The Trump Presidency - how I stopped worrying and learned to love the Hair

[calvinhobbes]

Lowest black unemployment in history wasn't good news?

If the sort of deficit spending that Trump is doing had no effects like this, it would be even more terrible than it already is.

By contrast, the death of the Middle East’s leading throatcutter is just plain good news.

 

[jack_christie]

Where was Trump when the raid was carried out? Golfing?

Raid was more in spite of Trump, than because of him.

The discovery of Mr. al-Baghdadi’s location came after the arrest and interrogation of one of Mr. al-Baghdadi’s wives and a courier this summer, two American officials said. The location surprised his American pursuers because it was deep inside a part of northwestern Syria controlled by archrival Qaeda groups.

Armed with that initial tip, the C.I.A. worked closely with Kurdish intelligence officials in Iraq and Syria — including those caught off guard by Mr. Trump’s decision to withdraw American troops from northern Syria earlier this month — to identify Mr. Baghdadi’s whereabouts and to put spies in place to monitor his periodic movements.

Critics of the president’s decision to withdraw American forces quickly argued that the operation took place in spite of, not because of, Mr. Trump and that if the military had not slow-rolled his plan to withdraw, the raid would not have been possible.

Rather than justifying a pullout, they said, the raid underscored the importance of maintaining an American military presence in Syria and Iraq to keep pressure on the Islamic State.

unwise for Mr. Trump not to notify the so-called Gang of Eight congressional leaders traditionally informed about such operations

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/27/us/politics/isis-leader-al-baghdadi-dead.html

 

[gaasc]

Where was Trump when the raid was carried out? Golfing?

Raid was more in spite of Trump, than because of him.



https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/27/us/politics/isis-leader-al-baghdadi-dead.html

I do not understand your angle here, did you want him in the raid? having a sandwich in the white house? taking a shit?

There are legitimate things to complain about that guy. this is on the level of Republicans freaking out over Dijon Mustard.

 

[jack_christie]

I do not understand your angle here, did you want him in the raid? having a sandwich in the white house? taking a shit?

There are legitimate things to complain about that guy. this is on the level of Republicans freaking out over Dijon Mustard.

There are question about a photo taken in the Situation Room which looks like it was staged hours after the event. Not sure if it has been confirmed.

Something happens and Trump ruins it by blowing endless BS. Truly demented -

The 41 most shocking lines from Donald Trump's Baghdadi announcement

https://edition.cnn.com/2019/10/27/politics/donald-trump-baghdadi-death-isis/index.html

The raid almost didn't happen because of the Trump withdrawal, limiting resources for the raid. Putting them more in harms way.

Now there is the problem of this latest Qaeda branch, called Hurras al-Din

American counterterrorism officials have voiced increased alarm about a Qaeda affiliate in northwestern Syria that they say is plotting attacks against the West by exploiting the chaotic security situation in the country’s northwest and the protection inadvertently afforded by Russian air defenses shielding Syrian government forces allied with Moscow.

Turkey is using militia's with ties to ISIS and Al Qaeda to go after the Kurds.

The whole Turkey\ISIS\Al Qaeda is a huge worry. Are Turkey supplying them, or turning a blind eye?

At the same time Trump is withdrawing troops, he wants to go back and protect the oil fields -

U.S. forces preparing to find a way to protect Syrian oil fields

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/u-s-forces-ordered-find-way-protect-syrian-oil-fields-n1071666


Its just over of a week since since Admiral McRaven said -

Our Republic Is Under Attack From the President

If President Trump doesn’t demonstrate the leadership that America needs, then it is time for a new person in the Oval Office.

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/17/opinion/trump-mcraven-syria-military.html

 

[jack_christie]

Federal Budget Deficit Swelled to Nearly $1 Trillion in 2019

The Treasury Department said the deficit, which came in at $984 billion, will top $1 trillion in 2020.

United States federal budget deficit jumped 26 percent in the 2019 fiscal year to $984 billion, reaching its highest level in seven years as the government was forced to borrow more money to pay for President Trump’s tax and spending policies

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/25/us/politics/us-federal-budget-deficit.html

 

[Blind_Io]

Record wage disparity and rising national debt in a non-recession kind of hurts the economic argument

 

[jack_christie]

Record wage disparity and rising national debt in a non-recession kind of hurts the economic argument

This too -

Symbol of ’80s Greed Stands to Profit From Trump Tax Break for Poor Areas

Mr. Milken, it turns out, is in a position to personally gain from some of the changes that his institute has urged the Trump administration to enact. In one case, the Treasury secretary, Steven Mnuchin, directly intervened in a way that benefited Mr. Milken, his longtime friend.

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/26/business/michael-milken-trump-opportunity-zones.html

 

[LeVeL]

.

 

[prizrak]

Record wage disparity

That has been growing since what the 70s? Consistently growing something will always mean that every single year it will be record high. Kind of like every time Apple introduces new model of their product they go "it's the best iDevice yet".

 

[Blind_Io]

I do not understand your angle here, did you want him in the raid? having a sandwich in the white house? taking a shit?

There are legitimate things to complain about that guy. this is on the level of Republicans freaking out over Dijon Mustard.

Then why would he stage a bulshit photo and try to pass it off like he was monitoring the raid? He just wanted to portray himself like Obama during the Bin Laden raid.

Trump is all hat and no cattle.

 

[Blind_Io]

Wage disparity / wealth inequality are perfectly fine.

