The Next President is...

[BuddhaSixFour]

I think what you meant to say, is “Yes, if Harris had run on a platform of putting Soros in charge of DOGE and won, then that was the will of the people and she’s a unitary executive. I understand she needs to fire much of the executive branch to bring in people aligned with her agenda. I hope George carries on the good work Elon started around eliminating FWA.”

[brabus]

I meant exactly what I said. Are you also on the tantrum train because you don’t like your team not being the ones doing something? You guys aren’t getting let off the hook ,sorry bros.

[BuddhaSixFour]

Nah, I’m good with reducing fraud. I’m even good with shrinking the federal government. Getting closer to a balanced budget would be great. That’s all fine. 

I think it can be done without burning everything down in the process (see Clinton example), but maybe not. 

But where I don’t let MAGAts off the hook is that you don’t mean any of it. It’s just a power play. Y’all are 100% going to flip your shit when the next democrat president puts out 100 executive orders in the first week, and you’re going to stop saying “Unitary Executive” in a heartbeat. 

Now, Barbie, (hmmm… autocorrect, but let’s leave it) maybe you approve of Trump wielding these powers because you like what he’s doing with them. Fine. That’s your choice. 

However, the system itself has fundamentally changed in the last month. Those changes are going to have consequences, and you’re not always going to like them, even if you do today. I don’t think you’ve thought that through. You’re not even willing to remotely acknowledge the point and just run back to the tantrum train defense. 

[blueingreen]

3 minutes ago, BuddhaSixFour said:

However, the system itself has fundamentally changed in the last month. Those changes are going to have consequences, and you’re not always going to like them, even if you do today. I don’t think you’ve thought that through. You’re not even willing to remotely acknowledge the point and just run back to the tantrum train defense.

I ask in all honesty -- didn't the system change when all of these unelected bureaucrats started taking matters into their own hands, sometimes defying direct orders from POTUS? It seems like that was the historical aberration, and we're now returning to a more well-pruned and cohesive executive branch...

[BuddhaSixFour]

39 minutes ago, blueingreen said:

I ask in all honesty -- didn't the system change when all of these unelected bureaucrats started taking matters into their own hands, sometimes defying direct orders from POTUS? It seems like that was the historical aberration, and we're now returning to a more well-pruned and cohesive executive branch...

I’m honestly not sure what the trend has been. If the “unelected bureaucrats” thing was very recent, there could be a point there. However, the history of the Unitary Executive theory is that it first popped up as an argument by Reagan to try to gain more control, so the status quo seems to at least go back that far. And civil servant protections go back to FDR as I understand it.

Some sort of “entrenched bureaucracy“  index would be super interesting to see. 

Edited 15 hours ago by BuddhaSixFour

[pbar]

Everyone wants to pay less taxes but the unfortunate fact is that Congress has successfully gotten all of us hooked on benefits or government services (VA, SS, GI Bill, etc) and yes, while there is a distinction between earned (GI Bill, for example) and handouts (welfare or foreign aid), everyone is in favor of cuts until it affects the benefit/program that they use or like. I can't see how we avoid a sovereign debt crisis because not enough folks in Congress have the courage to make hard, unpopular decisions (all of the DOGE stuff will just be rolled back by the next admin unless Congress codifies the cuts into law). 

[Sua Sponte]

On 2/20/2025 at 5:47 PM, ClearedHot said:

Word inside the beltway is CQ Brown and a few others get the axe tomorrow.  List likely includes CNO Admiral Lisa Franchetti.  Hoping Slife is on the list as well.

Trump just fired CQ Brown.

Trump says he is nominating Air Force Lt. Gen. Dan “Razin” Caine to be the next chairman. Caine is a career F-16 pilot who served on active duty and in the National Guard, and had most recently served as the associate director for military affairs at the CIA, according to his official military biography.

https://apnews.com/article/trump-brown-joint-chiefs-of-staff-firing-fa428cc1508a583b3bf5e7a5a58f6acf

Edited 13 hours ago by Sua Sponte

[McJay Pilot]

6 minutes ago, Sua Sponte said:

Trump just fired CQ Brown.

Replaced with Caine. Interesting bio.

Viper guy with SOF stink and spent 7 years as a “part-time member of the National Guard and a serial entrepreneur and investor.”

Could this be the Special Ops Fighter Pilot of which the prophecies foretold?!?

[HeloDude]

Best news I’ve heard all day!

[Sua Sponte]

CH got his wish!

Hegseth also said that Gen. James Slife, the vice chief of the Air Force, had been fired, and that he was “requesting nominations” for the Judge Advocates General for the Army, Navy and Air Force, indicating they will be replaced.

https://www.cnn.com/2025/02/21/politics/trump-fires-top-us-general-cq-brown/index.html

[RASH]

The knife on that list?!?!  
edit: damn read your post wrong though you were saying he was. Here’s to hoping!!!

