Trump Administration Accomplishments

[BrntOrngStmpeDe]

Actually, it is 100% on Obama who let Putin take over Crimea without any real consequences. Then Putin did it again in the eastern part of Ukraine under SloJoe.

Ukraine is pissed they didn't get invited to the Saudi Arabia talks which were not peace talks. Trump has already told Zelensky what he is doing, and Zelensky's tirade was for mostly European (so the money and equipment will keep flowing in) and domestic consumption. Ukraine's constitution prohibits peace talks while the country is under martial law (which it is). Thus a cease-fire is needed so Zelensky can cancel the marshall law and real peace talks can begin.

Obama was wrong to have such a weak response but your assertion that he is 100% at fault is wrong. that is like blaming the cops when a criminal breaks in. The criminal is at fault (Putin in this case), not the homeowner (Ukraine) or the cop (US).

This is on Putin and if Trump caves to Putin just so he can claim a win that would be wrong.

I have no problem with Trump negotiating some form of repayment from Ukraine in the form of natural resources, but to bow to Putin would be a mistake.

 

[horninchicago]

Hey @Horn6721, what are you cooking up tonight? I did some Prime ribeyes in butter in a cast iron skillet.

Mmmmmmm.......

 

[Horn6721]

hic
Sounds great
Cast iron is the only way to go

 

[SabreHorn]

6721,

Ignore him. I need your help deciding which I should choose for dinner - Snickers bar or Hostess Snoball.

As always, Coca Cola to drink - I think the vintage is February 4

 

[mchammer]

 

[mb227]

6721,

Ignore him. I need your help deciding which I should choose for dinner - Snickers bar or Hostess Snoball.

As always, Coca Cola to drink - I think the vintage is February 4

 

[mb227]

Grifters gonna grift...

It's that same nonsense as the contracts Dora gave her friends that had no business to speak of before the contract...

 

[SabreHorn]

mb,

I believe that those were Rodney's friends; not sure Dora had any, certainly none that knew what they were doing.

Ben Reyes went to club fed for talking about doing something. Fast forward and Sylvester, Dora, et al actually did worse and no punishment?

Gotta hand it to Rodney, he's really smart and his hands are "clean" and his pockets are full.

 

[Run Pincher]

She's not on bidens pardon list. Bondi or GA AG need to be writing up charges right now.

 

[VYFan]

If you are suggesting that inviting Ukraine into NATO is somehow justification for Russia invading Ukraine, that is incorrect. Russia is 100% to blame on this and any spin DJT wants to put on this is just BS. Russia doesn't get to dictate terms to other independent nations just because they are "in its orbit".

In order to accept this BS we would also have to accept China's assertion that they get to determine activities in the SCS and the surrounding countries.

Not unrelated, we also don't get to dictate to Greenland and Denmark regarding long settled territories. The fact that the artic melting makes Greenland more attractive doesn't give us the right or authority to annex them by force or coercion.

Your opinions seem dogmatic to me, so I don’t know whether you have any flexibility for discussion, but you are taking it as “established” in your logic that we should not conduct our foreign policy and military policy with awareness that certain areas are in Russia’s or China’s immediate vicinity and historic control, plus cultural and language and racial identities. In my opinion, we will seriously overplay our hand and live (or die) to regret it by cavalierly disregarding the realpolitik involved. I don’t have a magic bullet of persuasion, but consider the Vietnam War—-compared to China, are we more powerful relative to them now compared to the situation in the 60s and 70s? More willing to lose American lives? We couldn’t dictate things in Iraq or Afghanistan, much less can we dictate to superpowers in their backyards.

 

[Sangre Naranjada]

awareness that certain areas are in Russia’s or China’s immediate vicinity and historic control, plus cultural and language and racial identities. In my opinion, we will seriously overplay our hand and live (or die) to regret it by cavalierly disregarding the realpolitik involved

Winner, winner!

 

[militaryhorn]

Your opinions seem dogmatic to me, so I don’t know whether you have any flexibility for discussion, but you are taking it as “established” in your logic that we should not conduct our foreign policy and military policy with awareness that certain areas are in Russia’s or China’s immediate vicinity and historic control, plus cultural and language and racial identities. In my opinion, we will seriously overplay our hand and live (or die) to regret it by cavalierly disregarding the realpolitik involved. I don’t have a magic bullet of persuasion, but consider the Vietnam War—-compared to China, are we more powerful relative to them now compared to the situation in the 60s and 70s? More willing to lose American lives? We couldn’t dictate things in Iraq or Afghanistan, much less can we dictate to superpowers in their backyards.

I think what some can't come to grasp is that Russia is not the same Russia of the Cold War era. In fact, I think most countries today aren't about land conquests any longer but more economic power driven. Russia is only going after what is going to make them better economically. Plus, Crimea is only good for it's proximity to the Black Sea. In the grand scheme of things, why are we really worried about that? Not trying to be obtuse but genuinely don't understand why we should care?

