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Donald Trump Has Gone Bonkers By His Action To Withdraw US Forces Fighting ISIS In Syria

Ronald 5 Comments

The absolutely worst moments of Donald Trump’s Presidency are upon us.

Trump, totally ignorant and clueless on American foreign policy, has ordered the complete, rapid withdrawal of all US forces from Syria, at a time when ISIS is still a threat, and many enemies gain by our withdrawal.

Russia, Iran, Turkey, the murderous regime of Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad, and the terrorist group Hezbollah all gain.

The NATO allies–Great Britain, France, Germany, Canada and the rest–, Israel, Saudi Arabia, and the Kurdish allies who are anti Turkish and anti Assad, all are major losers.

Total disarray and gains for authoritarian governments is the result, and we will rue the day that we decided to leave the fight against ISIS, which is not yet totally defeated.

This is all part of a clear plan by Trump to help his friend Vladimir Putin, and Turkish dictator Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and ironically, the major enemy of Israel and Saudi Arabia, the Islamic Republic of Iran.

Our President is clearly a menace, and many Republicans, including Senators Bob Corker of Tennessee, Jeff Flake of Arizona, Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, Marco Rubio of Florida, and Jeff Flake of Nebraska, are coming out of the woodwork to express their disgust and disdain of what the President is doing.

This is the time for James Mattis, Secretary of Defense; Mike Pompeo, Secretary of State; and John Bolton, National Security Adviser, all of whom were strong supporters of remaining in Syria, to announce their mass resignation, and call for Donald Trump to resign.

As I finish this essay, Mattis has announced his resignation, making ever more dangerous the reality that there are no real “adults'” advising Trump on military policy.

Meanwhile, the stock market has been in free fall, and it looks as if the government will be shut down over Christmas, due to the insistence of Donald Trump that there be a 2,000 mile built across our boundary with Mexico, an insane and wasteful idea that will not guarantee security.

It is time for Vice President Mike Pence to speak out against the President, and show some guts and courage to speak his mind.

Bob Corker And Jeff Flake Both Retiring, Should Use Their Influence On The Senate Foreign Relations Committee To Quell Donald Trump

Ronald 4 Comments

Two Republican Senators have decided not to run for reelection, and both have been critics of Donald Trump.

Bob Corker of Tennessee is the Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman, and Jeff Flake of Arizona is on the committee.

Both have no reason to cooperate with Donald Trump, now after this horrific week of foreign policy. We have witnessed the trashing of NATO and the European Union, and criticism of leaders of major allies, including Angela Merkel of Germany, Theresa May of Great Britain, Emmanuel Macron of France, and Justin Trudeau of Canada by Trump. At the same time, we have seen the praise and secret diplomacy of Trump with Vladimir Putin, causing an uproar, and now Trump’s invitation to Putin to come to the White House in the fall, possibly before the midterm elections, or alternately to witness the military parade ordered by Trump for Veterans Day, to be celebrated Saturday November 10 in Washington DC.

Corker and Flake, along with others, should denounce the Putin invitation and the wasted money on an unnecessary military parade, so that Donald Trump’s ego is further glorified.

The two Senators should do everything possible to make life for Trump more difficult, and should refuse to move forward on any policy, foreign or domestic, where their votes are needed to make a majority.

Both should order more subpoenas to require administration cabinet members to testify under oath, and make clear that they have declared war on the corrupt Presidency of Donald Trump!

Their leadership could make a difference in so many ways, and encourage more Senators on the Republican side to join them and the ill Senator John McCain of Arizona, and the principled Nebraska Senator Ben Sasse, who has been a never ending critic of Donald Trump, and could face retribution when he faces his own reelection in 2020.

Of course, it is possible to imagine that Bob Corker, Jeff Flake, and Ben Sasse could end up challenging Trump for the Republican Presidential nomination of 2020 against Trump, or Vice President Mike Pence, were he to become President later in this term.

