Breach of Contract?
Posted: Thu Nov 24, 2016 7:43 am
Donald Trump met with the New York Times on Tuesday, and in the course of an hour-long interview flip-flopped on at least six positions or statements he made while on the campaign trail.
1) The Electoral College
In a tweet dated 11/6/2012 — a tweet he has since deleted from his account — Trump called the Electoral College “a disaster for a democracy” and that it had made “a laughingstock of our nation”; yet after he defeated Hillary Clinton on the basis of electoral votes, rather than the popular vote, he then tweeted that the Electoral College was “actually genius” because it “brings all states, including the smaller ones, into play.”
However, during the interview with the Times, he stated that he would “rather do the popular vote”, and that he was “never a fan of the Electoral College.”
(as an aside — since Hillary now leads the popular vote by almost 2 million, I expect that any day now Trump will do the right thing and turn the office over to her, correct?)
2) President Obama
In May, President Obama delivered a thinly veiled critique of Trump by saying that “in politics and in life, ignorance is not a virtue.” Trump quoted the line and declared that it was the reason that Obama was “the worst president in U.S. history!”
But he told the Times that he had a great meeting with Obama, whom he had never met before, after the election and that he “liked him a lot.”
3) Investigating Hillary Clinton
Trump continually hounded Hillary over the email server issue, claiming through the campaign that she was “guilty as hell”; in the course of the second Presidential debate, Trump told Clinton that she'd “be in jail” if he were in charge of US law enforcement, and that he intended to appoint a special prosecutor to go after her.
While talking to the Times, though, he said that he thinks he thinks prosecuting the Clintons would be “very, very divisive for the country”, and when pressed on the issue he said that it was “not something that I feel very strongly about.”
4) The Clinton Foundation
Trump released a statement on August 22nd arguing that the Clinton Foundation, a nonprofit corporation established by former President Bill Clinton in 1997, should be shut down. “The Clintons have spent decades as insiders lining their own pockets and taking care of donors instead of the American people. It is now clear that the Clinton Foundation is the most corrupt enterprise in political history.”
Yet he told the Times that there’s an argument that the Clinton Foundation has done “good work.” He said he’s inclined to use whatever power he will have as president to say let’s go forward because “this has been looked at for so long, ad nauseam.”
5) Climate Change
Trump has dismissed climate change as an expensive, money-making hoax and vowed to pull the United States out of the Paris Agreement, in which nearly 200 countries agreed to reduce carbon emissions.
On Tuesday, though, he told the Times that he doesn’t dismiss the possibility of man-made climate change, saying that “I think there is some connectivity. Some, something. It depends on how much.” When asked if he was still intending to pull out of any agreements he said that he “has an open mind to it” and that he's “looking at it very closely.”
6) The New York Times itself
Trump's derision of the main-stream media is legendary. He has bashed the New York Times as “a seriously failing paper” that’s “becoming irrelevant” with readership “way down”, and gloated over “how badly” he perceived the Times to be doing.
So why then, as the interview drew to a close, would he call the Times “a great, great American jewel — world jewel”?
And of course we already know some of the other statements and promises that he has already begun to walk back .... the border wall with Mexico; the mass deportations; the “Muslims Not Welcome” signs at all ports of entry; and so on.
So I guess I'm wondering. Since he was hired/elected on the strength of these pledges and promises and is now reneging on many of them, can We The People tell him “You're Fired!” for breach of contract?
-"BB"-
1) The Electoral College
In a tweet dated 11/6/2012 — a tweet he has since deleted from his account — Trump called the Electoral College “a disaster for a democracy” and that it had made “a laughingstock of our nation”; yet after he defeated Hillary Clinton on the basis of electoral votes, rather than the popular vote, he then tweeted that the Electoral College was “actually genius” because it “brings all states, including the smaller ones, into play.”
However, during the interview with the Times, he stated that he would “rather do the popular vote”, and that he was “never a fan of the Electoral College.”
(as an aside — since Hillary now leads the popular vote by almost 2 million, I expect that any day now Trump will do the right thing and turn the office over to her, correct?)
2) President Obama
In May, President Obama delivered a thinly veiled critique of Trump by saying that “in politics and in life, ignorance is not a virtue.” Trump quoted the line and declared that it was the reason that Obama was “the worst president in U.S. history!”
But he told the Times that he had a great meeting with Obama, whom he had never met before, after the election and that he “liked him a lot.”
3) Investigating Hillary Clinton
Trump continually hounded Hillary over the email server issue, claiming through the campaign that she was “guilty as hell”; in the course of the second Presidential debate, Trump told Clinton that she'd “be in jail” if he were in charge of US law enforcement, and that he intended to appoint a special prosecutor to go after her.
While talking to the Times, though, he said that he thinks he thinks prosecuting the Clintons would be “very, very divisive for the country”, and when pressed on the issue he said that it was “not something that I feel very strongly about.”
4) The Clinton Foundation
Trump released a statement on August 22nd arguing that the Clinton Foundation, a nonprofit corporation established by former President Bill Clinton in 1997, should be shut down. “The Clintons have spent decades as insiders lining their own pockets and taking care of donors instead of the American people. It is now clear that the Clinton Foundation is the most corrupt enterprise in political history.”
Yet he told the Times that there’s an argument that the Clinton Foundation has done “good work.” He said he’s inclined to use whatever power he will have as president to say let’s go forward because “this has been looked at for so long, ad nauseam.”
5) Climate Change
Trump has dismissed climate change as an expensive, money-making hoax and vowed to pull the United States out of the Paris Agreement, in which nearly 200 countries agreed to reduce carbon emissions.
On Tuesday, though, he told the Times that he doesn’t dismiss the possibility of man-made climate change, saying that “I think there is some connectivity. Some, something. It depends on how much.” When asked if he was still intending to pull out of any agreements he said that he “has an open mind to it” and that he's “looking at it very closely.”
6) The New York Times itself
Trump's derision of the main-stream media is legendary. He has bashed the New York Times as “a seriously failing paper” that’s “becoming irrelevant” with readership “way down”, and gloated over “how badly” he perceived the Times to be doing.
So why then, as the interview drew to a close, would he call the Times “a great, great American jewel — world jewel”?
And of course we already know some of the other statements and promises that he has already begun to walk back .... the border wall with Mexico; the mass deportations; the “Muslims Not Welcome” signs at all ports of entry; and so on.
So I guess I'm wondering. Since he was hired/elected on the strength of these pledges and promises and is now reneging on many of them, can We The People tell him “You're Fired!” for breach of contract?
-"BB"-