 

[VYFan]

I think what some can't come to grasp is that Russia is not the same Russia of the Cold War era. In fact, I think most countries today aren't about land conquests any longer but more economic power driven. Russia is only going after what is going to make them better economically. Plus, Crimea is only good for it's proximity to the Black Sea. In the grand scheme of things, why are we really worried about that? Not trying to be obtuse but genuinely don't understand why we should care?

I’m not basing anything on trusting that Russia is “good” or “our friend” or anything. It’s more a matter of “a man’s gotta know his limitations,” or “is this the hill you want to die on?” Basically, it’s a sliding scale that the farther from our own country and the closer to a faraway superpower, the less sure we should be that we have any idea what are all the issues and less confidence that we know what in the hell we are doing, plus an almost certainty that whatever we try to do will be costly and not work.

So, it’s not that I don’t care. There are heartbreaking situations all over the world that unfortunately are not solvable by the USA.

 

[Mr. Deez]

Obama was wrong to have such a weak response but your assertion that he is 100% at fault is wrong. that is like blaming the cops when a criminal breaks in. The criminal is at fault (Putin in this case), not the homeowner (Ukraine) or the cop (US).

This is on Putin and if Trump caves to Putin just so he can claim a win that would be wrong.

I have no problem with Trump negotiating some form of repayment from Ukraine in the form of natural resources, but to bow to Putin would be a mistake.

There's a lot of fault to go around. For starterts, in 2013, we were in the middle of a massive reduction in US forces in Europe. We didn't have a single tank on the continent, and of course, most European nations had cut their forces even more. Obviously weakness provokes bullies like Putin, and that's why he was willing to annex Crimea.

However, as we were weakening NATO's strength, we were expanding NATO's burden by admitting new (but weak) countries, almost entirely in Easten Europe. I have no problem with expanding it per se, but it necessarily means entanglement in a country's affairs and the affairs of its enemies. You have to use sound judgment, and we clearly did not. Bush, Obama, and even Trump did this.

And in classic Wilsonian Democratic form, we talked a lot of crap and set out a lot of grand ambitions that we had neither the interest nor the balls to back up. (Europe was even worse about it.) We toyed with and flirted with Ukraine joining NATO and the EU, knowing it would piss off Russia. But it was a bluff, and Putin called us on it.

Was he right to call us on it? No. He's a bully interested in territorial expansion, and he was wrong to invade. He is 100 percent the bad guy, and I hate that Trump is spinning him as the good guy. However, the bottom line is that he had resolve, and the West didn't, and that lack of resolve was a provocation of sorts. He was willing to wage war. We were willing to spend money, wear Ukraine awareness ribbons, and put the flag in our Twitter bios. No shock that the guy willing to wage war is winning.

My hope is that Putin is satisfied with what we're going to let him keep and with Ukraine staying out of NATO and the EU. But my guess is that we'll be at this again.

 

[BrntOrngStmpeDe]

Trump's rapid about face (at least rhetorically) seems to be in direct response to Zelensky saying he was living in "disinformation space". This is just one more example of Trumps fragile ego causing him to lash out an anyone he perceives as not giving him full acquiescence.

The negotiation approach of "give us 50% and sign it right now", seems more like a crime boss than a POTUS. DJT wants to live up to his self-proclaimed "deal maker -in-chief" moniker and he gets incensed when anyone rebuffs his offers.

 

[Horn6721]

Does it ever end?

DOGE uncovers over 4M government credit cards responsible for 90M transactions

The Department of Government Efficiency announced on X Tuesday that it had uncovered over four million government credit cards that spent nearly $40 billion last year.

www.foxnews.com

 

[mchammer]

Trump's rapid about face (at least rhetorically) seems to be in direct response to Zelensky saying he was living in "disinformation space". This is just one more example of Trumps fragile ego causing him to lash out an anyone he perceives as not giving him full acquiescence.

The negotiation approach of "give us 50% and sign it right now", seems more like a crime boss than a POTUS. DJT wants to live up to his self-proclaimed "deal maker -in-chief" moniker and he gets incensed when anyone rebuffs his offers.

Perhaps Trump knows Zelensky is illegitimate because he was installed by the CIA.

 

[mchammer]

Trump's rapid about face (at least rhetorically) seems to be in direct response to Zelensky saying he was living in "disinformation space". This is just one more example of Trumps fragile ego causing him to lash out an anyone he perceives as not giving him full acquiescence.

The negotiation approach of "give us 50% and sign it right now", seems more like a crime boss than a POTUS. DJT wants to live up to his self-proclaimed "deal maker -in-chief" moniker and he gets incensed when anyone rebuffs his offers.

Zelensky and the Europeans had 3 years to negotiate a peace deal. Is this supposed to last forever?

 

[nashhorn]

Does it ever end?

Nope.

 

[ViperHorn]

Zelensky and Putin are both thugs - you didn't survive politically in the Soviet Union if you were not a thug.

