The Donald Trump Score Card

Why not? He's fat!

 

Right, so how did those people die?

 

The ingenuity of Republican spin doctors never ceases to amaze me, although by now I should be used to it Even though there's not a shred of evidence that Canadians were responsible for burning down the White House in 1812, maybe they coulda been. Who knows? And maybe it was a "joke", har, har. Not exactly a knee slapper! Maybe just a little lame and obscure. And aren't those talking heads silly for making a deal about such an apparent display of abysmal ignorance on the part of the President of the United States, and an apparent accusation against one of our closest allies? Or maybe the President is just a dumbass. He's a billionaire, and CEO of Amerka, and Canada and the rest are just third rate players, and those historians don't stand a chance of becoming billionaires ever, so who cares about them?

 

Trump isn't a self-made man.
He hasn't even invested his money in an intelligent way.

I don't think he's as stupid as the people who voted for him, but he's not bright.

 

Since when did withdrawing troops from foreign lands become a bad thing?!

Man, how I miss the anti-war, anti-empire Democrats of the previous decade

 

Withdrawing troops can be a good thing or a bad thing, depending on the consequences. If it creates a power vacuum that invites expansion by an aggressive state (e.g., China), we may need to decide, as the allies did with the Third Reich, whether to let the Wehrmacht keep on rollin' or draw the line. Or if it invites nuclear-armed North Korea to invade the South in a replay of the Korean War. Do you think it would be a good idea to stand idly by and let that happen, to sell out a democratic ally, and allow one of the most brutal dictatorships on earth to dominate people who put their trust in us? We can fret and wring our hands about Chinese making Uyghurs eat pork, but what would likely happen to the South Koreans under Communist domination would be much worse. Letting things get out of hand can be costly in terms of lives and treasure in the long run. The anti-war, anti-empire Democrats were protesting a stupid war fought by the pro-war Democrats on the unsound premise of the domino theory and the Communist monolith. I don't think the Korean War was stupid, nor do I think the containment policy was stupid. I miss the sensible George Kennan style Democrats who got us through the Cold War without mishap, and together with sensible Republicans paved the way for the collapse of the Soviet empire. These neo-isolationist Putin lovers have their heads in the sand. Knee jerk pro-war or anti-war reactions get us into trouble.

 

The less military bases the US has abroad. The better

Period

What the hell makes you all think that S. Korea and Japan are incapable of defending themselves without US military presence?

Let’s close the military bases in Israel next!

Let’s face it, if president Bernie did this, there’d be mass applause of dismantling of the US military Industrial complex.

Despite what your public school textbooks tell you, America has not always had the moral high ground.

 

Everything we know about military capabilities makes me think that Japan and South Korea might be incapable of defending themselves in combat without U.S. military presence. Neither of them has nuclear weapons. Would we want them to acquire those? Would we like to see a resurgence of Japanese militarism in Asia. Israel is a nuclear power fully capable of defending itself, so closing our base there wouldn't be a disaster--especially since the United States doesn't have one there currently. There probably will be no President Bernie, so speculation about what would happen with him as POTUS is idle. I find it highly unlikely that a seventy-nine year old New York-born Jewish Socialist from the New England would be victorious against anyone the Republicans might put up, and if he were, I think he'd find support for a strong military and industry in this country to be formidable. Many of the blue collar workers he's trying to court have a stake in military spending. America has not always held the moral high ground, but it's done so more often than any other major power in history. I think the United States should be generally true to its principles, but realism defined as national interest, not moralism, should guide our foreign policy.

 

How funny. You hear progressives go on and on about wanting to reduce military spending. Yet here we are, getting riled up over the idea of the US closing down military bases across the globe, so those countries could bankroll their OWN defense budget, and the US would no longer have to subsidize their defense at our own expense. You all are griping like this is a bad thing. This is AWESOME! We are not supposed to be the world's bodyguard, nor do we have a strong enough moral compass as the world's policeman.

The whole "Hitler wouldn't have conquered Europe if the US stepped in sooner," is a flawed and simplistic argument. The rise of the Nazi regime and Germany's uprising had much to do with the aftermath of WWI as much of Europe was hellbent on making Germany pay for everything. Plus, you might wanna look into which American corporations and politicians were bankrolling Hitler's eugenics projects in the 30s.

What makes you think Japan is gonna go back on the warpath without US Military bases keeping them in check? If they did, they'd lose SO many trading partners and across the globe. Not to mention that Russia and China both have their own nukes.

 

In the classic showboat style of Trump, members of Trump's national securty council produced a promo video about Trump and Kim.

