Trump has been widely known to be very anti-globalization. He has been on an international rampage of sorts, starting the United States on a path toward isolationism, which is something that never works out for countries that aren't ran by Dictators. The scary part is that Trump has been unfortunately successful at accomplishing major steps toward the isolationism he wants.
The Iran Deal, formerly known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action. Even though many within the foreign policy realm recommended to the President to stay in the deal, Trump pulled the United States out. He talked about how horrible a deal it was and then pulled out of it and made it all worse. The deal wasn't horrible. It was the best deal that could be made at the time, and Iran had remained in good standing with that deal since its inception. Now, the other countries that were part of the deal vowed to remain devoted to it, but the United States said, "See You Later! Figure it out without us!" Great move ExLax.
Three days into Trump's presidency, he pulled the United States out of the Trans Pacific Partnership; something Trump had talked about for some time during his candidacy. Trump frequently bashed the TPP on his campaign trail stating that it was a bad deal for the United States, and he even said that it was good for China....by the way, China was never even part of the agreement.
The Paris Climate Accord was meant to be a nonbinding agreement between countries around the world that would result in a reduction of greenhouse gas emissions from both large and small countries. Trump said on the campaign trail that the agreement put the United States at an economic disadvantage. Trump pulled the U.S. out of the Paris Climate Accord just as he promised, leaving the rest of the world holding the bag. It was expected, however, if you look at how the EPA has slowly been dismantling major environmental regulations since Trump took office. Apparently the fact that Global Warming is a real thing that is drastically affecting the world isn't a memo Trump was read into. Look no further than Miami Beach. There is a news story on how they are spending 400 plus million dollars trying to find ways to ensure Miami Beach won't be under water. They were getting flooding up through their manholes until they came up with an innovative solution. The manholes would normally drain through a system of piping into the ocean through discharge lines that were above the water level. Now, those discharge lines are below the water level, so they had to install one way valves in the pipes and pumping systems to force discharge water out, with the one way valves stopping water from re-entering the lines and flooding. That is one small part of what they are dealing with, and regular flooding has become a way of life. Coastal communities around the world are dealing with very similar things, and certain politicians refuse to acknowledge that this is a major world issue. Trump....is one of those politicians.
Trump also pulled the United States out of the United Nations Human Rights Council because he said that he was frustrated with their treatment of Israel. To put an extra point to that, Israel still participates in the council even though it is not a member. The United States is the only country that does not participate in the Council.
The NAFTA Deal is up in the air, with Trump and his Tariff War on the world. He wants individual deals with Canada and Mexico.
During the G7 Summit in Canada, before the meeting between Trump and the North Korean Dictator, Trump brought up that Russia should be brought back into the group to make it the G8 again. He hinted that "Something happened" that caused Russia to be removed from the G8 and talked about it like it was no big deal and should be forgotten. The annexation of Crimea was what got Russia ousted from the G8, and that is a HUGE deal. Add to that shooting a plane out of the sky, poisoning former spies with nerve agent, meddling in elections, and countless other things, you end up with a laundry list of reasons Russia shouldn't be added to any group. So he spoke so highly of Russia, but then spoke of his allies as if they were enemies of the state.
Trump has continued to speak horribly of NATO members for not contributing what they agree to, even though the agreement is for them to contribute 2% of GDP by 2024. He wants to pick that timeline up for everyone and even mentioned they should double their contributions to 4%, which will never happen. Trump has noted that the United States may want to leave NATO and become a country that partners with the alliance on a case-by-case basis. He denigrated members of NATO and spent extra time denigrating Germany for being beholden to Russia because they get so much natural gas from Russia. His percentage at times has been 70%, even though the actual percentage is 9%. Trump is very good at severely blowing numbers out of proportion though. What Trump isn't realizing is how interdependent we all are on the world scale. Many of the countries in NATO provide the United States with a launch pad for their international military prowess. Without their support, that becomes much more difficult. Additionally, the other nations have been fighting beside us around the world, losing lives at war just as we do. Many are on the border of Russia in different areas to ensure Russia doesn't attempt to take over any other lands they are not entitled to. The world supports us so we can support the world, and Trump makes it sound like they do nothing for us.
