Mega-Thread: Trump Focused Discussion

[Edge-]

More corruption folks!



https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/02/u...hao-china.html

So Mitch McConnell's wife, Elaine Chao, tried to get more access for her family’s shipping businesses.

In the article there is a copy of a document and one State Department official calling this 'highly inappropriate'.

So she's enriching her families company that's benefiting from Chinese trade policies that don't benefit the US while McConnell cozies up to Russian oligarchs?

Nice. Glad that both hostile foreign powers are buddy buddy with two influential powers in US government.

[Breccia]

So she's enriching her families company that's benefiting from Chinese trade policies

The company in question carries iron between China and Canada. That's interesting.

[rda]

So, how's the trade war going?

"China issues warning to Chinese students travelling to the US for school."

So, poorly then? Gotcha.

The school year doesn't start for 3 months or so. China's clearly looking at the long game.

ROFL. Right, let's reason about how the trade war is going based on warnings to students.

Here is how the trade war is going, if you want a birds-eye view:



And here is a birds-eye view of the main driving forces on the US side:



You know where the trade war is in the above? It's in the red bars. The vast majority of the movement is for reasons other than the trade war. (The detailed picture for the Chinese is somewhat different with the trade war mattering significantly more.)

[Edge-]

https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-...ke-them-at-all

“The suspect in the Virginia Beach shooting used a silencer on his weapon. Do you believe that silencers should be restricted?” a reporter asked Trump outside the White House, as the president departed for a U.K. visit. “I don’t like them at all,” Trump replied, according to a pool report.

HE IS COMING FOR YOUR GUNS AND THERE IS NOTHING YOU CAN DO, FOLKS!

Although the Second Amendment people - maybe there is, I don't know.

[Snorkles]

Poor guy, thinking we get a false image of the UK just because we have CNN on TV. Thankfully, we're advanced enough to have the internet.

Plus his favourite news channel, Fox, shut down in the UK because it had abysmal ratings. Clearly CNN are doing something right if they're the only American channel capable of maintaining a UK audience.

[cubby]

Plus his favourite news channel, Fox, shut down in the UK because it had abysmal ratings. Clearly CNN are doing something right if they're the only American channel capable of maintaining a UK audience.

THAT is a very good point. I'm pretty sure it's been clear for awhile now exactly who the Faux "News" audience constitutes.

[ABEEnr2]

I'd love to see a link to that.

In the meanwhile, Trump called Meghan Markle a nasty woman because Trump.

https://www.politico.eu/article/eu-t...s-this-summer/

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/artic...rade-war-front

https://www.euronews.com/2019/05/06/...-on-each-other

[Gelannerai]

the hell did Australia do? Refuse to not put a anti rabbit fence further from some golf course?

Weren’t there a lot of Australians talking shit about his golf course there? It might just be him being petty again.

[bladeXcrasher]

https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-...ke-them-at-all



HE IS COMING FOR YOUR GUNS AND THERE IS NOTHING YOU CAN DO, FOLKS!

Although the Second Amendment people - maybe there is, I don't know.

The most gun friendly president, who says "handle due process later".

His gun issue flops are my favorite thing to mess with conservatives with, really puts them on the spot.

[Edge-]

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/u...-a8942666.html

Trump, who has one of the greatest memories of all time ever, forgot the gift that he gave the queen a year ago. He was saved by Melania, who appeared to actually remember.

[Paranoid Android]

Barack Obama gets a standing ovation at Game 2 of the NBA Finals in Toronto.
Via blogTO https://t.co/Dqqf3P1rYW

https://twitter.com/kylegriffin1/sta...350599680?s=19

Yelp! Expect more tariffs Canada from our Petty President.

[Redwyrm]

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/u...-a8942666.html

Trump, who has one of the greatest memories of all time ever, forgot the gift that he gave the queen a year ago. He was saved by Melania, who appeared to actually remember.

I would have guessed an autographed glossy photograph of Trump

[Flarelaine]

Plus his favourite news channel, Fox, shut down in the UK because it had abysmal ratings. Clearly CNN are doing something right if they're the only American channel capable of maintaining a UK audience.

Tabloids do the same work for Murdoch in the UK.

[Edge-]

https://www.salon.com/2019/06/03/tru...l-paso-report/

Shocking news. Man who regularly fails to pay bills has failed to pay a $470K bill for an anti-immigration rally he hosted in El Paso, Texas.