Trump has the measure of both.

 

[VYFan]

Trump's rapid about face (at least rhetorically) seems to be in direct response to Zelensky saying he was living in "disinformation space". This is just one more example of Trumps fragile ego causing him to lash out an anyone he perceives as not giving him full acquiescence.

The negotiation approach of "give us 50% and sign it right now", seems more like a crime boss than a POTUS. DJT wants to live up to his self-proclaimed "deal maker -in-chief" moniker and he gets incensed when anyone rebuffs his offers.

There is a tendency, whenever someone does something disagreeable or contrary to what you wish, to chalk it up to their utter stupidity or an infantile psychological trait. If your best shot at Trump is that he is insecure and has a “fragile ego,” you are forfeiting your opportunity to have a credible discussion. You probably interact with a lot of people that constantly say—without anyone to contradict—that Trump is XYZ (fill in some form of playground insult). So you then repeat such nonsensical interpretations not realizing how off base it is to any proper historical or biographical reality as to who Trump is. Is comparing him to a crime boss fair? Probably ok as a metaphor. Does he conduct negotiations, when he has the better side of the bargaining position, with worse proposals for people who jack him around or insult him? Yes. Would it be fair for you to dislike him or his policies for some reason or the other? Ok. But stop with the absurdity that he is weak, or stupid, or has a fragile ego.You will never understand him if you stay on that level of understanding. Even if it becomes your goal to oppose his policies, it would be good to better understand your opponent.

 

[VYFan]

And I know I can sound condescending, so I apologize for that. It’s just that we all aren’t going to be around for too many more presidencies, so it’s time to see politics and the country as it is, not as we wish it would be or are falsely told by others that it is. Trump has power now because on the vast majority of the issues he has picked a side on, a vast majority of Americans agree. It’s not even a “republican” or “right wing” or “conservative” mix of issues. HE IS NOT EVEN REALLY A REPUBLICAN. He just picked the issues as he saw fit—supporting traditional Democrat issues like tariffs (for unions) and opposing neocon world ambition people in the Republican Party. Also the rejection of wokeness. And immigration, which the Democrats and Republicans apparently had a back room agreement to allow, even though most people are against it. He is very popular because of the issues. Both parties and the establishment see him as a threat to THEM, so they say he is a threat democracy, and they make up a fear that Trump is going to reject the Supreme Court, not hand over power, etc. Because democrats usually try to motivate their base with personal attacks on the specific people who oppose their party, the sheep have only ever understood Trump in those terms. So, they can actually be convinced that Trump is pre-Hitler in the making. Be sure that if Trump tried some martial law or anything weird, 97% of all Americans, including the ones who just elected him, would not permit it. He wouldn’t last as long as the South Korean guy. So next time you see Trump take a position that you question, find out whether it’s because a majority of Americans want that thing, not because of some quirk of his madness.

 

[Monahorns]

The issue with Ukraine and Russia hasn't happened because of the US's lack of presence in the Eastern Europe but because of its ever increasing attempts to flip governments there using USAID money. The Maidan revolution couldn't have been sustained through winter or apply enough pressure to force the Ukrainian President out unless they were receiving millions, yes millions of dollars from the US government. Remember the Great Recession? Things like this extended its effects on Americans. The US did the same with Georgia and Belarus during the same timeframe, unsuccessfully.

The Maidan exploited an inherent separation within Ukraine. The West and East are different places. The West is as much Polish and Ukrainian. It was part of a German empire. It was part of a Polish empire. It was part of the Austro-Hungarian empire. The East was a part of Russia for a long time. After the 2014 revolution. The Kiev government outlawed Russian speaking in public. It put pressure on Russian Orthodox churches. They even killed a couple of ten thousand Eastern Ukrainian, Russian speakers. That is essentially when Russia became involved, for good or bad. But the fact is that is when it started. Russia started helping Eastern Ukrainian militias and then took Crimea. Then with Biden coming back in power the US President and his administration had very close ties to the Maidan revolution people and were the ones pushing NATO membership for Ukraine. Putin made a decision about risk. He apparently thought there was more risk if he did nothing than if he continued to wait Biden out. There are many reasons why he shouldn't have attacked Ukraine but here we are. He did.

US inflation continues because of spending like this. Now hundreds of thousands on both sides are dead. Europe is poorer. Ukraine will be in shambles for a long time. Russia is poorer. Inevitably Russia takes over all of Ukraine unless there is a peace negotiation. Remember Biden bragging that he was going to withhold money to Ukraine when he was VP? That was USAID money. It shows that the whole operation was built on government corruption. The Hunter Biden story was tied to this stuff. It was all dirty US politicians trying to buy power around the world. It backfired on them, but so much more on Ukraine.

No one involved was the good guy. No one is better off because of the war. The only resolution is negotiated peace. The worst option for everyone is for the war to continue. That was true since February 2022.