Donald trump. what is your take on him?

[mattiasNYC]

The thread moved to the Devos protest, at which there were BLM protestors, no diversion tactics were employed.
Your full attention may be required.

DaveP

I know what happened, exactly because I did pay attention (thanks). I'm saying it's irrelevant to both the thread and where we were as far as discussing Trump's appointments.

Do you wish to talk about BLM or Trump's administration?

 

[DaveP]

I was answering Matador not you Matt.

No, I think this thread has run it's course for the moment.

DaveP

 

[mattiasNYC]

I was answering Matador not you Matt.

You quoted me, which I addressed.

No, I think this thread has run it's course for the moment.

DaveP

Perhaps start a thread on BLM then?

 

[ramshackles]

[edit] BTW I find it interesting what Trump didn't say about the N.Korean missile test. The test and it's timing was no doubt intended to provoke a response from him. The US and japan are developing anti-ballistic missile technology together that was just successfully tested off Hawaii.  If I was N Korea I would be more worried about his silence than a rant on twitter. [/edit]

Do you think his silence means this is something he is seriously concerned about, something he doesn't care about or his advisers have encouraged him to keep mum on the subject? I find it impossible to tell with trump.... Maybe that is by design...

 

[DaveP]

Do you think his silence means this is something he is seriously concerned about, something he doesn't care about or his advisers have encouraged him to keep mum on the subject? I find it impossible to tell with trump.... Maybe that is by design...

North Korea has been condemned by many countries over its missile tests, so I expect the next US move to be to start shooting them down, once they are over international waters.  If this is successful it will negate all their efforts.

Trump will want to run this past Russia, China and South Korea first, as it might cause the North to attack the South or US Ships.  Either way, something will have to be done before the North has the ability to threaten all and sundry with nukes.  Armistices never work.

DaveP

 

[micaddict]

"Cambridge Analytica" was discussed here on December 12th, but briefly. Perhaps on other dates, too?
Yes, Facebook et al in general were discussed, of course.

Anyway, here's a two-week old article (well, translated from an earlier version in German) that sums it up for y'all.
Don't stop halfway.

https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/how-our-likes-helped-trump-win

Like?

 

[dmp]

Anyway, here's a two-week old article (well, translated from an earlier version in German) that sums it up for y'all.
Don't stop halfway.

Thanks for posting that - scary stuff. The targeting of negative ads to discourage voters of the other side is a pretty bad situation.
I'm afraid it will take years to address this stuff while technology evolves quickly.  Improving privacy laws is needed since regulating the advertisers is probably impossible. opt in instead of opt out. Starve big data.  I think people are getting more aware of how much tracking is happening and taking steps to opt-out, like figuring out your phone settings and turning of location tracking, but it will probably take awhile.

 

[fazer]

Cambridge Analytica was unwilling to provide any proof of the effectiveness of its campaign. And it is quite possible that the question is impossible to answer.

Smarter targeting.  Also the misuse of traditional tv adds along with poles made people feel they did not need to go vote.  Look at the resistor movement today over this misjudgment or just lazy US voters.  It will be a marketing study for years to come in universities.

 

[JohnRoberts]

Do you think his silence means this is something he is seriously concerned about, something he doesn't care about or his advisers have encouraged him to keep mum on the subject? I find it impossible to tell with trump.... Maybe that is by design...

I can't predict the future but adversaries should not underestimate Trump, and his cabinet that is slowly being approved. 

As I already shared US is already working with Japan to develop an anti-ballistic missile shield. Since China is the big dog in that region, I don't think it is any coincidence that Trump smoothed over the one-China kerfuffle in a recent phone call with them.

If N Korea is destabilized China gets the brunt of new immigration out-flows, and last I checked China didn't want more people. So China will have a strong opinion about the outcome for N Korea.  (South Korea has been trying to develop trade and manufacturing partnerships with N Korea, but not simple to work with N Korean administration. )

I thought the silence was noteworthy and out of character for his administration so far. Trump has openly criticized the previous administration's proclivity to telegraph military plans publicly in advance of taking action.  Whatever Trump is planning (if anything), we may see it happen before we hear about it on twitter.

N. Korea is a pawn in the chess game between US, Russia, and China and not the biggest world problem at the moment (IMO). Kim Jong Un is the one trying to make waves, and probe the new Trump administration to gauge strength of response. That looks like dangerous sport to me, but Kim is just basing his actions on responses from the previous administrations that have been relatively lenient toward N Korea. 

JR

PS: I still think we need to appoint Dennis Rodman ambassador to N Korea.  :

 

[fazer]

Also 2 weeks ago trump met with the banksters of the world to repeal or change Dodd frank rules.  This was while all the immigration resistors where out marching .  Sly like a fox . The media focused on easy news drama rather than the foxes  in the gen house. 

