Donald Trump, the road that might not lead to the White House!

[CRI]

Reminds me of when the teacher is sick and they get in a substitute who is clueless about everything. The kids run rings around them, throw stuff out of the windows, sneak out and have fist fights in the hall, make fun of them but they're too stupid to notice, set fires in the bathroom, that sort of stuff. But, it's not kids. It's countries who know the President to be is an imbecile and they can probably get away with anything they want as long as substitute teacher doesn't notice.

 

[CRI]

Trump's Taiwan phone call preceded by hotel development inquiry
Woman who talked to mayor about airport expansion plans said she was associated with Trump Organization, official says.

Gosh, that's a surprise.

 

[mojo pixy]

I wonder if he's said to anyone yet, "Don't tell me what I can't do, I'm the damn president!"

I so imagine him doing exactly that, if not already then surely soon. He has to be the type.

 

[CRI]

A Cabinet position for Petraeus; disciplinary actions for Broadwell after affair

While former CIA Director David Petraeus is interviewing for a top job in the Trump administration, the woman he had an affair with is facing possible disciplinary actions from the Army. The Pentagon decided in February it would not pursue any further punishment for Petraeus, but is now seeking to take actions against Paula Broadwell, an Army Reserves major, according to a defense official.

Because, of course!

 

[Johnny Canuck3]

China's foreign ministry said Saturday it has lodged a complaint with the United States over a controversial phone call between President-elect Donald Trump and Taiwan's President that has overturned decades of diplomatic protocol.

China views Taiwan as a renegade province and, since 1979, the US has acknowledged Beijing's claim that Taiwan is part of China, with US-China relations governed by a set of protocols known as the "one China" policy.
This means there are no formal diplomatic relations between the United States and Taiwan -- so Trump's decision to take Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen's callcould risk a major upset.
"We have noticed relevant reports and lodged solemn representation with the relevant side in the United States," said a statement Saturday from China's Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang.
"I must point out that there is only one China in the world and Taiwan is an inseparable part of the Chinese territory ... The 'one China' principle is the political foundation of China-US relations.

China lodges complaint over Trump-Taiwan call - CNNPolitics.com

 

[Johnny Canuck3]

Looks like Taiwan called Trump to congratulate him - he didn't initiate the call.

 

[bluescreen]

China lodges complaint over Trump-Taiwan call - CNNPolitics.com

Well, they would, wouldn't they? It would be interesting (pace Pickman's) if anything else came out of this besides words.

And I wouldn't be so sure that Taiwan initiated the call until we've been able to rule out whether Trump's managers invited it.

 

[Tankus]

apple's current board room meetings must be quite ....errr ......challenging ..these days .........!

 

[Tankus]

Well, they would, wouldn't they? It would be interesting (pace Pickman's) if anything else came out of this besides words.

And I wouldn't be so sure that Taiwan initiated the call until we've been able to rule out whether Trump's managers invited it.

he took it ...that's all that matters

 

[CrabbedOne]

On Arms Controls Wonk THE DONALD AND THE NUCLEAR 3: TOKYO DRIFT

A Podcast on Trump as a argument for nuclear disarmament.

Discusses a folk belief in the US that the two man system used to reduce the chance of a deranged person launching a nuclear weapon extends to the Presidency. This has arisen from movies apparently and common sense assumptions. Nope, short of mutiny Trump will be a lone decider. In a launch under risk of nuclear strike situation The Donald would have about the same time as a US Sit Com sans ads to figure out whether to commit genocide or not. The only safety mechanism is the long US election process and the sensible discrimination of the voter. It's not really meant to be a reality game show in which you recklessly vote for your most outrageous Uncle.

 

[CrabbedOne]

Disturbingly fond of Golf.com.

 

[CRI]

Well, they would, wouldn't they? It would be interesting (pace Pickman's) if anything else came out of this besides words.

And I wouldn't be so sure that Taiwan initiated the call until we've been able to rule out whether Trump's managers invited it.

Trump's Taiwan Call Was No Accident

The call was planned in advance with knowledge of Trump’s transition team and was the right thing to do, said Stephen Yates, a former U.S. national security official who served under President George W. Bush. Yates denied multiple media reports that he arranged the call, while adding that it doesn’t make sense for the U.S. to be “stuck” in a pattern of acquiescing to China over Taiwan.

Apparently several sources say that Yates was indeed the guy who helped arrange the call, but Yates denies it. You can decide for

 

[Jeff Robinson]

Women?

"Nobody has more respect for women than I do"

Donald J Trump, 2016.

 

[Johnny Canuck3]

On Arms Controls Wonk THE DONALD AND THE NUCLEAR 3: TOKYO DRIFT

A Podcast on Trump as a argument for nuclear disarmament.

Discusses a folk belief in the US that the two man system used to reduce the chance of a deranged person launching a nuclear weapon extends to the Presidency. This has arisen from movies apparently and common sense assumptions. Nope, short of mutiny Trump will be a lone decider. In a launch under risk of nuclear strike situation The Donald would have about the same time as a US Sit Com sans ads to figure out whether to commit genocide or not. The only safety mechanism is the long US election process and the sensible discrimination of the voter. It's not really meant to be a reality game show in which you recklessly vote for your most outrageous Uncle.

