Post by dpb...
Post by trader_4Post by dpbAs far as "trade war"; Trump's doing what he promised and ran on; deal
unilaterally as the US rather than via world groups such as WTO. China
can't actually impose the threatened tariffs until _after_ the actual
application of US sanctions which have time before they're actually
implemented; meanwhile there's something like six weeks to two months
for the behind-the-scenes negotiations.
It's public posturing at this point building negotiating strength;
You give far more credence to Trump being sane and having a plan than
I do. If he's rational and has a plan, how do you explain him
starting this up with China now, on the eve of his grand summit with
KJU, when he needs China to help with a nuke crisis? Is he so
delusional that he thinks he has that solved?
...
He's quite sane(*)
Was he sane when he told America at the GOP debate that he met Putin
at 60 Minutes, got to know him, "we were stablemates"? It never
happened, so either he's a sane liar or can't distinguish reality from
fantasy. At the very least, he's a narcissistic megalomaniac, you
can see that almost every day. It's all about Trump, Trump, Trump,
how great he is, falsely claiming how his electoral win was the
biggest since Reagan, how his crowd was bigger than Obama;s, constantly
reliving the election.
and has an agenda and doesn't much give a fig about
Post by dpbpast protocol. He's also somewhat flighty in his attention span but
there are certain general areas of consistency that his overall
intentions and thinking on doesn't much change in the big picture; trade
policy and border protection being the two most obvious.
Consistency in intentions? Let's look at immigration. During the
campaign he was all over the place. He promised to deport all 11 mil
illegals in just a year or two with a deportation force, no if's ands
or buts. Then he said that he's always believed in a merit approach,
that the illegals that have been here for a long time, you have to have
a merit system. He threw the DACA people under the bus, then he said,
don't worry, the GOP is here to help you. In the previous negotiations
Trump was offered a deal to legalize not only DACA, but another 800K
beyond that. In exchange he would have had funding for his wall.
Trump screwed the pooch, turned it down, over what? He insisted that
there had to also be an end to what he calls chain migration. He just
signed a record spending bill that has not a dime in it for his new
wall. And then he comes out and tries to tell the DACA people that
he's on their side? Maybe that sounds like an agenda and plan to you,
it sure sounds like insanity to me.
Post by dpbTend to the "bull in the china shop" approach? -- sure, but heck, the
ChiComs certainly know where they stand
No, I'd say the problem is that neither China nor our allies knows
where Trump stands on anything. One week it's NATO is obsolete,
that the US may not honor our treaty obligation, that we may not
come to the defense of NATO countries that are attacked, the next
is well, maybe NATO is OK.
and it may well be there's
Post by dpbactually been some benefit in that they have been much more aggressive
in their stance w/ N Korea since than ever were before--that's
inscrutable as to whether was or was not actually a factor, but the
timing appears interesting if nothing else.
My point was that I agree that China has been more helpful than ever
before. Trump said he was going to lay off them on trade, he dropped
his accusations that they were manipulating their currency. That
was for the past year. So, it's totally insane to now start going
after China on trade on the eve of his summit with KJU. It doesnt
fit with any strategy, it fits with Trump being impulsive and
uncontrolled.
Post by dpbAs for the latter, I don't think TheDonald ties one subject to the other
much or even at all; trade is trade and NKorea is NKorea.
Which shows what? That he's ignorant and unfit for the office.
Pretty
Post by dpbclearly, the little dictator with the bad haircut sees the handwriting
on the wall that his party is about to be over entirely if he doesn't
come to heel; with prior administrations it was clear he could pull
their chain indefinitely and never face any truly serious consequences;
don't believe he thinks that now.
So far, I see no evidence at all of that. Trump simply caved in, agreed
to a meeting, something that any other president could have done.
Even worse, he did it impulsively, again, without consulting or having
an discussions with his key advisers. The South Koreans who had met
with KJU showed up at the WH, not even to meet with Trump. He had them
come into meet with him, within an hour Trump poked his head into the
press room, to announce something big was coming. Shortly after, he
paraded the South Koreans out to announce he was going to meet with
KJU!
Now if that isn't stunning evidence that he's unfit, IDK what is.
The US had no way of knowing what KJU actually said, versus what
the SKs, think they heard, etc. Trump just filled impulsively.
Trump heard that KJU said he's willing to discuss denuclearization
and reacted as if that's something new. KJU said a year or more ago
that he would denuclearize if the US denuclearizes and gives up all
our nukes. Trump could be going to meet with KJU to get that message
and then what?
Post by dpb(*) Someone with a a hyperactive personality and opinions that one may
disagree with doesn't qualify the other person as being "insane" albeit
there appear many who just can't get past the fact he is, in fact, the
POTUS as non-traditional-for-the-position an individual as he is. Given
my choice, I'd at least break his thumbs, but overall he's had a
definite positive impact on the business climate to date and changed the
tone of defeatism and acceptance of declining prosperity similar to what
Carter espoused and Reagan counteracted.
--
The problem is that for what limited good has come out of Trump, he's
divided this country like never before. He's pitting Americans against
each other, dividing, not uniting. He's at war with our institutions,
he's attacked our courts, the DOJ, FBI, called our intel agencies who
were right about Russia and Trump knew they were right, liars and he
compared them to Nazis. He's a prolific liar who has debased the
presidency, debased America and made us laughing stock around the
world. IMO, it's a very bad bargain and we have yet to see the
final results. i expect that by the time he's done, the GOP and
conservatives will be banished to the wilderness for a generation,
perhaps forever.