but if you're going to try to mock me specifically, I'll call it out.
I imagine it'd get annoying real quick if I started repeatedly side-swiping at people with Trumpian-level insults like NOT NEOLIBERALISM-BAD, CENTRISM-GOOD, DEMOCRATS-GOOD and LEFTISTS-BAD.
I mean I've been on the R_Donald before and this is similar to how they mock people.
edited 28th Apr '17 2:33:04 PM by MadSkillz
Yeah, I don't generally agree with most of what Mad Skillz says but can we not be a dick to her about it? Rule Zero, guys.
My Tumblr. Currently side-by-side liveblogging Digimon Adventure, sub vs dub.@sg Yeah, that's fine.
@Nick Well Jared's grandfather was a survivor of the Holocaust and Bannon is a Neo-Nazi. I figured it'd have to come down to one or the other and you can't push Jared out of being Trump'a son in law. It's a losing battle for Bannon.
I dunno much about Jared's dad except that he went to jail and tried to using a prostitute plant against one of his enemies or something.
edited 28th Apr '17 2:31:54 PM by MadSkillz
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Charles Kushner was convicted of making illegal campaign contributions, tax evasion, and witness tampering (sending a prostitute...to his brother-in-law...and sending the tape to his sister).
Yeah, Charles Kushner was a piece of shit. And Jared didn't fall far from the tree.
Only took him about 100 days to potentially alienate one of our oldest allies. I guess that's kind of an accomplishment.
edited 28th Apr '17 2:40:38 PM by M84
Disgusted, but not surprised

So, being able to get reelected helps keep the politicians' egos in check: they get their "power" and prestige, and in exchange they've got to do good things for the people who elected, after all, if they don't they won't get reelected.
If you tell them they can only get elected once, most of them will see it as deadline for how much money, power, influence or favours they can get for themselves and their close circle in 2, 4 or 6 years.
In other words, term limits lead to corruption because politicians will no longer ask "what can I do so these people get me elected?" and instead they'll begin to ask "how much can I get out of the system in the X years I'll be in office?"
They'll definitely be asking what can I do so these people can get me elected. But it won't be the common man. It'll be donors.
Money wins elections. The average Republican for example would go for you if you have an R in front of your name.
You know maybe I should've mentioned this but I'm arguing for term limits and not short term limits.
That is to say that I support moderate term limits of 16-20 years. Experience is good but we need to make way for new ideas.
And you know sometimes experience isn't a good thing when you have a shitty Senator supposing he gets more competent at pushing an awful agenda but keeps getting re-elected due to various reasons.
edited 28th Apr '17 1:04:58 PM by MadSkillz