This will be the final lesson learned from the Trump presidency.

[shockey80]

No one in the entire world wins when you elect a lunatic to be the president of the United States. It may be a very painful lesson.

In the end everyone loses. Some people may win short term, long term they will lose.

Putin thinks he won when Trump was elected. He didn't get all the sanctions lifted. Soon Putin will have to face the Democrats and they are not going to forget how Putin attacked the election. Putin is going to lose.

Israel thinks they won. Trump did what they wanted, He ended the Iran deal. That did not help Israel, that made the middle east more unstable. Israel injected themselves into our politics, they lost friends doing that. Democrats will not forget their love affair with Trump. They will not forget Israel convinced Trump to end the deal with Iran, a deal Obama and Democrats spent years working on. Israel will lose in the end.

Republicans in congress think they won when Trump was elected. They got their judges, their tax cuts, however Trump has destroyed their party and it may never recover.

Trump voters think they won when Trump was elected. It is being reported people are losing their farms because of Trumps tariffs and some of them are committing suicide. Did they win?

Business leaders thought they won because Trump gave them giant tax cuts. Some of them have been hurt, put out of business because of Trumps lunacy. Will they win if Trump wrecks the economy?

Everyone loses when you elect a lunatic president. From the moment Trump was elected I understood the entire world was in great danger.

[dem4decades]

1. Idiots thought they'd won because they elected one of their own.

But at the end of the day they're still idiots.

[ChazInAz]

35. They paid a high price.

They paid a high price.
Just so they could "own the libs".
I am not in a forgiving mood.

[BigmanPigman]

39. And they will do it again in a heartbeat...

exactly why the word "idiot" is so appropriate. Many, many Americans have the memory of a gnat, repeat history and do not educate themselves. They only care about when something affects them personally and specifically, everyone else doesn't matter.

[Hestia]

45. Yet, we are told 20 times a day, via talking heads (good band), that we have to come to some

bipartisan deal with these rubes. That they have been forgotten, etc ad nauseum. There is a reason they were left behind - they couldn't keep up. How do you work with people who wallow in glee at their own ignorance and tear everyone off at the knees who shows a modicum of education?

What we have today is from playing nice and forgiving the worst actions of people who would take the food out of your child's mouth or kick grandma to the curb, tell her to pull herself up by her bootstraps while raiding her savings account.

Drumpf is a reflection of these people and shows to us that they really can't be worked with - ever. The best that could happen is for them to be isolated due to their own actions, i.e., small town America.

Bipartisan = assholes win and we lose any narrative for the good because we are being stomped to death by their whining.

[mikeysnot]

2. "Trump has destroyed their party and it may never recover. "

yeah, I thought that also, after W.... and after reagan/bush, and before that Nixon/Agnew/Ford....

[olegramps]

5. Yes, like Twain's refrain that reports of his dead were greatly exaggerated.

The nature of a Democracy is chaotic, sometime mild and sometimes loud. This is the avenue to progress. The appeal of dictatorships is stability, however, individuality is sacrificed for lock-step order that leads to stagnation.

[LastLiberal in PalmSprings]

28. After the world is destroyed, only the cockroaches will remain.

Or is it Republicans? I get them confused at times.

The Repug Party isn't going away as long as there is a trace of racism and anti-antisemitism in the world. In other words, never.

[LiberalLovinLug]

32. Thing is, after every one of those decrepid administrations, they had enriched themselves more.

Like they are doing now with even greater tax cuts, and cuts to environmental regulations, keeping wages low, and make it easier to move to a "shithole" country to do business. And with greater wealth comes greater power, and with each Republican admin especially, the more damage they can do with that wealth.

It is scary to think of the billions, no trillions, of dollars siphoned into bank accounts of the worlds wealthiest and most influential people, and what they will do to keep it that way. That they now have obscene wealth as much as whole countries is frightening. The gap between the rich and poor has only gotten wider. Fewer people control greater wealth. Sanders is right to pound on this fact, no matter how sick one is of hearing him repeat it.

They buy media empires to shape public opinion. Monopolize businesses to set prices. And pay off politicians, of all stripes, to change laws (or not change laws). I think it may, and may have already, come to a point that Democrats, while they still fight for worker, women's, minorities, human rights, they also MUST look over their shoulder and temper any "socialist" type rhetoric, any hint of not continuing the massive corporate welfare drain, where the most profitable sectors like the oil and gas industries also receive massive subsidies.

