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Re: POTUS-DONALD TRUMP-Already making America Great Again!

Posted: Sun Jul 08, 2018 11:24 pm
by zt1903
Saint wrote:
Akkerman wrote:
zt1903 wrote:Also SCOTUS nominee due tomorrow.

I’m going to predict that he’ll go with Amy Coney Barrett. I have no particular opinion on the nominees but it seems that she is the best one for the political theatre of it, works on a number of levels.
is she the one in that catholic cult ?
Yep, and also the bookies favourite. ZT is going out on a limb with this prediction
I thought the favourite was Kethledge.

Re: POTUS-DONALD TRUMP-Already making America Great Again!

Posted: Sun Jul 08, 2018 11:31 pm
by Bowens
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ulV5YqZ1ZPE

Doesn’t look like any Catholic church I know. But Pence and Rubio abandoned their Catholic roots so I guess she is just following the path.

Re: POTUS-DONALD TRUMP-Already making America Great Again!

Posted: Sun Jul 08, 2018 11:36 pm
by shanky
Saint wrote:
zt1903 wrote:This thread's been way too quiet this weekend. :roll:

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/main ... st-in-2017
Mainstream media errors in the Trump era: Your catalogue of the media's bias-fueled failure-fest in 2017

The press' credibility problem took a turn for the worse this year.

Chalk it up to bias, sloppiness, or sheer panic in response to the election of Donald Trump, but the bottom line for 2017 is that there was a shocking decline in the quality and reliability of political journalism.

Instead of adjusting adeptly to Trump's easy relationship with the truth and his tendency to abuse members of the news media, a significant number of political journalists and commentators tripped over themselves to repeat every bit of gossip, thinly sourced claim and half-cocked rumor.

These stories fell short of the most basic function of political journalism in that they failed to provide readers with a clear and indisputably accurate picture of what is really going on at the White House and Congress. These botched reports also further diminished the public's already dwindling trust in the press.

This isn't to say all coverage of the Trump administration was trash. Rather, it's to say an unusually large number of 2017 stories, tweets and headlines turned out either to be overhyped, inconclusive, misleading, half-true, or flat-out false.

Starting in order of most recent, here is our catalogue of this year's shoddiest political reporting beginning Jan. 20, 2017:
List too long to paste, you’ll have to read the article ;)
A fair number of those appear to be cases of the MSM either favouring Trump, or at least giving him the benefit of the doubt, only for it to be proved false
Unfortunately, you’ve found yourself drawn into commenting upon an article (in a proudly self-declared conservative journal) complaining about press bias in other outlets.

Surely, the fact that it was posted by this thread’s foremost ironist should have warned you?

:)

Re: POTUS-DONALD TRUMP-Already making America Great Again!

Posted: Mon Jul 09, 2018 9:13 am
by Rinkals
https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2018-07-09-its-now-trump-vs-the-western-world/#.W0MWPa3Ma00
Columnist and veteran Eastern Europe scholar Anne Applebaum’s judgement of this is:

“In both Ukraine and Syria, the situation is extremely odd: The United States – still, in theory, the stronger power – appears to be negotiating to give up quite a lot in exchange for very little. The only explanation for U.S. determination to make a lopsided deal is Trump himself. Perhaps he has learned from his experience negotiating with North Korea: In Singapore he endorsed a dictator, got nothing except unenforceable promises and then came home to a hero’s welcome from Fox News. Or perhaps he still feels he owes something, after all, to the man who helped him win the presidency.”

The danger facing Trump’s counterparts at the Nato meeting is that the Brussels meeting goes badly – that Trump raises Cain over the other members’ defence contributions and threatens to begin actual planning about redeployment of US troops and materiel from Europe. Then, Trump goes to Helsinki and makes nice, nice with Vladimir Putin, as they frame a grand bargain that helps ease the way for America to draw back from Europe, consistent with his initial campaign rhetoric. Once that happens, the other Nato leaders face some very difficult choices.