Don't like that? Get a better job.

Spoken like a true out-of-touch Republican.

 

[LeVeL]

.

 

[SirEdward]

Kudos for the US killing Al Baghdadi. This is a political victory for Trump.

It is clearly not that great as it would have been some years ago, due to the fact that ISIS is a lower threat than it was back then, and it is clearly a small victory compared to the defeat of the US withdrawal and its short, medium and long-term consequences.

Moreover, what jack_christie said is true: this was done more in spite of Trump's effort, rather than thanks to it.

And as jack pointed out, Turkey is using ISIS mercenary militias to fight the kurds. This are the short-term effects of the US defeat. Turkey has a majority of sunni muslim population, and ISIS is a sunni muslim force financed by sunni muslim capitals (Saudi Arabia and other gulf sunni countries, mostly), as most of the extremist sunni groups in middle-east and Africa.

Now, Turkey pais mercenaries like that. It is certainly something that other countries have done, but the point is it is now done with the aknowledgement and agreement of the US. Nice...

 

[LeVeL]

.

 

[calvinhobbes]

Where's Europe on this? Why aren't there British, French, German, etc forces protecting the Kurds?

I seem to recall that both France and Germany opposed the invasion of Iraq that sparked this in the first place. No IS without GWB.

 

[SirEdward]

Where's Europe on this? Why aren't there British, French, German, etc forces protecting the Kurds?

The first reason is: they had an alliance with the US, not with Europe; the deal was made with the US and was broken by the US.

The second reason is: the kurds are a specific group and have more in common, on a cultural point of view, with the West than any of the other ethnic group in the region, but they are not "westerners in middle-east". Surely not more than parts of the syrian arab insurgents in Aleppo and the like.
Like the insurgents in western Syria, the US, being an international SuperPower with interests and money beyond Europe's at the moment, the kurds were helped, supported and in a sense "recruited" by the US to be the "boots on the ground" of operations; in particular, the US supported the insurgents in western Syria against Al Assad (but they were crushed, being just urban civilians against someone with an army and an air-force), and the kurds in eastern Syria against ISIS (and they were successful against a fiercer but lonelier enemy and thanks to the US, Russian and Iranian support in the fight against a common foe.

The third reason is: most of the european public opinion has always been supportive of the kurds: the strongest support has always come from the left, the extreme left and the neo-communist (which are more centred and more extreme than whatever you may think as extreme left in the US). They have sent volunteers fighting and dying on the ground beside the kurds (in Kobane, for example), so I suppose more Europe where there than US, cause blood is maybe less useful, but surely thicker than cash.

---

Apart from that, don't get touchy: if the US do something wrong, it won't be anyone else's actions that will reduce the error or will make it less of a defeat.

Stop trying to ignore what happened and stop blaming everyone else but you (the US) because you have problems judging your own actions.

 

[LeVeL]

.

 

[SirEdward]

I've done no such thing, although I'm quite used to having folks in this thread assume they know my opinions before I state them.

Then talk about the matter at hands and do not ask where the others were.

What Trump did was disgraceful, what other people do cannot take away or add anything from or to it. So why talking about that?

BTW, kick away that overgrown child. He is making the US look dumb. So dumb they can't agree on how childish Trump is.

 

[Blind_Io]

No, more like an immigrant who came here with nothing and has worked his way to the American dream. What's your excuse?

Typical. Just because your experience is X, therefore all experiences are also X. There are major institutional problems in the US that make it very difficult or even impossible for most people to raise their socioeconomic status. Republicans love to trot out the exceptions to try to say the trend doesn't exist.

"Get a better job."

In what industry? With what education? At what expense? How would one with poor access to decent K-12 school manage to get in to a program with limited literacy? (I just ask because Trump is at about a 4th grade literacy level and it took inheriting his fortune.) How can I afford to relocate to an area with better opportunity if I'm working minimum wage and needing public assistance to buy food? All this assumes that employers are offering better jobs, ones with higher pay and health insurance. These are the very jobs that people want, but have a hard time getting. Employers want to pay low wages, unless you have something like a minimum wage, they will pay as little as possible to prey on the poor and desperate.

"Just get a better job" is on par with "Go without a new iPhone"

 

[prizrak]

Typical. Just because your experience is X, therefore all experiences are also X. There are major institutional problems in the US that make it very difficult or even impossible for most people to raise their socioeconomic status. Republicans love to trot out the exceptions to try to say the trend doesn't exist.

"Get a better job."

In what industry? With what education? At what expense? How would one with poor access to decent K-12 school manage to get in to a program with limited literacy? (I just ask because Trump is at about a 4th grade literacy level and it took inheriting his fortune.) How can I afford to relocate to an area with better opportunity if I'm working minimum wage and needing public assistance to buy food? All this assumes that employers are offering better jobs, ones with higher pay and health insurance. These are the very jobs that people want, but have a hard time getting. Employers want to pay low wages, unless you have something like a minimum wage, they will pay as little as possible to prey on the poor and desperate.

"Just get a better job" is on par with "Go without a new iPhone"

We had this conversation before, there is a massive number of blue collar opportunities that people overlook because culturally we look down on blue collar workers. Most don't require anything past a certification, which can be paid for with government grants.

This isn't to say that there aren't institutional problems or that we as a country can't do more to uplift communities but to claim there are limited to no opportunities for socieconomic growth is at minimum questionable.