Trump's Drain the Swamp Scam Has Been Exposed
By Thom Hartmann A...
Just a few months ago, Donald Trump was saying things about Wall Street and the big banks that sounded, well, downright progressive.
During an appearance on CBS' Face the Nation, for example, he accused the "hedge fund guys," as he put it, "of getting away with murder."
Trump continued this line of attack in his final ad before election day, going after the "economic power structure" that he said was robbing the country blind and enriching the wealthy at the expense of working Americans.
My, my how things have changed. Instead of fighting the banksters, Trump is putting them in charge of the economy, and I mean literally putting them in charge of the economy.
His pick for Treasury Secretary is a guy named Steven Mnuchin, the living, breathing embodiment of the "global power structure."
Not only is Mnuchin a hedge fund manager who worked for George Soros, he's also a second-generation Goldman Sachs banker who made a killing during the housing crisis when he and his buddies bought up a bank called IndyMac, renamed it OneWest, and then resold it for a whopping $3.4 billion after foreclosing on thousands of homeowners.
Needless to say, this isn't the kind of person most Trump voters thought they were putting in charge of the government when they cast their ballots on Election Day.
And Mnuchin is just the beginning.
Trump has also picked debt financier Wilbur Ross to be his Commerce Secretary.
He's picked Medicare privatizer Tom Price to be his HHS secretary, after running a campaign that explicitly ruled out cuts to Medicare.
He's also reportedly considering Goldman Sachs President Gary Cohn as his budget director.
The list goes on, but the big picture is pretty clear: instead of draining the swamp, Trump is refilling it with alligators: the exact same type of corporate insiders he railed against during the campaign.
So at what point are Trump voters going to realize they've been scammed?
And what are they going to be about it?
Comments
#2
I'm of the 'hold their feet to the fire' school of politicking. No reason to allow them 100 days to put everything in place...too difficult to get it removed once installed.
Regards,
#3
More than a full three quarters of the eligible voting population did not, I repeat, did not vote for Trump. There will be unrelenting blow back on crooked Donny's insane clown posse cabinet picks. He's surrounding himself with a business aristocracy which is a classic characteristic of Fascism. That and control of the media.
This country is about to be thrown into utter chaos. I don't think Trump voters get it yet.....the amount of fury that's building up in the informed segment of the population is unprecedented in the history of this country. I'm sure the corpse media is also oblivious to amount of anger which much of the populous has for it right now. Countless friends have commented about completely giving up watching network news. Noboby wants to even see Trump's big orange face, much less hear him bloviate.
Just wait until all the Skeeters figure out they've been hoodwinked by Fox News. The Republican's billionaire agenda will finally get full exposure. The Paul Ryan's are about to hang themselves..... This time there will be no Obama to blame, and no place to hide.
We need a national network bold enough to expose the truth behind the massive billionaire overreach that's about to occur......you would see record numbers of viewers.
If you haven't already done so, get your money out of the market, we're in for a rough ride...unless the election fraud is detected. That is still a very real possibility, but one the media doesn't want to talk about.
#4
Is this what we call a 'tipping point' ...?
(D.Trump)
"If I were to run, I'd run as a Republican. They're the dumbest group,of voters in the country. They believe anything on Fox News. I could lie and they'd still eat it up. I bet my numbers would be terrific.
Donald Trump. (People Magazine - 1998)
I'm inclined to go with 'feet to the fire.' Then again, we might find this is what it takes to "drain the swamp" ..., then again, what does that mean for so many who find no place to stand in the well manicured world to come? After all, life does begin in the swamp.
Thom, today, the last caller was trying to suggest something in all sincerity ... not sure what, because you cut him off. That's unfortunate. He may have had a good idea - even if it has no merit in your view, why not let him put it out there before you shoot it down?
#5
They will twist the story to make it seem like they are right until the outhouse goes up in flames and with all kinds of evidence the Trump voters were wrong, still try to act like they were right all along.
#6
Pathological liar, clinical narcissist, megalomaniacal authoritarian, shallow greed-monger, emotional juvenile, sexual predator ... we're running out of descriptors for this fruitcake. One I will NEVER use: "president."