As The Economist argued this week, in its forebodings over the conjunction of these two summits:

“Nato is more fragile than Trump thinks. At its core is the pledge to treat an attack on one member in the North Atlantic region as an attack on them all. His vacillation and his hostility to Europe weakens that promise, if only because it reveals his scorn for the idea that small countries have the same rights as big ones. Asia is watching, as is Mr Putin. The more Mr Trump bullies his allies, the more the world will doubt America’s security guarantees. Because great powers compete in a grey zone between peace and war, that risks miscalculation. Mr Trump believes he is a master negotiator in pursuit of stronger America. With Europe, as with so much else, he gravely undervalues what he is giving up.”

Re: POTUS-DONALD TRUMP-Already making America Great Again!

Posted: Mon Jul 09, 2018 10:07 am
by houtkabouter
TBF I don't think Trump gives a toss about Europe, he is only interested in protecting American interests.

As much as I don't agree with his policies, on the surface, he is definitely delivering on what he promised (or is at least trying to). I can't fault him there.

He flip flops a lot, but I think it's part of his method. Like with the shootings, he promises actions, let's the issue simmer and lose momentum and then flip flops. At which point he drops a tweet bomb and deflects attention. I think Sneaker is quite right when he says he understands the ebb and flow of the media intimately.

For all their vast resources the media have created a machine that is completely unable to deal with it. They cannot sustain any story for any length of time because their own strategies are incapable of doing it.

I don't think the current approach will dethrone him, if anything I think it's going to strengthen him.

Re: POTUS-DONALD TRUMP-Already making America Great Again!

Posted: Mon Jul 09, 2018 10:20 am
by Rinkals
houtkabouter wrote:TBF I don't think Trump gives a toss about Europe, he is only interested in protecting American interests.

As much as I don't agree with his policies, on the surface, he is definitely delivering on what he promised (or is at least trying to). I can't fault him there.

He flip flops a lot, but I think it's part of his method. Like with the shootings, he promises actions, let's the issue simmer and lose momentum and then flip flops. At which point he drops a tweet bomb and deflects attention. I think Sneaker is quite right when he says he understands the ebb and flow of the media intimately.

For all their vast resources the media have created a machine that is completely unable to deal with it. They cannot sustain any story for any length of time because their own strategies are incapable of doing it.

I don't think the current approach will dethrone him, if anything I think it's going to strengthen him.
Yeah, I don't think it's about dethroning him; it's more the damage that he's doing and whether it's recoverable.

Re: POTUS-DONALD TRUMP-Already making America Great Again!

Posted: Mon Jul 09, 2018 10:38 am
by kiwinoz
Seneca of the Night wrote:Those Sunday afternoons just drag on, so why not go on Twitter . . .

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/sta ... 2604139520
:lol: :lol: so many still angry at the deplorables

Re: POTUS-DONALD TRUMP-Already making America Great Again!

Posted: Mon Jul 09, 2018 10:44 am
by Taranaki Snapper
Russian intelligence gains influence in foreign countries by operating subtly and patiently. It exerts different gradations of leverage over different kinds of people, and uses a basic tool kit of blackmail that involves the exploitation of greed, stupidity, ego, and sexual appetite. All of which are traits Trump has in abundance.
http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/20 ... usion.html

Re: POTUS-DONALD TRUMP-Already making America Great Again!

Posted: Mon Jul 09, 2018 11:42 am
by Yer Man
Taranaki Snapper wrote:
Russian intelligence gains influence in foreign countries by operating subtly and patiently. It exerts different gradations of leverage over different kinds of people, and uses a basic tool kit of blackmail that involves the exploitation of greed, stupidity, ego, and sexual appetite. All of which are traits Trump has in abundance.
http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/20 ... usion.html
That's hardly limited to Trump.
Or even just Republicans.

Although it was 9 or 10 of their Senators who had to report to their paymaster in Moscow last week - on the 4th of July of all days :lol: :lol: :lol: :blush:

Re: POTUS-DONALD TRUMP-Already making America Great Again!

Posted: Mon Jul 09, 2018 12:10 pm
by Rinkals
Taranaki Snapper wrote:
Russian intelligence gains influence in foreign countries by operating subtly and patiently. It exerts different gradations of leverage over different kinds of people, and uses a basic tool kit of blackmail that involves the exploitation of greed, stupidity, ego, and sexual appetite. All of which are traits Trump has in abundance.
http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/20 ... usion.html
I for one, find the possibility that the Russians are blackmailing Trump remote, not least because I doubt that they could hold anything on him that hasn't already been aired at considerable length.

