Donald Trump presidency discussion thread V

ArtSmart

aloyisious wrote: »

Don's act in deciding to pull the troops from Syria and Afghanistan despite the opposition of his Def Sec leaves me wondering when the serving generals start resigning in protest at Don selling the US out from under them.

I think there might be some acceptable reason to refuse orders. Sort of a ''a soldier can refuse any order that is "morally abhorrent, illegal under the constitution, example, example," or some such mix.

That'd be interesting...

ArtSmart

Interesting argument.

The wall won’t stop smuggling. Drug smugglers have been using tunnels to get drugs into the United States ever since Mexico’s most famous drug trafficker, Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán of the Sinaloa Cartel, pioneered the method in 1989. And the sophistication of these tunnels has only grown over time. In April 2016, U.S. law enforcement officials discovered a drug tunnel that ran more than half a mile from Tijuana to San Diego and was equipped with ventilation vents, rails, and electricity. It is the longest such tunnel to be found so far, but one of 13 of great length and technological expertise discovered since 2006. Altogether, between 1990 and 2016, 224 tunnels have been unearthed at the U.S.–Mexico border.


https://www.brookings.edu/blog/order-from-chaos/2017/09/26/3-things-trumps-proposed-border-wall-with-mexico-wouldnt-accomplish/

Kermit.de.frog

The wall is just a big distraction from the Russian kompromat.

Phonehead

Agree re. this being a distraction attempt. Every single decision Don has made while in power has largely been focused on trying to change the narrative from Russia.

jooksavage

If Trump actually DID strategy, I'd be wondering if this shutdown is him teeing up his resignation. His cabinet has fallen apart, he's lost his majority in the House, who were his only reliable protection, he's facing a miserable 2 years of intensifying investigations and zero policy advancements, his popularity is dropping daily, the markets are nose-diving....

If he wanted an out, he could do worse than push the border wall issue, knowing he cant win and then, with typical gracelessness, announce that he cant work with this government, that McConnell let him down, the Dems are crooked etc. and, unable to deliver his marquee policy, he would resign honorably rather than betray his base.

IF he did strategy.

duploelabs

Kermit.de.frog wrote: »

The wall is just a big distraction from the Russian kompromat.

His whole twitter feed is his distraction instrument. Anytime anything goes wrong for trump he cries 'WITCH HUNT' or 'NO COLLUSION' in a Pavlovian response

brendanwalsh

So the shutdown is confirmed
What happens next

everlast75

brendanwalsh wrote: »

So the shutdown is confirmed
What happens next

Hopefully a resignation!

But realistically, his delusional base will blame the dems, whereas any logical person will remember 11 days ago....

rossie1977

ArtSmart wrote: »

Trump is a job creator, if only the Dems would let him

How are Dems stopping him? Republicans have controlled house and Senate last 2 years.

All of Trump's major decisions last 2 years like trying to get rid of aca, trade war and big tax cuts to corporations will cost jobs in long run. The tax cuts were meant to trickle down on the little people which obviously didn't happen and companies spent the money on share buybacks to inflate stock price so ceos could give themselves huge bonuses. Now Dow has dropped 3,500 points since start of December

batgoat

rossie1977 wrote: »

How are Dems stopping him? Republicans have controlled house and Senate last 2 years.

All of Trump's major decisions last 2 years like trying to get rid of aca, trade war and big tax cuts to corporations will cost jobs in long run. The tax cuts were meant to trickle down on the little people which obviously didn't happen and companies spent the money on share buybacks to inflate stock price so ceos could give themselves huge bonuses. Now Dow has dropped 3,500 points since start of December

Pretty sure that poster wasn't being serious.

jooksavage

brendanwalsh wrote: »

So the shutdown is confirmed
What happens next

This is the first time I dont see an obvious conclusion to one of these impasses. If Trump backs down, thats it, the wall is dead for all time. It would doom Trump with the right wing press and further shrink his base. He could forget about re-election prospects.

Having said that, the wall wont happen. Theres not enough votes in the Senate, short of McConnell going for the nuclear option, which to his credit (and i hate to give him credit for anything), he clearly doesnt want to do. Even if he was inclined to do this, he simply couldnt - too many R senators have already said they wont allow it.

Another mess of Trumps own making. Hes single-handedly manufactured a crisis and put himself in a situation that will inevitably hurt him more than anyone else.

EltonJohn69

trump will play the blame game.... he has something to give out about....

Sonics2k

This looks like it was drawn with MS Paint. How are people still taking this man in any way seriously?

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1076239448461987841

FreudianSlippers

EltonJohn69 wrote: »

trump will play the blame game.... he has something to give out about....

... but like... this must be actual hell. He literally took the blame for it last week. On camera.

Christy42

Sonics2k wrote: »

This looks like it was drawn with MS Paint. How are people still taking this man in any way seriously?

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1076239448461987841

As has been pointed out this design appears to have a lot of room to simply pass drugs through.

Guess he wants to avoid hurting the small business man.

To the other poster. It isn't hell. His base will happily forget about his previous statements and blame the dems. That is all he cares about.

BabyCheeses

Sonics2k wrote: »

This looks like it was drawn with MS Paint. How are people still taking this man in any way seriously?

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1076239448461987841

I like how wall has been downgraded to a fence. At some point it will have been all a metaphor for increased patrols.

pixelburp

To paraphrase a comment from one (Texan?) politician, building a 26ft wall just results in criminals buying a 27ft ladders the next day. Or indeed as I read about one case, a retrofitted tshirt cannon. Or tunnelling underneath the wall. Or flying in via Miami. Or any one of a dozen other methods to get around a technology made partially redundant around the invention of gunpowder.

