Donald Trump and the American Future

[S.J.]

So, Trump struck a deal. Interesting that the details of that deal were not announced. For all we know, trump offered to exempt them from all environmental laws, give then 10 years of tax forgiveness, and waive all OSHA safety requirements for their employees.

Show us your proof.

 

[Vandalshandle]

So, Trump struck a deal. Interesting that the details of that deal were not announced. For all we know, trump offered to exempt them from all environmental laws, give then 10 years of tax forgiveness, and waive all OSHA safety requirements for their employees.

Yeah, that or he told them there would be hell to pay if they took all the jobs to Mexico and the suits saw the light.

Well, if that were the case, you would think that he would tweet the details around the world, wouldn't you?

My best guess is that they told him that they would save half of the jobs, in exchange for his shutting the hell up about 35% tariff's (that he is not going to do anyway) because it was giving them bad PR.

And, then, of course, there is this: Carrier, which is owned by defense contractor United Technologies, has a strong incentive to keep good relations with Trump's incoming administration, given the company benefits from billions of dollars in federal spending.

So, I guess that every company that is owned by a major megacorporation that collect billions of dollars from the government will have to rethink their plans to move to Mexico. WOW! Trump has saved Boeing and General Dynamics from escaping the USA!

 

[JimBowie1958]

Donald is living proof the reincarnation is real;

The Democratic Party is not reincarnated; it has been steadily racist, devoid of moral legitimacy and delusional from the day that George McGovern's Brown shirts took it over in 1972.

 

[Vandalshandle]

So, Trump struck a deal. Interesting that the details of that deal were not announced. For all we know, trump offered to exempt them from all environmental laws, give then 10 years of tax forgiveness, and waive all OSHA safety requirements for their employees.

Yeah, he gave them all that as a private citizen...

As a matter of fact, Soggy, now that the details are out, that is exactly what he did. He quadrupled the tax break from Indiana, with Pence's help, that Carrier had originally turned down.

TRUMP, Making America Pay Again!

Care for some crow pie?

 

[American_Jihad]

Trump Taps Tillerson
Why Exxon’s CEO is likely to face a tough Senate confirmation fight.
December 14, 2016
Joseph Klein

...

The negative sentiments being expressed on Capitol Hill regarding Rex Tillerson may be overblown, however. His international experience does not begin and end with Russia. He steered a company with extensive business dealings all over the world, operating in more than 50 different countries. Energy is at the center of geopolitics, and Exxon is at the center of international commerce in energy.

Moreover, Tillerson has received endorsements from important figures with vast experience in the international arena. Robert M. Gates, who served as Secretary of Defense under President Obama and President George W. Bush, called Tillerson “a global champion of the best values of our country” who would bring “vast knowledge, experience and success in dealing with dozens of governments and leaders in every corner of the world.”

Former National Security Adviser and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said, "Rex Tillerson is an excellent choice for Secretary of State. He will bring to the post remarkable and broad international experience; a deep understanding of the global economy; and a belief in America's special role in the world."

It should be noted that Exxon is a client of Gates' and Rice's consulting firm, RiceHadleyGates. While they may have some self-interest in promoting Tillerson for the Secretary of State position, the State Department’s top energy diplomat during the first Obama administration, David L. Goldwyn, has also praised Tillerson. Goldwyn told the New York Times that he thinks “Tillerson will be a credible and effective messenger for a US reset, because he is not a member of the foreign policy establishment, but also because his history embodies the investment potential Russia could enjoy with a better relationship with the United States.” The former Obama administration diplomat added that President-elect Trump “decided to do a reverse Nixon and side with Russia against China. He thinks we probably can make common cause with Russia in Syria but also in Libya, and he doesn’t have a problem supporting strongmen.”

The Senate should carefully examine Rex Tillerson to ferret out any lurking disqualifiers from his serving as the next Secretary of State. However, absent any substantial evidence of Mr. Tillerson’s unfitness for office, the President-elect should be given deference in whom he chooses to serve in his cabinet.

Trump Taps Tillerson

 

[American_Jihad]

Outsiders Selected by Trump Aim to Unnerve Washington

The New York Times
By MICHAEL D. SHEAR 12 hrs ago

President-elect Donald J. Trump addressing supporters at “Thank You Tour 2016” rally in Orlando, Fla., on Friday.

They are President-elect Donald J. Trump’s disrupters.

Seven men and one woman named by Mr. Trump to run vast government agencies share a common trait: once confirmed, their presence is meant to unnerve — and maybe even outright undermine — the bureaucracies they are about to lead.

Some of those chosen — 17 picks so far for federal agencies and five for the White House — are among the most radical selections in recent history. Other presidents’ nominees, even when controversial, were often veterans of the Washington bureaucracy and generally believed in it. But a number of Mr. Trump’s most important selections have no experience in federal government and a great drive to undo it.