Re: POTUS-DONALD TRUMP-Already making America Great Again!

Posted: Mon Jul 09, 2018 1:28 pm
by houtkabouter
Seneca of the Night wrote:
houtkabouter wrote:TBF I don't think Trump gives a toss about Europe, he is only interested in protecting American interests.

As much as I don't agree with his policies, on the surface, he is definitely delivering on what he promised (or is at least trying to). I can't fault him there.

He flip flops a lot, but I think it's part of his method. Like with the shootings, he promises actions, let's the issue simmer and lose momentum and then flip flops. At which point he drops a tweet bomb and deflects attention. I think Sneaker is quite right when he says he understands the ebb and flow of the media intimately.

For all their vast resources the media have created a machine that is completely unable to deal with it. They cannot sustain any story for any length of time because their own strategies are incapable of doing it.

I don't think the current approach will dethrone him, if anything I think it's going to strengthen him.
I wonder what kind of method there is there. Obviously he has in his mind a rough idea of what it is he wants, but actually managing those policy streams is something way beyond his skills I'd think. I thought this was a very interesting picture:
Spoiler: show
Image
So apparently Bannon and his team went through every single campaign speech a recorded all the campaign promises (many of them off the cuff) and put them down on this whiteboard. And Bannon was using that has his 'war room' for developing strategy.

Bannon is obviously gone, but I wonder where this all went. He does appear to be chugging through the list. There are still people like (NZer) Chris Liddell running the strategy for him, not to mention Stephen Millar and Jarrod, and these people don't work off whiteboards. There must be a pretty solid set of programme plans now that are off and running the approval, execution and implementation of that whiteboard.

We know he's had problems getting and retaining staff. But maybe he's proving that a smaller executive team might be useful?

I watched a bit of a programme called 'Reporting Trump' last night, following the NY Times. I must watch it all as it was fascinating. I didn't see enough to form any solid conclusions, but what I did see confirmed my suspicion that they're caught up in a soap opera they can't see their way out of. The way they were parsing reports on Papadopolous et. al searching for hidden meaning in words and phrases crouched around a single screen was risible. As a review in the Guardian put it, they are clearly having the time of their lives, on the biggest story of their lives.

Too bad it's all made up shit.
My view is that these guys all think that theirs is the story that will bring him down, so they're all flying off on different tangents, desperately following the next bit.

The reality is that their strategy, at heart, is flawed. They'll never beat him with bite sizes, because people haven't even finished chewing and he's stuffing something new in their mouths. Their mouths are so full no one knows what they're saying.

I don't even know if it's possible to beat him at this game, clearly it isn't in the current format.

Your point about chugging through Bannon's todo list is a good one too, whoever is sticking to that board as the blueprint is smart.

It did surprise me at the time how Bannon prostrated himself before Trump, but tbh I think he did a very smart thing there, because it meant that Trump could follow his agenda without the obvious distancing which would be required if an all out war started. Bannon clearly has a very deep understanding of how to deal with Trump effectively, if the media truly want to take him down, they could probably learn how by following Bannon's example of thinking differently.

What they're doing now is actually building him up more than it is taking him down. His base is getting even more embedded than ever. The next election they will be massively mobilised, whereas I think liberals are less likely to be motivated.

Someone's played a good game again, I don't know who, but it's definitely not the DNC. They've been f**king hopeless through this process, you would think that someone who generates so much animosity would be easy motivation.

Re: POTUS-DONALD TRUMP-Already making America Great Again!

Posted: Mon Jul 09, 2018 1:54 pm
by houtkabouter
I don't think that anyone thinks Trump is stumbling around in the dark. I just don't necessarily think he's the one carrying the torch.

I haven't read much about Liddel, so I cannot pass any comment on him, suffice to say he appears to be happy to take no credit for anything, which would make him perfect for Trump.

Re: POTUS-DONALD TRUMP-Already making America Great Again!

