The Donald Is Coming To Town

[Gary Baldi]

Oh I think you're right. A lot of the protests against Trump are personal (people just don't like him) or because he shoots from the hip, which we're not used to. Personally, it's the latter that annoys me.

Whether he actually lies or not is a moot point. There is so much 'fake news' and other social media information around that it's difficult to say. For example, hard to believe that every woman who claims they've been assaulted by him is a liar, as Trump claims, but little hard evidence either.

At first I thought he was just an idiot, drunk on power and likely to lose popularity quickly. I now believe the whole world of Trump is carefully choreographed to make him look good. His protectors claim he's tripled the value of the US economy, made thinks better for ethnic minorities, rejuvenated US industry. Hard facts to back the bluster are difficult to find, particularly believable ones.

He's claiming to be behind peace in Korea (although little appears to have actually happened) and even insinuated he was instrumental in the Thai cave boys being rescued, although there was zero US involvement.

Easy to laugh at him (it really is) but while millions of Americans away from the west Coast and New England actually believe he's the Messiah, he'll do OK and will probably secure a second term. He won't worry about alienating the metropolitan liberals, the press, the CIA or the FBI. He won't worry about adverse reactions to telling Germany how to spend their money, or the British PM how to conduct Brexit.

His ego is boundless and he must feel untouchable and unimpeachable.

With Trump, I have had to step away from the news headlines because I often find the facts are a lot more mundane and not so exciting.

Mike Pompeo is the one who has done the hard graft with NK - but a recent Trump appointment that was pilloried. So many people still fail to understand how deceptively simple his tactics are - read Scott Adam's book Win Bigly as a perspective on what he does as it's quite fascinating. It's doing deals, leveraging his position of power and weakening other peoples. He plays by his own rules and is unafraid of being a radical bull in a liberal china shop. We've had years of smug power deals and back slapping and there is this man who cares little for it.

The irony with Germany is they are very happy to tell other people what they do, but not so great at taking it.

 

[Gary Baldi]

He hasn't been consistent apart from some Election promises (fair enough) such as the G7 meeting when an agreed position was taken and within an hour he was tweeting the opposite.

His Govt saying one thing (which he will direct) then he contradicts them almost immediately on Twitter or in a Press Conference. This is a common occurrence.

Supporting a member of his Govt (generally quite reasonable) but then he actively undermines them publically.

Going through members of his administration like a dose of salts, that really isn't consistent behaviour.

Trudeau played a sneaky one on the G7 didn't he? He would say it's not official until sign that silly piece of paper in front of the worlds media.

My take on his administration is he has chewed through the personnel while learning on the job. Now, it's a little more settled.

 

[Northstandboy]

He's just done a massive U-Turn on trade at Chequers saying he WOULD trade with us under the current Brexit plan!

 

[Marked Ox]

Trudeau played a sneaky one on the G7 didn't he? He would say it's not official until sign that silly piece of paper in front of the worlds media.

My take on his administration is he has chewed through the personnel while learning on the job. Now, it's a little more settled.

No, Trudeau didn't from what I recollect. If Trump didn't agree with it, he wouldn't have accepted the statement in the 1st place as he has done on other occasions.

I reckon he will carry on chewing through members of his administration. That or people start turning him down due to the volatility and damage to their reputation.

His inconsistency is furthered proven by a turnaround in opinion in 24 hours:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-44821976

 

[Gary Baldi]

No, Trudeau didn't from what I recollect. If Trump didn't agree with it, he wouldn't have accepted the statement in the 1st place as he has done on other occasions.

I reckon he will carry on chewing through members of his administration. That or people start turning him down due to the volatility and damage to their reputation.

His inconsistency is furthered proven by a turnaround in opinion in 24 hours:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-44821976

I do know Trudeau did a sly thing when he thought Trump was on plane regarding a statement in the G7. Both are as petulant as each other.

He just said The Sun interview was fake news and they had a recording of it. So let's see

 

[tonyw]

I think with Trump, you have to disconnect what he says from what he does (this is true of all politicians to an extent, but more so of him than anyone else I can recall).

What he says - in person, and on twitter - is all over the place. Often inflammatory, contradictory and incorrect and always reactionary and personal. It's hard to imagine many intelligent people reading/listening to his sometimes incoherent ramblings and thinking "Yes, this is the person who I'm comfortable holding the most powerful position on the planet".

