Donald Trump the Megathread part II - mod warnings in OP, Updated 18/03/25

Except the US hasn't paid hundreds of billions, if you accept that lie, Lord knows what other lies you base your uninformed opinion on.

Starmer presides over a country that saw fit to give someone a conviction for a 'hate crime' for making a video of his pug doing a Nazi salute. The legal protection covering free speech in the US is far stronger than in any country in Europe, and Europe is rapidly getting worse in this regard. Vance was perfectly right to call it out, and Starmer had no answer to him.

Ah jog on. From the story you linked:

Fining Meechan £800, the sheriff told him: "The centrepiece of your video consists of you repeating the phrase 'Gas the Jews' over and over again as a command to a dog which then reacts.

Wouldn't have worked....it was an ambush from start to finish

They wanted it to be a bust up from the get go and set it up so that was what was most likely to happen.....

They were performing for their supporters.…I only hope those supporters are simply disgruntled and misled US citizens that vote for them don't include nefarious actors....I hope trump and his cadre aren't bought and paid for by Putin et al or even worse they have something on him/them he feels he can't have come out...the only other option is that along with being a repulsive narcissistic, petulant toddler made out of blubber in a shell made entirely of fake tan and deep insecurity he's also a moron....I hope that last bit is as unlikely as I think it is.

If its just placating the base, albeit in a most public, unedifying and frankly embarrassing for the country as a whole kind of way (I wouldn't have been overly surprised if they were critical of zekensky for using words that were too big yesterday) ....then perhaps the support will happen to some degree when the news cycle moves on to the next clown show involving the orange clown.

I will be shocked if @Nermal acknowledges the "gas the jews" part of this.

Of course I acknowledge it. I'm making that point that in the US, this man would not have found himself with a criminal conviction for what was clearly a joke in poor taste, but in the UK he did. Vance's criticism was absolutely warranted.

Similar to the Vance speech in Munich, i took the time to watch the whole 20 minutes before I made an opinion on it.

I don't particularly like Trump, but equally I don't have rabid hatred for the man. At some point last summer, while Biden was still in the race, RTE/Todayfm/Newstalk played a short clip of something controversial that Trump said at a rally. Thing is, I had heard a longer version on X previously and the clip the Irish media played was edited and completely missed the context. From that point I realised you could not take anything our media says about Trump at face value.

You're the one making up stories with zero links.

Link your facts. I get you don't enjoy getting called out but someone had to do it.

Trump could and should make more demands of Russia and Im sure he will.

How? What leverage does he have as things stand? Putin is currently showing no interest in any form of compromise. Looks to me like Putin will only show any interest in cutting a deal if his forces are sent into reverse on the battlefield…

Vance is part of an administration that banned the AP from the White House press pool because they still refer to it as the Gulf of Mexico

He can get fucked lecturing anyone on free speech

Trump could hold out for a better deal.

The Russian economy is 1/14th the size of the US economy, and its running its economy on a war footing that isnt sustainable and will lead to a credit crunch and inflation.

Its got a manpower crisis, and whilst Russia is winning its winning at a glacial rate.

So there is room for leverage.

The Wests approach to Ukraine isnt working so diplomatic negotiations are the logical play.

I laugh at people posting "the full video" as if that makes things any better. It's not the gotcha you think it is. Vance ran his mouth as usual like the moron he is and once again was put back on his box but like most bullies they don't like being wrong and did the political equivalent of tugging on their testicles and crying.

They are small little men with an inflated opinion of their intelligence.

Utter nonsense.

“The war cannot be won” is the cry of Putin apologists. Of course it can be won. Winning is outlasting Russia, who’ve put all of their energy into a war that was supposed to last less than a week.

Trump could cripple Russia by simply supporting Ukraine with arms. It would not cost one American life, it’s should be considered a dream scenario for any US president - but Trump has bent over backwards for Putin for some reason, and has not asked him for a single concession for his invasion of Ukraine.

Zelensky is being eminently reasonable, he’s working tirelessly for support in defence of his homeland, and for democracy and self determination. Thankfully this along with Trumps craven abandonment of Ukraine looks to have focused Europe and I expect we will make up for any shortfall in US support once arms production ramps up.

Trump and Vance are traitors to democracy and history will not look on them kindly.

"The logical play is a peace deal which is fair to both sides, renew diplomatic relations with Russia, and get Nato to reduce their aggressive expansion.

Its unfortunate that Ukraine might get the bad end of the deal but they have the much weaker hand and you have to cut your losses sometimes.

Theres still a long way to go in the negotiations, Trump could and should make more demands of Russia and Im sure he will."

The "It's a game of cards" approach. I like it.