Hail To The Chief (Read Mod Warning In OP)

2017, when even trade deals are racist. That's a writer for the Atlantic

https://twitter.com/AlanaSemuels/status/824722131053277184

listermint wrote: »

Its tactic.

We're not allowed to show people who oppose Trump acting irrationally, is that it?

I explained my viewpoint on people in the state department resigning and being let go above - I'm sorry it didn't cause me moral outrage.

el diablo wrote: »

That guy and his followers have some serious "issues". That "he will not divide us" feed is beyond bizarre. :rolleyes:

Stands in front of a wall and chants meaningless rhetoric like a zombie. Will he talk about the drugs flowing in from Mexico killing 50,000 Americans a year from overdoses or the millions of lives and families being destroyed or is that racist ?

These people are utter clowns.

_Whimsical_ wrote: »

I watched all of Teresa May's speech and thought she did great. It was very much the language of diplomacy, it didn't confront Trump or all of his policies directly but it certainly did so indirectly.

I think she was aiming to remind of what had made America great in the past, their pivotal role in international conflicts, and leave them something greater to aspire to than the present isolationist outlook. She stressed how it was the birthplace of liberal thought and that it's doctrine of equality and freedom for all were internationally admired. I definitely felt she was underlining them as they are under siege right now.

She directly warned of caution with the Russian relationship, said she hoped for support for small countries feeling threatened by the prospect of Russian invasion (Trump is on record saying "I don't care about Ukraine"), praised NATO, even praised the EU.

She got a lot in there and it was very well received by her audience. I doubt any of it was what Trumip wanted to hear. I think she raised the tone, hopefully her presence will give Trump a taste of politics on a world stage and what might be expected of him, I don't think he's a man who'll be comfortable coming up short in the face of someone more capable.

He's going to attend a press conference tomorrow after their meeting where he'll have his first taste of the UK press. I imagine it'll be a shock to his fragile ego, they'll certainly be less reverential that the US press core tend to be. It'll be interesting to see how he handles it, so far I haven't seen him confronted on his own level by anyone he couldn't quieten with abuse.

I don't think Trump understands the meaning of diplomacy to be honest , but he's going to have to learn that ruling by sound bite and adulation doesn't work in the long term. It's not reality TV anymore !

"First they came for the Muslims, homosexuals, environmentalists, the arts, scientists, science, the press, Blacks, illegal immigrants, -legal- immigrants, medicine, education and basic human decency and I said nothing because the liberal tears are hilarious!"

Deleted User wrote: »

Trump Strategist Stephen Bannon Says Media Should ‘Keep Its Mouth Shut’

Crazy headline until you read the actual quote.. He's not wrong.

“The media should be embarrassed and humiliated and keep its mouth shut and just listen for a while,” Mr. Bannon said in an interview on Wednesday.

“I want you to quote this,” Mr. Bannon added. “The media here is the opposition party. They don’t understand this country. They still do not understand why Donald Trump is the president of the United States.”

Of course people will look at as some fascist control of the media instead of reading the quote.

No, reading the fcuking quote, he's wrong. And oh yes, so far they've taken a good few pages out of the fascist, or more accurately, the totalitarian handbook.

You see, unlike Trumpism and its proponents, the media contains a lot of adults who can accept when an apparently impossible thing happened. They might ask how we got here, but they accept entirely that that's where the position is.

And they are reporting on what's actually happening. Do you need a list or have you just blocked it all from your mind? Do you honestly just refuse to see the dangers of what's going on? When even the scientists rebel, you've done something wrong.

It is remarkable that a few people in here support it. Those people are going to have to answer very awkward questions about themselves once fascism is locked back in its box for another generation, assuming they have the moral courage to confront what they have supported and encouraged. Maybe once it's all over, and they can rewrite history so they were never -that- much in favour of it..

Jan 20th - Trump's Inauguration. National Park Service shows aerial images of Trump's crowd vs Obama's crowd eight years earlier. National Park Service halted from tweeting (may have been internal concern about a hack, may have been that they were told not to tweet embarrassing photos).

Jan 21st - White House Press Sec gives first press briefing by lying spectacularly and provably on the unbelievably petty point of how large Trump's crowds were. Scolds press for reporting on the topic.

