Donald Trump - the Megathread - read Mod warning in OP

gozunda

Cirrus Incus wrote: »

Xi Jinping has committed China to carbon neutrality by 2060. They already dominate the litihum ion battery market. China are positioning themselves to be the renewable energy superpower. They might not actually achieve that, but it's more than what the US has done.

Erh nope don't believe a word of it tbh. China does what it wants because it can. At its current rate of fossil fuel energy use - especially coal - its not going to meet reductions and certainly not a reduction in its ghgs emissions- its going to keep going imo.

And see that renewable energy thing? China is using fossil fuel powered industries to make short life renewable energy hardware which they are flogging to the rest of the world. Nice bit of spin from the same lads.

The US - not good either but ghgs emissions actually dropped in 2019. But no ghg emissions decline has largely been mainly led by market forces—rather than Trump policies or lack thereof — in that power utilities are closing coal plants in favor of cheaper alternatives.

Dyr

His refusal to start wars and destabilise entire regions in the Middle East has outraged me. What if the waves of immigrants into Europe dry up?

PokeHerKing

[Deleted User] wrote: »

In fairness, I don't think anyone supporting Biden is in any position to talk about kids getting jobs they may not be suitable for.

Yes but Biden isn't being voted in on the basis of derailing the whole political train. Trump was voted in by people under the false impression he was going be the opposite of the political elite. He's worse.

I mean hes not even hiding it, the nepotism is literally slapping you in the face. Journalists don't need to investigate for it, no pulitzer for the breaking story showing a connection to the Don abusing his position.

He does it in plain sight. GRAB THEM BY THE PU$$Y.

Its insane to watch people vote for him as an anti establishment vote for him to literally do all the things we suspect the establishment of doing behind closed doors but he does in the open. Its comically sad.

Gruffalux

PokeHerKing wrote: »

Y
He does it in plain sight. GRAB THEM BY THE PU$$Y.
.

God yeah, next he will be calling himself the PokeHerKing.. :eek:

Biker79

timetogo1 wrote: »

Is his stance on climate change not bad for everybody? Pulling out of the Paris agreement, replacing the Clean Power Plan, rolling back fuel efficiency standards.

I'm not saying they were good or even sufficient. But they were small steps in the right direction. Whereas he's just going backwards.

Trumps pro-business policies ensure that America will maintain a competitive advantage in developing solutions to climate change.

Currently, China is set to maintain a dominant market position in the supply of solar panels, for example.

The Paris agreements would have excessively stifled US innovation, which would have ultimately ended up counterproductive to its goals.

It's not something your average Guardian journalist will be able to grasp though.

Pa ElGrande

NIMAN wrote: »

So can any Irish resident give a genuine answer to the question "how has Trump being President affected your life negatively".

Anybody who replied thus far has not answered your question.

Donald Trump has been swown in as US president since January 21 2017, what are the negative things that have happened in my life since that date and can I draw a direct or indirect line to the actions of the US president as the cause? Honestly, I can't and I doubt many people in this country will be able to assess the impact on their personal lives (positively or negatively) due to Trump administrations policies until long after he has left office.

Really the only people outside the US who can justifiably claim to to have their lives negatively impacted are those that have have been injured or surviving relatives of those killed by US military activities abroad and those who have lost employment as a result of the trade war between the US and primarily mainland China.

All the recent negative economic consequences to us in Ireland have been the result of our acquiescence to our own governments shutdown orders, this is not attributable to the actions of the current US president or his administration.

machiavellianme

He has ruined Huawei phones and they're one of the better built brands out there.

PokeHerKing

PokeHerKing wrote: »

Yes but Biden isn't being voted in on the basis of derailing the whole political train. Trump was voted in by people under the false impression he was going be the opposite of the political elite. He's worse.

I mean hes not even hiding it, the nepotism is literally slapping you in the face. Journalists don't need to investigate for it, no pulitzer for the breaking story showing a connection to the Don abusing his position.

He does it in plain sight. GRAB THEM BY THE PU$$Y.

Its insane to watch people vote for him as an anti establishment vote for him to literally do all the things we suspect the establishment of doing behind closed doors but he does in the open. Its comically sad.

He is literally showing that he has hired his family. You are right. He doesn't hide it. You are saying that like it's a bad thing.

Compare and contrast that to what Biden is doing with his dealings with his family.

PokeHerKing

[Deleted User] wrote: »

He is literally showing that he has hired his family. You are right. He doesn't hide it. You are saying that like it's a bad thing.

