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2018-03-21 Home Front: Culture Wars
LTC(Ret) Ralph Peters hangs it up at FOX News
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Posted by Besoeker 2018-03-21 00:00|| || Front Page|| [11133 views ]  Top

#1 Sounds like he got a better offer from MSLSD.
Posted by gorb 2018-03-21 00:33||   2018-03-21 00:33|| Front Page Top

#2 So.........He hates Trump. *Shrug* I'm not found of Trump either. Ralph Peters can opine from the peanut gallery with the rest of us. But this whole situation reminds me of the dumpster fire that Gerald Ford inherited from the previous LBJ and Nixon administrations in that there is no clean, tidy, easy way forwards.
Posted by magpie 2018-03-21 00:43||   2018-03-21 00:43|| Front Page Top

#3 MSLSD
Heh. I'm totally stealing that!

Fox News is now wittingly harming our system of government for profit.
A little inadvertent humor there, Ralph.
My advice is to lay off the kool-aid.
Posted by SteveS 2018-03-21 00:59||   2018-03-21 00:59|| Front Page Top

#4 For some reason I'm reminded of an old Soviet era joke. In Russian LT Colonel is "under Colonel". The joke is "Can a women be colonel?"
Posted by g(r)omgoru 2018-03-21 01:39||   2018-03-21 01:39|| Front Page Top

#5 Gained much knowledge from him. Now he has been infected by the zombies so expect everyone to suffer from that when you commit them to the loony bin of liberalism.

Which is in itself is liberalism.

I call it psychological warfare. The left really know what they are doing. Very effective.

Now he is a drone
Posted by newc 2018-03-21 02:59||   2018-03-21 02:59|| Front Page Top

#6 By the way, Liberalism is just fascism where they call everyone else fascists.

Liberals are in the Republican party
Posted by newc 2018-03-21 03:01||   2018-03-21 03:01|| Front Page Top

#7 The democrat party is by definition fascism
Posted by newc 2018-03-21 03:03||   2018-03-21 03:03|| Front Page Top

#8 Update: Fox replies, "Ralph Peters is entitled to his opinion despite the fact that he’s choosing to use it as a weapon in order to gain attention. We are extremely proud of our top-rated primetime hosts and all of our opinion programing."

"Gain attention"....WTF? In an increasingly dangerous environment, perhaps his decision is based upon a desire to avoid attention.
Posted by Besoeker 2018-03-21 03:17||   2018-03-21 03:17|| Front Page Top

#9 "The result is that we have an American president who is terrified of his counterpart in Moscow."

Are Trump's politics objectively pro-Russian, or objectively more pro-Russian than the Obama/Clinton/Kerry administration's ?

Looking at Trump's position on Iran/Nukes, US fossil energy, North Korea and Cuba, the answer is no!
Posted by Elmerert Hupens2660 2018-03-21 07:54||   2018-03-21 07:54|| Front Page Top

#10 Where's Waldo?

Richard Fernandez's take on who's who in the game.
Posted by Procopius2k 2018-03-21 08:17||   2018-03-21 08:17|| Front Page Top

#11 In recent appearances on Fox Peters seemed to have lost weight, gained ten years in appearance, and was increasingly shrill. I believe that people began to reject his views shortly after Trump took over. In essence he was sidelined and made fewer appearances. Similar to other retired LTC with a Napoleonic complex, he went mad.
Posted by Clurong Peacock9529 2018-03-21 09:07||   2018-03-21 09:07|| Front Page Top

#12 ....sidelined and made fewer appearances. Similar to other retired LTC with a Napoleonic complex, he went mad.

I'm pausing for a moment of self-reflection :-(
Posted by Besoeker 2018-03-21 09:11||   2018-03-21 09:11|| Front Page Top

#13 We don't get FOX on cable TV, so I can't say much. I prefer reading anyway.

CNN (which we get)is hard to stomach. In general I find U.S. news channels almost intolerable. Constant yelling, sanctimonious moderators, loud and repetitive advertising and useless debates.

I consider myself well read on Russia, so I share some of Peters' concerns. But then again, I'm a cold warrior.
Posted by European Conservative 2018-03-21 09:29||   2018-03-21 09:29|| Front Page Top

#14 I consider myself well read on Russia, so I share some of Peters' concerns. But then again, I'm a cold warrior. Posted by European Conservative

So please share you views on Salisbury.
Posted by Besoeker 2018-03-21 09:31||   2018-03-21 09:31|| Front Page Top

#15 Difficult. Most likely Russia, but the Brits aren't handling this very well.

