We are so used to how Presidents HAVE behaved before

[MineralMan]

that we think that is how they MUST behave. We are wrong. Calls for the release of his tax records, expectations of regular press conferences, the belief that transparency is required of a President, and many other things are a waste of time. Presidents are not required to do any of those things. In actual fact, there is almost nothing that any President is required to do.

A President is not required to listen to anyone, either, including intelligence agencies. He is not required to talk to anyone, and isn't even required to stand in front of both houses of Congress to make a State of the Union address. He is required, in the Constitution, to communicate with Congress "from time to time" regarding the state of the union, but he can meet that requirement with a written document that could be very brief, saying, for example, "The United States is now great again."

The President is not required to talk to anyone, either, except those to whom he wishes to talk. He is not required to live in the White House. He is not required to have the Secret Service protect him. None of those things is required of a President.

There are certainly things he should do. There are things most Presidents have traditionally done, some of them listed above. But he can NOT do them and there's nothing that can compel him to do them.

My expectation is that a President Trump will not follow presidential traditions very much. I expect that we will not see much of him. I expect that he will continue to communicate via tweets, rather than speak publicly or at length. I expect he will not be interested in daily security briefings or any other such things. I expect that he will not talk to the press in open press conferences.

I expect that a President Trump will be the most opaque President in our lifetimes. I expect that he will do very stupid things. I expect that he will not be in the White House much. I expect that he will not fill the shoes of even our worst Presidents. I expect him to fail, and to fail BIGLY, but we won't be able to do anything about that either.

We should prepare for a very bad President, indeed. We should work very hard to elect a Congress in 2018 that will act as a deterrent to his stupidity and ignorance. I hope we will focus on that, rather than to continue to demand that he do things he is not required to do.

[shraby]

1. You've nailed it. May he trip up badly quickly. Up to his neck publicly so it cannot be denied.

And may it be so bad that congress will have to do something about him.

[MineralMan]

3. We have a real problem with the Congress that will

begin its new session shortly. It has Republican majorities in both houses. I expect that there is no chance that Congress will act against Trump. Not now. Our best hope is to regain majority control of at least one house in 2018. Unless we can do that, Congress will pass laws that make it far more difficult to do so later, and Trump will sign them.

2018 is going to be a year that determines the future of this country. We need to recognize that immediately and begin to work on reversing the trend. If we do not, there is very little hope that all gains made since the 1960s will be reversed. All.

This is some serious stuff. We need to get started yesterday and make no mistakes going forward.

[yeoman6987]

20. Unfortunately 2018 sucks for us with regards to the senate for sure

We may be able to cut some house seats to our side, but if repugs get 60+ seats in the senate were fucked.

[Kingofalldems]

32. Trump is a traitor as are his followers.

[guillaumeb]

2. This sounds like a description of Reagan, without Reagan's veneer of politeness.

They are quite alike in many ways, but Reagan was enough of an actor to be able to play the part of a President, even if he too had no idea what was really going on. The man feel asleep during cabinet meetings, could not even recognize his Cabinet members on occasion, and was a figurehead to distract while George H.W. Bush ran the country.

But Reagan also gave voice to the crude racism that is still very strong among a portion of the white electorate. And Reagan too was elected with the help of treason in that Bush negotiated with the Iranians to hold the hostages until after the election, an election that Carter was expected to win.

[MineralMan]

4. Reagan had a public face and showed it frequently.

Trump does not like people. He does not like the public, except in venues where is receives nothing but praise and applause. He will not present himself to people who disagree with him at all.

Reagan won two terms on the basis of his personality. He was a very popular, if terrible, President. Trump will not be popular, but does not care about that. He does not care about much of anything. He is a sociopath.

[whathehell]

27. Reagan was governor of California -- He had that experience, at least

and while I was no fan of his, I don't believe he was the mentally ill narcissist that Trump is....I'd take him over this creep any day.

[BlueMTexpat]

5. I fear that you are

absolutely correct!

[bigtree]

6. thses notions of yours that you are so willing to promote

...about this and that response to Trump being a 'waste of time.'

Politics isn't as static as you present it here. It's nebulous and dynamic. It only responds to pressure, from ALL quarters.

Not even the elections you put so much stake in will be transformational without constant and withering pressure on this administration and president. The president should be constantly challenged to respond to the American people, no matter how daunting that prospect.

