Mega-Thread: Trump Focused Discussion

[Breccia]

Trump's attempt to claim victory over NAFTA has hit yet another roadblock, besides the fact that he's lying: Congress.

The problem is NAFTA is already a law on the books, for all useful intents and purposes. According to GOP Sen. Toomey, a minor change to NAFTA, such as something Canada, Mexico and the USA all agree to alter numerically, does not require a lot of work, and 51 votes will do the job. For --

"There are only 50 GOP Senators."

Shh, not yet, not yet. For a major change, such as cutting out Canada entirely, they'd need the usual rules to change any law, which means they need the usual 60 votes.

"There are only 50 GOP Senators."

Yes. If Canada disagrees, it doesn't matter what Trump claims Mexico wants, the Senate isn't passing shit. And, while the blue/red demographics of the Senate are likely to shift red simply due to when people were elected, they're not going 60 red. More importantly, the House will almost certainly shift blue, making it hard either way. Plus, it's highly unlikely the Senate will "go nuclear" on this -- the rules about such are pretty clear, including the massive cooldown in its use, if it can even be used at all.

Trump has threatened to slap Canada with tariffs if they don't comply. Yes, that's Trump taking yet another hostage...except, the Canadians know the barrel is empty. If they say "no", Trump gets to eat shit, and not only damage the US auto trade further but faces another WTO challenge.

"Okay, fine. But we're hearing a lot about this deal. What are the details?"

There are few to no public details. Even the Senate has complained that they don't know what Trump says Mexico agreed to. That's a lack of transparency, right there.

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C'mon man, at least glance at the recent posts before you add new ones.

Um, it took me a while to write that. Check the timestamps: I got ninja'd, I admit that, but I couldn't read a post that hadn't been made yet.

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Trump said today Mexico will pay for the Wall.

Wanna see the video? It's FOX News, so, no calling Fake News today!

Mexico said immediately afterwards they never will. Yes, that's an official representative of the Mexican govt, specifically, the secretary of foreign relations.

Based on the above posts, it's possible Trump vomited up the "Mexico will pay for the Wall" toxicity, so when Mexico left the trade agreement, he could blame them, rather than wait for Canada or Congress to shoot it down.

Also...what Wall? @Skroe will back me up on this: there's no Wall funding, there's no Wall construction, and to the best of my knowledge, there's no winner of the Wall Reality Show where the prototypes are voted off the island one by one as bags of drugs are thrown over their heads.

[Felya]

C'mon man, at least glance at the recent posts before you add new ones.

I would have deleted mine, if people didn’t respond to it. His was much better... I added a link to it, because I would rather people read what he said, than I.

Edit: ... and forum kudos to both of us for not starting a new thread. #DoingOurPart

[Breccia]

I would have deleted mine, if people didn’t respond to it. His was much better... I added a link to it, because I would rather people read what he said, than I.

It's all good. That's what quoting is for.

Speaking of quoting: MATTIS!

“We took the step to suspend several of the largest exercises as a good-faith measure coming out of the Singapore summit. We have no plans at this time to suspend any more exercises.”

Yep. Trump made a surprise, unilateral move to suspend military exercises, and the Pentagon was caught flat-footed and lost initiative. Things are looking different in the second round, however. So, not only did Trump give something for nothing, now, what little he gave is being taken back.

But, hey, at least Trump didn't break this promise. He just forced other people to walk it back for him. That's better, right?

Are we tired of winning yet?

EDIT: Oh, on that topic, sources tell CNN NK is backing away from denuking talks because "the US is still not ready to meet (North Korean) expectations in terms of taking a step forward to sign a peace treaty." Some of you might blame NK for asking too much, others blame the US for not giving enough. Nobody is talking Nobel Prize anymore. The deal isn't dead, but it's at -9 hp and failed two saving throws.

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FOX News criticizes Trump's attack on Google.

Shepard Smith mocked President Donald Trump’s attack on Google and other tech companies Tuesday, stating that “what he doesn’t like is the news.”

Smith was speaking after Trump directed several criticisms at search-engine giant Google throughout the day, starting with multiple tweets claiming that search results were “rigged” to almost only show news that was “bad.”

