Opinion The Trump Presidency

[Peck]

Yes. He should endorse free trade. That's the way to keep local manufacturing afloat.

Richard Wolff most definitely doesn’t endorse free trade lol, and I sure as hell don’t.

The point is when you introduce stupid ass tariffs because you don’t understand international trade, then it hurts your economy.

 

[Portology]

Underwood is staking her claim for a long tenure as AG by going after the Trump Foundation. The breaches, if proven in court, will be a big win for her.

I'm still waiting for the EU, Canada and Mexico to declare that their trade deals with the US have been fair all along. All I'm hearing is retaliation talk. Once the first domino, likely to be China, falls, the rest will probably follow.

Have a guess which company is the biggest exporter by value of vehicles "made in the USA". If I was BMW, I'd make sure to let pro-Brexit UK-ers know exactly what they've missed out on as the tooling flew by out of North Carolina. Yeah ok, that hasn't happened yet.

I suspect Trump thinks other folks "really know" he has the biggest hand to play. That his opponents who try to bluff will fold or lose.

Rather than head to head like some inadequate poker analogy I think trade is about to get a whole lot more ... *lateral and Byzantine. The interconnections are already complicated, but that's a politicians' perspective - and hope - stability of a sort. It doesn't mean things can't unwind quickly as capital runs around to protect itself at the expense of polities who can't move across borders so freely.

Then again some capital comes with sticks attached so I might be understating things.

"In the West you have the notion that if somebody hits you on the left cheek, you turn the other cheek. In our culture we punch back."
-China's President Xi remarks reported from a business meeting in Beijing.

You want to play cards you go to Vegas. You want to lose face in front of a billion people, you want to look like a toothless boasting tiger among your political backing in the central committees, you make a comment like that at home and don't carry through.

Trump enjoys framing every small win as a big, personal one "from him". Like, um, the Carrier and Ford pre-election #mistruths. Presenting *nothing* as a win is relatively easy (see Korea summit) if you can keep folks distracted from seeing background negatives. Where jobs are moving, that is, folks are losing jobs and other folks elsewhere are getting them, more 'subtlety' along the lines of Carrier and Ford is needed. Wouldn't be surprised to see Harley reverse some part of their announcement in response to a "Trumpian intervention". The training is complete on all sides.

 

[Forzaport]

Did Xi's remarks cover China's theft of IP, trade barriers and currency manipulation? No, I didn't think so. Dealing with these issues would surely benefit all Western nations, not just the US. China is adopting a China first attitude and that is ok but for some reason it's not ok for Trump to adopt an America first attitude and ask for fair, reciprocal trade. Ditto for the EU, Mexico and Canada. The reason Australia was spared from the Aluminum and Steel tariffs is because we don't screw the US over on trade.

Trump used the Carrier and Ford stories to build confidence in the economy which is looking like hitting well over 4% GDP growth this year - something that would have been unthinkable in early 2017.

On North Korea, here is a list of nothings from Trump's efforts:
- Release of US hostages (oh it's nothing)
- The return of remains of 200 US soldiers from the Korean war (oh it's nothing)
- North Korea and the US now communicating regularly at the highest levels (oh it's nothing)
- Cessation of North Korean missile testing (oh it's nothing)
- Closure of North Korean nuclear test site (oh it's nothing)
- Removal of anti-US propaganda in North Korea (oh it's nothing)
- Reunion of families separated by the North/South border (oh it's nothing)
- Reinstatement of communication and rail lines between North Korea and South Korea (oh it's nothing)
- The best chance in 70 years of achieving peace on the Korean peninsula (oh it's nothing)

That's a whole lot of nothing. Now imagine a different president had achieved such progress with North Korea, I guarantee the sentiment would be different.

 

[Portology]

Let me just have a word in your Korea for the moment:

Did Xi's remarks cover China's theft of IP, trade barriers and currency manipulation? No, I didn't think so. Dealing with these issues would surely benefit all Western nations, not just the US. China is adopting a China first attitude and that is ok but for some reason it's not ok for Trump to adopt an America first attitude and ask for fair, reciprocal trade. Ditto for the EU, Mexico and Canada. The reason Australia was spared from the Aluminum and Steel tariffs is because we don't screw the US over on trade.

Trump used the Carrier and Ford stories to build confidence in the economy which is looking like hitting well over 4% GDP growth this year - something that would have been unthinkable in early 2017.

