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Matt Reed
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Posted: 20 November 2016 at 2:06am | IP Logged | 1 post reply

So there's been a brouhaha about future VP Mike Pence going to Friday night's performance of HAMILTON.  Forgive me if I'm repeating what you already know, but for those that don't Pence was booed by the audience as he took his seat.  The production, obviously knowing he was going to be in attendance, took it upon themselves to use this as a moment to share their fears at the end of the production during the curtain call.  You can see them addressing Pence here (embedded video at the end of the article):  Link  

And then Trump, as is his nature, took to Twitter in the middle of the night to post this:


I'm struggling to think of a time when a President-elect has acted so unPresidential.  This is startling in its childishness. Every single President has faced much more criticism than this seemingly minor slight and they've never, EVER demanded an apology. Nixon was painted as the epitome of political evil. Ford was the butt of Chevy Chase's jokes on SNL.  Carter was a piñata . Reagan was the gift that kept on giving to late night talk show hosts as was Clinton and Bush.  Obama has been the subject of horrible, hate-filled racist memes for eight years.  And that's just in my lifetime.  NONE of them has demanded an apology.  Not one.  

And just to set the record straight, the cast of HAMILTON wasn't rude.  They weren't.  They took a unique opportunity to voice a reasoned concern because they could in a time where it feels as if that voice isn't being heard by the future leaders of this great land.  It's incredibly ironic that the man that railed against "safe spaces" expects the theatre to "be a safe and special place" when the arts have always been subversive, have always been the voice for the voiceless, have always stood up to intolerance and, not surprising, have always been among the first to be shut down and silenced during totalitarian regimes.  

To the point of the subject line, is this really what we as Americans expect of our President?  To be late night Tweeting about a slight so insignificant as to not even register with past presidents while ignoring the hate crimes that have been occurring in public with regularity across the country, many in his name? In short, what's more important?  To Tweet that your feelers were hurt because a cast addressed the massive elephant in the room or to take to that same social media outlet to denounce all the hate that's spilling out because a certain segment of the population feels emboldened by the win of a person they feel represents them?

Doesn't take me too long to formulate my answer to this question. 
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Conrad Teves
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Posted: 20 November 2016 at 4:15am | IP Logged | 2 post reply

Now that he's got the job, I expect him to do the job.
I expect him to answer those calls from the Pentagon and the Intelligence services. I expect World Leaders can contact him through easier means than happening know a pro golfer who has his number.  That big stack of briefing books he gets every day?  I expect him to read through them and know what's going on.  I expect him to not show them to his kids to see what they think.  I expect him to understand there is a big difference between having a knee-jerk opinion of something and having a policy on it.

I could be wrong (for everyone's sake, I hope I am), but he doesn't seem like the sort of person who likes to get in-depth with the minutiae of administration.  He seems more about enjoying the trappings and the label.

If he over-delegates through lack of interest, his administration is going to end up like the Reagan administration with large numbers of indicted officials who over-reached their authority due to lack of direction from someone who actually had authority. 

No matter what anybody says about him, he has far more pressing demands upon his time than to be goofing off on Twitter about perceived slights.  I hope he realizes this what the cast of Hamilton did was as polite as polite gets.  He's in for far worse on a literally a daily basis.  Good thing he has a thick skin!

Why am I filled with dread?
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Robbie Parry
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Posted: 20 November 2016 at 5:45am | IP Logged | 3 post reply

I'm filled with dread, too. How did this happen?

I can't really add to Matt's post (not much). I do agree. 

It concerns me on many levels. What happens if he doesn't like what a trade ambassador says? What happens if a world leader says something he doesn't like? What an incredibly thin-skinned individual.

Does a president have to legally serve a full term? I know they can be impeached or whatever, but WHEN he gets bored with the minutiae, can he simply step down? I known Pence is no angel, but I just cannot imagine a joker like Trump being interested in the job for long.
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John Byrne
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Posted: 20 November 2016 at 6:36am | IP Logged | 4 post reply

To the point of the subject line, is this really what we as Americans expect of our President?

••

Given our present circumstances, can we expect anything else? Throughout his life Trump has lived in a bubble within which he rejected any and all suggestion that he might be wrong about anything. No criticism was accepted,

That bubble has now extended to encompass his cronies.

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Brian Miller
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Posted: 20 November 2016 at 7:07am | IP Logged | 5 post reply

He's always had a thin skin and always will. It's part of him "telling it like it is", remember?
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Joe Zhang
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Posted: 20 November 2016 at 7:30am | IP Logged | 6 post reply

Pence was a paying member of the audience, and I feel the cast was unprofessional in putting him on the spot like that. But yeah, Trump has just dashed any hopes that his boorish behavior on the campaign trail was just an act. The next four years will make the Bush years look good. 

Edited by Joe Zhang on 20 November 2016 at 7:31am
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Michael Penn
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Posted: 20 November 2016 at 7:32am | IP Logged | 7 post reply

I'm waiting to see if Trump is an aberration or has changed the game. Will traditionally self-restrained, dignified opponents be able to successfully compete against him -- not just for the presidency in four years but on all matters of policy -- if they don't exploit social media in the same way? Right now, I tend to think he's released the genie and there's no going back. If so, anybody matching up against him better work just as hard. His victory may have instantly made the legitimate media -- and all forms of prior methods of a president speaking to the American people -- not only old fashioned but obsolete.
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John Byrne
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Posted: 20 November 2016 at 7:44am | IP Logged | 8 post reply

Pence was a paying member of the audience, and I feel the cast was unprofessional in putting him on the spot like that.

••

We'll have to agree to disagree on that one. Political figures place themselves "on the spot" by taking on the requirements of their jobs, one of which is functioning as a sounding board for the public.

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Robbie Parry
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Posted: 20 November 2016 at 8:01am | IP Logged | 9 post reply

I thought MPs over here were thin-skinned, but Trump is something else. I've seen (on social media) our MPs subjected to racial abuse, opinions about their personalities and all sorts of stuff. One female MP was attacked due to her weight. That is wrong, but she brushed it off.

I knew the conman was thin-skinned, but didn't realize he was that thin-skinned.
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Thom Price
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Posted: 20 November 2016 at 8:01am | IP Logged | 10 post reply

Trump is a thin-skinned, peevish bully; the only "act" we saw from Trump on the campaign trail was the few times he pulled it together enough to look vaguely presidential.  We're in for four years of childish Twitter wars from our Commander-in-Chief.
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Anthony J Lombardi
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Posted: 20 November 2016 at 8:10am | IP Logged | 11 post reply

Pence was a paying member of the audience, and I feel the cast was unprofessional in putting him on the spot like that. 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~``~~~
Joe, he is a public figure the spot light has been on him for a while now.
In this case I'd say that Trump is really the one to blame for this incident.

If not for Trump tweeting about this. How many of us would have even know about what happened?  Is it a coincidence that Trump made an issue out of something that really isn't a big deal. Right after making a 25 million dollar Trump University settlement.
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Brian Miller
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Posted: 20 November 2016 at 8:32am | IP Logged | 12 post reply

We're in for four years of childish Twitter wars from our Commander-in-Chief.

*********

Let's hope the wars are JUST Twitter Wars. 
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