President Trump makes himself an even BIGGER asshole

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Re: President Trump makes himself an even BIGGER asshole

Postby Krashlia » Tue Jun 26, 2018 8:53 pm

We should ban politicians from Social Media. If you're holding an office as an elected or appointed official, then you shouldn't have an official account.

And I mean for this to apply to all of them. Not selectively, not on some nonsense rules lawyering lets make an exception for this one, all of them.
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Re: President Trump makes himself an even BIGGER asshole

Postby cmsellers » Wed Jun 27, 2018 1:59 am

Krashlia wrote:We should ban politicians from Social Media. If you're holding an office as an elected or appointed official, then you shouldn't have an official account.

And the ban image can be a screenshot of Hillary Clinton's "Delete your account" tweet.
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Re: President Trump makes himself an even BIGGER asshole

Postby blehblah » Wed Jun 27, 2018 2:12 pm

Trump didn't wait long to go after Harley Davidson.

https://globalnews.ca/news/4297412/dona ... f-the-end/

Trump Tweet wrote:A Harley-Davidson should never be built in another country-never! Their employees and customers are already very angry at them. If they move, watch, it will be the beginning of the end - they surrendered, they quit! The Aura will be gone and they will be taxed like never before!


Trump Tweet wrote:Early this year Harley-Davidson said they would move much of their plant operations in Kansas City to Thailand. That was long before Tariffs were announced. Hence, they were just using Tariffs/Trade War as an excuse. Shows how unbalanced & unfair trade is, but we will fix it.....


Trump Tweet wrote:....We are getting other countries to reduce and eliminate tariffs and trade barriers that have been unfairly used for years against our farmers, workers and companies. We are opening up closed markets and expanding our footprint. They must play fair or they will pay tariffs!


Trump has imposed tariffs on steel and aluminum. That increases manufacturing costs of things like motorcycle built out of steel and aluminum. In response, the EU is imposing tariffs on things like Harley Davidson motorcycles imported from the United States. The EU is the second largest market for Harley Davidson. Therefore, they are shifting production of products intended for the EU market to places where they can import them to the EU without tariffs. They will take the hit on the increased cost of materials for products intended for the US market, so long as those increases are less than any tariffs imposed on importing their products to the US from elsewhere (as part of the total cost which includes the cost of labour, materials, and shipping).

This isn't rocket surgeory.

While I'm not an economist, I at least understand that much. There are also products which can't be manufactured elsewhere and imported, like homes. Wilbur Ross, it seems, doesn't quite understand that more expensive building materials means more expensive products.

https://globalnews.ca/news/4293847/tari ... ket-trump/

The Trump administration’s tariffs on Canadian softwood lumber are pushing up the cost of wood, claims the U.S.-based National Association of Home Builders (NAHB), adding approximately USD $9,000 to the cost of single-family homes in the United States.

[...]

In April 2017, when the possibility of tariffs on Canadian lumber was still merely a threat, the NAHB predicted that such a trade action could add USD $1,236 to the average price of a single-family home.

At the time, Secretary Ross maintained that implementing the motion would have little effect on the cost of housing.

“NAHB respectfully disagrees with comments made by Commerce Secretary [Wilbur] Ross that the tariffs on Canadian lumber imports into the U.S. will have little effect on the cost of housing,” NAHB chair Granger MacDonald said in a statement last November. “While Ross cannot cite specific consequence regarding this punitive tariff, we can.”

[...]

According to the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, reported by USA Today, lumber futures hit a high of USD $639 per 1,000 board feet this past May. While they’ve since pulled back to USD$547 since then, the levels are still far above those of a market that’s rarely surpassed USD$400 in the past few decades.


NB: Emphasis mine.

The fun part is that if one is building and selling million-dollar McMansions, another $10K is the cost of granite in one of the five bathrooms. If one is building more affordable dwellings, an extra $10K may price the unit out of the hands of the intended buyer.

I'm sure Trump is very concerned about this.

tweet.png
tweet.png (65.93 KiB) Viewed 4350 times


EDIT: dropping this here... it's an interesting perspective from 18 months ago.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NJodqhzqPKQ

Aaaand....

https://www.cnbc.com/2018/05/24/trump-s ... tions.html
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Re: President Trump makes himself an even BIGGER asshole

Postby blehblah » Sat Jun 30, 2018 7:18 pm

The US ambassador to Estonia threw-in the towel.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/u-s-ambas ... -1.4729758

The U.S. ambassador to Estonia is quitting the diplomatic service after 33 years over comments made by U.S. President Donald Trump.

