A Political Thread pt. 2

[General Melchett]

We're going to have to disagree then, many who have worked with him directly throughout his life have confirmed he is a moron. You need a certain degree of manipulative ability certainly and bags of self-assurance but the presidency is a popularity contest. Got to remember that his business empire was built primarily by his father, not him. By the time he took the reins, the empire was already well established with a very capable team of advisors etc. The things we can put down as Trump ideas were pretty much universally failures.

All the way from uni, where one of his professors said Trump was the "dumbest goddam student I ever had" to the presidency where multiple senior staff members called him an idiot. Whilst you may argue you don't get where Trump is by being a moron, I say you also don't get that many people close to you throughout your life calling you a moron if you aren't.

Hell Reagan became president and the guy is well known for being thick as ****.

Trump is a manipulator, which is not the same as being a strategist. By their nature highly impulsive people are also awful at long term thinking.

He's basically a charismatic but thick showman who appeals to thick people with very simple rhetoric about illegal immigrants, culture wars, China etc. He also won a ton of protest votes from people in swing states who were living in Never never land by thinking he would be able to be able to bring prices down to pre COVID levels send the stock market to the moon and end the wars within 24 hours.

Boris Johnson although not that thick (but with other flaws) had a similar type of charisma that appeals to many people (excluding me) but I accept that was appealing nonetheless.

Tariff war Trump reminds me of that kid in street who picks up his ball and goes home in the huff just because his team are losing which means nobody gets to play. His idea of art of the deal is abusing power, bully boy tactics and using that power to renege on deals that even he himself signed.

The British political system is deeply flawed but I think Trump would have navigated Partygate with ease and I doubt the British public would have tolerated Starmer saying his daughter was hot and that he could have dated her.

 

[Which Tyler]

 

[General Melchett]

If Taiwan is there for grabs, how does the US respond to this?

If Taiwan is up for grabs I would expect China to respond in the same way as America did with Cuba or any other territory off it's coast.

America has made a monumental geo political / strategic error by relying on Taiwan for semi conductors and they need to own that.

 

[McTallshort]

Making a deal in business is absolutely different from making one in geopolitics and I'm surprised no one has mentioned this.

In business you normally have two or three parties all roughly wanting the same thing which is financial gain. People will concede and negotiate knowing that in the end it will enable the making of money and everyone has that mindset. Now take that and put it in a situation like Ukraine or Gaza and the dynamic is completely different, people on opposite sides absolutely don't have the same mindset, money isn't the overriding concern in fact it's largely irrelevant when you wake up in the morning and your house has been flattened.

Trump isn't coming across as a serious statesmen (in fact none of his cabinet is), he's coming across as a bit of a petulant child who wants to take his ball home. He absolutely hasn't got any deal done on Ukraine or Gaza and just seems to want to be the centre of attention. Perhaps he still thinks he's a reality TV star?

 

[Which Tyler]

Making a deal in business is absolutely different from making one in geopolitics and I'm surprised no one has mentioned this.

Been mentioned a fair few times hasn't it? Or am I getting confused with other discussion boards that I frequent?

The main difference between business and geopolitics - explicitly for Trump, is that in business (especially real estate), there's always another partner.
Trumps MO seems to be to bully and screw over every contractor, and if they go bust or refuse to work with him again because of that, just use a different contractor next time. He sees every contract as a zero-sum game, with a winner and a loser. He has no concept of a mutually beneficial agreement.
This doesn't work in geopolitics because... there's only so many countries; and once you've ****** off your allies, they will be wary of you for a long time - even if they need to continue working with you in the short or even medium term.

Beyond that, yes, you're absolutely right - in politics, different people, different countries, have different agendas. Different things that are important to them.

 

[dirty harry]

He's basically a charismatic

We know strumpet always lies, someone asked "who said 50, BBC?"

Near enough everything strumpet claims is later disproven, Zelensky, Putin to name just two. I actually trust them more for the truth than strumpet

This is today's fact check from CNN.

Fact check: Trump falsely says Europe doesn't buy anything from US, wildly exaggerates trade deficit with China

https://us.cnn.com/2025/04/07/politics/fact-check-trump-trade-europe-china/index.html

I'll wait on anything he says until an independent source confirms it.

Btw How about those reciprocal tariffs on nonexistent tariffs?

Don't forget the 30,000+ documented lies just from his first term alone.

Again, are you ignoring that the source was linked by the BBC as independent verified by Reuters news organisation? Why would you do that?

 

[dirty harry]

Brook left crew before strumpet became president

So he did, I stand corrected.

He stepped down in shame when Trump got arrested (EDIT. arrested lol, freudian slip, i meant elected), the list of those involved from then gets better... the Clinton's, Chuck Schumer, Tony Blair and Painter... who run as a democrat in 2018.

So the criticism of this source being pretty biased holds up

 

[dirty harry]

He's in Dick-tator mode again.

Trump planning military parade through DC for 79th birthday

The Trump administration is planning a June 14 military parade through the streets of Washington, D.C., to mark the president’s 79th birthday. It will also mark the Army’s 250th anniversary. A senior administration official confirmed the plans to NewsNation, The Hill’s sister network. Washington...

www.yahoo.com

This is shocking!!! When in a position like this the optics around looking like Kim, or Putin couldn't get any worse, spending millions for your birthday just to dick measure...

I've read about 30 sources on this, it's going to cost 90 million, and is being held on June 14th.

One tiny little miniscule peice of info though...

"the Army had planned to celebrate its 250th anniversary with a "robust capability increase in what you would see in previous years." Planning began last year"

Wait, so Biden was the one in dick tator mode?