Investigate first, talk later.
Posted by European Conservative 2018-03-21 09:59||   2018-03-21 09:59|| Front Page Top

#16 I fully concur EC. Yes, everything points to the Russian, but where is the hard evidence ?
Posted by Besoeker 2018-03-21 10:03||   2018-03-21 10:03|| Front Page Top

#17 If the Russians did it, the Brits will never find the "hard evidence". That's the whole point.
Posted by European Conservative 2018-03-21 10:07||   2018-03-21 10:07|| Front Page Top

#18 Telephone Colonels are a dime a dozen.

The Pentagon is full of them, running errands and fetching coffee for their bosses.
Posted by Sock Puppet of Doom 2018-03-21 10:09||   2018-03-21 10:09|| Front Page Top

#19 Re: #1, #2

https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=MSLSD
Posted by Omoter Gligum2747 2018-03-21 10:14||   2018-03-21 10:14|| Front Page Top

#20 We used to say in the Bundeswehr that Hauptmann was the highest ranking officer who gets things done.
Posted by European Conservative 2018-03-21 10:15||   2018-03-21 10:15|| Front Page Top

#21 Fox News is now wittingly harming our system of government for profit.

I worry more about the lies that come from the other MSM outlets. They hammer Trump without mercy. At least some at Fox still do something like investigative reporting. Trump is not perfect but he was far and above the alternative, Hillary.

I worry about Mueller running a witch-hunt without any limits or end despite not finding much that is relevant regarding Russian collusion after 14 months. I worry that the SC is loaded with Democrat hatchet men with an unsavory legal record.

Mueller may have been a war-hero. My concern is whether he is a patriot today.

I worry about the politicians who wittingly get unbelievable wealthy as the result of their "government service."

I worry about the way that government agencies have previously gotten weaponized against its people.

I worry about crime in government becoming legitimatized and covered up.

I worry more about Hillary and Obama and others meddling and trying to rig the 2016 election illegal unmasking and surveillance.

I worry about the continued efforts to unseat a legitimately elected POTUS. I worry that laws have been broken to do so.

I worry about freedom being eroded in the name of security.

I worry about truth being called propaganda or worse treason.

I worry about our government not being reformed and cleaned up.

BTW, it is not good enough to merely present yourself as a Russian expert. You state that the dossier rings true because that is the way Russians do things. How about some evidence? Does it matter that many don't believe the dossier? Does it matter that it was ginned up and paid for by Hillary and the DNC? Even discredited Comey states that it was salacious and unverified. Moreover, this fake dossier was presented to the FISA court used to obtain a warrant.

Perhaps, MSLSD is a better fit for you Colonel.
Posted by JohnQC 2018-03-21 10:36||   2018-03-21 10:36|| Front Page Top

#22 I consider myself well read on Russia, so I share some of Peters' concerns. But then again, I'm a cold warrior.

I never heard about Peters' concerns reaching this level about Obama _giving_ the OPM root password and database to China and saying "oops, we've been hacked!"

I think we've hired the foxes to guard the henhouse, and I'm not talking about Trump.

If you want to be concerned, there's an ex premier of Germany sitting on the board of Gazprom. Call me back when your country is no longer a life support system for Russia.
Posted by Thing From Snowy Mountain 2018-03-21 10:38||   2018-03-21 10:38|| Front Page Top

#23 The party of that ex premier of Germany now polls at 16%
Posted by European Conservative 2018-03-21 10:40||   2018-03-21 10:40|| Front Page Top

#24 It could be that Peters in now in his 'Lee' moment. To choose which community he has more loyalty to.

There was a reason for a limited federal government and Big Government aka Deep State is the antithesis to it. Burning the village in order to save it does sell well as an excuse to choose bureaucracy over a republic.
Posted by Procopius2k 2018-03-21 10:59||   2018-03-21 10:59|| Front Page Top

#25 Quo vadis. Who benefits? Who benefited from the poisoning? It certainly wasn't Russia. The benefit went to the warmongers who want a big shooting war with Russia.

Vietnam war - started by a false flag, Gulf of Tonkin Incident. Iraq war - started by a false flag, Robert Mueller's infamous WMD memo. WWII - started by a false flag, Gleiwitz Incident. Sino-Japanese war - started by a false flag, Mukden Incident.