James D. Melville announced his resignation in a private Facebook post on Friday.

According to Foreign Policy magazine, the ambassador said he was quitting over recent remarks made by Trump about America's European allies.

Melville said the president's criticism of the European Union and NATO was "factually wrong" and proof that it was time to take early retirement.

The ambassador appeared to be referring to Trump's comments at the recent G7 meetings in Quebec, when he talked about trade imbalances and warned the U.S. will no longer be the "piggy bank that everybody's robbing." Trump also said "NATO is as bad as NAFTA" in terms of how much it costs the U.S.


Other links:

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/wor ... 747871002/

https://foreignpolicy.com/2018/06/29/u- ... -alliance/

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2018/06 ... ments.html

Trump is going into the NATO summit with guns-a-blazin.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-nato ... SKBN1JP369

U.S. President Donald Trump, less than two weeks before a NATO summit in Brussels, on Friday repeated his complaint that Germany and other European nations need to spend more on the military alliance.

NATO members have agreed to spend 2 percent of economic output on defense every year by 2024, but Germany and Spain are among the countries not expected to meet the target.

France plans to increase defense spending by more than a third between 2017 and 2025, with the aim of reaching the NATO goal.

“Germany has to spend more money. Spain, France. It’s not fair what they’ve done to the United States,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One.

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization summit is scheduled for July 11 and 12 at its new headquarters.


Meanwhile,

https://www.cnn.com/2018/06/28/politics ... index.html

President Donald Trump continues to cast doubt on US intelligence assessments that Russia meddled in the 2016 presidential contest, just as his aides announced details of his upcoming summit talks with President Vladimir Putin.

"Russia continues to say they had nothing to do with Meddling in our Election!" Trump wrote on Twitter Thursday morning. He went on to question why US law enforcement agencies weren't investigating other perceived influences on the election, which he has repeatedly said was rigged for his opponent Hillary Clinton.

"Where is the DNC Server, and why didn't Shady James Comey and the now disgraced FBI agents take and closely examine it? Why isn't Hillary/Russia being looked at? So many questions, so much corruption!" he wrote.

The President's tweet was sent roughly a half hour before the White House announced the two leaders will meet on July 16 in Helsinki, Finland, where they will "discuss relations between the United States and Russia and a range of national security issues."


Other links:

https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/ar ... ts/564011/

And from my homeland:

https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/trump- ... -1.4723460

Whatever - Russia, with their gigantic-ish (a tad less than Canada) GDP is sure to help Trump-America make better deals, and participate in the defence of Western Europe and North America, which is essential as a backstop of the greenback being the world's go-to currency, because... erm... something-something total ignorance.
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Re: President Trump makes himself an even BIGGER asshole

Postby Absentia » Sat Jun 30, 2018 7:50 pm

Hey Donnie, if you think America is spending too much on defense you definitely have my blessing to cut back to that 2% NATO figure. That will teach the Spanish a thing or two, eh?

It was worth a shot.
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Re: President Trump makes himself an even BIGGER asshole

Postby Aquila89 » Wed Jul 11, 2018 4:37 pm

Trump hired Bill Shine as deputy chief of staff for communications, whatever the hell that is supposed to be. Shine used to be the vice president of Fox News, until he was fired in 2017, because he was accused of covering for Roger Ailes.

Not good enough for Fox News, good enough for the White House. It used to be the other way around...
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Re: President Trump makes himself an even BIGGER asshole

Postby Krashlia » Wed Jul 11, 2018 7:13 pm

Ah, withdrawing the troops from European shores and leaving allies to fend for themselves... hmm, I'm not eager for this development but I'm curious about how a certain end of the political spectrum is taking it. Imagine wanting something for years, if their online posting are to be believed, only to have this doofus do it.

I also wonder how "those countries that don't have to pay as much for military stuff" are taking it.

Yes, its a perverse curiosity.
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Re: President Trump makes himself an even BIGGER asshole

Postby blehblah » Thu Jul 12, 2018 2:44 am

When Trump makes an ass of himself, even his advisers grimace.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wor ... 40b81d588e

President Trump kicked off his trip to Europe with a biting critique of the United States’ longtime allies, declaring at a breakfast meeting that Germany “is captive to Russia.” Next to him, three of his senior officials seemed uncomfortable at times, pursing their lips and glancing away from the table.