He’s gone!


Sent from my iPad using Baseops Network mobile app

[BashiChuni]

FUCK YES 

a huge middle finger to that ASSHOLE! 🖕 

 

busting out the expensive stuff tonight 🥃 

[ClearedHot]

9 minutes ago, Sua Sponte said:

CH got his wish!

Hegseth also said that Gen. James Slife, the vice chief of the Air Force, had been fired, and that he was “requesting nominations” for the Judge Advocates General for the Army, Navy and Air Force, indicating they will be replaced.

https://www.cnn.com/2025/02/21/politics/trump-fires-top-us-general-cq-brown/index.html

I just cracked open my bottle of Pappy to enjoy this wonderful evening of karmic justice.

 

[Day Man]

36 minutes ago, ClearedHot said:

I just cracked open my bottle of Pappy to enjoy this wonderful evening of karmic justice.

which one?

[BashiChuni]

[BuddhaSixFour]

Well, credit where credit is due. Later Jimbo!

[tac airlifter]

Justice.  B3 next.

[brabus]

6 hours ago, BuddhaSixFour said:

Nah, I’m good with reducing fraud. I’m even good with shrinking the federal government. Getting closer to a balanced budget would be great. That’s all fine. 

I think it can be done without burning everything down in the process (see Clinton example), but maybe not. 

Cool, so we mostly agree on all that.

6 hours ago, BuddhaSixFour said:

But where I don’t let MAGAts off the hook is that you don’t mean any of it.

I’m not following. What is it I don’t mean? Are you saying I actually don’t support the things I listed previously (reducing FWA, etc.)?

6 hours ago, BuddhaSixFour said:

Y’all are 100% going to flip your shit when the next democrat president puts out 100 executive orders in the first week

I won’t as long as it’s not blatantly illegal shit (but I agree with you there will be people who do). I prefer, probably like you, congressionally created law. But we can probably also agree that congress is a massively fucked up machine that is barely functional. That really puts a president with a mandate between a rock and a hard place, regardless of the letter next to their name. So he can either start producing and hope he can get the jackasses in congress to catch up, or he can sit on his hands and produce nothing and let down the majority of the country who voted for the exact things he’s doing. I understand you don’t agree with some or all of those things, but the majority of people do.

6 hours ago, BuddhaSixFour said:

However, the system itself has fundamentally changed in the last month. Those changes are going to have consequences, and you’re not always going to like them, even if you do today. I don’t think you’ve thought that through. You’re not even willing to remotely acknowledge the point

 I absolutely have acknowledged the status quo is rapidly changing and there are many consequences to many people/agencies/groups attached to these changes. Yes, I so far like them. No, none of us can fully know what the ramifications are way down the road. We can hypothesize and make educated guesses, but in the end we will have to wait and see where we are in X, Y, and Z years. I am confident of one thing though, we simply cannot keep operating how we have been.  

[BuddhaSixFour]

I give you credit for being a reasonable foil. Allow me to address some points:

A majority of Americans did not vote for Trump. A slight plurality of voters voted for him… not even a majority of voters. In our system, that’s enough to win. It was an upset and an unexpected margin of victory. I concede that. But it wasn’t a majority. That’s already playing out in polling where’s he’s already 4-5% under water. I know better than to take a handful of polls too seriously, so let’s see where the tend goes. It’s not like the man is universally popular and you just happened to find some holdouts on BO. 

You’re right. All we have now are predictions. I’ll make a few and we’ll see if I’m right:

(1) The national deficit, let alone the debt, will be higher at the end of Trumps term. Whatever costs get cut are outweighed by tax cuts and an economy that sputters, reducing tax revenue and fiscal stimulus needed to get out of it.

(2) There’s a short term drop in FWA, but by the end of Trumps term reduced enforcement/oversight and self-dealing by political appointees just replaces it with other FWA.

(3) Congress remains a clown show.

Okay. I know you’re with me on #3. Interested in taking the other side of #1 and #2?

The funny thing is that I’d prefer to be wrong then to be right. If I lose the prediction, the country wins.

 

 

[GKinnear]

7 hours ago, BuddhaSixFour said:

I give you credit for being a reasonable foil. Allow me to address some points:

A majority of Americans did not vote for Trump. A slight plurality of voters voted for him… not even a majority of voters. In our system, that’s enough to win. It was an upset and an unexpected margin of victory. I concede that. But it wasn’t a majority.

 

 

Luckily, as you alluded, we don't use the national popular vote to determine the President...and looking at the electoral vote from the states, there was a clear majority (58%) in favor of Trump as #47.

I also think you need to define who thought the election was an upset.  Several polls have been exposed as heavily biasing to Democratic voters and didn't reflect reality.