Trump

[Ben Daswani]

Re: Trump

If you could direct me to something other than the conversation between Billy Bush and Trump (which from what I've seen doesn't mention any sexual assault)

http://www.slate.com/blogs/xx_factor...d_the_law.html

[Kevin Pacey]

Re: Trump

Why is it too late to win this battle? Trump and Brexit might suggest otherwise.

There are differing opinions on whether globalization can be stopped; perhaps it's because life has made me lean towards pessimism that I think it cannot be stopped, at least by the efforts of mortal man alone. Powerful people like Soros or possibly Donald Tusk (in the EU) make me think that way, and I can imagine how many other people, say at the UN (in conjunction with environmental groups that may be being used as pawns) might be behind the tide of globalization. Back in the early 2000's I went so far as to vote for the fringe party CAP, due to its anti-globalization stance, even though it was founded by left-leaning politicians from the Liberals & NDP; however by those years globalization was already in full swing.

Here's one link that argues globalization won't be stopped, albeit written before Trump was elected:

https://www.ft.com/content/52cf8e18-...b-83242733f755

[Brad Thomson]

Re: Trump

...but it's a little late to win the battle against globalization and the one world government mindset that's developing through steady nurturing from behind the scenes...

Why is it too late to win this battle? Trump and Brexit might suggest otherwise.

[Kevin Pacey]

Re: Trump

...Kevin, I note that you haven't mentioned anything about what has so far been leaked about Trump's budget goals. Reminding again that Trump's business model is to borrow money and not pay it back.... and given that his budget goals as leaked so far indicate this exact tendency because his $54 billion increase in defense spending is not nearly matched by his proposed cuts in other agencies, which would mean a significant increase in the deficit.... would you agree that this (plus his America-first trade policies) is all going to lead to dramatically increased inflation and a possible debt spiral that could lead to America eventually defaulting on its debt (perfectly in line with Trump's business model)?

I'd note that plenty of so-called conservative politicians have talked about smaller government, and subsequently substantially increased the size of it. Ronald Reagan was one case in point. One could argue that Reagan did so mainly in an effort to win the Cold War (with Mulroney in Canada following the footsteps of the US, as usual). The US has a history of acquiring plenty of enemies abroad, whether or not they bring it upon themselves in any particular case, and it's a feature of any given presidency whether to boost Defense spending.

Massive government spending on infrastructure could be seen as a one-time thing, though the debate is how much to involve private industry. I have no idea, but e.g. Mathieu might argue the public sector should be firmly in charge (e.g. perhaps concerns about shoddy construction materials provided by criminal elements may be less - case in point being instances in the news I recall in looking across the river at the province to my north).

Right now Trump is ostensibly fighting against the globalization agenda by threatening to be protectionist, but it's a little late to win the battle against globalization and the one world government midset that's developing through steady nurturing from behind the scenes, IMHO. In fact, since Trump is such a generally self-centred person, aside from minding his family, I suspect he could easily change his stance on just about anything at the drop of a hat, to suit his own purposes. At one time he was considered liberal in his views (and socialized with Bill and Hillary, as you are well aware).

[Tom O'Donnell]

Re: Trump

People think Trump is a sexual predator because he's bragged about committing sexual assault.

If you could direct me to something other than the conversation between Billy Bush and Trump (which from what I've seen doesn't mention any sexual assault) that would be appreciated. On the plus side for the anti-Trump crowd the Billy Bush tape did show that Trump doesn't seem bright enough, or maybe he's too lazy, to figure out how to open a bus door.

[Ben Daswani]

Re: Trump

Trump is a sexual predator because a bunch of people claim he is

People think Trump is a sexual predator because he's bragged about committing sexual assault.

[Tom O'Donnell]

Re: Trump

So let me see if I get this straight.

"Open-minded" Paul Bonham is convinced that Trump is as evil as Charles Manson; you can be assured that this is the one clear truth because Paul Bonham is completely unbiased. Trump is a sexual predator because a bunch of people claim he is, though as far as I know he hasn't been convicted in a court of law. As an aside, I guess that Bill and Hillary Clinton are also guilty because a bunch of people claim he is a sexual predator and she helped cover up the crimes.

Donald Trump separated his businesses from his personal finances and each other. He declared four (out of dozens? hundreds?) bankrupt, stiffing a bunch of people. As far as I can tell, that's morally reprehensible, common, and completely legal.