Compare and contrast that to what Biden is doing with his dealings with his family.

I'm not gonna be able to argue with that logic. In the words of Kevin Bridges, enjoy your night mate.

Triangle

NIMAN wrote: »

This is a question I have been thinking about recently, as I listen to the vast amount of anti-Trump media coverage.

People the world over have been going apoplectic about him since he got into office, and our own country is no different.

It appears all the media outlets have no issue showing their bias, be it TodayFM with the likes of Matt Cooper, or RTE with Tubridy et al. Its non-stop anti-Trump.

They tell us how it would be terrible if he was re-elected, and I got to thinking "how has Trump being POTUS affected me personally". And I realised it hasn't, not one iota. OK so he's an a$$h0le and many other things, but my life is totally unaffected by him being the most powerful man in the world. If I was an American or living in the US it would be different, but I don't.

So can any Irish resident give a genuine answer to the question "how has Trump being President affected your life negatively".

After pulling out of the Paris agreement, it made me join the green party. His climate denying and crazy posts made me want to defend scientific evidence.
He also made me question the polarisation that we seem to be starting in Ireland and try to fight against it (I'm not doing so good on this front though!!)

So, I kinda own him a big thank you.

hotmail.com

I'm convinced that some Irish people feel so passionate about Trump that they actually believe he is their president.

A mixture of America obsession and delusion.

Do these people not realise America doesn't give a toss about Ireland and most have little or knowledge of Ireland.

Dyr

Triangle wrote: »

After pulling out of the Paris agreement, it made me join the green party. His climate denying and crazy posts made me want to defend scientific evidence.
He also made me question the polarisation that we seem to be starting in Ireland and try to fight against it (I'm not doing so good on this front though!!)

So, I kinda own him a big thank you.

The science has been forcasting global doom since the 70s, if it was a bus service you'd buy a car.

hotmail.com

Triangle wrote: »

After pulling out of the Paris agreement, it made me join the green party. His climate denying and crazy posts made me want to defend scientific evidence.
He also made me question the polarisation that we seem to be starting in Ireland and try to fight against it (I'm not doing so good on this front though!!)

So, I kinda own him a big thank you.

The Trump coverage has increased the polarisation.

Skyfloater

His undermining of NATO, and active destabilizing of the western democratic alliance against the malign influence of Russia and China is something that does affect Irish people.
For all the pompous talk by some of Irish neutrality, we have been hiding behind the skirts of NATO for the last 70 years without it costing us a penny, long may it continue!

B00MSTICK

Trump has made me lose faith in humanity to a large extent.
Not just the fact that someone like him can become arguably the most powerful person in the world but more-so the fact that so many support him.

I would understand people supporting him if some of his self-serving policies were a benefit to them... someone mentioned their investments earlier, or maybe if you had a very large salary/owned large businesses etc. If the tax-breaks/deregulations was worth $ to you and that was your main driver then its fair enough. You can hold your nose, accept the fact he's an idiot but a useful one...

Likewise if you are in the 2 team hell that is the US system and are firmly in the republican camp there's a strong probability you vote republican no matter what anyway.

Putting that aside, I don't see how people can be so keen to support him.
In short he is a bully, a bullsh*tter, a narcissist and is flat out spreading mis-information constantly. There are literal mountains of evidence of this (much of it from his own twitter account) there's no need to have any allegations, investigations or research into any shady dealings or dig up dirt, he doesn't hide these facts, he promotes it. And people support it.


Basically people are saying someone like him deserves to be a world leader in our society, hence my faith in humanity/society being diminished significantly.

I didn't pay too much attention to what Bush did during his term, perhaps his policies were even more terrible but at least he wasn't such a polarizing, divisive, d*ck.

drogon.

I honestly think Trump needs to get 4 more years. Plus republicans needs to get control of the lower house.

Together they should then go ahead undo/revoke Obamacare, dramatically reduce medicare (removing all types of public healthcare - make everything private where possible), remove pre-existing conditions, make people pay $350 for insulin in the open market etc. undo all environmental protection, bring back clean coal, keep minimum wage at $7.25 (circa €6) and over all make the country a more capitalistic country that it is currently, so if you can't make a profit on a specific thing it needs to be shutdown and closed like the postal system, rail network etc.

This all needs to happen so the elites can make more money, while the poor gets even poorer.

Gruffalux

B00MSTICK wrote: »

I didn't pay too much attention to what Bush did during his term, perhaps his policies were even more terrible but at least he wasn't such a polarizing, divisive, d*ck.

