Report: Trump was unfamiliar with the scope of the president's job when meeting Obama

Yahoo ^ | November 13, 2016 | Mark Abadi

[Gamecock]

President-elect Donald Trump celebrated his status as a Washington outsider during his campaign for the presidency, but his lack of familiarity with the US government appears to be coming into view as he transitions to the White House.

During Trump's private meeting with President Barack Obama on Thursday, Trump "seemed surprised" by the scope of the president's responsibilities, according to a report from The Wall Street Journal.

Trump's aides were also apparently unaware that the entire staff of the president working in the White House's West Wing would need to be replaced, according to The Journal.

[treetopsandroofs]

Horseclinton!

[9YearLurker]

I am sure e ery last position is politicized in there now, and the idea of Trump’s team moving in w8th Dem operatives still working there is scary indeed.

[Smittie]

Trump was probably surprised that Jughead’s day didn’t start until 9 a.m. and ended around 2 p.m....after a 2 hour lunch break...

[Steve_Seattle]

"During Trump's private meeting with President Barack Obama on Thursday, Trump "seemed surprised" by the scope of the president's responsibilities, according to a report from The Wall Street Journal."

I would imagine that any honest person who is not a Washington insider would initially be awed by the scope of the responsibilities of president, just as - in a different context - a former high school football player is awed when he first steps on the field in front of 70,000 fans in a college stadium. I remember a lapel pin I saw after Bill Clinton was first elected: it bore the inscription, "Look, ma, I'm the f**kin' president."

[cpforlife.org]

What’s so laughable is that after this 18 months of campaigning most everyone understands that Trump has employed several tens of thousands of people all over the world over the course of decades.

His companies have a large “bureaucracy” w several Vice Presidents and executives.

This article should be in the onion it’s so far from reality.

obozo was a failed deputy assistant community organizer.

[fortes fortuna juvat]

Leftist Ministry of Propaganda starts already with the hit rhetoric. So predictable.

[DungeonMaster]

And Obama gets it?

[Sicon]

Yeah, Trump didn’t realize how much of the job involved playing golf, apparently.

[Raebie]

Absolutely.

I was just asking because I can’t get to the WSJ article referenced and was wondering who their source is...if they even have one. :-)

[billyboy15]

The way president Trump stops this sort of nonsense and makes writers look like fools is to just have success after success after success as he moves forward in the job as president.

[Steve_Seattle]

"I'm going to go out on a limb here and assume that Trump, at the very least, can distinguish a window from a door."

I read the story that you linked to, and the author couldn't resist favorably comparing Obama's blunder to a "far more embarrassing" mistake by Bush while on a visit to China. The author went on to note that Bush was "notorious for his gaffes." Typical media spin. I wonder what kind of cologne Obama puts on his butt that makes it so attractive to journalists?

[Steve_Seattle]

"I was just asking because I can’t get to the WSJ article referenced and was wondering who their source is...if they even have one. :-)"

Just like the media are talking about vague "reports" of harassment perpetrated by Trump supporters, but usually don't offer any specifics, or perhaps one specific item to justify reports of an "epidemic" or "tidal wave" of pro-Trump harassment.

[facedown]

Lol. Pravda at its best.

[Vaduz]

Obama is still unaware.

[DoughtyOne]

First of all, the entire White House staff includes chefs, maids, maintenance people, dishwashers, and other various service personnel.

It also includes secret service and other government clandestine operations people.

Obama, the WSJ, and Yahoo didn’t know this?

[Flick Lives]

You can always trust what the media says.

Take for instance this insightful article from Politico on 08/12/16 GOP insiders: Trump can't win

Or consider what the leading polling expert had to say about Trump on 08/18/16 Trump Is Doubling Down On A Losing Strategy where he announced Trump was stuck in the 30's in swing state polls. You know Nate's record on these things is fantastic. He's a genius.

And good old NPR. Where people's heads in the newsroom are filled with the same stuffing used to make hypoallergenic pillow. The Muppet network made that great call on 10/18/16 Is Hillary Clinton Really Trying To Win Texas? And Utah. And Georgia! And Arizona.

[Jim W N]

Obama is NOT the standard for the scope of the President’s job. THE CONSTITUTION is the standard of the scope of the President’s job. I don’t know how much Trump knows about the Constitution but I hope he gets real familiar with it. NOT the Unconstitutional Law they teach in law schools and practice in government, but the Constitution as written and originally understood and intended.

BTW, every American should get familiar with THEIR Constitution which is THEIR ONLY legal bulwark of freedom against the tyranny of the feds. Government schools will never willingly teach the Constitution because the Constitution prescribes relatively small, limited government and stands opposed to unlimited government.

Here is a relatively easy a four-step plan to do this:

1st - Understand the PRESUMPTIONS of the Constitution
2nd - Understand the STRUCTURE of the Constitution
3rd - Read the TEXT of the Constitution
4th - Understand the modern PERVERSIONS of the Constitution

Details below.