The thing of it is, if The Donald launches a nuclear strike, we'll all be dead before we get a chance to say "I told you so!" to all those redneck American racists who elected him.

 

[Johnny Canuck3]

Trump's latest tweets about China:

1. • Tweets
   • Tweets & replies
   • Media
   1. 
      Donald J. Trump ‏@realDonaldTrump 26m26 minutes ago
      their country (the U.S. doesn't tax them) or to build a massive military complex in the middle of the South China Sea? I don't think so!
      
      1,647 replies 2,029 retweets 6,691 likes
      
   
   
   
   
   
   
2. 
   
   
3. 
   Donald J. Trump ‏@realDonaldTrump 33m33 minutes ago
   Did China ask us if it was OK to devalue their currency (making it hard for our companies to compete), heavily tax our products going into..
   
   1,905 replies 3,171 retweets 9,440 likes
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   

 

[teqniq]

.

 

[Johnny Canuck3]

Germany and Canada are the West’s last safe harbours

Germany and Canada are the West’s last safe harbours

 

[teqniq]

I would be inclined to agree with the article except that I notice the writer is bigging up the CETA deal whose primary beneficiaries are multinational corporations.

 

[CRI]

You Heard It Here First: Trump May Not Propose A Budget Next Year

Although the Congressional Budget Act requires the president to submit the fiscal 2018 budget to Congress between January 2 and February 6, Trump could easily say that it was the responsibility of the outgoing Obama administration to comply with the law before the new president was sworn in on January 20.

But while the new president not sending a budget to Congress might not be illegal, it would clearly be unprecedented.

Every in-coming president since the Congressional Budget Act went into effect in the mid-1970s has submitted a budget. In many years, those budgets (or amendments to the outgoing president’s final budget) were submitted months after the first-Monday-in-February deadline and were truncated versions of the usual multi-volume presentation. But, a fiscal plan with the new president’s priorities was consistently released for over 4 decades.

 

[CRI]

Trump’s Threat to the Constitution

WASHINGTON — On July 7, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, Donald J. Trump, met privately with House Republicans near the Capitol. I was present as chief policy director of the House Republican Conference. Mr. Trump’s purpose was to persuade the representatives to unite around him, a pitch he delivered in a subdued version of his stream-of-consciousness style. A congresswoman asked him about his plans to protect Article I of the Constitution, which assigns all federal lawmaking power to Congress.

Mr. Trump interrupted her to declare his commitment to the Constitution — even to parts of it that do not exist, such as “Article XII.” Shock swept through the room as Mr. Trump confirmed one of our chief concerns about him: He lacked a basic knowledge of the Constitution.

There is still deeper cause for concern. Mr. Trump’s erroneous proclamation also suggested that he lacked even an interest in the Constitution. Worse, his campaign rhetoric had demonstrated authoritarian tendencies.

He had questioned judicial independence, threatened the freedom of the press, called for violating Muslims’ equal protection under the law, promised the use of torture and attacked Americans based on their gender, race and religion. He had also undermined critical democratic norms including peaceful debate and transitions of power, commitment to truth, freedom from foreign interference and abstention from the use of executive power for political retribution.

There is little indication that anything has changed since Election Day. Last week, Mr. Trump commented on Twitter that flag-burning should be punished by jailing and revocation of citizenship. As someone who has served this country, I carry no brief for flag-burners, but I defend their free-speech right to protest — a right guaranteed under the First Amendment. Although I suspect that Mr. Trump’s chief purpose was to provoke his opponents, his action was consistent with the authoritarian playbook he uses.

 

[not-bono-ever]

not really. China has a $365billion trade surplus with the USA.

The US also has a far bigger internal market to consume their own products, so foreign trade with China is a far lower proportion of GDP than with China.

Tbh I suspect Trump knows what he's doing here, it ties in with his narrative to target countries that the US has a big trade deficit with, and China's the biggest target. He'll (rightly IMO) be looking to raise trade tariffs with China - the US has already imposed big anti-dumping tariffs on Chinese steel, so it'd more be an extension of existing policy in the US rather that some big change if the Chinese did respond to this provocation in any way that might give him the excuse to take such an action.

Also the US debt to China is pretty much all in US dollars, so if they chose to the US could simply print more dollars and pay the chinese off with them. In doing that it would weaken the dollar against the Chinese currency, which would also benefit US exports and reduce imports from China, so all ties in the Trump's rhetoric and could well damage China far more than it damaged the US, and potentially could benefit the US).

China's basically been manipulating the currency market to keep their currency artificially low for decades to maintain their vast trade imbalance for as long as possible. Doing something about this would probably have more impact on US manufacturing than anything he does with Mexico and NAFTA.