...

Outsiders Selected by Trump Aim to Unnerve Washington

 

[American_Jihad]

Donald Trump is holding a government casting call. He’s seeking ‘the look.’
6 / 23

The Washington Post
Philip Rucker, Karen Tumulty
4 hrs ago

Donald Trump believes that those who aspire to the most visible spots in his administration should not just be able to do the job, but also look the part.

Given Trump’s own background as a master brander and showman who ran beauty pageants as a sideline, it was probably inevitable that he would be looking beyond their resumes for a certain aesthetic in his supporting players.

“Presentation is very important because you’re representing America not only on the national stage, but also the international stage depending on the position,” said Trump transition spokesman Jason Miller.

To lead the Pentagon, Trump chose a rugged combat general, whom he compares to a historic one. At the United Nations, his ambassador will be a poised and elegant Indian American with a compelling immigrant backstory. As secretary of state, Trump tapped a neophyte to international diplomacy, but one whose silvery hair and boardroom bearing project authority.

The parade of potential jobseekers passing a bank of media cameras to board the elevators at Trump Tower has the feel of a casting call. Nor is it a coincidence that a disproportionate share of the names most mentioned for jobs at the upper echelon of the Trump administration are familiar faces to obsessive viewers of cable news — of whom the president-elect is one.

“He likes people who present themselves very well and he’s very impressed when somebody has a background of being good on television because he thinks it’s a very important medium for public policy,” said Chris Ruddy, chief executive of Newsmax Media and a longtime friend of Trump. “Don’t forget, he’s a showbiz guy. He was at the pinnacle of showbiz and he thinks about showbiz. He sees this as a business that relates to the public.”

“The look might not necessarily be somebody who should be on the cover of GQ Magazine or Vanity Fair,” Ruddy said. “It’s more about the look and the demeanor and the swagger.”

...

Donald Trump is holding a government casting call. He’s seeking ‘the look.’

 

[American_Jihad]

Republicans Now Marching With Trump on Ideas They Had Opposed

The New York Times
By JENNIFER STEINHAUER 2 hrs ago

PHILADELPHIA — From the time he became their candidate until he took the oath of office, congressional Republicans treated President Trump’s policy pronouncements — largely out of step with Republican dogma — as essentially a distraction. He would talk. They would drive the policies.

But now, the question of whether congressional Republicans would change Mr. Trump or Mr. Trump would change them has an early answer. Mr. Trump cheerfully addressed the group here at their policy retreat on Thursday, and they responded with applause to many proposals they have long opposed.

Republican lawmakers appear more than ready to open up the coffers for a $12 billion to $15 billion border wall, perhaps without the commensurate spending cuts that they demanded when it came to disaster aid, money to fight the Zika virus or funds for the tainted water system in Flint, Mich. They also seem to back a swelling of the federal payroll that Mr. Trump has called for in the form of a larger military and 5,000 more border patrol agents.

They have stayed oddly silent as Mr. Trump and Senate Democrats push a $1 trillion infrastructure plan, larger than one they rejected from President Barack Obama. Once fierce promoters of the separation of powers, Republicans are now embracing Mr. Trump’s early governing by executive order, something they loudly decried during Mr. Obama’s second term.

Speaker Paul D. Ryan, whose own website this week still praised the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal, now applauds Mr. Trump for putting the final shovel of dirt over the accord, with the president saying he is interested in bilateral agreements instead.

Many Republicans, who have been longstanding opponents of Russia and written laws that prohibit torture, have chosen to overlook, or even concur with, Mr. Trump’s embrace of both. Even on the subject of Mr. Trump’s call for an investigation into voter fraud, a widely debunked claim, Republicans have often demurred. “The notion that election fraud is a fiction is not true,” said the Senate majority leader, Mitch McConnell of Kentucky.

...

Republicans Now Marching With Trump on Ideas They Had Opposed

 

[Vandalshandle]

Republicans Now Marching With Trump on Ideas They Had Opposed

The New York Times
By JENNIFER STEINHAUER 2 hrs ago

PHILADELPHIA — From the time he became their candidate until he took the oath of office, congressional Republicans treated President Trump’s policy pronouncements — largely out of step with Republican dogma — as essentially a distraction. He would talk. They would drive the policies.

But now, the question of whether congressional Republicans would change Mr. Trump or Mr. Trump would change them has an early answer. Mr. Trump cheerfully addressed the group here at their policy retreat on Thursday, and they responded with applause to many proposals they have long opposed.

