Cont: The Trump Presidency VIII

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The USA chooses to spend more on defence than the next 5 or 6 countries combined. I'm pretty sure most of that does not go into spending on NATO.
 
Captain_Swoop said:
Back to NATO

trump Tweets

"Getting ready to leave for Europe. First meeting - NATO. The U.S. is spending many times more than any other country in order to protect them. Not fair to the U.S. taxpayer. On top of that we lose $151 Billion on Trade with the European Union. Charge us big Tariffs (& Barriers)!"

"NATO countries must pay MORE, the United States must pay LESS. Very Unfair!"
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Well it is good to see a republican proposing cuts to american defense spending, though of course he has no idea that is what he just said.
 
Parsman said:
The USA chooses to spend more on defence than the next 5 or 6 countries combined. I'm pretty sure most of that does not go into spending on NATO.
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But that is the numbers being bandied about. The nato member nations pledged to put at least 2% of GDP toward defense. It is not like they are contributing to some international army of NATO, it is all domestic defense spending. So the complaint is that NATO allies are not spending enough on defense.

You have to remember this is Trump, it is total nonsense divorced from reality.
 
Captain_Swoop said:
Trump Tweets

"Iranian Harassment of U.S. Warships:

2015: 22
2016: 36
2017: 14
2018: 0"

Now that he has decided to re-impose sanctions on them do you think that might change?
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Nah, he’ll just have the reporting terms changed.
 
Given the trade war and Trump's pressure on NATO ally spending, this is what I would recommend for Europe: Ditch the F-35, cancelling all orders. Quote Donald Trump's heavy criticism of the aircraft when doing so. Do not let the US attempt to recover R&D costs or lower its per-plane fixed costs through volume. In one fell swoop, you create a larger US domestic budget deficit, and you widen its trade gap significantly. Nice. Meanwhile, point at the now-higher investment in the Eurofighter and other equipment (mostly upgraded avionics), plus cyber security. To top it off, you can call Donnie boy and say you are following his lead, then blink innocently if anyone complains, and shout "MAGA" for the cameras.
 
Hlafordlaes said:
Given the trade war and Trump's pressure on NATO ally spending, this is what I would recommend for Europe: Ditch the F-35, cancelling all orders. Quote Donald Trump's heavy criticism of the aircraft when doing so. Do not let the US attempt to recover R&D costs or lower its per-plane fixed costs through volume. In one fell swoop, you create a larger US domestic budget deficit, and you widen its trade gap significantly. Nice. Meanwhile, point at the now-higher investment in the Eurofighter and other equipment (mostly upgraded avionics), plus cyber security. To top it off, you can call Donnie boy and say you are following his lead, then blink innocently if anyone complains, and shout "MAGA" for the cameras.
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For Germany, sure. For Spain, MASA. For France, MAFA. And so on.
 
Parsman said:
The USA chooses to spend more on defence than the next 5 or 6 countries combined. I'm pretty sure most of that does not go into spending on NATO.
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The problem isn't that European countries need to spend more on the military, it is that we need to spend less.
 
I do think countries should keep to their promised target, so on that I'm on the side of saying some countries need to do better, but of course that is not for the reasons why Trump demands someone "pay more".

And of course the more Trump makes this about the USA him the more difficult it will be for some countries to generate the political will to meet their targets.
 
There is no point in spending money for the sake of spending money. The past and current objective of NATO is to defend Europe from invasion, meaning Russia, which, given the Russian army, it is perfectly capable of doing with current defense spending. A strong argument could be made that Moscow would see a significant increase in defense spending in Europe as a threat; this would lead to an arms race and destabilization.
 
Darat said:
I do think countries should keep to their promised target, so on that I'm on the side of saying some countries need to do better, but of course that is not for the reasons why Trump demands someone "pay more".

And of course the more Trump makes this about the USA him the more difficult it will be for some countries to generate the political will to meet their targets.
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Much of this is about selling weapons. Note that Trump wants to increase US Military spending as well. It's not that Trump is asking these countries to spend more so we can increase say infrastructure or other domestic spending. No, this about lining the pockets of military contractors.
 
The anatomy of a Trump rally:
This side of Trump really comes alive during campaign rallies, so we wanted to do the math and find out whether the president speaks more fictions or facts in front of his crowds.

We focused only on Trump’s statements of material fact at the Montana rally, avoiding trivialities and opinions. We didn’t double-count statements when the president repeated himself.

According to our analysis, the truth took a beating in Montana. From a grand total of 98 factual statements we identified, 76 percent were false, misleading or unsupported by evidence.
Here’s a breakdown: 45 false or mostly false statements, 25 misleading statements and four unsupported claims. We also counted 24 accurate or mostly accurate statements. False or mostly false statements alone accounted for 46 percent of all claims.
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https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...misleading-or-lacking-evidence/?noredirect=on
 
President Trump on Tuesday pardoned a pair of Oregon ranchers whose arson conviction became a focus for opponents of federal government land ownership.

Dwight Hammond, 76, and his son Steven Hammond, 49, were convicted in 2012 and sent to prison on arson charges. They had set a series of fires on their ranch that spread to federal land.

The Hammonds’ case became the inspiration for the 40-day armed occupation of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in 2016. The organizers wanted to protest federal land ownership.

In a statement Tuesday announcing the pardon, White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders sai

“The evidence at trial regarding the Hammonds’ responsibility for the fire was conflicting, and the jury acquitted them on most of the charges,”

“The Hammonds are devoted family men, respected contributors to their local community, and have widespread support from their neighbors, local law enforcement, and farmers and ranchers across the West. Justice is overdue for Dwight and Steven Hammond, both of whom are entirely deserving of these Grants of Executive Clemency.”

http://thehill.com/homenews/adminis...-oregon-ranchers-at-center-of-40-day-standoff
 
trump Tweets


"Thank you to all of my great supporters, really big progress being made. Other countries wanting to fix crazy trade deals. Economy is ROARING. Supreme Court pick getting GREAT REVIEWS. New Poll says Trump, at over 90%, is the most popular Republican in history of the Party. Wow!"

Who did they ask his son?
 
Captain_Swoop said:
President Trump on Tuesday pardoned a pair of Oregon ranchers whose arson conviction became a focus for opponents of federal government land ownership.

Dwight Hammond, 76, and his son Steven Hammond, 49, were convicted in 2012 and sent to prison on arson charges. They had set a series of fires on their ranch that spread to federal land.

The Hammonds’ case became the inspiration for the 40-day armed occupation of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in 2016. The organizers wanted to protest federal land ownership.

In a statement Tuesday announcing the pardon, White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders sai

“The evidence at trial regarding the Hammonds’ responsibility for the fire was conflicting, and the jury acquitted them on most of the charges,”

“The Hammonds are devoted family men, respected contributors to their local community, and have widespread support from their neighbors, local law enforcement, and farmers and ranchers across the West. Justice is overdue for Dwight and Steven Hammond, both of whom are entirely deserving of these Grants of Executive Clemency.”

http://thehill.com/homenews/adminis...-oregon-ranchers-at-center-of-40-day-standoff
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Burning federal property is now legal, where to begin?
 
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