Donald Trump and the aftermath of his presidency

[ComUtoR]

... Interesting to see that he’s slightly changed his outlook on gun laws in the last couple of days..

I don't think it has. The latest has it that Trump is talking about concealed carry for Teachers. Apologies if the words aren't as he said but 'It would make them think twice' Escalation at its best.

How many Teacher on Student killings will that lead to.

 

[najaB]

I don't think it has.

The first part of Rachel Maddow's recent show illustrates this quite well:

 

[Busaholic]

Today I had reasons for doing a bit of research into government and quasi government institutions and bodies in the 1925 to 1950 period in the U.K. and amongst those bodies in pre-NHS days was a Board of Control (Lunacy and Mental Deficiency). I can only assume that this body somehow got transferred to the USA and got subsumed into the President's office somewhere along the way, and one of the controlled became the Grand Controller one long year and a bit ago. Neither rationality nor humanity seem to play any part in anything he says or does: luckily, he doesn't appear to do very much, which is a godsend.

 

[vrbarreto]

I don't think it has. The latest has it that Trump is talking about concealed carry for Teachers. Apologies if the words aren't as he said but 'It would make them think twice' Escalation at its best.

How many Teacher on Student killings will that lead to.

I bet nobody told dollard about the following event

https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-u...ing-gunshot-in-school-classroom-idUKKCN1GC2QY

 

[Up_Tilt_390]

So I've been searching around for reports on the issue, and apparently Trump may have linked video game violence with real life violence. I sincerely hope he isn't going to turn into one of those guys who wants bans or regulations against video games. If he even tries to ban or control any of them I can't imagine he'll get anything passed through. Nevertheless I am still somewhat concerned about the potential for him to try take action, even despite the fact there's no evidence to support his claims. I never call myself paranoid, but I really hope I am in this particular case.

 

[thejuggler]

He now hasn’t joined the dots on the impact of tarriffs on steel and aluminium.

Two issues:

He doesn’t appear to realise that there isn’t one type of steel. Some products need need very specific steel, some of which is only made in the UK. Some imports will be required for Boeing aircraft!

Once imported steel becomes more expensive, US manufacturers will increase their prices to match imported prices to maximise profits. Once prices level out imports will continue.

 

[Domh245]

It's an unbelievably complex subject, nobody knew trade wars could be so complicated.

 

[najaB]

Is anyone surprised that the US/DPRK summit has been called off?

 

[nlogax]

Is anyone surprised that the US/DPRK summit has been called off?

Absolutely no-one. This is just another fail to add to the pile of aborted negotiations and peace efforts.

 

[fowler9]

Absolutely no-one. This is just another fail to add to the pile of aborted negotiations and peace efforts.

Indeed. It did seem weird that after lots of positive stuff the government of DPRK seemed say something along the lines of that if the U.S. don't want to sit down around a table then perhaps they could have a nuclear war. Wild.

 

[Cowley]

Indeed. It did seem weird that after lots of positive stuff the government of DPRK seemed say something along the lines of that if the U.S. don't want to sit down around a table then perhaps they could have a nuclear war. Wild.

Look. We could either sit around a table and negotiate, have a nuclear war, or just have a chat in a couple of weeks time when we’ve all cooled off a little...
What do we think is best (asked via Twitter obviously)?
It’s all completely bizarre.
We are actually living in a version of Dr Strangelove 2.

 

[DarloRich]

was the letter to Kim Jong Un written by D J Trump age 7 3/4?

Is anyone surprised that the US/DPRK summit has been called off?

In fairness to old trumpington ( who did not look well on the TV) it seems the Koreans played him a bit. He sent his secretary of state to Korea in total secrecy to negotiate and sent his chief of staff to Singapore to discuss logistics and arrangements and the Koreans didn't show!

We are actually living in a version of Dr Strangelove 2.

The remake isn't as funny!

 

[Groningen]

That coin that was specially was made for the meeting. Donald Trump pointing forward and North Korea leader point backwards is a bit useless now.

 

[nlogax]

The remake isn't as funny!

The hair and makeup isn't as convincing for this one either.

 

[Smethwickian]

The hair and makeup isn't as convincing for this one either.

When I saw Trump making the 'summit cancelled' announcement on the news yesterday I thought there had been some kind of chemical weapon attack on the White House, as the president really was an even more bizarre shade of orange than usual.

 

[Groningen]

Donald Trump threatens to leave the G7 early and there will be no statement at the end.

It appears that Donald Trump always needs to use 2 hands to drink something from a cup/glass/bottle.

 

[nlogax]

Sounds like there'll be some sort of statement of unity between the other 6 in the meeting, purposefully leaving him out. Naturally he's decided to have a sulk about it and leave early like the petulant orange child that he is.

 

[Groningen]

White House aide Kellyanne Conway and the "Commander of Cheese" remark.

 

[TheNewNo2]

Can the rest of the G7 just form an H6 group?

 

[londiscape]

I wonder if the current ongoing love-in between Trump and Kim could be called...

Orange Juche!

I'll get my coat...

 

[Cowley]

I wonder if the current ongoing love-in between Trump and Kim could be called...

Orange Juche!

I'll get my coat...

That’s actually pretty good.

I’m not sure what to make of today’s meeting of bad hairstyles.
It’s all very strange considering where we were 6 months ago.