#7
Sadly! America "the land of the free" has been travelling the road to fascism for some considerable time now, having forgotten how many times they fought against it
You now have your dictator to almost complete the cycle
Wonder when he will abolish the vote or manipulate al la Russia et al (?)
Or, even begin to ridiclule "the founding fathers" constitution
All I can say is God Bless America
The sublime comedy
"the irony that some of the greatest pain the American causes is to his fellow Americans"*
*Homer (not the loony cartoon variety) quote nationality changed
#8
I'm not going to be one of those people who threaten to go to Canada; get me on the first rocket to Mars. Rachel Maddox said tonight that he is considering two CEO's of EFRON for Secretary of State. This is criminal. I am sure this is going to be the most corrupt government we could possibly have. And we said there would never be another Hitler.
#9
Hitler lied. T rump lies. They both lied to confuse their perceived enemies, who are those of us who disent. Inside all the outrageous lies T rump states, he is naming everything that he plans to do. When hitler named the horrible things he was planning, no one believed anyone would do such things. Until he did them. So when trump lies, we should probably believe him now and recognise that he is a clear and present danger to Democracy.
#10
The fox and his coharts are going to be running the henhouse for 4 years. This is going to be a bad ride for all of us, and women are going to suffer the most. Just look at the funeral restrictions women who want/need abortions are going to have to pay for AND burial costs, to boot!... You all voted him him, so put your privates in a chastity belt or you'll be paying for the next 18 years.
#11
If you pay attention at all, every day gets worse. Beyond anyones imagination. How low will we go before right wing middle class opens their eyes?
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/donald-trump-thank-you-tour_us_5840c...
#12
I'm beginning to see how it is that people define reality in terms of good and evil ... I simply am amazed at how things get turned around - how easily people are led (and misled) by blind fear, mostly ... ambitions, and appetites out of control ... what can influence these things?
(BMetcalf - #10)
"The fox and his coharts are going to be running the henhouse for 4 years. This is going to be a bad ride for all of us, and women are going to suffer the most. Just look at the funeral restrictions women who want/need abortions are going to have to pay for AND burial costs, to boot!... You all voted him him, so put your privates in a chastity belt or you'll be paying for the next 18 years."
No kidding, B - much longer than that, I would guess ... in fact, all you single gals out there, especially you "welfare moms" better get ready to work ... like the man said,
"Plenty of jobs, for everyone!"
Oh yeah.
#13
Trumps Carrier Jobs Chest Pounding Where is the media publicity bias on this one?
#14
I think the average working, tax paying American is very pleased with Trumps picks so far. Trumps thank you Ohio speech was very well received by his followers.
Resist, stammer, complain, and make up excuses, but after the nationwide landslide election, other tactics may be in order.
#15
Trump sycophants are pickled in absolute lies and "half-truths" from the top of the barrel to the bottom. Every thought that bubbles up and escapes into their blogosphere is formulated from a thick brine of utter nonsense.
ie: His "followers" only make up 1/4 of eligible voters and 2.3 million less than half of actual voters -- hardly a "nationwide landslide election."
The only tactic "in order" is to counteract each and every lie with the simple truth.
#16
President Elect Trump spent 7 million dollars in Indiana and kept a little over a thousand jobs at Carrier. 1000 families in Indiana who pay taxes, buy groceries, clothes, cars, etc. will have a prosperous future, and jobs for as long as they want. Economic activity up and down the economic chain will remain active.
Jill Stein and Hillary Clinton are spending 7 millon dollars in Wisconsin to recount the votes. The net effect of the spending will be temporary jobs for some for 12 days. No change will take place in the election results. What will result however, is Stein and Clinton will "piss off" a lot of Democrats and Republicans not only in Wisconsin, but Michigan and Pennsylvania too. They are implying these people are cheats or are too stupid to count votes.
#17
The problem with IRV is that it still leaves the losers disenfranchised. I propose a simple form of proportional representation: everybody who runs and garners some proportion of the vote above some arbitrary threshold - say 5% - wins a seat in the legislature and has a vote equal to the votes cast for them.
Of course, fat chance of getting that or anything like it. US democracy is dead.