Republican lawmakers appear more than ready to open up the coffers for a $12 billion to $15 billion border wall, perhaps without the commensurate spending cuts that they demanded when it came to disaster aid, money to fight the Zika virus or funds for the tainted water system in Flint, Mich. They also seem to back a swelling of the federal payroll that Mr. Trump has called for in the form of a larger military and 5,000 more border patrol agents.

They have stayed oddly silent as Mr. Trump and Senate Democrats push a $1 trillion infrastructure plan, larger than one they rejected from President Barack Obama. Once fierce promoters of the separation of powers, Republicans are now embracing Mr. Trump’s early governing by executive order, something they loudly decried during Mr. Obama’s second term.

Speaker Paul D. Ryan, whose own website this week still praised the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal, now applauds Mr. Trump for putting the final shovel of dirt over the accord, with the president saying he is interested in bilateral agreements instead.

Many Republicans, who have been longstanding opponents of Russia and written laws that prohibit torture, have chosen to overlook, or even concur with, Mr. Trump’s embrace of both. Even on the subject of Mr. Trump’s call for an investigation into voter fraud, a widely debunked claim, Republicans have often demurred. “The notion that election fraud is a fiction is not true,” said the Senate majority leader, Mitch McConnell of Kentucky.

...

Republicans Now Marching With Trump on Ideas They Had Opposed

None of this means a thing until/unless the house gives him the money to do all these things, and that means either increasing the debt, or raising taxes (and Americans would have to pay increased prices on anything imported with a tariff). When it comes to those decisions, I predict that all the republicans are going to find a reason to be out of town.

 

[American_Jihad]

Trump lays groundwork to change U.S. role in the world

The Washington Post
Karen DeYoung, Philip Rucker 1 hr ago

President Trump began this week to reshape the U.S. role in the world, laying the groundwork, in a series of planned and signed executive actions and statements, for the “America first” foreign policy on which he campaigned.

Already, Trump has mandated construction of a border wall with Mexico and a clampdown on local immigration enforcement. Other directives drafted but not yet signed would halt all refugee admissions and entry into the United States of citizens from seven Muslim-majority countries deemed terrorist hotbeds; declare a moratorium on new multilateral treaties; and mandate audits of U.S. funding for international organizations, including the United Nations, with a view toward cutting U.S. voluntary contributions by 40 percent.

Additional pending orders, copies of which were obtained by The Washington Post, call for a review of cyber capabilities and vulnerabilities, in advance of what is expected to be greater use of offensive powers; and direct the Pentagon to quickly develop plans to reduce spending on items not deemed “highest priority,” while ramping up programs to expand the armed forces and modernize the U.S. nuclear deterrent.

Another draft order under consideration would direct the State Department to review its designations of foreign terrorist organizations, allowing it to add the Muslim Brotherhood to the list, according to an administration official who was not authorized to discuss it. The group’s status as a legitimate political movement vs. a terrorist group is controversial in the Middle East. Such a listing would please some, including Egypt and Saudi Arabia, but could anger others, such as Turkey and Qatar.

Trump could sign some of these orders as early as Friday during a scheduled visit to the Pentagon. The White House declined to comment on the directives.

If implemented, these initiatives and other steps Trump has previewed will usher in a new era of American foreign policy, after decades of bipartisan agreement that the United States has a responsibility to spread democracy and stand up for the oppressed, and that it would prosper when a united, free world prospered.

In the policies Trump has outlined, there are no apparent trade-offs to be made that balance short-term American advantage with global goals benefiting the United States over the longer term. Instead, as a policy posted on the White House website on Inauguration Day put it, “The world will be more peaceful and more prosperous with a stronger and more respected America.”

...

Trump lays groundwork to change U.S. role in the world

 

[American_Jihad]

Republicans Now Marching With Trump on Ideas They Had Opposed

The New York Times
By JENNIFER STEINHAUER 2 hrs ago

PHILADELPHIA — From the time he became their candidate until he took the oath of office, congressional Republicans treated President Trump’s policy pronouncements — largely out of step with Republican dogma — as essentially a distraction. He would talk. They would drive the policies.

But now, the question of whether congressional Republicans would change Mr. Trump or Mr. Trump would change them has an early answer. Mr. Trump cheerfully addressed the group here at their policy retreat on Thursday, and they responded with applause to many proposals they have long opposed.

Republican lawmakers appear more than ready to open up the coffers for a $12 billion to $15 billion border wall, perhaps without the commensurate spending cuts that they demanded when it came to disaster aid, money to fight the Zika virus or funds for the tainted water system in Flint, Mich. They also seem to back a swelling of the federal payroll that Mr. Trump has called for in the form of a larger military and 5,000 more border patrol agents.