 

[najaB]

It’s all very strange considering where we were 6 months ago.

It has been a wonderful PR win for Kim and Trump has achieved next to zero of any use.

So not that strange.

 

[Cowley]

It has been a wonderful PR win for Kim and Trump has achieved next to zero of any use.

So not that strange.

Fake news NajaB.
The Trumpster has saved us all from a bigly bad situation and given us all some protective covfefe.

 

[nlogax]

It has been a wonderful PR win for Kim and Trump has achieved next to zero of any use.

So not that strange.

No. It's way too easy to just write this entire thing off as a PR exercise. I think here it's more of a case of 'a stopped clock is right twice a day' - but I don't know that traditional politicians could have managed this in the same way. There's some real hope in here, certainly a chance to bring this 68 year state of war to an end. Sure, yesterday's pronouncements were wafer thin but in these early stages of trying to resolve dangerous situations, sentiment and purpose matter more.

Also, amongst the usual incoherent diatribes and stupidity during the press conference, the 'aren't I great?' bull****, there was something more real. Granted it was super hard to make out but it was there. Listen to his responses and there were very occasional glimpses of his old self (seen in interviews from the 90s back in his Democrat-leaning days) where he sounded vaguely thoughtful, had rational, considered opinions and actually made sense before (what looks like) dementia set in.

Don't get me wrong. I want him out of the White House as much as anyone..but this is one of those rare moments where I think his bizarre approach works. Sadly he'll just turn it into a 'when I saved the world' moment and milk it for all it's worth.

 

[WelshBluebird]

Has he really achieved much though? There have been similar agreements in the past that North Korea then just ignored. And with this one, they have managed to get the USA (well Trump anyway) to agree to what is essentially a reduction in USA military co-operation with South Korea - I wonder how South Korea and other nations in the area feel about that!

Sure, if this does end up being a road to actual real peace and a real change in North Korean policy (not just foreign and military policy, but also human rights and the freedom of its people) then I will eat my words and congratulate trump for achieving that. But based on history, all I see from North Korea at the moment are just hollow words.

 

[nlogax]

True, I appreciate the history of failures re. previous talks and peace attempts with NK. However, Trump's given Jong-un a world platform which he badly wanted to set the ball rolling. I would hope that Pompeo would continue this momentum. I also think stopping the 'war games' was an important and helpful concession even though Japan has already voiced its objection and concern. Let's see how it goes. A bit of optimism and a positive mindset on both sides can go a long way.

One potential drawback is that this possibly sets a precedent.. 'threaten with a new nuke program and Trump will give you what you want', but I don't see a similar outcome for Iran. Actually, maybe quite the opposite.

 

[ilkestonian]

Is it just me who thinks this is an echo of Neville Chamberlain's "Peace for our time" moment, as Trump trumpets his NK deal, which apparently gives him nothing and concedes quite a bit?

 

[AlterEgo]

Trump hasn’t achieved anything concrete. He made a significant concession in saying he would stop military drills with South Korea and even suggested he wanted US troops out of there completely. Kim offered no concession in return.

The only positive to come from this is Kim’s willingness to take small steps towards being a proper world leader. It may take 25 years for NK to stop being a pariah state.

Overall I think the summit was better to have happened than not, but at present, nothing has been achieved despite the tremendous hype. I believe it was a setup to assist Kim with communicating a change in leadership style to his own people (read about how NK has reported on this to see why I think this).

 

[najaB]

No. It's way too easy to just write this entire thing off as a PR exercise. I think here it's more of a case of 'a stopped clock is right twice a day' - but I don't know that traditional politicians could have managed this in the same way.

If Kim had agreed to *anything* new I might be tempted to think the same, but that doesn't appear to be the case. The commitment to 'full denuclearisation' of the Korean Peninsula is (a) extremely nebulous; and (b) already agreed to during an earlier summit with South Korea. The only other real commitment was to close a missile engine research site but it's far from clear which one was meant.

In return, he got a huge PR win with Trump almost grovelling at his feet:

“Well, he is very talented. Anybody who takes over a situation like [Kim Jong Un] did at 26 years of age and is able to run it and run it tough. I don’t say it was nice, I don’t say anything about it, he ran it. Very few people at that age — you can take one of 10,000 probably couldn’t do it.”

Plus Trump blindsided the South Koreans, Japanese and even his own DoD by announcing that joint military exercises will be cancelled. Not to mention Kim's remark that Trump had agreed to lifting/easing sanctions.

 

[TheEdge]

Do I think this summit will result in a reunification of the Koreas by next Tuesday? No.

Do I think this summit was all the work of Trump and his brilliance as a statesman? No. I think much more it is down to Xi Jinping and Moon Jae-In, massaging the Donald's ego to get him onside is just a good diplomatic play in 2018.

Do I think the importance of the summit can be brought down due to the involvement of His Orangeness? No, I do genuinely think this is a bigger step than previous agreements. Possibly Kim Jong-Un is trying to change leadership style but treating him as a normal statesman and equal to others may be a good start at trying to un-pariah North Korea.

I also must admit I think those jumping on the fact that human rights abuses were conveniently ignored need to remember this needs to be baby steps. First we need to get Kim and NK talking to the outside world in a normal way before we start hoping for proper change within NK.