Perhaps you should have paid more attention to what Bush did during his terms because the estimated casualties of the ''War on Terror'' he initiated for vengeance in the wake of 9/11 are at least 500,000 and up to 2 million, most of them civilians. I would say they would have preferred if Bush (and his successors who maintained the wars) was just a polarising, divisive dick. This fcuking bull**** about how the past was not so bad as things are now...

Biker79

People who ' hate ' Trump are either missing or ignoring an uncomfortable truth.

Many people supported Trump originally because he was the opposite of something that is truly awful - the ' Left '.

That's why he was voted in, in the first place, remember? When you support somebody for what they are not, rather than what they are....that's a terrible indictment of how much liberalism/ the left has deteriorated in the past 15 years. Mention this to Trump haters and you won't get much response.

But fast forward 4 years and an unlikely, boorish, rich, slightly eccentric character has managed to utilize his unique skillset and has delivered a good job. It's a testament to how thick-skinned he is.

It's also a testament to how robust the American political system is.

drogon.

Biker79 wrote: »

It's a testament to how thick-skinned he is.

Recall the time he was in a G7 meeting, Macron and the Canadian prime minster was talking behind his back. The guy was so upset that he left the meeting early.

Or the time all the world leader laughed at him during a UN meeting, when he said no other president has done more than he has. Since then he has left multiple UN lead programs.

Or the time, he left a 60 minutes interview cause they were asking him hard questions.

Or the multiple times he has cried wolf when something bad is trending on twitter about him, yet that is the platform he uses to sow disinformation to his own people.

Saw something yesterday about how if Joe Biden is elected there won't be any heating in the winter and no electricity - https://twitter.com/atrupar/status/1322273777984675844?s=21

If people are stupid enough to believe that stuff, fair play to them - 4 more years I say !

Eric Cartman

In reality has had little impact on my life, but if I have to clutch at straws here we go

Positives :
1) exposed that almost all US media is biased, its no longer just fox news with an agenda
2) showed that there are still a sizeable amount of people who havent been taken in by anti white, anti male wokeism
3) It makes it way easier to spot sensitive types, they cant go 5 minutes without insulting him in conversation
4) the memes have been glorious
5) Hasnt bowed down to the increased diversity/immigration agendas

Negatives :
1) people who used to be pretty reasonable have become politically charged by a media narrative and are now actively regurgitating and believing any flimsy anti trump narative
2) it makes conservative political discussion (even non US based) almost impossible to have with the general person , suggest irish tax cuts are good and youre bound to get ‘thats a trump thing to say’ back.
3) first president in my life where people incorrectly assume youre a racist for having anything less than full condemnation of him, definitely has strained relationships with friends of minority backgrounds
4) as a result of him not funneling money to concerns , astroturf movements like BLM and extinction rebellion ... corporate shills like greta thunberg etc... have come to prominence trying to extract the money from private citizens instead of governments

B00MSTICK

Gruffalux wrote:

Perhaps you should have paid more attention to what Bush did during his terms because the estimated casualties of the ''War on Terror'' he initiated for vengeance in the wake of 9/11 are at least 500,000 and up to 2 million, most of them civilians. I would say they would have preferred if Bush (and his successors who maintained the wars) was just a polarising, divisive dick. This fcuking bull**** about how the past was not so bad as things are now...

Yep, like I said I didn't pay much attention (obviously that's an understatement). Appreciate the stats. Hard to know how a different President would have responded of course (same with C19)
Any comments on the rest of my post?

Again if you believe Trump would be less likely to cause wars compared to Biden then I can respect that. My main point is if he was less of a dick it would have 0 impact on his policies but people wouldn't hate him quite as much.

My problem is with Trump the person and the people that seem to support him purely based on his traits. Would you agree he'd be in a better position to be re-elected if he had changed some of his behaviour or even just softened his messaging on certain topics/tweets?

vojiwox

Eric Cartman wrote: »

In reality has had little impact on my life, but if I have to clutch at straws here we go

Positives :
1) exposed that almost all US media is biased, its no longer just fox news with an agenda
2) showed that there are still a sizeable amount of people who havent been taken in by anti white, anti male wokeism
3) It makes it way easier to spot sensitive types, they cant go 5 minutes without insulting him in conversation
4) the memes have been glorious

Negatives :
1) people who used to be pretty reasonable have become politically charged by a media narrative and are now actively regurgitating and believing any flimsy anti trump narative
2) it makes conservative political discussion (even non US based) almost impossible to have with the general person , suggest irish tax cuts are good and youre bound to get ‘thats a trump thing to say’ back.
3) first president in my life where people incorrectly assume youre a racist for having anything less than full condemnation of him, definitely has strained relationships with friends of minority backgrounds

Do people really attribute trump with the discovery of bias in media?

