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The Dangerous Case Of Donald Trump

Jaguar

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“It’s time to bring our soldiers back home,” Trump said Wednesday.

Newsflash asshole: Iraq is not the home of 1,000 American soldiers, which is where they are now headed after leaving Syria.
 

Firebird 8118

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... Is no one gonna talk about how the administration admitted to the whole “quid pro quo” bullshit with Ukraine aid? :mellow:
 

Totenkindly

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Now they walked it back. *cough*

Plus... "We're not gonna do the world leader conference at my place in Florida anymore, cuz all your douchebaggy Dems whined and complained about it." Yes, that's pretty much what the tweet said. I guess it would have been more amusing two years ago.
 

Virtual ghost

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Touché :laugh:




That is if you focus just on what it was said. However people have forgotten the real story that is the actual "struggle" in Ukraine. Which is the real issue since this is the fight that the pro western forces will probably lose as it stands for now. Because the socio-economic situation in the country is very bad and the place is in disarray. Not to mention that pro-Russian politicians in eastern-europe are actively helping Russia by diplomatically proding Ukraine from the back or by creating disorder in the EU.



This is why people don't understand why what just happened in Macedonia and Albania is so important on the long run. Macedonia managed to form a coalition between it's left and ethnic Albanians in the country that are something like 25% of the population. While nationalists have solid pro-russian attitude. The mission of that new administration was to get country in order and push the whole country towards the west. They even had a decent run but the west many times didn't manage to get pass the decision(s) that would open those countries the doors. Therefore Albania actively started to backtrack back toward dictatorship since ex-communists are in power there and Russia, China and Turkey are luring them with money, deals and what not. What means that those 25% of Macedonian population that are Albanians will mostly follow. What means that Macedonia probably has no chance of making a new pro-western administration. Especially since people are outraged by another major rejection from the west and PM had no choice but to request snap election, since his entire agenda is in ruins and attacks on him are constant.



However that changes everything in the so called western Balkans. Since Serbia that is also known as "little Russia" wants to avoid westernization at pretty much all costs, just today their president thanked Russia for tight military cooperation. However since Western Balkans is basically an enclave inside EU/NATO Serbs are surrounded. But if Albania and Macedonia as well as Bosnia and Montenegro where there are plenty of Serbs stay away from western integrations the Serbs will get enough maneuvering space. Especially if the other countries in the troubled region will have "pro-eastern" governments. What means that this region will become a "beach-head" for Russia and China (what basically already is). However that complicates just about everything, especially since all countries around this region have weak democracies and a decent number of pro-russian politicians and assets: Greece, Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary, Croatia and Italy which is just off the coast. Therefore as eastern centers of operations are settled in the Balkans that effects trade, diplomacy and ETC. After all these countries in western Balkans and around it are all ex-communist countries where that "ex" is kinda half questionable.



Therefore now into play comes Russian ace - the cheap/mass fossil energy. Since there is a mess in Ukraine it is no longer safe to transit the fossil fuels through it, while that transit through it's territory earns Ukraine a fair part of their already small budget for their actual needs. However Russia needs to sell the energy to Europe for it's own income and this is where the master plan comes into play, which is to bypass Ukraine with pipelines. One is going through Baltic sea directly into central Europe and since Turkey switched to Russian side Russia is building pipelines for Russian energy there as well. However since the western Balkans remained unwesternized it is possible and profitable to make the part of the pipeline that will go there as well. The only problem is Bulgaria but the country has a fair amount of Pro-Russian politicians and historic ties to Russia, plus they also need the oil and perhaps some money from transit. Not to mention the mass of Russian tourists in the Summer time that keeps economy afloat, therefore this will be given a go as it seems.


What means that Russian energy will get safely into Europe and that means that: Russia no longer needs Ukraine for transit, it killed a decent chunk of their income that comes from transit and it made countries behind Ukraine's back dependent on their relatively cheap energy. What means that they can slam Ukraine directly at any time. Or they can just drain it and wait that people rebel, decent amount of them are ethnic Russians anyway. So that shouldn't take too long.



