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Soon after tweeting that he was about to withdraw American support from our longtime allies in the fight against terrorism, the Kurds (who live in the part of Syria that is adjacent to Turkey's southern border), Trump wrote another tweet: "If Turkey does anything that I, in my great and unmatched wisdom, consider to be off limits, I will totally destroy and obliterate the Economy of Turkey (I’ve done before!)."
The next day, Turkey's president, Erdoğan, began shelling and bombing the Kurds while announcing plans to send 3.6 million Arab refugees (who now reside in Turkey) to build permanent homes in the Kurdish homeland. As Kurdish troops moved to the border to meet the coming Turkish invasion, Islamic State prisoners were left lightly guarded. When a reporter asked Trump, "What if ISIS fighters escape and pose a threat elsewhere?" Trump responded, "Well they are going to be escaping to Europe, that's where they want to go." (There has since been one escape attempt.) Erdoğan, when criticized by the nations of Europe for the Turkish invasion, said that if Europe didn't back down: "We will open our borders and send 3.6 million refugees your way."
Trump's latest action marks the first time that I remember him receiving even token criticism from high-ranking Republicans, yet it has caused the support of his base to actually increase, and his base will do all they can to defeat any candidate who isn't solidly behind Trump. During his first few months in office, I imagined that when his base realized that Trump was a dictator wannabe, they would turn against him, yet the more brazen he becomes, the more they adore him, and the less place there is in government for anyone of his party who does not at least pretend to do likewise. I interpret this to mean that while both they and I understood what kind of a man Trump is, but that they liked him that way. The only good that has come from this realization is that I have a better idea what Germany was like before Hitler killed off his opposition.
Last year, someone in Trump's administration wrote a letter to the effect that, yes, the president is deranged, but there are those of us inside the administration who will continue to work to minimize the damage.** Since then, Trump loyalists have eliminated all such foot draggers, and Trump himself has either fired or forced out eighteen cabinet members (the cabinet is the president's inner circle of department heads) who dared to disagree with him. This means that his most significant opposition now comes from Congressional Democrats but, in the short-term, there is little they can do. In the long term, the effectiveness of their criminal investigations are unknown, and their impeachment effort is unlikely to succeed simply because Republicans know they won't be re-elected if they support it. It is also feared that our already unstable president might react to the culmination of any threat to his power by calling for civil war. In fact, he has already indicated that he will do so.
* This is the same Erdoğan who frequently talks to Trump on Trump's private cell phone, and whose bodyguards have twice gotten away with beating non-violent American protestors on American soil.
** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Am_Part_of_the_Resistance_Inside_the_Trump_Administration
21 comments:
I wish I could say this is not true. It truly scares me that so many people still do not see what he is and what he is doing to our country. Our allies shake their heads and laugh at us. His favorite despots sit back in satisfaction and laugh at us. I only hope that he will be defeated in the upcoming election.
Emma, I would be astounded if our allies are laughing, the nightmare being not just a theoretical possibility but a reality. I write most of my posts over a period of days, but I'm too upset to stay on this subject for more than the two hours or so it took me to get it online. I haven't wanted to write about these things at all, but the unfathomable human tragedy on the news finally got to me, and I hoped that creating a post might make me feel better. I did make a significant addition to the second to last paragraph after you read it. I wouldn't bother you with this, but it concerns thoughts that have become more pressing to me over these many months, and that I assume it has been on the minds of others also.
"During his first few months in office, I imagined that when his base realized that Trump was a dictator wannabe, they would turn against him, yet the more brazen he becomes, the more they adore him, and the less place there is in government for anyone of his party who does not at least pretend to do likewise. I interpret this to mean that both they and I understood what kind of a man Trump is, but that they liked him that way. The only good has come from this realization is that I have a far better idea what Germany was like before Hitler killed off his opposition."
Is it time to panic yet?
I watch. I don't laugh. I can't laugh.
It really is a scary scenario, and I cannot think what he would need to do to lose Republican support.
People don't like the idea of their own citizens fighting foreign wars, even if it is to ensure a supply of oil. Bringing troops home is a vote winner and will ensure continuing support of his political colleagues.
It's hard to know what to do, as a citizen watching our country turn into something I thought could never happen. I saw the AG just stated that mental illness and drug addiction are caused by turning away from God in our country. This is another comment that is frightening to me-- someone who believes in separation of church and state.
As an Aussie we are your allies and have been for a long time
I dread what is to come
We should all know by now that Trump, like any bully, talks big, but in the end always retreats. I myself have not yet seen anything that rises to the level of impeachment; but, people, surely you've seen plenty enough to vote him out of office in Nov. 2020. So Democrats, pls. give us someone, anyone, who's reasonably honest, mature and sensible that we can vote for.