They have stayed oddly silent as Mr. Trump and Senate Democrats push a $1 trillion infrastructure plan, larger than one they rejected from President Barack Obama. Once fierce promoters of the separation of powers, Republicans are now embracing Mr. Trump’s early governing by executive order, something they loudly decried during Mr. Obama’s second term.

Speaker Paul D. Ryan, whose own website this week still praised the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal, now applauds Mr. Trump for putting the final shovel of dirt over the accord, with the president saying he is interested in bilateral agreements instead.

Many Republicans, who have been longstanding opponents of Russia and written laws that prohibit torture, have chosen to overlook, or even concur with, Mr. Trump’s embrace of both. Even on the subject of Mr. Trump’s call for an investigation into voter fraud, a widely debunked claim, Republicans have often demurred. “The notion that election fraud is a fiction is not true,” said the Senate majority leader, Mitch McConnell of Kentucky.

...

Republicans Now Marching With Trump on Ideas They Had Opposed

None of this means a thing until/unless the house gives him the money to do all these things, and that means either increasing the debt, or raising taxes (and Americans would have to pay increased prices on anything imported with a tariff). When it comes to those decisions, I predict that all the republicans are going to find a reason to be out of town.

What difference does it make, hillary was going to have open borders and that would have cost us way more...

 

[Vandalshandle]

Republicans Now Marching With Trump on Ideas They Had Opposed

The New York Times
By JENNIFER STEINHAUER 2 hrs ago

PHILADELPHIA — From the time he became their candidate until he took the oath of office, congressional Republicans treated President Trump’s policy pronouncements — largely out of step with Republican dogma — as essentially a distraction. He would talk. They would drive the policies.

But now, the question of whether congressional Republicans would change Mr. Trump or Mr. Trump would change them has an early answer. Mr. Trump cheerfully addressed the group here at their policy retreat on Thursday, and they responded with applause to many proposals they have long opposed.

Republican lawmakers appear more than ready to open up the coffers for a $12 billion to $15 billion border wall, perhaps without the commensurate spending cuts that they demanded when it came to disaster aid, money to fight the Zika virus or funds for the tainted water system in Flint, Mich. They also seem to back a swelling of the federal payroll that Mr. Trump has called for in the form of a larger military and 5,000 more border patrol agents.

They have stayed oddly silent as Mr. Trump and Senate Democrats push a $1 trillion infrastructure plan, larger than one they rejected from President Barack Obama. Once fierce promoters of the separation of powers, Republicans are now embracing Mr. Trump’s early governing by executive order, something they loudly decried during Mr. Obama’s second term.

Speaker Paul D. Ryan, whose own website this week still praised the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal, now applauds Mr. Trump for putting the final shovel of dirt over the accord, with the president saying he is interested in bilateral agreements instead.

Many Republicans, who have been longstanding opponents of Russia and written laws that prohibit torture, have chosen to overlook, or even concur with, Mr. Trump’s embrace of both. Even on the subject of Mr. Trump’s call for an investigation into voter fraud, a widely debunked claim, Republicans have often demurred. “The notion that election fraud is a fiction is not true,” said the Senate majority leader, Mitch McConnell of Kentucky.

...

Republicans Now Marching With Trump on Ideas They Had Opposed

None of this means a thing until/unless the house gives him the money to do all these things, and that means either increasing the debt, or raising taxes (and Americans would have to pay increased prices on anything imported with a tariff). When it comes to those decisions, I predict that all the republicans are going to find a reason to be out of town.

What difference does it make, hillary was going to have open borders and that would have cost us way more...

Doesn't cost me more. I have all my dental work done in Mexico at about 20% of what I would pay in the US. Yesterday, I bought two pints of blueberry's at Fry's from Mexico, at $.99 each. The starter motor on my car was manufactured in Mexico, using labor that was paid less than $3.00 per hour. I enjoy fresh asparagus, and other produce in January, at prices that I would never be able to beat, if grown in the US, which, of course, they are not, in January. my Social Security fund is more secure, because illegals have contributions taken out of their checks, which they will never get back. I'm not deeply concerned about Juan taking my job picking grapes, since I don't pick grapes. I don't pay taxes, because, like Trump, I take advantage of loopholes. So, it looks to me like YOU are going to have to come up with $15 billion dollars for a wall, which will, thereafter, require perpetual expensive maintenance, while Mexicans simply get visa's, walk through the border gate, and overstay their expiration date. But, hey! Don't let me me ruin your day!

I would post more, but it is time for me to turn on my mop robot, Scooba, that was made in Mexico....

 

[BULLDOG]

Trump lays groundwork to change U.S. role in the world

The Washington Post
Karen DeYoung, Philip Rucker 1 hr ago

President Trump began this week to reshape the U.S. role in the world, laying the groundwork, in a series of planned and signed executive actions and statements, for the “America first” foreign policy on which he campaigned.

