Mega-Thread: Trump Focused Discussion

[Xeones]

Is Trump really that bad? Sure, he's done a lot of bad stuff, but is he really any worse than Bush?

Bush helped create a wave of worldwide terrorism but we didn't really see that until 2014, 6 years after he left office.

Trump is even harder to quantify. To me one of the worst things about Trump is he makes people reject reality. He tells people not to believe what they see or hear and just listen to him, and they do it.

He has signed in the most irresponsible tax cuts in us history.

He has attacked democracy at home and attacks our allies who believe in freedom and embraces and empowers brutal dictators.

He has given up the title of "leader of the free world"

He has given voice to white nationalists in his administration (don't even try to tell me Stephen Miller isn't a racist) and emboldened them across the world.

I'm done listing things but it is safe to call Trump objectively bad from any possible aspect. He's an imbecile who behaves like a mob boss.

[Breccia]

talks haven't gone well then, I guess.

What the ever-living fuck? They executed him? Um...can we stop talking to them now? I mean, this is Saudi-level shit.

[Benggaul]

Breaking News from the world of Policy by Tweet:

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/...40653926232064

I love how he's gone from "Mexico will pay for the wall" to "Americans will pay more for Mexican products".

[DarkTZeratul]

What the ever-living fuck? They executed him? Um...can we stop talking to them now? I mean, this is Saudi-level shit.

Now now, that's not a nice thing to say about the Saudis. North Korea's authoritarian fucked-upness is WAY beyond Saudi Arabia's.

[Breccia]

Breaking News from the world of Policy by Tweet

What the ever-living double fuck? He does know they haven't signed NAFTA 1.0.0.2 right?

[Benggaul]

What the ever-living fuck? They executed him? Um...can we stop talking to them now? I mean, this is Saudi-level shit.

The Saudis murdered a journalist. Somehow I don't think this latest execution will change Trump's mind.

[DarkTZeratul]

I love how he's gone from "Mexico will pay for the wall" to "Americans will pay more for Mexican products".

Remember, Trump thinks that foreign countries pay tariffs and no one has been able to convince him otherwise.

What the ever-living double fuck? He does know they haven't signed NAFTA 1.0.0.2 right?

He most definitely does not, given how frequently he touts it as a major accomplishment.

[Breccia]

Now now, that's not a nice thing to say about the Saudis.

I know a journalist that was ambushed and murdered that would disagree with you, except that he was ambushed and murdered.

[DarkTZeratul]

I know a journalist that was ambushed and murdered that would disagree with you, except that he was ambushed and murdered.

The difference is that the Saudis murdered *a* journalist who talked shit about them for years. The North Koreans routinely murder anyone who steps out of line, or fails, or accidentally slips up. And then sentences all of their family to decades of hard labor, where they encourage them to snitch on fellow inmates who are subsequently murdered.

And the Saudis tried badly to cover it up, knowing it was wrong. In North Korea it's just a part of life and everyone accepts it, because the divine will of their Glorious Leader is infallible.

[cubby]

https://www.bloomberg.com/amp/news/a...mpression=true

Kim Hyok Chol, who led working-level negotiations for the summit in Hanoi between North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and U.S. President Donald Trump in February, was executed with four other North Korean foreign ministry officials in March, Chosun Ilbo newspaper reported, citing an unidentified source.

Kim Jong Un’s top aide Kim Yong Chol is reportedly undergoing hard labor, according to the South Korean newspaper report.

So uh...talks haven't gone well then, I guess.

Holy. Fucking. Shit. Not well indeed.

[Breccia]

The difference is that the Saudis murdered *a* journalist. The North Koreans routinely murder anyone who steps out of line, or fails, or accidentally slips up.

I will grant you that genocide is worse than assassination, if you grant that a first-degree ambush murder is still "break off diplomacy" level of shitty behavior. Fair?

[DarkTZeratul]

I will grant you that genocide is worse than assassination, if you grant that a first-degree ambush murder is still "break off diplomacy" level of shitty behavior. Fair?

Totally fair. I'm not saying the Saudis aren't awful, just that this is a bit like comparing Al Capone to Josef Stalin.

[Breccia]

Well..once again, it's time for Guess the Speaker.

Acting like one is revering the Leader in front (of others) but dreaming of something else when one turns around, is an anti-Party, anti-revolutionary act that has thrown away the moral fidelity toward the Leader, and such people will not avoid the stern judgment of the revolution

That's NK propaganda, explaining why those people were dragged out to an airport and executed. They didn't love Dear Leader enough, and that's punishable by death.

Can't wait for the next summit. Can't wait to see Trump brush this off.