On North Korea, here is a list of nothings from Trump's efforts:
- Release of US hostages (oh it's nothing) Sorry what? North Korea has been taking hostages and negotiating their release at crisis points for decades. I'm glad they released three more as the minimum concession necessary to get Trump to the face to face meeting they wanted.
- The return of remains of 200 US soldiers from the Korean war (oh it's nothing) to be US funded, at prices "negotiated" by DPRK. Personal opinion: this creates a working funnel for future sub-arrangements, nominally legal "cash for commitments" transfers. "Food for commitments" and "fuel for commitments" have failed repeatedly in the past, once point famine and freezing winter crisis pass, commitments made have been reneged upon promptly and "side channels" re-opened. Perhaps "clothed" cash will work better as it has the potential to deliver a personal benefit directly to top regime officials. This is the equivalent of the worst of "bad" foreign aid used for foreign policy purposes and the only good thing that comes out of it is the potential discovery and repatriation of soldiers' remains.
- North Korea and the US now communicating regularly at the highest levels (oh it's nothing) Update me when consular services for US citizens aren't still being done out of the Swedish embassy.
- Cessation of North Korean missile testing (oh it's nothing) promise, previously made and broken on multiple occasions
- Closure of North Korean nuclear test site (oh it's nothing) promise, previously made and broken on multiple occasions
- Removal of anti-US propaganda in North Korea (oh it's nothing) promise, previously made and broken on multiple occasions
- Reunion of families separated by the North/South border (oh it's nothing) revival of program originally started August 2000
- Reinstatement of communication and rail lines between North Korea and South Korea (oh it's nothing) The original trans Korea rail line agreement was signed in 2000, and it's key economic driver is South Korean trade with Russia. Direct comms links have grown from 18 lines in 1972 to 33 in 2018. See 40+ year timeline below.
- The best chance in 70 years of achieving peace on the Korean peninsula (oh it's nothing) I'll be as tactful as I can here. On the basis of documented facts, there are no grounds at all for your hyperbolic optimism, and I have no idea why you are doing it.

That's a whole lot of nothing. Now imagine a different president had achieved such progress with North Korea, I guarantee the sentiment would be different.

So. You're right after all. What?? Yes. "A whole lot of nothing" was my inaccurate summary of, on some points, more than 20 years of data. I'm sorry, I should have said "a whole lot of very very slow movement none of which was accelerated by #pinkypromisesummit" and saved you the trouble of a terrible post.

TRUMPeting and #fakenews-ing of very slow progress made by thousands of officials big and small over decades, why do it? Why?

South Korean MOU single timeline slide on comms links is republished here...
https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2018...-and-south-korea-communicate-with-each-other/

Postscript and edit: I genuinely forgot to mention which administrations/Dear Leaders did these things, on either side. Maybe the misrepresentation of facts and the viral transmission of such infection disturbs me more than the person who first threw that stone in to waters. Though the current major stone thrower is pretty disturbing just on his own. He's a bloody distraction, it's the gullibility that hurts.

 

[Pedro59]

Did Xi's remarks cover China's theft of IP, trade barriers and currency manipulation? No, I didn't think so. Dealing with these issues would surely benefit all Western nations, not just the US. China is adopting a China first attitude and that is ok but for some reason it's not ok for Trump to adopt an America first attitude and ask for fair, reciprocal trade. Ditto for the EU, Mexico and Canada. The reason Australia was spared from the Aluminum and Steel tariffs is because we don't screw the US over on trade.

Trump used the Carrier and Ford stories to build confidence in the economy which is looking like hitting well over 4% GDP growth this year - something that would have been unthinkable in early 2017.

On North Korea, here is a list of nothings from Trump's efforts:
- Release of US hostages (oh it's nothing)
- The return of remains of 200 US soldiers from the Korean war (oh it's nothing)
- North Korea and the US now communicating regularly at the highest levels (oh it's nothing)
- Cessation of North Korean missile testing (oh it's nothing)
- Closure of North Korean nuclear test site (oh it's nothing)
- Removal of anti-US propaganda in North Korea (oh it's nothing)
- Reunion of families separated by the North/South border (oh it's nothing)
- Reinstatement of communication and rail lines between North Korea and South Korea (oh it's nothing)
- The best chance in 70 years of achieving peace on the Korean peninsula (oh it's nothing)

That's a whole lot of nothing. Now imagine a different president had achieved such progress with North Korea, I guarantee the sentiment would be different.

