[kj] OT taking stock of Trump

[T.B.]

Fuck it, I’ll say my piece.

I'm not a Trump supporter, I didn't vote for him.  In fact, I didn't vote for anyone for POTUS this election, the first time I left that option blank in 35+ years' worth of voting.

That said, I like some of the things he's doing.  I like that he isn't a politician and he constantly shakes things up and pisses off the right people.  He's about as polished as 30 grit sand paper.  I find it funny that he's driven so much of the self-righteous liberal elite right off their nut.  Certainly has exposed the media on both the right and left as the frauds they are.

I think his Supreme Court pick is the single best thing he's accomplished (although that's more down to the Republicans huge gamble last year stalling Obama's pick).  Although I think the whole "Build the Wall" shit is window dressing, his overall stance *is* noticeably cutting down illegal immigration which is a huge problem and financial drain in my state (California, most fucked up state in the US).  Despite the risks to the environment, the US is now poised to become the biggest oil producer in the world which will hopefully greatly reduce our need to get involved with future nonsense in the Middle East.  Like it or not, the employment figures continue to improve under his watch.  People were pissing their drawers over his handling of North Korea, now they are (hopefully) coming to the table - they've certainly quieted the fuck down with the missile launches and nuke tests.

I *don't* like his idiotic, ill-informed tweeting bullshit.  He's the Facepalm King every time he posts something.  I think it's insane that he seems to be stumble-fucking through his first term and goes through cabinet and staff members like snot rags.  One the other hand, like with Bill Clinton, I could care less who he screws around with (especially prior to being elected) and the whole Russian thing continues to peter out in the breeze.

I think he's only added to the ACA healthcare debacle, certainly hasn't helped.  Healthcare costs and fair coverage in America is the single biggest issue this country faces.  The tax "reform" bullshit is going to kill me next year as wife's student loan, medical deductions, state tax write-off, etc all gave me an edge when filing every previous year.  If I was the CEO of some big corporation, I'd probably be a lot happier with that handout.  Instigating a trade war with China is a huge risk and could single-handedly torpedo our economy but China has been butt-fucking this country in trade for a long time - same with Mexico.

Frankly, when I look at politics, I'm more concerned with what affects me directly - especially here in California where it seems most of our politicians are more concerned with taxing residents to death to create bicycle paths in busy streets and funding billions on a useless bullet train while our public education system rots.  On a Federal level, aside from the likely tax reform impact next year, nothing has changed for me and on an income level and standard of living, things are better than the last few years.

I lived through Nixon in the early 70's, this country survived his bullshit, it'll survive Trumps.