#18
"Democracy is dead" is admittedly a bit of hyperbole but the larger point is that we need to face the fact that the Republicans have so badly corrupted our electoral process that we need to come up with other (non-violent) ways forward.
One way forward might be for political parties - in addition to organizing for electoral success insofar as that is possible - to add to their mission to directly supply services to their constituents without first attaining state power. This of course would be on a much smaller scale than the state could provide but it would address real needs and generate loyalty and give people reason to participate beyond abstract affinity with ideology. I envision a network of member-worker owned inter-locking businesses, providing banking, insurance, health, education and other products and services, all tied together with a common political objective, creating a form of socialism independent of the state.
#19
@#16:
Your boy did not "spend" 7 million; Pense put Indiana's taxpayers on the hook for a bribe to an unethical company to save approximately 800 jobs (not "a little over a thousand," which is how many -- 13,000 -- will still be shipped to Mexico). Now, other low-life CEOs know exactly how to play with the Orange Fool's negotiating "skills." So much for his hard campaign promise to slap tariffs on the slackers.
Paul Krugman (that oh so hated liberal economist ... for being mostly right) crunched the numbers: "...at the rate of one Carrier-size deal a week, it would take 30 years to save as many jobs as President Obama did with the auto bailout..."
Everyone applauds saving jobs in America, but this was an obvious con job, so that The Faker could pat himself on the back. It's too little, too late ... a (middle) finger in the dike. Traditionally, it's been mostly Republicans who've facilitated companies' off-shoring endeavors for over three decades now, and it's been Democrats who've tried to stop them -- unfortunately without much success, thanks to a Republican gerrymandering House and a Republican filibustering Senate.
Oh, and they're not "implying that the people are cheats or stupid;" they're worried about faulty, outdated machines that can be easily hacked by nefarious Republican operatives. Watch the Greg Pallast documentary, "The Best Democracy Money Can Buy."
By the way, why do rightwing trolls even bother to post on this blog without (obviously) listening to or reading a damn thing Thom has to say? The abject ignorance is stupefying! Embarrassing, really.
#20
Deep space: you should consider anger management therapy... All of your hate, anger and rage isn't going to change the fact than on January 20, 2017 at noon. Donald J Trump will become the 46th President of the United States. :)
#21
Ou812: Ha! That's all ya got? When someone challenges empty, right-wing propaganda with easily verifiable facts, the only retort is a rather shallow and (if you must know) false portrayal of emotionalism? Actually -- not that personal feelings should matter to anyone else -- I thoroughly enjoy watching the spectacle of the gullible being taken in by such a ridiculous huckster. Real life is much more entertaining than a SNL skit. The narrative says more about the small minority of Fox "News"-type eligible voters (1/4th) than the phony-hair, pussy-grabbing fruitcake they are now compelled to defend. And the characters never cease to amaze! Please carry on...
#22
It has become normal to lie to We, the People. All of the main stream candidates are doing it; like it's a big joke, or something. It is the epitome of condescension toward voters and makes a sham and a scam out of our elections system. What I don't get is where is the outrage from voters at having their elections system so blatantly hijacked?
(I have wondered what's in all of those chemtrails they are raining down on us all of the time.)
Possibly, in the future, we need to have candidates present their cabinets BEFORE we elect them, ie, they have to lock in their cabinets and present the total package so we really know what we are getting before we put the stamp of approval on them.
All of this corruption is nothing but a business model that sucker punches the public time after time. I hope this country has the good sense and stoic fortitude to come together and get rid of the Establishment that is killing us not so softly.
#23
Well put, ErinRose! "Birds of a feather flock together." And the people should be able to see the whole goddamn gaggle first before voting. Another constitutional amendment should require all eligible voters to actually vote in this so-called democratic republic and be automatically registered at the legal age or upon gaining citizenship. Of course, our once great nation has strayed far from its founding principles in the headlong rush to fascism.
#24
Deepspace:
Nope, I have more, but for you it's all I need.:)
#25
Sure doesn't sound like it, but I love your take anyway. :))))
#26
deepspace: Why the long face?
#27
I'm a horse of course -- you, who is but a misty shadow in cyber space with no face or soul.
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