The Donald-thread

[Brian Peacock]

Trump hasn't said that he's just going to withdraw from trade agreements - he is going to bring the parties to the table and renegotiate.

There is nothing to negotiate. These are not deals where there is Trump type "leverage". Trade deals merely protect areas of business that you want to keep running in your country, such as agriculture. We are paying silly amounts to little countries for several food crops. Sugar cane etc.

Indeed. Trump gives the impression that trade deals are a one way track that only benefits (corrupt) others. Is he going to leave the current trade agreement running while his new 'tough and smart' negotiators try and persuade those others to accept a worse deal than the one they have? Those others already have negotiated reciprocal access to the US, so he'll either need to offer them more access (going against stated principles for protecting US jobs etc) or he'll have threaten withdraw, or actually withdraw, to make a worse deal than the one they have already seem like the best deal in Dodge. Also, trade deals are often negotiated between blocks, and Trump says he'll pull out of TPP on day one and immediately try that starting from scratch renegotiate of NAFTA terms and conditions. Mostly though his strongest rhetoric is reserved for building a trade wall between the US and those evil Chinee, at a time when China is powering the world consumables market. This and other meadures is only going to push domestic prices up and act as an inflationary intesifier - let alone raising the possibility of destabilising the international economy in which we are all embedded. Trump can only blame corrupt others and those ebil Chinee for that for so long.

[Brian Peacock]

Jessica Valenti in The Guardian. .. .. ..

The silver lining of Trump's misogyny? More men are decrying his ways

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfre ... sogyny-men

Every day it becomes clearer that Hillary Clinton is going to make history and win the presidential election. It’s hard to feel excited or even relieved, though, when her road to victory is so slick with the odium of Donald Trump.

Between the video of Trump bragging about sexual assault and woman after woman coming forward to claim he did just that, it’s hard to stave off that sick-to-your-stomach feeling Michelle Obama described so powerfully last week. For those of us who have endured a lifetime of unwanted leers and touches, this last leg of the campaign has been painful. And as Trump surrogates and supporters – even his wife – continue to shrug off the offenses as “locker room talk” or outright lies, we’re reminded of just how easily women are disbelieved.

There is one thing, though, that’s giving me hope in the midst of this ugliness: the outcry from men who refuse to characterize sexual harassment and abuse as normal male behavior. Too often, discussions about sexual assault center only on women – our victimization and perceived culpability. Since the tape’s release, though, the national conversation has shifted: men are coming forward en masse to reject the idea that “real men” talk about abusing women – that this is normal language to use in a locker room or anywhere else.


A group of male high school athletes in Oregon posed in feminist shirts with the picture’s caption reading, “sexual assault is not locker room banter”; pro athletes across the country weighed in on social media, decrying the idea that this is just what men are like; a player for Amherst College’s men’s soccer team criticized Trump’s comments, writing: “As a sports team, we have found success by valuing the ideal of doing the right thing even when no one is watching.” These men and others are quelling that nauseated feeling I’ve had the last week or so....

[pErvinalia]

I wonder if DaveDodo and Meeky are big enough to call out Trump's comments in a similar vein..

[JimC]

I wonder if DaveDodo and Meeky are big enough to call out Trump's comments in a similar vein..

...or will they say that alpha males (like themselves and the Donald) are not bound by any rules, because they are irresistible to women...

[Animavore]

Trump will accept the election result. -GOP.

http://www.gopocalypse.org/the-rnc-took ... ouncement/

Trump will do as he's told.

[pErvinalia]

The real problem will be whether his hick followers accept it.

[Brian Peacock]

Trump will accept the election result. -GOP.

http://www.gopocalypse.org/the-rnc-took ... ouncement/

Trump will do as he's told.

But he'll probably makes sure we know just how reluctant he is to do so.

[Forty Two]

Trump hasn't said that he's just going to withdraw from trade agreements - he is going to bring the parties to the table and renegotiate.

There is nothing to negotiate. These are not deals where there is Trump type "leverage". Trade deals merely protect areas of business that you want to keep running in your country, such as agriculture. We are paying silly amounts to little countries for several food crops. Sugar cane etc.

Indeed. Trump gives the impression that trade deals are a one way track that only benefits (corrupt) others.

That isn't the impression he gives if you listen to his words. He talks about negotiating - negotiations are always two way streets, and he says that some of the trade deals are lopsided, so he wants to renegotiate.

Is he going to leave the current trade agreement running while his new 'tough and smart' negotiators try and persuade those others to accept a worse deal than the one they have?

It's possible that the parties will go to the table with the current deal in force, or it's possible that he will give notice that at some point in the future if the deal is not renegotiated then the US will withdraw. Countries have simply announced withdrawal from trade agreements, but they don't always. And, countries do negotiate trade deals, and they do from time to time renegotiate them. This is not some crazy course of action that never happens. Negotiation happens all the time. Trump is saying that the Obama administration has been incompetent at negotiating and gave away the store, and that NAFTA was a bad long term deal.

Those others already have negotiated reciprocal access to the US, so he'll either need to offer them more access (going against stated principles for protecting US jobs etc) or he'll have threaten withdraw, or actually withdraw, to make a worse deal than the one they have already seem like the best deal in Dodge. Also, trade deals are often negotiated between blocks, and Trump says he'll pull out of TPP on day one and immediately try that starting from scratch renegotiate of NAFTA terms and conditions. Mostly though his strongest rhetoric is reserved for building a trade wall between the US and those evil Chinee, at a time when China is powering the world consumables market. This and other meadures is only going to push domestic prices up and act as an inflationary intesifier - let alone raising the possibility of destabilising the international economy in which we are all embedded. Trump can only blame corrupt others and those ebil Chinee for that for so long.