Agree with all your points.

Trump will deserve the Nobel if he achieves peace in Korea.
( Of course this will result in election imitating screaming from all the Hilary's/Democrats girls again even though Obama embarrassingly got his Nobel for er ..um... just being elected!.. With Mandela and Mother Teresa turning over in their graves)

Trump is doing so much right and after Brexit I knew the mood of the people would get Trump up.

What is wrong with stopping $3.00 per hour illegal immigrant labour coming in to increase wages and employment for African American?

What is wrong with changing up and leaving trade deals that the US has a big deficit in?

And if anyone is following the Russian Collusion Hoax ...it has actually been the other side of politics colluding with Russia including even spying on an opposition election campaign.( Shame FBI and DOJ)

But of course everyone hates Trump and he actually beat the whole world's opinion to become POTUS.

Being a Queens NewYorker he punches back and I think its about time the media bias got exposed.

And the next time I hear a millionaire movie star snorting expensive coke in their limo on the way to their next movie signing lambasting on Trump whilst conveniently ignoring the plight of all the forgotten farmers , small business's, vets etc who did vote for him ....

I think Trump is going to go down in history as one of the best POTUS

 

[Forzaport]

Let me just have a word in your Korea for the moment:



So. You're right after all. What?? Yes. "A whole lot of nothing" was my inaccurate summary of, on some points, more than 20 years of data. I'm sorry, I should have said "a whole lot of very very slow movement none of which was accelerated by #pinkypromisesummit" and saved you the trouble of a terrible post.

TRUMPeting and #fakenews-ing of very slow progress made by thousands of officials big and small over decades, why do it? Why?

South Korean MOU single timeline slide on comms links is republished here...
https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2018...-and-south-korea-communicate-with-each-other/

Postscript and edit: I genuinely forgot to mention which administrations/Dear Leaders did these things, on either side. Maybe the misrepresentation of facts and the viral transmission of such infection disturbs me more than the person who first threw that stone in to waters. Though the current major stone thrower is pretty disturbing just on his own. He's a bloody distraction, it's the gullibility that hurts.

Ok, it's pure coincidence that this is all happening under Trump's watch. Lucky guy.

I probably posted this blog post before, but here is again: Why President Trump Deserves Credit for Progress in North Korea

(Trump) Went to war against individual companies and people breaking the sanctions and trading with North Korea. Did not leave the job of stopping cheaters to the home governments that couldn’t or wouldn’t stop them. This was a new and effective strategy, and probably one of the biggest factors in making Kim flexible.

Sanctions against North Korea

On 21 September 2017 President Donald Trump issued Executive Order 13810 allowing the United States to cut from its financial system and/or freeze assets of any companies, businesses, organisations and individuals trading in goods, services or technology with North Korea. Also any aircraft or ship upon entering North Korea is banned for 180 days from entering the United States. The same restriction applies to ships which conducted ship to ship transfers with North Korean ships. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin stated that "Foreign financial institutions are now on notice that going forward they can choose to do business with the United States or North Korea, but not both." A statement from the White House said “Foreign financial institutions must choose between doing business with the United States or facilitating trade with North Korea or its designated supporters.”[18][19] On 25 September 2017, the US Treasury barred the entry of North Korean nationals to the United States.[20]

Targeting individual companies (mostly Chinese companies) that flouted UN sanctions was a strategic masterstroke in bringing the North to the table. That's some distraction! The gullibility is believing that Trump hasn't been the major variable in this process, all other leaders Xi, Jae-in, Abe, Putin have been the constants which has only delivered escalation from the North. It's becoming too big to brush off and ignore. There's a pathway to peace, the North can take it if they genuinely want it, and for the moment, it looks like they do.

 

[Pedro59]

The bias is really transparent with the liberal media.

Here is but one example also aligning with your sentiments on the North Korea deal.

A month or two ago ..no less than the South Korean President spoke at a major news announcement on international TV with all the news reps attending..

He thanked President Trump for all his negotiations with North Korea and stated quite clearly that if it wasn't for Trump there would not have been the recent meetings with his counterpart nor the ongoing peace talks.

So I'm thinking how is the fake news brigade going to twist this one around and deny Trump the credit?