I don't imagine you were a feature in many protests throughout the past decades. Your cynicism about active resistance borders on apathy.

[MineralMan]

7. Then you don't know me if you think I was not involved in

protest movements. That's OK, though. You're not required to know me to comment about me.

I've written about what I have done, and will not repeat it here again.

[Auntie Bush]

8. Good for you MM. We know you!

[bigtree]

9. well, then you contradict your past

...I'm not so much questioning it as trying to point out the contradiction in your argument.

We don't gain anything tamping down dissent, as the pet admonition of yours, 'waste of time,' serves to do. How about defending that cynicism of yours and squaring that with your own past experience?

[DemocratSinceBirth]

11. I hate to interrupt this internecine squabble because I like and respect you and MM, a lot...

I plan to resist by any peaceful means necessary but I would be a fool to believe that Trump will conform to tradition and democratic norms. The Deplorables who put him in office saddled us with a fascist.

[bigtree]

14. expecting elections to sort all of this out is a wish and a prayer

...a vain hope, really, if we can't create a significant movement against his brand of oligarchy. That's not going to happen through the normal democratic process, as you intimate.

I don't have a beef with MM beyond his constant discouraging of measures and actions short of the democratic process.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

16. Trumpism is way beyond oligarchy.

There was an unwritten compact between the elites and everybody else that at least they show outward fidelity to democratic norms, pluralism, and the rule of law. Trump and his merry band of Deplorables show utter contempt for such bourgeoisie niceties.

Trumpism is unprecedented, at least in a modern and developed western liberal democracy.

[bigtree]

18. agree

...see other historical responses to fascism.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

23. Here is a model for resistance. Every strata of society must be represented.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/People_Power_Revolution


The sad thing is that the Philippines has slipped back into autocracy.

bigtree, we are Americans, we are supposed to be better. what happened?

[bigtree]

25. far too many of us are not students of history

...not even observers.

This generation of ill-informed folks is looking for ways to leapfrog the struggles of the past (and present) and have been seduced by those offering them a way out of the obligations of citizenship which have been shaped and molded by past experience, mostly tragic experiences.

You can bet that there's a sizable contingent of folks waiting to see if Trump's reinventing of history, and his dismantling of Democratic remedies, will preclude them from their responsibilities to minorities, women, immigrants, etc.

[MineralMan]

12. Want to see me at a protest?

Here's the only protest photo I know of that I'm in. It's from May of 1972, following the Haiphong harbor bombing that year. When I heard of it, I went from classroom to classroom on the campus of Cal Poly, interrupting classes and asking people to leave their classes and assemble for a protest against that action by Nixon.

In the photo at the link below, I'm the dark-haired, bearded guy in the white shirt with my arms folded near the top of the photo. We emptied classrooms that day and held a large protest.

http://digitalcommons.calpoly.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2856&context=studentnewspaper

What else? Well, I stood in the crowd and listened to Martin Luther King give his "How long? Not long." speech in Montgomery, Alabama in March of 1965. I was there for the march from Selma, across the Edmund Pettus bridge.

I worked with others in 1968-9 to organize anti-war protests in the Washington, DC area, and was arrested at a Pentagon protest I attended in my USAF uniform, since I was on active duty then.

I escorted women dozens of times during protests at a Planned Parenthood in San Luis Obispo, CA over the years.

There's a short list. But, the only photo I know of with me in it is that one in the student newspaper at Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo.

So, no, you're wrong. I've often been involved in protests and demonstrations. Often.

[bigtree]

15. not surprisingly you evaded my point to defend yourself

...I imagined you weren't a fervent protestor, I'm wrong.

It's merely that your admonitions about measures outside of the democratic process being a 'waste of time' directly contradict your political experience. Go figure.

[MineralMan]

17. See, the thing is that I've learned a lot in my 71 years.

Among the things I've learned is that my energy is better spent in working to elect people, not to protest the people who have already been elected. Protests against Donald Trump will have no effect on what Donald Trump does, so they are, as I said, "a waste of time." Instead, efforts spent in finding worthy candidates and getting them elected produces actual results that can be measured.

Street activism can be, and usually is, ignored by those currently in power. Although it has a certain usefulness, in that it demonstrates objections to current policies, it rarely results in changes by the current administration, frankly. I would never discourage it, but expecting protests to produce actual changes is expecting too much. That is what I have learned.

