US Politics: Passing Gas In Public is Abhorrent Behavior

[Prince of the North]

4 minutes ago, Relic said:

Well then we are truly fucked. Does anyone here see a possibility that 45 DOESN'T bomb NK in the next 6 months?

Agreed, especially in light of the positive press Trump has received after these two recent bombings.  

[denstorebog]

15 minutes ago, Prince of the North said:

Agreed, especially in light of the positive press Trump has received after these two recent bombings.  

Which also seems to be reflected in the polls, with Rasmussen seeing him back up to 50% approval after a long slump, pretty clearly as a result of NK. Given how much Trump loves approval, it won't take long for him to put two and two together.

[Prince of the North]

2 minutes ago, denstorebog said:

Which also seems to be reflected in the polls, with Rasmussen seeing him back up to 50% approval after a long slump, pretty clearly as a result of NK. Given how much Trump loves approval, it won't take long for him to put two and two together.

That, too!  And now I can't get this mental image out of my head: Trump frantically pressing the big red button in a sort of continuous reinforcement frenzy! 

I wonder if the American penchant of not wanting to change presidents during war will hold true in four years?  I will be quite surprised if we aren't at war by then.

[Fez]

48 minutes ago, Relic said:

Well then we are truly fucked. Does anyone here see a possibility that 45 DOESN'T bomb NK in the next 6 months?

Sure. Trump's been pretty deferential to the military on military-specific matters so far. If the generals tell him its a bad idea; he'll probably listen.

[all swedes are racist]

lmao, that rules

[Ser Scot A Ellison]

I still, after three months, have a hard time believing that Donald Trump is President of the United States.  It just doesn't seem real for some reason.  I just watched the video of him tossing the kid's hat to the crowd.  What an ass.

[IheartIheartTesla]

Trump's approval ratings gains are modest at best, and if Obama's OBL assasination was any prior indication, these things dont last too long.

What is concerning is not his public support, but the support he got from a lot of senators (including Democrats) for the Syria effort, and some of his frenemies like Lindsay Graham for his general foreign policy pivot. It would be interesting to see if all the people who drifted to the Republican party because of his populist message will stay there if he strays from his "America-first" promise to them.

[all swedes are racist]

5 minutes ago, Ser Scot A Ellison said:

I still, after three months, have a hard time believing that Donald Trump is President of the United States.  It just doesn't seem real for some reason.  I just watch the video of him tossing the kid's hat to the crowd.  What an ass.

that was the moment he truly became president

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

1 hour ago, Ser Scot A Ellison said:

I still, after three months, have a hard time believing that Donald Trump is President of the United States.  It just doesn't seem real for some reason.  I just watch the video of him tossing the kid's hat to the crowd.  What an ass.

It would be hysterical if it was all just a fictional dark comedy. 

1 hour ago, IheartIheartTesla said:

It would be interesting to see if all the people who drifted to the Republican party because of his populist message will stay there if he strays from his "America-first" promise to them.

What will be more interesting is to see what happens when Bannon is inevitably fired. 

[Manhole Eunuchsbane]

19 minutes ago, Tywin et al. said:

It would be hysterical if it was all just a fictional dark comedy. 

I saw that movie. It was much funnier than the reality...

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/9/9b/Original_movie_poster_for_Being_There.jpg

[Toth]

34 minutes ago, Manhole Eunuchsbane said:

I saw that movie. It was much funnier than the reality...

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/9/9b/Original_movie_poster_for_Being_There.jpg

On a not entirely unrelated note: Hot Shots 2 came yesterday in TV. Is it that horrible that I thought Lloyd Bridges' character Tug Benson made a better president than Trump? I mean sure, he is stupid as a brick, a walking foreign relations disaster and has a penchant for ridiculous interventionism, but at least he's not thoroughly rotten, just oblivious to his failings. Kinda lika George W. junior, come to think of it.

And on another utterly unrelated note: I already knew that Trump was gonna dial back his investment in American outposts outside the US, for example here in Germany, but replacing your stuff with WW2 equipment goes a little too far, doesn't? I'm joking around because a fighter looking like this (speaking more about the paint job than the actual model) drew circles above my house today. Apparently there is an Air Show next week, but it was certainly a very odd thing to watch (and hear).

[Crazydog7]

58 minutes ago, Manhole Eunuchsbane said:

I saw that movie. It was much funnier than the reality...

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/9/9b/Original_movie_poster_for_Being_There.jpg

 

I wonder if Trump likes to watch. 

[Sivin]

2 hours ago, IheartIheartTesla said:

Trump's approval ratings gains are modest at best, and if Obama's OBL assasination was any prior indication, these things dont last too long.

