***Official Political Discussion Thread***

[gry60]

They don't know about the Galaxy Express 999, b

EXCELLENT ANALYSIS comrade. Da Libbies don't know about Galaxy Express 999 B. Da story foreshadowed Da COAL POPPIN B. Rather than a mechanical body we have DAPPER Don. Da last stop for Da Coal Train Express 999 is Da Rust Belt B.

Bro...

Even Ben Barson was in it.

 

[gry60]

http://www.politico.eu/article/people-here-think-trump-is-a-laughingstock/

Many I spoke with said they had made a fundamental mistake of viewing Trump primarily as an ideologue with whom they disagreed rather than what he increasingly appears to be: an ill-prepared newcomer to the world stage, with uninformed views and a largely untested team that will now be sorely tried by a 9-day, 5-stop world tour that would be wildly ambitious even for a seasoned global leader.

“People are less worried than they were six weeks ago, less afraid,” a senior German government official with extensive experience in the United States told me. “Now they see the clownish nature.” Or, as another German said on the sidelines of a meeting here devoted to taking stock of 70 years of U.S.-German relations, “People here think Trump is a laughingstock.”



“The dominant reaction to Trump right now is mockery,” Jacob Heilbrunn, the editor of the conservative journal the National Interest, told the meeting at the German Foreign Office here while moderating a panel on Trump’s foreign policy that dealt heavily on the difficulty of divining an actual policy amid the spectacle. Heilbrunn, whose publication hosted Trump’s inaugural foreign policy speech in Washington during last year’s campaign, used the ‘L’ word too. “The Trump administration is becoming an international laughingstock.” Michael Werz, a German expert from the liberal U.S. think tank Center for American Progress, agreed, adding he was struck by “how rapidly the American brand is depreciating over the last 20 weeks.”

 

[rolaholic]

^Yikes

@thehill:
Chinese firm promises Trump approved green cards on behalf of Kushner company: report http://hill.cm/A6SE3QS

Heh...

 

[EddieDoyers]

I'm not surprised the world thinks we're a joke now

 

[rolaholic]

@thehill:
Comey to testify that Trump tried to influence him: report http://hill.cm/8wFEbsy

 

[harlemtothebronx]

Neil deGrasse on Bill Maher tonight  

BRUH!

Anyone got info on his tie?

 

[Belgium]

http://www.politico.eu/article/people-here-think-trump-is-a-laughingstock/

While this article in particular is about Germany, I'd argue this applies to most countries and world leaders.

Again, I'll bring up the NATO meeting because I find that the most damning of all. It's downright humiliation for Trump.

Da Don will be coming to Brussels for a NATO meeting on May 25th and the NATO officials have made significant alterations to the protocols for the meeting. The protocol has never been altered in such a way before, so this is new.

ForeignPolicy originally broke the story but a NATO official confirmed to reliable Belgian newspaper De Morgen that the protocol changes that were reported are true. However he declined to confirm ForeignPolicy's assertion that these changes were catering to Trump. The NATO officials described the reason for the protocol changes as "diplomatic reasons", noting that this meeting isn't really that formal.

The protocol alterations are:

- Speaking times will be reduced to 2 to 4 minutes at most. Literally at most, because a timer will be used to make sure speakers stay within that limit.

- The strategy discussion that has always taken place after such a meeting has been entirely scrapped.

The NATO official's comments regarding the protocol changes don't make much sense. It's the US president's first visit to a NATO meeting and now it's supposed to "not really a formal meeting"? These protocol changes have also never been done before. No protocols were altered when Mattis and Pence were here for a NATO meeting. It's a rather lousy explanation to deny Trump is the reason for these changes. 

We can assume several things from these protocol changes:

- NATO officials, and key US allies, don't trust Trump to be able to pay attention for more than 4 minutes of speaking at a time.

- They don't trust or see no reason to include him in the post-meeting strategy discussion. Rather than shutting Trump out of that discussion, they chose to scrap the strategy discussion altogether.

The NATO summit includes many US allies, several being key allies. Trump's actions have already eroded confidence in his mental capacity to the point that US allies are treating him like a child. As long as Trump remains president, it can only go downhill from here.

He does not have the temperament or intellectual capacity to repair this kind of damage and his habit of shooting himself in the foot will only make it worse. Instead of "restoring the US' international standing", he singlehandedly turned the US into a laughing stock to international allies in a matter of months. With little to no confidence in the president's temperament, trustworthiness and mental capacity.

On the other hand, there is some consolation in the fact that Pence and Mattis have made very good impressions abroad, particularly with European leaders and with NATO allies. So at least the US allies can count on common sense and proper conduct from those 2, assuming Pence stays out of trouble.

The damage Trump is doing to the US' international standing doesn't benefit anyone, especially given the US' global leadership role. The US and its allies frequently exchange information, counter-terrorism intelligence, ...

If NATO officials don't even trust Trump to listen to NATO speakers for more than 4 minutes and don't trust him to partake at all in a NATO strategy discussion, what does mean for the exchange of information and upcoming global strategy discussions between the US and its allies? Nothing good, that's for sure.

The exchange of counter-terrorism information in particular is very important, and if the world no longer trusts the US to properly handle that information due to Trump's actions, that hurts counter-terrorism efforts for all parties involved.

 

[aepps20]

Bro...

Even Ben Barson was in it.

AMAZING POST AS USUAL. Barson always involved with Da Don B.