But in terms of what he's actually done.....it's actually for the most part been relatively incremental. It's certainly not been revolutionary change.
A few particular national groups will find immigrating to the US harder, but we're not really any closer to 'The Wall' or anything like it. Healthcare in the US is pretty much still Obamacare with just a couple of tweaks. The tax code hasn't really changed significantly for individuals, although corporate taxes have come down sharply. Overall spending hasn't been cut at all. He's nominated a couple of Conservative supreme court justices....but these are not people who wouldn't have been on the list for a more mainstream candidate like Bush.

Probably the most significant changes have been in the reduction and dismantling of environmental protections. Plenty of reasons there to hate him if you're green, and love him if you run a big company. But otherwise.......

And you know what - we're almost at the end of the most important part of the presidency. Nothing is likely to get legislated between now and November, because the House & Senate are going to be focusing on their own election races; and then - ridiculous as it may sound - from halfway through 2019 onwards, his major focus is going to be on a reelection campaign.

The first eighteen months of a Presidency are the time to make major, sweeping changes to the country. And for all his bluster, Trump hasn't done that.

So unless he tanks the world economy by scrapping with China & the EU on tariffs, I think we're going to get through the first four years of Trump relatively unscathed........

 

[tonyw]

I saw one person moaning about tariffs, and as a trade numpty, even I can see that for example paying £10 and getting £5 back isn't fair trade.

Free trade is a pretty complex argument though - and I'm not sure Trump's oversimplification helps matters much.

Americans are the biggest consumers on the planet. They want a ton of stuff, and they want to buy it cheap in Walmart & Target. So there's always going to be a trade deficit with China as they're going to be able to produce that stuff cheaper.

From a US perspective, it's much more about IP theft - because what America still does do amazingly well is innovate. And so these tariffs are really just designed to pressure China into stopping its unfair IP practises; if that happens, then I imagine all the talk of unfair tariffs and Chinese trade deficits will go quiet because American businesses will be happy, and so will American consumers.

Until then, it's going to be fascinating to see who blinks first. Because whilst there's broad support for pressuring China as it stands - will that still be the case if suddenly American consumers are faced with their cheap tat inflating in price.......

 

[Gary Baldi]

Free trade is a pretty complex argument though - and I'm not sure Trump's oversimplification helps matters much.

Americans are the biggest consumers on the planet. They want a ton of stuff, and they want to buy it cheap in Walmart & Target. So there's always going to be a trade deficit with China as they're going to be able to produce that stuff cheaper.

From a US perspective, it's much more about IP theft - because what America still does do amazingly well is innovative. And so these tariffs are really just designed to pressure China into stopping its unfair IP practises; if that happens, then I imagine all the talk of unfair tariffs and Chinese trade deficits will go quiet because American businesses will be happy, and so will American consumers.

Until then, it's going to be fascinating to see who blinks first. Because whilst there's broad support for pressuring China as it stands - will that still be the case if suddenly American consumers are faced with their cheap tat inflating in price.......

I don't get any MNC that thinks handing their IP over to China is a bright idea. I have never understood it as you are taking a short term profit and losing long term. Only Michael Jordan has managed to get a complaint about his logo upheld in Chinese courts. Trump's crusade against Chinese firms and IP is a wise thing to do. The left may claim it's protectionist, but for their tax base and employment it's not a silly thing to do.

The tariffs on EU cars is also a smart hedge with EU and trade. How desperate is Mutti?

 

[tonyw]

I don't get any MNC that thinks handing their IP over to China is a bright idea. I have never understood it as you are taking a short term profit and losing long term. Only Michael Jordan has managed to get a complaint about his logo upheld in Chinese courts. Trump's crusade against Chinese firms and IP is a wise thing to do. The left may claim it's protectionist, but for their tax base and employment it's not a silly thing to do.

The tariffs on EU cars is also a smart hedge with EU and trade. How desperate is Mutti?

To be fair, it's one of the very, very few issues on which Chuck Schumer and the Dems appear to be aligned with Trump
http://thehill.com/policy/internati...tariffs-china-needs-us-more-than-we-need-them

 

[Gary Baldi]

To be fair, it's one of the very, very few issues on which Chuck Schumer and the Dems appear to be aligned with Trump
http://thehill.com/policy/internati...tariffs-china-needs-us-more-than-we-need-them

Which is akin to hell freezing over. It must have hurt Schumer badly to even vaguely align with Trump.