I daresay those screaming loudest for a wall are those living furthest away from the realities of the US border and how farcical a giant perimeter ends up. Yet a man who has the gall to boast about knowing of "tech" (Christ his arrogance is insufferable), thinks a wall is the solution. Not, ya know, a fleet of drones or something more cost effective, or at least demonstrating mkre PR savvy. But hey, he's a coal and steel kinda dinosaur, kinda makes sense he believes a wall is high tech.

jooksavage

Christy42 wrote: »

To the other poster. It isn't hell. His base will happily forget about his previous statements and blame the dems. That is all he cares about.

Im not sure. The only reason trump did this was to get the likes of Limbaugh, Coulter and Carlson back onside. If he caves (he will) it'll be worse than if he signed off on the temporary budget in the first place. The right wing pundits have been voicing scepticism about Trump recently - if he betrays them now, he's in serious trouble. They dont care about collusion or obstruction. They do care about driving through their agenda and court appointments. Surely at this stage some of them must be thinking President Pence could do all that a lot more effectively.

mattser

pixelburp wrote: »

To paraphrase a comment from one (Texan?) politician, building a 26ft wall just results in criminals buying a 27ft ladders the next day. Or indeed as I read about one case, a retrofitted tshirt cannon. Or tunnelling underneath the wall. Or flying in via Miami. Or any one of a dozen other methods to get around a technology made partially redundant around the invention of gunpowder.

I daresay those screaming loudest for a wall are those living furthest away from the realities of the US border and how farcical a giant perimeter ends up. Yet a man who has the gall to boast about knowing of "tech" (Christ his arrogance is insufferable), thinks a wall is the solution. Not, ya know, a fleet of drones or something more cost effective, or at least demonstrating mkre PR savvy. But hey, he's a coal and steel kinda dinosaur, kinda makes sense he believes a wall is high tech.

Meanwhile back in sophisticated Ireland, housing estates continue to be built on flood plains.

Stay a little closer to home if you want to vent bile at lack of technology.

batgoat

mattser wrote: »

Meanwhile back in sophisticated Ireland, housing estates continue to be built on flood plains.

Stay a little closer to home if you want to vent bile at lack of technology.

One is free to criticise both. Trump has shut down his entire government over a wall that will have no effect besides being a financial blackhole...

pixelburp

mattser wrote: »

Meanwhile back in sophisticated Ireland, housing estates continue to be built on flood plains.

Stay a little closer to home if you want to vent bile at lack of technology.

What are you having a go for exactly? This is a thread about Trump presidency / US politics. Save the bad faith attack. Putting faith in a wall across one of the largest border areas in the world is foolish. Shutting a whole government down over it is doubly so.

You know what? Both scenarios are pretty awful but it's possible to have opinions on both US and Irish politics, neither contradicts the other. Then again, I suspect you know this and like I said, just having a go.

Timberrrrrrrr

mattser wrote: »

Meanwhile back in sophisticated Ireland, housing estates continue to be built on flood plains.

Stay a little closer to home if you want to vent bile at lack of technology.

And in America people are confused when thier houses get destroyed by a tornado after they decide to build in a place commonly known as tornado alley!


Am i doing this right?

26000 Elephants

BabyCheeses wrote: »

I like how wall has been downgraded to a fence. At some point it will have been all a metaphor for increased patrols.

Yeah, so much this. Of all the slagging over the graphic, the weakening of the language used seems to have gone over the heads of most of his supporters.

The rhetoric will continue to be diluted, but chants of "Build the minor road-bump!" dont have quite the same menacing tone.

hotmail.com

pixelburp wrote:

You know what? Both scenarios are pretty awful but it's possible to have opinions on both US and Irish politics, neither contradicts the other. Then again, I suspect you know this and like I said, just having a go.

The interest in Trump is beyond having an opinion at this stage. It's a unhealthy obsession. And it's all from the people that hate Trump and are hoping he'll get impeached or resign at some point. Irony being that most posters here don't live in America !

FreudianSlippers

hotmail.com wrote: »

The interest in Trump is beyond having an opinion at this stage. It's a unhealthy obsession. And it's all from the people that hate Trump and are hoping he'll get impeached or resign at some point. Irony being that most posters here don't live in America !

Interesting that none of the Trump-loving posters live in America.

MadYaker

Looks like a fairly normal discussion to me. Is there a reason we shouldn’t talk about Trump in Ireland? They talk about us, Micheal. D signing the abortion legislation made it to the top of reddit yesterday.

PropJoe10

MadYaker wrote: »

Looks like a fairly normal discussion to me. Is there a reason we shouldn’t talk about Trump in Ireland? They talk about us, Micheal. D signing the abortion legislation made it to the top of reddit yesterday.

The actions of the President of the US affect us all, so of course we're entitled to discuss Trump in Ireland.

FreudianSlippers

PropJoe10 wrote: »

The actions of the President of the US affect us all, so of course we're entitled to discuss Trump in Ireland.

I wouldn't worry too much about it. The Trump presidency is falling apart now so quickly that some will definitely want to shut down the discussion and stick fingers in the proverbial ears for the next few weeks/months.

It was evident last night on Twitter with people trying to water down the #TrumpResign hashtag.

https://twitter.com/funder/status/1076502524109221894

Water John

Trump has been openly discussing firing the Head of the Fed. That will end well.

Kermit.de.frog

US special envoy to the anti-ISIS coalition has just resigned in protest over how stupid Donald Trump is.

Dumpster fire.