Clown Car V: 2020 version!

[IglooDame]

Did Bush and Obama keep their predecessors' people in place? If I followed either one of them into office I'd replace their people asap. I'm surprised Trump took so long, especially when he figured out they were trying to oust him with lies.

It seems like it's not just predecessors' people, though. How many Trump administration positions are still filled with the people Trump originally put there? Offhand, half his cabinet (notably State, Defense, AG, and Homeland Security), his White House chief of staff and chief counsel, National Security Advisor, Director of National Intelligence, Director of the FBI, ... who am I missing?

 

[hobbsyoyo]

And these are just the positions we know about off the top of our heads. I wonder how many critical positions across the government at the senior level just are not being filled at all?

 

[Lexicus]

@Ajidica apparently Buttigieg just shamelessly steals his platitudes from Obama

 

[AmazonQueen]

@Ajidica apparently Buttigieg just shamelessly steals his platitudes from Obama

View attachment 547009

He knows Biden won't pull him up on it.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/wo...oe-Biden-plagiarised-Neil-Kinnock-speech.html

 

[Timsup2nothin]

C'mon man...Obama gave about a million speeches. At some point or another everything worth saying he probably said at least once. If you start parsing out one line at a time looking for plagiarism you're gonna wind up realizing that everyone does it.

And yes, I'm sure that someone somewhere probably said that exact same thing before.

 

[cardgame]

Plagiarism aside it's a completely meaningless platitude.

 

[Lexicus]

C'mon man...Obama gave about a million speeches. At some point or another everything worth saying he probably said at least once. If you start parsing out one line at a time looking for plagiarism you're gonna wind up realizing that everyone does it.

And yes, I'm sure that someone somewhere probably said that exact same thing before.

It's just funny because I was making fun of Buttigieg for spouting that meaningless drivel last night before I even realized it was lifted almost word-for-word from an Obama speech. Buttigieg's Twitter feed is full of meaningless platitudes and focus-group gobbledygook.

 

[Timsup2nothin]

Well, he is a presidential candidate so that's pretty much to be expected.

 

[Estebonrober]

Well, he is a presidential candidate so that's pretty much to be expected.

Ah I think I found my catch all reply to @Timsup2nothin in regards to DNC politics. Expect more. I fudging expect a lot more then stupid platitudes coming from presidential candidates.

 

[Lexicus]

Ah I think I found my catch all reply to @Timsup2nothin in regards to DNC politics. Expect more. I ******* expect a lot more then stupid platitudes coming from presidential candidates.

Just sayin, but the candidate who relies the least on platitudinous garbage is also the one leading the national polls by double digits.

 

[Timsup2nothin]

Just sayin, but the candidate who relies the least on platitudinous garbage is also the one leading the national polls by double digits.

I know y'all hate being constantly reminded of this but "has a double digit lead" is one way of describing a situation and "stands at 26%" is an entirely different way to describe the same situation. Which is the more meaningful description is very much an open question, unless you are a Greek in the employ of the Kremlin of course.

 

[Lexicus]

I know y'all hate being constantly reminded of this but "has a double digit lead" is one way of describing a situation and "stands at 26%" is an entirely different way to describe the same situation. Which is the more meaningful description is very much an open question, unless you are a Greek in the employ of the Kremlin of course.

I agree. But like you said in the other thread...I'm more concerned about the trendlines

 

[Timsup2nothin]

I agree. But like you said in the other thread...I'm more concerned about the trendlines

We'll see how those hold up. I'm really surprised at how optimistic his faithful are though since his performances in Iowa and New Hampshire were massively down from 2016. Nevada being up to the previous mark is a good sign, but he needs to start matching or exceeding consistently to really become the "presumptive nominee" people want him to be. He only hit 26% in SC in 2016. That's a mark that he really needs to beat, significantly, to say he is really trending up, and if he doesn't match it at the very least I'd worry that Nevada coming in even was just an aberration.

 

[cardgame]

He is the presumptive nominee, nobody's won all three ever and he won NV big

538 currently has an estimate that he will win like 46 or 47 states, including SC

 

[Berzerker]

It seems like it's not just predecessors' people, though. How many Trump administration positions are still filled with the people Trump originally put there? Offhand, half his cabinet (notably State, Defense, AG, and Homeland Security), his White House chief of staff and chief counsel, National Security Advisor, Director of National Intelligence, Director of the FBI, ... who am I missing?

Most of those people came from his predecessors, they've been climbing the establishment ladder for years thru 1 or more administrations. Some of that is the result of Trump's temper at learning they were calling him names behind his back, some cuz he's probably paranoid about the deep state's tentacles and who he can trust. If Obama appointed a Bush person who was calling him names I'd expect Obama to fire him and I wouldn't call him a dictator for it.

Mattis resigned over Syria, good riddance. Bolton, cya. Neo-cons, take a hike. Trump wanted Sessions out because he recused himself from RussiaGate and Trump needed someone he could trust watching the deep state. I imagine both Bush and Obama dumped people who became a thorn in their sides over invading Iraq, Libya and Syria.

Can you imagine the house cleaning if Sanders gets elected?

 

[Arakhor]

Using the phrase "the deep state" unironically sounds ridiculous to me.

 

[Berzerker]

Then you're not paying attention. The deep state lied to a Fisa court to spy on him. Explain why Chuck Schumer warned Trump in Jan '17 about how he pissed off the intel community and they had 6 ways to Sunday of getting him.

 

[Arakhor]

It's a meaningless term, like "the establishment" or "the elite", because everyone using it means something different.

 

[Berzerker]

what does deep state mean to you?

if you dont know about the deep state by now, you'll be finding out if Bernie wins - they wont like him either

edit: what am I saying, they dont like Bernie now

 

[Arakhor]

It doesn't mean anything to me outside of conspiracy theories. There will certainly be parts of the government or established interests in the country who may work against his agenda, but they're not some sort of deeply embedded covert power structure hidden in the bowels of the nation.