There's plenty of reports about the dilemma Orban presents the EU and of - obviously - private conversations about him.
Can I remind folk that this thread is about Trump, not about ourselves.
Hmm...
Yes I was obviously serious about not having yet forgiven the Germans for Adolf Hitler, so well done for pointing out my hypocrisy!
Anyway as MCTD points out it's maybe time to move on and get back to discussing Donald Trump. Hypocrisy on STW won't be going anywhere soon, so there will plenty of opportunities in the future to return to the subject 😉
So, back to the orange hued shitgibbon.
How tall is he? How heavy?
6'3" and 224lbs, or 5'11" and closer to 280lbs?
I guess thats merely in keeping with Trump being unable to tell the truth about anything. I also seen him again trying to brag about taking a cognitive test. The interviewer said he too had taken the same test and Trump tried to boast the last 5 questions were very difficult; the guy interviewing him disagreed - and said the last of the difficult questions was merely counting back from hundred by 7 .. kinda guarantee Trump had failed that bit!So, back to the orange hued shitgibbon.
How tall is he? How heavy?
6'3" and 224lbs, or 5'11" and closer to 280lbs?
* Its well known that Trump wears shoes 2-3 sizes too big because he is embarrassed about his small feet (also his small hands). I recon 5`11" and 280lbs is about where he is.
6'3" and 224lbs, or 5'11" and closer to 280lbs?
His doctor says his good health is shown by not simply playing golf but "frequent victories in golf" so I would go with the former. All the photos of him looking shorter than people who are actually 6'3" are clearly the mainstream media photographers making him look bad.
Speaking of medicine and preselected answers. Good to see RFK is confident the causes of autism can be quickly sorted out, despite sacking of a few of the professionals. I expect "environmental factors" will turn out to be vaccines.
I expect "environmental factors" will turn out to be vaccines.
Put simply, the nonaligned voters in America have shifted against Trump over tariffs. This is significant because they are the largest political group in the US, at 37% of electors compared with 34% Democrats and 29% Republicans.
What interesting about the non-aligned / independents that voted for trump, especially younger ones, is that polled issue by issue they're against pretty much everything he ran on, and that he is doing. It seems they voted for him as a character / personality but are unsupportive of (and no doubt adversely affected by) his actions.
So we could see quite a radical swing to the democrats in the midterms. But... I doubt that matters. I think the pace of Trumps (or rather Project 2025s) actions demonstrate they know and expect the fun will be over on polling day Nov 2026. They know nothing they do is going to be popular, they just see this as a once only chance do what they want regardless of mandate, they just do what they want, as quickly as they can, while they can.
They and Trump are after all not Republicans - they are cuckoos in the Republcan's nest and they don't care what state the leave the republican party in after they've taken what the want to take, and smashed what they want to smash.
The ruins will gladly be left for the democrat party to deal with.
That assumes he'll accept an election defeat and not declare a state of emergency and himself president for life.
Speaking of medicine and preselected answers. Good to see RFK is confident the causes of autism can be quickly sorted out, despite sacking of a few of the professionals. I expect "environmental factors" will turn out to be vaccines.
That's easy, just stop diagnosing Autism. Problem solved..........
That assumes he'll accept an election defeat and not declare a state of emergency and himself president for life.
The current rumour de jour is he'll be declaring a state of emergency/invoking the Insurrection Act on 20th April. No need to wait for an election defeat.
That's easy, just stop diagnosing Autism. Problem solved..........
Nah autism is an excuse to ban vaccines. Although the description of "autism" he was using did basically rule out all but the most severe cases.
The current rumour de jour is he'll be declaring a state of emergency/invoking the Insurrection Act on 20th April.
Why the 20th? Is that when he rises again from the dead to bring in the final days?
That assumes he'll accept an election defeat and not declare a state of emergency and himself president for life.
The current rumour de jour is he'll be declaring a state of emergency/invoking the Insurrection Act on 20th April. No need to wait for an election defeat.
I got some stick for suggesting that might happen before the midterms, so I'm intrigued by the idea of 20th April. I'm not seeing anything happening or likely to happen by then to even begin to convince folk it's necessary.