Donald Trump: A Classic Case Of Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde, OR Multiple Personality Disorder, And Dangerous To America And The World

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Donald Trump has totally disrupted international affairs this week, first insulting NATO and now Great Britain by his erratic, unstable behavior,

He has uttered outrageous assertions, insulting all nations in NATO and the European Union, but particularly Germany and Angela Merkel, and now undermined the stability of the British government under Theresa May.

His goal is to upend European stability, and to cozy up to Vladimir Putin of Russia and other authoritarian dictatorships around the world.

He makes statements with his own recorded voice, and then says he did not say what he said hours earlier, claiming “fake news”.

How long can Trump supporters continue to support such a massive liar and unstable leader, who clearly has major mental problems?

It is now clear that Donald Trump is a classic case of Robert Louis Stevenson’s “Strange Case Of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde”, and that makes him extremely dangerous.

He also could have “Multiple Personality Disorder”, which is bad enough, but in a leader with access to nuclear weapons, he is a person who could bring about the destruction of the American democratic system and provoke World War III.

By attacking America’s long term allies around the world, Donald Trump puts America in danger of having no allies in a time of danger and instability in the world.

His own cabinet members contradict him right after he makes statements, and even his own Republican party backed NATO in a non binding Congressional joint resolution in both houses of Congress, but it seems all for naught.

Every day that Trump remains in office, the nation is in danger, and yet his potential successor, Vice President Mike Pence, represents a series of different problems and controversies that might, believe it or not, be worse than Donald Trump.

So we are faced with a continuing nightmare with no end anytime soon.

Donald Trump, The “Manchurian Candidate”, And Vladimir Putin: The Downfall Of The Western Alliance System

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The idea is finally sinking in that Donald Trump is similar to the main character in the 1962 film, “The Manchurian Candidate”, a candidate for President planted by the enemy of America.

His constant praise of Vladimir Putin of Russia, and his constant criticism of the leaders of Canada, Germany, France, Great Britain, and other allies in NATO makes one come to this conclusion as a rational thought, as the Western alliance system is in danger of disintegration.

His worship of the authoritarian leaders of China, North Korea, Turkey, Egypt and the Philippines among other dictators, is further proof that Donald Trump despises democracy, civil liberties, the Constitution and Bill of Rights, and the traditions of American history in both domestic and foreign policy.

So for someone to assert that Donald Trump is dangerous to America’s present and future, is not just political hyperbole.

We are in a situation where Russia clearly intervened in the 2016 Presidential election, and is attempting to influence the 2018 Midterm Elections for Congress and the state governments, and is looking ahead to the Presidential Election of 2020.

The thought that Donald Trump might just win a second term, and then challenge the 22nd Amendment, and wish to stay on as President for life, is not just an idle thought, and everyone must work together to insure that such does not happen.

Donald Trump Throws South Korea And Japan “Under The Bus” With His Love Affair With Kim, And Tears Apart The G-7 Alliance! What Is Going On?

Ronald 7 Comments

Donald Trump has done the most egregious action imaginable!

He has thrown South Korea and Japan “under the bus” with his love affair with Kim Jong Un, and he has torn apart the G-7 Alliance with his attack on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of Canada.

Trump is a whacko, who has been manipulated, charmed, and bamboozled by a man half his age, and he is undermining the Korean Peninsula and national security.

And the idea that he would be invited to North Korea, and have this mass murderer, biggest violator of human rights, be invited to the White House?

This is pure insanity, and the US Senate must stop playing politics, and the Republican Party must speak out and fight against any agreement that Donald Trump negotiated without any staff or advisers with him, and is imposing on our allies in Asia, and on the American people.

Donald Trump is undermining all sense of propriety in foreign affairs, and to repudiate our allies for the past 70 years, and insult our Canadian neighbors, along with the British, French, German, and Japanese leadership is totally beyond the pale!

Donald Trump Represents A Major Threat To World Peace And Stability, With His Repudiation Of G-7 Allies, And Bromance With Authoritarians!

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WE have just lived through the most insane, crazy moment in international diplomacy in our lifetime!