I think that that Trump threatening an withdrawal from TPP - which is viewed by many in China as a discreet weapon to limit Chinese influence on the region - will embolden the Chinese to consolidate their grip in the 'hood. I am looking at some numbers and ideas that have been chucked out on this subject at the minute. This could bite Trump in his peachy workshy ass if mismanaged.Current feeling is that China will pile and an capitalise from the effective collapse of TPP if it comes true. I will chew over this a bit more and think about it .

 

[CrabbedOne]

On The Belgravia Dispatch TRUMP’S FOREIGN POLICY: THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE UGLY

...
The Bad: The bad in my mind is quite simple. Trump is mostly improvising on the world’s greatest stage with little appetite to truly grapple with the issues beyond his high level ‘gut’ instincts (we see this in his foreign policy interviews with the New York Times and Washington Post where he mouths his policies in highly improvised fashion and then pauses seeking approbation as if still unsure of fundamental moorings buttressing his putative world vision). And as above, despite some of his instincts actually being quite good, given he is a neophyte in this realm by any serious measure, it is imperative that Trump would be surrounded by top quality advisors providing best-in-class advice. It is tempting to imagine somehow the likes of Brent Scowcroft (for geopolitical strategy), James Baker (for helping translate Trump’s deal-making skills from the wild hurly-burly of 1980’s New York real estate to the international scene, or even a Jon Hunstman (to potentially help soften Trump’s policy rough edges, not least on China-related policy matters, as we dramatically saw with Taiwan this last week).
...

We probably should realise Trump is the sort of Yoda like BS master rather comfortable with being out of his depth though that of course may be a bad thing.

The interesting thing in this article is some good is detected though its all stuff that Washington Consensus "Blob" regards as beyond the Pale.

 

[Johnny Canuck3]

Another well-informed Trump voter:

A gunman entered a popular Washington pizza restaurant that had been the target of harassment after a fake news article said it was the base of a child abuse ring, firing his weapon before being arrested on Sunday and escalating fear in what is normally a quiet neighborhood.

The episode at Comet Ping Pong in northwest Washington severely escalated what had already been a tense period after false rumors began to spread that the restaurant was somehow tied to a child abuse ring run by Mrs. Clinton and her campaign chairman, John D. Podesta.

That might sound far-fetched, but it led to dozens of threats against its employees by email and on social media.

Even the son of retired Lt. Gen. Michael T. Flynn, picked to be Mr. Trump’s national security adviser, was still trafficking in the so-called Pizzagate conspiracy theory Sunday night.

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/05/us/politics/donald-trump-transition.html?_r=0

 

[CrabbedOne]

Concealed carry in the age of Trump. This is just getting silly.

On The Firearms Blog Urban Carry Holster IWB Shotgun

 

[Johnny Canuck3]

"In a statement Saturday, Duterte shared details of a seven-minute conversation that took place Friday. He said that during the call, Trump endorsed his campaign against drug users and dealers — a campaign that has left at least 4,500 Filipinos dead in about five months. Trump told Duterte that he was doing it the 'right way,' according to Duterte's account," the Washington Post writes. And Reuters reports that, on that Friday call, Trump invited Duterte to the White House, according to a Philippines official.

Why Trump's call with Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte matters

 

[Yuwipi Woman]

Another well-informed Trump voter:



http://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/05/us/politics/donald-trump-transition.html?_r=0

Facebook has been weaponized.

 

[emanymton]

Facebook has been weaponized.

 

[Johnny Canuck3]

Compare and contrast: what the Trump camp says about Petraeus' mishandling of classified information - with what it said about Clinton's mishandling of classified information:

Before he appeared on the show, Mr. Petraeus seemed to get a lift from Mr. Pence, who dismissed concerns about Mr. Petraeus’s mishandling of classified material, in which he gave secret materials to a biographer with whom he was having an affair. Mr. Pence called Mr. Petraeus an “American hero” and said Mr. Trump would consider him based on “the totality” of his career.

“Look, he made mistakes, and he paid the consequences for those mistakes,” Mr. Pence said.

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/04/us/politics/trump-expands-search-for-secretary-of-state.html

 

[Casually Red]

I haven't chosen that form of words by accident. The headline of that article says


That reads to me as if Jones is attempting to counter those (a
Wall Street Journal columnist, Theresa May and columnist Melanie Phillips are the examples he gives) who say that minorities are not part of the working class. It may not be a perfect summary of his article, but that does appear to be what it's about, in essence.

This is what he's claiming is being said


but other than those who clearly don't have the interests of the working class in mind, I haven't heard or read anyone saying anything even approximating this.

If you or Rutita1 or anyone else have, then please enlighten the rest of us

He might be better off countering the arguments of many on the US left who argue that white Americans can't be working class because they're a "labour aristocracy " . That shite is a mainstream left view over there now .

 

[Casually Red]

On War Is Boring The Closest Precedent to Trump’s Taiwan Phone Call Almost Sparked a War
Some of the folk round Trump Tower are simply nuts.

Unlike the other crew, PNAC etc, and Ms CLinton who believed Russia could be militarily faced down with no fly zones and the like . Those fucking nutters and the trail of devastation in their wake. .