Robert wrote: ↑Tue Mar 19, 2024 8:30 am
Free trade vs fair trade. I see your point. I was thinking a little differently. He reworked many alliances and actually strengthened the allies. Treaties are Congress, are they not?
It would be good if Congress started legislating again, but to my eye, they won't be doing much as long as the same family controls the administration and one of the two major parties.
He worked to weaken European alliances like NATO which makes me a tiny bit nervous because that alliance is holding back expansionist empires like Russia and China.
barnhart wrote: ↑Tue Mar 19, 2024 11:02 am
He worked to weaken European alliances like NATO
He actually strengthened NATO, much to my dismay. He made the other NATO members put the agreed amount into defense. They were not doing that before. It made NATO much stronger and more of a deterrent.
0 x
Try hard not to offend. Try harder not to be offended.
Just because you are paranoid, doesn't mean they are not after you.
I think I am funnier than I really am.
barnhart wrote: ↑Tue Mar 19, 2024 11:02 am
He worked to weaken European alliances like NATO
He actually strengthened NATO, much to my dismay. He made the other NATO members put the agreed amount into defense. They were not doing that before. It made NATO much stronger and more of a deterrent.
That's not completely true. The Russian invasion of Ukraine, not Trump, prompted significant spending in defense by member countries.
Former President Donald Trump said Saturday that he wouldn't protect a NATO nation that didn't contribute enough defense funds and, instead, he'd "encourage" Russia "to do whatever the hell they want."
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“It’s easy to make everything a conspiracy when you don’t know how anything works.” — Brandon L. Bradford
barnhart wrote: ↑Wed Mar 20, 2024 7:37 am
Bullying, threatening to pull out and making positive statements about NATO enemies doesn't look like strengthening NATO to me.
As Christians, is “strengthening NATO” a goal that needs to be pursued to build Jesus’ kingdom?
barnhart wrote: ↑Wed Mar 20, 2024 7:37 am
Bullying, threatening to pull out and making positive statements about NATO enemies doesn't look like strengthening NATO to me.
HIs first term, he demanded they spend more. Many did. Some not tot he level of the agreement, but they did increase. He did that by stating it was not important and threatening to pull out. The other nation states increased their defense spending to quiet him. I did not like the tactics, but they worked. I did not like the goal, but he moved the other nations to more support.
It was just the opposite of the Abraham Accords, which I really liked and want to see develop more.
I think all the posturing against Russia is stupid. No. They are not the greatest, but they could have been more ally then enemy. The USA overthrew an elected leader in Ukraine just to get someone in that was more supportive of the USA. The Ukraine war is just as much the US fault as Russia, if not more.
1 x
Try hard not to offend. Try harder not to be offended.
Just because you are paranoid, doesn't mean they are not after you.
I think I am funnier than I really am.
barnhart wrote: ↑Wed Mar 20, 2024 7:37 am
Bullying, threatening to pull out and making positive statements about NATO enemies doesn't look like strengthening NATO to me.
HIs first term, he demanded they spend more. Many did. Some not tot he level of the agreement, but they did increase. He did that by stating it was not important and threatening to pull out. The other nation states increased their defense spending to quiet him. I did not like the tactics, but they worked. I did not like the goal, but he moved the other nations to more support.
It was just the opposite of the Abraham Accords, which I really liked and want to see develop more.
I think all the posturing against Russia is stupid. No. They are not the greatest, but they could have been more ally then enemy. The USA overthrew an elected leader in Ukraine just to get someone in that was more supportive of the USA. The Ukraine war is just as much the US fault as Russia, if not more.
Some people think the best method for keeping international peace is to present as unilateral and unpredictable with threat of violence. Some appreciate careful, organized, multi polar diplomacy.
Donald Trump’s new joint fundraising agreement with the Republican National Committee directs donations to his campaign and a political action committee that pays the former president’s legal bills before the RNC gets a cut, according to a fundraising invitation obtained by The Associated Press.
The unorthodox diversion of funds to the Save America PAC makes it more likely that Republican donors could see their money go to Trump’s lawyers, who have received at least $76 million over the last two years to defend him against four felony indictments and multiple civil cases. Some Republicans are already troubled that Trump’s takeover of the RNC could shortchange the cash-strapped party.
Trump has invited high-dollar donors to Palm Beach, Florida, for an April 6 fundraiser that comes as his fundraising is well behind President Joe Biden and national Democrats. The invitation’s fine print says donations to the Trump 47 Committee will first be used to give the maximum amount allowed under federal law to Trump’s campaign. Anything left over from the donation next goes toward a maximum contribution to Save America, and then anything left from there goes to the RNC and then to state political parties.
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A fool can throw out more questions than a wise man can answer. -RZehr
I know the op's general question is an uncomfortable question, especially for some of you, who from my observations, do at some levels believe that electing more Republicans (most of who claim Christianity directly or Christian values or nearly so); is a path or element to national renewal.
But I find it interesting that there isn't some level of outrage or concern among you about things like this... Is it because your media diet is keeping quiet about it? Or is it just too hard of a reality to face? I don't see how this is a long term winning strategy... I don't want to see one-party rule by Dems. But this could be handing it to them on a platter.
"And then last week, Trump’s legal fee scam came to light when the Associated Press noticed the fine print on an invitation to a megadonor event next month:
Donations to the Trump 47 Committee will first be used to give the maximum amount allowed under federal law to Trump’s campaign. Anything left over from the donation next goes toward a maximum contribution to Save America, and then anything left from there goes to the RNC and then to state political parties.
Save America is a “leadership” PAC that pays Trump’s lawyers as well as Melania Trump’s stylist hundreds of thousands of dollars for “strategy consulting. [...]
Naturally donors, candidates, and elected Republicans working hard to stem the tide of losses the party has suffered in the age of Trump—in 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, and already in 2024 (in NY-3)—objected in outrage. Right? Of course not. Every one of them rolled over in silence. Like they always do.
In a normal political party a guy who is bragging that he has “ALMOST FIVE HUNDRED MILLION DOLLARS IN CASH, A SUBSTANTIAL AMOUNT OF WHICH I INTENDED TO USE IN MY CAMPAIGN FOR PRESIDENT,” wouldn’t be diverting money from the party coffers to pay for his criminal habit [...]
ON TOP OF THE LAWYER BILLS and half-billion-plus in court judgments, Trump’s campaign and the RNC are far behind President Joe Biden’s campaign and the DNC in fundraising. Not only is Biden’s haul a record for this point in an election year, but he and the Democrats ended February with more than four times the cash-on-hand that Trump and the RNC did." - A.B. Stoddard
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A history that looks back to a mythologized past as the country’s perfect time is a key tool of authoritarians. It allows them to characterize anyone who opposes them as an enemy of the country’s great destiny. - Heather Cox Richardson
There might be fewer Republicans here than you think.
Personally, I think the establishment Republican institution is hopelessly corrupt and the sooner it’s gone, the better.