Destiny Pictures had nothing to do with the video in spite of its name appearing in the video.


Trump showed Kim movie trailer depicting them as heroes at Singapore summit
by Blair Guild
Last Updated Jun 12, 2018 8:22 PM EDT

Trump showed Kim movie trailer depicting them as heroes at Singapore summit

excerpt:

"On Tuesday evening, the national security council admitted that it had put together the trailer. "The video was created by the NSC to help the President demonstrate the benefits of complete denuclearization, and a vision of a peaceful and prosperous Korean Peninsula," NSC spokesman Garrett Marquis told CBS News in a statement."


the video:

 

Movie Studio Owner Has No Idea Why the White House Said His Company Made the Fake Kim Jong-un Movie Trailer
The owner of Destiny Pictures says his company 'had no involvement' in Trump's movie trailer.
by Sophie Kleeman
Jun 12 2018, 12:34pm

Watch the White House's Bizarre Fake Movie Trailer for the North Korea Summit

excerpt:

"This week, President Trump and North Korea’s Kim Jong-un, the world’s most famous baby men, met in Singapore. There were photo-ops, bizarre pronouncements, and meaningless signed agreements.

Oh, and a fantastically surreal fake movie trailer Trump apparently had made for the occasion.

It would be an odd gesture for anyone to make, but in Trump’s hands, it feels like the sort of thing one might be forced to watch while on LSD for a research study."

 

Why do you think it's "funny" to be concerned about excessive military spending and about an abrupt dismantling of the global system that's contributed to the global balance of power for over half a century. I don't think we are supposed to be the world's policeman or body guard, but we live in a rough neighborhood, and if we rely on others to do the work for us, we'll regret it. All your "pie in the sky" libertarianism and your handwringing about the Uyghurs will be a distant memory on a planet in which Russia and China call the shots. I think it's quite reasonable to expect other countries to pull their own weight, but we should make damned sure that they are able to do so before we pull the plug. I think our "moral compass" has been badly damaged, but we don't need to let Trump and white nationalists smash it completely. BTW, part of your confusion may come from your simplistic monolithic concept of "Progressives" and what "They" think.

Speaking of "flawed and simplistic", your analysis shows faulty logic as well as lack of understanding of the Wehrmacht. The causes of Hitler's rise are irrelevant to the problem of dealing with him after he rose. Fueled by their sense of grievance, the Nazis built up a war machine the likes of which the world had never seen before. Hitler gave Europe a run for its money, and Japan did the same in Asia. The interesting question is how it would have all turned out if there had been no Pearl Harbor and Isolationists had persuaded us to stay out of it all. Fortunately, we will never find out, because our "greatest generation" belatedly rose to the occasion.

The fact is that we don't know what would happen with a resurgent Japan. But nuclear proliferation makes me nervous. North Korea has already fired a shot across Japan's bow, and Kim jong un is an unstable nutjob, regardless of what Trump (another unstable nutjob) says about him. Nations that feel threatened lash out, and given the possibility of miscalculation (remember the false report that Kim had launched a missile at Hawaii) the fewer nukes the better.

 

I know that most of us really hate Trump (including me), but it's really hard for me to look at this summit as a bad thing. I hate admitting that he is right about anything because I think he's definitely a criminal, definitely a scumbag and has done a lot of unforgivably terrible things... but this is not one of those things.

Sure, it could end up being meaningless and all of the good will could fall apart, but a lot of what I am reading from left-wing sources, while not as biased as FOX, as if they are just wayyy too caught up in their anti-Trump movement to recognize when they don't actually KNOW how this will go, and instead default to pessimism simply because they refuse to believe that Trump's willfully stupid, hapless, direct approach might actually work in this situation. This article pretty much sums up my perspective on the issue:

A Victory for Sanity in World Politics

When Trump was making threats about nuclear war it was obviously terrifying, but the outcome seems to be mostly positive here. Seriously, trying to bring NK to their knees, rob them of all dignity, treat them like a menace... was probably never going to work in terms of actually creating long-term change. What exactly is the harm in giving them the recognition they crave? Maybe it is ethically questionable to make peace with a brutal regime, but declaring them part of an axis of evil, ignoring them, placating them, etc... wasn't going to improve the human rights situation that everyone suddenly seems so concerned about, and all it seemed to have accomplished was driving them further into themselves, and of course, the nuclear weapons program.