Already, Trump has mandated construction of a border wall with Mexico and a clampdown on local immigration enforcement. Other directives drafted but not yet signed would halt all refugee admissions and entry into the United States of citizens from seven Muslim-majority countries deemed terrorist hotbeds; declare a moratorium on new multilateral treaties; and mandate audits of U.S. funding for international organizations, including the United Nations, with a view toward cutting U.S. voluntary contributions by 40 percent.

Additional pending orders, copies of which were obtained by The Washington Post, call for a review of cyber capabilities and vulnerabilities, in advance of what is expected to be greater use of offensive powers; and direct the Pentagon to quickly develop plans to reduce spending on items not deemed “highest priority,” while ramping up programs to expand the armed forces and modernize the U.S. nuclear deterrent.

Another draft order under consideration would direct the State Department to review its designations of foreign terrorist organizations, allowing it to add the Muslim Brotherhood to the list, according to an administration official who was not authorized to discuss it. The group’s status as a legitimate political movement vs. a terrorist group is controversial in the Middle East. Such a listing would please some, including Egypt and Saudi Arabia, but could anger others, such as Turkey and Qatar.

Trump could sign some of these orders as early as Friday during a scheduled visit to the Pentagon. The White House declined to comment on the directives.

If implemented, these initiatives and other steps Trump has previewed will usher in a new era of American foreign policy, after decades of bipartisan agreement that the United States has a responsibility to spread democracy and stand up for the oppressed, and that it would prosper when a united, free world prospered.

In the policies Trump has outlined, there are no apparent trade-offs to be made that balance short-term American advantage with global goals benefiting the United States over the longer term. Instead, as a policy posted on the White House website on Inauguration Day put it, “The world will be more peaceful and more prosperous with a stronger and more respected America.”

...

Trump lays groundwork to change U.S. role in the world

Yep, he sure is changing the role of the US in the world. Our great negotiator can't even get a meeting with the president of Mexico, our 3rd largest trading partner. Trump's childish behavior has convinced President Nieto that he is not a credible person to deal with, and he canceled their planned meeting. If our third largest trading partner thinks so little of Trump, how much credibility do you think the rest of the world's leaders will give that fool? Of course the telephone discussion planned for Trump and Putin is still expected as planned.

 

[Abishai100]

Female Forces


Is having the Trump Taj Mahal kingpin as U.S. President revealing much about 'male Marxism' to the American feminist constituency?


Feminist March --- Trump Headlines (Vox.com)

 

[theHawk]

Trump lays groundwork to change U.S. role in the world

The Washington Post
Karen DeYoung, Philip Rucker 1 hr ago

President Trump began this week to reshape the U.S. role in the world, laying the groundwork, in a series of planned and signed executive actions and statements, for the “America first” foreign policy on which he campaigned.

Already, Trump has mandated construction of a border wall with Mexico and a clampdown on local immigration enforcement. Other directives drafted but not yet signed would halt all refugee admissions and entry into the United States of citizens from seven Muslim-majority countries deemed terrorist hotbeds; declare a moratorium on new multilateral treaties; and mandate audits of U.S. funding for international organizations, including the United Nations, with a view toward cutting U.S. voluntary contributions by 40 percent.

Additional pending orders, copies of which were obtained by The Washington Post, call for a review of cyber capabilities and vulnerabilities, in advance of what is expected to be greater use of offensive powers; and direct the Pentagon to quickly develop plans to reduce spending on items not deemed “highest priority,” while ramping up programs to expand the armed forces and modernize the U.S. nuclear deterrent.

Another draft order under consideration would direct the State Department to review its designations of foreign terrorist organizations, allowing it to add the Muslim Brotherhood to the list, according to an administration official who was not authorized to discuss it. The group’s status as a legitimate political movement vs. a terrorist group is controversial in the Middle East. Such a listing would please some, including Egypt and Saudi Arabia, but could anger others, such as Turkey and Qatar.

Trump could sign some of these orders as early as Friday during a scheduled visit to the Pentagon. The White House declined to comment on the directives.

If implemented, these initiatives and other steps Trump has previewed will usher in a new era of American foreign policy, after decades of bipartisan agreement that the United States has a responsibility to spread democracy and stand up for the oppressed, and that it would prosper when a united, free world prospered.

In the policies Trump has outlined, there are no apparent trade-offs to be made that balance short-term American advantage with global goals benefiting the United States over the longer term. Instead, as a policy posted on the White House website on Inauguration Day put it, “The world will be more peaceful and more prosperous with a stronger and more respected America.”

...