There's an interview with Bowser somewhere, go watch it it's funny, she's playing vague and ignorant about what she knows about the parade 'I'm not sure what the plan is, I've had no involvement' etc... but she's on record last year praising Bidens vision for a 'historic event' and talks about strength testing the bridges, and ensuring road maintenance is up to scratch lol.

To stick this on Trump pretending it's a birthday bash, that he is starting to arrange 8 weeks out hahahahaha

Especially when parade plans were put to him in 2018 and he rejected them due to cost.

 

[Saintjay]

250 years, there like military toddlers.

We put on a parade every year for the King's Birthday. We also have the Edinburgh tattoo. One thing we do better than anyone is marching up and down a parade square. World leaders in pomp and ceremony.

 

[ncurd]

Yeah he's a property mogul who's projects that went well are due to extreme bullying tactics of both the government and his contractors. That's not good business or particularly smart but with enough equity and people not stopping you will make you rich.

I know you were just joking so this isn't aimed at you but I have never liked the term greedy landlords which Labour used a lot when in opposition.

So it was more tongue in cheek but there's a half truth to it. Rental tends to be more expensive ownership in terms of monthly outgoings (its long been ridiculous steady rental payments can't be used for evidence for a 0% mortgage) and the expense is rarely outweighed by any benefit even if you have a good landlord and letting agency (you need both I've had my shockers in both regards).

Essentially regardless of the quality of person the home rental market should be vastly smaller than it is.

 

[ncurd]

 

[TRF_Olyy]

I always thought TDS made more sense being applied the opposite way, his supporters are like a cult
It's incredibly cringe either way, though

 

[Welsh Exile]

Yeah he's a property mogul who's projects that went well are due to extreme bullying tactics of both the government and his contractors. That's not good business or particularly smart but with enough equity and people not stopping you will make you rich.

So it was more tongue in cheek but there's a half truth to it. Rental tends to be more expensive ownership in terms of monthly outgoings (its long been ridiculous steady rental payments can't be used for evidence for a 0% mortgage) and the expense is rarely outweighed by any benefit even if you have a good landlord and letting agency (you need both I've had my shockers in both regards).

Essentially regardless of the quality of person the home rental market should be vastly smaller than it is.

Doesn't most of Trumps wealth (maybe minus the rug pull crypto scams he's pulled since in office) come from the apprentice? He's a wealthy tv show host basically.

 

[Weldit]

I remember Ian Hislop (I think) said on Have I Got News For You that Trump would have made more money if he had kept it in the bank instead of doing his failed business ventures.

 

[General Melchett]

.

Doesn't most of Trumps wealth (maybe minus the rug pull crypto scams he's pulled since in office) come from the apprentice? He's a wealthy tv show host basically.

A poor man's Alan Sugar.

 

[Which Tyler]

I always thought TDS made more sense being applied the opposite way, his supporters are like a cult
It's incredibly cringe either way, though

I agree with almost every word there.
I disagree with shortening the word "cringeworthy". It makes me cringe every time I see/hear it - as bad as actually saying LOL as a word.

 

[ncurd]

Doesn't most of Trumps wealth (maybe minus the rug pull crypto scams he's pulled since in office) come from the apprentice? He's a wealthy tv show host basically.

I think it comes from his New York property but mostly inherited.

I remember Ian Hislop (I think) said on Have I Got News For You that Trump would have made more money if he had kept it in the bank instead of doing his failed business ventures.

Off-cited but I'm unsure of the evidence if I'm honest and take it with a pinch of salt.

 

[Leonormous Boozer]

I work in private practice law in investment funds and it is quiet aa anything right now. I would guess the fund managers are scrambling and a freeze on new projects amd products has been implemented across the board.

Funds by their nature are global and we regularly have EMEA, US, Asian and Australian products established in Ireland so this isn't isolated to the EU.

A superpower never goes down without a fight and in trying to find a reasoning for this I think Trump and co are trying to get ahead of this fight. Whether it's an underestimation of the rest of the world's ability to diversify or an overestimation of themselves I really don't see how this works for them, they're playing into China's hands.

I was surprised to see the strength of China's response, they tend to plan in centuries and not short terms, with an inward approach first but I imagine it's quite calculated.

I have always wanted to go in house in any case but might expedite this if I can. Ireland isn't currently a great jurisdiction for Chinese products, hard to tell if it ever could be either, so getting into a shop with exposure to the UK, Lux and/or Switzerland would be timely in the next few years.

 

[AlRums]

I work in private practice law in investment funds and it is quiet aa anything right now. I would guess the fund managers are scrambling and a freeze on new projects amd products has been implemented across the board.

Funds by their nature are global and we regularly have EMEA, US, Asian and Australian products established in Ireland so this isn't isolated to the EU.

A superpower never goes down without a fight and in trying to find a reasoning for this I think Trump and co are trying to get ahead of this fight. Whether it's an underestimation of the rest of the world's ability to diversify or an overestimation of themselves I really don't see how this works for them, they're playing into China's hands.

I was surprised to see the strength of China's response, they tend to plan in centuries and not short terms, with an inward approach first but I imagine it's quite calculated.

I have always wanted to go in house in any case but might expedite this if I can. Ireland isn't currently a great jurisdiction for Chinese products, hard to tell if it ever could be either, so getting into a shop with exposure to the UK, Lux and/or Switzerland would be timely in the next few years.

I should imagine nobody wants to take a chance on what strumpet does next, I mean just look what happened on the markets yesterday as a result of one random twat on twatter.

 

[dirty harry]

I agree with almost every word there.
I disagree with shortening the word "cringeworthy". It makes me cringe every time I see/hear it - as bad as actually saying LOL as a word.

This has been my point from the very start, MAGA cultists and those with TDS are both sides of the same coin.

Both use falsehoods, manipulated facts and lies to win for their team, as proved here on numerous occasions.

Maybe if we all recognise this we can be a bit more rational?