However if Ukraine falls (the gray between dark blues and dark green on the map) the dark green will really start to take shape that everyone should recognize from the history classes.






What in the end means that with Russian energy and round up Russian influence, China's mass investments through 17+1 trade deal, traditional influence of Turkey, corrupt politicians and western improvisations it shouldn't be too hard to completely turn the whole ex-eastern block back east. What places export oriented economies in Western Europe into impossible economic situation. So they will either suffer economic meltdown or also be pulled into this. What leaves half bankrupt US without quite a number of allies and dependent on goods from China.




Therefore I am not sure that most American people realized about what all of this is actually about. Or why toying with supplying of the Ukraine is dangerous game for the "free world" and therefore ultra scandalous on it's own. (what the media tend to skip as a factor)
 

Julius_Van_Der_Beak

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It's hilarious that he's going to get impeached. I mean it's not like the bar is particularly high. All he really has to do is perjure himself and that's enough to be impeachable. And if you have him testify, that will certainly happen. This guy is allergic to honesty.

I know he probably won't get removed because of this, but it just makes me happy. It will be his legacy, something even Nixon can't claim. He'll always be known to history as a loser. And there's no way he would be satisfied with that.
 

ceecee

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It's hilarious that he's going to get impeached. I mean it's not like the bar is particularly high. All he really has to do is perjure himself and that's enough to be impeachable. And if you have him testify, that will certainly happen. This guy is allergic to honesty.

I know he probably won't get removed because of this, but it just makes me happy. It will be his legacy, something even Nixon can't claim. He'll always be known to history as a loser. And there's no way he would be satisfied with that.

When I saw Mick Mulvaney trying to explain this bullshit away I was like - Nixon's chief of staff went to prison. Nixon didn't.
 

Doctor Cringelord

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It's hilarious that he's going to get impeached. I mean it's not like the bar is particularly high. All he really has to do is perjure himself and that's enough to be impeachable. And if you have him testify, that will certainly happen. This guy is allergic to honesty.

I know he probably won't get removed because of this, but it just makes me happy. It will be his legacy, something even Nixon can't claim. He'll always be known to history as a loser. And there's no way he would be satisfied with that.

It's funnier because all he ever talked about was winning when he ran for prez. He kicked off his campaign with a speech about winning.
 

Jaguar

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AKCAKALE, Turkey (AP) — Angry over the U.S. withdrawal, residents of a Kurdish-dominated Syrian city hurled potatoes at departing American military vehicles as they drove by on Monday. Defense Secretary Mark Esper said U.S. troops will stay in eastern Syria to protect Kurdish-held oil fields for at least the coming weeks and he was discussing options to keep them there.

“Like rats, America is running away,” one man shouted in Arabic at a convoy of armored vehicles flying American flags passing down an avenue in the northeastern city of Qamishli, according to video by the Kurdish news agency.

Residents of northeast Syria city pelt departing US troops


Make America Great Losers Again, run away from the potatoes!
 

Julius_Van_Der_Beak

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When I saw Mick Mulvaney trying to explain this bullshit away I was like - Nixon's chief of staff went to prison. Nixon didn't.

I honestly don't think Trump has it in him to resign instead of getting impeached.
 

ceecee

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I honestly don't think Trump has it in him to resign instead of getting impeached.

The only way I see him resigning is right before the election with the guarantee that Pence will pardon him for anything/everything.
 

Z Buck McFate

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The only way I see him resigning is right before the election with the guarantee that Pence will pardon him for anything/everything.

I don't think he's this smart. I don't think he'd be able to bear the hit to his ego (and the clear admission of "lack of power" that comes with resigning). I think that a pathological need to feel powerful (enough to be able to keep directing/dictating/overwriting shared reality) will override any ability to rationally calculate how to save face and/or retain as much power as reasonably possible.

I don't think he can tell the difference between the actual truth and what he wants to enforce as truth through willpower alone anymore. Maybe there was a point when he was younger - in which he might have been able to recognize the futility and conceded certain elements of 'truth' he didn't like, just to maintain credibility - but it seems like his capacity to recognize when accepting futility is the only way to maintain a modicum of credibility is gone. He demonstrates this constantly, shamelessly - I don't think he's capable of recognizing the extent to which his ludicrous (and full blown delusional) assertions don't become "the truth' just because he's said them.