They really do these things, and they are willing to kill real people to do them. Our lives mean nothing and they will happily sacrifice us to get what they want. For some reason, during Obama's second term they decided they wanted war with Russia. Hillary was all set to start it with her no-fly zone in Syria and CIA false flags alleging infrastructure hacking, which we know for a fact they can manufacture, due to the Vault 7 leaks.

Remember when the CIA claimed Russian hacking due to finding "Russian" malware on infected systems? From Vault 7: CIA can customize the "fingerprints" hacks leave behind and make it look like someone else did it.

The evidence that we've seen for Russia hacking the DNC is this exact "Russian fingerprint" that we now know the CIA had the ability to implement in their hacks to hide their tracks. That fingerprint is now completely shoddy evidence. Not just because the CIA can put a Russian fingerprint on any hack, but because anyone else can too, because the CIA was so Clinton-esque with their security that all the "fingerprints" they collected were leaked to hackers and rogue agents.

https://wikileaks.org/ciav7p1/#EXAMPLES

Always ask: quo vadis. Who benefits? That's who did it. Works every time, in your daily life as well.
Posted by  Herb McCoy7309 2018-03-21 11:17||   2018-03-21 11:17|| Front Page Top

#26 Quo vadis means "where do you go". You meant "cui bono".

And now go back to your Petersburg troll factory.
Posted by European Conservative 2018-03-21 11:28||   2018-03-21 11:28|| Front Page Top

#27 See? There it is again. I've been posting on Rantburg since shortly after 9/11 when it got linked from Instapundit or Little Green Footballs, I forget which. I rejoiced at all the crossfire posts and chuckled at North Korea's constant threats to turn us into a sea of fire. I followed the entire Sri Lankan crushing of the Tamil Tigers from beginning to end.

I've found that "go back to St. Petersburg" is just a code phrase for "you made some arguments I can't counter, so I'm going to dismiss you with the ad hominem fallacy."

I used to be the most pro-European American you ever saw. This will sound silly, but I actually looked up to Europe. While other kids had American or British flags in their rooms, I looked fruitlessly for a NATO flag to hang. Europe left me, not the other way around. The event that broke my heart was the famous survey where Europeans named America as their greatest threat. Russia? Don't make me laugh, it wasn't even in the top 10.

The 1980s called, they want their foreign policy back. The Cold War wasn't fought with Russia, it was fought with Communism, an evil ideology that took over Russia as its first step to world domination. A lot of people forget that Russia was just the first country to fall to Communism. Fuck you for calling me a troll.
Posted by  Herb McCoy7309 2018-03-21 11:44||   2018-03-21 11:44|| Front Page Top

#28 Herb, European Conservative has been increasingly bitter for some time now, you really shouldn't worry about it as it relates to you. I quit buying Duluth Trading stuff because Minnesota is so off the rails. I definitely don't even look for products from the Eurines. Don't buy from New England or California either. Don't listen to their politicians. Just move on...
Posted by M. Murcek 2018-03-21 11:57||   2018-03-21 11:57|| Front Page Top

#29 OK I'll take that back. But you might want to check your "false flag" conspiracy theories a bit more thoroughly.

WW2 was certainly not started by the Gleiwitz incident. Nobody believed it at the time. We all know why and how WW2 was started.
Posted by European Conservative 2018-03-21 11:58||   2018-03-21 11:58|| Front Page Top

#30 I'm a ranking member of the probably most America-friendly political party in Europe.

The people I hang out with are conservative, no nonsense but friendly traditional Bavarian business people. And they just can't understand the Trump hype and why so many Americans can't see that Trump is a fraud.

Bitter? No. Scratching my head? Yes, at times.
Posted by European Conservative 2018-03-21 12:04||   2018-03-21 12:04|| Front Page Top

#31 EC, though I agree with you less and less (Mercedes and BMW buyers are assholes.) I will agree that yeah, everyone knows how WW II started. Hitler went off and France grabbed its ankles. You have a lot to be bitter about, but none of it is America's fault...
Posted by M. Murcek 2018-03-21 12:07||   2018-03-21 12:07|| Front Page Top

#32 And I'll throw this rock: I'm not a bug eyed Ralph fan...
Posted by M. Murcek 2018-03-21 12:15||   2018-03-21 12:15|| Front Page Top

#33 Since I drive a Mercedes I'm curious why.
Posted by European Conservative 2018-03-21 12:17||   2018-03-21 12:17|| Front Page Top

#34 Trump a fraud? This from a citizen of the country that elects Angela Merkel? You think we should settle for Bush/Clinton in perpetuity? You think we should open our borders like you did? We should accept all of our jobs going to China? If you don't understand that you have no business telling us anything. Your country is dying. Your grandchildren will bow down to Mecca.