On the other hand, beginning two years before an upcoming election and working specifically to elect people who will make changes can be very effective. That has also been demonstrated.

Do what you think best, and I will do the same. Encourage what you wish to encourage, and I will also do the same.

However, insulting people who are on your side by making false assumptions about those people is not productive of anything. I said I wouldn't repeat my own history, but decide to do so to make a point. You were wrong about me. You do not know me at all. Do I engage in street activism now? No, I do not. I am not really able to do so. Instead, I work to elect people to office. In that, I have had some success in the places I have lived. I don't remember any successes I can point to that resulted from any of the protests I joined, though.

Do what you do. Let others do what they do. We're on the same side.

[bigtree]

21. I agree with that last notion of yours

'Do what you do. Let others do what they do. We're on the same side.'

That makes much more sense than what you wrote in the op. It's going to take a confluence of opposition to regain our political balance and standing.

My apologies for casting aspersions on your past political conduct. I've known you here for years and have never felt any need to challenge your past dissents, other than to draw attention to and make a comparison to your 'waste of time' admonition.

I very much appreciate your political activism, and very much regret having placed myself in the position of questioning it, however it was posed..

[DemocratSinceBirth]

31. What if there are street protests of Trump with every strata of society represented,

What if there are street protests of Trump with every strata of society represented, like the People Power Revolution in the Philippines which brought down the Marcos regime?

Most protests are ignored because middle America can't identify with the protesters.

[MineralMan]

38. Every strata of society?

How will that happen. Nearly half of people who were even motivated to vote at all voted for Trump. How many people in that group do you expect to show up and protest? In fact, how many people on our side would you expect to show up?

Protests can call attention to problems and issues. But that only works if they are focused on some issue that people can relate to. Not issues. Issue. Vague, general protests do not educate. They do not inspire. They only annoy most people, who end up being obstructed in some way in their regular activities.

There are many examples of that, the most recent being Occupy Wall Street. Like many protests, it had no focus, other than a general opposition to corportatism. So, it meandered through a panoply of things to protest against and lost its chance to actually create change. It even protested our most progressive President in many years. Now, we have even lost that leadership to a buffoon.

Even if you bring a million people out to march, it is an insignificant percentage of the population and disrupts mostly the very people it wishes to influence.

Protests can work, but primarily on a local basis, where they can influence local government to respond to specific issues over which they have control.

Nationally, protests are basically useless, at least in the short term. They virtually never cause change in a timely way. The United States is not the Philippines. It is so enormous in scope and population that protests have almost no impact on the federal government. Only elections do. We just had one of those. The impact of that election will alter the course of the nation. We lost that election, and lost it in a way that shifted things more drastically than most people can see at this time.

If people want to protest, then they're welcome to do so. I would never suggest that they do not. However, such protests will not change the federal government, no matter how many there are or in how many places. Shifting the federal government requires elections that change the makeup of that government.

We are about to experience a sea change in how the federal government operates. It is going to be a negative change for most people. At this point, the best hope we have is that it stimulates people to vote again for change in two years. If we do not accomplish that, the bad news will flow without a safety valve to stop it.

Protest if you wish. I won't and can't stop anyone from doing that. But, remember, the goal is change. That will require a change in Congress. If we don't do that, it will be a complete waste of time to go to the streets. That much I can guarantee.

[RKP5637]

10. Definitely, and he will never put himself in a public position where he can be asked hard questions

that would further show his astounding lack of knowledge.

[milestogo]

13. He won't be taken seriously by any foreign government

unless they are equally nefarious.

[MineralMan]

24. He will, however, be used as a tool by some.

That should give everyone pause.

[Jacob Boehme]

19. The little weasel bastard that really scares me is Pence...

.... that weird Q-tip. If you'll notice, there has been very little coverage of his machinations during this transition. He's like another Dick Cheney....sneak and quiet about his intentions but always working in the shadows.

What's the first thing a magician learns? The art of distraction and diverting your attention.

Perhaps Agent Orange is just the circus act we're suppose to be watching while Pence is doing all the dirty deeds.

[MineralMan]

22. Yes. In many ways, he would be far worse.

He appears to be a man who things God wants him to beat people down. He is a Calvinist sort of person who thinks people who are poor or downtrodden are those things because God does not smile on them.

