US Politics Thread 2016-2020

[Mr Quatro]

Originally Posted by mapuc

Many say Trump lost this fight.

Did he ? or did he just felt pity over his people the employees that have been without money for weeks.

And for how long will this "Opening of the business" be before the next lockdown happens.

Markus

It's not over yet ... Trump said that he won't take less than the 5.7 billion that he has already requested, but I think that Trump is bluffing. He would probably take half now and half later just to prove that the wall works in order to get the other half later. Probably around National Election time. One way or the other Trump is going to get his wall and one more thing don't trust the news media's opinion polls ... They were wrong in 2016 and they haven't gotten any better.

[Onkel Neal]

Someone tell me, why has it taken Trump 2 years (and after the Dems won back the House) for him to start the wall?

[August]

Originally Posted by Onkel Neal

Someone tell me, why has it taken Trump 2 years (and after the Dems won back the House) for him to start the wall?

He can't do everything at once and the GoP leadership haven't exactly been supportive of his agenda.

[August]

Originally Posted by mapuc

This is an If-question.

If Trump declare State of emergency

Will this be the first time An American President does this in peacetime or wartime ?
I have a little knowledge and I can't remember any President having declared State of emergency.

Many President have declared emergency in some of the states, when hurricanes have hit the area.

Markus

Here you go:

Since that first order in 1979, American presidents have declared 58 national emergencies. According to the Brennan Center's running count, 31 of these are still in effect—including the ban on Iranian property, which was extended in November of 2018. In other words, the country has been in some state of emergency for almost four decades.
These 58 national emergencies include declarations over dealings with Yemen, Syria, and North Korea, among others; sanctions against an array of terrorist groups, including one after 9/11; and various orders concerning nuclear weapons, diamonds imported from Sierra Leone, and the 2009 swine flu epidemic. Most recently, George W. Bush declared 13 and Barack Obama 12, most of which are still in effect, according to CNN.
So far, the president has declared three national emergencies under the National Emergencies Act, according to the Brennan Center. The first was in December of 2017, when Trump sanctioned 13 people for human rights abuses and corruption using an executive order. Many were generals and heads of state accused of ordering executions and mass murder, including ethnic cleansing of the Rohingya Muslim minority in Myanmar.
The second came in September of 2018. Criticized as too broad at the time, the order sanctioned people found to be involved in hacking and social media campaigns for the purpose of influencing elections, Politico reports. In November, Trump declared a third national emergency over Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega's regime and its "use of indiscriminate violence and repressive tactics against civilians."

https://psmag.com/news/the-united-st...of-emergencies

[FullMetalADCAP]

Originally Posted by Onkel Neal

Someone tell me, why has it taken Trump 2 years (and after the Dems won back the House) for him to start the wall?

As far as the wall goes, Trump has always maintained this was a bipartisan issue, in which Democrats had previously expressed they wanted to build a wall or barrier in the past. Even Nancy Pelosi had said this needed to be done long before Trump ever took office, back under the Obama regime.

I believe he has waited until the Democrats won back the House to get their approval for the wall so that it would be a bipartisan agreement - thus, less likely that the Democrats, should they ever win back the presidency someday, will tear the wall down out of spite towards the Republicans for having put it up without their approval.

[eddie]

Originally Posted by Onkel Neal

Someone tell me, why has it taken Trump 2 years (and after the Dems won back the House) for him to start the wall?

Its all smoke and mirrors Neal, just look up the changes going on why the country has been bogged down by this nonsense. Check all the changes going on with regulations at the EPA, Dept Of Education run by DeVoss, who has no business being the head of that department. Changes to the banking laws, all being done while the country is focused on the stupid wall. But it does make you wonder why in his first 2 years when the Republicans controlled the House, Senate and White House, that Trump couldn't get it done then.

[FullMetalADCAP]

Originally Posted by mapuc

Many say Trump lost this fight.

Did he ? or did he just felt pity over his people the employees that have been without money for weeks.

And for how long will this "Opening of the business" be before the next lockdown happens.

Markus

The Democrats want to believe they've won with Trump ending the shutdown. I've read feminist articles claiming that a man (Trump) lost to a woman (Pelosi), even comparing Trump to a raging out of control bull and Pelosi as an in-control highly skilled feminist female matador who has bested him, trying desperately (and failing) to stoke the idea that women are somehow smarter and better than men in leadership roles.

I think they are highly delusional and desperately seeing what they want to see from it.

