The Trump Presidency 14

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Segnosaur said:
First of all, does anyone know if that $1.6 billion is new funding, or just a failure to cut as much as he had been planning?

Secondly... NASA's budget in 2019 was ~$21.5 billion. While obviously more funding is better than less, the $1.6 billion is only about a ~7% increase. And since inflation is also a thing, the increase is closer to 5%. That doesn't seem to be enough to "return to space in a big way". (By comparison, that wouldn't even be enough to fund the Mars 2020 rover.)
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I think Trump just imagines he has tax money to spend the same way he imagines he has his own billions to spend. That it's all borrowed doesn't reach the conscious level of his brain.

IOW, if you are looking for any semblance of making sense, you won't find it.
 
Trump praises another right wing dictator today, joking that they are both controversial.

Trump meets Viktor Orban in White House
The president's remarks came during an Oval Office meeting with controversial Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who has been criticized for anti-Semitic and xenophobic comments throughout his time in office. During their meeting, the president acknowledged Orban's visit "probably might be a little controversial, but that's ok."
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Apparently a lot of the left simply fled the country, and that favors Orban.
 
A Washington Post columnist suggested that the Chinese might be taking a hard line on trade negotiations because they believe that Trump's complaints about the Federal Reserve's interest rate hikes indicate that Trump does not believe that the US economy is healthy, so that the US might not be truly able to handle a trade war. It seems equally plausible to me that the Chinese believe that Trump will be so desperate to prove that he can make a deal that he will cave in to the Chinese.
 
TellyKNeasuss said:
A Washington Post columnist suggested that the Chinese might be taking a hard line on trade negotiations because they believe that Trump's complaints about the Federal Reserve's interest rate hikes indicate that Trump does not believe that the US economy is healthy, so that the US might not be truly able to handle a trade war. It seems equally plausible to me that the Chinese believe that Trump will be so desperate to prove that he can make a deal that he will cave in to the Chinese.
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Problem is that Trump has no idea when he is being beaten. Not a clue. So when the deal comes, it will be heavily weighted in China's favour, far worse than if Trump had just shut up, butted out, and left it to the professional negotiators who work for the government. But Trump will call it a "beautiful win" no matter what.
 
Ladewig said:
No federal law requires it, but many states have laws requiring it.

ETA
They are called faithless electors.
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No, the point of the column was that states with Republican governors and legislatures, and maybe just Republican legislatures, could change existing laws to allow them to appoint Republican electors even if the Democrat won the popular vote.

And that "faithless elector" business is tricky. Depend on state law -- which the state can change -- a "faithless elector's" vote might still count.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faithless_electors_in_the_2016_United_States_presidential_election
 
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Trump opposes land for Indian casino that would compete with his:

....
So far, no Trump connection. But the tribe’s site is about 18 miles from Rhode Island, and that state’s politicians aren’t keen to have a new competitor go up against their two casinos, both of which are run by Twin River Worldwide Holdings, a public company with strong Trump ties.

Twin River’s president, George Papanier, was a finance executive at the Trump Plaza casino hotel in Atlantic City earlier in his career, and Twin River’s chief marketing officer, Phil Juliano, also lists experience at a Trump casino on his résumé.
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https://www.washingtonpost.com/poli...fc2ee80027a_story.html?utm_term=.96ab34c5e82b
 
Expect Trump to get tremendous pressure from farmers - he'll have to cough up money to compensate them for the soy they won't sell to China.
 
Fast Eddie B said:
“This has been proven recently when only 4 points were paid by the U.S., 21 points by China because China subsidizes product to such a large degree.”

Can anyone tell me what “points” he might be referring to?
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"Points" usually refer to percentage fees - although typically I've only heard it used in mobster films when they're talking about the interest rate being charged by a loan shark.

In the past, President Trump has claimed that China has borne the majority of the cost of the 25% tariff (21% of 25%) because they have dropped their prices to compensate US importers - leaving only 4% to be passed on to US consumers. As usual there is no evidence to support this claim and there is evidence to the contrary with rises in prices and squeezed margins for US importers.
 
The Great Zaganza said:
Tariffs are a punishment for importers for not buying domestic products.
There is no other interpretation.
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It may be an (or even the only, I'll leave others to argue that) interpretation for someone with a working knowledge of economics but for many (most ?) people there is an impression that the country doing the exporting pays the tariff out of their own pocket. This is a view which is repeated by the President of the United States, his administration and the right-wing media outlets who act as his cheerleaders so it's hardly surprising that this view persists.

I find it puzzling that the GOP, who is supposed to be the party of business, is so on board with these tariffs given orthodox economic theory that tariffs in general are not a great thing for an economy. We don't get all the news over here in the UK but from my perspective there has been a surprising lack of opposition to the tariffs from within the President's own party.

All of this is great news for the US' international competitors though, the EU should be rubbing its collective hands with glee.
 
This tariff situation reminds me of just a few months ago when Donny shut down the government to get his wall money. That was a miserable failure too. The old blockhead wouldn't be told beforehand, he was set on proving he was a "tough guy", and he went ahead against all the best advice and did it. He pissed off the whole country, totally failed to hurt the people he was aiming at, he hurt his own base instead, nothing changed at the border, and he never got his wall money anyway. Utter failure which he has since tried to sweep under a White House carpet.

But lo, he is trying the tough guy act again with his trade wars and tariffs. Despite all the advice it will be his base who pays and not China, and that it is not in the country's best economic interests, he has convinced himself he is right and away he goes.

We are left to wonder just how much of a failure THIS little debacle will be before he abandons it. Just like all the other failures in his life that he has shamelessly been allowed to walk away from.
 
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I keep remembering that much of the fuss that led to the American Revolution was about tariffs. I'd have thought there would be a lesson in there somewhere.
 
Norman Alexander said:
But lo, he is trying the tough guy act again with his trade wars and tariffs. Despite all the advice it will be his base who pays and not China, and that it is not in the country's best economic interests, he has convinced himself he is right and away he goes.

We are left to wonder just how much of a failure THIS little debacle will be before he abandons it. Just like all the other failures in his life that he has shamelessly been allowed to walk away from.
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Are you going to provide evidence for any of this?
 
Baylor said:
Are you going to provide evidence for any of this?
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Evidence that Trump is acting tough, or that Trump has convinced himself he is right? Or are you asking for evidence of Norman's speculation? Did you want evidence that chocolate tastes better than vanilla too?
 
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