" Hey Rocky,  watch me pull a rabbit out of my hat"

 

[JohnRoberts]

Also 2 weeks ago trump met with the banksters of the world to repeal or change Dodd frank rules.  This was while all the immigration resistors where out marching .  Sly like a fox . The media focused on easy news drama rather than the foxes  in the gen house. 

" Hey Rocky,  watch me pull a rabbit out of my hat"

I don't know which news media you follow, but I monitor a business news channel (CNBC) and they even trotted out Barney Frank to defend his name sake legislation.

Dodd-Frank was such a massive expansion of regulation that by last summer they had only finished 70% of the proposed rules.

I don't like simple answers for complex problems and there are tens of thousands of employees purely working in compliance at the big banks.

I don't see "too big to fail" being fixed, but the banks have been mandated to increase their balance sheet capitalization so US banks are healthier than before (and much healthier than EU banks). Small banks can't afford the regulatory burden that the big banks can pass along to the customers so banking industry is less competitive.

JR

 

[dmp]

I fear you are not going to get a sensible answer here, but FWIW the news is mostly dominated by sensational political theater and less about deep thoughts. Try to ignore the noise intended to distract us.

A few more sensational stories from the Trump administration this weekend, happening at Trump's private mar a lago.  Dinner patrons were tweeting pictures of Trump & co receiving info about the N Korea developments. A dinner patron tweeted a picture of himself with the guy that carries the nuclear football. You get to see this all live at the mar a lago, for the affordable $200k or so membership fee (fee doubled in January after Trump became Pres). Government transparency in action {sarcasm}.

On top of that, the news broke about Flynn talking to Russia before the transition. The corruption of the Trump regime with Russia is only getting bigger. Election hacking, quid pro quo, 19% kickback of Rosneft.

Will the more rational actions some conservatives are hoping for {tax cuts, lower regulation) going to be held up by the craziness and instability of Trump & co? Or will Republicans be able to slip these giveaways to business elites through before it blows up?

 

[mattiasNYC]

Michael Flynn....

impressive pick....

lasts less than a month... national security... lol...

 

[tands]

I love this shit.

 

[tands]

Smarter targeting.  Also the misuse of traditional tv adds along with poles made people feel they did not need to go vote.  Look at the resistor movement today over this misjudgment or just lazy US voters.  It will be a marketing study for years to come in universities.

A simpler explanation might be the lousy candidate. All the marketing on the planet didn't get her installed. It's ok.

 

[DaveP]

lasts less than a month... national security... lol...

This is not surprising and I doubt he will be the last.

I guess he thought he would get ahead of the curve by using his contacts prematurely, but he should have known about the law in his position, it was a risky move.

DaveP

 

[dmp]

This is not surprising and I doubt he will be the last.

I'd say it is very surprising.  Isn't this a major pivot from the Trump playbook?
Every other bombshell from the past year has been ignored and then Trump does something new and shocking to change the subject. And his supporters quickly go along with it. Why have Flynn resign about this? We already knew Flynn was an unstable wingnut (shocking that Trump even appointed him), but caving seems like a return to normalcy for US politics.
What forced Trump to this? Or is it just as they are saying, that Flynn lied to the Trump team and that was unforgivable? Or are we going to start seeing more resignations from Trump & Co for lying left and right? (haha)
Or is Trump's conspiracy with Russia about to explode?

 

[DaveP]

It's not surprising because when you put together a team from scratch, some are bound to be bad choices.  Some will be found to be incompetent, some will be mediocre and some will excel.

I think that betrayal of trust  is probably the reason behind his departure, probably with Pence.

If I were you, I would expect to see a deal done with Russia over this coming year.  The West has more to gain by bringing Russia on board than by keeping it fenced in.

DaveP

 

[JohnRoberts]

The left should take the win ( Flynn's sacrificial scalp) and be happy.

Flynn clearly screwed up and as often happens in such transgressions, he made matters worse with his dissembling about the facts when questioned (and misinforming others inside the administration thereby embarrassing them). He is toast for that alone, on top of the questionable behavior, so he's gone. 

If you have never seen things like this, you haven't been paying attention to past administrations.  A very aggressive opposition media has all of these appointments under an electron microscope. (This is not a bad thing, government needs to be watched while some of the coverage is hysterical.)

Now this is the kind of extreme vetting the opposition can support.  8)

JR

 

[dmp]

If you have never seen things like this, you haven't been paying attention to past administrations.

If you're not surprised by this, you haven't been paying attention to Trump's M.O. over the past year  ;D

In my opinion, it's very unlikely Flynn was a rogue actor in this. Too much other stuff incriminating the Trump administration when it comes to ties with Russia. Now there are leaks that US Intelligence believes Russia has ears in the highest levels of the Trump admin. Purging spies, the 19% stake in Rosfent, etc... Too much