Bob Seger, really? (I didn't know you're that old) ;)

You touch on a bit of truth here... I mean, I don't know what you're calling a "shellacking" (you remind me of those exuberant Superbowl fans that get in the face about a 21-24 victory.) It was hardly a shellacking but there is nevertheless a very real impact. I would say we are being rocked by the results of a surprising election. Most of us are over the election itself. We know Trump won... so you don't have to keep telling us... Oh, unless you WANT to because, you're still pumped, I guess I kinda get that.

Most of us are struggling to come to terms with a president we really don't want. You don't remember what that was like in 2008 or in 2012?

We do question the electoral college and I hope one day that will change so that all American citizens will have equal power at the ballot. I don't know why people think that's such a bad idea. But we're talking about future elections not redoing 2016 to get Trump out.

We do question Trump as well and all his appointees and the list of reasons is endless and you will deny all of them anyway, so there's no point.

But we understand that like it or not, Trump is the president. So now we watch him and we read his executive orders and we watch the people he is aligning himself with and we watch the Republicans and we read their proposals (at least *I* do).

And what is unfolding in front of us is a familiar agenda. I keep hearing people say how Trump is different... how he isn't a politician. But he *is* a politician. That's his job now. And the agenda that I see Trump unfolding is the same right-wing agenda I saw ten years ago. Basically, as much free-reign for money as possible... even at the expense of civil rights and consumer protection. There's nothing new here. How long have people been talking about immigration reform? How long have people been talking about healthcare reform? How long have people been talking about trade reform?

Trump hasn't come up with a single original idea yet. In fact, all of his executive actions so far have been taken right from the same hit-list of age-old issues that he campaigned with. On one hand, that says something for his integrity. But on the other hand, at least for me because I have studied a lot of these issues over the years, it's a concern because I can see a fundamental conflict between two strategies with regard to these issues, one that favors the 1% and one that favors the 99%. And despite what Trump said about standing up to Wall Street, his promises and the actions he is backing them up with are a match with the strategy that favors the 1%.

So... I'm disappointed with the election and i'm concerned about Trump, the Republicans and that strategy for the 1%. But I'm not batshit crazy. Some people on the left are. There's a lot of people on the left or are guilty of the same things I accuse people here on the right of doing... reacting without considering etc... and some of them are... batshit crazy, no argument from me there.

I am staying calm (for the most part) but I am watching the same thing I always watch... the Bill of Rights, which if sustained will keep the door open for the people to storm the castle if they need to. If that door closes THEN I will go batshit crazy. In the meantime, I will remain as objective as I can be which doesn't mean I can't be critical of what Trump does if I have good reason to be. And because I don't trust him like you do, I will be looking for ways to legally end his term as soon as possible. But far, far more important than that, I am engaging and contributing to a swelling liberal movement on the ground.

I recommendation to all liberals on OPP is to do the same... Because, while the media focuses on the high-visibility of a demagogue in the Oval Office and OPP spins threads in reaction to him, you will find a much brighter and very uplifting experience if you touch base with this awakening. The ACLU and several other civil-rights and left-wing organizations that have been around for decades have recently broken records in funding. Protest assemblies are bigger than they've been since Vietnam. The Democratic Socialists are breaking membership records. Bernie Sanders's organization is already working the local and state issues and hitting the courts everywhere and we're all waiting for the Obamas to join, which we know they will do, as soon as Barack is back from surfing. ;)

We all know what PT Barnm said: There is a sucker born every second. Or something like that.

Most of them must vote Republican.

The only thing that the Right wants from these people is their blindness & their continued voting.
I have been on this site just long enough to know that dumbness is permeant.
They just will keep on voting the same way.
They still get screwed over with the rest of us & say we on the left are at fault.

Just what is it that they drink?

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/09/us/politics/consumer-financial-protection-bureau-republicans.html?rref=collection%2Ftimestopic%2FConsumer%20Financial%20Protection%20Bureau&action=click&contentCollection=timestopics&region=stream&module=stream_unit&version=latest&contentPlacement=2&pgtype=collection

So the latest Republican offense against the American people is the current attack on the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (C.F.P.B.).

The C.F.P.B. is...
1. not funded by our taxes but by the private sector. (So, entirely capitalist).
2. designed to protect consumers against predatory business practices.
3. introduced as part of the Dodd-Frank Financial Reform Protection Act of 2010.

The attack...
1. is yet another executive order... this one allowing the president to replace the bureau’s director at any time. (government intrusion)
2. is also a legislative bill in the works to limit the bureau’s enforcement authority, reduce its ability to make rules AND... "repeal" its consumer complaint system.

Repeal it's consumer complaint system?
Really?
So now we can't even complain? We can't be heared? Is that how this this thing is supposed to work?
I'm asking the Trump supporters... 'cause no one else can figure out why you voted for him.

There we go... the government will never need to be the bad guy when they shut down the freedom of speech... there's enough weak minded dumb-shits on the right that will beg the government to take away our freedoms if they can just get them riled up enough about liberals.

Bush got you so worked up over terrorists that he was able to slip in the PATRIOT Act which ripped away 30 years worth of civil rights protections... Now we just need Trump to work y'all up over liberals and they can start shutting down the Constitutional protections.

Useful idiots... what would tyranny be without them?