[...]

In the clip shown above, Trump begins by citing German imports of Russian gas as evidence that “Germany is totally controlled by Russia.” NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg remains stoic as Trump lays out his complaint, but U.S. ambassador to NATO Kay Bailey Hutchison and White House Chief of Staff John F. Kelly look uncomfortable. Hutchinson appears to avert her gaze from her NATO colleagues sitting across from her, while Kelly looks down, then shifts his body and glances away, lips pursed tightly.


Oh, but wait! There is a perfectly reasonable explanation.

In a statement to The Post, White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said, "[Kelly] was displeased because he was expecting a full breakfast and there were only pastries and cheese."


Seems legit.

Later at the breakfast meeting, Trump renews his attacks, gesticulating as he says that Germany is “captive to Russia because it’s getting so much of its energy from Russia.” As Trump enunciates the word “captive,” nearly all of the U.S. aides seen in the clip have a noticeable reaction. On his left, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo turns his head away from Trump and looks down at the plate in front of him, while on his right, Hutchinson flinches, straightens up abruptly and casts her eyes toward the president. At the far end of the table, Kelly tightens his mouth.

Kelly “is leaning back, his hands are crossed. He’s kind of accepting it at this point,” Stewart said, adding, however, that it was hard to give an accurate reading of the former U.S. Marine general's attitude without having a thoroughly researched, baseline understanding of what his behavior is like.


Obviously, he was increasingly annoyed as he realized pastries and cheese weren't the appetizer, but the entire meal. Maybe he's trying to avoid gluten and is lactose intolerant?

https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/co ... 67ba6d23bb

Indeed, WaPo, indeed.

EDIT: This could easily have also found a home in the H.R. Mc....fuck it, The who got fired/resigned today thread
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Re: President Trump makes himself an even BIGGER asshole

Postby blehblah » Sat Jul 14, 2018 7:10 pm

Trump wonders, via Twitter, whey Obama didn't do more about Russian election meddling.

https://globalnews.ca/news/4331917/dona ... -meddling/

Trump Twitter wrote:The stories you heard about the 12 Russians yesterday took place during the Obama Administration, not the Trump Administration. Why didn’t they do something about it, especially when it was reported that President Obama was informed by the FBI in September, before the Election?


Trump Twitter wrote:....Where is the DNC Server, and why didn’t the FBI take possession of it? Deep State?


Good question, Donald.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/201 ... ama-russia

According to widespread reporting and Obama aides including vice-president Joe Biden, chief of staff Denis McDonough and senior adviser Ben Rhodes, Obama attempted to formulate a bipartisan statement on Russian election interference in September 2016, two months before the election, but saw the effort “watered down” by Republican Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell.

In a memoir, Rhodes called McConnell’s action “staggeringly partisan and unpatriotic in its disregard for a foreign adversary undermining our democracy”.

After the election, Obama issued sanctions against Russia, expelled diplomats and closed Russian compounds in the US.


What about those sanctions which were passed via a super-majority which you were forced to sign, Donald? You still waited four days, during which you apparently where raging against such a move. In-fact, since you have been in charge, you seem to extend an awful lot of political generosity to Russia. For a start, any other POTUS would shitcan this "summit" which you'll be having with Putin, but not you, sir.

On Friday, senior Democrats called for the Helsinki summit to be cancelled. The White House said it would go ahead and said the new charges contained “no allegations of knowing involvement by anyone on the campaign and no allegations that the alleged hacking affected the election result”.

Trump said he would raise with Putin the issue of election interference but also told reporters: “I don’t think you’ll have any, ‘Gee, I did it. I did it. You got me.’”

A Russian foreign ministry statement called the indictments “false information” and said “obviously, the purpose of this is to spoil the atmosphere”.

Trump is expected to sit down with Putin with only translators present. On Saturday, a group of Senate Democrats urged the president not to meet the Russian leader one-on-one.


In fact, here's a fun timeline of ways that you've accommodated Russian interests.

https://www.justsecurity.org/58108/time ... nt-russia/

Following the same sanctions thread,

Oct. 1, 2017 — The Trump administration fails to meet its first deadline for implementing the Russia portion of the sanctions package signed in August. By Oct. 1, the administration was to have authorized agencies to identify and produce a list of Russian defense and intelligence entities with which individuals and companies would be prohibited from doing business, according to ABC News. Violations would be subject to sanctions. The list of Russian entities isn’t released for several more weeks, prompting bipartisan criticism from Senators John McCain and Ben Cardin: “The delay calls into question the Trump administration’s commitment to the sanctions bill . . . They’ve had plenty of time to get their act together . . . there does not appear to be a significant effort to engage our allies in Europe and to lead an effort to increase pressure on Moscow.”