"People don't like the idea of their own citizens fighting foreign wars, even if it is to ensure a supply of oil."
Oil--what oil? There are three issues here: preventing genocide; keeping our commitment to our Kurdish allies; and avoiding a resurgence of the Islamic State. The Kurds endured two 20th century genocides (one by the Turks and the other by the Iraqis), and it looks like they're about to undergo another. Trump's abandonment of the Kurds marks the first time that legislators of his own party (the Republican Party) have spoken out en masse against him, and it also marks their first significant agreement with the leaders of the opposition party (the Democrats). The only people who agree with Trump about this are those who think he is God and can do no wrong.
"I saw the AG [attorney general] just stated that mental illness and drug addiction are caused by turning away from God in our country. This is another comment that is frightening to me-- someone who believes in separation of church and state."
I'll mail you some back issues of "Freethought Today" magazines, which contain a wealth of information about the Trump administration's attack on religious liberty.
"As an Aussie we are your allies and have been for a long time."
You'll recall that one of Trump's first acts in office was to hang-up the phone on your prime minister. He has treated all of our allies like shit while sucking up to hostile dictators, presumably because they are his role models.
"We should all know by now that Trump, like any bully, talks big, but in the end always retreats."
He hasn't retreated in his stance with China (which is literally the only thing I agree with him about), and it's hard to see how he could do that on this occasion, but even if he tries, think of the lives that have already been lost and the homes that have been destroyed.
"So Democrats, pls. give us someone, anyone, who's reasonably honest, mature and sensible that we can vote for."
Can you imagine voting for any of the possible Democratic candidates, and if not, would you vote for Trump? Last time around, I voted Green Party. This time, I'll vote for whomever the Democrats run.
"I myself have not yet seen anything that rises to the level of impeachment; but, people, surely you've seen plenty enough to vote him out."
Asking foreign nations for help in winning a political campaign and obstructing a Congressional investigation don't qualify? Everything about Trump and his associates smells of "high crimes and misdemeanors," and I have every confidence that this impeachment investigation will turnover a lot of rocks that have hidden his misdeeds.
"...we ALL know that Wikipedia is the gospel truth... Hell, I edit Wikipedia articles constantly for grammar and spelling. Any dumbass on earth who can figure out how to sign in can say anything. It’s more “fake news” than CNN and SNL put together."
If any "dumbass" can say anything, you would be unable to edit it, but why would you even want to given that you regard Wikipedia as fake news? Wouldn't it better serve the truth to detract from the source's authority by NOT editing it? That aside, what part of the article's summarizing statement do you disagree with: "'I Am Part of the Resistance Inside the Trump Administration' is an anonymous essay published by The New York Times on September 5, 2018. The author is described as a senior official working for the administration of U.S. president Donald Trump," and if any dumbass can say anything, why don't you write a rebuttal?
it astounds me when someone points back to Hillary to cover or justify or distract from what a horrible immoral corrupt Donald Trump is.
That's all I can say.
love
kj
"it astounds me when someone points back to Hillary to cover or justify or distract from what a horrible immoral corrupt Donald Trump is."
When someone answers questions and criticisms with irrelevant and profanity-laced attacks rather than with evidence and logic, I take it as an admission that they have nothing better to offer. While insisting that my sources (ALL of them) are "fake news," Marion has steadfastly refused to share her own sources or reasoning, and this leads me to say that, however flawed (and I'm sure they have been greatly flawed) my attempts have been, I have nonetheless made a sincere effort to engage in actual dialogue. Despite this, I am as ignorant of her reasoning as when I started. I can but tell you that she gives every appearance of holding Trump, guns, Jesus, and Kanye West in complete and non-critical adoration while loathing Democrats, liberals, socialists, and, ironically, people who go to church.
Marion, I don't see how your sources are relevant either to this post or to any of my previous criticisms of Donald Trump. Yes, of course, homeless people are at greater risk of TB and typhus, but what does that have to do with Trump pulling out of Syria? Likewise, Venezuelan socialism is in shambles following "40 years of corrupt government and false promises," but surely you will agree that there is no connection between the situation in Venezuela and the one in Syria. You are simply doing what Trump supporters (and Trump himself) have become infamous for doing when questioned or criticized, which is address questions and respond to criticisms by going on the attack through a combination of irrelevancies and name-calling: "Wacky Omarosa," "Crooked Hillary," "Sleepy Joe," "Nervous Nancy," "Crazy Bernie," "Pot Smoking Lefties," "DemocRATS," "Left Coast Liberals"? Really, Marion. Given that our country is in desperate need of maturity and clarity so that we find a way to deal with numerous horrific challenges (eg Middle Eastern genocide, an out of control national debt, and a disastrously changing climate), the best you can think to do is to support and emulate a man openly violates his oath of office and operates on the level of a delinquent 12 year old?