We have witnessed the President of the United States act like a petulant child, denounce our long term allies, refuse to sign a joint statement of the actions of the G-7 summit, and see our President personally insult and denounce our longest alliance and friendship with our Canadian neighbors and its leader, Justin Trudeau.

We have seen Angela Merkel of Germany become the leader of the Free World Democracies.

We have seen Emmanuel Macron of France give up on the personal niceties of an earlier “touchy feely” set of meetings with our President.

We have seen Theresa May of Great Britain totally exasperated with an American President on the level of no such similar event in the past century.

We have seen Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe very concerned at the potential abandonment of his nation’s interests in the upcoming negotiations of our President with North Korea.

We have seen our President express more closeness and camaraderie with Russia’s Vladimir Putin than with our past three Presidents (Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, Barack Obama), as he throws them effectively “under the bus’, and particularly blaming Barack Obama for the Russian invasion of Ukraine, which led to the G-8 summit becoming the G-7 Summit, and a future possibly of a G-6 summit without the United States.

We have a President, Donald Trump, representing a major threat to world peace and stability with his repudiation of G-7 Allies, and a “Bromance” with Authoritarian leaders beyond just Vladimir Putin.

When will this nightmare end, and Donald Trump be removed from power, before he does permanent damage to our nation and the world?

Or is it already too late?

Donald Trump’s Destruction Of American Alliances With Our Long Term Allies, And His Total Lack Of Knowledge Of History

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Donald Trump is totally ignorant of American and World History, and could not pass an exam for a high school diploma, let alone a college degree.

Trump yesterday brought up to the Canadian Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, in a phone call, the so called “fact” that Canada burned the White House in the War of 1812, a total fabrication, as it was Great Britain, which controlled Canada as a colony, that did so in August 1814.

What is the point of bringing this up, even if it were true?

In wartime, harm is done by both sides, and we have plenty to be accountable for as a nation in our many wars we have waged and continue to wage.

Even to bring up the British is unseemly, as this is is history, but we and they have moved beyond this, and to have grudges over actions taken long ago, is a waste of time.

Both Canada and Great Britain, along with other nations Trump has insulted (Australia, France) have been great friends for a long time, and our closest allies in the world.

Also, add Germany, Japan, and South Korea to the list, with them being more recent allies since World War II and the Korean War, but reliable allies.

Donald Trump has destroyed any camaraderie with our long term allies, including the other nations in NATO, and is undermining any cooperation with the European Union, Canada, Mexico, and our Asian allies by his “Trade Wars”, that will only lead to greater tensions and suspicions, and likely worldwide economic depression as in the 1930s.

It only helps our rivals, our competitors including Russia, China, North Korea, and Iran.

The insanity of Donald Trump,and his total ignorance and stupidity on history, are harming long term interests of America, and must be combated in every way conceivable!

This situation even includes Trump’s condemnation of Football players taking a knee for the National Anthem, and Trump rescinding an invitation for the Philadelphia Eagles to come to the White House over it, even though no Eagles player actually took a knee, but at the same time not knowing the words of the National Anthem that he insists everyone stand for!

California Has Larger Economy Now Than The United Kingdom (Great Britain), Fifth Largest In World

Ronald 6 Comments

As of last month, the state of California officially is the world’s fifth largest economy.

The Golden State just passed the United Kingdom (Great Britain), and is now only surpassed by four nations: The United States, China, Japan, and Germany.

Who would ever have thought when the US fought Mexico in the late 1840s, gained control of California in the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo in 1848, and saw the Gold Rush begin, starting the development of California population so rapidly, that California became a state by 1850, that this mega state would develop an economy larger than all but four nations?

California today has 40 million people, one out of every eight Americans, and has a technology sector in Silicon Valley, and is the world’s entertainment capital in Hollywood.

California is also the nation’s major agricultural sector in the Central Valley agricultural heartland.

It also has become a major positive in the economy after the collapse during the Great Recession. Financial services, real estate, manufacturing, and the information economy are all major pluses in the California economy.

