The List of Supreme Court Nominations - the first 11 of them.

[anatess2]

It is a very interesting list and should have substantive things that can be used to determine contrast to Obama's (and what would probably be Hillary Clinton's) choices as they all had judicial experience.

https://www.donaldjtrump.com/press-releases/donald-j.-trump-releases-list-of-names-of-potential-united-states-supreme-c

Edited May 18, 2016 by anatess2

[Vort]

That's hitting below the belt. This is the only issue I can think of that might possibly convince me to vote for Donald Trump.

[Guest MormonGator]

1 hour ago, Vort said:

That's hitting below the belt. This is the only issue I can think of that might possibly convince me to vote for Donald Trump.

 Liar. He has a "Make America Great Again" hat he wears all the time. 

[zil]

3 minutes ago, MormonGator said:

 Liar. He has a "Make America Great Again" hat he wears all the time. 

Ban shredded cheese! Make America grate again!

(Maybe if we ever get a candidate from Wisconsin...)

[Guest MormonGator]

1 minute ago, zil said:

Ban shredded cheese! Make America grate again!

(Maybe if we ever get a candidate from Wisconsin...)

Bad pun -5 points. Back to the compound please. 

[anatess2]

Dr. Krauthhammer, one hair shy of being a NeverTrumper has this to say about this list:

"The one thing holding back people who've resisted supporting Trump, or at least the major thing, is the fear of what a Clinton presidency would do to the Supreme Court and how it would change it for a generation.  Now you get a list of 11 who are quite sterling, three of them clerked for Justice Thomas, two of them for Justice Scalia, the six federal judges all appointed by George W., which means they are conservative and they are relatively young.  So this is a future-looking list."

 

He's talking to you @Vort. 

In addition, those who are not federal judges are State Supreme Court judges.  Also, none of them are tainted with rulings that do not oppose Obamacare or tainted with rulings that limit the 2nd Amendment... or so the conservative blogosphere says.  The criticisms of the list are mostly, if not all, about why so-and-so is not on the list rather than so-and-so being on the list.  Now, what I find interesting about this list is that there's nobody here who are not judges.  There's been a lot of talk about Ted Cruz being put on the list (I was thinking this is the best place for Ted Cruz too) but Trump decided to go with people who have a jurispudence record to hang their hat on.  But then, it's up to Congress to actually pass one of these to fill Scalia's robes and a record will be tough to sell to the Democrats.  So, we'll see...

Edited May 19, 2016 by anatess2

[prisonchaplain]

I find this list very encouraging--so much so that I consider myself off the #NeverTrump wagon, and on the "Not much to say--lots to pray" one.

[Guest MormonGator]

9 minutes ago, prisonchaplain said:

I find this list very encouraging--so much so that I consider myself off the #NeverTrump wagon, and on the "Not much to say--lots to pray" one.

Do you trust him to stick with it? He's been pro-choice, anti-gun and pro tax for many years until he decided to dupe everyone and run as a conservative. 

[mirkwood]

Which is one of the great problems when considering him. 

[Guest MormonGator]

1 minute ago, mirkwood said:

Which is one of the great problems when considering him. 

 Imagine Michael Bloomberg suddenly trotting around with a shot gun talking about how he's just a good ole' boy from the backwoods who likes huntin' and fishin'. That's how I feel about Donald Trump. 

[anatess2]

40 minutes ago, MormonGator said:

Do you trust him to stick with it? He's been pro-choice, anti-gun and pro tax for many years until he decided to dupe everyone and run as a conservative. 

His only 180 on this list is pro-choice to pro-life.  He had a personal experience where a friend of his planned to abort the child, he supported her, and things happened that made her change her mind and the child grew up to be one of the brilliant minds in the Trump Organization.

He's not anti-gun.  He is a lifelong member of the NRA and a conceal carry permitted citizen of New York City - one of the toughest gun laws in the country since the 80's.  His sons are avid hunters with Don Jr. going on his first hunt when he was only 5.  Willie and Phil Robertson held a contest on who was the better hunter.., Ted Cruz or Donald Trump.  Don Jr. stood in for his father and Phil conceded to Willie stating that Don Jr. can give the Robertsons a run for their money on target shooting.  Back in the 90's, the issue on assault weapons came up and Trump approved of the ban, he stated it in his book.  He changed his position on it after learning that there's really no way of legislating a definition for "assault weapons" that makes any sense without trampling on the 2nd amendment.  This is the ONLY position that he has held that was not in line with the NRA.  Last week, the NRA endorsed him.  The NRA hasn't endorsed anybody prior to October in the 2 previous elections.

Pro-tax doesn't make sense.  There are no anti-tax candidates in the last 100 years.  None of them has ran on the platform of abolishing taxes.  And Trump has been saying since the 80's that he hires the best accountants to guarantee he does not pay more tax than he is legally required to taking advantage of every loophole possible.  His tax position has been the same since the 80's.  He is in favor of progressive taxation.  The only candidates who don't want progressive taxation is Ted Cruz and Ben Carson (promote flat income tax) and Huckabee (promotes consumption tax).  Trump's tax plan is a progressive tax with the lowest bracket at 0% and the highest bracket at 25%.  He has stated something similar to this when he stood infront of Congress in the early 90's as part of an advisory group.  Unlike the Democrats that promote "taxes on the rich" as a wealth redistribution system, Trump promotes higher taxes on the upper income bracket to incentivize investments.  Part of his tax plan, therefore, is lower corporate taxes and capital gains taxes.  His philosophy is that economy is healthier when money moves to increase productivity - money movement happens through consumption and investments.  A CEO getting paid a high income is not as productive as an investor making lots of capital gains.  Where he wants to increase taxes is in carried interests - people making interests through other people's money (e.g. hedge fund guys) and in import taxes from certain countries to bring productivity back to the US.

