Trump Thread

[Montmorency]

damn it

They already blame the companies, not Trump. Evidence of a cult of personality; We are far removed from economics driven politics here.
https://www.npr.org/2018/06/26/62364...ction-overseas

It's certainly scary to think the only way to discredit Trumpism is either massive one-on-one engagement with boots on the ground (i.e. neocolonialism), or the advent of extreme suffering and privation among the Trump-supporting population.

[Hooahguy]

So Supreme Court Justice Kennedy has retired. President Trump now can appoint a new solidly right wing justice, effectively turning the SCOTUS conservative for decades to come. This is a dark time for anyone left of center. And should the Senate not turn blue this November and one of the other left leaning judges either retires or dies before 2020, that would effectively mean the end of progressive SCOTUS decisions for at least a generation.

I'm sure all those progressives who refused to vote for Clinton in the battleground states are proud of themselves right now.

[Gilrandir]

Badmouthing Harley for problems he caused, or badmouthing Germans and BMW in South Carolina seem like poor rhetorical choices.

I wouldn't call it badmouthing. They really did poorly. In the World Cup.

[Pannonian]

I wouldn't call it badmouthing. They really did poorly. In the World Cup.

All You Need is Loew.

[Gilrandir]

All You Need is Loew.

It was a bad idea (for Germans) to let Russia host a World Cup. Germans never did well in Russia.

[a completely inoffensive name]

So Supreme Court Justice Kennedy has retired. President Trump now can appoint a new solidly right wing justice, effectively turning the SCOTUS conservative for decades to come. This is a dark time for anyone left of center. And should the Senate not turn blue this November and one of the other left leaning judges either retires or dies before 2020, that would effectively mean the end of progressive SCOTUS decisions for at least a generation.

I'm sure all those progressives who refused to vote for Clinton in the battleground states are proud of themselves right now.

If anything, this will be the kick that liberals need. Too long the left has relied on buying progress through lawyers and the grace of Kennedy.

Get the hell out there and vote.

[HopAlongBunny]

If anything, this will be the kick that liberals need. Too long the left has relied on buying progress through lawyers and the grace of Kennedy.

Kennedy's record was pretty mixed.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/...?noredirect=on

With the Republicans picking the new justice, expect someone much more prepared to toe-the-line.
Roe v. Wade is certainly going to be a target; Trump promised that much in his campaign.
Gay marriage/rights will be on the firing line as well; it just falls within the realm of "things cranky old men get really pissed about"
The future is the Republican's to craft; you know, Hillary's e-mails are still missing...

[Montmorency]

https://www.axios.com/trump-trade-wa...76f4e0f83.html

Axios has obtained a leaked draft of a Trump administration bill — ordered by the president himself — that would declare America’s abandonment of fundamental World Trade Organization rules.

Why it matters: The draft legislation is stunning. The bill essentially provides Trump a license to raise U.S. tariffs at will, without congressional consent and international rules be damned.

The details: The bill, titled the "United States Fair and Reciprocal Tariff Act," would give Trump unilateral power to ignore the two most basic principles of the WTO and negotiate one-on-one with any country:

1. The "Most Favored Nation" (MFN) principle that countries can't set different tariff rates for different countries outside of free trade agreements;
2. "Bound tariff rates" — the tariff ceilings that each WTO country has already agreed to in previous negotiations.

"It would be the equivalent of walking away from the WTO and our commitments there without us actually notifying our withdrawal," said a source familiar with the bill.

"The good news is Congress would never give this authority to the president," the source added, describing the bill as

"insane".

[...]

The bottom line: As a smart trade watcher told me: "The Trump administration should be more worried about not having their current authority restricted rather than expanding authority as this bill would do."

By the way: United States Fair and Reciprocal Tariff Act = US FART Act

For fart's sake, can we skip to the scouring flame stage already?

[rory_20_uk]

Trump 101 - attack, attack, attack. Perhaps the Senate will ignore this and restrict things further, but if the fight and air time is over having the sort of powers that his mates in Russia, North Korea and Turkey enjoy everything is in a good place. And of course he can continue to blame the failure to win this "really easy" trade war on everyone else - which is also a trademark.

[Seamus Fermanagh]

Trump 101...I like it. You are certainly correct as to his style Rory. I don't think he understands collaboration at all, simply competition and fall back to compromise if you cannot win outright. Totally one strategy, and not a lot of tactical variation either.

On Trade, in general, Trump hates the fact that we are perennially bleeding cash to the rest of the world, especially China. He thinks our economy is bigger and more necessary to our trading partners then they are to us. To him, that spells power that should be leveraged to get a better deal. All the tariff threats (and so far none have been activated) are to try to force a better more lucrative deal.

I think Trump is underestimating the political angle though. He seems to be viewing this in purely business terms where our economy gives us the leverage and a better capacity to absorb the economic pain of honoring a threat. He believes that our trade partners will therefore blink first. However, they are NOT business people holding political office. They look at the political ramifications FIRST, and I suspect that those ramifications would include, in a number of countries, the following: "Oh, the PM just told Trump to stuff his trade threats up his posterior. Good job!"

[Montmorency]

All the tariff threats (and so far none have been activated) are to try to force a better more lucrative deal.

I don't know what the full spectrum's standing is, but the lynchpins have all gone into effect by now.

US tariffs on steel and aluminum from Canada, Mexico, EU: June 1
Canada's retaliatory tariffs: July 1
Mexico's retaliatory tariffs: June 5
EU retaliatory tariffs: June 22
(More to come)

I'm not going to bother looking up the situation vis-a-vis China, but I'm pretty sure at least one round of tariffs has already been implemented on both sides, with more set to go into effect.

This is a serious situation Seamus, not just rhetoric.


Trump and his supporters believe in the ethic of total retaliation, which is the acceptance that you will never be good enough on your own merits, so the best you can do is create chaos and destruction and inflict cruelty and pain on others.