I wonder...he said over and over and over again that he'd work to bring back coal jobs. The rust belt largely elected him and a big reason for it is that promise. You WANT it to be the case that Trump is doing it to benefit his evil rich friends, but maybe just maybe he's doing it to, you know, bring back jobs like he said he would. I'm sure the border wall is benefiting his evil rich friends too, huh?


Oh please. He's a politician (or at least he's playing one, for the time being)...he exaggerated the job reality to get votes? Give me a break, have you not heard a politician speak before? I despise the practice, it's impossible to take a politician at their word, and that's even when they give enough policy detail to know what they're thinking. But he's hardly alone in that regard, welcome to the world of politics I guess.

Listen, Trump can do very little for the coal industry, I think everyone in this thread has admitted as much. What he CAN do, however, is roll back EPA regulations and work with coal companies to stem the bleeding, maybe bring back a few thousand jobs in the process. Then hopefully in the longer term some retraining programs can be brought on board and maybe some programs for clean energy that will provide work in the rust belt.

What you're missing in all this - and Barry's comments reflect the same blindspot - is that the treatment of coal jobs is much of why Trump was elected. No time or energy was spent figuring out how to help spawn industry in these regions where coal is vital and in fact EPA regulations escalated the decline. It's fine to say that we need to focus on clean energy, I totally agree with that, but the means should NOT be through killing an industry that thousands rely on for their livelihoods. That was done, and those people were rightly pissed. Maybe Trump can't 'bring back coal', but he sure as hell try to prop it up for a time, so these regions can slowly adjust to a new reality.

is this how we are now describing political rhetoric?


You know what is tiring - this!

Trump is the President now, democratically elected (we hope!) and it seems the tactic for many of the Trump defenders/supporters, is to just keep going back to Obama.

It's time to move forward, and to look forward. If you voted for Trump, and are a Trump supporter, I respect that - but don't keep continually going back to Obama, with almost every issue. That's not progressive. With all due respect, that's like to grade-5 kids in the school yard arguing and bickering.That goes no where!

I don't disagree with Vitus that Trump is trying to save some jobs by propping up a declining industry, although I believe his main concern is his 1% friends who own the mines and coal companies more than he is genuinely concerned about workers. But he has been over selling his message and exaggerating the job reality to get votes in the coal belt (as well as the rust belt). The downside for Trump is if he doesn't deliver to his base, it could very come come back and bite him in the ass in the next election.

Why wouldn't Trump supporters keep blaming Obama? Trump's presidency isn't even 100 days old, that's not even long enough for the US congress to figure out the seating arrangement for the next legislative session let alone actually pass a motion! The Obama administration blamed Bush for everything, surprised they didn't accuse him of causing the lake effect storms that ground upper NY to halt a few years back!

Yea slick willie got somewhat duped by Rubin. The clintons were poor and wanted to get in the club. But there is no doubt in my mind that trump ran for himself not average joe. Hillary probably wanted to advance women cause but I think her maternal instincts would have yielded more for average joes. After all obama recovery in stock market disproportionately helped upper tier. Guess you missed video of trump making restaurant run during transition ( when he thought he ditched press) and asking crowd for some love as he was going to give them big tax breaks.

I think the British parlimentary system is superior, warts and all to that mess the US has. Sorry guys, you have a wonderful country, awesome people but holy shit get a system of elected government that get's something done!

I think the British parlimentary system is superior, warts and all to that mess the US has. Sorry guys, you have a wonderful country, awesome people but holy shit get a system of elected government that get's something done!

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2017/03/01/coal-mining-begins-seeing-revival-as-trump-gives-industry-hope.html

The reason ACA even seen the light of day is because of how messed up your system is. Omnibus bills are bullshit. Nothing more than outright publicly approved corruption using bribery to get votes.

It was evaluated and found wanting by the founders.

Glad you know more than Yale. Where is your source? And 52 train loads a month is fuck all in the big picture.

The reason ACA even seen the light of day is because of how messed up your system is. Omnibus bills are bullshit. Nothing more than outright publicly approved corruption using bribery to get votes.