While at first it makes Trump appear to have lost to the Dems, namely to Pelosi since she is the House speaker, the reality is this - the Dems are in a very bad spot right now. The ball is in their court and in this case, that's not good for them at all. Here is why...

If the border wall isn't approved before the 3 week deadline, then there will be no doubt in anybody's mind that the Dems are simply refusing to work with President Trump on something that they themselves previously said they wanted built, back under the Obama administration, and they will be blamed entirely for another government shutdown if they do not approve it by the deadline. Not good for the Dems. Not good at all!

It's also a catch 22 situation for the Dems...

If the Dems approve the border wall during the 3-week shutdown, then they will be accused of the previous government shutdown because they could have, and should have, approved the funding before that ever happened. So, those poor 800,000 federal employees the Dems talk about will only have the Dems to blame for why they went all those weeks without a paycheck, while Nancy was playing hardball with Trump - ultimately losing to him in the end no matter what.

So much for feminist Matador Pelosi, either way she goes now. Plus, the wall will be going up, either way she chooses. In short, the Dems shot themselves in their own butts on this and have nobody to blame but themselves for it. The border wall was always a bipartisan issue. They should have never made it a partisan issue by playing hardball with President Trump out of spite and their hatred of him. He is a master strategist and he's now caused the Dems to paint themselves into a corner. No way the Dems can get out now without stepping in their own paint.

[eddie]

We all know where McConnell's head is at these days

[FullMetalADCAP]

Originally Posted by eddie

We all know where McConnell's head is at these days

I don't know where McConnell's head has been, but we all know where YOUR head has been eddie - searching for nude images of the President's bum with another man in the picture!? (Gasp)

[Catfish]

^ ah yes, back to peaceful discussion. ^ Is this a silly hat contest?

[ikalugin]

Well, seems like Bolton had "5000 troops to Colombia" on his pad.

[Rockstar]

Originally Posted by ikalugin

Well, seems like Bolton had "5000 troops to Colombia" on his pad.

Russia is gonna take it on the jaw again, if Maduro goes they probably won't get their 11 billion in loans back. Chavez and Maduro destroyed their own oil industry. A new government will bring about Russia's worst fears. The U.S. will be allowed back in to help manage and grow their oil industry again. Bye bye


You know, I've been to Venezuela. It WAS a beautiful place to visit and relatively safe no matter where you went. There was food on the table, people had homes and money to spend. Then comes along Chavez and Maduro with the backing of Russia and its military hardware and China. And guess what it ALL goes to hell in a hand basket in a few short years. From the richest country in South America, the largest oil resources in the world to unimaginable inflation, food riots, death, suffering, hunger, a completely collapsed economy and oil industry.

Go ahead try to convince me that capitalism and the United States of America is the bad guy. We may not get it right every time but it sure as hell was a lot better for Venezuela when we were business associates.


If we did intervene militarily it would benefit the people more than the triad of asshats

[ikalugin]

Venezuela is not a key Russian interest so we can be quite flexible in our strategy. It is amusing to see how you appear to be emotionally invested in this conflict though.

And I doubt that US humanitarian intervention in Venezuela would bring anything other than a decade of civil war and increased misery for the locals.
As it have been said, the path to hell is paved with good intentions.

P.s. I am not a socialist so I am not sure why you went for the evil capitalism angle.

[Rockstar]

Its not emotional really. I think Russia has a great deal of interest in Venezuela. If the U.S. is back in Venezuela of which there is no guarantee that will happen, and begins to help Venezuela manage their own oil industry and increase output and generate something of a better life for themselves. A drop in the price of oil might occur. Russian oil wouldn't like that at all.

Plus Russia is in our backyard, not a good place to be. Unless they're willing to back it up Russia, China and Maduro needs to go bye bye. And sending two Tu-160 bombers to Venezuela just isn't really going to scare us off.

[ikalugin]

Its not emotional really. I think Russia has a great deal of interest in Venezuela. If the U.S. is back in Venezuela of which there is no guarantee that will happen, and begins to help Venezuela manage their own oil industry and increase output and generate something of a better life for themselves. A drop in the price of oil might occur. Russian oil wouldn't like that at all.

Or the humanitarian intervention could fail, with US getting mired in another endless war for decades.
You can always look at this situation from different angles.

Plus Russia is in our backyard, not a good place to be. Unless they're willing to back it up Russia, China and Maduro needs to go bye bye. And sending two Tu-160 bombers to Venezuela just isn't really going to scare us off.

Regular show of flag event (we would have sent ships if those were availiable), overblown by the US.