Jan 22nd - "Alternative Facts" are invented by Kellyanne Conway to excuse Spicer (i.e. downright lies)

Jan 23rd - First day, cancels TPP, invokes the Mexico City Proposal, banning American foreign aid going to anyone involved in abortion. First steps against ACA. Also upsets China, albeit deservedly, by saying that the USA will protect its interests in not allowing nations to claim and fortify islands in international waters. On the other hand, makes China very happy by pulling out of the TPP, leaving China the main power in Pacific trade.

Jan 24th - Second day; freezes the EPA's funding and disallows any further grants. USDA [Department of Agriculture] and the EPA [Environmental Protection Agency] are no longer to release "public facing documents", including sharing research (USDA's research arm specifically is targeted. The EPA in general is targeted), releasing fact sheets, papers, communicating on or off the record with journalists or saying anything related to the grants freezes on social media.
Allows frozen Dakota Pipeline to go forward, over the objections of the Native American people living there. They don't want it there for fear of it ruining their water source. It's claimed to be perfectly safe. When asked why it therefore isn't being put through the city in a more direct line, the answer is for fear of oil spills. Oh, and Trump has finances tied up in the Pipeline because of course he does.
Starts process of moving American embassy from Tel Aviv to the "undivided capital of Israel", Jerusalem. This flies against the international order regarding Israel/Palestine as, after Israel annexed the rest of Jerusalem in 1980, other nations refused to recognise it as being wholly Israel's without a negotiation and deal with Palestine. This includes refusing to move embassies from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. This is not going to go down well with Palestinians. I personally have never been particularly knowledgeable about Israel/Palastine and don't really have a "side", but even I see that that is foolishly heavy-handed.
-Spicer answers that he's "Not sure" what will happen to LGBT non-discrimination law for federal workers because "I don't think we're that far through the list of executive actions yet".

Jan 25th - Revokes visas from seven countries. Out of said seven countries and out of all the terrorist attacks on US soil only one have come from any of those countries and he was a naturalised US citizen by the age of two. Oddly enough, Saudi Arabia and Afghanistan are not on the lists. Presumably because SA owns quite a lot of US debt. No idea why Afghanistan, maybe he couldn't spell it.
○ Drafts executive order allowing for the reopening of CIA "black sites" - foreign soil prisons for terrorist suspects to be detained and interrogated without pesky American anti-torture laws getting in the way.
○ Executive order for the monument to vanity , sorry, Great Wall.
○ Introduces measure for massive investigation into "voter fraud" (still saying that he really won the popular vote, and the just under 3 million extra votes were obviously illegals). Ironically, Steve Bannon is registered to vote in two states. Bless.

Jan 26th - Doubles down on torture working. Moderately entertainingly, indications are that Trump's people are using a private server and Trump's still tweeting from an account with a gmail backup and an unsecured Android. World waits cynically for announcement that this is perfectly legal and okay. Announces funding cuts to Sanctuary Cities (although fortunately can't hit them for that much). At this stage, something like fourteen government bodies, mostly to do with the environment, have gone rogue in communications.

Releases plan to publish a weekly record of crimes committed by immigrants (legal or otherwise, the term is "alien").

Jan 26 cont. Trump supporters, including Mr. Bannon, argue that the media should stop reporting on Donald Trump and go sit on the naughty chair because, apparently, we won lol.

In the words of my people, gwan ta fcuk with your pussying excuses about "oh, but give him a CHANCE!" and "What has he actually DONE that's bad?" and "At least he's gotten more done in a week than Obummer did in eight years*!!". Yeah, that's because it's always been easier to destroy than build.


*Whoever said that is a particular idiot. I can't recall where I saw it, but it sticks in my head as one of the most braindead things I've read all week and I have read a lot of braindead stuff.

Deleted User wrote: »

I think that's a reply to my post which I deleted and reposted? I am well aware that stuff affects people's lives and your list is lovely.
I prefer my list though since it's relevant to what I'm talking about.

Yeah, now I just look prescient :P. Oh well, the points still stand.


Your arguments are morally craven and you have given an excellent example of exactly how totalitarian states rise. You willfully ignore the concrete steps taken to focus on review op-eds rather than focus on what he's actually doing.

I'm sure you do prefer your list. It's a much easier thing to argue, although on closer inspection, even that falls down.

They also rise because nobody will challenge them if they're a major economic power.

Note how we all are very quick to take action against or at least verbally condemn human rights abuses in smaller states, even small wealthy states but most countries will end up turning a blind eye to Trump much like they rollout the red carpet for China and several others.

It's even worse than during the 1930s as international trade and particularly FDI was very much less of an issue.