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Re: Trump Watch

Posted: Fri Aug 14, 2020 7:22 am
by DWill
ant wrote:Here's a Trump Watch item for today:

"This historic diplomatic breakthrough will advance peace in the Middle East region and is a testament to the bold diplomacy and vision of the three leaders and the courage of the United Arab Emirates and Israel to chart a new path that will unlock the great potential in the region," the statement said.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/is ... r-BB17VscX



(bad Trump.. bad)
Consistent with the whole Trump/Kushner M.E. strategy, though. It's quite a coup, as well, and may help boost Trump before the election. Biggest question: will Netanyahu in the end back down from annexation? That would make this deal one of the most significant in memory.

Re: Trump Watch

Posted: Fri Aug 14, 2020 2:42 pm
by Harry Marks
DWill wrote:Consistent with the whole Trump/Kushner M.E. strategy, though.
Yes. You can even make a case that the Trump initiative of moving the U.S. embassy from Tel Aviv was a signal to the Middle East that the U.S. no longer had any interest in holding back Israel's territorial ambitions, and thus gave a carrot to the Emirates who wanted an excuse to normalize relations. (Apparently the commercial ties have been growing rapidly, as Israel has a huge tech industry and the UAE has money to invest, not necessarily its own.) I've managed to read a few analyses already, and I thought that was a particularly insightful one.
DWill wrote:It's quite a coup, as well, and may help boost Trump before the election.
Maybe, although Florida is the only swing state with enough voters who care about the Mideast. Conceivably Ohio.
DWill wrote:Biggest question: will Netanyahu in the end back down from annexation? That would make this deal one of the most significant in memory.
One pundit has it that Netanyahu will move forward with annexation (it had a July deadline, originally) if Trump is re-elected. Ironically, it may take both a good cop and a bad cop to get Bibi to stand down from that rash promise. I leave it to others to decide who is the good cop and who is the bad cop.

Re: Trump Watch

Posted: Fri Aug 14, 2020 5:13 pm
by DWill
Our Mr. ant--what did he mean by his post? I chose to take him at his word and disagree, giving Trump credit for this. Maybe ant really does think the deal is bad, who knows? The deal does leave the Palestinians in their same plight.

Re: Trump Watch

Posted: Tue Aug 18, 2020 1:46 pm
by DWill
It's not even particularly shocking anymore to hear Trump say this. But it is shocking to think that anyone can consider voting for a person who isn't even a patriot.

"The only way we're going to lose this election is because it's rigged. Remember that."
Donald Trump on 8/16/20.

Re: Trump Watch

Posted: Thu Aug 20, 2020 8:09 pm
by Murmur
DWill wrote: "The only way we're going to lose this election is because it's rigged. Remember that."
Donald Trump on 8/16/20.
That's a loathsome thing to say. Actually, just plain evil.

Donald Trump is implicitly stating that he doesn't believe in a republican form of government, and that voting is irrelevant. "If I win, that's correct. If I lose, the election was rigged!" Dude, that's like African 3rd world dictator level shit.

Here's the relevant video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0X2hJtcEWzY

Re: Trump Watch

Posted: Mon Aug 24, 2020 6:58 am
by Robert Tulip
Murmur wrote:
DWill wrote: "The only way we're going to lose this election is because it's rigged. Remember that." Donald Trump on 8/16/20.
That's a loathsome thing to say. Actually, just plain evil. Donald Trump is implicitly stating that he doesn't believe in a republican form of government, and that voting is irrelevant. "If I win, that's correct. If I lose, the election was rigged!" Dude, that's like African 3rd world dictator level shit. Here's the relevant video.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0X2hJtcEWzY
I like to compare the politics of the USA today with the transition from Republic to Empire in ancient Rome in the first and second centuries BC. An empire is structurally a military dictatorship. Trump is saying that the interests of the American Empire are those of the very rich.

Democracy is only acceptable for the Empire State view as long as it elects Trump. The ability to trick people to vote against their interests can only deliver that result for a short period, which is likely coming to an end this year. So I would not be surprised to see a future Pinochet/Allende dynamic emerge in the USA, as the majority come to support a polity that is perceived to conflict with the interests of the plutocrat class. Then the option of military coup comes into play. Military dictators on the model of the ancient Roman leaders Sulla, Marius, Caesar, Pompey, Crassus and Augustus will emerge to provide a veneer of legitimacy for a system similar to what we see now in Russia and China.

