Gallup: Few Major U.S. Political Figures Rated Positively on Balance

Fair enough!
Especially the cyber truck deal from last year.
The SpaceX stuff is going to be hard to beat.

If SpaceX won the bidding (best option based on price, reliability, capability, etc.), what is the problem? Was there a better option? I doubt it.

History on other bids and competitors:

SpaceX prevails over ULA, wins military launch contracts worth $733 million - Ars Technica

ULA vs SpaceX - A Detailed Comparison in 2024

On the armored Tesla trucks, the prior administration awarded that contract.

As John notes, the SpaceX and Tesla contracts were issued under Biden. They may be good, they may not, but it's not attributable to Trump. But that noted, let's expose as much as we can, and see what the voting public says, along with Congress. As the old proverb goes, "A billion here, a billion there, and pretty soon, you're talking about real money."

Will those that claimed corruption and thn piled on re: the Tesla deal apologize for spreading misinformation?

We're you ignorant of the facts or were you intentionally deceptive?

Will those that claimed corruption and thn piled on re: the Tesla deal apologize for spreading misinformation?

We're you ignorant of the facts or were you intentionally deceptive?

How many of those who claimed Trump was corrupt for awarding a $400 million contract to Tesela realize that not only was it Biden who awarded that deal, but that it was Trump who signed an executive order deleting Biden's electric vehicle mandate. Musk was benefitting financially way more under Biden's policies unless you realize that if the economy is strong and the USA remains solvent, then not only will Musk benefit, but all of the USA will. The democrats have long pushed the communist lie that if one is rich then all should be poor, so the reaction does not surprise me.

“Will those that claimed corruption and thn piled on re: the Tesla deal apologize for spreading misinformation?

We're you ignorant of the facts or were you intentionally deceptive?”

Neither. I never said Trump awarded the contracts or that Trump was corrupt. Many of you are blinded by some view of Trump that if there is any criticism, you view it as an attack on Trump or an attack on all things Trump.

This has nothing to do with the basis of what Trump is doing. I have always said I am fine with the new administration ripping through the entire federal government finding waste. In fact, he should be doing it. My concern is around process. Process, process, process. The concern is that you have the world’s richest man, who was unelected and has minimal oversight, going through the computer systems of potentially every federal agency, the same federal government that has awarded him billions of dollars, enriched him and helped him become the richest man in the world, with significant lack of transparency. When I say minimal oversight, I say that because Trump is not very smart. He has good intuition, but not very smart. Elon can run circles around him. Elon spent more than a quarter billion dollars of his own money to help get Trump elected. Elon stands in the Oval Office, while the president sits quietly at his desk folding his hands in front of the American people. He has limited oversight because he is grabbing the data and processing it in his own computer systems using AI. The same AI that people have concerns with on this very board. Does that mean that Musk and others should not find waste? No. But what should happen is that it should be done with transparency and routed through the right channels. Why are they concerned with routing it through the right channels? There is no doubt all of their recommendations and data would be approved quickly. It is because they don’t want oversight. My concern is that no one really knows what is going on. Only the occasional 60 word clip on X, which is by the way, owned by the world’s richest man.

When President Obama was in office he said that we did not have to wait for congress in order to cut spending. Here is the clip:

PathfinderInitiative on X: "Obama himself stated he didn’t need Congress to cut wasteful government spending. So don’t waste my time with your pathetic lies; here’s the clip for all to see. Now watch as your foolish argument withers and dies in the face of cold, undeniable truth. https://t.co/uYnUkyUHOj" / X

When President Clinton was in office he did actually cut a lot of spending. I am thankful that we now have another president who is really taking serious steps instead of just talk.

I never said that a President couldn’t cut spending without Congress. Nor am I upset that Trump is cutting spending without Congress. Neither Clinton, Obama, Reagan, Bush…. Proposed and began cutting whole agencies established by Congress, Millions of employees…..

Again, must I repeat again, we have the world’s richest man, unelected, minimal to no oversight and no transparency making cuts. Made cuts and fired nuclear safety specialist, only to find out that some of the people they fired are really needed to maintain the safety of our nuclear stockpile, and thus they are trying to find them to rescind the offer. It is roughshod, sloppy and haphazard being performed with minimal supervision or oversight.

It seems like some on this forum, are perfectly fine. I guess they have so much trust and confidence in Trump and that the same confidence extends to Elon and the many college kids he has working for him to make all of these important decisions and they are perfectly okay without the need for any checks or balances, even within the executive branch. I tend to like a democratic republic, and I like checks and balances, even if it is within the same branch of government.

Meanwhile, Trump posted this on Twitter/X yesterday. "He who saves his country, does not violate any law."

The ends do not justify the means, even in politics.

Meanwhile, Trump posted this on Twitter/X yesterday. "He who saves his country, does not violate any law."

I think this was likely Trump's mindset when he pardoned the Jan 6 rioters. In his mind, they were simply trying to save the country, so they weren't really violating the law.

