Name:   Talullahhound - Subject:   Hound Date:   4/22/2018 5:37:32 PM

That is just it, I don't think Trump had anything to do with the Russians trying to influence our elections.  If you recall though, Hillary was using donations to her foundation to buy time on her calendar when she was Secretary of State and that bothers me a great deal.  

As far as opinions of Donald Trump, polls are funny things.  Like it depends on who you ask, and how you word the question.  So I don't put a great deal of stock in polls.  Just as I don't put a lot of stock in the statistics that the government or any other organization puts out.  Because depending on the assumptions you make and the factors you consider, statistics can be made to show whatever you want.  

You know, you have to look closely at the Russians.  Putin wants to make Russia a super-power again.  We are currently the only super-power. So why wouldn't he try to infiltrate our election system.  Because despite what you hear, our election process is pretty straight forward, unlike Russia.   Russia is always saying things about the United States trying to change world opinion about us, because that is in Putin's best interest.  

With regard to everything that is positive - most of us are smart enough to know that today's policy decision does not necessairily change things today (except perhaps the stock market which is reactionary).  So it's not really right to use the stock market as a guage - because investors can be happy today and then jittery tomorrow.  And most of the time, the jitters in the market have less to do with what is going on here, than it does what is going on elsewhere in the world.  It's a global economy.  

As someone that used to write policy for a living, I can tell you that in general - Democrats believe that more regulation is good.  In fact, I have seen policy written for things that didn't even happen, but people feared might happen.  Democrats believe that you can regulate people's behvavior by passing laws and putting all kinds of restrictions on everything.  Republicans on the other hand, think the less regulation the better.  They tend to believe that people and companies are self regulating and they also believe that the economy is king and that anything that might negatively impact the economy is bad.  Both sides tend to knee jerk.  

But I guess my real point is that most of the things that are impacting things today were actually put in place years ago and are just now bearing fruit (or not).  It's like steering a huge aircraft carrier - you don't turn the ship quickly.  Despite all the wrangling and political theatre and statistic of this and that, it's still too soon to see if things Obama did were really bad or really good.  That will be evident in about 15-20 years, that is the things that stay in place that aren't undone by the current Administration.  

You can have your opinions, and the masses can have their opinions, but the truth is this: people generally respond positively to being told they are going to get things for free.  Free Education, free benefits, on and on.  People vote for that, because they don't want to look beyond to see where the money will come from.  Half the people in the country are now convinced that there are all these rich people out there that have so much and are taking it out of the mouths that don't.  That is ridiculous, but a lot of people like the way that sounds. Just like they like Robin Hood.  And popularity will go to whatever side is making these promises.  Now people also like the idea of tax cuts, because everyone wants a strong defense, and all the things that cost money, but they don't want to pay the taxes to get it.  The vast number of people want to believe that this will come as a matter of course and if only we did away with a few more government agencies (the ones writing the regulartions taht Republicans don't like), we could pile money into defense and still cut taxes.  No one is worried about the debt.  Neither side promotes the idea about paying down the debt.  

People are like sheep - they have lost their ability to think independently and critically, and just tend to believe what they hear on the news and read on the internet.  No one bothers to see if it makes sense.  

As far as morality, with regard to John Edwards.  I don't think he lost his popularity as much because he had a baby with another worman, but rather that he cheated on his popular wife who was suffering from terminal cancer.  For all we know, his wife may have been a bi__ch.  We do know that he misused campaign funds.  I do not think the vast majority of people care about Donald Trump's affairs 10+ years ago.  It's pretty clear that this woman is trying to shake some more money out of the tree, and the Democrats see it as a way to get Trump out of office perhaps.  The media loves it because they believe sex sells and then don't like Trump.  He doesn't wine and dine them or kiss their butts.  He doesn't care what they write, because in his mind, any publicity is better than no publicity and this is how he has always been - even before he was a national figure.  

Trump was elected because people were tired of hearing about hope and change and not seeing it.  They thought Trump, who is not a shmoozer by any stretch, seemed refreshingly honest.