Political Humour.

[Bruce]

Don't you admire how his lies are forgiven and dismissed as advertising puff?

 

But what if the republicans win the coming mid-term elections? Amazingly, there are people ( Trump is one ) who think this is going to happen.

 

Personally, I would bet that Trump loses control of at least one house, and the democrats will make his life miserable. And so they should.

 

Only about 6 weeks to go.

 

 

[Marty_d]

I saw an interview, in which he said he started out simply, with a small loan from his father, of $1,000,000.

I think he might be stretching the truth there too.

 

But even if he isn't, imagine what you could have bought with a loan of $1 million 50 years ago.

 

 

[red750]

The report quoted that the present day equivalent was $419 million.

 

 

[facthunter]

You DO have to adjust these figures to get relevance to NOW. The trade war has wiped a heap out of the stock market just now and If you want a war, Trump and those he has installed will most likely give you one. so you better get ready for it. I personally think wars are MADNESS and Trump being so highly Intelligent ( HE says so., frequently).should realise no one wins a war. The US hasn't won one since they applied the very profitable For them "Lend Lease" to WW2. He's also a bully who negotiates only from a position of POWER No economy can exist in a modern world by being isolationist. and making their own convenient facts

 

IF you want people to get STRONG threaten them. and they will. The USA has turned it's back to the EU, which will make Putin Happy. Us May have alarmed and dismayed many with it's behavior, who were traditionally America's allies. The Statue of Liberty was a gift from the French.

 

I doubt Donald knows $#!t about the history of "foreign" Countries unless he's built a Golf course there. HE worships money and is a very VAIN person who feeds on admiration. it won't end well. Nev

 

 

[Yenn]

Marty d. Isn't that just about what I said. The Yanks love him, or at least about 50% of them do. You must admit that he represents all that USA stands for.

 

One thing I can't understand is his requirement to de nuclearise the Korean peninsular. Wouldn't that mean USA has to get rid of its nuclear arms that it won't confirm or deny.

 

It is apity that the prediction that I made on this forum, before he was elected didn't come true.

 

 

[Marty_d]

Marty d. Isn't that just about what I said. The Yanks love him, or at least about 50% of them do. You must admit that he represents all that USA stands for.One thing I can't understand is his requirement to de nuclearise the Korean peninsular. Wouldn't that mean USA has to get rid of its nuclear arms that it won't confirm or deny.

 

It is apity that the prediction that I made on this forum, before he was elected didn't come true.

I don't think 50% of Yanks love him.

 

Only 58% of Americans who were eligible to vote in 2016 actually voted. A total of 234 million were eligible to vote - of them, only 135.72 million bothered to. 65.83 million voted for Clinton, 62.98 million voted for Trump, and the rest went to libertarian and green parties.

 

So for a start only a bit over a quarter of eligible voters voted for Trump. Of these, there'd be a variety of reasons - people who've always voted Republican, people who can't stand the Clintons (she really was a bad choice for the Democrats), religious folks (many) who despise Trump himself but saw him as their only chance of getting a conservative majority on the Supreme court, people who mistake reality TV for reality, then the simple-minded and easily misled who are looking for someone to bring back the good ol' days of the 50's. I'd be surprised if a quarter of that quarter actually "love" Trump.

 

The reason you can't understand his requirement to "denuclearise" the Korean peninsular is that he doesn't understand it himself. Kim Jong Un played him like a fiddle. He started throwing a few missiles over Japan to prove that he had a delivery system. After a few insults Trump fell into the trap and gave this tinpot dictator the attention and affirmation he craved. They signed a piece of paper that means absolutely nothing, and that's exactly what Kim has done since - nothing. He hasn't given up any nukes and won't. Trump probably thinks that "denuclearise" means that North Korea will give up all their nukes in return for trade, because he thinks in terms of business. Kim thinks it means that the US will piss off out of South Korea, allowing him to take it over, and once he's done that and no longer needs nukes he may think about reducing his arsenal by a couple.

 

I don't think the majority of Americans want, like or even deserve Trump. Maybe they'll get off their ar*ses and vote next time.

 

 

[Old Koreelah]

...He is nothing but a cashed-up bogan redneck and the whole world will breathe a sigh of relief when he's voted out or preferably impeached.

Then we’ll have a religious zealout running the show...