Gulf of Tonkin was a false flag. Iraq WMDs were a false flag. Pearl Harbor was a false flag, Japan wasn't doing anything in China that Europeans hadn't already done in the rest of Asia and Africa too. We're sick of it. If you wanna fight these wars, go ahead. Just don't ask me to pay for it.
Posted by Abu Uluque 2018-03-21 12:18||   2018-03-21 12:18|| Front Page Top

#35 #34 Boom. Lowered.
Posted by M. Murcek 2018-03-21 12:21||   2018-03-21 12:21|| Front Page Top

#36 Since I drive a Mercedes I'm curious why.

Come drive in south Florida. And see.
Posted by M. Murcek 2018-03-21 12:22||   2018-03-21 12:22|| Front Page Top

#37 My country is not dying. You may want to look at the latest Mercer quality of living ranking to find out how your city compares to mine (Munich).

We have a few more Muslims in our country we actually need but we haven't change the way we live or the God we pray to.

We're doing quite well, thank you very much.
Posted by European Conservative 2018-03-21 12:27||   2018-03-21 12:27|| Front Page Top

#38 EC's a gut cherman. The homosexuals are all tasteful and polite. Nobody ever breaks the law (in ECs part of town) what EC sees is the totality of how it is You are an unwashed Amerikan fermin if you think different.
Posted by M. Murcek 2018-03-21 12:29||   2018-03-21 12:29|| Front Page Top

#39 Once, we might have wanted to import you, EC. Now, as Heather says, "No way no day..."
Posted by M. Murcek 2018-03-21 12:32||   2018-03-21 12:32|| Front Page Top

#40 EC, a good portion of the folks driving MB's here in the states do so to impress their neighbors.

In Europe, they are more of the 'hometown product' and aren't necessarily status symbols.

Nevertheless, still a well-made vehicle. In 1986 I bought and drove a very used 1970's era 350SE (M116 engine - 3499 cc) for several years. Great car and sold it at ~365,000 miles for what I had into it for costs.
Posted by Mullah Richard 2018-03-21 12:40||   2018-03-21 12:40|| Front Page Top

#41 You are entitled to your opinion. I will continue to like America and stand with America when things get tough.

I lived for a few years in the U.S. (mainly Texas) and still have fond memories.

We disagree on Trump and a few other things. That doesn't mean we've become opponents.

I might buy some land in the U.S.
Posted by European Conservative 2018-03-21 12:40||   2018-03-21 12:40|| Front Page Top

#42 EC - Some of it is an old battle that goes way way back. It's always been a left right battle in the US just most of the left's battle has been really under the table.

In the early 70s I was in a far left school in my university that was founded by the lady who took the first US young communist to Mao's China to visit in 1963/4. The place was chock full of SDS, a few Black Panthers and the like along with lots of kumbaya and drugs and weird sex and the CIA. I got one of the professors to explain a bit too much one night (after he had too much mind altering stuff) and got some strange tales I would have dismissed if he didn't disappear from his job and all contacts the next day. (still nobody has heard of him decades later except a possible expiration in the late 90s)
Anyway, the story he told me was about $33 billion given by the USSR to the SDS and their plan/politics to use it. First it's obvious that if the story was true the money was used a bit differently then the plan. Actually more effectively (I suspect Obama's friend Bill Ayers there as billions in the market then could be trillions now and his dad was definitely Markets Inc.). But dig to all the current players and you start finding spin off organizations of the SDS like the Students for Economic Democracy (SED)(who mentored Obama).
The main democratic party had the horrible (and mainly covered up) BCCI scandal of the late 79-82 timeframe that financed Pakistan's nuke weapons and collapsed savings and loans in the US (Whitewater, Keating 7 etc) - so who was Station Chief of the CIA in Pakistan then? Obama's buddy Brennan who had just voted for the CPUSA prez candidate Gus Hall in 1976. Obama visited Pakistan then and may have met him at that time.

Even trying not to be a conspiracy nut, lots of stuff currently playing out looks like failed massive conspiracy trying to save large pieces of itself and do as much possible damage as it can.