Trump lays groundwork to change U.S. role in the world

Yep, he sure is changing the role of the US in the world. Our great negotiator can't even get a meeting with the president of Mexico, our 3rd largest trading partner. Trump's childish behavior has convinced President Nieto that he is not a credible person to deal with, and he canceled their planned meeting. If our third largest trading partner thinks so little of Trump, how much credibility do you think the rest of the world's leaders will give that fool? Of course the telephone discussion planned for Trump and Putin is still expected as planned.

Sure Bullhockey, that's why the UK PM is meeting with him today.


You're the gift that keeps on giving:

Trump is a clown who will never be president, and the right supporting his crazy ideas is pushing more people away from their party every day. How can they ever expect to gain sane supporters after showing that the majority of the party is stupid enough to support him?
GO TRUMP!!!! The best present anyone could give Hillary!!!!

 

[BULLDOG]

Trump lays groundwork to change U.S. role in the world

The Washington Post
Karen DeYoung, Philip Rucker 1 hr ago

President Trump began this week to reshape the U.S. role in the world, laying the groundwork, in a series of planned and signed executive actions and statements, for the “America first” foreign policy on which he campaigned.

Already, Trump has mandated construction of a border wall with Mexico and a clampdown on local immigration enforcement. Other directives drafted but not yet signed would halt all refugee admissions and entry into the United States of citizens from seven Muslim-majority countries deemed terrorist hotbeds; declare a moratorium on new multilateral treaties; and mandate audits of U.S. funding for international organizations, including the United Nations, with a view toward cutting U.S. voluntary contributions by 40 percent.

Additional pending orders, copies of which were obtained by The Washington Post, call for a review of cyber capabilities and vulnerabilities, in advance of what is expected to be greater use of offensive powers; and direct the Pentagon to quickly develop plans to reduce spending on items not deemed “highest priority,” while ramping up programs to expand the armed forces and modernize the U.S. nuclear deterrent.

Another draft order under consideration would direct the State Department to review its designations of foreign terrorist organizations, allowing it to add the Muslim Brotherhood to the list, according to an administration official who was not authorized to discuss it. The group’s status as a legitimate political movement vs. a terrorist group is controversial in the Middle East. Such a listing would please some, including Egypt and Saudi Arabia, but could anger others, such as Turkey and Qatar.

Trump could sign some of these orders as early as Friday during a scheduled visit to the Pentagon. The White House declined to comment on the directives.

If implemented, these initiatives and other steps Trump has previewed will usher in a new era of American foreign policy, after decades of bipartisan agreement that the United States has a responsibility to spread democracy and stand up for the oppressed, and that it would prosper when a united, free world prospered.

In the policies Trump has outlined, there are no apparent trade-offs to be made that balance short-term American advantage with global goals benefiting the United States over the longer term. Instead, as a policy posted on the White House website on Inauguration Day put it, “The world will be more peaceful and more prosperous with a stronger and more respected America.”

...

Trump lays groundwork to change U.S. role in the world

Yep, he sure is changing the role of the US in the world. Our great negotiator can't even get a meeting with the president of Mexico, our 3rd largest trading partner. Trump's childish behavior has convinced President Nieto that he is not a credible person to deal with, and he canceled their planned meeting. If our third largest trading partner thinks so little of Trump, how much credibility do you think the rest of the world's leaders will give that fool? Of course the telephone discussion planned for Trump and Putin is still expected as planned.

Sure Bullhockey, that's why the UK PM is meeting with him today.


You're the gift that keeps on giving:

Trump is a clown who will never be president, and the right supporting his crazy ideas is pushing more people away from their party every day. How can they ever expect to gain sane supporters after showing that the majority of the party is stupid enough to support him?
GO TRUMP!!!! The best present anyone could give Hillary!!!!

That's just because he hasn't insulted him...........yet.

 

[theHawk]

Deficit spending has decreased by two thirds since Obama took office.

Nobody is falling for that myth.

It's not a myth. The right wing echo chamber wants you to believe it's a myth,but there is too much evidence showing the facts.

The Best Kept Secret In American Politics-Federal Budget Deficits Are Actually Shrinking!

Who Increased the Debt?

Barack Obama claims deficit has decreased by two-thirds since taking office

Deficit cut by 70% since Obama took office

Deficit cut by 70% since Obama took office
It's time to enter the fact zone for a minute.

When President Obama took office, the US economy was in a shambles. We were hemorrhaging jobs, and the deficit was at 9.9% of GDP, one of the largest in history.

Today according to the CBO, it is at 2.9%, a 70% drop.

In nominal dollars, it is down 64%, from 1.4 trillion in 2009 to 506 billion this year.

CBO also projects it will continue to decline this year and next year.