What is concerning is not his public support, but the support he got from a lot of senators (including Democrats) for the Syria effort, and some of his frenemies like Lindsay Graham for his general foreign policy pivot. It would be interesting to see if all the people who drifted to the Republican party because of his populist message will stay there if he strays from his "America-first" promise to them.

So which way do we want it? Are Democrats supposed to be the adults or sink to the level of the Republican? 

Assad cannot in good conscience be permitted to stay in power with Russian backing. A conflict between the US and Russia whether by proxy or directly is preferable to continued Russian machinations abroad. 

North Korea meanwhile is a festering boil that should have been lanced years ago. If China is distancing themselves from that irrational state then all the more reason to take action.

So I ask again, which way are we supposed to act? Feigned revulsion that a Republican can take the fall for these necessary endeavours? Or lukewarm approval that he could fall headfirst into doing something positive and our base will still revile him for it?

[Manhole Eunuchsbane]

 What do you think lancing the boil that is NK is likely to look like? Likewise with the clusterfuck that Syria is at present? 

[Relic]

4 hours ago, Ser Scot A Ellison said:

I still, after three months, have a hard time believing that Donald Trump is President of the United States.  It just doesn't seem real for some reason.  I just watched the video of him tossing the kid's hat to the crowd.  What an ass.

Honestly, i don;t think he MEANT to do that. It's just that between the time he was handed the hat and the time he autographed it he forgot that someone handed him the hat. Homeboy is suffering from early onset dementia. 

[Sivin]

5 minutes ago, Manhole Eunuchsbane said:

 What do you think lancing the boil that is NK is likely to look like? Likewise with the clusterfuck that Syria is at present? 

You misunderstand my objectives. 

Removing any and all nuclear capabilities and checking Russian influence, respectively. 

As for the aftermath? We will punch a hole, let the rest follow.

[Mexal]

1 minute ago, Relic said:

Honestly, i don;t think he MEANT to do that. It's just that between the time he was handed the hat and the time he autographed it he forgot that someone handed him the hat. Homeboy is suffering from early onset dementia. 

That's what I think too.

[Kalbear]

9 minutes ago, WinterFox said:

Assad cannot in good conscience be permitted to stay in power with Russian backing. A conflict between the US and Russia whether by proxy or directly is preferable to continued Russian machinations abroad. 

Let's start with this: why is the above true? Assad is by all accounts horrible, but the question remains what is the alternative to Assad and Russia in Syria? 

Until that is reasonably answered with an appropriate long-term plan, I would argue the opposite - that Assad MUST be allowed to stay in power, even with Russian backing. 

9 minutes ago, WinterFox said:

North Korea meanwhile is a festering boil that should have been lanced years ago. If China is distancing themselves from that irrational state then all the more reason to take action.

Again: what is the long-term plan? What is the desired outcome, and what are acceptable outcomes?

9 minutes ago, WinterFox said:

So I ask again, which way are we supposed to act? Feigned revulsion that a Republican can take the fall for these necessary endeavours? Or lukewarm approval that he could fall headfirst into doing something positive and our base will still revile him for it?

We're supposed to want more than a reactionary attack without any ideas. If things work, awesome - and I've said several times that Trump in particular might end up doing well here because he is also so unreasonable. Much like Obama, you can like the things he did well and hate the things he did poorly.

[S John]

I don't think there's any way that we'll see anything other than mass casualties if the US and NK ever exchange blows.  NK doesn't have the weaponry to qualify for MAD, but if they go down they can cause some real damage to South Korea and Japan in the process.  You have to assume that they would because it's the only card they can play in a war with the US.  At the very least South Korea, particularly Seoul, is gonna get shelled.  And maybe worse.  That's a city of 10 million people.  That's like New York taking an artillery barrage.  Hard to fathom.  

And in a sense that is the 'good' scenario where China remains on the sidelines and the whole conflict doesn't escalate beyond the region.  I think there's good reason for why every president up to this point has decided NOT to lance the NK boil.  

[Relic]

1 hour ago, S John said:

I don't think there's any way that we'll see anything other than mass casualties if the US and NK ever exchange blows.  NK doesn't have the weaponry to qualify for MAD, but if they go down they can cause some real damage to South Korea and Japan in the process.  You have to assume that they would because it's the only card they can play in a war with the US.  At the very least South Korea, particularly Seoul, is gonna get shelled.  And maybe worse.  That's a city of 10 million people.  That's like New York taking an artillery barrage.  Hard to fathom.  

And in a sense that is the 'good' scenario where China remains on the sidelines and the whole conflict doesn't escalate beyond the region.  I think there's good reason for why every president up to this point has decided NOT to lance the NK boil.  

Yeah, anyone talking about "lancing the boil" doesn't give a shit about the potential for MASSIVE loss of life in SK, and how badly an event like that would destabilize the world as a whole. 

Whenever NK comes up i always think the same thing. Why aren't we investing serious assets into an assassination?