Trump's tariff wars...long post.

[PaulWarning]

must admit Trump can make me laugh, on declaring he wouldn't deport Prince Harry, Trump said on Friday. 'I'll leave him alone. He's got enough problems with his wife. She's terrible.' 🤣

Edited Saturday at 15:48 by PaulWarning

[chris_b]

1 hour ago, PaulWarning said:

must admit Trump can make me laugh. . . . 

 

IMO the leader Western World, or any Head of State, publicly insulting someone's wife makes me cringe and shake my head. Trumps disgusting, ill-mannered behaviour should not be accepted or normalized in any way.

[bass_dinger]

33 minutes ago, chris_b said:

 

IMO the leader Western World, or any Head of State, publicly insulting someone's wife makes me cringe and shake my head. Trumps disgusting, ill-mannered behaviour should not be accepted or normalized in any way.

Thankfully, some American lawmakers decided long ago that the President of the USA can only serve two terms. 

 

By January 2029, someone else will be in power.  

 

"4 more years. 4 more more years......" - count them....

 

[Agent 00Soul]

He can show his human side every now and again, even to refugees:

 

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-orders-u-s-refugee-resettlement-of-afrikaners

 

This isn't all Elon's influence: Trump has had a bee in his bonnet for a long time about this particular issue for whatever reason.  He mentioned it a few times during his first term.

 

Edited Saturday at 18:11 by Agent 00Soul
more info

[Agent 00Soul]

Just now, bass_dinger said:

"4 more years. 4 more more years......" - count them....

 

 

I think Viktor Orban has some tricks for getting around that and he's got the hotline to Washington at the moment.

[Obrienp]

3 hours ago, Agent 00Soul said:

He can show his human side every now and again, even to refugees:

 

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-orders-u-s-refugee-resettlement-of-afrikaners

 

This isn't all Elon's influence: Trump has had a bee in his bonnet for a long time about this particular issue for whatever reason.  He mentioned it a few times during his first term.

 

You are joking, right?

[tauzero]

7 hours ago, bass_dinger said:

Thankfully, some American lawmakers decided long ago that the President of the USA can only serve two terms. 

 

By January 2029, someone else will be in power.  

 

"4 more years. 4 more more years......" - count them....

 

 

Don't be too sure about that. He needs 75% of both of the two houses to amend the constitution so it depends how much he can terrify the Democrats. AIUI he can't just extend his term of office by declaring a state of emergency. Although all this depends on him obeying the law (I think all countries' constitutions are written in the belief that politicians and other officials will obey them).

[LowB_FTW]

8 hours ago, bass_dinger said:

Thankfully, some American lawmakers decided long ago that the President of the USA can only serve two terms. 

 

By January 2029, someone else will be in power.  

 

"4 more years. 4 more more years......" - count them....

 

I'm unclear on this, so I'm asking …

Is it two consecutive terms, or two terms in total?
 

Mark

[tauzero]

13 minutes ago, LowB_FTW said:

I'm unclear on this, so I'm asking …

Is it two consecutive terms, or two terms in total?

 

Two terms total - IIRC anything over two years counts as a term (so if Trump gets bumped off tomorrow and Vance takes over, he could stand for president subsequently but only do one more term).

[Downunderwonder]

9 minutes ago, LowB_FTW said:

I'm unclear on this, so I'm asking …

Is it two consecutive terms, or two terms in total?
 

Mark

Thankfully it's two total. At the rate his cronies are attempting total destruction of the civil service I wouldn't put anything past him.

 

The only thing holding him back is the civil service pushing back with civil injunctions and Judges agreeing.

 

The  Supreme Court is well stacked so the rest of the Judiciary are going to have to be right on their game. They will be holding it all back years and years deferring decisions and requiring more information before it ever gets to the Supreme Court. 

[12stringbassist]

I heard on R4 that unless the UK Government agree to drop taxes for a couple of Corporations Ike Amazon we are going to get whacked with severe tariffs.

[prowla]

2 hours ago, 12stringbassist said:

I heard on R4 that unless the UK Government agree to drop taxes for a couple of Corporations Ike Amazon we are going to get whacked with severe tariffs.

Does that mean their tax bill will be negative?

[mcnach]

20 hours ago, PaulWarning said:

must admit Trump can make me laugh, on declaring he wouldn't deport Prince Harry, Trump said on Friday. 'I'll leave him alone. He's got enough problems with his wife. She's terrible.' 🤣

 

Yeah, Trump has never been one to indulge in classy behaviour 🙄 

 

[chris_b]

10 hours ago, tauzero said:

 

Don't be too sure about that. He needs 75% of both of the two houses to amend the constitution so it depends how much he can terrify the Democrats. AIUI he can't just extend his term of office by declaring a state of emergency. Although all this depends on him obeying the law (I think all countries' constitutions are written in the belief that politicians and other officials will obey them).