Congress finally spoke up and rebuked Trump's actions in a bi-partisan manner this week, but that will do nothing to stop the current flow if events. Trump is making decisions he truly doesn't understand the ramifications of, and he hasn't surrounded himself with people smart enough or courageous enough to make him understand. Congress for the most part has been silent, even though Trump's own party is completely against these Tariffs. He is enacting tariffs under the confines of National Security, even though tariffs have nothing to do with National Security. It is a horrible joke, and none of us are going to like the punch line. We will feel the punch line in our pocket books soon, as the prices of products begin to rise do to the retaliatory tariffs other countries have put into place and will continue to put into place.
One thing Trump doesn't understand about China is that they have the ability to play the long game. Their president is president for life now, and has the ability to live through whatever tariffs the United States imposes. The United States is going to feel the major pain from these tariffs in the long run, not China.
I am scared at this point, because it just doesn't seem to be stopping. We are allowing this insane and completely ignorant individual to destroy decades of diplomacy and hard work before our eyes. If you question how intelligent our President is, look at the transcripts of any of the speeches he gives at his rallies or his cabinet meetings. He is mentally unfit to be our President. He is mentally unstable. He has a history of bad decisions both before he became President and after. I have listed in a previous blog many of the horrible business decisions Trump has made. Here I will simply highlight one. Look at Trump Steaks. He sold Trump Steaks exclusively through....The Sharper Image.....yes, I said The Sharper Image. That is definitely a business known for its high end meat products. This was a decision that was doomed from the start; similar to just about every decision Trump makes as President.
The lies stack up, the attempted discrediting of the Mueller Investigation continues, the horrible decisions continue, and we have effectively let the bull loose in the china shop for the past year and a half. We aren't trying to stop him from breaking anything in the china shop. In fact, we are simply sitting back, watching all of our fine china be destroyed, and doing nothing about it.
Let's stand up and start being vocal people.
DUNK
The Iran Deal, formerly known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action. Even though many within the foreign policy realm recommended to the President to stay in the deal, Trump pulled the United States out. He talked about how horrible a deal it was and then pulled out of it and made it all worse. The deal wasn't horrible. It was the best deal that could be made at the time, and Iran had remained in good standing with that deal since its inception. Now, the other countries that were part of the deal vowed to remain devoted to it, but the United States said, "See You Later! Figure it out without us!" Great move ExLax.
Three days into Trump's presidency, he pulled the United States out of the Trans Pacific Partnership; something Trump had talked about for some time during his candidacy. Trump frequently bashed the TPP on his campaign trail stating that it was a bad deal for the United States, and he even said that it was good for China....by the way, China was never even part of the agreement.
The Paris Climate Accord was meant to be a nonbinding agreement between countries around the world that would result in a reduction of greenhouse gas emissions from both large and small countries. Trump said on the campaign trail that the agreement put the United States at an economic disadvantage. Trump pulled the U.S. out of the Paris Climate Accord just as he promised, leaving the rest of the world holding the bag. It was expected, however, if you look at how the EPA has slowly been dismantling major environmental regulations since Trump took office. Apparently the fact that Global Warming is a real thing that is drastically affecting the world isn't a memo Trump was read into. Look no further than Miami Beach. There is a news story on how they are spending 400 plus million dollars trying to find ways to ensure Miami Beach won't be under water. They were getting flooding up through their manholes until they came up with an innovative solution. The manholes would normally drain through a system of piping into the ocean through discharge lines that were above the water level. Now, those discharge lines are below the water level, so they had to install one way valves in the pipes and pumping systems to force discharge water out, with the one way valves stopping water from re-entering the lines and flooding. That is one small part of what they are dealing with, and regular flooding has become a way of life. Coastal communities around the world are dealing with very similar things, and certain politicians refuse to acknowledge that this is a major world issue. Trump....is one of those politicians.