After an exchange with Fox News’ chief White House correspondent John Roberts, Smith continued to criticize Trump’s remarks.

“What he doesn't like is the news, “ he said “It’s not the people who are delivering it or the platforms on which they receive it, it seems to be the news itself, because around there the news is not good except the fake news. The fake news seems to be pretty good for him, the real news seems to be unpleasant.”

After attempting to recap Trump’s comments but losing the page, an exasperated Smith concluded: “Didn't make sense then, wouldn’t make sense now.”

[Edge-]

Speaking of quoting: MATTIS!

“We took the step to suspend several of the largest exercises as a good-faith measure coming out of the Singapore summit. We have no plans at this time to suspend any more exercises.”

Oh look, an adult is talking. How unique.

He's been damn quiet lately. Or at least appears to be, but that may be in part due to the cacophony of scandals that continue to revolve around Trump and those in his orbit.

[Glnger]

DID SOMEONE SAY ANTIFA?!

glad to see the blacks for trump guy is being funded enough to go to all of these rallies.

[Breccia]

He's been damn quiet lately.

Proportionately, he's been pretty chatty the last few days. But Mattis' silence has valid roots.

1) He's routinely out of the loop, such as the canceling of aforementioned exercises and also the canceling of the Iran Nuclear Deal. Mattis is too much of a good soldier to comment on something he doesn't know, and when he's not told, he can't comment. It could be deliberate.

2) There are major ideological differences. Mattis believes that a rules-based international order of things is beneficial for the USA and the world -- a position he personally explained to Trump using specific, factual examples of trade deals and military alliances that have done their job well. Trump countered with "I don't agree!" enough times that, yes, that was the time Tillerson called him a fucking moron. Mattis was also against the steel tariffs and taking Jerusalem from the Palestinians unilaterally,.

3) Mattis doesn't need to speak up to get his point over on the public. That's neither his job, nor Kelly's. They can handle matters in-house without getting on Twitter -- mostly, because both men are intelligent and 140 characters isn't enough for "Who knew XXX would be so complicated?" When necessary, he's even just defied Trump's orders when he, say, orders all the transgenders out of the military.

Mattis knows full well Trump's problem is his ego. Disagreeing with Trump is one thing, doing so out in the open is another.

4) We haven't gone to war with Iran yet. Obama forced Mattis out -- not very dignified in how he did it, either -- because he felt Mattis was an Iran warhawk. Trump may have taken Mattis on for that reason. It is possible Mattis is willing to swallow a little more humiliation as long as he gets what he wants.

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This Axios article describes what Trump could do if he continues his First Amendment attack on Google. As expected, not much. Axios lists five options. Three require Congress. One makes Google's intellectual property public. And the last breaks Google up as the FTC declares it a monopoly.

It should also be noted that Google is hardly toothless here. A move against them will be seen as government overreach into a private business, they have LOADS of money, and quite frankly if they really wanted to, could make multiple randomly rotating algorithms a la Best of Both Worlds Pt 1/2. "It will take them 10 to the power of 100 seconds to get through that," they'd say, "and someone should trademark that number."

[mvaliz]

Apparently, Dumbass Dump told Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe "I remember Pearl Harbor" before attacking him on his Trade/Economic policies durring his last WH visit.

https://www.newsweek.com/trump-abe-p...-trade-1093230

President Donald Trump reportedly told Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe at the White House in June that he remembered Pearl Harbor and then ripped Abe for Japan’s trade and economic policies.

The conversation served as an unusual example of Trump lashing out at Abe, who has defended the president and served as his public ally, The Washington Post reported Tuesday. Recently, however, Trump's negative opinions of Japan's trade practices, as well as a disagreement between the pair regarding the president's tactics in dealing with North Korea, have caused a rift, according to the Post.

“I remember Pearl Harbor,” Trump reportedly told Abe as part of a tirade against the U.S. trade deficit with Japan. The president reportedly wanted better deals to help U.S. car and beef producers.

Trump was referring to the Japanese attack on the Hawaiian base in 1941 that launched the U.S. into World War II. Although it's unclear what he actually meant by the remark, in the decades following the war, Japan has had a limited military and served as home to a number of U.S. bases. Only in recent years has Japan expanded its military capabilities.