 

If Trump controls law enforcement and the Military he can dissolve Congress and the Senate and write whatever he wants into the Constitution. That's why he's so keen to destroy the FBI and CIA. The Military is a different matter. If they have the courage to do the "right thing" they might be the ones to thwart Trumps plan, but will they ignore a direct order from the President? Whatever Trumps' endgame looks like in his head, a civil war of some sort is on the cards.

[Agent 00Soul]

22 hours ago, Obrienp said:

You are joking, right?

Yes of course. I should have said I was being sarcastic. But Trump is serious about this I believe.

[Agent 00Soul]

On 09/02/2025 at 01:32, tauzero said:

He needs 75% of both of the two houses to amend the constitution so it depends how much he can terrify the Democrats.

It’s more than that. You need 75% of both houses of congress and 75% of all 50 state legislatures too.  That’s why it’s so hard to amend the US Constitution. The people who wrote it didn’t want it tinkered with - they just assumed that every generation would write a new updated one (and included an entire amendment detailing how to do it).  It’s just that once the US Civil War ended, it became clear pretty fast that the country would not survive a constitutional convention to draw a new one up so the original ended up staying. 
 

it still might not matter for Trump through as the vast majority of states have legislatures dominated by Republicans. There are very few Democratic ones at this point. It’s been going that way much longer than the national Congress.  Since the 90s. 
 

Edited 17 hours ago by Agent 00Soul
Facts Hercule, facts!

[peteb]

On 04/02/2025 at 12:56, tegs07 said:

I can’t see Poland or any former soviet bloc country wanting to team up with a Russian ally nor Canada.

 

I agree that they will be wary abut doing so, but as the USA becomes more of an unreliable actor in regards to Ukraine, a reassessment is bound to take place. There seems to be some suggestion that this is already starting to happen (to an extent)!  

 

 

[Si600]

On 09/02/2025 at 13:34, chris_b said:

 

If Trump controls law enforcement and the Military he can dissolve Congress and the Senate and write whatever he wants into the Constitution. That's why he's so keen to destroy the FBI and CIA. The Military is a different matter. If they have the courage to do the "right thing" they might be the ones to thwart Trumps plan, but will they ignore a direct order from the President? Whatever Trumps' endgame looks like in his head, a civil war of some sort is on the cards.

Given that he's now talking about pointing Dodge at the Pentagon:""I’m going to tell him very soon, like maybe in 24 hours, to go check the Department of Education … Then I’m going to go, go to the military. Let’s check the military,” the US president told the host from the rightwing Fox News, adding: “We’re going to find billions, hundreds of millions of dollars of fraud and abuse.”" I'd be terrrified that the two term law may be going in the bin.

 

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/feb/09/trump-super-bowl-interview

[TimR]

According to rumours, the CIA blocked entry. 

[asingardenof]

I'm just waiting for all the 2nd Amendment fetishists, with their arsenals of AR-15s that only get an airing at Starbucks when some libs need owning, to rise up against this tyrannical government. I mean, that's why they have the guns, so it must mean they're biding their time and will come and sort things out any day now, right?

Edited 9 hours ago by asingardenof

[Woodinblack]

44 minutes ago, asingardenof said:

I'm just waiting for all the 2nd Amendment fetishists, with their arsenals of AR-15s that only get an airing at Starbucks when some libs need owning, to rise up against this tyrannical government. I mean, that's why they have the guns, so it must mean they're biding their time and will come and sort things out any day now, right?

 

https://theshovel.com.au/2020/06/04/nra-accidentally-forgets-to-rise-up-against-tyrannical-government/

[Downunderwonder]

1 hour ago, Woodinblack said:

 

https://theshovel.com.au/2020/06/04/nra-accidentally-forgets-to-rise-up-against-tyrannical-government/

That's from 2020.

[Agent 00Soul]

2 hours ago, asingardenof said:

I'm just waiting for all the 2nd Amendment fetishists, with their arsenals of AR-15s that only get an airing at Starbucks when some libs need owning, to rise up against this tyrannical government. I mean, that's why they have the guns, so it must mean they're biding their time and will come and sort things out any day now, right?

 

Y'all Qaida, Vanilla Isis, Yeehawdists, Yokel Haram...

[tegs07]

22 hours ago, peteb said:

 

I agree that they will be wary abut doing so, but as the USA becomes more of an unreliable actor in regards to Ukraine, a reassessment is bound to take place. There seems to be some suggestion that this is already starting to happen (to an extent)!  

 

 

Not doing business with China is foolish. Not developing closer diplomatic relations with China is also foolish.

 

I have little doubt that Trump will inadvertently increase Chinese influence over the EU and increase its overall importance on the world stage. But economic cooperation is very different than political or philosophical alignment let alone defence.

Edited 5 hours ago by tegs07

[Downunderwonder]

Look where economic cooperation with Russia is getting us.