Sorry... for this rant European Conservative but stuff is just not meeting the smell test these days.
Posted by 3dc 2018-03-21 12:41||   2018-03-21 12:41|| Front Page Top

#43 Last time I was in Munich (1983) I watched a homeless guy work a bottle and give a Nazi salute. I was a young kid full of bad ideas, so I paid him into the strip club I was going to. When he puked, we both got thrown out...
Posted by M. Murcek 2018-03-21 12:43||   2018-03-21 12:43|| Front Page Top

#44 Oh and one of the Keating 5 was none other than foaming at the mouth Manchurian senator and spit war hero, John McCain.
Posted by 3dc 2018-03-21 12:44||   2018-03-21 12:44|| Front Page Top

#45 Some of us still like Europe too. I'd like to see it before the Muslims take over. You need to make more good German babies to prevent that.
Posted by Abu Uluque 2018-03-21 12:44||   2018-03-21 12:44|| Front Page Top

#46 I have four kids. Dome my part I guess.
Posted by European Conservative 2018-03-21 12:48||   2018-03-21 12:48|| Front Page Top

#47 EC, another bit.. one of my dad's cousins led that little covert US/USSR war in europe in the 80s. Nothing is ever as it is presented to the masses.
Posted by 3dc 2018-03-21 12:48||   2018-03-21 12:48|| Front Page Top

#48 ranking member of the probably most America-friendly political party in Europe

Political parties do mostly damage. That's not a recommendation to claim that...
Posted by M. Murcek 2018-03-21 12:50||   2018-03-21 12:50|| Front Page Top

#49 Rumsfeld's "unknown unknowns", right?
Posted by European Conservative 2018-03-21 12:51||   2018-03-21 12:51|| Front Page Top

#50 Hauptmann was the highest ranking officer who gets things done

In America, Hauptmann means Bruno Hauptmann, probably railroaded into the electric chair for kidnapping the Lindbergh child. You didn'd know that?
Posted by M. Murcek 2018-03-21 12:57||   2018-03-21 12:57|| Front Page Top

#51 And now for something completely different...
Posted by European Conservative 2018-03-21 12:59||   2018-03-21 12:59|| Front Page Top

#52 Colonel Peters was a big time cheerleader for the Gulf war. He should just go away quietly rather than virtue signalling in the hopes of getting a pet conservative job at MSNBC.
Posted by rjschwarz 2018-03-21 13:01||   2018-03-21 13:01|| Front Page Top

#53 And now for something completely different...

I just said your countryman got a raw deal and you made a Monty Python joke.

Jackoff...
Posted by M. Murcek 2018-03-21 13:03||   2018-03-21 13:03|| Front Page Top

#54 The German guy they gassed in Arizona had it coming. So there's that...
Posted by M. Murcek 2018-03-21 13:05||   2018-03-21 13:05|| Front Page Top

#55 And to take the heat off EC, let me say bug eyed Ralph will be calling for a nuke strike on Damascus as soon as he starts his new gig at MSNBS
Posted by M. Murcek 2018-03-21 13:17||   2018-03-21 13:17|| Front Page Top

#56 Schroeder's party is low in the polls but y'all still follow his policies. All the Mueller "right" is doing is shrieking about how they're shocked, SHOCKED that gambling is going on in this establishment and they need to do a full investigation of Trump as a result...

As for Trump being a fraud... the last ten years or so were about as much fraud and betrayal as the country, and I, could stand, and nearly killed me. A lot of the people who are so "concerned conservative" now weren't saying jack shit about all the things five years ago.

Posted by Thing From Snowy Mountain 2018-03-21 13:33||   2018-03-21 13:33|| Front Page Top

#57 It's entertaining, really. Germany's "huge" economy has mostly to do with MB cars to US and China / Hong Kong. Cars mostly built by Turkish immigrants. EC's crowd wants to sell as much dual use stuff to Iran / Pakistan / Turkey / SA as possible. Sidesplittingly funneee...
Posted by M. Murcek 2018-03-21 13:41||   2018-03-21 13:41|| Front Page Top

#58 And. My own contribution. Stopped buying WSJ (Murdoch product, 30 year subscriber) Stopped buying DirecTV (20 year subscriber) Fuck that shit...
Posted by M. Murcek 2018-03-21 13:48||   2018-03-21 13:48|| Front Page Top

#59 
Posted by g(r)omgoru 2018-03-21 14:04||   2018-03-21 14:04|| Front Page Top

#60 EC,

You say "And they just can't understand the Trump hype and why so many Americans can't see that Trump is a fraud."

Did they think Obama was a fraud? Did they think Clinton was a fraud? No just the Bushes and Trump. I see.