While yes the overall debt is still going up, if we can continue to drive down the deficit to zero, then the long term fiscal situation can be brought under control, since no more new debt will be added at that point and we can shift to lowering the amount of debt.

There are plenty of things to be critical of Obama on, but reckless spending is not one of them. Taxes are up, and outlays are down, and our belt is getting tighter as a nation.

An Update to the Budget and Economic Outlook: 2014 to 2024

Nice monkey math. Unless you eliminate the deficit each year, you're just adding to the debt. The real deficit will not be cut at all until we start getting a surplus. The only reason the deficit spending came down, is entirely because of the Republican Congress. They wanted to cut it even more, but of course Obama has refused to work with Congress hardly at all, so we never came close to seeing a balanced budget.

 

[theHawk]

Trump lays groundwork to change U.S. role in the world

The Washington Post
Karen DeYoung, Philip Rucker 1 hr ago

President Trump began this week to reshape the U.S. role in the world, laying the groundwork, in a series of planned and signed executive actions and statements, for the “America first” foreign policy on which he campaigned.

Already, Trump has mandated construction of a border wall with Mexico and a clampdown on local immigration enforcement. Other directives drafted but not yet signed would halt all refugee admissions and entry into the United States of citizens from seven Muslim-majority countries deemed terrorist hotbeds; declare a moratorium on new multilateral treaties; and mandate audits of U.S. funding for international organizations, including the United Nations, with a view toward cutting U.S. voluntary contributions by 40 percent.

Additional pending orders, copies of which were obtained by The Washington Post, call for a review of cyber capabilities and vulnerabilities, in advance of what is expected to be greater use of offensive powers; and direct the Pentagon to quickly develop plans to reduce spending on items not deemed “highest priority,” while ramping up programs to expand the armed forces and modernize the U.S. nuclear deterrent.

Another draft order under consideration would direct the State Department to review its designations of foreign terrorist organizations, allowing it to add the Muslim Brotherhood to the list, according to an administration official who was not authorized to discuss it. The group’s status as a legitimate political movement vs. a terrorist group is controversial in the Middle East. Such a listing would please some, including Egypt and Saudi Arabia, but could anger others, such as Turkey and Qatar.

Trump could sign some of these orders as early as Friday during a scheduled visit to the Pentagon. The White House declined to comment on the directives.

If implemented, these initiatives and other steps Trump has previewed will usher in a new era of American foreign policy, after decades of bipartisan agreement that the United States has a responsibility to spread democracy and stand up for the oppressed, and that it would prosper when a united, free world prospered.

In the policies Trump has outlined, there are no apparent trade-offs to be made that balance short-term American advantage with global goals benefiting the United States over the longer term. Instead, as a policy posted on the White House website on Inauguration Day put it, “The world will be more peaceful and more prosperous with a stronger and more respected America.”

...

Trump lays groundwork to change U.S. role in the world

Yep, he sure is changing the role of the US in the world. Our great negotiator can't even get a meeting with the president of Mexico, our 3rd largest trading partner. Trump's childish behavior has convinced President Nieto that he is not a credible person to deal with, and he canceled their planned meeting. If our third largest trading partner thinks so little of Trump, how much credibility do you think the rest of the world's leaders will give that fool? Of course the telephone discussion planned for Trump and Putin is still expected as planned.

Sure Bullhockey, that's why the UK PM is meeting with him today.


You're the gift that keeps on giving:

Trump is a clown who will never be president, and the right supporting his crazy ideas is pushing more people away from their party every day. How can they ever expect to gain sane supporters after showing that the majority of the party is stupid enough to support him?
GO TRUMP!!!! The best present anyone could give Hillary!!!!

That's just because he hasn't insulted him...........yet.

You mean her? You really are an imbecile.

Low information voter alert

 

[American_Jihad]

Donald Trump’s Boffo Speech to Congress
Politically and theatrically brilliant.
March 3, 2017
Bruce Thornton

Move over, Howard Stern. Donald Trump is the new “king of all media.” His address to Congress was politically and theatrically brilliant, confounding his media critics–– even the virulently Trumpophobic ABC, CBS, CNN, NBC and the other usual suspects gave it positive reviews––and exposing the sore-loser Democrats for the partisan hacks they are. You knew the Dems were in a panic when they scurried from the hall at the end of the speech so they could start spinning the journalists waiting outside.

We are witnessing a profound shift in presidential politics, but whether it will lead to significant reform of our soft-despotic state remains an open question.