Because any politician, even a whole political party, can be destroyed with 'fake news' and shutting off the tap.

That's why the Republican Party, or whatever they may call themselves in future, is never going away. That even if not all very wealthy people are unethical, (Warren Buffet, Bill Gates, Ted Turner...) there are many like the Koch brothers where morals and ethics are non existent, and its all about gathering wealth. They have convinced themselves of following their own breed of patriotism: the more money you can accrue, the 'better' the American.

[PCIntern]

41. And Goldwater.

[mikeysnot]

46. well that was before my time and he wasn't president.

But he did tell nixon to resign... at least he had that going for him.

[marble falls]

3. He's got another year barring impeachment, he's still got new depths to plumb ...

there had better be a Democratic tsunami in 2020.

[Firestorm49]

4. Nice job, Shockey80.

[onetexan]

8. Ditto, and thanks Shockey. I needed to hear that this morning, esp'ly the bit about Putin

[ancianita]

6. So did I. I lost FB friends over being so upset about him. Now they're learning about all the losing

The problem is that when nobody wins, good structures get weakened, lost outright, have to be rebuilt. It's an opportunity for technical, functional streamlining, sure, but it comes at a heavy price.

We must make a clear history -- not a self serving story -- of these years, publish it widely, in order to never, ever let people forget how bad life can be under a lunatic president.

[bronxiteforever]

7. +1 Brilliant.

[TrogL]

9. As long as there are Evangelicals there will be a Republican Party

After Roe vs Wade will come contraception, women’s rights and separation of church and state

[Duppers]

15. +100

[joost5]

16. Didn't The Handmaid's Tale already provide their blueprint?

[Nasruddin]

10. Shouldn't have needed this lesson

It should have been self evident that you don't select a psychopathic moron to run your group, business, or country -
even if and when you agree with some of the things they say. You can't count on a proven incompetent.

That we have to learn this lesson, and we have no way of fixing this mistake once made, are both enormous problems.

[walkingman]

11. I think this is just the latest aberration of the GOP. Call it GOP 4.0

Reagan (another actor)started the fire in 1980 buy attacking unions, worshiping tax cuts, trickle-down economics, and making government the bad guys. Then along came his sidekick Bush I and his "American exceptionalism","War on Drugs", Invasion of Panama, Pardoning of Iran-Contra Criminals, The Dirty Wars in Central America, and The Launch of The Gulf War. Then a short reprieve with Clinton and we got Bush II who invaded Iraq for no reason, cut taxes during a war, almost destroyed the American economy and is basically a war criminal. Then we get Trump who is openly and proudly racist, xenophobic, and basically made America look like the "Jerry Springer" show.

It just gets nastier and nastier as time goes on. The electorate has become tribal, taken sides, and make no apologies for their support for these immoral leaders. They literally worship them as if they were Gods.

If there was a mental health hospital for institutions the Republican Party and its top leaders would be admissible as clinically insane.

All Empires crumble and we are witnessing ours twirling down the toilet fast. Things will get worse before they get better or until we wake up and reject this insanity.

[RainCaster]

18. IMO, it started with Nixon

His notion of the presidency being above the law is the forebear of today's shot show.

[DemocracyMouse]

23. Walkingman, nice summary!

But you should have said "spinning" down the toilet... "Twirling" is too fun....

Seriously, we need summaries like that. Republicans generate a firehouse of, well, spinning shit.

[True Blue American]

25. Do not forget

Welfare Queen in a Caddie.

[Meadowoak]

31. Trump is that welfare queen in a caddie!

[NoMoreRepugs]

12. Agree, BUT - the massive infusion of conservative judges thanks to Moscow Mitch is going

to weigh heavily on the country for the 25+ years even with a Blue Tsunami in 2020.

[vlyons]

13. I think there is a much different lesson to be learned - if only we would

The lesson is that the insatiable greed for money is corrupting us. I trace all the ills of our government back to allowing greedy people to cheat our elections and suppress the vote to rig the laws and tax structure to acquire money by any means. If we don't get the dark money out of politics, nothing will change.

[pecosbob]

14. Eighty percent of the country barely has a pot to piss in

Last edited Wed Aug 21, 2019, 11:02 AM - Edit history (1)

but many of us would simply change places with the entitled rather than change things. Hope the next generation will be able to be less self-centered and greedy than we are.