Fortunately we can just skip the expensive and messy part about presumption of innocence, due process, etc. and just go with Paul Bonham's truths. Wow, what a relief.

[Mathieu Cloutier]

Re: Trump

I believe you guys got it all wrong and are just over-reacting. The whining against the media, pouting and tweeting nonsense and outrageous announcements... it's all part of a plan we might have misunderstood.

Trump's biggest move will be to ban pre-shredded cheese. He said it himself: let's make america grate again.

[Neil Frarey]

Re: Trump

...blah, blah, blah.

[Paul Bonham]

Re: Trump

.... So far I like a lot of what Trump is doing to cheese off the eternally misguided and twisted left wing, even though I can hardly stand the man's personality, and suspect he's got the potential to be one hell of a villain down the road. The left wing media and left in general are all over him, right from the start, seriously impairing his ability to do a compromise with Russia if something like a Cuban Missile Crisis arises; he'd worry he'd be accused even more of being a traitor. Ironically, the Democrats have a history of being cozy with the Russians/Soviets just prior to an election. Obama, for example, was caught on audio saying to Medvedev in effect that he'd have more freedom to please Russia after an ongoing election was over. Hillary had an election strategy to especially demonize Russia, as a possible way to make Trump look bad. It didn't work well enough, but the Democrats are currently still running with the idea (are Hillary and Bill refusing to go away quietly?). All this agitation by the left is not serving the US well, especially as inevitable external crises arise. I'd advise them to give Trump plenty of rope, and if he turns out to be anything like the s.o.b. I suspect he is, he's going to hang himself eventually anyway.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protes...27s_presidency

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Obama%...dev_Commission

It is truly something that people can "like what Trump is doing" although they purport to loathe him (or even just dislike him) as a human being. I wonder if these same people would be ok with someone like Charles Manson being President if Manson were the only person that would do what these people think needs doing.

To my mind, Trump is just as evil as someone like Manson. For starters, Trump is a sexual predator. Don't tell me that that is in his past and he's "repentant"; that is as ridiculous as saying Manson has gotten over his crimes and should be released on parole. Add onto that the fact that Trump is a corrupt businessman who, as one MSNBC commentator said recently, "has a business model of borrowing money and not paying it back." Not just once, but 4 times, and each time, ruining the lives of contractors who depended on him paying his bills. It all indicates that Trump has no regard for individual lives outside of his own circle of family / friends, which is exactly what we can say about Manson.

(By the way, this is how I circumvent anyone bringing up Godwin's Law -- instead of using Hitler, I use Manson!)

So my basic point is, in Trump we have a truly evil President, and this should take precedence over whether he is doing things that need doing in anyone's opinion. We wouldn't accept Charles Manson as President, and so we should not accept Trump.

Therefore we cannot say that the left should "give Trump plenty of rope". The left should not rest until Trump is removed from the Presidency by impeachment or any other legal means. It is simply immoral for the left to do otherwise, if one has a sense of morals and could not accept Charles Manson as President. In fact, many Trump supporters could not accept Hillary Clinton as President on moral grounds. They chanted at Trump's rallies "Lock her up!" because of how Trump manipulated them into believing "Crooked Hillary", and not himself, was the immoral one, because of her handling of things like Benghazi and of classified emails. With respect to Benghazi, there is no evidence that Hillary did anything immoral -- she survived quite an intensive investigation into that without the slightest recrimination. Ditto for the emails.

The fact is, comparing Hillary to Donald on moral grounds is an easy win for Hillary. She may not have a squeaky clean record, there may be some doubts, but there exists no hard evidence that she has acted in a way that could be proven to be immoral. I, like many others, would have preferred Bernie Sanders as the Democratic candidate, basing the major part of that on moral grounds but at the same time without incriminating Hillary.

And if anyone wants to bring up Bill Clinton on these terms (morality), yes, he was impeached and survived to fill out his term, but his crimes were of a far less serious nature than those of Trump / Manson. And he will justifiably be forever tainted with the crimes he is guilty of.

So Kevin, I make these points to you because I think you have a spiritual nature and do value morality very highly. Therefore I suggest to you that you stop putting any credence whatsoever to Trump as President or to what he is doing as somehow overcoming his evil nature. He is an evil President and needs to be removed by any legal means necessary. Accept this and accept whatever the left can do legally to achieve that end.

And to any outright Trump supporter who is a citizen of the United States, I say this: if you have the nerve to ever sing along to "God Bless America" and believe in the lyrics, you are a total hypocrite because you support an evil President. And you may find out that God, who you admit as being the epitome of just and moral, will not heed your hypocritical wishes and bless America at all going forward, given its election WITH YOUR HELP AND SUPPORT of a truly evil President.

