Donald Trump and his minions, in this veteran’s oppinion, has done nothing to improve conditions for veterans. He has caused more unrest, divisiveness, disruption, prejudice, confusion, disrespect, financial uncertainty and unfounded opinions just to mention a few problems. No wonder veterans, as well as non veterans, go crazy and lose all hope of a better tomorrow.
Donnie: I don’t like losers who set themselves on fire…
What can one say? Buddhist monks used to do this in the 1960s to protest the Diem regime in Vietnam. This is what America is reduced to? Is America great, or what?
You don’t speak for this veteran. Broad-brush statements don’t serve anybody well. Trump is what he is but it has been 17 years of Bush/Obama warmongering that got us to where we are today. The VA has made big positive strides over the decades. But they can never catch up as the warring continues unabated.
What hath Dotard wrought? And this was BEFORE his asinine tariff’s took hold.
Fixing the VA is in the highly competent Jared “Full Metal Jackass” Kushner’s wheelhouse. If he hasn’t fixed it yet I’m sure he will very shortly. It’s on his to-do list along with achieving Middle East peace, solving the opioid crisis, reforming the criminal justice system, reinventing the entire federal government, repairing diplomatic relations with Mexico and having his daily deep exfoliations.
Those things likely won’t happen, however, until he has squeezed enough money out of the Saudi’s, Qataris and various high rollers from the UAE to bail out his company and its flagship property at 666 Fifth Avenue. He has priorities.
Oh, geez, I almost forgot the nightly receptions where he practices saying “Pass the sweet-and-sour shrimp” like a diplomat. He’s a very busy grifter guy.
Don’t worry. More plutocracy will fix everything!!!
As a vet I say he should have waited until July 4th.
This is how fucking crazy trump and the repugs are driving people.
This is the 2nd person to set himself on fire.
It’s intentional. They want to elicit a violent response eventually, just like the white supremacists who go to their tiki torch rallies armed with knives, guns, sprays, brass knuckles, shields, weighted flag poles, etc., talk about never being first to lash out, but to always keep trying to push the buttons to make someone else go first to give them the excuse to deliver a beating and claim self-defense.
They want a Civil War do-over.
On June 6, President Donald Trump signed "legislation aimed at allowing veterans more freedom to see doctors outside the system in an attempt to reduce wait times and improve care.
Once again, an AP article is harming TPM’s brand.
The “legislation aimed at allowing veterans more freedom to see doctors outside the system” is a step toward a GOP goal of putting veteran’s healthcare into for-profit hands.
Eh, samething happened under Regan they knew what they were voting for.
Kushner (with Trumpp’s help) has made a lot of progress on most of the tasks you list:
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fixing the VA: install pro-privatization leadership (partially complete); encourage Congress to work toward privatization (partially complete)
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achieve Middle East peace: move US embassy to Jerusalem (complete); wreck a multilateral agreement with Iran without documenting any noncompliance on their part (partially complete); install DOS Secretary and NSA who will push or at least support military action against Iran without any documented noncompliance (complete).
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solving the opioid crisis: reduce opioid demand by wrecking rural healthcare system that helps keep many opioid users from dying when they overdose (partially complete); build the wall (active effort, but little real progress – will probably have to stay on hold unless and until the GOP has a good showing in the 2018 elections); encourage the already strong blame-the-victim stance of the GOP, which minimizes the crisis by minimizing the value of helping those who are suffering from it.
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reforming the criminal justice system: pardon prominent law-enforcement officials who are tougher on crime than the Constitution allows (partially complete, will be an ongoing effort); establish zero-tolerance against poor and minority criminals wherever possible (partially complete); push for more enforcement of marijuana laws even as voters have been supporting legalization of personal use and possession (complete); expand use of for-profit prisons, to create an economic incentive for increasing the amount of jail time handed out by judges (partially complete).
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reinventing the government: hollow out agencies and delete institutional memory by leaving many political appointments empty and driving out career staff who are committed to the agency mission (partially complete); unofficially rewrite agency missions by appointing leaders who are opponents of the mission and who will slow agency activity to a near halt (partially complete); shrink agency budgets below the level necessary to carry out their mission (ongoing, has run into Congressional opposition); bring the operational speed of Trumpp Inc. to government by demanding instant agency action to fulfill Trumpp’s orders (active, but very spotty results due to: Congressional resistance; legal and Constitutional limits on executive branch authority and ability to act without sufficient notice; and poor understanding of how the government functions)
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repairing diplomatic relations with Mexico: threaten and impose tariffs (initial steps complete, task is ongoing); demonize, dehumanize, and harass actual and suspected immigrants, legal or not (ongoing, with much progress to date); hold DACA youth, children of immigrants, children of asylum seekers, and any other powerless parties hostage for ransom in the form of wall funding, draconian limits on legal immigration, and harsh, rushed treatment of those entering the country without prior government approval (much effort to date, will be continued as needed until it pays off).
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having his daily deep exfoliations: (an ongoing process, successful to date) Kushner, as one of the heavy burdens of his government service, is buoying the spirits of the Americans still suffering from eight years under an African-American president by setting a good example and looking like he hasn’t a worry in the world.