Mega-Thread: Trump Focused Discussion

[Edge-]

So...it's been a bit, but how's everything going with de-nuclearizing North Korea?

"We, without being given anything, gave things the U.S. president can brag about, but the U.S. side has not yet taken any corresponding step," said the statement from North Korea's State Affairs Commission and circulated by its U.N. mission. "Now, betrayal is only what we feel from the U.S. side.

...

"Our official stand is that we can no longer remain an onlooker to such a reckless act of the U.S.," the statement said. "

Oh...so not well.

[Resurgo]

Real talk: When the fuck are markets going to stop getting played by this? This has been the most transparent play I can remember in a long time, and they've all be in on this for the past few years as if this isn't a comical farce.

...

Honestly, I'm personally on the belief that they purposely do this, to goose the market to go up so they can short sell it when the inevitable bad news hits.

[Breccia]

Whew! Bit of a big day yesterday. At least today things will settle down and --

Erdogan upends Oval meeting to play anti-Kurd film on iPad

Sigh...

The meeting hosted by President Trump included five Republican U.S. senators who've been among the most vocal critics of Turkey's recent invasion of Syria and attacks on the U.S.'s Kurdish allies in the fight against ISIS.

Erdoğan apparently thought he could sway these senators by forcing them to watch a clunky propaganda film.

The senators in the meeting took turns pushing back on Erdoğan, while Trump sat back and watched, intervening occasionally to play traffic cop.

The meeting comes as Erdoğan is trying to avoid sanctions over the purchase of a Russian missile defense system.

Erdoğan's video "was unpersuasive," according to a source who was in the room. It depicted members of the YPG (the U.S.-allied People's Protection Units) and the PKK (the Kurdistan Workers' Party, which the State Department has designated as a terrorist group).

"Ouch. And the GOP just sat there and took it, because Trump?

After the film concluded, according to the source, Sen. Lindsey Graham asked Erdoğan: "Well, do you want me to go get the Kurds to make one about what you've done?"

"WHOA!"

Graham was later arrested, because the use of sick burns is a war crime.

[Paranoid Android]

Speaking of Trump's meeting with Erdogan....


I believe the term is "war crime"?

He is the most simple minded person ever. Moron looks at oil as a commodity with more of an archaic idea than anyone.

[Edge-]

https://www.washingtontimes.com/news...rder-wall-yet/

Trump's "THE WALL" that he's bragging about?

Yeah...he's not actually building anything new. All 78 miles built to-date are replacements for existing fencing, not new wall built on new land.

[Breccia]

he's not actually building anything new. All 78 miles built to-date are replacements for existing fencing, not new wall built on new land.

But Edge- surely you missed this part:

Acting Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Mark Morgan told reporters...the replacement wall is so good that he calls all of it “new.”

It feels new. That's what's important here. Trump didn't break a campaign promise, he made something that feels new.

[Pendulous]

https://www.washingtontimes.com/news...rder-wall-yet/

Trump's "THE WALL" that he's bragging about?

Yeah...he's not actually building anything new. All 78 miles built to-date are replacements for existing fencing, not new wall built on new land.

I think I just traveled back in time to a year ago. Better warn everyone that it doesn't get any better.

[Paranoid Android]

https://www.washingtontimes.com/news...rder-wall-yet/

Trump's "THE WALL" that he's bragging about?

Yeah...he's not actually building anything new. All 78 miles built to-date are replacements for existing fencing, not new wall built on new land.

Jared Kushner, being the great thinker he is, pitched the idea of having a live stream of the wall being built. I guess it for Trumpster's get excited too.

[Zan15]

Forget the wall

https://thehill.com/policy/finance/e...n-in-one-month

MORE BIGLY

The federal deficit reached $134 billion in October, the first month of fiscal 2020, according to data the Treasury Department released Wednesday.

That figure is about 34 percent higher than last October, a sign of a steadily increasing gap between federal spending and revenue.

As a candidate, President Trump had promised to wipe out the nation’s deficit during his time in office, but deficits have only grown since his inauguration.

The Treasury estimated that the deficit for the 2020 fiscal year would surpass $1 trillion for the first time since 2012. The figure came in just below that milestone in fiscal 2019, hitting $984 billion.

The deficit has spiked following the GOP tax law and multiple bipartisan agreements to increase spending on defense and domestic programs.
The nation's overall debt level surpassed $23 trillion for the first time this month.

What is even more interesting:
https://www.bea.gov/news/2019/gross-...vance-estimate
Current dollar GDP increased 3.5 percent, or $185.6 billion, in the third quarter to a level of $21.53 trillion. In the second quarter, GDP increased 4.7 percent, or $241.4 billion (tables 1 and 3).

