I'm surprised this unflattering report saw the light of day.

[berg80]

This is no thanks to Biden draining our reserves to lower gas prices. At any rate, they are 2nd. Neat.

You folks are willing to twist yourself in knots while straining credulity to defend the indefensible. The energy crisis the world is facing is on trump (and Bibi).

 

[berg80]

Is Dotard getting ready to take a shit on another ally?

Why This Was the Riskiest Move of Trump’s China Trip​

President Trump has described a potential multibillion-dollar weapons sale to Taiwan as a “negotiating chip” with China, raising new doubts about the pace and scale of American military support for the island democracy.

Taiwan’s government has been waiting months for Mr. Trump to sign off on a $14 billion package of missiles, anti-drone equipment and air-defense systems intended to fortify the island against Beijing’s military threats.

Mr. Trump himself had pressured Taiwan to spend more on its own defense. Now he is using the very arms his administration had pushed the island to buy as leverage with China, the United States’ main adversary.

Mr. Trump told reporters on Air Force One after leaving China on Friday that he had discussed the weapons package with China’s president, Xi Jinping, during their summit this past week in Beijing. He was asked in an interview with Fox News whether he would approve the Taiwan deal.

“No, I’m holding that in abeyance and it depends on China,” he said in the interview, which was recorded in Beijing but aired after he left. “It depends.”

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/16/world/asia/trump-taiwan-arms-bargaining-chip-china.html

 

[Lockback]

TDS is a fiction made up by trumples as a means to dismiss legitimate criticisms without having to deal with them.

Meaning, you can't handle the truth.

 

[Yarddog]

I see that luiza calls this Fake News.
That's chilling.

she seems to be on the Wrong side of Everything and consistently. its not suprising.

 

[Yarddog]

trump hasn't had to murder any US citizens (except for Good and Pretti) and he still has you eating out of the palm of his hand.

Wrongful deaths do happen in stressful situataions when law enforcement comes into contact with the civilian population.... thats usually when you get one or two deaths. Such as the woman who was shot at teh Capitol building while climbing through a window. Good And Pretty's deaths also would not have happened had not teh tensions been raised for months by Democrats and their refusal for local Law enforcement to work with ICE.

So sad you cant see the difference between a few deaths where things got out of hand and perhaps some ICE agents DID over react... to a government giving out the order to just gun thouands of people down with heavy machine guns... but..... Trump!

 

[Lockback]

she seems to be on the Wrong side of Everything and consistently. its not suprising.

Every.
Single.
Time.

 

[JohnDB]

Personally,
I'm kinda wondering how much time Trump really has left.
(Outside the hype)

Is he continuing to push hard because he thinks time is short?
(A reasonable guess) Strokes that lead to death or incapacity are MOST common for presidents and past presidents. High testosterone levels can lead to this as well.

What's Democrats going to do when Trump is absent and Vance once again proves he is NOT a pushover and twice the statesman Trump ever dreamed of being? Vance may be "nice" but he is extremely articulate and firm.

Democrats still have nothing.

 

[Independent thinker]

China gains major edge on U.S. amid Iran war, intelligence report finds​

A confidential U.S. intelligence analysis details how China is exploiting the war in Iran to maximize its advantage over the United States across military, economic, diplomatic and other fields, said two U.S. officials who have read the report.

The assessment, the officials said, was produced this week for the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Dan Caine, and has raised alarm within the Pentagon about the geopolitical costs of Washington’s standoff with Tehran as President Donald Trump enters high-stakes talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing.

Produced by the Joint Staff’s intelligence directorate, the report uses what’s known as a “DIME” framework to assess China’s response to the Iran conflict via four instruments of state power: diplomatic, informational, military and economic.

Officials talked about the finding, which has not previously been reported, on the condition of anonymity to discuss U.S. intelligence matters.

Since the U.S. and Israel initiated the Iran war on Feb. 28, China has sold weapons to Persian Gulf allies of the U.S. as they struggled to defend their military bases and oil infrastructure from Iranian missile and drone attacks, the report says.

Beijing has also assisted countries around the world struggling to meet their energy needs after the U.S.-Israeli attacks prompted Iran to close the Strait of Hormuz, a corridor for the transport of one-fifth of the world’s oil and gas.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2026/05/13/china-gains-major-edge-us-amid-iran-war-us-intelligence-finds/

There isn't a whole lot to like in the report for those concerned with our standing in the world. It was one thing that we suffered reputational damage when trump decided to end assistance to areas of the world by ending USAID programs.

China Seizes an Opportunity from the United States in Humanitarian Aid and Disaster Response​

China Seizes an Opportunity from the United States in Humanitarian Aid and Disaster Response - The Council on Strategic Risks

The withdrawal of US humanitarian aid and the dissolution of USAID has created a soft power vacuum in the Pacific, one that China is quickly looking to fill.

councilonstrategicrisks.org

It's quite another that Don (and Bibi) have now caused a global shortage of oil and gas with no relief in sight. Between that and the trade war trump launched, and is pursuing despite the SC ruling the tariffs are illegal, it can be said we are suffering more than reputational damage. Allies are questioning their prior alliance with us. In a world of shifting alliances and relationships China is trying to step in every time the trump regime stumbles on bumps of its own making. The mishandling of the war being the latest one. If there is a country playing three dimensional chess in this scenario it definitely isn't the US. Not with people like trump, Rubio, Gabbard, Vance, Patel, and Hegseth in charge.

Well, finally, you post something I agree with. Yes, the Trump administration is far more transparent than what we saw with Biden and the democrats, who tried their best to bury everything that made Biden look bad.