I wonder what the reaction of the MAGA folks would have been if Biden had started his term in the same way that Trump has, by issuing dozens of executive orders aimed at enshrining HIS agenda, some of them at the expense of the powers of Congress. Sure, there were some things that Biden tried, like canceling student loan debt, that were overturned by the courts, but suppose Biden had decided to actively oppose any court decision that went against him? How would Republicans have responded? Would they have passively accepted an expanded authority of the president? Suppose Biden had added members to the Supreme Court and packed it with Democrats. Then things would have really gotten interesting.

I may be wrong, but I think portions of the Republican Party would have started forming "militias." Oh, they wouldn't have called themselves that, but groups of some sort would have started to form. My wife has even been part of a group in my town that called themselves "The Home Guard." They've attended school board meetings and city council meetings and then gathered to report on what those government entities have been up to. They've even met together at shooting ranges for target practice. My wife told me she'd like to take shooting lessons, and I asked her why, since we don't even own a gun. Her actual response to me was, "In case someone ever hands me a gun."

I'm not opposed to someone owning guns, and even people who don't own guns could benefit from gun safety lessons, but my point is that even now there are groups who are suspicious of an over-reaching government, specifically an over-reaching liberal government, and are willing to defend their communities even from their own government. I honestly think those groups would have expanded significantly if Biden had acted "Trump-like" in his term, and Trump would have likely taken to Twitter to muse about a "Second American Revolution" to set things straight.

Am I wrong?

Kevin, one clear example of Biden ignoring contrary court decisions was when SCOTUS told him he couldn't cancel student loans. He worked another way around and forgave billions more while the courts were trying to catch up with him.

Regarding the propriety of civilian militias, I guess you could get a powerful argument either way, both from a political science and from a theological standpoint. The political science standpoint is the question of whether the militia is independent local militias, state militias, or the National Guard--really parallel to the debate over the 2nd Amendment for obvious. The theological question is whether the "king" of Romans 13 is equivalent to the President and Congress, the bureaucracy, or the citizen electors.

Personally, the notion of local militia training in the Swiss model sounds like great fun, though I might be kicked out, being age 55 and a bit overweight. (but I took first in my age category in a cross country ski race this weekend....and last....it was a lot of fun at least!)

Kevin, one clear example of Biden ignoring contrary court decisions was when SCOTUS told him he couldn't cancel student loans. He worked another way around and forgave billions more while the courts were trying to catch up with him.

So is what Biden did acceptable? If Trump can oppose court decisions and Republicans are okay with it, then shouldn't Biden be credited with exercising the same sort of power as what Trump believes in inherent in the presidency? Or is it only Republican presidents that can exercise power? When the next Democrat gets elected president, are the Republicans going to switch gears and work toward ensuring that the president is just a figurehead with no real power?

Appealing a court decision is not the same as ignoring it. Just this Friday a judge has upheld DOGE’s authority to access data at three federal agencies, so much of the DOGE work can continue. I have heard commentators suggesting Trump ignore the rulings, but I have yet to hear verification that he actually did- and no, comments on forums are not verification. Last Tuesday, Trump said he would abide by the judge's rulings and go to congress if he had to. He also said he disagreed with the earlier rulings about DOGE, but that is not the same as ignoring them. There was an issue of interpretation about the scope of the spending freeze that took a few days to sort out and changes were made once clarification was given. Perhaps I missed something though. I know many of us have....

There was an issue of interpretation about the scope of the spending freeze that took a few days to sort out and changes were made once clarification was given. Perhaps I missed something though. I know many of us have....

The "issue of interpretation" that happened is that a judge issued a temporary restraining order to halt the spending freeze and Trump ignored it, such that a "motion for enforcement" had to then be granted. So yeah, there has been some ignoring of court orders during the course of appealing.

I wonder what the reaction of the MAGA folks would have been if Biden had started his term in the same way that Trump has,

And I wonder how the MAGA folks and those on SI that have been defending Trump's swamp draining would've responded if Biden had Tweeted. "He who saves his country, does not violate any law." during his term in office.

Maybe I'm wrong, but people on SI would've immediately come out of the woodwork to denounce Biden for his anti-Christian utilitarian ethics, his autocratic leadership, and his anti-constitutional/anti-nation of laws stance and would've been calling for his impeachment, not only on SI but maybe even encouraging their congressman to follow through with impeachment. But with President Trump? It comes across as a different standard. The attitude is more, I don't agree with everything he's done, but he's exceeded my expectations or at least he's exposing how corrupt the swamp really is. Why is that? Is it because we may lose MAGA friends in our churches? Is it because we have a different standard of ethics for politicians that are closer to our own political views? Is it because we believe our nation's systems of check and balances no longer work and are so corrupted that only an autocratic leader can set things right for America? Is it because we believe Trump is trolling his political enemies with crazy tweets that he doesn't really believe as part of his chaos negotiation strategy? Help me out because I really can't put my head around this.