I think the way DT talks gives me the impression of a man who is infantile in nature. He acts more like a primary pupil making deals with his friends that agree with him and those who do not are just dumped. He lacks true adult empathy and morality. His lies are another childish behaviour. Seems his low self esteem can be padded by the base of blind followers. And sadly there are many of them. They just feel if they follow that leader something good will head their way. The are so deeply overshadowed by his low class rhetoric that they appear to be lost.
DT studied media and manipulation all his life and perfected getting his way by abusing money as a means of power.
What is even more disturbing is that a system to keep democracy safe from an over zealous president who wants to serve himself is failing miserably. It began with his not showing his tax returns. Red Flag? What is he hiding from the population he swore to serve? Tax evasion is a crime so hiding it is a good way to bluff and do as he pleases. That does not serve the people of HIS nation. Sadly it appears from my end that Putin and other self serving leaders are using media ways to break the way democracy works. And to weaken the US as a global power is out there. If only the elected members could understand the gravity of not getting together to oust DT is just what international leaders see and sadly it is becoming a global thing to mess around with party politics for UK and Brexit are another sad example of failure to stand united for a larger common good.
How many of you are aware that China has made huge in roads into PK by proving up their infrastructure to create a trade route to the Indian Ocean? Yes this is off topic but it is what is quietly happening while DT is just not a president who sees a global picture and looks down the path of the future.
Snow rush you write well.
Heidrun, I think that your comments are to the point. Trump clearly lacks the capacity to understand that the dictators he befriends are laughing at him behind his back because in their transactions with him, they get everything, and Mr. "Art of the Deal" gets nothing. How ironic that his ultimate put-down isn't to attack a person's character, but to call him or her "a low IQ individual."
"Seems his low self esteem can be padded by the base of blind followers."
Can a man who is unable to take responsibility for anything he does have low self-esteem? I really don't know. As for being a "blind follower," I just know that my one Trumpian reader appears unable to rationally justify her positions, that she employs cutisms in lieu of reasoning (in this response chain, she used the term "DemocRATS"),that her angry comments are reminiscent of drive-by shootings (for the most part, she fires them off, and then she's gone), and that all of these things typify the Trump supporters that I hear on radio call-in programs.
As for his taxes, it appears that New York State might indeed gain access to them.
"If only the elected members could understand the gravity of not getting together to oust DT"
When Clinton (Mr. "I did not have sexual relations with that woman") was president, the mantra of Republican politicians and their Christian base was "character matters," but now that Trump is president, their concern for character has gone the way of their concern for lowering the national debt.
I can scarcely believe that there was a time when, on occasion, I would vote for a Republican or that I once regarded the Republican Party as the honorable opposition. Now that I've seen how vapid and crooked their leadership has become following the election of Trump, and I've been witness to their resounding silence when Trump viciously attacked every last one of their colleagues who dared to disagree with him on any issue whatsoever, I wouldn't vote for any Republican for anything. John McCain being dead and Jeff Flake being retired from politics, the only Republican lawmaker who I regard as possessing even a modicum of morality is Susan Collins of Maine.
I get your frustration about the way the Republicans have served and members have in my opinion lost their real purpose to serve for that is what makes up a democracy. So are they truly caring to get down the deficits. Is there a nation standing at this moment with no definite? I need to research that to make my point truly valid and that is our investment system globally has made a few very rich and many just coping. This whole economic zeal to do well by massive sales is also a big issue behind the forces causing fear and a failure to act with a clear conscience. All is so driven by buying power that the masses are getting outfoxed by ads and sales etc and told to dream big and get rich. Haha that ship has sailed. And I doubt either party can fix that woe.But we did not need the world to see US being taken very cleverly to be a laughing matter by many world nations. These last few days we got to hear how the outsiders bought their way into US and they are using it for their own gains and not that of Americans. Each day more issues come to light and it is hard to grasp the hold DT continues to hold. Not sure how he uses media to convince them but every day I hear a person saying he has done a lot of good. Ugh,
He certainly messed up some farmers both in US and here. And so much more. I am fascinated at how he just pushes aside laws and lawyers to get what he wants for Trump.
I ramble on. Thanks for the feedback.