- - - Updated - - -

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/03/b...x-evasion.html

Ruh roh again, the owners of the hotel that replaced Trump Panama (whatever he called it) filed paperwork in Manhattan federal court alleging that the Trump Organization cheated the Panamanian government, including making fraudulent claims to tax authorities to cover up illegal behavior.

I can't imagine Trump may have engaged in shady and illegal behavior surrounding his business. I mean, it's not like the guy would ever outright lie about his finances, assets, and worth on loan application forms or anything...right?

[Breccia]

cover up illegal behavior.

We'd talked about this hotel before. This 2017 article contains the basics, such as

The report said the drug cartels purchased hotel units to hide the origins of money earned through drug trafficking and other criminal activity, and Trump is estimated to have earned tens of millions of dollars from the deals.

Who knew drug money could be so complicated?

[Elegiac]

We'd talked about this hotel before. This 2017 article contains the basics, such as

Who knew drug money could be so complicated?

My dear friend. Nobody cares about drugs! It's not like we have a severe drug probl --

Hmmm...Well, how about this? "Donald Trump made millions off drug trafficking deals from Mexican cartels. Vote Democrat 2020"

[Edge-]

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/tax-cut...l-office-says/

When the Tax Cut and Jobs Act was signed into law in December 2017, many U.S. companies responded with press releases touting one-time bonuses to their workers. But how much of the savings from lower corporate taxes really went to workers?

Just $28 per worker, according to a new analysis from the Congressional Research Service.

A total of $4.4 billion went out in bonuses last year, estimated the nonpartisan office that's part of the Library of Congress. Divided among the 157 million people in the workforce, that comes out to under $30 apiece. "This amount is 2% to 3% of the corporate tax cut," wrote Jane Gravelle and Donald Marples, the report authors.

For comparison, the amount of money companies spent buying back stock was over $1 trillion, the CRS said. In other words, businesses spent 246 times as much money on their own stock as they did on worker bonuses.

It's unclear whether $28 shows an increase over whatever bonuses workers might have gotten without the tax cuts. The left-leaning Economic Policy Institute, which recently analyzed federal pay data, found that the average 2018 bonus was just 1 cent higher than the average bonus in 2017. "This is not what the tax cutters promised, or bragged about soon after the tax bill passed," EPI Senior Fellow Lawrence Mishel wrote.

The report adds to a year's worth of research by government, business and nonprofit entities indicating that the tax cuts didn't spur the widespread economic boom that was used to justify them.

The overall economy grew 2.9% in 2018—the same pace as it grew in 2015, and below the 3% annual growth on which Mr. Trump staked his campaign. Average wages, after inflation, grew at 1.2%, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Most Americans—about 4 in 5—paid less in taxes last year, with a median tax cut of $900. But many didn't realize their taxes went down through lower withholding numbers on their regular paychecks. Instead, they're asking what happened to the $4,000 to $9,000 raise the president promised them a year and a half ago.

"A one-time bonus is not a $4,000 raise," Christopher Shelton, president of the Communication Workers of America union, said in March before a House committee. The union's members work at wireless telecom companies, some newspapers, TV networks and General Electric.

Shelton added: "We tried to get our major employers to sign something saying they would give our members $4,000 in raises, because that's what everybody was touting. Not one employer signed that."

TLDR: Everyone saying that taxpayers were getting hosed by the tax cut and that it was little more than a handout to corporations and the ultra-wealthy continue to be right. It did nothing for the economy and it's most significant achievement seems to be increasing the US deficit and debt.

Is this fiscal conservatism?

[Dontrike]

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/tax-cut...l-office-says/



TLDR: Everyone saying that taxpayers were getting hosed by the tax cut and that it was little more than a handout to corporations and the ultra-wealthy continue to be right. It did nothing for the economy and it's most significant achievement seems to be increasing the US deficit and debt.

Is this fiscal conservatism?

Wow, it's almost like everyone saw this coming and the tax cuts were nothing but more 1% socialism.

[zorkuus]

Wow, it's almost like everyone saw this coming and the tax cuts were nothing but more 1% socialism.

It's a personality cult folks. Yes, I am tired of saying it.

[Adam Jensen]

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

Ask me again when Trump's been out of office a while and we can see the lasting effects his administration had.