Trump Foreign Policy

[commando]

i wonder what they know about trumps plans?   

 

 

[Moiraine]

Quote

"I have NATO, I have the UK, which is in somewhat turmoil, and I have Putin. Frankly, Putin may be the easiest of them all. Who would think? Who would think?" Trump said on Tuesday as he left the White House.

 

 

NATO countries aren't paying enough. All Russia's doing is invading its neighbors and supporting a regime that uses chemical weapons. This guy is a f#&%ing asshole.

[BigRedBuster]

What an absolute embarrassment.  

[knapplc]

12 hours ago, commando said:

i wonder what they know about trumps plans?   

 

 

 

Maybe it would be a good idea if congress sent a delegation to NATO to reassure our allies that we stand with them.

 

In much the same way that they sent a delegation to Russia on Independence Day.

[BigRedBuster]

I am growing more and more concerned (like I wasn't concerned before) about our international agreements.

 

We have pulled out of:

 

The Paris Accord

TPP

Major parts of the UN

Threatening to pull out of NAFTA

Threatening to pull out of NATO

 

 

Tariffs on our major trading partners damaging the relationships that have been built over decades.  And...I'm sure I'm forgetting something.

 

And.  We have not seen one agreement negotiated by this administration.  Now, here is why this is growing more and more concerning. 

 

We are in July 2018.  As we go into the fall, the President has shown he is more concerned about campaigning and holding big rallies trying to win seats for the Repubs than actually negotiating anything.  After November?  We will have about 9-10 months before the 2020 Presidential election really starts cranking up.  That will then take the administration's attention.

 

So, we have a very small window to actually get anything done.  And....yet....in 18 months, we have seen nothing.

 

Unless he totally folds and basically begs to get back into what we had before he took office, I don't see the majority of these problems being solved (that he created) before sometime in 2021.

 

Here's the big question.  Right now, consumer confidence and manufacturing confidence is way up.  That's keeping the economy going along pretty well.  How long until those start to dive?

[TGHusker]

3 minutes ago, BigRedBuster said:

I am growing more and more concerned (like I wasn't concerned before) about our international agreements.

 

We have pulled out of:

 

The Paris Accord

TPP

Major parts of the UN

Threatening to pull out of NAFTA

Threatening to pull out of NATO

 

 

Tariffs on our major trading partners damaging the relationships that have been built over decades.  And...I'm sure I'm forgetting something.

 

And.  We have not seen one agreement negotiated by this administration.  Now, here is why this is growing more and more concerning. 

 

We are in July 2018.  As we go into the fall, the President has shown he is more concerned about campaigning and holding big rallies trying to win seats for the Repubs than actually negotiating anything.  After November?  We will have about 9-10 months before the 2020 Presidential election really starts cranking up.  That will then take the administration's attention.

 

So, we have a very small window to actually get anything done.  And....yet....in 18 months, we have seen nothing.

 

Unless he totally folds and basically begs to get back into what we had before he took office, I don't see the majority of these problems being solved (that he created) before sometime in 2021.

Can you imagine the tweeter storm and total distraction from Trump as the 2020 campaign starts to unfold.  It will be YUGE.  If we thought Trump was negative and nasty before, get ready - every comment of opposition will be taken as an insult and he will respond accordingly.  

But to your major point - I agree-- there is a lot activity but nothing accomplished outside of tax cuts and SC nominations. Foreign policy has been a disaster - Instead of leading from behind as bad as that was, Trump is leading by taking his ball home and isolating the USA. 

[knapplc]

25 minutes ago, BigRedBuster said:

We have pulled out of:

 

The Paris Accord

TPP

Major parts of the UN

Threatening to pull out of NAFTA

Threatening to pull out of NATO

 

 

Tariffs on our major trading partners damaging the relationships that have been built over decades.  And...I'm sure I'm forgetting something.

 

And.  We have not seen one agreement negotiated by this administration.  Now, here is why this is growing more and more concerning. 

 

At some point you'd think the people blindly following Trump would start to wonder when the negotiations of all the "better deals" are going to start. Heck, you'd think they'd start to wonder when the rollout of Trump's better healthcare plan is going to start rolling out since he's doing everything he can to dismantle Obamacare.

 

But, my guess is they'll just keep chugging along, and complaining about anyone raising red flags, until they're harmed directly by Trump's actions.

 

Until then, it's just more "winning" because it's pissing off the Libs.

[Moiraine]

17 minutes ago, knapplc said:

 

At some point you'd think the people blindly following Trump would start to wonder when the negotiations of all the "better deals" are going to start. Heck, you'd think they'd start to wonder when the rollout of Trump's better healthcare plan is going to start rolling out since he's doing everything he can to dismantle Obamacare.