The drive-by media tried to do a hit piece on him in an interview because he met with establishment Republican consultants and he stated he is open to raising the tax rate for the  high income bracket.  They made this sound like a liberal "tax the rich" thing where he wants to raise the taxes from today's rate.  That's not what he said.  What he said is he is open to increasing the 25% top bracket.  Kasich's plan is 28% for the high income bracket.

 

[anatess2]

In a recent statement detailing 11 possible replacements for the late Justice Antonin Scalia, Trump mentioned Latter-day Saint and BYU law professor Thomas R. Lee as "representative of the kind of constitutional principles I value."

https://www.ldsliving.com/BYU-Professor-on-Donald-Trump-s-Short-List-for-U-S-Supreme-Court/s/82185

[anatess2]

1 hour ago, MormonGator said:

 Imagine Michael Bloomberg suddenly trotting around with a shot gun talking about how he's just a good ole' boy from the backwoods who likes huntin' and fishin'. That's how I feel about Donald Trump. 

Donald Trump is no backwoods guy, he'll be the first to tell you.  When Hillary Clinton did a photo op at a NYC subway and got laughed at for having trouble with the card reader, Trump said, I don't need to ride the subway to connect with New Yorkers.  I have a driver that takes me places.

That said, he sent his boys hunting and fishing with grandpa to keep them out of trouble.  They loved it so much that as adults they would sneak out before sunrise to go hunting/fishing before they show up to work.  On Eric's bachelor party, his brother who was also his best man nixed the Manhattan party and instead took all of Eric's high-society friends fishing in Alaska.

Edited May 23, 2016 by anatess2

[Guest MormonGator]

Anatess and I will go round and round, like we've done a hundred times before. Needless to say we won't convince each other and we're diametrically opposed. So while she is certainly free to respond, I won't do so back. 

To everyone else, Donald Trump has Tweeted things out (Google Newtown Trump) that are pro gun control. He's mentioned in 2000 that he's for background checks, an assault weapons ban, etc. In his book "The America We Deserve" he said "Republicans walk the NRA line." 

 His disciples blame "the media" (even though it's in his own book!) , but the rest of us know he's basically a NYC moderate republican at best who has duped a large amount of people.  St. Paul didn't have such a dramatic conversion as he did on most issues. 

Edited May 23, 2016 by MormonGator

[Guest MormonGator]

19 minutes ago, anatess2 said:

Donald Trump is no backwoods guy, he'll be the first to tell you.  When Hillary Clinton did a photo op at a NYC subway and got laughed at for having trouble with the card reader, Trump said, I don't need to ride the subway to connect with New Yorkers.  I have a driver that takes me places.

That said, he sent his boys hunting and fishing with grandpa to keep them out of trouble.  They loved it so much that as adults they would sneak out before sunrise to go hunting/fishing before they show up to work.  On Eric's bachelor party, his brother who was also his best man nixed the Manhattan party and instead took all of Eric's high-society friends fishing in Alaska.

Yeah, I was implying that if Bloomberg did it, he'd be a phony. He doesn't. Trump tries to be something he isn't. A NYC moderate who knew how to get elected by duping a large amount of conservatives. If he gets elected (a HUGE if, actually) he'll show his true colors. Perhaps then his fans will say "Wow, I feel like a moderate who voted for Obama in 2008. I feel duped." 

And they'd be right. 

[anatess2]

20 minutes ago, MormonGator said:

Anatess and I will go round and round, like we've done a hundred times before. Needless to say we won't convince each other and we're diametrically opposed to the others viewpoint. So while she is certainly free to respond, I won't do so back. 

To everyone else, Donald Trump has Tweeted things out (Google Newtown Trump) that are pro gun control. He's mentioned in 2000 that he's for background checks, an assault weapons ban, etc. His disciples blame "the media", but the rest of us know he's basically a NYC moderate republican at best who has duped a large amount of people. 

I already explained the assault weapons ban. The NRA is not opposed to background checks.  I don't know what etc. is...

I don't know what you consider duping.  He's never claimed to be ideologically conservative.  He describes himself as common sense conservative.  He is a New Yorker, he's never claimed otherwise.  He has been registered Republican most of his life but he has made no secret of his disagreements of Republican platforms in the past, especially on Trade and Foreign Policy, so much so that he registered Independent and even registered Democrat in 2001 to change the makeup of Congress to control Bush.  2 of his kids are Republican, 2 are Independent.  Trumpers, Trumpists, etc., know this and it is one of the reasons that he is the Republican nominee.  That's what a lot of the people who vote for him want.  That's why he won all of the congressional districts of places like Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Maryland, Delaware, etc.

Edited May 23, 2016 by anatess2

[prisonchaplain]

4 hours ago, MormonGator said:

Do you trust him to stick with it? He's been pro-choice, anti-gun and pro tax for many years until he decided to dupe everyone and run as a conservative. 

"Not much to say, much to pray."

[Guest MormonGator]

9 hours ago, prisonchaplain said:

"Not much to say, much to pray."

Donald Trump needs to pray too, but since he already thinks he's God, it's probably pointless.