:pac:

Gruffalux

B00MSTICK wrote: »

Yep, like I said I didn't pay much attention (obviously that's an understatement). Appreciate the stats. Hard to know how a different President would have responded of course (same with C19)
Any comments on the rest of my post?

Again if you believe Trump would be less likely to cause wars compared to Biden then I can respect that. My main point is if he was less of a dick it would have 0 impact on his policies but people wouldn't hate him quite as much.

My problem is with Trump the person and the people that seem to support him purely based on his traits. Would you agree he'd be in a better position to be re-elected if he had changed some of his behaviour or even just softened his messaging on certain topics/tweets?

It would be great if he was less of a dick, 100%. He is horribly gauche.

Also I wish he could have had a make-over. It is offensive from an aesthetic point of view to look at him. I saw one picture where he had been photoshopped with a buzz but and a beard and he looked way better.



Course it could be worse...



:pac:

Rodin

sameoldname wrote: »

You'd have to define what you mean by "good"?

Under his leadership has the United States actually improved under any quantifiable metric on which we rank countries?
I suppose he gave everyone a tax cut so I'll give him "Take home salary" but has there been an improvement in anything else that actually matters to society as a whole?
Access to healthcare?
Social mobility?
Education?
Student debt?
Wealth redistribution?

He's kept China in check. Do you think that lot care about others or human rights? They're trying to rule the world. We need a strong USA as a counter balance to that.

Eric Cartman

vojiwox wrote: »

Do people really attribute trump with the discovery of bias in media?

:pac:

Shockingly yes. Before trump Some people genuinely believed that cnn, new york times, the journal etc.. were reasonably balanced and fox bews / breitbart were the only looney agenda driven ones

Biker79

Exactly...its been educational in terms of how the news industry operates.

drogon.

Rodin wrote: »

He's kept China in check. Do you think that lot care about others or human rights? They're trying to rule the world. We need a strong USA as a counter balance to that.

and yet has gone to bed with the Saudi's - The one that murdered a journalist for being critical of the Saudi royalty, not to mention that 15 of the 19 hijackers during 9/11 attacks were Saudi's. But as long as they buy billions of Arms from us, we are okay with it

440Hertz

Rodin wrote: »

He's kept China in check. Do you think that lot care about others or human rights?.

Has he though? I don’t see any evidence of China having been kept in check.

If anything, the rise of Trump, the violence and the projected images of chaos and instability in the USA, the constant inability or unwillingness to deal with facts or reality and undermining science and expertise, the way he has has undermined trust in its democratic systems, the undermining of multilateralism (eg pulling the USA out of the WHO (amongst many other things)), economically sanctioning and regularly verbally attacking US allies and major friendly trade powers like the EU and Canada and the general trashing of American soft power has given China a huge space to grow its global influence.

He’s also cozied up to and idealised authoritarians and dictatorships that espouse polar opposite values to the ones that the US claims to represent and has tended to brand itself as an exemplary upholder of (even if it probably doesn’t live up to them it’s an image it has managed to project.)

One of the single biggest powers the US had was a projection of soft power through cultural exports, an element of “cool” that whole Hollywood & American ideals type thing. All that’s turned into a very ugly, dystopian nightmare at the moment and that has cost the US an enormous amount of influence.

It’s now looking like a chaotic, incompetent, imploding mess that can’t even seem to deal with reality anymore.

He’s managed to turn American democracy into a cautionary tale for many an authoritarian state or political actor.

drogon.

drogon. wrote: »

and yet has gone to bed with the Saudi's - The one that murdered a journalist for being critical of the Saudi royalty, not to mention that 15 of the 19 hijackers during 9/11 attacks were Saudi's. But as long as they buy billions of Arms from us, we are okay with it

When Trump became president, I said one good thing about it would be America's problems and wrongs being brought to the forefront because of him.

America's been in bed with them for a long time. If you see issue with it now because of him, that's a positive.

vojiwox

Biker79 wrote: »

Exactly...its been educational in terms of how the news industry operates.

That's good news I guess.

With this new knowledge will be interesting to see the results of the election now they are armed with this new tool.