I respectfully disagree with you. I think the descriptors are accurate and appropriate. I believe 5 or more people died as a result of the Maga horde descending on the capital on January 6th. Also this group has terrorized witnesses and legal officials. Trump fawns over dictators like Putin; he doesn't care for democracy. Trump wishes he could casually execute his enemies. His behaviors are un-American.

Excuse me but I was always given to understand that the USA has no concept of a politically neutral civil service, and that each incoming president or governor brings his or her own people in to form the new administration. To the victor the spoils!

That is not correct, although that seems to be how the MAGA Republicans WANT it to be. Actually each POTUS gets to select his staff and administration team, but under (and often among them) are career bureaucrats and Federal employees that are difficult or impossible to remove or replace who are independent of party and experts at their specific job. They take no oath to the administration, only to the country they serve.

There is something like 4,000 political appointments the President is responsible for "hiring". If Trump had his way which is still possible there would be around 50,000. If schedule F returns there would be an oath to the administration and if you say anything bad about the Pres, your fired.

Presidents are much like quarterbacks, they get too much credit when times are good and too much blame when times are bad. Still, that's the way the game is played.
The last two admins had significantly lower trade deficits and consumer price index costs. I believe that had Trump gotten a second term he would have leveled 'the playing' field with China even more but of course now we will never know. He also tried to get NATO 'slackers' such as Canada and others to make more stringent committments to their own self defense thus strengthening the alliance.


Obama's 8 year average trade deficit was -484,917B dollars, Trump= -576,952B and Biden is currently averaging -857,519 billion dollars.
U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis
https://www.bea.gov/data/intl-trade-...s-and-services

U.S. Trade in Goods and Services, 1960-present (spreadsheet)
https://www.bea.gov/sites/default/fi...es-0124_0.xlsx

Bureau of Labor Statistics
https://www.bls.gov/cpi/tables/supplemental-files/
Obama's average for 8 years was $229.77 for the 'basket of goods.' Trump's was $252.67 and Biden is currently averaging $289.44.

Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U)
https://data.bls.gov/timeseries/CUUR...tion=all_years

The inflation rate per year for the CPI-U for all items less food and energy: Obama - 1.738%, Trump - 1.98%, Biden (3 years) - 4.88 percent. https://data.bls.gov/pdq/SurveyOutputServlet

https://www.minneapolisfed.org/about...ce-index-1913-
The Minneapolis Fed has slightly different rates: Obama - 1.2% average annual inflation, Trump - 1.875% and Biden (3 years) - 5.6%.

Re: Originally Posted by enorbet View Post
... that to me is an exceedingly important difference compared to stuffing every nook and cranny of government with rubber-stamping Yes Men Loyalists

I mighty be a tad confused, hazel, as I'm not sure I understand your reply. Just in case you assumed I was comparing the US to the UK, I wasn't. I was referring to the difference between Trump and Biden on one level, the Republican Party (especially the current MAGA controlled version of the party under Trump) versus the current Democrat administration. This does extend some into the past since for well over a decade the Republican Party, unlike say 40 years ago, has become almost exclusively party line. Many Democrats still try to collaborate to do what's right for the Country. Even when Dems sponsor a bill that is all but identical to a previously Republican bill, the Republicans block it, often just so the Dems can't rack up any tallies on the positive side of improving conditions.

Meanwhile they have worked to stack SCOTUS with MAGA monsters like Clarence Thomas (and his wife), the totally creepy religious fundamentalist Speaker of the House, Mike Johnson (who actually wants a Christian Nationalist government, literally to wipe out Separation of Church and State, fired nearly 100 officials even while they are not in the Executive Office, intimidated vote counting officials, and placed an aura of fear among most Republican officials who see what nastiness happens to anyone who doesn't toe the MAGA line.

Yes, of course there are routine changes in The Cabinet when a new party comes into power, but MAGA has extended that to a vast degree. Simply put, they seem to actually want a Theocracy, and they are All In to get it. I see this as an extreme and fundamental difference. I don't see any evidence of the Dems seeking to overturn foundation Law in the Bill of Rights.

I saw your previous post as an attempt at equivalency in Authoritarian aspirations between the two parties, and I don't see it. Was I mistaken in your view?

I submit, mjolnir, that you disregarded the global event of Covid that decimated supply lines and the fact is, the US has recovered better than any other nation. Unemployment is at an all time low and the Stock Market is also breaking records. Nobody want's to be a modern "Hoover", inheriting massive debt and problems, but it does happen with patty shifts in power, and what the incumbent does to deal with such issues doesn't come free. It takes work and work costs money and the effects usually take time to bear fruit.

FWIW I don't give either party very high marks, but comparing the Trump administration to the Biden administration, it seems quite clear to me who has more of the interests of the Country at heart and who just looked for their own gains and agendas. Furthermore, I see Trump's "stiffing" of his employees and creditors as a consistent pattern of behaviour that is utterly shifty and dishonest. He is an unprincipled con artist in my view. I wouldn't even sell him a used car let alone buy one, and I'm certainly not buying his bait and switch bullshit.

You asked for verifiable 'facts' and I provided them for you. The fact that they don't fit your narrative is not my fault.

You have just characterized thousands of your protesting citizens under … a Trope.

And you have done the same with a political figure that you quite-palpably despise.

Fortunately, “reality” is never so cut-and-dry.

If people feel like they're currently under authoritarian rule, then they don't know anything about authoritarianism.

Case in point: Mr. Trump says whatever he likes about Judges with impunity. If your country was authoritarian, he would be showing up to court battered and bruised... and he would certainly not be out making campaign speeches.

If you want to find out how opposition leaders get treated in authoritarian states, you don't have to look very far. Anyone who has been paying any attention at all would know of a certain recent high profile case from Russia.

@mjolnir: Before the ink was hardly dry on our new Constitution, there were those who believed that we had assigned the Executive an impossible task: no support, too much responsibility, and not enough real power. (Including: some who had participated in the actual deliberations.)

George Washington is said to have complained that he could make the Army do anything, but the Congress, nothing. Many Europeans expected him to simply declare himself a King. They were truly astounded(!) when he meekly handed over the keys. (King George couldn’t believe it.)

Yeah, the Army adored him. Had he been less honorable this young Country could easily have slipped into true 'authoritarian' rule.

You could CLAIM those thing for any figure you despise, but for THESE figures there is proof and court convictions that there is not for simple "claims". That is a pretty big difference!

My favorite saying is meaningless statistics were up 5% last year.

With the trade deficit there could be several reasons which are not necessarily bad. Both the stock market and the economy has grown more under Biden than trump which means people are spending more money on foreign goods.

Trump's so called signature economic policies been found to have had little to no measurable effect on the economy.

The constitution and the government structure it describes is designed specifically to PREVENT anyone from holding authoritarian power. It was largly in reaction to a king, and "we want no monarchs here" was a rallying cry that still resonates after over ~250 years!