I'm not seeing anything happening or likely to happen by then to even begin to convince folk it's necessary.
Given its easter sunday I suspect its bollocks.
The current rumour de jour is he'll be declaring a state of emergency/invoking the Insurrection Act on 20th April. No need to wait for an election defeat.
I fink someone is having a giraffe 🤣
Easter Sunday is a traditional Christian celebration of the Insurrection
The current rumour de jour is he'll be declaring a state of emergency/invoking the Insurrection Act on 20th April. No need to wait for an election defeat.
I fink someone is having a giraffe 🤣
Easter Sunday is a traditional Christian celebration of the Insurrection
Easy mistake to make if you're an orange imbecile who doesn't understand big similar sounding words.
Bad news for anyone hoping that it would be kicked into the long grass
Donald Trump appears to be chummy with more European politicians than just Viktor Orban
He reckons he’s coming over in September. I’m sure there’s gonna be some creativity to the protests to get around the inevitably huge cordon that’s gonna be thrown up.
“They’re going to do a second, as you know, a second fest … that’s what it is: a fest, and it’s beautiful, and it’s the first time it’s ever happened to one person.”
What a knob. Waddafak is a fest?
I’m sure there’s gonna be some creativity to the protests to get around the inevitably huge cordon that’s gonna be thrown up.
Well it will be interesting to see if the London Mayor will be backing the idea of a giant orange man-child balloon as he did when a Tory government invited Donald Trump on a state visit. Although I won't be holding my breath.
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-london-44737293
London Mayor Sadiq Khan has given permission for the helium-filled six-metre (19.7ft) high balloon to fly.
He reckons he’s coming over in September. I’m sure there’s gonna be some creativity to the protests to get around the inevitably huge cordon that’s gonna be thrown up.
“They’re going to do a second, as you know, a second fest … that’s what it is: a fest, and it’s beautiful, and it’s the first time it’s ever happened to one person.”
What a knob. Waddafak is a fest?
If he lands at prestwick there’s a few folk from Ayrshire I know who will undoubtedly be up to something very big either at prestwick or if he turns up at turnberry for golf, they do not give the slightest **** if they are arrested or what happens to them, last I heard they were buying drones.
The current rumour de jour is he'll be declaring a state of emergency/invoking the Insurrection Act on 20th April. No need to wait for an election defeat.
IMHO to early (and as stated above a larf), I reckon they’ve still got more work to take control of courts and they’ve got a few court battles that will be used to unmask the left deep state and remove the courts that are blocking trump.
There’s a theory that the third term legal issue could well be used as the trigger,if the courts don’t allow trumps name on the ballot.
I think they will wait for some emergency to take advantage of it’s still only the beginning of his presidency so there’s plenty of time to build up some sort of narrative to sell his takeover to his cult.
It’ll all be done legally (well this interpretation will be the most contorted ever)
This nicely sums up much of Trump's agenda
https://www.channel4.com/news/trumps-uni-crackdown-is-not-about-anti-semitism-harvard-professor
Donald Trump appears to be chummy with more European politicians than just Viktor Orban
Well, she and Oban do operate in the same political space, so not a total surprise.
The current rumour de jour is he'll be declaring a state of emergency/invoking the Insurrection Act on 20th April. No need to wait for an election defeat.
IMHO to early (and as stated above a larf), I reckon they’ve still got more work to take control of courts and they’ve got a few court battles that will be used to unmask the left deep state and remove the courts that are blocking trump.
There’s a theory that the third term legal issue could well be used as the trigger,if the courts don’t allow trumps name on the ballot.
I think they will wait for some emergency to take advantage of it’s still only the beginning of his presidency so there’s plenty of time to build up some sort of narrative to sell his takeover to his cult.
It’ll all be done legally (well this interpretation will be the most contorted ever)
Indulging the conspiracy theory, I think now is too soon, but he's sowing the seeds with the deportations, SAVE act, stripping universities of their funding and independence. He needs some of these to get rejected by the courts to play his "will of the people card", and he needs it to happen before the midterms.