 

[saddletramp]

You're right Danny. Mr Trump does need a few lessons in how to behave. Interfering in British politics, threatening not to do a trade deal with the UK, and suggesting Boris Johnson will make a good Prime Minister, just hours before meeting Mrs May. Apparently he's told Mrs May how to do a better Brexit deal but she didn't listen.

I think Mrs May has made a complete mess of Brexit, but surely the arrogance of Mr Trump needs to be reined in?

Or we could just concentrate on a clip of Mr Junker stumbling, claim without proof that he is drunk and incapable and ignore the rather more important issue of the USA trying to bully the world.

"Or we could just concentrate on a clip of Mr Junker stumbling, claim without proof that he is drunk and incapable"

Did you actually watch the video ?
He staggers down the steps,has to be helped by 2 people,they walk him down the road,soon as they let him go he staggers backwards,they grab him again,everyone laughs,they walk forward a few steps,let him go again and again he staggers backwards !!
Note the big bloke stood right behind him so he doesn't fall over backwards on his a**e.

But to you he stumbled

 

[Marked Ox]

"Or we could just concentrate on a clip of Mr Junker stumbling, claim without proof that he is drunk and incapable"

Did you actually watch the video ?
He staggers down the steps,has to be helped by 2 people,they walk him down the road,soon as they let him go he staggers backwards,they grab him again,everyone laughs,they walk forward a few steps,let him go again and again he staggers backwards !!
Note the big bloke stood right behind him so he doesn't fall over backwards on his a**e.

But to you he stumbled

It is suggested he had bad Sciatica which makes it difficult for him to walk.

https://news.sky.com/story/eu-denie...ude-juncker-was-drunk-at-nato-summit-11435933

 

[Yellow River]

I’ve suffered badly from Sciatica in the past. My experience is that it is very, very painful and debilitating.

The video of Junker does not replicate how I was affected by Sciatica at all. Personally my movement was much more rigid and stiff (ooh er misseus) with a lot of pain and stress etched on my face (so I’m told)

He may suffer from sciatica or back pain, but from the video my guess is he’s had too many glasses of Port (from previous reports not for the first time) and/or mixed it with pain killers. Which is a really stupid thing to do.

 

[Cass63]

I get sciatica every Friday night at the bar of the kings arms, rest of the week I’m fine.

 

[Marked Ox]

I’ve suffered badly from Sciatica in the past. My experience is that it is very, very painful and debilitating.

The video of Junker does not replicate how I was affected by Sciatica at all. Personally my movement was much more rigid and stiff (ooh er misseus) with a lot of pain and stress etched on my face (so I’m told)

He may suffer from sciatica or back pain, but from the video my guess is he’s had too many glasses of Port (from previous reports not for the first time) and/or mixed it with pain killers. Which is a really stupid thing to do.

I haven't a clue if true or not (I mean about Juncker) but the same condition can affect people differently.

 

[Gary Baldi]

Juncker looked like he had had a glass or two with lunch - he may well have sciatica but he looked like the glass he had with lunch wasn't helping his mobility or centre of gravity. Not great for one of the biggest technocrats in the EU to be seen like that.

I'm amazed the people around him continue to enable him at official functions

 

[ZeroTheHero]

You could have said the same about Churchill TBF! And the Houses of Parliament have subsidised bars and restaurants...

(Not that that excuses Junker though)

 

[Gary Baldi]

But then there weren't the amount of cameras of various types available then. And it would be as equally unacceptable in this era. Juncker looked like he had had a really long lunch and it really questions how appropriate it is for him to sit on that gilded technocratic throne

 

[Yellow River]

But then there weren't the amount of cameras of various types available then. And it would be as equally unacceptable in this era. Juncker looked like he had had a really long lunch and it really questions how appropriate it is for him to sit on that gilded technocratic throne

Fear not! We the great British public will be able to remove him from office with our vote. Or perhaps not....

 

[ZeroTheHero]

Possibly completely inappropriate or possibly not as (unlike some on here) I have no medical or breathalyser evidence to say whether he is ill or tired and emotional, and am not really qualified to make that judgment on a bit of TV footage!

Still not entirely sure what this has to do with the stupid president of the USA mind you...