On a separate note, Kevin, I note that you haven't mentioned anything about what has so far been leaked about Trump's budget goals. Reminding again that Trump's business model is to borrow money and not pay it back.... and given that his budget goals as leaked so far indicate this exact tendency because his $54 billion increase in defense spending is not nearly matched by his proposed cuts in other agencies, which would mean a significant increase in the deficit.... would you agree that this (plus his America-first trade policies) is all going to lead to dramatically increased inflation and a possible debt spiral that could lead to America eventually defaulting on its debt (perfectly in line with Trump's business model)?

[Kevin Pacey]

Re: Trump

Canada's political system may not be optimal for us. Austrialia has a Senate that gives their States equal representation, in spite of States having differing levels of population, yet it arguably works better for them than our Senate does for us (Diane Francis' Merger of the Century, while based on a premise that's rather a stretch, gives interesting comparisons between Australia and Canada, among other things). Democracy is more than two wolves and a sheep deciding what's for dinner, the old saying goes.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diane_Francis#Books

http://www.mq.edu.au/about_us/facult...tical_systems/

https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/James_Bovard

Trump won the US popular vote, if one doesn't take into account California and New York State, just two States of fifty. In Canada's federal system, one seat can be worth as much as another in spite of there being a sharp difference in population. The northern territories have little population, yet if they were subsumed into a southern province's riding, their region would have little voice in parliament. Again, remember the wolves and sheep saying.

So far I like a lot of what Trump is doing to cheese off the eternally misguided and twisted left wing, even though I can hardly stand the man's personality, and suspect he's got the potential to be one hell of a villain down the road. The left wing media and left in general are all over him, right from the start, seriously impairing his ability to do a compromise with Russia if something like a Cuban Missile Crisis arises; he'd worry he'd be accused even more of being a traitor. Ironically, the Democrats have a history of being cozy with the Russians/Soviets just prior to an election. Obama, for example, was caught on audio saying to Medvedev in effect that he'd have more freedom to please Russia after an ongoing election was over. Hillary had an election strategy to especially demonize Russia, as a possible way to make Trump look bad. It didn't work well enough, but the Democrats are currently still running with the idea (are Hillary and Bill refusing to go away quietly?). All this agitation by the left is not serving the US well, especially as inevitable external crises arise. I'd advise them to give Trump plenty of rope, and if he turns out to be anything like the s.o.b. I suspect he is, he's going to hang himself eventually anyway.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protes...27s_presidency

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Obama%...dev_Commission

[Bob Gillanders]

Re: Trump

Trump has been President for a full month now, shall we see how his polls are doing.
His approval polls appear to be dropping!!!
But, Rasmussen still has him as a +6.
Meanwhile, CBS -12, Gallup -12, Quinnipac -17. etc etc
They are all negative except Rasmussen, but even Rasmussen has been dropping.

Well, Rasmussen President approval poll did drop down to +2,
but now has bounced back to +6.

Trump remains popular with his base and Republican voters.

[Bob Gillanders]

Re: Trump

I agree wholeheartedly. And thanks for your post with the link to the video with an interview with David Frum. I had never heard of him before, and will have to find out more about him. He seems a fantastic intellect and very articulate as well, really understanding what is going on in U.S. politics.

Paul, here is another great interview with David Frum about the dangers of the authoritarianism of Trump.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Ikrl0J7v6I

I am surprised you haven't heard of David Frum. He is Canadian, or was a long time ago. His mother was the well respected Canadian newscaster, Barbara Frum.
David moved to the US decades ago and has been a leading conservative voice for many years.

ps. for some strange reason my video clips starts at the 6 minute mark. I suggest to rewind and hear it from the start, a great interview. Does anyone know why this happens? First time I have noticed it happen.

[Vlad Drkulec]

Re: Trump tweets while Rome burns

Are you implying that Republican hands are clean?

Republicans tend to want the same kind of ID that we are required to provide in Canada prior to voting. If you want to let people without any documentation vote, you are probably a Democrat in the U.S. One illegal alien apparently got eight years in prison for voting illegally multiple times and claims she is being railroaded by Trump.

[Neil Frarey]

Re: Trump tweets while Rome burns

"Vote early -- and often"

Notorious Democratic Mayor of Chicago Richard J. Daley :p


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