Posted: Mon Jul 09, 2018 2:14 pm
by Kiwias
houtkabouter wrote:I don't think that anyone thinks Trump is stumbling around in the dark. I just don't necessarily think he's the one carrying the torch.

I haven't read much about Liddel, so I cannot pass any comment on him, suffice to say he appears to be happy to take no credit for anything, which would make him perfect for Trump.
We Matamata lads are humble, ain't nobody what's more 'umble.

Re: POTUS-DONALD TRUMP-Already making America Great Again!

Posted: Mon Jul 09, 2018 2:19 pm
by Saint
He's a foreigner who's taking a US job from a US citizen.

But that's OK, because he's white

Re: POTUS-DONALD TRUMP-Already making America Great Again!

Posted: Mon Jul 09, 2018 2:22 pm
by Kiwias
Saint wrote:He's a foreigner who's taking a US job from a US citizen.

But that's OK, because he's white
He is a US citizen

Re: POTUS-DONALD TRUMP-Already making America Great Again!

Posted: Mon Jul 09, 2018 2:30 pm
by Andalu
Former NZRU director now in the White House? Somebody send a pigeon to Kid A's bunker.

Re: POTUS-DONALD TRUMP-Already making America Great Again!

Posted: Mon Jul 09, 2018 2:41 pm
by houtkabouter
He's an expat :)

Re: POTUS-DONALD TRUMP-Already making America Great Again!

Posted: Mon Jul 09, 2018 2:48 pm
by Wilson's Toffee
houtkabouter wrote:He's an expat :)

Kiwi-runner ?

Re: POTUS-DONALD TRUMP-Already making America Great Again!

Posted: Mon Jul 09, 2018 2:56 pm
by houtkabouter
Wilson's Toffee wrote:
houtkabouter wrote:He's an expat :)

Kiwi-runner ?
:lol: Kentucky Fried Kiwi?

Re: POTUS-DONALD TRUMP-Already making America Great Again!

Posted: Mon Jul 09, 2018 3:08 pm
by Saint
Kiwias wrote:
Saint wrote:He's a foreigner who's taking a US job from a US citizen.

But that's OK, because he's white
He is a US citizen
DACA?

Re: POTUS-DONALD TRUMP-Already making America Great Again!

Posted: Mon Jul 09, 2018 8:10 pm
by flaggETERNAL
Read somewhere that Obama is going to help campaign for the mid term elections. It's like the Dems can't frakkin learn shit. They still seem to think that endorsements from celebrities (and Obama is that) actually help.

Re: POTUS-DONALD TRUMP-Already making America Great Again!

Posted: Mon Jul 09, 2018 8:25 pm
by Rowdy
Plus Hillary Just Won't Quit.

I'm hoping for a Democratogeddon in the mid-terms and Donald in 2020; the World really needs some entertainment, and Robert de Niro spontaneously combusting on stage would be simply fabulous.

Re: POTUS-DONALD TRUMP-Already making America Great Again!

Posted: Mon Jul 09, 2018 8:26 pm
by tiddle
Rowdy wrote:Plus Hillary Just Won't Quit.

I'm hoping for a Democratogeddon in the mid-terms and Donald in 2020; the World really needs some entertainment, and Robert de Niro spontaneously combusting on stage would be simply fabulous.
what a stupid post

Re: POTUS-DONALD TRUMP-Already making America Great Again!

Posted: Mon Jul 09, 2018 8:45 pm
by Fangle
If Hillary runs again, she has to get help with her delivery of her speeches. She must get rid of that horrible monotone. I'm certain that lost her votes from many a married man because she sounds like a nagging wife.

Re: POTUS-DONALD TRUMP-Already making America Great Again!

Posted: Mon Jul 09, 2018 9:12 pm
by Rowdy
Nothing to do with her eyeballs rolling back into her head at the sight of some balloons, or being unable to get to her limo without falling down?

Re: POTUS-DONALD TRUMP-Already making America Great Again!