There was a study published a few years ago in the Atlantic about how power causes brain damage. In short, the theory (behind the results) was that someone in a position of power starts taking for granted that others will concede to their "power" to direct/dictate/overwrite shared reality, and they lose the capacity to 'read the room' - which is what enabled them to convince others to concede in the first place. But then there were some compelling criticisms of the study - one of which (if memory serves) stating that there was no way to establish that people in power really effectively had the ability to 'read the room' in the first place (and that maybe they actually got their influence from antisocial-type steamrolling in the first place). Ultimately though, I can see how a person might get to the point where they simply forget that they can't actually determine reality for everyone - where they're so accustomed to simply enforcing through willpower (instead of looking at the situation of others and trying to come up with something that can be agreed upon) that that's all they know -and it really seems like Trump is there.

****

I think this is the single most damning thing I've seen so far, regarding impeachment (in regard to the Ukraine stuffs). U.S. envoy says he was told release of Ukraine aid was contingent on public declaration to investigate Bidens, 2016 election

The senior U.S. diplomat in Ukraine said Tuesday he was told release of military aid was contingent on public declarations from Ukraine that it would investigate the Bidens and the 2016 election, contradicting President Trump’s denial that he used the money as leverage for political gain.​

They've been sticking to the idea that there's nothing wrong with asking a foreign power to simply investigate corruption. But if the assistance was contingent on a public declaration about investigating? Holy shit.
 

Totenkindly

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I think this is the single most damning thing I've seen so far, regarding impeachment (in regard to the Ukraine stuffs). U.S. envoy says he was told release of Ukraine aid was contingent on public declaration to investigate Bidens, 2016 election

The senior U.S. diplomat in Ukraine said Tuesday he was told release of military aid was contingent on public declarations from Ukraine that it would investigate the Bidens and the 2016 election, contradicting President Trump’s denial that he used the money as leverage for political gain.​

They've been sticking to the idea that there's nothing wrong with asking a foreign power to simply investigate corruption. But if the assistance was contingent on a public declaration about investigating? Holy shit.

Yeah. Big news here.

If this were any other period of time, he'd be out the door tomorrow.

What's sadly ironic is that I had to do VOD ethics training this morning about this kind of stuff (who you can accept favors from at work, whether you can run private business while on gov time and so on)... and it's now just feeling like one big joke. It's hard for gov employees to take these admonitions seriously when the president and administration violate it regularly. Of course we still have to -- we'll get in trouble for this kind of thing -- but I guess when you're at the top, you can violate the rules with impunity.

Any Federal Employee Giving Himself A Contract Could Be In Jail – But Not Trump

Following up -- now this:
I'm in charge of the Hatch Act': Trump lashes out at chief of staff over potential ethics violations, report says

I mean, you don't even have to dig this stuff up. It's all out there in full view.
 

ceecee

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Yeah. Big news here.

If this were any other period of time, he'd be out the door tomorrow.



Following up -- now this:
I'm in charge of the Hatch Act': Trump lashes out at chief of staff over potential ethics violations, report says

I mean, you don't even have to dig this stuff up. It's all out there in full view.


Yeah that's the real difference with everything regarding this administration. They know it's illegal/unethical. They think by doing it in the open, that makes it less illegal/unethical and/or this behavior will eventually be viewed as normal.
 

The Cat

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Rough time to be in the military :( but then again it was before too.
 

Totenkindly

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Yeah that's the real difference with everything regarding this administration. They know it's illegal/unethical. They think by doing it in the open, that makes it less illegal/unethical and/or this behavior will eventually be viewed as normal.

I used to get angry. Now (well, I'm still angry) I generally just feel sad. I don't have any power to stop any of this from happening (directly) and those with power refuse to do anything... aside from what's been going on lately but who knows where that will go? This should be punishable, regardless of party; but half the country is willing to look the other way.
 
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