 

But, my guess is they'll just keep chugging along, and complaining about anyone raising red flags, until they're harmed directly by Trump's actions.

 

Until then, it's just more "winning" because it's pissing off the Libs.

 

 

It won't matter if they're harmed. They'll blame the deep state/Obama/the swamp.

[BigRedBuster]

30 minutes ago, Moiraine said:

 

 

It won't matter if they're harmed. They'll blame the deep state/Obama/the swamp.

HILLARY!!!!!!!!!

[BigRedBuster]

48 minutes ago, knapplc said:

 

At some point you'd think the people blindly following Trump would start to wonder when the negotiations of all the "better deals" are going to start. Heck, you'd think they'd start to wonder when the rollout of Trump's better healthcare plan is going to start rolling out since he's doing everything he can to dismantle Obamacare.

 

But, my guess is they'll just keep chugging along, and complaining about anyone raising red flags, until they're harmed directly by Trump's actions.

 

Until then, it's just more "winning" because it's pissing off the Libs.

And....remember....we got out of all these collective agreements because we are going to negotiate directly with each individual country.

 

So. We got out of TPP because we want to negotiate with each individual Pacific Rim country.

We are getting out of any agreement with the EU because we want to negotiate with each individual European country.

 

We are getting out of NAFTA because we want to negotiate with Canada and Mexico individually.

 

That's one hell of a lot of agreements that have to come down the pike in a very short time.

[knapplc]

Yep. Even if Trump actually was the brilliant deal-maker that he claims to be, that's an impossible time frame. 

 

It's just completely coincidental that this kind of fracturing of Western allies, trade partnerships and international relations just happens to help Russia and Vladimir Putin. 

 

Absolutely, totally coincidental. 

[TGHusker]

30 minutes ago, knapplc said:

Yep. Even if Trump actually was the brilliant deal-maker that he claims to be, that's an impossible time frame. 

 

It's just completely coincidental that this kind of fracturing of Western allies, trade partnerships and international relations just happens to help Russia and Vladimir Putin. 

 

Absolutely, totally coincidental. 

  Maybe you're on to something Kemosabe

[Danny Bateman]

Besides the time frame, Trump literally had individual nation states of those groups (TPP/EU) explicitly telling him point blank they weren't going to negotiate bilateral trade agreements with him. They said we'd have to negotiate with the entire bloc as a whole. He went ahead and pulled out anyway. This is why you've only seen bilateral trade agreements announced with nations like Saudi Arabia, who aren't a member of either group.

 

To the broader point, I mean, I think they can keep the charade going for a while. W Bush did his tax cuts in 2004. They were super popular until, well, 2007 happened, as a result of their sh#tty deregulatory policies that allowed the subprime mortgage crisis to occur & the Great Recession to ensue.

 

So W made it until his final two years of a second term before people realized his economy was ready to fall apart. There's probably a lot more juice left to squeeze here before we hit a similar breaking point.

 

But Moiraine is correct. A lot of this is predicated on people deciding to stop swallowing the crap Trump is spewing. Sadly, it seems they're happy to continue blaming the deep state for our embarrassing foreign policy woes, the Dems for their massive premium spikes & anybody but the Republicans for the piss poor governance we're seeing.

 

Trump's base are habitual blame-shifters, and it doesn't appear to be getting any better.

[funhusker]

8 minutes ago, TGHusker said:

  Maybe you're on to something Kemosabe

http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2018/07/trump-putin-russia-collusion.html

[Danny Bateman]

50 minutes ago, knapplc said:

Yep. Even if Trump actually was the brilliant deal-maker that he claims to be, that's an impossible time frame. 

 

It's just completely coincidental that this kind of fracturing of Western allies, trade partnerships and international relations just happens to help Russia and Vladimir Putin. 

 

Absolutely, totally coincidental. 

 

I often pontificate how much damage control the next president will be able to do in terms of foreign policy. I mean, hopefully our allies understand when we tell them we'd like to get back into things like the Paris agreement or reaffirm our commitment to NATO and our firm opposition to Putin's despotic Russia.

 

Then I wonder about how much of the damage is permanent.

 

One thing the Trump admin has taught the world is that the U.S.'s word cannot be trusted. Anything we agree to or join today, we could turn our back on and pull out of tomorrow. Congress is so broken it's not able to ratify treaties since they require a two-thirds vote. Treaties are the only way to make our commitments truly binding. Obviously a boob like Trump can come & shred every single important agreement we've made previously for this exact reason.

What a mess.