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R7 Tuyệt Đỉnh Cao Thủ
Join Date: Jun 2007
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Publicly, Trump has few if any firm beliefs. He has no convictions but to himself. He was a Democrat before he was a Republican. He was for the Iraq War before he was against it. He was for Barack Obama before he was against him. He was for the Electoral College before he was against it. His opinions are flavored to his uneducated audiences' expectations. Thus far, there is absolutely no reason to believe he was sincere about a single thing he said during the campaign.
1) Affordable Care Act
... A) Promise: Trump repeatedly called for repealing and replacing Obamacare, starting on Day One in office.
... B) Now: After last week's Oval Office meeting with Obama, Trump eased off this promise. He's now considering keeping two of the law's more provisions ... no denying coverage for those with precondition and letting dependents up to 26 year old stay on parent's coverage. As he told the Wall Street Journal on Nov. 11: "Either Obamacare will be amended, or repealed and replaced."
2) "Drain the Swamp"
... A) Promise: Playing the anti establishment card against establishment politicians and the corrupting influence of special interests by promising to "drain the swamp," Trump pledged he would get rid of the elite class of corporate lobbyists and Washington careerists.
... B) Now: Lobbyists are sprinkled throughout his transition team! Trump says it's unavoidable because they're the only ones who know how the government works. However, he has imposed a five-year lobbying ban on anyone who joins his administration, but there is no law against it and if he is not re-elected then it's a mute, albeit laughable, point
3) Build the Wall
... A) Promise: Trump's most-repeated promise on the campaign trail was to build a "big, beautiful wall" and Mexico would pay for it.
... B) Now: In a "60 Minutes" interview on Sunday, Trump said he'd accept a partial wall and fence, instead of a wall. Currently, there are walls and fences along the border paid for by current and former legislations & appropriations. However, aides also say Mexico's payments could be collected indirectly, such as by charging Mexico more to export its goods to the U.S. or by taxing money transfers.
4) Immigration Enforcement
... A) Promise: As part of his Day One to-do list, Trump would deport 11 million undocumented immigrants, starting with those who have criminal records. The deportation of these illegals and criminals has been the current status quo in the Obama & prior administrations
... B) Now: In the "60 Minutes" interview, he said he will deport only the "bad hombres" -- the 2 million to 3 million immigrants with criminal records. This is approximately the same number the Obama administration has deported under current US laws. Trump also called undocumented immigrants who haven't committed crimes "terrific people" whose ability to stay in the U.S. "we will have to make a determination on."
5) Ban on Muslims
... A) Promise: Trump called for a temporary ban on all Muslims entering the U.S.
... B) Now: Trump now say to have abandon the ban on all Muslims, but will use "extreme vetting" procedures to weed out known or suspected Muslim terrorists. He will bar Muslims from countries that have been "compromised by terrorism." Would this also include Muslims from US allies, ie England, Germany & France since they have been compromised?
6) Infrastructure
... A) Promise: Trump criticized Hillary Clinton's plan to create an infrastructure bank because, he said, it would be "controlled by politicians and bureaucrats in Washington" and funded by a "$275 billion tax increase on American businesses."
... B) Now: Steven Mnuchin, the hedge-fund manager who was his top campaign fundraiser and is a potential Treasury secretary, says the incoming administration is exploring establishing an infrastructure bank.
7) Lower Trade Deficits
... A) Promise: Trump promised to reduce the U.S. trade deficit in part by revoking trade deals and bringing companies and jobs back home.
... B) Now: Trump's plan to increase military budget, increase infrastructures spending, relax or decrease the Federal Reserve tight anti inflationary policies, decrease tax revenues by imposing a large tax cut benefiting the top 10% more than any other group of tax payers and etc ... have now pushed up interest rates and cause the increase speculation in the Bond Market. As history has shown these past 1/2 century, Trickle Down economics (by giving a generous tax cut to the rich in hoping they will increase business and there by revenues to offset the tax cut) has only resulted in large disparity between the classes and increase debt. The Republican Party will now abandon their call on every Democrat presidents for fiscal responsibility and write Trump a blank check on his debit finance spending spree? If trump gets what he wants, since Congress is under Republican control, instead of our current debt being 70% of GDP, it will rise to 105% of GDP or higher? With the rising dollar against most major currencies and all of Trump's deficit financed spending, the result would be larger trade deficits, fewer jobs and higher consumer prices.
8) Get Tough With China
... A) Promise: On his first day in office, Trump said he'd label China a currency manipulator for purposely holding down the value of the yuan against the dollar. Currently, Obama has refused to impose such a label, which could lead to penalties such as tariffs on Chinese imports.
... B) Now: China has been are trying to prop it up, not drive it down, by intervening in foreign-exchange markets and buying back the RMB. So, that mean the RMB is actually undervalue ... that means China is doing the U.S. a favor by preventing the yuan from going into free fall.
9) Conflicts of Interest
... A) Promise: Rudolph Giuliani, a possible Trump Cabinet member, urged the president-elect to set up a blind trust into which he would place his business interests, thus insulating him from charges that his official government decisions benefit him personally. A blind trust would also help Trump avoid the perception that "drain the swamp" applies to everyone but him.
... B) Now: Trump is turning his businesses over to his children and won't be setting up a blind trust, a legal device that would have given a trustee authority over his assets while keeping him in the dark about specific gains and losses.
10) Prosecute Hillary Clinton
... A) Promise: Trump said he would jail Hillary over her email server and the Clinton Foundation fundraising.
... B) Now: In the Wall Street Journal interview, he didn't rule out a Clinton prosecution, but said it isn't "something I've given a lot of thought, because I want to solve health care, jobs, border control, tax reform." In the "60 Minutes" interview, he said about the Clintons: "I don't want to hurt them. They're good people."
Like other presidential candidates before, once in office ... reality meets the wall.
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