You and your friends might want to read these books based on the premise that hucksterism is at the heart of the American con dream. A refreshing version of our history; it is unfortunate it was never completed.
Posted by Unusort Hitler9158 2018-03-21 14:31||   2018-03-21 14:31|| Front Page Top

#61 Before I continue

In Bavaria we often have heated political debates, but then we all have some good beers and get along very well... that's something internet debates don't have and therefore they appear a lot more bitter than they actually are (or should be).

The words to use when the debate stops and the drinking begins is: "Schwoam ma's abi" (which means "Let's wash it all down").

Look, my country is far from perfect, and Merkel has proved to be a major disappointment in the last years, but we'll survive her. Life is still pretty good in Germany.

The regulars here know that I didn't like Obama either.

I don't think I've moved away from America, but with Trump, things aren't easy. A looming and totally unnecessary trade war is nothing to look forward to. I was actually hoping for a North Atlantic Free Trade Zone. We shouldn't have tariffs at all and we should rather join forces to keep China at bay.

Btw the bulk of German exports go to other EU countries. Not just cars.

Russia is a clay colossus. We need to take Russia seriously but the Russian military is overrated and much of it is blustering. Polish patriots would beat the crap out of them before they reach Germany. But Russia can destroy the whole world, so calling them a "regional power" like Obama did was stupid.

To sum it up: Life is good here, and I'm sure it's good in most places in the U.S., too.

Americans, who visit Germany, usually like it here, and Germans who visit the U.S., like it there, too. Despite some political differences, we get along pretty well.
Posted by European Conservative 2018-03-21 16:42||   2018-03-21 16:42|| Front Page Top

#62 Come now EC, what's not to like about Germany ?
Posted by Besoeker 2018-03-21 16:49||   2018-03-21 16:49|| Front Page Top

#63 This picture wasn't taken in Germany. Look at those small beer mugs :-)
Posted by European Conservative 2018-03-21 16:57||   2018-03-21 16:57|| Front Page Top

#64 What beer mugs?
Posted by Omoter Gligum2747 2018-03-21 17:00||   2018-03-21 17:00|| Front Page Top

#65 I told you they were small (the mugs)
Posted by European Conservative 2018-03-21 17:03||   2018-03-21 17:03|| Front Page Top

#66 Okay, EC, you do know that America gets totally ripped off every year, right? We get to pay $150 billion per annum for the privilege of trading with Europe. This isn't some mistake, or oops, it was deliberate policy by the State Department to bribe Europe with American taxpayers' money to stay on our side during the Cold War. Because evidently Europe would have gladly voted in Communists otherwise.

Cold War ended 30 years ago, but these horrid policies continue. Why do advanced, wealthy nations need such massive amounts of aid? Let's have fair trade agreements instead that benefit everyone. BUT Europe doesn't want this because they profit handsomely and don't see why things should change. Friends don't rip each other off.
Posted by  Herb McCoy7309 2018-03-21 17:23||   2018-03-21 17:23|| Front Page Top

#67 "We get to pay $150 billion per annum for the privilege of trading with Europe."

Would you mind explaining that figure? I see it popping up a lot but without any sources.
Posted by European Conservative 2018-03-21 17:26||   2018-03-21 17:26|| Front Page Top

#68 The people I hang out with are conservative, no nonsense but friendly traditional Bavarian business people. And they just can't understand the Trump hype and why so many Americans can't see that Trump is a fraud.

I agree with you 100%. But for now, he's the only game in town. A sizeable portion of the electorate is in thrall to him. Another portion that pays little attention to politics will see impeachment and removal from office as an indictment of Republicans generally. That's why the GOP hasn't gotten together with the Democrats to knock this man off his perch. Because he's the only game in town for a stalemated GOP that is simultaneously hurt by him with independents, and needs the votes of a bigger gullible core of voters who can't see through his con tricks.

Trump is a fake populist who only gets the things he personally favors done. On the things he doesn't support, he virtue signals to his base while deliberately sabotaging those items with outrageous statements that he knows will give the judiciary an excuse to strike those executive orders down.

Trump's not stupid. Nobody amasses a fortune in the billions accidentally when the principal is at most in the tens of millions. He knows he's fucking his supporters over. I think he gets the con man's thrill from screwing over his marks.