Sure enough as soon as CNN (and the others) cut from the South Korean Leaders speech they were saying "Oh He didn't really mean that...
He didn't know what he was saying...He was under pressure (from whom?) to give Trump credit....etc etc " WTF??
I mean...one moment its all Trumps fault if we are going to have a war ...my button is bigger than yours etc etc ....But if he manages to pull it off ( peace) ..its nothing to do with him it was all done by the Chinese and South Korean leaders...

Right in front of me ....with my own eyes and ears I know what the South Korean Pres said ..One can't trust these media hacks anymore

So bias is bias ...I never realized how prominent the liberal left media in the world is these days ..for some reason I thought it was the other way around..

 

[Peck]

Montage of Trump complimenting KJU at about 6 minutes... jfc

 

[Forzaport]

Montage of Trump complimenting KJU at about 6 minutes... jfc

I'm paraphrasing: "We don't like Trump. He's stupid. Everything he does is stupid. By the way, we have zero ability to asses Trump objectively and we know nothing about negotiation".
...

October 19, 2016.


Actual Quote "He's a serial bungler and he bungled this election...He will not win because of his incompetence...He has no chance".

Paying attention to a verified moron will only deliver frustration.



This was good for a laugh. Thanks for brightening up my morning Peck!

 

[Portology]

This didn’t brighten up my morning. It’s funny, but that joke isn’t funny anymore.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Forzaport]

Tony Schwartz also vowed to move to Amsterdam if Trump won the election. He's still living in the US. He's full of s**t and his Twitter history is full of wrong and unhinged calls. Not the person you would want to hitch your wagon to.

 

[Peck]

I'm paraphrasing: "We don't like Trump. He's stupid. Everything he does is stupid. By the way, we have zero ability to asses Trump objectively and we know nothing about negotiation".
...

Yes trump is very stupid, and a serial liar. Anyone who doesn’t recognise this is as stupid as he is and is not even worth talking to about politics.

But I’m glad you at least live in a blissful ignorance full of laughter.

 

[Peck]

This didn’t brighten up my morning. It’s funny, but that joke isn’t funny anymore.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

This ******* guy

 

[Forzaport]

Yes trump is very stupid, and a serial liar. Anyone who doesn’t recognise this is as stupid as he is and is not even worth talking to about politics.

But I’m glad you at least live in a blissful ignorance full of laughter.

I'd say he's a very stable genius. How else would he have succeeded in real estate, reality TV and politics? On his way to the presidency, he overcame a field of 17 Republicans, which included the Bush dynasty, then he overcame the Clinton dynasty, Hollywood and the mainstream media to win the general election.

This ******* guy

He's not wrong.

 

[Peck]

I'd say he's a very stable genius.

Oh so you are joking?

Nice

 

[raman]

 

[Port01]

I don't understand the whole point of the russian meddling angle.
the cia and kgb have been involved in every election that could possibly effect them in the last 70 years.
of course they meddled in the 2016 election, same as every other past election, they'd be stupid not to.
Nothing will ever come of it though. Social engineering has been part of this for decades.
So not sure there is any point in wasting so much emotional energy on it. It is all just a game to the people involved in it.

 

[klem22]

Its the democrats winging about the unlosable election hypocrites to the core.

 

[raman]

Trump actually openly colludes with Russia.

Apologists: something something Demmycrats!

 

[Peck]

Trump actually openly colludes with Russia.

Apologists: something something Demmycrats!

WHERE ARE THE HILARY CLINTON EMAILS

 

[Forzaport]

It's always a shame when the facts get in the way of a good anti-Trump narrative.

 

[Forzaport]

 

[raman]

Trump actually openly colludes with Russia.

Apologists: something something Demmycrats!

How wrong was I.

Demmycrats have made mistakes and been hypocrites, therefore Commander Cheeto, very stable genius!

 

[Forzaport]

How wrong was I.

Very, but I'm used to it. I particularly enjoy how you can no longer argue on merit and have resorted to ad hominem attacks. Enjoy your TDS.

 

[raman]

Very, but I'm used to it. I particularly enjoy how you can no longer argue on merit and have resorted to ad hominem attacks. Enjoy your TDS.

Implying merely regurgitating tweets by evangelical psychos constitutes "arguing on merit". Enjoy continuing to pretzel yourself in defense of your terrible decisions.