[Wyrt]

Breaking News from the world of Policy by Tweet:

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/...40653926232064

Brilliant. Let's threaten millions of American jobs over a very minor issue. And Republicans whine about Democrats playing identity politics...

[Deja Thoris]

Adding 5% tariff to goods punishes Americans, no?

Unless the Yanks are going to magically overnight re-jig their supply chains to get shit from somewhere else (hint - they aren't).

[Breccia]

And that disaster relief bill was blocked. Again. A third, different Republican this time.

Rep. John Rose (R-Tenn.) objected to the third attempt by Democrats in the past week to clear a $19.1 billion package providing funds for disaster-stricken areas by unanimous consent.

House members left Washington last Thursday for the Memorial Day recess and won't be back until Monday. Democrats tried to clear the bill during pro forma sessions with few lawmakers present last Friday and on Tuesday, but were met with objections from conservative Republicans who demanded a roll call vote.

"Our nation is $22 trillion in debt, trying to pass nearly $20 billion in new spending while the majority of Congress is not even in Washington," Rose said, calling the attempt to pass the disaster aid package by unanimous consent "another act of irresponsible big government."

The disaster aid measure is expected to pass once Democrats put it to a roll call vote on Monday.

"So...did Rose vote for the tax cut for the rich?"

No. He wasn't elected yet. However, we all saw something like this coming...but more like "let's cut Medicare because we're broke for some reason nobody could have predicted." This is disaster relief for taxpaying Americans. What the fuck?

[Dacien]

Adding 5% tariff to goods punishes Americans, no?

It does. And an interesting fact I just learned is that tariff power is vested in Congress by the Constitution, and they could take it from Trump if they wanted to. 'Course I'm pretty sure that means the Senate would have to be on board.

[Breccia]

Few more things.

1) As Infrastructure Week 5: A Wizard Did it was directly and personally destroyed by Trump himself, it's worth noting that Secretary of Transportation Chao, like many others, was required to divest of her stohohohoHAHAHAHAHA no just kidding, just kidding, she still owns $400,000 worth of stock in a construction company that makes road pavement. She promised to divest and she didn't because Trump.

2) Secretary of Education Bel Biv DeVos isn't having a great time, either. The IG of the Education Dept took issue with her move to reinstate a federal school accrediter, ACICS, who had been kicked off the good list in 2015 for pushing for-profit schools that suddenly collapsed. DeVos tried to have the IG fired and replaced. She was called out on it, and caved. The House demanded to see documents related to the attempted firing, and DeVos refused. Actually, she gave seven pages of heavily redacted documents, so basically nothing. She's been hit with another demand to turn the info over. She's expected to refuse the subpoenas, because Trump.

- - - Updated - - -

Kids, concentration camps, bla bla bla look, this has been an absolutely brutal day here. Hundreds of kids being held for double the legal amount of time would normally be top of the list.

- - - Updated - - -

And of course, I go and check Facebook and there it is: a new report by the Library of Congress, oddly enough, that says

1) The tax cut for the rich did nearly nothing to improve GDP growth. They are cited as 0.3% GDP growth, but the total GDP growth afterwards is on the trendline caused by Obama's second term. They specifically cited the one quarter that jumped up above the trendline as based on one-shot govt spending, which was such common knowledge at the time even I posted it.
2) The tax cut for the rich is not paying for itself. In fact, funny story, they'd have to create 6% GDP growth -- that's not total GDP growth, that's extra on top of everything else -- and they did 0.3%, which is one-twentieth of that.
3) Real wage growth is 1.2%. While the report doesn't say this, I will: that's basically eaten by the upcoming tariffs and Obama still beat that in his entire second term.
4) There were nearly no bonuses.
5) And there was no surge of money being brought back into the country, nor foreign investment.

In other words, Trump either got the tax cut for the rich which had nearly no effect...or, worse, the effect was eaten by other economic factors and he's putting a tourniquet on it before it bleeds out. Now we have gangrene.

[akris15]

Adding 5% tariff to goods punishes Americans, no?

Unless the Yanks are going to magically overnight re-jig their supply chains to get shit from somewhere else (hint - they aren't).

Yeah this is one of those American's could see quickly due to produce/food prices increasing to compensate. 5% isn't that much now (although it adds up) but Trump is going to Blizzard route where they are going to up it 5% every month but it will cap out at 25% in October.

[Breccia]

Just want to remind everyone: the GOP only agreed to consider NAFTA 1.0.0.2 because Trump removed the steel tariffs on the countries involved.

Trump just put tariffs back on Mexico.

Whether or not Mexico feels like signing might not be the issue anymore.