So Emerson, which is a left-wing anti-Trump pollster, of course rushed a poll on the Potus-Zelenski meeting to see if they could bash Trump.

Unfortunately, the Poll shows that 46% of voters think it was a draw, 35% think Trump won and only 15% think it was good for Zelinski.


https://emersoncollegepolling.com/ma...national-poll/

As usual, there is a huge partisan divide, 76% of 2024 Trump voters and 73% of Republicans approve of Trump’s approach on the conflict while only 9% of Kamal ah voters and 13% of Dems approve.

p.s. - good luck trying to tar 58 million Trump voters as Russian moles….:ping:

The Europeans don't get it.

Zelensky torpedoed this deal all by himself (with, I believe, a little coaching from the "never Trumpers" both here and abroad). He had no intention of signing that "deal" he wanted Security Guarantees, and to get it, He tried to gaslight Trump on live T.V.

I honestly think the "Coalition of the Willing" was instrumental in Zelensky's behavior, they seem to have put their 17 country summit together in less than 24 hrs., and if their 4 point goal is any indication, they're more than willing to provide Zelensky with what he wants.

If I were Trump, Id draw down my troops and equipment to the bare minimum required by NATO, along with the funding, and leave Ukraine to the Europeans to deal with.

Maybe, you should look in your own backyard. Low IQ elites run wild in your government, it will not be long
before the rest of the planet sees german boots marching behind the french boots behind the British, who will lead the final charge of the EU into the year of the mushroom.

As a side note. I think after all these years. Are you so old now are you getting afraid of the future and what it will bring and the good life will disappear ? cause hammering o

Ask, and you shall receive. :)

17 countries showed up to this Coalition of the Willing conference,.
The UK (host)
Italy
Ukraine (supplicant)
France
Germany
Denmark
Italy
Netherlands
Norway
Poland
Spain
Canada
Finland
Sweden
Czechia
Romania
Turkey

The NATO Secretary General and the Presidents of the European Commission and European Council also attended.

This should get interesting. I think Canada is only there to cultivate friends just in case Trump attempts to make good on his threat to make them the 51st or 52nd State. :D

https://youtu.be/KLiEQj0yqLU?si=wm4sh799d6H_74Yi
https://youtu.be/vJZk9KAIJLg?si=eTqB5tKYLlRknZLN

Trump: Europe start paying your way for your own defense.

EU: No, we want you to pay for our defense.

Trump: we are not funding Ukraine.

EU: You are not the leader of the free world. We will defend ourselves.

TRUMP: 😎 ok.

Guess Starmers, Zelensky & Macron’s attempt to demand U.S. boots on the ground which could lead to direct military confrontation with Russia was just flushed down the crapper.

Nice little kiss and make up note from Zelensky. Kinda reminds me how after an argument with the wife you realize you were the one in the wrong, and if you dont patch things up you’ll end up sleeping on the couch for a long, long time.

Old news buddy read the above post.

Appears the U.S. and the E.U. really do share a common ground.

https://i.ibb.co/RGS4RftN/IMG-1452.jpg

[NZZ] Donald Trump believes that by imposing ever new tariffs he is encouraging investment in American factories. In doing so, he is achieving exactly the opposite.

The new US government under President Donald Trump enjoys belittling other economic nations. According to the motto: We Americans are the best and you should be happy if you can continue to do business with us.

No reason for subservience

But despite all the boasting and all the threats that the White House is making with regard to the introduction of ever new tariffs, there is no reason for subservience. This is especially true for companies from Europe.

It is by no means the case that American companies play a leading role in all business areas. In many industries, European companies still have a technological lead that some of their competitors from the USA envy.

A prime example of this is the manufacture of rail vehicles. In this area, the United States only has one leading supplier of locomotives, GE Transportation. Its locomotives are also largely limited to use on freight trains. The Americans have virtually nothing to show for themselves in the much more important business of passenger multiple units, trams and vehicles for metro trains. Worldwide - except in China and Japan - it is firmly in the hands of the European trio Alstom, Stadler Rail and Siemens.

Because public transport is becoming more important in American cities, despite all the love of cars, Stadler Rail began assembling trains in Salt Lake City years ago. Just after Trump's re-election, the Swiss group upgraded its US business unit to an independent division at the beginning of this year.

Like many European industrial groups, Stadler is likely to continue to use the USA as a production site for processing American orders. From the perspective of Trump and his supporters, who are so keen to see industrial jobs created, this may be flattering. But the same circles will also have to acknowledge that numerous non-American companies are likely to leave the most valuable parts of their value chain outside the United States. This primarily affects research and development as well as the production of the latest products.

There were and are good reasons for this, starting with the fact that the USA lacks qualified personnel in many industrial sectors. Unlike Switzerland or Germany, the country hardly has any apprenticeships. In many companies, there is also a lot of coming and going due to low employee loyalty. With every change, know-how is lost, which then has to be built up again.

Given the strong tendency of the new US administration to ignore previous international agreements, another possible location advantage is coming to the country: who knows at the moment whether the USA will remain a staunch supporter of patent protection or whether it will start copying foreign ideas for its own benefit, following the example of other major powers such as China and India?

This fear may seem far-fetched at the moment. But the mere thought of such a risk could make foreign industrial companies think twice about whether they want to locate other activities in America besides assembly work.

The USA has fallen behind in many industries, particularly as a result of China's rise. In some cases, such as in the steel sector, they have even sunk into insignificance. Against this backdrop, European companies could help to make the country's second sector more efficient again. But without stable, attractive conditions, they will be wary of making large investments.

Most companies would probably prefer to wait and see what direction the United States develops in the short and medium term. Who knows, perhaps the nightmare of aggressive American protectionism will be over in four years. We can certainly hope so.
----------------

What the author does not mention, is the big counterweight to the American industrial weaknesses: Microsoft, Google, Amazon, Apple... On the other hand, when the going gets tougher, the EU could lay a heavy tariff hand on these, a very heavy. And tightening regulations. I am not a friend of overregulations, but in war everythign is allowed. Even more so when you rae being attacked.

Ya need to change the name of this thread to US Politics Bashing 2025

It’s only the place Europeans can feel safe to complain about government without fear of fines and imprisonment

Ontario Premier Doug Ford just cancelled Elon Musk’s Starlink contract and banned all U.S. companies from government contracts in response to Trump’s economic war with Canada. “It’s done, it’s gone,” Ford said. “We won’t award contracts to people who enable and encourage economic attacks on our province and our country.” And just to be clear: “They only have President Trump to blame.” So Trump starts a trade war, and now American businesses are getting locked out of Canada. This isn’t “tough negotiating”—this is our closest ally shutting the door on us while Trump pretends he’s “winning.” MAGA wanted an economic war? Well, they just got one. And it’s American companies and workers who are about to feel the pain.Trump also imposed import tariffs in his first term in office (2017-2021), including on Chinese goods. Several studies show that US consumers footed the bill. On top of that, US producers could raise the price of certain goods with impunity; after all, imported competing goods had also become more expensive. That earned US entrepreneurs more profits, and consumers higher prices. An example: Trump introduced a 20-50 per cent tax on washing machines in 2018. That led to an additional 9 per cent price increase for washing machines in the US, on top of inflation. Again, several economic agencies have calculated that the levies will sharply increase costs for US consumers. SUV's and pickup trucks will get $9,000 and $8,000 more expensive on average, respectively. Electric cars will be hit the hardest: they could rise in price by up to $12,000.