Chinese currency manipulation is well-known and understood by Democrats and Republicans alike. The Democrats opposed NAFTA, generally speaking, and Clinton worked with Republicans to pass it back in the 1990s. Trump is saying exactly what the Democrats were saying then. Now all of a sudden NAFTA is a wonderful thing that we dare not touch? LOL.

[Tero]

NAFTA bad, taxes bad, nasty woman...bad

[Forty Two]

Hmmm... NAFTA good....taxes good...nasty woman, good?

[Tero]

wars are about junk bonds
http://www.factcheck.org/2016/02/donald ... -iraq-war/

[Tero]

Breitbart completely ignores rape of 13 year old, still to go to court for Trump
http://www.breitbart.com/radio/2016/10/ ... e-economy/
make no mistake, both are active predators. It will be more embarrassing for Trump for even his...far from likely...four year term.

If Trump were to get in the WH, he would get an intern pregnant. The funny part would be the second trimester abortion.

[Brian Peacock]

Trump hasn't said that he's just going to withdraw from trade agreements - he is going to bring the parties to the table and renegotiate.

There is nothing to negotiate. These are not deals where there is Trump type "leverage". Trade deals merely protect areas of business that you want to keep running in your country, such as agriculture. We are paying silly amounts to little countries for several food crops. Sugar cane etc.

Indeed. Trump gives the impression that trade deals are a one way track that only benefits (corrupt) others.

That isn't the impression he gives if you listen to his words. He talks about negotiating - negotiations are always two way streets, and he says that some of the trade deals are lopsided, so he wants to renegotiate.

Is he going to leave the current trade agreement running while his new 'tough and smart' negotiators try and persuade those others to accept a worse deal than the one they have?

It's possible that the parties will go to the table with the current deal in force, or it's possible that he will give notice that at some point in the future if the deal is not renegotiated then the US will withdraw. Countries have simply announced withdrawal from trade agreements, but they don't always. And, countries do negotiate trade deals, and they do from time to time renegotiate them. This is not some crazy course of action that never happens. Negotiation happens all the time. Trump is saying that the Obama administration has been incompetent at negotiating and gave away the store, and that NAFTA was a bad long term deal.

Those others already have negotiated reciprocal access to the US, so he'll either need to offer them more access (going against stated principles for protecting US jobs etc) or he'll have threaten withdraw, or actually withdraw, to make a worse deal than the one they have already seem like the best deal in Dodge. Also, trade deals are often negotiated between blocks, and Trump says he'll pull out of TPP on day one and immediately try that starting from scratch renegotiate of NAFTA terms and conditions. Mostly though his strongest rhetoric is reserved for building a trade wall between the US and those evil Chinee, at a time when China is powering the world consumables market. This and other meadures is only going to push domestic prices up and act as an inflationary intesifier - let alone raising the possibility of destabilising the international economy in which we are all embedded. Trump can only blame corrupt others and those ebil Chinee for that for so long.

Chinese currency manipulation is well-known and understood by Democrats and Republicans alike. The Democrats opposed NAFTA, generally speaking, and Clinton worked with Republicans to pass it back in the 1990s. Trump is saying exactly what the Democrats were saying then. Now all of a sudden NAFTA is a wonderful thing that we dare not touch? LOL.

I see you're happy to take his assertions about his own abilities of faith. That's fine, vote for him - it's no skin off my nose. Let me try again.

Trump wants to get 'a better deal for our workers' by renegotiating existing agreements and striking new country-to-country agreements. If signatories to current trade deals aren't prepared to give the US a better deal than they have already then what's Trump's ace in the hole? What's he got to bargain with? Access. Either he'll promise better, wider, deeper, access to US markets in order to get 'a better deal for our workers' or he'll limit, reduce, or curtail access to overseas blocks in order to get 'a better deal for our workers.' You see the problem here, the condition that current or future trade deals must meet under Trump, is getting 'a better deal for our workers' while little (if any) attention is or has been given to the possibility that an overtly protectionist approach to international trade my result in 'a worse deal for our consumers' and 'a worse deal for our economy'.

In the current climate overtly protectionist measures will amount to a forced shrinkage of the domestic economy. Trump has four years to achieve both his trade aims and to see them playing out into the US labour market and economy. Is that a realistic prospect do you think?

Sir, I salute your courage, your strength, your indefatigability, and your hope and optimism in the person of Donald J. Trump, but alas I fear that his courage, his strength, and his indefatigability, along with his other personal qualities, are not up to the task of fulfilling either his own ambitions or of meeting the great expectations he has so fervently fostered in others.

What I think America has to ask itself is whether Trump will make America a better place to live, or just make it a better place for businesses to do business, and whether these two things actually necessitate each other or are even compatible.

[Tero]

At least the D is honest about Obamacare and his own "plan." He is not going to negotiate cheaper healthcare by forcing insurance and hospitals to do business with a loss.

Hillary can negotiate. A aingle player plan can do that. Let healthcare providers adjust treatment to low cost. All hospital care will be outpatient care, with the rare admitted patient.

[pErvinalia]

I'm watching Donald speak at some big charity event. Man this is bad. I can't believe what I'm seeing. Incredible. Watch it if you can.