The Trump presidency.

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Little John

Post by Little John »

The Road to Trump and beyond

http://thearchdruidreport.blogspot.co.u ... -time.html

Winter is coming
vtsnowedin
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Post by vtsnowedin »

Little John wrote:The Road to Trump and beyond

http://thearchdruidreport.blogspot.co.u ... -time.html

Winter is coming
It is mid winter.
johnhemming2
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Post by johnhemming2 »

vtsnowedin wrote:You guys are pretty pathetic if you can't think of something current to say, for or against, the Trump presidency considering the pace of events in Washington D.C.. Dose he have you all hypnotized like a rabbit in front of a rattle snake?
I saw a headline of "appeasement or resistance" or something like that. This is the challenge for the US Allies. I would think they will end up basically resisting. He is being excessive in his demands and making them too publicly for people to accede to them.

His policies are generally likely not to achieve their objectives. The idea that the attack on the mosque in Ottawa would be prevented by banning Iraqis and Syrians from the USA (or indeed Canada) is obviously nonsense.

The idea of differential taxation on the basis of source of goods in respect of corporation tax is the sort of thing that could cause an urgent response in the WTO. The USA runs the risk of being excluded from international markets as a response to protectionism.

There are various styles of running businesses. One involves a lot of bullying and that appears to be his style. Overt bullying in terms of international politics I would expect to be counter productive simply because people cannot be seen to give in to this.
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UndercoverElephant
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Post by UndercoverElephant »

Little John wrote:The Road to Trump and beyond

http://thearchdruidreport.blogspot.co.u ... -time.html

Winter is coming
Don't worry, Daenerys and Jon will save us (it is so predictable that they will end up ruling Westeros together just as the White Walkers breach The Wall...)
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UndercoverElephant
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Post by UndercoverElephant »

johnhemming2 wrote:
vtsnowedin wrote:You guys are pretty pathetic if you can't think of something current to say, for or against, the Trump presidency considering the pace of events in Washington D.C.. Dose he have you all hypnotized like a rabbit in front of a rattle snake?
I saw a headline of "appeasement or resistance" or something like that. This is the challenge for the US Allies. I would think they will end up basically resisting. He is being excessive in his demands and making them too publicly for people to accede to them.

His policies are generally likely not to achieve their objectives. The idea that the attack on the mosque in Ottawa would be prevented by banning Iraqis and Syrians from the USA (or indeed Canada) is obviously nonsense.

The idea of differential taxation on the basis of source of goods in respect of corporation tax is the sort of thing that could cause an urgent response in the WTO. The USA runs the risk of being excluded from international markets as a response to protectionism.

There are various styles of running businesses. One involves a lot of bullying and that appears to be his style. Overt bullying in terms of international politics I would expect to be counter productive simply because people cannot be seen to give in to this.
One of those unusual occasions when I completely agree with you.

Yes, he has no political experience and it shows. He literally doesn't know what he is doing, and as a result his words and actions are not likely to produce their intended results.
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UndercoverElephant
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Post by UndercoverElephant »

Well, this is getting more than a little bit interesting. Trump has already ended up in head-on conflict with both the media and his intelligence services. Now he appears to be in a head-on conflict with the judiciary, and he's still tweeting idiotic nonense. I can't believe he's still communicating to the world via a twitter account called "realDonaldTrump", without a minder/interpreter making sure he doesn't make a complete fool of himself.

40 minute ago:
Real Donald Twit wrote: The opinion of this so-called judge, which essentially takes law-enforcement away from our country, is ridiculous and will be overturned!
I cannot believe this can go on for a full four-year term. He's either going to be impeached, or somebody is going to shoot him, or he's going to have "an accident".
johnhemming2
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Post by johnhemming2 »

I don't think Trump understands the concept of the rule of law or checks and balances in a constitution.
Little John

Post by Little John »

Trump is perched on a particular spoke of the wheel of time and he is playing his part. That is all. He will be followed, in due course by the next spoke of the wheel. Which will make him look tame by comparison. Spengler was right. Winter is coming and Trump merely represents the first flurries of snowfall.
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UndercoverElephant
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Post by UndercoverElephant »

That just explains how he got there. I still think he won't last a year.
Little John

Post by Little John »

I guess what I am saying is it doesn't matter. Either he will see his term out and be seen to have largely failed in his mission to "Make America Great Again". At which point, he will be followed by something more extreme. Or, he will be impeached or removed by other means before the four years is up. In which case, we will reach the same destination by some variant of the journey.But, the destination will be the same because it is inevitable and so the manner of the journey to that destination amounts to little more than entertainment unless one is in a position and is planning to profit by its specific twists and turns.
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UndercoverElephant
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Post by UndercoverElephant »

I think it does matter.

Trump, either intentionally or unintentionally, is testing the US constitution in a way it has not been tested since the end of the US civil war. What he is trying to do, and how the rest of the US authorities (including other parts of government, the intelligence and security services, the armed forces and the judiciary) respond to it is likely to have quite a big influence on how future events play out. I agree with you that ultimately things are going to get much worse - we are heading for a major collapse, and there's no way that can happen that preserves things like left-liberal middle class idealism, or economics as we know it. But there's still plenty of different flavours of collapse and many different possible outcomes for the United States. For example, I think that the breakup of the US into smaller parts is not impossible, and the process that leads to such a breakup might well be traced back to Trump. And a distintegrating US would have a big knock-on effect on global politics and economics.

Alternatively, if Trump is impeached or otherwise removed from office, it would also be of huge historical importance. No previoius president has been impeached in the first four years, and only one (Nixon) has resigned.
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Potemkin Villager
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Post by Potemkin Villager »

UndercoverElephant wrote:I think it does matter.


Alternatively, if Trump is impeached or otherwise removed from office, it would also be of huge historical importance. No previoius president has been impeached in the first four years, and only one (Nixon) has resigned.
Isn't there some doomsday protocol whereby the president can be taken away by the men in black and replaced by the vice president if he really loses the plot?

Tricky Dick's resignation was one of the more memorable and fondly remembered days of my teenage years. Even the total lying bollox Nixon was not as awful as the trump. Even his press secretary, the much parodied Ron Ziegler, wasn't quite as malignant as the present incumbent.
Overconfidence, not just expert overconfidence but general overconfidence,
is one of the most common illusions we experience. Stan Robinson
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UndercoverElephant
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Post by UndercoverElephant »

I'm not so sure he has ever really had a grasp of the plot.
Little John

Post by Little John »

This could yet backfire on the particular wing of the ruling class that are trying to bring Trump down by fomenting unrest among the usual useful idiots in the liberal bourgeoisie

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=miE-kwQM0mo

A very high stakes game being played with the public consciousness. A can of worms is being encouraged to open that could spill out in any number of unpredictable directions and it may not be possible to put the lid back on.
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emordnilap
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Post by emordnilap »

LJ, I agree. The long-term is going to be the same.

However, Trump's part in it will cause more unnecessary short- and medium-term suffering though as he pushes all the wrong buttons. He's going to provoke major violence and will be the direct cause of it (not that other US presidents aren't violent, it's a prerequisite).
I experience pleasure and pains, and pursue goals in service of them, so I cannot reasonably deny the right of other sentient agents to do the same - Steven Pinker
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