President Trump: Making America Great Again...

[Walter Sobchak]

#satirical rhetorical device

The author is actually arguing against Trump following a dopey anti-trade policy that actually ends up hurting the US and partially helping a China he's always railed against. He's arguing that Trump is clueless in the area of international trade, and not that he actually believes Trump is trying to help China. That's how I read it anyway.

So a Dem opinion writer pens a dopey article and then chooses (or his editors choose) the most sensationalist title they could come up with... nope, that's never happened before.

(BTW... I recommend following Adam Johnson on twitter. He's the kind of reasonable Dem that frank ryan could be.)

[byu71]

So a Dem opinion writer pens a dopey article and then chooses (or his editors choose) the most sensationalist title they could come up with... nope, that's never happened before.

(BTW... I recommend following Adam Johnson on twitter. He's the kind of reasonable Dem that frank ryan could be.)

Is it Friedan playing the role of an expert on trade?

[myboynoah]

Is it Friedan playing the role of an expert on trade?

Why yes, big boy.

Betty-Friedan.jpg

[BlueK]

Is it Friedan playing the role of an expert on trade?

I don't care if he's playing it or just repeating someone else on the subject. The arguments he makes are sound. Going all protectionist on friendly trade partners in the pacific is bad policy.

[Jeff Lebowski]

So a Dem opinion writer pens a dopey article and then chooses (or his editors choose) the most sensationalist title they could come up with... nope, that's never happened before.

(BTW... I recommend following Adam Johnson on twitter. He's the kind of reasonable Dem that frank ryan could be.)

Haha. His current tweet is that Trump has already committed war crimes. Seems reasonable!

[Walter Sobchak]

Haha. His current tweet is that Trump has already committed war crimes. Seems reasonable!

Not Trump specifically.

It seems every time the US blows up a few dozen (or hundred) civilians in another country, we just raise our collective hands and say "Oopsies." Maybe we should stop doing that, eh?

[BlueK]

Not Trump specifically.

It seems every time the US blows up a few dozen (or hundred) civilians in another country, we just raise our collective hands and say "Oopsies." Maybe we should stop doing that, eh?

The change under Trump is that he decided that Obama was too worried about civilians and his rules of engagement designed to prevent it weren't "macho" enough. So now we can bomb away just like the Russians would do.

[Commando]

The change under Trump is that he decided that Obama was too worried about civilians and his rules of engagement designed to prevent it weren't "macho" enough. So now we can bomb away just like the Russians would do.

And given that Obama's gamer tag is Cap'n Drone Strike, that's saying something!

[BlueK]

And given that Obama's gamer tag is Cap'n Drone Strike, that's saying something!

Obama was also the deporter in chief before Trump was. I bet Donald is annoyed he didn't get that title first.

[Walter Sobchak]

The change under Trump is that he decided that Obama was too worried about civilians and his rules of engagement designed to prevent it weren't "macho" enough. So now we can bomb away just like the Russians would do.

Taking the long view, both Presidents Obama and Trump campaigned projecting a foreign policy that was largely anti-interventionalist. In truth, I didn't expect either President (Obama nor Trump) to embrace pacifism. But you don't have to be a pacifist to oppose our drone campaign, in Yemen and elsewhere. You don't have to be a pacifist and oppose our intervention in Syria and Libya. For more than 20 years our country has needlessly been involved in bloody bombing campaigns from Belgrade to Baghdad (and beyond). The public support for these campaigns has predictably swung from party to party depending on if a D or an R occupied the White House. When President Clinton was bombing Belgrade, the R leadership was up in arms. Yet, just a few years later the same Clinton critics were embracing "Shock and Awe" and screaming bloodlust. And so it goes.

There are many interest groups that the public opinion which put Obama and Trump in power must overcome. The worldwide footprint of US bases, obsolete alliances, US-backed protectorates and enclaves that make up our empire is vast... and won't be dismantled in one presidential term. It will take generations. The real enemy is the idea so many citizens hold (and is re-enforced by the our hawkish leadership and its media collaborators) that the US is entrusted to uphold and defend some international democratic order and that the US alone is capable of carrying out such a noble and sacred task. It is a conceited worldview that has guided US foreign policy since the end of the Cold War.

There is a reason President Trump's "America First" message resonates (hat tip: Pat Buchanan). It is because so many are tired of the failed policies of the War Party (McCain, Clinton, et al). And it is why every faction of that establishment has such an interest in maintaining the status quo and undermining any hint of those policies eroding. As such, they (the neocons, the Democratic internationalists, the cold war hawks, the CIA and the national security bureaucracy... collectively known as "the swamp") are spreading as much fear, uncertainty, and doubt as they can. Thus, the invented Russia links, opinion "experts" that state NK can kill 90% of the US population, and so forth. Gotta keep cranking out the FUD to keep the war machine rolling along.

Yet (and I agree President Trump is even worse than President Obama so far), I'm optimistic that the public opinion will keep turning against the War Party in favor of dismantling the Empire... if not by President Trump, then perhaps by the next "America First"-er that gets elected to office, or the one after that.

[Commando]

Obama was also the deporter in chief before Trump was. I bet Donald is annoyed he didn't get that title first.

There's really no way Trump can break Obama's record. So he's going to build the Great Wall of China instead even though immigration from Mexico has been at net zero for years. Oh and I'm loving this new thing of demonizing "illegals" as though Americans are getting victimized left and right, even though a U.S. citizen is three times as likely to commit a felony-- totally doesn't remind me of Hitler.

[Uncle Ted]

Putin is lying...

Embedded Tweet

It was Bush Sr. that said "Read my lips..."!

[Uncle Ted]

There's really no way Trump can break Obama's record. So he's going to build the Great Wall of China instead even though immigration from Mexico has been at net zero for years. Oh and I'm loving this new thing of demonizing "illegals" as though Americans are getting victimized left and right, even though a U.S. citizen is three times as likely to commit a felony-- totally doesn't remind me of Hitler.

States need to be more like Nebraska... They even included voter registration forms in their welcome baskets for the refugee immigrants:

Nebraska Democrats Included Voter Forms in Refugee Baskets
[...]
The Democratic Party donated baskets to refugee resettlement groups on March 18 that included baby formula, dishes and other items. Democratic Party Chairwoman Jane Kleeb said the intent was to familiarize refugees with the registration process and signal that the party welcomes them to the state.
[...]

https://www.usnews.com/news/best-sta...efugee-baskets

God bless those children of the corn.

[Walter Sobchak]

Putin is lying...

It was Bush Sr. that said "Read my lips..."!

It is somewhat pointless to use Putin's own words to discredit Putin's vast conspiracy of using Bernie Bots, Fake News, and DNC/Podesta hacks to make sure Mrs. Clinton didn't see the inside of the Oval Office.

If an appeal to Occam's Razor (e.g. Clinton ran a terrible campaign) can't disabuse the conspiracy theorists of their tin foil thinking, then really... nothing will.

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[byu71]

I don't care if he's playing it or just repeating someone else on the subject. The arguments he makes are sound. Going all protectionist on friendly trade partners in the pacific is bad policy.

Right now I don't care either. When the market starts caring so will I. I also have no problem with those who worry about it now