And as you looked forward to your trip, which has so far included berating NATO, shitting on the UK PM (and then pretending it was fake news when actually in front of the UK PM), and soon meeting Putin, you figured:

July 10, 2018 – Embarking on his nearly weeklong trip to Europe for the NATO summit and his meeting with Putin, Trump tells reporters that discussion with Putin “may be the easiest of them all.”


But, yeah, Donald - Obama. You have dragged your heels on sanctions, hammered the US intelligence community and shat upon the FBI pretty-much non-stop, all while fluffing Putin at every turn, but, Obama.

Surely, had Obama decided to issue a stronger public statement, without the help of Mitch McConnell, you would have dialed your squealing about a fixed election up to 11.

The real question, Donald, is what are you doing about it? While it's interesting to imagine what could have been, it took until now for investigators to gather enough evidence to indite these clowns. There was only so much information available at the time, and as new information has continued to be uncovered, you continue to go out of our way to imply it wasn't Russia. I don't pretend to run a country, but were I you, I sure as shit would be doing everything I can to ensure there is no reason for your adoring public to question the validity of your next tremendous victory, unless you don't care because Russia is on your side.
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Re: President Trump makes himself an even BIGGER asshole

Postby Absentia » Mon Jul 16, 2018 10:58 pm

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Re: President Trump makes himself an even BIGGER asshole

Postby Ceiling_Squid » Tue Jul 17, 2018 12:57 am

"I have great confidence in my intelligence people, but I will tell you that President Putin was extremely strong and powerful in his denial today."

Oh, Donald. All you care about is how strong and powerful a man appears to be, in spite of the evidence. The language he uses betrays the entire beginning, middle, and end of his thought processes.

He's an 8-year-old boy.
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Re: President Trump makes himself an even BIGGER asshole

Postby Crimson847 » Tue Jul 17, 2018 2:28 am

The hot "this isn't what it looks like" take from the right is that Trump doesn't have any kind of soft spot for Russia or Putin, he just has such a massive ego he can't concede that Russia interfered in the election because admitting that would cheapen his election victory. "He's not a traitor", they explain, "he's just such a massive crybaby narcissist that he'd prefer to side with America's enemies over his own intelligence officers rather than suffer the barest hint of personal embarrassment or self-doubt".

This, I gather, is meant to be some sort of comfort.
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"If it were all so simple! If only there were evil people somewhere insidiously committing evil deeds, and it were necessary only to separate them from the rest of us and destroy them; but the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being. And who is willing to destroy a piece of his own heart?"
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Re: President Trump makes himself an even BIGGER asshole

Postby JamishT » Tue Jul 17, 2018 6:47 am

My political twitter exploded today, with people I'm not used to seeing in my feed thanks to retweets and likes:





And various other conservatives lambasting that press conference...









I'm interested to see if this results in anything more than words.
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Re: President Trump makes himself an even BIGGER asshole

Postby KleinerKiller » Tue Jul 17, 2018 8:31 am

I don't think I've ever honestly been more confident for impeachment proceedings before the end of the year than I am now.

This has been the harshest outpouring of rejection from his own party and constituents (including ones who've rarely spoken out against him) that I can recall since he squelched into office, and between the unprecedented global act that Helsinki represents and the fact that Congressional elections are in a few months, I don't feel it would be wise even for these double-talking, opportunistic inflamed assholes to walk it back. Something's got to give, or the nation's standing collapses completely. We're finally on a precipice and I'm prepared for a cushy landing.

At least, I'm going to keep telling myself that over the next few days.
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Re: President Trump makes himself an even BIGGER asshole

Postby Crimson847 » Tue Jul 17, 2018 12:50 pm

KleinerKiller wrote:I don't think I've ever honestly been more confident for impeachment proceedings before the end of the year than I am now.


You willing to put money on that? I'll give you odds if you want.
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"If it were all so simple! If only there were evil people somewhere insidiously committing evil deeds, and it were necessary only to separate them from the rest of us and destroy them; but the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being. And who is willing to destroy a piece of his own heart?"
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