1st. Get a good grasp of the PRESUMPTIONS of the Constitution by reading the Ninth and Tenth Amendments, the Declaration of Independence and certain selected Federalist Papers. The major presumptions are

1) rights, freedoms, and powers are inherent in individuals, not government, and are given by God - among them are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness. They are the God-given birth right of every individual and are NOT given by nor taken away by government,

2) the Constitution does NOT grant rights and powers to individuals but the Constitution protects those rights which are God-given,

3) the powers of the federal government are CREATED and DELEGATED by individuals through the states via the Constitution. The Constitution is the CREATOR and LIMITER of the Federal Government,

4) if it is not a specific, enumerated power, it is not a power of the federal government whereas the opposite is true with the states and individuals. The states and the people are presumed SOVEREIGN outside of Constitutional mandates and limitations.

2nd. Understand the basic STRUCTURAL doctrines in the Constitution by reading resources with solid Constitutional-based reasoning like Robert Bork’s works. The Constitution creates the federal government and is its ONLY source of legitimate power and authority. The major structure of the feds is the three branches and the separation of powers between the branches with its checks & balances of power among the branches.

Article I creates the legislative branch, Article II creates the executive branch, Article III the judicial branch, Article IV puts certain limitations on the states, Article V outlines how to amend the Constitution, and Article VI declares the Constitution and ONLY those U.S. laws PURSUANT to the Constitution is the Supreme Law of the Land.

3rd. Once you’ve got a hold of the presumptions and structure, you can READ THE TEXT of the Constitution with a basic understanding.

4th. Understanding modern PERVERSIONS that depart from the Constitution as written and originally understood and intended. Such perversions are generally those Congressional acts and SCOTUS decisions over the last 100 years or so that have given the feds sweeping, authoritative, and actually totalitarian powers with little to no constitutional reasoning or basis for doing so. The big three perversions plus a forth, are

1) “The Incorporation Doctrine” - judicial misapplication of the 14th Amendment giving the feds sweeping powers not contemplated by the ratifiers of the amendment who intended the 14th Amendment to be a post-Civil War Reconstruction Amendment establishing ex-slaves as full citizens, nothing more.

2) The [Interstate] “Commerce Clause” (Art I, Sec 8, Cl 3) astonishingly expanded by Congress and ratified by SCOTUS to give the feds almost unlimited power over intrastate and local economic activities again, not contemplated by the ratifiers of the Constitution.

3) The “Necessary and Proper Clause” (Art I, Sec 8, Cl 18), originally intended to allow executive enforcement and regulation (”necessary”) pursuant to legislation within the scope of the Constitution (”proper”), the N&P Clause has been expanded beyond constitutional grounds and limits by essentially knocking out the “proper” part of this clause to such an extent that a quasi-fourth branch of government has been created: the Regulatory/Administrative State with its behemoth unconstitutional regulatory bureaucracies.

4) The power and effect of the Supreme Court of the U.S. (SCOTUS) decisions. Society and the legal community have granted SCOTUS much greater power than what the ratifiers of the Constitution contemplated. Nowhere does the Constitution give SCOTUS power to create national law. SCOTUS, the judicial not legislative branch, is given power to decide INDIVIDUAL CASES and CONTROVERSIES (Art III, Sec 2). Thus SCOTUS decisions, if soundly based on the Constitution, are valid but limited to precedent for like cases.

States and the other federal branches should not allow the scope of a SCOTUS decision to go beyond the parties of individual case itself or as precedent to other cases with the same questions of law and fact. Congress, as the legislative branch, has the power to make national law regarding the issues of a given case if it so chooses, as long as the law is pursuant to the Constitution. SCOTUS as the judicial branch is limited to the case at hand and has no such sweeping legislative power.

A SCOTUS decision that is deemed unconstitutional should be rejected and nullified by the states and the other federal branches, but not without sound Constitution-based explanation and reasons for such nullification.

Post-1900 SCOTUS decisions are generally problematic while the pre-1900 decisions are better and more helpful in accurately interpreting constitutional phrases. There are very few good resources that critically analyze SCOTUS decisions based on sound constitutional understanding, and Bork’s books are one of those rare resources. https://www.amazon.com/Tempting-America-Robert-H-Bork/dp/0684843374

[Chode]

said the mutt what wasn't even there, feh...

[Steve_Seattle]

Are those actual Time covers?

[KC Burke]

This is from this guy, Mark Abadi, on his second job out of college:

http://static3.businessinsider.com/image/565e4c206bb3f701657880e2-265/mark-abadi.jpg

He was something in Skagway, Alaska before joining the Business Insider. That site is partially owned by Jeff Bezos and in their product review notes they note their kickbacks from products they mention as coming from Amazon.

This month they have a photo spread on Obama’s 5.3 million 8200 square foot mansion.