So 3 month total around 250-350 billion dollar deficit....the deficit is really outpacing gdp growth....even with this so called wonderful bestest bigly economy.
not even close. 2nd Q monthly increase was 80 billion per month average and 3rd Q was 62 billion per month average.

Could you imagine the gdp #'s without this insane govt spending?

[Edge-]

So, how are things on the foreign affairs front?

Well...Turkish media are taking a victory lap over Trump in their coverage of Erdogan's visit, highlighting the fact that Trump appeard to have no reaction to Erdogan returning his "tough guy" letter.

North Korea is claiming that the US reached out to restart negotiations. They have no interest in meeting and view these as, "a trick to earn time." And it's looking like they want to have a military air show, too.

So...not great, then.

[pathora44]

But Edge- surely you missed this part:



It feels new. That's what's important here. Trump didn't break a campaign promise, he made something that feels new.

That has always been what matters most to Trump and his Trumpkins, how it makes them feel. Truth, facts and logic be damned if these snowflakes don't have a safe space that support their feelings on reality then it is all a deep state conspiracy.

- - - Updated - - -

So, how are things on the foreign affairs front?

Well...Turkish media are taking a victory lap over Trump in their coverage of Erdogan's visit, highlighting the fact that Trump appeard to have no reaction to Erdogan returning his "tough guy" letter.

North Korea is claiming that the US reached out to restart negotiations. They have no interest in meeting and view these as, "a trick to earn time." And it's looking like they want to have a military air show, too.

So...not great, then.

A.K.A. everything Trump has touched in this administration.

[Edge-]

https://www.cnn.com/2019/11/14/polit...ike/index.html

Secretary of Defense Mark Esper landed in South Korea on Thursday to navigate renewed threats from an "enraged" North Korea and newly heightened strain in the alliance with Seoul that congressional aides, lawmakers and Korea experts say has been caused by President Donald Trump.

Trump is demanding that South Korea pay roughly 500% more in 2020 to cover the cost of keeping US troops on the peninsula, a congressional aide and an administration official confirmed to CNN.

The price hike has frustrated Pentagon officials and deeply concerned Republican and Democratic lawmakers, according to military officials and congressional aides. It has angered and unnerved Seoul, where leaders are questioning US commitment to their alliance and wondering whether Trump will pull US forces if they don't pay up.

"Nothing says I love you like a shakedown," said Vipin Narang, an associate professor at MIT who follows the Korean peninsula, summarizing South Korean uncertainty their worries about the US.

Donald. Trump. Is. A. National. Security. Risk.

[wunksta]

Donald. Trump. Is. A. National. Security. Risk.

Gotta wonder if he's coming up with these policy changes with his large brain or if someone else has his ear.

[Edge-]

Gotta wonder if he's coming up with these policy changes with his large brain or if someone else has his ear.

https://www.scmp.com/news/world/unit...ns-us-security

Considering he was trying to kill our trade/security agreement with them because he didn't like it and couldn't understand the strategic/defensive importance of having troops in South Korea, so much so that Gary Kohn reportedly took drafts of the letter to withdraw off his desk on at least one occasion in 2017, I think this is all him and his galaxy-brain.

He's a transactional man. He understands money and that's it. He sees the South Korean relationship as a financial loss, and it is, but lacks the intelligence and nuance to understand the strategic importance of having troops there and why that more than justifies the cost to keep them there.

[Ashina]

https://www.cnn.com/2019/11/14/polit...ike/index.html



Donald. Trump. Is. A. National. Security. Risk.

Why does he have to fuck something up every single day. Can’t Trump just shut up for one week?

[Edge-]

Why does he have to fuck something up every single day. Can’t Trump just shut up for one week?

The impeachment inquiry hearings have begun, so he's pounding those Red Bulls and hitting that Nos button to go into ludicrous speed in the hopes that something will distract everyone from the hearings.

[Skulltaker]

The impeachment inquiry hearings have begun, so he's pounding those Red Bulls and hitting that Nos button to go into ludicrous speed in the hopes that something will distract everyone from the hearings.

He could... you know... keel over. That would solve several problems at once. He'd get out of the impeachment bs and we get rid of him. Sounds like a win-win.

[Fugus]

He could... you know... keel over. That would solve several problems at once. He'd get out of the impeachment bs and we get rid of him. Sounds like a win-win.

No, I want him held accountable and I want him to take as many down with him as possible. If he gets caught and he takes McConnell down with him, especially about trading their power for personal gain, the taints his every nomination giving grounds to remove them.

[Edge-]

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/artic...ntent=business

Now Giuliani officially under investigation for campaign finance violations and acting as an unregistered foreign agent.

[cubby]

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/artic...ntent=business

Now Giuliani officially under investigation for campaign finance violations and acting as an unregistered foreign agent.

He will make a fantastic witness at the Senate Impeachment Trial. What's the over/under with getting Trump on the stand?