If he starts deporting "homegrowns" to El Salvadors prisons that may be the point things get serious. The Democrats are already discussing it by replacing the word "homegrowns" with "American citizens". The legal challenges will be huge, and deporting criminals and wrong uns is always popular until you get classed as a wrong un.
Does anyone really believe Trump has a strategy? Surely he just wakes up and does whatever comes into his head that day!
Apparently we're going to be tangoed in September. That'll be nice. In a world divided, it's always good to know who's lapdog you are.
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cp8k5n33y41 o" target="_blank" rel="noopener">BBC News - Trump suggests UK state visit set for September https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cp8k5n33y41o
I rarely (never) feel sorry for our hereditary lord and master, but that'll be a weekend to forget for jug ears.
Does anyone really believe Trump has a strategy? Surely he just wakes up and does whatever comes into his head that day!
Nope 🙂
He operates on a whim but other people are facilitating these whims and changing the system as it suits them.
Does anyone really believe Trump has a strategy? Surely he just wakes up and does whatever comes into his head that day!
Well he clearly has an agenda, and some sort of strategy to follow that agenda, see the comments by the President of Harvard in the the Channel 4 link above for examples of that, but it is his tactics which are very much unpredictable.
Part of the problem imo is that Trump says a lot of stuff purely for effect so it is sometimes hard to know if he has changed his mind or whether he was never serious in the first place.
The other thing is that Trump is entering territory which no other US president in recent history has entered, the absurd tariffs, attacks on institutions, defiance of the legal process, etc, so until he tries something he can't be sure of its effect. For example he seems to have come unstuck in his trade war with China so that has resulted in at least some backtracking.
But it would be a mistake imo to believe that Trump and his backers/supporters are just making it up as they go along, they have a fair idea what they are doing.
There are now 2 courts finding the US government in contempt, so I suspect this is going to come to a head quite quickly. I think we are going to see quite soon if the military and the police/fbi etc are loyal to the country or to president Trump.
There are now 2 courts finding the US government in contempt, so I suspect this is going to come to a head quite quickly. I think we are going to see quite soon if the military and the police/fbi etc are loyal to the country or to president Trump.
I think there's a question over what powers the courts have to enforce their rulings. I have more faith in the military standing firm rather than law enforcement, too many with a recent memory of being sacrificed by politicians.
they have a fair idea what they are doing.
The Bond market reation proved that not to be the case. Trump attacked the biggest holders of American bonds which also have massive trade surpluses with the US and yet didn't foresee them reducing their exposure to US tresuries or realise they could be used as a weapon of retaliation. Fool. Fact is China and Japan predicatably IMO sold US tresuries and bought into countires such as Germany where the tarifs were expected to be less inflationary. Whether the selling was retaliation or just good economic management only Japan and China know but it certainly had Trump on the back foot.
Thanks. I am still none the wiser what Trump's actual policies are though.
Although to be fair I don't suppose that Trump himself is really sure what his policies will be tomorrow.
I don't buy the claim that there is a very carefully thought-out plan.
But it would be a mistake imo to believe that Trump and his backers/supporters are just making it up as they go along, they have a fair idea what they are doing.
Schrodinger's Ernie's Trump.
Fair point FlyingOx as there does seem to be an obvious contradiction between the two posts. For clarity I do believe that Trump has a clear agenda. Does anyone doubt that he has?
But I also believe that the tactics he uses (his policies) are highly unpredictable, would anyone claim otherwise?
So no I can't predict Trump's policies and I very much doubt that he can either, despite the fact that he has an obvious agenda. The at least partial backtracking on the issue of the current trade war with China is an example of that, which is why I suggested it. As I said, until Trump tries something he can't be sure of its effect, most of it has never been tried in recent times and under modern conditions.
I don't think Trump and his backers/supporters have a "carefully thought-out plan" though, yes there is certainly an element of making it up as they go along.
So yeah I clearly contradicted myself a couple of posts back when I tried to make the case that Trump's policies are not just random thoughts that come into his head but an attempt to achieve certain goals and to fulfill a specific agenda.
Apologies for the obvious contradictions between on the one hand trying to emphasis how highly unpredictable Trump is because of his constantly changing tactics/policies, and on the other hand also trying to emphasis that Trump and his backers have clear goals and a clear agenda.