[crazytown]

17. everything trump touches dies

[PatrickforO]

19. Everyone loses with Trump but the oligarchs. The top 1/2 of 1% will

prosper no matter what happens with governments, wars, revolutions or economic cycles.

In order to pull their fangs, because it is they who have bought our government and caused us all this misery, we have to get the dark money out of DC and out of elections. We have to completely revise our tax codes, including a repeal of the horribly irresponsible 2017 tax cut. There must be a wealth tax, a death tax, and capital gains should be treated as regular income. There needs to be a small tax on each trade on the stock exchanges - not enough to hurt long term investors - people like you and me - but enough to collect some serious revenue from the traders and arbitrageurs.

We also need to pass Warren's Accountable Capitalism Act, which she introduced in 2018, and which, if passed would expand the fiduciary responsibility of corporate executives beyond shareholder earnings to include workers, consumers, communities and the environment. In other words, reform the publicly held corporation and force good corporate citizenship through legislation and regulation. Of course, Forbes says this 'will end capitalism,' but capitalism as we are experiencing it now MUST end because it is unsustainable - threatening the very existence of our species.

[DemocracyMouse]

27. PatrickforO that proposal by Warren sounds quite reasonable and completely in sync with

triple bottom line accounting ideas that have been in circulation for years. It's new, but also quite old, Biblical, Native American, Quaker and small-town responsible.

[Still In Wisconsin]

20. Everything Trump touches, dies.

Businesses, brands, relationships, organizations, alliances... the list goes on.

Everything Trump gets his hands on dies. Everyone and everything.

[BadGimp]

21. Exceptional Post....

Shame that the people who need to read these words will only do so after it's too late for us all.

[SCVDem]

22. Imagine if we added some graphics,

and then got Morgan Freeman to read the OP verbatim.

We need a hard edged ad to slap some reality into the MAGAts.

Let them justify their position with facts.

Of course they can't!

[infullview]

24. So much winning!

"We’re going to win so much, you’re going to be so sick and tired of winning" -

[WinstonSmith4740]

26. And unfortunately, even if Christ returned and we elected him...

We've still shown the world that at any given time, we're only 4 years away from putting a treasonous lunatic in charge. It will take generations to rebuild the trust the world once had in us.

[RANDYWILDMAN]

29. Ug, I threw up

In my mouth a little when you said Trump presidency, this is Farce, nothing less. Quit telling anyone this is legit in anyway!!!!

[ladjf]

30. This is a thought provoking post. Notice how many constructive comments followed. nt

[AC_Mem]

33. Whatever made

people think that a man who has lost probably billions through bad, impulsive decisions, bankrupted 5 times, and I won't even go into the deep, deep character flaws that we know about (let alone those we do not) could successfully lead the great United States of America?

my heart sobs on some days. its hard to see the light at the end of this long tunnel.

[Enoki33]

34. The fact that we have been able to acknowledge publicly that

a dangerous lunatic rules this country yet are unable to remove him from office highlights a fundamental weakness in our system that our enemies, for enemies they are, exploit to the detriment of the validity of the democratic process.For this nut to be cracked requires the input of constitutional scholars and lawmakers way above my competence. I only know the problem exists, and has eventually to be dealt with if we are resolved to learn from every painful lesson the lunatic and his enablers have taught us.

[GETPLANING]

36. Democrats WILL forget

It's what they do best. Look forward, not back. And in four years the Republicans will be back.
Republicans never forget. Their mission is to destroy the Democratic party. They never lose sight of this. Ten years from now, that will still be their mission.
I wish Democratic leaders would get this through their heads for once.

[Karadeniz]

37. Good points! Thanks for sharing these with us!

[MadDAsHell]

38. I'd be surprised if Putin faces any real long-term consequences.

Russia was coddled and even defended during the Obama administration. Not to today's extent, but I don't think we can go from saying in 2012 that framing Russia as a threat is "going back to the 80's," then call them our #1 enemy just 4 years later, and be taken all that seriously by the world.


It's going to take decades to clean up the political miscalculations, missteps and outright treason that have occurred with Russia.

[mountain grammy]

40. K&R

[Soph0571]

42. Let me add this

The idiots that are behind Brexit think they have won cause Trump is in the WH and supports them. You are so right. No-one wins.

[orangecrush]

43. K&R

[lunatica]

44. Excellent points and well written

[Nitram]

47. Or maybe the final lesson is that one country can decisively influence another county's election

using targeted social media.