 

 

[facthunter]

IF he's impeached it will be seen as what you would expect from the "system" and he will be a cause to rise against the system with arms which has falsely claimed their" saintly hero who's there for the common man. That's the part that's a big joke. He's a very clever manipulator (amongst other things) but extremely dangerous for the entire world.. Nev

 

 

[red750]

When the US Ambassador to the UN resigned, he said, and I saw it on a video, that there was nobody better qualified to replace her in the world than Ivanka, who wisely turned down the position.

 

 

[red750]

The G.O.P. (Republicans) want to take America back to Amish status.

 

 

[facthunter]

Genius Dictator. with money interests everywhere. What could go wrong? Nev

 

 

[Jerry_Atrick]

Blimey - I thought this was a political humor thread - is there such thing as false advertising on a forum?

 

Like everyone, Trump has his good and bad points... He has had some achievements, and some blunders. The ratio of achievements:blunders is somewhat subjective because the categorisation of his outcomes will be somewhat in the eye of the beholder.

 

A lot of politicians probably have the same achievement:blunder ratio - they only do it more politely. Trump is full of bluster and hot air, etc.

 

I agree that he cosies up to dictators while dispensing with his allies - but the old saying is keep your friends close and your enemies closer. Whether you think Jong Un played him for a fool or not, one can't argue, Trump far exceeded his predecessors in at least getting NK to talk to the west. He hasn't quite been so successful with Putin, but he has more at stake - personally and politically, so it could be argued he has somewhat tempered his belligerent ways and is achieveing his outcomes at a pace more likened to those more politically correct..

 

Do I like him or what he stands for? No. Do I think his achievements balance out his blunders? Not even close (his own government departments are conceding climate change is a problem - and its fast rate of change is largely down to hum activity; yet there is no vision from that "leader" as to investing in technology to preserve our standard of living with less impact on the earth. But then, there is little real vision from all global leaders, and don't we all live in the same world?

 

I don't think there are any regional issues anymore; the world is so small now, any issue is really a global issue.. Problems with wars in the middle east and Africa become global migration issues, for example. The outbreak of ebola in Africa, avian flu, etc can have ramifications globally. We talk about how without population growth we can't get economic growth and with our ageing population, things will get very expensive, especially in the public sector services - health, education, etc. Of course, this is partly because of the fragmentation of regional tax regimes - if all these multinationals, which by far concentrate economic activity more than any time in history were made to pay their fair share of tax in the regions they earned revenue, because, then the cost of a lot of things would reduce. So, it becomes a global problem. Of course, if we raised the net wealth of every country (with the safeguards to combat corruption, etc), then it may actually go some way towards population control - ever noticed wealthy western countries have a falling birth rate and ageing population - the instinct to procreate reduces as we feel we have security and the species (or more accurately the family line) aren't going to die out (well, not yet), so we focus on quality of life. If the world was more wealthy and was certain of low infant/child mortality rates, etc, then it may stand to reason, over a couple of generations, the world may start to see reducing birth rates and ageing populations - which is exactly what it needs.

 

My point - I guess Trump is no better or worse than most other leaders - he just airs his dirty laundry more; this world needs leaders at a global level with vision.

 

 

[facthunter]

He's an expert at playing the audience. He's done it all his life. That's a skill. He's also very Vain. That's a weakness. He has to operate from a position of POWER. That's unreasonable and not likely to work for long.. He stacks the deck to increase his Power then it will be to maintain his power and by then HIS Authority.. Seem familiar? How do you recover from that when by then the Democratic process is gone.? Nev

 

 

[kgwilson]

According to the US Fact Checker Trump has made 4,229 false or misleading claims during his time as President up to 1 August. That is an average of 7.6 per day over 558 days. In his first 100 days the number was 4.9 claims per day but in Jun/July this year he averaged 16 claims per day. In just 6 months he has doubled the false and misleading claims made in his first year in office. He seems convinced that he can say anything because he is the President. Many of his supporters say he is getting things done but most of the economic turnaround within the US economy is a result of policies introduced by Obama. As soon as something that has any negative effect happens he will blame anyone including his own government departments, the latest being the Stock Market downturn when he immediately blamed the Federal Reserve. Of course the long Bull run was entirely attributable to him, according to him.