The problem for him, as election returns in PA-18 show, that a small but growing core of voters who put him in office are starting to notice that he hasn't delivered on all that much for them on immigration (deport them all, build a wall, Mexico will pay) or health care (best health care ever). Instead, he has increased gun restrictions, lowered taxes for wealthy investors and expressed support for the DACA illegals. At the margins, this is significantly eroding his support. If he wants their votes back, he needs to stop yanking their chain and start delivering.

Obama got tons of things done through executive orders. Where are Trump's executive orders - not just reversing Obama's actions, but implementing his voters' priorities?
Posted by Zhang Fei 2018-03-21 18:25||   2018-03-21 18:25|| Front Page Top

#69 Forfoksake! Obviously eight years of Obama and the threat of the Hildebeest as POTUS was not enough.
Posted by Besoeker 2018-03-21 18:32||   2018-03-21 18:32|| Front Page Top

#70 Forfoksake! Obviously eight years of Obama and the threat of the Hildebeest as POTUS was not enough.

I don't like Trump, but he is preferable to any Democrat who might conceivably run for the presidency, and a good many Republicans. But it's OK to hate our guy. Yankee fans hated Steinbrenner for a long time. Then the Yankees started bringing home the bacon. All was forgiven.
Posted by Zhang Fei 2018-03-21 18:41||   2018-03-21 18:41|| Front Page Top

#71 The 2017 US trade deficit with the EU was $150 billion, half of it with Germany. Not as much as with China at $375 billion, but equalizing trade with the EU would add nearly $500 billion to US GDP assuming a monetary turnover of 3 times a year in the economy.

Now factor in the total 2017 US trade deficit of $800 billion. That would add 2.4-3.2 to the US economy based on a monetary turnover of 3 and 4 or an additional 12-16.5% to GDP. That enough to re-employ the cities and countryside and eliminate the budget deficit.

The world is still operating under rules that were established after WWII. That's right, 70 years ago. The US purposely agreed to non-reciprocal tariffs such that we would subsidize other countries and allow them to rebuild their economies after the war. This was fine up until the 70s, as even with the subsidy, the US still had a trade surplus.

Folks, we are no longer the same global economy as after WWII. Germany does not need any economic subsidy, nor does China. The Trump administration is going to move trade into the 21st century.
Posted by  Herb McCoy7309 2018-03-21 18:47||   2018-03-21 18:47|| Front Page Top

#72 Well said Herb.
Posted by Besoeker 2018-03-21 18:55||   2018-03-21 18:55|| Front Page Top

#73 Need more posts like #63.
Posted by Clem 2018-03-21 19:09||   2018-03-21 19:09|| Front Page Top

#74 "The 2017 US trade deficit with the EU was $150 billion, half of it with Germany."

Herb, I understand that, but not why you call this "ripping us off" or "we pay that for the privilege..."

It's true that the unweighted average EU customs duty is 5.2 percent, versus the US rate of 3.5 percent. But this doesn't explain the trade deficit, as this is quite a low number. Tariffs used to be much higher, but once again, we shouldn't have any (and TTIP would have abolished them).

Also note that the U.S. fares a lot better with services.

Btw the U.S. has a trade surplus with Canada. Does that mean the U.S. is ripping off Canada?

I don't say Germany is all innocent. We should and could raise wages, stimulate domestic demand. This would reduce the deficit.

But the main reasons why U.S. goods (not services) don't sell that well in Europe are not tariffs. Take cars, for instance. You compete with Japanese and even German cars re-imported from the U.S. which pay the same tariff. U.S. cars don't sell well, because quality is often a problem and - more importantly - they are not well adapted to European needs (too big, gas guzzler etc.).

This has nothing to do with ripping you off.

Trump wants to turn back time. He wants to bring back "old" industries, but this approach will fail. Much better to invest in future industries. Tariffs won't bring back lost jobs. They will just kill existing ones.
Posted by European Conservative 2018-03-21 19:20||   2018-03-21 19:20|| Front Page Top

#75 So, you won't mind if we reverse this, then? Europe pay America $150 billion per year?

No, that's no good? Oh, heavens why?
Posted by  Herb McCoy7309 2018-03-21 19:33||   2018-03-21 19:33|| Front Page Top

#76 You didn't understand a thing, do you?
Posted by European Conservative 2018-03-21 19:40||   2018-03-21 19:40|| Front Page Top

#77 He wants to bring back "old" industries, but this approach will fail. Much better to invest in future industries. Tariffs won't bring back lost jobs. They will just kill existing ones.