 

[-Red-]

Neil deGrasse on Bill Maher tonight  

BRUH!

Anyone got info on his tie?

It's the new Big Baller Brand galaxy edition. $1,297 + $5 shipping. Arrives in time for Christmas.

 

[boris]

I'm not surprised the world thinks we're a joke now

I mean a huge portion of the country saw this coming. 

 

[deleted]

A new poll from Reuters/Ipsos shows that 23% of Republicans disapprove of Trump

Last week it was 16%

 

[everysingletime]

Republicans are a loyal bunch, I'll give them that. If Democrats were only like that, then the wikileaks wouldn't have persuaded them to not vote.

 

[Belgium]

Yikes

http://thehill.com/homenews/adminis...ral-said-trump-has-a-12-second-attention-span

 
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg reportedly said President Trump “has a 12-second attention span,” following a meeting in April.

“The president of the United States has a 12-second attention span,” Stoltenberg told a former senior official, according to a Friday Politico Magazine  report.

The senior official, according to the report, added that the president appeared unprepared for his meeting with the Norwegian Stoltenberg. He reportedly brought up recent events surrounding North Korea, which does not involve NATO.  

A NATO spokesman later denied Stoltenberg said this, telling Politico "the secretary general never said this and it does not represent his views.”

Trump repeatedly ripped NATO during his presidential campaign, complaining it depended on the U.S. too much while many other members fail to reach their financial commitments on defense funding.

During a White House press conference in April, Trump appeared to change his position after the organization began to combat terrorism.

“I said it was obsolete. It's no longer obsolete,” he said.

Stoltenberg, during a  CNN interview, said Trump has always been “very consistent” in his support of NATO.

“For me, the important thing is that [Trump] has been very consistent when it comes to NATO in all my interactions and conversations with him,” Stoltenberg said.

In the 28-member group, the U.S. is one of only five countries to meet the two percent GDP percentage target for NATO’s defense spending.

 

[sonoftony]

If I had businesses in your country, I better get da royal treatment

comment section is questionable but hey, it's an everyday thing

 

[IATT]

 

[elpablo21]

Bannon didnt sign up for this

 

[gry60]

http://fusion.kinja.com/trump-supporters-threaten-to-hang-congressman-who-calle-1795399860

Recorded death threats received by Democratic Texas Congressman Al Green, who this week called for the impeachment of President Donald Trump, are some of the vilest, most racist attacks you’re likely to hear in a good while. (Or, maybe not.) And unsurprisingly, they come from Trump supporters.

Green played the recordings during a packed town hall in Houston on Saturday, where he had come to explain to constituents why he thinks impeaching Trump is imperative. He also wanted everyone to know just what he’s been dealing with in the past couple of days.

“You can decide for yourself what we’re dealing with,” he tells town hall attendees before the audio recordings of the death threats start to roll.

“Try it,” the first caller threatens, referring to impeaching Trump, “and we’ll lynch all you ******* n****rs, you’ll be hanging from a tree. I didn’t see anybody calling for the impeachment of your n****r Obama when he was born in Kenya. He’s not even an American. So, **** you, n****r.”

I hope those butter biscuits taste really good.

 

[RustyShackleford]

Damb those folk sound like they have a severe case of economic anxiety

 

[everysingletime]

I'm honestly surprised that there isn't more reports of open racism like that since the election, tbh

 

[RustyShackleford]

Bannon didnt sign up for this

-Record scatch

-Freeze frame

-Yup, that's me. You Trumpettes must be wondering how I ended up in this situation. Welp, the globalist.....

 

[gry60]

Bannon didnt sign up for this

-Record scatch

-Freeze frame

-Yup, that's me. You Trumpettes must be wondering how I ended up in this situation. Welp the globalist.....

Y'all are exhibiting worrying signs of forgetfulness.

What did you think he was doing at Goldman Sachs, other than making money for the globalists and from global markets?

Look at how comfortable he is. The Trumpettes haven't put 2 and 2 together yet, it seems.

 

[RustyShackleford]

Bannon didnt sign up for this

-Record scatch

-Freeze frame

-Yup, that's me. You Trumpettes must be wondering how I ended up in this situation. Welp the globalist.....

Y'all are exhibiting worrying signs of forgetfulness.

What did you think he was doing at Goldman Sachs, other than making money for the globalists and from global markets?

Look at how comfortable he is. The Trumpettes haven't put 2 and 2 together yet, it seems.

I know Bannon is a "globalist" himself. But he still gotta explain himself to his base, aka the Breitbart comment section

 

[Belgium]

 

[gry60]

Must read.

I remember that being a common complaint about Trump during the election months, how his inflated ego would be detracting from his effectiveness as a candidate.
Here we are four months later and I wish I could say that Trump has surprised me with a change in character. I'm sure he's realized he isn't able to run government like a business, but I just wish that he would put that knowledge into action rather than continuing to run things the way he did in his realty and media-running days where his word was law.
Trump needs to adjust to the thought process of being politician rather than being a CEO. Should he not adjust and Congress gets thrown under the bus for his incompetency, then my vote will not be his come 2020.

My dad is as liberal as they come, but he was right when he told me dozens of time during the election that a tiger doesn't change his stripes after 70 years. Trump's lived as a billionaire celebrity most of his life, so expecting him to have a total change of personality barring some religious conversion is simply wishful thinking.

When they realize the pivot is not happening...

Tasty, tasty tears

 

[Retroballer]

This is probably fake but still hilarious. But I hope it's real