Posted: Mon Jul 09, 2018 9:37 pm
by flaggETERNAL
EverReady wrote:
flaggETERNAL wrote:Read somewhere that Obama is going to help campaign for the mid term elections. It's like the Dems can't frakkin learn shit. They still seem to think that endorsements from celebrities (and Obama is that) actually help.
He is the recently ex-President that many pine for. Hardly a mistake to have him campaign. Do you think he might piss off the Trump lads and they might not vote for the Democrats
I don't know man. I can see Trump again doing what he does best. Use Obama's presence to talk shit, so Dems and the media cover that and it achieves nothing more than a muddying of the waters. Confusing the already confused American electorate. I'm probably not explaining this as well I should.

Re: POTUS-DONALD TRUMP-Already making America Great Again!

Posted: Mon Jul 09, 2018 9:39 pm
by flaggETERNAL
Fangle wrote:If Hillary runs again, she has to get help with her delivery of her speeches. She must get rid of that horrible monotone. I'm certain that lost her votes from many a married man because she sounds like a nagging wife.
It doesn't matter one whit what she does. If she runs, she'll lose. Again. surely she can't be that power hungry?

Re: POTUS-DONALD TRUMP-Already making America Great Again!

Posted: Mon Jul 09, 2018 11:43 pm
by Bowens
Listen to Flaggs. He has a better ear for this stuff than you do.

Re: POTUS-DONALD TRUMP-Already making America Great Again!

Posted: Mon Jul 09, 2018 11:49 pm
by Bowens
Bowens wrote:The travel ban is not a winning issue, especially outside of the south (red in 2020 pretty much regardless of what happens). Protecting American workers and lowering prescription costs are the core issues his people should be focusing on. But if you're not an American and especially if you're based in Europe, I guess the Muslim thing resonates. There's some Gorka-southern US evangelical overlap that gets this stuff into Trump's ear but it doesn't really help him.
Trump’s best tweet in a long time...

https://mobile.twitter.com/realDonaldTr ... 3723577344

Re: POTUS-DONALD TRUMP-Already making America Great Again!

Posted: Mon Jul 09, 2018 11:50 pm
by Bowens
EverReady wrote:Fair enoug...oh its Bowens
You were funny like 10 years ago. Father Time is cruel.

Re: POTUS-DONALD TRUMP-Already making America Great Again!

Posted: Tue Jul 10, 2018 12:04 am
by Santa
Seneca of the Night wrote:Trump's collusion with Russia in one simple chart:
Spoiler: show
Image
From NY Magazine.
That's pretty much what I have in my notebook.

Re: POTUS-DONALD TRUMP-Already making America Great Again!

Posted: Tue Jul 10, 2018 12:20 am
by Jay Cee Gee

Re: POTUS-DONALD TRUMP-Already making America Great Again!

Posted: Tue Jul 10, 2018 1:10 am
by Akkerman
so who's the pick ?

Re: POTUS-DONALD TRUMP-Already making America Great Again!

Posted: Tue Jul 10, 2018 2:36 am
by Thai guy
Image

Re: POTUS-DONALD TRUMP-Already making America Great Again!

Posted: Tue Jul 10, 2018 2:55 am
by Akkerman

Re: POTUS-DONALD TRUMP-Already making America Great Again!

Posted: Tue Jul 10, 2018 3:33 am
by Hong Kong
So, slightly to the right of genghis Khan?

Re: POTUS-DONALD TRUMP-Already making America Great Again!

Posted: Tue Jul 10, 2018 4:22 am
by Sonny Blount

Re: POTUS-DONALD TRUMP-Already making America Great Again!

Posted: Tue Jul 10, 2018 7:04 am
by houtkabouter
So a lot like the obama scotus nomination then.

Re: POTUS-DONALD TRUMP-Already making America Great Again!

Posted: Tue Jul 10, 2018 7:39 am
by zt1903
Hong Kong wrote:
So, slightly to the right of genghis Khan?
:roll:

Re: POTUS-DONALD TRUMP-Already making America Great Again!

Posted: Tue Jul 10, 2018 8:03 am
by Mr Mike
Would have been funnier if they had “XY” rather than “Xx”.
SCOTUS: DFA will fight Kavanaugh, says she "represents a generational assault on justice, freedom, core democratic values"