Somehow, the prospect of a fake billionaire, ant-labor boy king who lies constantly, even about small things, sincerely negotiating corporate trade deals in good faith on behalf of American workers neither rings true nor inspires confidence. It would be totally out of character for this 70 year old scion of the greedy class to suddenly have an epiphany, go against everyone in his circle and everything that defines his world, and strike a deal that would reduce corporate power and strengthen the hand of regular people. Don't hold your breath; improving NAFTA will be just another failed campaign promise.

The Democrats don't have to worry about Trump outflanking them on populism, they are already outflanking themselves on populism. It's a speciality of theirs.

The crazy thing about Trump and free trade is that Trump is a card carrying member of the party of free trade. So there's no way in hell he's going to end any free trade agreement....it was just one of his many lies to get elected.

On this and several other issues Crooked Donny ran as a progressive and thus hoodwinked voters who were totally unaware that the Republican Party is by far the party most responsible for jobs getting outsourced to slave labor markets.

Remember McConnell blocking Democratic legislation to end tax breaks for companies outsourcing jobs? Obviously Trump voters didn't remember..... why would they?... our corpse media never mentioned it.

Outback. A third party would have to put together a platform convincing enough to siphon huge blocks of voters away from one or both of the big Wall Street parties, since only two parties can share Congressional power. In my opinion, that's one of the most aggregious flaws in our Constitution. I don't think a grassroots third party has ever upset a major party in our entire history.

A parliamentary system improves democracy, because it gives voters more opportunity to vote for competing parties with a real shot at power and that better reflect their own viewpoints -- parties closer to the people that are less corruptible by corporate lobbyists. Add in "instant runoff voting" and the United States really could be a people's nation, as originally intended.

Of course, in the real world of corporate facism, none of that is possible in the foreseeable future. We're stuck with a thoroughly corrupted two-party system that is the plaything of the billionaire class. At this point, infiltration of both major parties at all levels and/or widespread resistance and serious revolution (hopefully peaceful) are probably the only realistic options left that would effect significant and lasting change for the better.

But how do you rally the majority with a dishonest media and an electorate that can't even agree on independent facts and objective reality?

Trump has already started negotiations with NAFTA. He just hit Canada with a 20 % import tax on softwood lumber. as a Canadian I am not to happy about that of course. I wish we had a leader that but our country first like Trump is doing. Little tip. If you are going to build something better buy your lumber now prices are going up.

It is a 2 party system. Bernie ran as a Democrat because a third party cannot win. Look at the pathetic showing of the Libertarian Party and the Green Party. All they did was pull votes away from the Democratic Party. A vote for a third party candidate was a wasted vote or a vote for Trump. The 2 parties are too well established for another Party unless something drastic happens. They have strong infrastructure. I have read that upto 8% of Bernie voters voted for Trump, despite Bernie endorsing Hilary. This is the type of stuff that gave us Trump.

Hi Thom. I was the one who called in, stating that a VAT was likely in order to achieve the 15% corp tax. You said "not happening.... Grover, etc." I disagree; Grover seems to not mind the VAT or BAT anymore; check this out! (I'm 100% in favor of 20% VAT too) http://www.cnbc.com/2017/04/21/corporate-tax-rate-could-get-to-20-percent-says-grover-norquist.html VAT and BAT are really similar; but I think we should do VAT, since Gemany, etc say it's not a tariff.... they can keep their damned mouths shut then if/when we impose VAT. VAT = BAT by subsizing corporate tax, instead of direct method. BTW, CBO prohects $330B US corp taxes collected 2017. With 2.2T of imports taxed at 20% VAT, that yields $440B!!!! Does this not mean that with 20% VAT, the money is there to eliminate the US corp tax? At least lower it to 10% IMO. Then : US produced goods will be cheaper (20VAT + 10 corp instead of current 35 corp). Imports, and imported parts, will cost 20% more (a very excellent reality). Stupid people complain that reatail junk (imported) will cost more. Yes, BUT the massive wave of job creation due to less imports , and way more exports since corp tax now 10 instead of 35.... wages will rise 20%. Whole paycheck goes up 20% for blue collar, non privileged; and only 10% of what we buy goes up. We only spend 10% of our paycheck on retail anyway. Most of check goes to rent/ mortgage, health and car insurance, food. BTW Business Insider, a POS rag, is owned by Germany, and full of anti VAT propaganda; all the while Germany has a 19% VAT. Don't anyone read that rag and expect anything other than propaganda.

We have among the worse system possible with this 2 year election (really 4 years) process and 2 party system. If I were to pick a model it would be Australia, with multiple parties and compulsory voting.

Yup, those interested in and dedicated to actual, relevant news have learned the hard way that they must actively research issues from a wide variety of credible sources and not just sit passively in front of flickering screens and chattering radios, allowing corporate-sponsored pundits and right-of-Attila-the-Hun zealots to condition their minds with lies and half-truths.

And to Legend's point, "multiple parties and compulsory voting" would definitely change the political landscape for the better.

It's too bad for Republicans, however, that most polling consistently demonstrates by large margins that the majority of potential voters identify with a progressive agenda when quizzed strictly on the issues rather than through a filter of party identity. That means liberal ideas are the center of political gravity by default in most citizens' minds, despite the lunatic ravings of depraved spin doctors like Hannity, Limbaugh, and Mitch McTurtle. (Thank the Overlord of the Universe that O'Reilly finally crashed and burned -- one less pompous ass bloviating on the squawk box.)

A poignant case in point why we need major election reform is the Republican-controlled legislature in Montana. These geniuses recently shot down a bill that could have saved individual counties hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars -- millions statewide -- by conducting an unanticipated special election exclusively through the mail for the House seat that Ryan Zinke abandoned (to chase after wider fame and glory in the fake president's cabinet -- sad).

The Koch Brother teabaggers opposing the bill didn't even try to hide their crass reasoning in floor comments entered into the formal record. Their principle argument goes like this (in cowboy drawl): "Voting by mail makes it much too easy for more registered voters [read Democrats] to cast ballots and therefore hurts our candidate's chances." In other words, Republicans are totally okay with unnecessarily wasting public resources and eventually forcing every Montana taxpayer to dig even deeper into their worn-out wallets for the sole purpose of tilting the scale in favor of yet another greedy billionaire and far-right pissant (Greg Gianforte) trying to steal an election.

How much more clear can it get? Red-state Republicans' extreme efforts to restrict voters and rig elections is right out in the open, front and center! In their dark little minds, abject corruption is just the expected and accepted way to carry on normal, everyday politics. As they rail against the perceived sins of everyone else and give the finger to the American people and to the spirit of democracy, they are oblivious to their own deep-seated immorality.

Even the teabaggers' great white Christian deity said that he really, really hates self-righteous hypocrites, the lowest of scumbags! On their death bed when time collapses into a singularity and a lifetime of lies and cheating finally come due, they undoubtedly will have, or should have, a hard time reconciling to their fate. That's what happened to Lee Atwater, one of the greatest dirty tricksters during the Reagan era, when he repented his evil ways, too little, too late.