After a campaign and first month in office filled with caustic tweets, petty squabbles, heated rhetoric, and seeming disarray, Trump spoke in the disciplined, lofty, aspirational, conciliatory tone we expect of presidents. But the Democrats mostly sat on their hands, even when Trump promised to create jobs and help curb the slaughter in blighted black neighborhoods, boons for the Democrats’ constituents. They did rouse themselves when, like Nero in the Colosseum, they gave the thumbs-down to Trump’s proposals to repeal and replace Obamacare, or destroy ISIS, or actually enforce federal immigration laws. Given how much Americans dislike the failing health-care entitlement behemoth, fear metastasizing jihadist terror outfits, and want illegal alien criminals deported and our borders secured, it was bad optics for Dems to churlishly remain seated, their scowls and silence implying to viewers that they value illegal alien murderers, an imploding Obamacare, and avoiding “Islamophobia” over the security and interests of American citizens.

The highlight, of course, came when Trump acknowledged the widow of slain Navy SEAL William “Ryan” Owens, killed during a raid in Yemen. Questions about the raid have been raised by Owens’ father and the Dems, giving the hostile media another pretext for attacking Trump. But all the debate about the value or success of the raid has been eclipsed by the minute-and-a-half standing ovation given to Owens’ widow, who wept as she occasionally lifted her gaze upward and silently spoke to her lost husband. Critics are carping about “exploitation” and “political theater,” something they didn’t mind when Hillary exploited a grieving “Gold Star” couple at the Democrat convention. But their complaints won’t reach a fraction of the millions who witnessed that powerfully moving moment.

Whether Trump cynically planned this political event, or was expressing sincere emotions, or both, is a moot point. Modern politics has been theatrical since the televised Kennedy-Nixon debates in 1960, the 1964 anti-Goldwater “daisy” ad, and the Time-Life manufactured Kennedy “Camelot” myth. In fact, starting in ancient Athens and the debates in the Assembly, democratic public debate was recognized as a form of theater, conducted by speakers trained in the arts of duplicitous rhetoric by professional Sophists. Thucydides makes this point brilliantly when he has Cleon, the innovator in demagogic speechifying, scold the Athenians for treating debate as they do theatrical productions, and thus becoming “slaves to the pleasures of the ear.”

Given the shameless collusion of the media in creating Obama’s persona by ignoring unpleasant facts and manufacturing non-existent talents and virtues––like the saps in the 1979 comedy Being There transforming the dimwitted Chance the Gardner into the statesman Chauncey Gardner––their criticisms of Trump’s manipulation of the media are hypocritical and self-serving. What really angers them is that Trump has skillfully exploit the new media to bypass the self-selected traditional media “gatekeepers” and “watchdogs” and address the people directly. Even better, he is a genius at manipulating the progressives’ press-agents by turning their hatred for him against themselves. His tweets and insulting soundbites are squirrels he lets loose for the media to chase while he pursues his policy aims. And then, of course, the progressive reporters and anchors, along with their Democrat handlers, react childishly with hyperbole and hysteria and fake news, once again proving to the American people how biased and untrustworthy they are.

...

So one-and-a-half cheer for Trump’s speech. Enjoying the richly deserved agony of the Democrats may make us feel better, but it won’t solve our problems. Hard choices and sacrifices will be the cost of true reform.

Donald Trump’s Boffo Speech to Congress

 

[American_Jihad]

PRESTIGE AS A TOOL OF FOREIGN POLICY
Thanks to Trump, the days of America “leading from behind” are over.
June 20, 2017

Bruce Thornton

In April, President Trump took three actions to radically reset the course of American foreign policy. In response to Syrian president Bashar al Assad’s use of sarin gas, Trump had the air-field from which the attack originated bombed. To counter North Korea’s threats and continuing testing of intercontinental missiles, he ordered the aircraft carrier Carl Vinson and its accompanying strike group to deploy closer to the Korean peninsula. And he gave military commanders leeway to drop the largest non-nuclear bomb in our arsenal, the Massive Ordnance Air Burst, colloquially known as the “Mother of All Bombs,” on an ISIS tunnel-and-caves complex on the Afghan border, killing about 100 jihadists.

These bold moves alerted the world that the days of America “leading from behind” are at an end. And they have achieved something important for every foreign policy no matter its ideological compass: restoring our country’s damaged prestige.

Whether we call it “credibility” or “deterrence,” prestige involves the old concept of “honor” that Thucydides recognized as one of three major causes of conflict, the other two being “fear” and “interest.” The subsequent 2,400 years of military philosophy have not improved on the Athenian historian’s catalogue. “Fear” and “interest” are more familiar to us, for we too make national security and interests our foreign policy goals. But “honor” often strikes us a concept from a bygone age, one we rational moderns have progressed beyond. But as the classical military historian Donald Kagan has written, “Arguments about morality and ideology involve what Thucydides called honor, and nations from antiquity to our own world cannot ignore it.”

...

Prestige As A Tool Of Foreign Policy