Just checked and could not find a country without some national debt. And some that claim lower debts are not what I expected and I began to speculate the means by which they record their wealth.
"I ramble on."
I greatly appreciate the points you make. As for Trump having done "a lot of good," what "lot" of good? I think that saying that is a euphemism for: "he's a complete fucking idiot, but at least he's not a Democrat" (which was Peggy's father's rationale for voting for him). I'll grant that he has stood up to China, but I would guess that those who like him probably like him because he's a tough-talking "strong-man" racist who has no use for democracy, who is fine with them creating an AR-15 toting theocracy, and who heaps contempt on the people they despise--people like Democrats, intellectuals, homosexuals, and secularists, for example. In other words, it's not what he has done; it's his fascistic rhetoric and his permissive attitude toward the evangelical desire for theocracy. I just wonder how his supporters are able to overlook the fact that he's a complete suck-up to Putin (I know--they just call it fake news, that being their answer to any truth they don't want to be bothered by). I truly wonder if Putin has some dirt on him that's causing him to follow Putin's orders. Take his Syria withdrawal. Trump moves out, and Putin moves in. Why? Trump said it was time to "bring the troops" home, but he didn't bring them home; he just moved them to another part in the Middle East. He can hardly utter a sentence that doesn't contain a lie, yet people like a previous commenter echo Trump himself by screaming "fake news" at anyone who calls him on his lies, imagining that that's all it takes to refute criticism. Despite my every instinct, I try to think well of my species, and then Trump comes along, and forces me to admit that a good part of my species consist of people who are so profoundly stupid that I don't know how they were taught to use toilet paper.
cont.
Trump is a daily train wreck. This week, he tweeted that the Congressional investigation into his crimes is like a lynching, and several minutes of the national news were devoted to interviewing different people about what they thought about it. South Carolina's Lindsay Graham was dragged out, of course, and he said "this is a lynching in every sense." "every sense"? Trump is being killed without legal process?!" Can we say "extreme racism leaking from every pore"? So, there you have it. Nothing constructive is getting done because the Republican Senate ignores the bills that Democratic Congress is sending their way, and the attention of the entire country is absorbed by Trump's latest 3:00 a.m. tweets and what various other politicians think about them.
"Just checked and could not find a country without some national debt."
It would also be hard to find a person who is without at least some debt, but debt is like drinking in that it's only a problem if you overdo it, although I can't see what would be wrong with the government taking out short-term loans only. Peggy and I run up a monthly credit card balance and doctors' bills, but because we spent our lives saving for retirement, we're able to avoid interest, late fees, and nasty letters from creditors by paying our debts IN FULL at the end of the month. My point is that debt isn't on the face of it a bad thing. What is a bad thing--a very bad thing--is that Trump promised to get us out of debt, but has instead caused our debt to SOAR to $1-trillion dollars a year (of course, that bit of news from the government accounting office is probably fake news). There's not a country on earth that has a debt as high as ours, and our borrowing is out of control. There will come a point at which the interest alone will be so high that we won't be able to pay it much less the principal. When the day comes that we default, our credit rating will fall off a cliff, no one will loan us money, and the entire world will be dragged down with us. The only way we can even begin to pay off our national debt would be to implement extreme austerity measures, and do you see either Democrats or Republicans doing it? No, because if they tried, they couldn't get re-elected, and essential services would end, the result being that millions of people would literally die.
Paying off debts does not work well when one wants to have as much spending as possible by all humans globally. Earlier I point
Ted out that our worldly riches are measured by quarterly and daily gains of all public companies and the stock market is the world’s largest place to play with funds to gain and of course loose. Mass production is still a sign of a healthy company as long as it can coax people to buy their wares even using credit. If all that were to crash which is a possibility then it would affect all even Russia, China and Saudi and ISiS as it would make all currencies tumble. A global monetary crash. To avoid it nations just keep adding to debt and I figure no one will change that system. Instead we will be told it is okay. Though only the US now has the highest cost of higher education and most drugs in the world. Yet they are still able to offer lower real estate in many areas. And DT really has not made any effort to make US great as world leaders now wonder if US is all that powerful. It is not long before crazy holiday spending begins and it has become a huge boom as humans race about to gobble up bargains. Some now have tons of stuff already but they still need more. DT brand is out there and Russians may be buying.
During all the seasonal shopping we shall see how US issues all move along. Only 100 days to the first primary in your country. and
As for Canada our PM now has a minority as he played some foolish games too.
Why has it all become so ugly? Why are there so many crooks ready to lie and steal?
Some days I wonder if there ever was a more moral folk when I was younger. Was I a dummy who wanted to believe it?
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