He is truly dangerous. Trump is just a loose cannon, ready to slid across the deck and destroy things.

I do not wish for a Pence administration. Not on your life.

[malthaussen]

28. The only way Mr Trump might be considered worse than Mr Pence...

... IMO, is that he may very well be too mentally unstable to be entrusted with the nuclear codes. There is not much that can be done about that, unfortunately, unless some coup is planned to remove him from the office.

But any GOPper in the WH will be a rubber stamp for Congress to do what they yearn to do, which is eliminate the New Deal and all of her children.

I frankly think that, "Schoolhouse Rock" notwithstanding, a large number of my fellow Americans have no idea of how government works, and less interest in knowing. Hell, this is even true of some people sitting in the Legislature, at all levels up to the Federal. Which provides excellent opportunity for those who do know and care to game the system. Unfortunately, it also presents little hope of the public suddenly finding Congress repugnant and voting the bums out, even before taking gerrymandering into account.

-- Mal

[MineralMan]

35. You raise an important concern.

We, as a nation, are woefully unaware of how the government functions. That creates opportunities for people in power to act in ways that are harmful, and people don't even know that such a thing is possible.

Perhaps that should be one of our goals - educating the public. I don't know if that is even possible, though.

[mnhtnbb]

34. I think that is what's in store for us: a Pence regime.

Trump will be disposed of in some way--anybody's guess as to how--but I predict he'll be gone before a year is out.

[nini]

36. nah..it's a repuke controlled congress that scares me with either of them at the top

Either one of them will sign the crap congress is going to try to do.

[world wide wally]

26. Ideally, the best thing to do would be for the press to stop covering his bullshit tweets

(But that would be far too much to ask of the American press)

[malthaussen]

29. It's a problem.

Like it or not, the man is the President-elect, and will, in the normal course of things, be the Leader of the Free World (tm). Which means his words and deeds have consequence far beyond celebrity and spectacle. The time to have refused to grant him legitimacy was when he threw his hat into the ring. Now, he has legitimacy by virtue of the office, not his own merits. But if the media were concerned about the ill-consequences of granting legitimacy to those who deserve only contempt, they wouldn't give voice to terrorist screeds and claims of "credit" for murdering school children.

-- Mal

[MineralMan]

39. The press won't do that. Trump won't communicate with the press

in the traditional way. Just watch. So, they will report the news they have, and that will be Trump's tweets.

[world wide wally]

42. Then ignore him...maybe he'll go away

[MineralMan]

43. No, he won't go away. Instead, he'll be doing

whatever a right-wing Congress can push through for his signature. Keep your eyes on Pence, Ryan and the other dominionist fundamentalist Christians in Congress. They are the ones that will get Trump to sign what they want him to sign.

[world wide wally]

44. This is exactly what I have been saying for months.

Ryan and McConnell will call all the shots and Trump (R-Rus) will sign off on them. In return, trump gets to do any deals he wants with Russia and beyond.

[MineralMan]

45. I started an OP about it:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10028418289

[LittleGirl]

30. I'm sad to say

that I expect him to fuck up so bad that even his most ardent supporters will have their jaws drop. Especially when Putin drops his first "you are a fucking coward trump" shit.

Sad. I hope he does fail so that the rest of us can pick up the pieces and show everyone how horrible he is.

You know, many people mentioned leaving the country...I've been in Europe for two years and I'm so freaking pissed off, I'm coming back. I'm going to get involved locally in AZ as fast as I can. I hope I can serve my country well in 2017 and turn AZ blue.

Happy New Year MM.

[Salviati]

33. I hope that if we make it out the other side of his presidency,

that we codify and make a requirement of all of the things that have heretofore only been traditions.

[MineralMan]

41. Yes. That will take a new Congress, though.

The current one isn't going to do that, I'm sure.

[lutherj]

37. Trump is a huge liability to republicans. In fact, if he behaves in office as you

describe - and I expect you're right - that, together with his inability to deliver on his campaign promises, his conflict of interests, his connections with Putin, and his instability could destroy the prospects of the Republican Party for a generation, if not permanently. I imagine house republicans are already planning Trump's impeachment. We may soon have a theocratic dominionist in the White House.

[MineralMan]

40. It's too early to predict what Congress will do, I think.

Nobody knows what Trump will do, or try to do. Nobody, including Trump himself, I imagine.

We're in for a rough ride, I think.