 

It amazes me that the Yank system is such that the President is almost untouchable. Some legal opinions are that he can pardon himself, he does not have to produce his tax returns which would likely show tax evasion etc. There are a lot of very intelligent people in the US but a whole lot of redneck, bogun, gun crazy, ultra religious, uninformed zealots who actually vote. Most of these seem to think there is nothing really outside of the US that is any good & don't know where most countries even are. If hopefully the Republican majority in Congress & Senate disappears at the mid terms what will he do then?

 

 

[facthunter]

Blame everybody and everything. Nothing will be his fault as he is a genius (self proclaimed) His adherents will establish a "saintly" status for him and a new cult of history fact changing will establish itself about what would have been possible if he was left to do his great work. America's religion is really wealth and Trump exemplifies it .He becomes the new GOD of Wealth. He probably has a severe personality deficiency or even a mental health problem, but who cares? .

 

The World should exercise much more care and research more those WHO they put into positions of Power. as the consequences are massive, potentially. History shows us that. and much of it, is quite recent. America is a strange place with excess power in some areas. NRA, religions of a set kind, (The majority believe the bible is the ABSOLUTE word of God) White supremacy. A lot of ignorance of the rest of the world exists there.. An Emphasis of Patriotism is pretty normal (the LAST refuge of a Scoundrel ) and when they considered the Metric system of threads and reject it as UN American The discussion ends there. Whatever UN American means is a bit vague but it's a big factor.in valuing something (like apple pie). Being out of step with the rest of the world with that situation alone (metrics) will make it's manufacturing base uncompetitive. US has generally a "superiority complex" about itself , and has evolved a lot of social problems that tear it apart and may well do it more so in the future. Being the most powerful and thinking and using it for commercial advantage is openly acknowledged. and stated as a given right.. Corporates are the new colonists backed by the legal system. Watch how the trade deals are worded. Corporates are more powerful than "elected" sovereign governments. That's not really how things should be by any stretch of the imagination. Nev

 

 

[Yenn]

There are a lot of copycat crimes if we are to believe the media.

 

Not least is the copying of trump by our lesser politicians. Have you noticed how our treasurer and prime minister are both starting to be Trump like. Especially concerning fiscal ability. They both state they have done wonderfully well fiscally, but I haven't forgotten their earlier claims when Labor was failing, that a vote for the Libs would bring an instant reduction in the national debt. Now it is greater than ever, but they are still making the same claims.

 

We could call it comedy, if it wasn't such stupidity.

 

 

[willedoo]

I originally thought the new treasurer might have some capabilities until I heard him interviewed on ABC radio. He was as slippery as an eel, wouldn't answer any questions directly, choosing instead to respond with scripted slogans like some half baked swami chanting a Liberal party mantra. The ABC journalist was asking very normal questions about a not very controversial subject, yet this bloke could not answer a question honestly and with respect to the listeners.

 

What a bunch of clowns.

 

 

[Old Koreelah]

The TPP has been revived and it looks like Australia's lackey politicians will meekly hand power to immoral global corporations, many no doubt in the hope of receiving their share of the bribes dished out by the lobbyists.

 

I'm currently travelling north of the US border, where people are decent and pretty well-adjusted and go out of their way to help you. Many of them are mystified about the political decline of Oz.

 

 

[Old Koreelah]

...a vote for the Libs would bring an instant reduction in the national debt. Now it is greater than ever, but they are still making the same claims.We could call it comedy, if it wasn't such stupidity.

Any notion that the LNP are better managers of the economy is smoke and mirrors from the right wing media.

 

John Howard railed against Labor's foreign debt of about $160b...and rapidly increased it to $400b.

 

 

[kgwilson]

And now it's over $1 trillion.

 

 

[facthunter]

There WAS a cap on it which they voted away years ago. They never intended to be bound in any way." Debt and Deficit Disaster" was just applied to the Labor party. for propaganda purposes.

 

Money is certainly in their DNA. They love getting access to lots of it (for them selves). Part of the deal.

 

With this Gov't " you fund us, You get our attention and what YOU want. Remember Abbott's" Open for Business". Gina Reinhart is the major funder of the IPA which writes policy for the LNP. They have always kept very quiet about where their funds come from. Nev

 

 

[red750]

Drifting away from "humour".

 

But do we want a Prime Minister who can;t pronounce Perff or Wentworff?

 

 

[facthunter]

It's his perfidy that bothers me most.. Nev.

 

 

[old man emu]

What's the going price for a Went worth?

 

 

[kgwilson]

His get up & go, got up & went. Now its worth nothing. Never was really.