Re: Trump Watch

Posted: Mon Aug 24, 2020 12:31 pm
by ant
Robert Tulip wrote:
Murmur wrote:
DWill wrote: "The only way we're going to lose this election is because it's rigged. Remember that." Donald Trump on 8/16/20.
That's a loathsome thing to say. Actually, just plain evil. Donald Trump is implicitly stating that he doesn't believe in a republican form of government, and that voting is irrelevant. "If I win, that's correct. If I lose, the election was rigged!" Dude, that's like African 3rd world dictator level shit. Here's the relevant video.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0X2hJtcEWzY
I like to compare the politics of the USA today with the transition from Republic to Empire in ancient Rome in the first and second centuries BC. An empire is structurally a military dictatorship. Trump is saying that the interests of the American Empire are those of the very rich.

Democracy is only acceptable for the Empire State view as long as it elects Trump. The ability to trick people to vote against their interests can only deliver that result for a short period, which is likely coming to an end this year. So I would not be surprised to see a future Pinochet/Allende dynamic emerge in the USA, as the majority come to support a polity that is perceived to conflict with the interests of the plutocrat class. Then the option of military coup comes into play. Military dictators on the model of the ancient Roman leaders Sulla, Marius, Caesar, Pompey, Crassus and Augustus will emerge to provide a veneer of legitimacy for a system similar to what we see now in Russia and China.

Talking without actually knowing what it's like to live in the States.

I suppose Robert's US friends have told him we live in a near dictatorship.

Re: Trump Watch

Posted: Mon Aug 24, 2020 1:44 pm
by ant
Harry wrote:

You can even make a case that the Trump initiative of moving the U.S. embassy from Tel Aviv was a signal to the Middle East that the U.S. no longer had any interest in holding back Israel's territorial ambitions
This is speculative, lame, and without evidence.



On a much different note, Harry, aren't you a progressive Christian?

On your "Trump Watch" why didn't you mentioned the loss of Trump's brother recently? Or did I miss it.
You comment enough on him and his character.. Why wouldn't you, as a Christian, offer condolences for his recent loss?

We have many, many differences on this little planet we live on, but at our deepest core we all hurt and grieve nearly the same as our friends and those we might very well dislike intensely.

Where's the empathy in your religion?
Has it somehow been justifiably washed away?

Re: Trump Watch

Posted: Mon Aug 24, 2020 8:54 pm
by Robert Tulip
ant wrote: Talking without actually knowing what it's like to live in the States.

I suppose Robert's US friends have told him we live in a near dictatorship.
The point here is that Trump has signaled a possibility of rejecting the democratic process by saying the only way he could lose the election would be through fraud by his opponents. That sets up the clear prospect of promoting a mass campaign to regard a Biden government as illegitimate.

The intense polarisation of culture and politics in the USA is well known to everyone around the world. I do follow US politics fairly closely, so the implication that only people who live in America can have a reasonable view is not justified.

On the Rome timeline, the US has decades before it descends into military dictatorship, but that is the trajectory. Trump is preparing the way with baseless comments like this one about his opponents rigging elections. In fact the main rigging is by Republicans who systematically prevent Democrat supporters from voting.

Spending trillions of public money on weaponry certainly creates the conditions for a future dictatorship, in the event that a future democratically elected US government decides to confront the military-industrial complex by refusing to pay for it at the current scale.

Re: Trump Watch

Posted: Mon Aug 24, 2020 10:25 pm
by DWill
ant wrote: On a much different note, Harry, aren't you a progressive Christian?

On your "Trump Watch" why didn't you mentioned the loss of Trump's brother recently? Or did I miss it.
You comment enough on him and his character.. Why wouldn't you, as a Christian, offer condolences for his recent loss?

We have many, many differences on this little planet we live on, but at our deepest core we all hurt and grieve nearly the same as our friends and those we might very well dislike intensely.

Where's the empathy in your religion?
Has it somehow been justifiably washed away?
That is simply uncalled for, ant. You impugned his faith based on his not making a special point of mentioning, in a thread clearly meant to talk about Trump as president, Robert Trump's death. Do you pay attention at all to what Harry Marks says on BT? I have to think that if you did you would never accuse him of a lack of empathy, and surely not on this flimsiest of pretexts.