Jesus H fucking christ >_<

[Dontrike]

Apparently, Dumbass Dump told Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe "I remember Pearl Harbor" before attacking him on his Trade/Economic policies durring his last WH visit.

https://www.newsweek.com/trump-abe-p...-trade-1093230



Jesus H fucking christ >_<

He's clearly talking about the shit Pearl Harbor movie.

[mvaliz]

He's clearly talking about the shit Pearl Harbor movie.

Got to admit, I did snicker a bit. :P

Then again, the sad part is he might actually be thinking that way as that movie might possibly be the only time he ever might've approached the subject of PH.

[Dontrike]

Got to admit, I did snicker a bit. :P

Then again, the sad part is he might actually be thinking that way as that movie might possibly be the only time he ever might've approached the subject of PH.

Wouldn't surprise me if he thought the movie was a documentary.

[Adam Jensen]

And he did some shittering again:



This is getting to "meddlesome priest" levels of asking for his cultists to start shooting up news offices or maybe Google.

When you do and say shitty things, and the media reports on those shitty things you say and do, it tends to be negative . . .

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Clearly you missed the part where Ludlow said they were looking into regulations. Sorry, but, that's serious.

But at least the Supreme Court won't violate the First Amendment.

I hope.

[Lanrefni]

Google really needs to just drop a couple billion in ads supporting Dem candidates,it would pretty much pay for itself long term by getting the moron out the White House.

[Breccia]

Trump: Censorship is wrong! Voices must not be silenced by companies enforcing their terms of service!
Federal Judge: You have to stop blocking people from your Twitter account. That's censorship.
Trump: What's irony?

[Felya]

Google really needs to just drop a couple billion in ads supporting Dem candidates,it would pretty much pay for itself long term by getting the moron out the White House.

Well... corporations are people... and we need to control what corporations say... I might be seeing a problem...

[Deleted]

Google really needs to just drop a couple billion in ads supporting Dem candidates,it would pretty much pay for itself long term by getting the moron out the White House.

Google is a libertarian firm which believes above all that corporations should not be regulated by the government. Doubt they mind Trump and the Republicans.

[Breccia]

Doubt they mind Trump and the Republicans.

I think you missed the part where Trump was directing his administration to regulate Google, specifically.

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The top story was from TheDailyCaller, a known right-biased site.

The third story was from Sputnik. Yes. Russian state media Sputnik.

Both were "but her emails!" claiming now that it was China who cracked the stolen emails.

Sure enough, here comes a Trump tweet.

That's now twice in 24 hours that Trump chooses to take his information from unsupported stories on fringe far-right media outlets mentioned on FOX News, instead of his own intelligence sources. Neither TheDailyCaller nor PJ Media are trustworthy sources of information.

[Deleted]

I think you missed the part where Trump was directing his administration to regulate Google, specifically.

looking into 'they are suppressing conversative voices' and a twitter rant isn't akin to going after googles virtual monopoly in search, video, mobile, maps and browser or antitrust violations. Really think the Trump administration is going to take on Google?

They have already upped thier lobby fund after that little outburst. I don't think there is a universe in which the Republicans regulate google.

[Breccia]

a twitter rant

The rant was one thing. Kudlow admitting openly they were looking into Google regulations is another.

And this is the same Trump who is trying to "take on" anything from 96% of US media to Amazon. So, yes, I think Kudlow is telling the truth.

[Poopymonster]

Trump: Censorship is wrong! Voices must not be silenced by companies enforcing their terms of service!
Federal Judge: You have to stop blocking people from your Twitter account. That's censorship.
Trump: What's irony?

He probably thinks he put a tariff on it already.

[Paranoid Android]

Again a possible huge scandal. A President involved in a say about a building that affects the trump hotel.

Trump Was Involved With Planning of New FBI Headquarters, Inspector General Finds

President Donald Trump was directly involved in decisions concerning the construction of a new FBI building, according to a government report released Monday. Trump’s involvement in this decision is notable due to a potential conflict of interest: the Trump International Hotel is essentially across the street from the FBI’s J. Edgar Hoover headquarters.

http://amp.timeinc.net/fortune/2018/...general-report