Trump also pulled the United States out of the United Nations Human Rights Council because he said that he was frustrated with their treatment of Israel. To put an extra point to that, Israel still participates in the council even though it is not a member. The United States is the only country that does not participate in the Council.
The NAFTA Deal is up in the air, with Trump and his Tariff War on the world. He wants individual deals with Canada and Mexico.
During the G7 Summit in Canada, before the meeting between Trump and the North Korean Dictator, Trump brought up that Russia should be brought back into the group to make it the G8 again. He hinted that "Something happened" that caused Russia to be removed from the G8 and talked about it like it was no big deal and should be forgotten. The annexation of Crimea was what got Russia ousted from the G8, and that is a HUGE deal. Add to that shooting a plane out of the sky, poisoning former spies with nerve agent, meddling in elections, and countless other things, you end up with a laundry list of reasons Russia shouldn't be added to any group. So he spoke so highly of Russia, but then spoke of his allies as if they were enemies of the state.
Trump has continued to speak horribly of NATO members for not contributing what they agree to, even though the agreement is for them to contribute 2% of GDP by 2024. He wants to pick that timeline up for everyone and even mentioned they should double their contributions to 4%, which will never happen. Trump has noted that the United States may want to leave NATO and become a country that partners with the alliance on a case-by-case basis. He denigrated members of NATO and spent extra time denigrating Germany for being beholden to Russia because they get so much natural gas from Russia. His percentage at times has been 70%, even though the actual percentage is 9%. Trump is very good at severely blowing numbers out of proportion though. What Trump isn't realizing is how interdependent we all are on the world scale. Many of the countries in NATO provide the United States with a launch pad for their international military prowess. Without their support, that becomes much more difficult. Additionally, the other nations have been fighting beside us around the world, losing lives at war just as we do. Many are on the border of Russia in different areas to ensure Russia doesn't attempt to take over any other lands they are not entitled to. The world supports us so we can support the world, and Trump makes it sound like they do nothing for us.
Congress finally spoke up and rebuked Trump's actions in a bi-partisan manner this week, but that will do nothing to stop the current flow if events. Trump is making decisions he truly doesn't understand the ramifications of, and he hasn't surrounded himself with people smart enough or courageous enough to make him understand. Congress for the most part has been silent, even though Trump's own party is completely against these Tariffs. He is enacting tariffs under the confines of National Security, even though tariffs have nothing to do with National Security. It is a horrible joke, and none of us are going to like the punch line. We will feel the punch line in our pocket books soon, as the prices of products begin to rise do to the retaliatory tariffs other countries have put into place and will continue to put into place.
One thing Trump doesn't understand about China is that they have the ability to play the long game. Their president is president for life now, and has the ability to live through whatever tariffs the United States imposes. The United States is going to feel the major pain from these tariffs in the long run, not China.
I am scared at this point, because it just doesn't seem to be stopping. We are allowing this insane and completely ignorant individual to destroy decades of diplomacy and hard work before our eyes. If you question how intelligent our President is, look at the transcripts of any of the speeches he gives at his rallies or his cabinet meetings. He is mentally unfit to be our President. He is mentally unstable. He has a history of bad decisions both before he became President and after. I have listed in a previous blog many of the horrible business decisions Trump has made. Here I will simply highlight one. Look at Trump Steaks. He sold Trump Steaks exclusively through....The Sharper Image.....yes, I said The Sharper Image. That is definitely a business known for its high end meat products. This was a decision that was doomed from the start; similar to just about every decision Trump makes as President.
The lies stack up, the attempted discrediting of the Mueller Investigation continues, the horrible decisions continue, and we have effectively let the bull loose in the china shop for the past year and a half. We aren't trying to stop him from breaking anything in the china shop. In fact, we are simply sitting back, watching all of our fine china be destroyed, and doing nothing about it.
Let's stand up and start being vocal people.
DUNK
Comments