I think both points are probably important though.
Schrodinger's Ernie's Trump.
TBF I think there is
1) Trumps daily made up shenanigans for constant praise and telly (and desire of being a dictator).
2) Backers/Supporters, Steve Bannon types, testing the boundaries of what can be got away with and are the sneaky fekkers.
Everyones looking at the bread and circuses(1) the prize is getting the president total control over the executive branch, over all the federal agencies.
That Supreme Court decision, could strengthen the basis of Project 2025, which is known as the unitary executive theory, which essentially says that the president has total control over the executive branch, over all the federal agencies.'...'Professor Moynihan added, Amna, that ultimately the Supreme Court decision could help any future president justify getting rid of longstanding independence of the Justice Department or other agencies that are known to be independent, that it could allow them to justify totally doing away with that.'
To add to my previous point ....... Trump's goals and agenda are not necessarily the same as his stated goals/agenda.
There is no reason believe that Trump has been completely honest with American voters.
For clarity I do believe that Trump has a clear agenda. Does anyone doubt that he has?
yeah I do, he just wants acolytes to lick his ring and blow smoke up his arse.
Those around him who have bought their way into the seats of power certainly have a clear agenda but as for trump?, all he wants is his arse kissed and told he is a genius at running the country.
yeah I do, he just wants acolytes to lick his ring and blow smoke up his arse.
Those around him who have bought their way into the seats of power certainly have a clear agenda but as for trump?, all he wants is his arse kissed and told he is a genius at running the country.
So you think "they" have been doing that for 40 years? That's what I call playing a long game!
The Bond market reation proved that not to be the case.
Although that seems mostly down to the hedge funds who were executing "basis trades" which gives a nice profit if everything operates normally but in order to do so are highly leveraged. So anything shaking that tree results in them getting called and so having to sell to close the trades.
Basically the same as what happening to Truss where the pension funds had been playing stupid games and then got caught out.
Whilst its nice Truss and Trump got called on their stupidity it would be good if it wasnt down to a bunch of chancers relying on leveraged bets which as soon as the odds change creates a problem for all of us not just them.
It really isnt democracy to have so much relying on a bunch of people who are basically betting on red in the hope of a good profit knowing if it ends up black then everyone gets handed the bill.
So you think "they" have been doing that for 40 years? That's what I call playing a long game!
Sigh……yet again you appear to read into statements what you wish to project.
Please read again
So you think "they" have been doing that for 40 years? That's what I call playing a long game!
TBH, it does appear that "they" have been playing exactly that 40 year long game. Pretty much everything happening now is the culmination of the Heritage Foundation's long term planning, resulting in the implementation of Project 2025. The same Heritage Foundation that came to prominence during Reagan's tenure in the 80's and which has steadily increased in influence since then to the point they're now pretty much directing US policy across the board.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Heritage_Foundation
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_2025
https://www.project2025.observer/
Of course has a plan. Indeed i think two. An overt one and a covert one. Ie tarrifs. He has been interested in them for years.
However the plan is poorly thought thru and relies on his whims
He is also being manipulated by the russians ans yes they do play a long game. Thats a well known part of their MO. Identify folk that could be assets and nuture that link over decades. It doesnt allwats pay off but does enough to be worth the costs. He is also being manipulated by the Christian nationalists
Your basis trades might have exaggerated the movement, disonance but traders only needed to cover possitions because the market was already moving down, and not up as expected with a falling stock market. German bonds have behaved exactly as you'd expect in response to a falling Dax (continuous rise since 11/03). The inflationary impact of the proposed (but currently suspended tarifs) on the US economy specifically and retaliation/reallocation by China/Japan is more plausible to me.
https://www.onvista.de/anleihen/BUNDESREP-DEUTSCHLAND-ANL-V-2025-2035-Anleihe-DE000BU2Z049
Fact is that Trump thought he could impose his tarifs with impunity and has made himself look naive and foolish rather than the economic wizard he is in his own head.
Meanwhile the Fed has sat on its hands through the whole sorry saga, we'll see what they do on 07/05