Its economy is one seventh of the entire nation’s economy, and the job growth from 2012-2017 is one sixth of the entire improvement of the country.

The major areas of economic growth are in San Francisco, San Jose, Los Angeles and San Diego.

Its Congressional delegation, by far the largest, consists of 53 House Members and 2 Senators, and a substantial number of them—16 in the House—play a major role in Congress.

The outgoing Governor, Jerry Brown, is seen by many as possibly the greatest Governor in the nation right now, having presided over the revival of the California economy in the past eight years.

California has also led the fight against Donald Trump on such issues as immigration and sanctuary cities; gay rights and gay marriage; and climate change and global warming.

And Nancy Pelosi. the former Speaker of the House from 2007-2011, and Minority Leader since then; and Kevin McCarthy, the House Majority Leader now angling to be the next Speaker of the House if the Republicans retain the majority, are both from California.

So California is, in so many ways, a nation onto itself, and could sustain itself if need be, but at the same time, the future could be three Californias, as the state initiative process has led to a possible ballot question in November, that would set up three states instead of one–Northern California; Southern California; and California, which would consist of the Los Angeles metropolitan area.

Each state would have about one third of the population of 40 million.

Whether this occurs or not, California will continue to be a major part of the world economy and the American political system.

Donald Trump Declares Trade “War” On European Union, Canada, Mexico: Suicidal For Consumers, Workers, Corporations

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Donald Trump has declared a trade “war” on the 28 nations of the European Union, as well as Canada and Mexico.

This protectionist binge will be suicidal for consumers, workers, and corporations.

It will cause rapidly rising inflation in consumer prices; loss of employment in many industries and agriculture; and add billions of dollars in costs to corporations, which will lead to price increases and worker layoffs.

Along with the massive backtracking on the Dodd-Frank Act regulating Wall Street banks after the Great Recession of 2007-2009, it will bring about another Great Recession in the next year, and possibly worse, a return of the conditions of 1929 under Herbert Hoover, leading to the Smoot-Hawley Tariff of 1930, and a great worsening of the Great Depression that affected America for an entire decade.

It will also cause the NATO alliance to fray at its edges, as the European allies, and particularly the major ones–Great Britain, France, Germany–will retaliate against the nation that they used to look to as their leader.

And our relations with our neighbors–Canada and Mexico–will be the worst in a century, and undermine global security and stability.

And the Republican Party, while complaining privately, will show no ability to stand up to Donald Trump, and fight him, and their party will be permanently damaged by their cowardice!

Mixed Messages: Scuttling The Iran Deal, But Cozying Up To North Korea, Meanwhile Alienating Our Traditional Allies In Foreign Policy

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Donald Trump is schizophrenic in so many ways.

And in foreign policy, that is particularly dangerous.

Trump has scuttled the Iran deal, and made eventual war against that nation more likely.

At the same time, despite his cancellation of the summit with North Korea, already Donald Trump is changing his mind, and it now seems that the summit with Kim Jong Un might take place, but with unreasonable, irrational expectations.

To believe that North Korea will give up its nuclear program entirely is to believe in fantasy, as Kim Jong Un has now seen how unstable Donald Trump is. If Trump is ready to scuttle the nuclear deal with Iran and threaten them, what would make North Korea comfortable and confident enough that their regime would be left alone if they gave up their nuclear weapons?

Instead of saying can North Korea be trusted, how about whether the United States government under Donald Trump can be trusted to keep any agreement?

And in the meantime, Donald Trump has alienated our traditional allies in foreign policy, the NATO nations (and particularly Great Britain, France and Germany), and also South Korea and Japan, along with Canada, Australia and New Zealand.

Why should South Korea feel safe with an unstable, mercurial American leader who is fighting with their government over trade policy at a time when that nation could be decimated by a nuclear or conventional war with its neighbor?

One could say that American foreign policy in 2018 is the most unstable, unpredictable policy ever seen in American history since the end of World War II, and no sign of the return of any stability anytime in the near or long term future, as long as Donald Trump is President.