Reunification, denuclearization, etc... aren't going to happen overnight. If reunification is even possible, it will take decades. To be honest, Trump's strategy here immediately seems so obvious that it's a wonder it hadn't been tried before... give them the respect they crave, let them know that it is always possible to blow the opportunity they are being given, and then slowly require them to transform from a brutal regime to part of the global community. KJE might be brutal, but he isn't ISIS... he's basically still fighting the ideological war from the 1950s. There is at least a nation there... and it has order. The thing about dictatorships is they can become whatever their leaders want them to be in a very short period of time.

Does it even make sense that KJE would continue making nuclear threats after this? Does anyone really think he's a Bond villain bent on world domination? That he wants to take over the South? If there's an open channel of communication that results from this, and the outside world finally comes to understand his intentions, then even that is better than what we had before.

This is actually an instance where the fucking warmongers didn't get their way. I guess if the end result of a military withdrawal is that China ends up becoming the main influence over that part of the world, then at least we didn't end up in a nuclear war.

At the same time, NK is extremely militaristic... but I've always thought that that was sort of part of their pariah status-- the only way they could preserve what they see as their way of life is to advertise themselves as strong and having a lot of weapons to sell to the right buyers.

 

I don't think KJU is an unstable nutjob at all.
I think he's been forced into a game that he knows how to play, but I don't think he necessarily loves playing it.

I definitely don't think nuclear proliferation is good any more than I think the situations with guns in the US is good (it's basically the same thing, and eventually someone would use their nukes)... but I am not sure that that would be the end result.

Time will tell, I suppose.

 

Didn't fly too well with that Korean guy; you know, the little rocket man.

 

One died in a Texas ICE holding cell. That's after being held for 17 months and separated from his family. The other was sent to Egypt and died there in detention. Both were sent to their fate by the Trump administration. The one who died in Egypt did not have a Muslim name. I don't know why Jeff Sessions would send him to that country?

 

Many people are blinded by (justifiable) Trump hatred and that clouds their vision, and I think the potential progress with North Korea is moderated by a natural reactiun to those that want to award the Nobel Prize after a single meeting. North Korea has pledged denuclearization on 12 other occasions. It is a little tough to be overly optimistic about the 13th. That's not anti-Trump, that's just history, It's hard to know what their end game is. They did get one things they've been desperately trying to get for decades - legitimacy. The non-specific concessions both sides agreed too is an example of the war mongers getting their way, but again, we don't know the US end game either, and the reports of the Russians suggesting the US concession of ending war games is a little troubling. It's also a little troubling to read Pence's comments that we will continue "exercises" but not "games." What does that mean? I do think this has potential to be hugely positive, but it's just impossible to know at this point

 

Whatever Trump accomplishes with North Korea, it doesn't change the fact that he is denying climate change and empowering racists and bigots and fascists everywhere, also trade wars and undermining democracy, etc. etc. It would be an abomination to award him a prize for the one good thing he has done as if it balances out the damage he is doing (it doesn't).

It's hard to say what the summit will lead to because nobody actually understands what KJU wants... but the way I see it he has been given a huge opportunity by Trump and I am not sure that there is any upside to blowing it.

 

I totally agree. Any progress with NK doesn't change any of his other issues and for sure KJU has been given a huge break here.

 

I guess you're dismissing as fake news reports of his purges of members of the North Korean old guard since he took power in 2011, including the assassination of his estranged bother in Malaysia with a lethal nerve agent. . In 2015, South Korea said Kim Jong Un ordered his defense chief, Hyon Yong Chol, executed with an anti-aircraft gun in front of hundreds of spectators at a military shooting range. South Korea also claims that in 2016 Kim ordered the execution of Vice Premier Kim Yong Jin for sitting in a "disrespectful" way during a meeting of the North's parliament. Of course, South Korea isn't an unbiased source when it comes to North Korea. Kim looked well fed at the Singapore Summit. Estimates of North Korean deaths from starvation range into the millions. A UN Human Rights Council report in 2014 found that up to 120,000 people imprisoned in North Korea's four major political prisons were subjected to “arbitrary detention, torture, executions and enforced disappearance to political prison camps, violations of the freedoms of thought, expression and religion, discrimination on the basis of State-assigned social class, gender, and disability”. Whether or not Kim loves playing the game or has been forced into it, it's a bloody game and we shouldn't minimize its brutality.

I definitely agree that nuclear proliferation is a bad thing, and I think talking to Kim is a good thing. He had a night on the town in Singapore, and who knows--he might defect! Trump just scrapped a solid de-nuclearization agreement with Iran, and now tweeted that "There is no longer a Nuclear Threat from North Korea” after one meeting with no specifics. Pardon me for being skepical.