Quote Originally Posted by wufwugy View Post
I agree that the claims of him using 3d chess (meme version: 12d intergalactic underwater chess) are quite overrating of what is actually going on. However, I estimate some of it is probably 3d chess. The type of example is that it appears to be about as confirmed as can be without actually being confirmed that the Trump administration is planting a significant amount of fake news. The purpose has been to give the media a rabbit to chase, barium meals to find leakers, and to keep the press busy while Trump does actual policy stuff the Democrats don't like.

Another example of 3d chess is the healthcare situation. Trump told us from the beginning that the most likely scenario is that these bills won't pass and that instead we'll have an election with a quickly failing Obamacare on our hands and the Democrats will get blamed while the GOP will be exhausted from failure. So far I've seen none in anti-Trump circles acknowledge this, even though many in pro-Trump circles saw it quickly.
The part about using/creating news headlines to push through legislation isn't a particularly new or clever thing. Governments all over use it all the time.

The bit about healthcare is better but at the same time you're putting quite a positive framing on it, you could make out that all these things are weak leadership, not being able to get the backing of his own party, lack of parliamentary understanding (american equivalent), not having a strong standing on actual policy, etc.

Quote Originally Posted by wufwugy View Post
I would like to say that I think it may be best to separate the left and liberals. Leftism doesn't represent liberal values at all. The left has been hijacking the term liberal for a very long time and it has stuck, but today the left is becoming so aggressive that liberals are beginning to wake up. Like liberal Dave Rubin says, defending his liberal values has become a conservative position. Example of the distinction: liberalism says that race doesn't matter. But according to the left, race (and sex, religion, other group identities) are what matter the most. Leftism is totalitarianism and social justice bigotry. Liberalism is not.
I mostly agree with this. I'm just using terminology that is used which people understand even though I think it's wrong (/it is wrong).