Trump Thread

[Seamus Fermanagh]

Everything I have read about Wilhelm suggests to me that he and Trump had an equivalent grasp and penchant for subtle diplomacy.

[spmetla]

Kaiser Wilhelm II even had his own Russia scandal with the Treaty of Björkö.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty...%C3%B6rk%C3%B6

He and the Tsar signed a mutual defense pact without the knowledge of either of their respective foreign ministers and said treaty was subsequently ignored due to prior treaties negating it.

Although Tsar Nicholas had signed the treaty, it was not ratified by his government because of the pre-existing Franco-Russian Alliance. The Russian prime minister Sergey Witte and foreign minister Vladimir Lambsdorff, neither present at the signing, nor consulted beforehand, insisted that the treaty should never come into effect unless it was approved and signed by France. Lambsdorff told the Tsar that it was "inadmissible to promise at the same time the same thing to two governments whose interests were mutually antagonistic".[3] The Tsar gave in to their pressure, much to the consternation of the Kaiser, who reproached his cousin: "We joined hands and signed before God, who heard our vows!... What is signed, is signed! and God is our testator!".[4] Wilhelm's chancellor, Count von Bülow, however, also refused to sign the treaty because the Kaiser had added an amendment to the draft (against the advice of the Foreign Office) which limited the treaty to Europe.[5]

[Seamus Fermanagh]

So Trump has the savvy to out-negotiate someone of Tsar Nicholas' skills....as a long-time fan of Tuchman's Guns of August, I cannot say I am much comforted.

[Montmorency]

By the way, speaking of pardons:

They say Trump outruns satire, but with his recent actions and previous reported deliberations we can imagine a world in which the first thing the President does as he wakes up every morning or goes to bed every night is to pardon himself, his family, and his administration - each time anew.

Boom. Make a skit out of it. Throw in a rally scene with supporters groveling at his feet as he places his hands onto them in benediction, cleansing them of all (Federal) sins.

[HopAlongBunny]

The Race Card
Legislated act of socio/political dominance or categories necessary to understanding.
It did (and does) allow for "carve outs" to that "All men are created equal" stuff. Can anything that convenient be a fabrication?

http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opi...095046840.html

[Husar]

http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opi...095046840.html

The hat and shirt of the guy in the picture match perfectly.

Looks like Trump lied about something, shocking, I know:



https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/28/u...ater.html?_r=0

“Our boy can become president of the USA and we can engineer it,” Mr. Sater wrote in an email. “I will get all of Putins team to buy in on this, I will manage this process.”

This is just wonderful...

[HopAlongBunny]

Too bad we can't just write Trump off yet.
Polling, approval, election results...etc.; it's all pretty complicated.
Much will probably rely on what issue(s) bubble to the top come election time.

https://fivethirtyeight.com/features...proval-rating/