You must think he's a moron. Except in showbiz, you don't become a billionaire by being stupid. This is all about electoral votes. He's doubling down on trying to raise his numbers in the Rust Belt states, which is where he obtained the electoral votes that won him the election. That's what the steel and aluminum tariffs are all about - pure politics. The morons are the policymakers and journalists in the EU who are getting all worked up about Trump's flurry of BS about what is just a ploy for Rust Belt support that affects a tiny sliver of European steel and aluminum producers, which are, in total, a tiny sliver of European GDP.

The tariffs against China are the main event, and that is where the EU should be focusing its attention. Unfortunately, EU morons are once again so kneecapped by their stupidity with respect to reading Trump's actions, that they are missing the opportunity to create a united front against Chinese trade barriers and misbehavior on intellectual property rights.
Posted by Zhang Fei 2018-03-21 19:45||   2018-03-21 19:45|| Front Page Top

#78 All - please try to play civilly (as someone who hasn't always in the past....hypocrite, I know)
Posted by Frank G 2018-03-21 19:57||   2018-03-21 19:57|| Front Page Top

#79 If only dotcom were still with us this could have been a much more stimulating thread.
Posted by Unusort Hitler9158 2018-03-21 20:07||   2018-03-21 20:07|| Front Page Top

#80 This is all about electoral votes

I see that very well.
Posted by European Conservative 2018-03-21 20:11||   2018-03-21 20:11|| Front Page Top

#81 ZF

"He's doubling down on trying to raise his numbers in the Rust Belt states"

Now when China retaliates, don't you think it will hit those Rust Belt states first?
Posted by European Conservative 2018-03-21 20:44||   2018-03-21 20:44|| Front Page Top

#82 As a Rantburger of Herb McCoy vintage I enjoyed this thread. All of you make this site something unique and uniquely valuable. I genuinely appreciate European Conservative’s perspective. Hell, I even drive a Mercedes that was very well made in Alabama a couple hours west of here.

I also miss True German Ally’s participation from years ago. What became of him?
Posted by Classical_Liberal 2018-03-21 20:57||   2018-03-21 20:57|| Front Page Top

#83 Trump wants to turn back time. He wants to bring back "old" industries, but this approach will fail. Much better to invest in future industries. Tariffs won't bring back lost jobs. They will just kill existing ones.

You can call Trump a liar all you want, the problem is, Obama promised to bankrupt anyone in fossil fuels and he was telling the truth. I'll grasp at the straw of someone maybe lying to me about wanting me to live instead of risking that the other guy is telling the truth when he tells me "Die, motherfucker!"
Posted by Thing From Snowy Mountain 2018-03-21 21:08||   2018-03-21 21:08|| Front Page Top

#84 And here's the video:


Posted by Thing From Snowy Mountain 2018-03-21 21:08||   2018-03-21 21:08|| Front Page Top

#85 don't you think it will hit those Rust Belt states first?
China is ALREADY hitting the Rust Belt states with its mass production and export of fentanyl and carfentanil, imported courtesy of the postal service. The only way China could hit them harder would be to nuke them.
Posted by Anguper Hupomosing9418 2018-03-21 21:35||   2018-03-21 21:35|| Front Page Top

#86 I also miss True German Ally’s participation from years ago. What became of him?

Very probably he died, Classical_Liberal. He survived both the concentration camps and the Soviet labour camps thereafter, giving him a unique perspective.
Posted by trailing wife 2018-03-21 21:58||   2018-03-21 21:58|| Front Page Top

#87 China is ALREADY hitting the Rust Belt states with its mass production and export of fentanyl and carfentanil, imported courtesy of the postal service. The only way China could hit them harder would be to nuke them.

That's what the North Korea Tribute Nation is for.
Posted by Thing From Snowy Mountain 2018-03-21 22:04||   2018-03-21 22:04|| Front Page Top

23:45 Anguper Hupomosing9418
22:41 CrazyFool
22:04 Thing From Snowy Mountain
21:58 trailing wife
21:46 newc
21:42 gorb
21:40 One Eyed Chese1500
21:38 gorb
21:35 Anguper Hupomosing9418
21:08 Thing From Snowy Mountain
21:08 Thing From Snowy Mountain
20:57 Classical_Liberal
20:56 newc
20:44 European Conservative
20:13 newc
20:11 European Conservative
20:07 Unusort Hitler9158
19:57 Frank G
19:56 Frank G
19:45 Zhang Fei
19:40 European Conservative
19:36 Anguper Hupomosing9418
19:33  Herb McCoy7309
19:32 Anguper Hupomosing9418









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