The Donald Trump Score Card

Trump's trade war promotes his America First policy.

 

Trump pushes U.S. closer to once-unthinkable trade war. Wall Street’s battered and it could get a lot worse
By Jeffry Bartash
Published: July 3, 2018 2:42 p.m. ET

Trump pushes U.S. closer to once-unthinkable trade war. Wall Street’s battered and it could get a lot worse

excerpt:

"Yet economists warn the worsening trade disputes are inviting big trouble in the second half of 2018, particularly since the White House appears bent on expanding the fight to an ever-increasing number of fronts. First it was China. Then Europe, Canada and Mexico. South Korea and India have also been roped in.

Economists at the investment bank Deutsche Bank estimate a full-blown trade war could shave off 1 percentage point from gross domestic product, the official scoreboard for the economy.

It might not sound like much, but the U.S. has barely grown an average of 2% a year since the Great Recession ended in mid-2009. A trade war could thus cut growth in half, reduce hiring and spur businesses to postpone investments.

“Not quite recession inducing, but clearly moving the risks in that direction,” Deutsche Bank economists Peter Hooper, Matthew Luzzetti and Brett Ryan contend.

So far most American consumers have been spared. Retaliatory tariffs on U.S. goods have just gone into effect and it will take awhile for price increases to filter into the broader economy.

But price increases are almost certainly coming."

 

If you become a Democrat I'll let you live in my Hippy Commune with a whole bunch of cool people!

 

Trump's trade war is causing U.S. based companies that export significantly such as Harley-Davidson to move operations outside of the U.S. to avoid retaliatory tariffs while it's giving incentive to foreign-owned companies to start operations in the U.S. to avoid U.S. import tariffs. Such a policy sounds like the opposite of America First.

Foreigners First. But can we just say, America Second?

In the style used in his many ego battles, Trump has admitted to his self-contradictory policy by taunting Harley-Davidson with a tweet that he is supporting its competitors, many of which are likely to be foreign-owned companies that export to the U.S. that would benefit by moving some of their operations to the U.S. to avoid import tariffs

Even more twisted of Trump was his visit to a rally and fundraiser in Wisconsin in June 2018 for the foreign-owned Foxconn plant to be built in the district of U.S. Speaker of the House Paul Ryan (known as Trump's subordinate) which is being subsidized with as much as $3 billion of Wisconsin taxpayer money (subsidies that Trump complains are unfair trade practices when other countries use them and deserving of the U.S. imposing import tariffs onto those countries). Trump remained quiet about Harley-Davidson whose headquarters was just a few miles away from the event.

 

I'm not really the commune type, but thanks

 

You base your political allegiances on whether or not a few people were mean to you?

 

Yeah. I clearly have nothing in common with Democrats.

You've done your part to spoil my perception of them.

Good job!

 

And now we see why Trump was elected.
Also why democracy doesn't work.

 

You say that like you know anything about me, my politics, or who I voted for.

 

Yes, it says they're removed from the scene and don't have to suffer the immediate consequences of his actions.

 

Yes.

 

The colleges , collectives of thoughtful experts , were advised by thoughtful experts who
were selected by thoughtful experts , and how is there no end to the advancement of expert
advice ?

 

he is ruining every institution in a very short period of time...a true shock and awe for the nation

 

"It's probably aliens" - Giorgio A. Tsouklos

 

Especially when Trump is trashing our NATO allies, and has nothing but nice things to say about Vlad? I mean really, what gives? Aliens, or something less exotic?

 

Michael Cohen to Trump: Please Buy My Silence
by Eric Levitz
June 20, 2018 9:17 am

Michael Cohen to Trump: Please Buy My Silence

excerpt:

"Mr. Cohen has frequently told associates in recent months he is frustrated that the president hasn’t offered to pay his legal fees, which he has said are “bankrupting” him, according to one of the people. He has said he feels that Mr. Trump owes him after his years of loyalty to the former real-estate developer, whom he served for nearly a decade at the Trump Organization.

The Trump campaign has already spent nearly $230,000 on Cohen’s legal expenses related to the special counsel’s investigation into Russian interference. But it has not shelled out for the probe into Cohen’s business dealings — some of which happen to involve both Donald Trump and alleged money-launderers."

 

Michael Cohen Deletes Trump From Twitter Bio, Fueling Flip Rumors
by Adam K. Raymond
July 4, 2018 2:33 pm

Michael Cohen Deletes Trump From Twitter Bio, Fueling Flip Rumors

excerpt:

"In a subtle move that was not missed by Cohen’s closest watchers, Trump’s former “fixer” declared his independence from the President by deleting Trump’s name from his Twitter bio. The bio previously said, “Personal attorney to President Donald J. Trump.” Now it’s blank.

He also changed his banner image from one of him standing at a podium bearing the Trump campaign logo to a generic picture of an American flag."