Wednesday, August 3, 2016

Trump asked a question

CNBCDonald Trump asked a foreign policy expert advising him why the U.S. can't use nuclear weapons, MSNBC's Joe Scarborough said on the air Wednesday, citing an unnamed source who claimed he had spoken with the GOP presidential nominee.

"Several months ago, a foreign policy expert on the international level went to advise Donald Trump. And three times [Trump] asked about the use of nuclear weapons. Three times he asked at one point if we had them why can't we use them," Scarborough said on his "Morning Joe" program.

Scarborough then asked a hypothetical question to Hayden about how quickly nuclear weapons could be deployed if a president were to give approval.

"It's scenario dependent, but the system is designed for speed and decisiveness. It's not designed to debate the decision," Hayden said.

CNBC reached out to the Trump campaign via email and was awaiting a response.

80 comments:

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

A Trump detractor sees this report and rushes to say, oh my God, we have proof the guy is unstable, he's going to blow up the world.

Whereas a Trump supporter, upon seeing the same information might say, that's the kind of question I would ask an expert if I was trying to know about something the expert is an expert on.

ricpic said...

Trump would be remiss if he didn't get up to speed on nuclear weapons. Not that I believe any tripe the MSM peddles based on an "unnamed source."

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

How would you feel if you found out that Obama never asked that question of any of the array of experts at his disposal? I don't know that he hasn't asked, but, I don't know that he hasn't either.

I for one welcome the news that Trump is at least preparing for the eventuality he might win.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

Also, as a sort of icing on the cake, news of what Trump does leaks out.

Not so about notoriously secretive Obama and Hillary.

Dust Bunny Queen said...

Unnamed source = the brother in law of your second cousin has a friend who knows a guy who is dating the sister of his ex wife's best friend who heard from his facebook friends that Trump said blah blah blah.

Therefore...NEWS!!!!

This is why I don't believe anything that the talking head media puts out. They make up stories, spread baseless rumors, express their opinions as fact and are as crooked as Hillary.

edutcher said...

I hear a lot of people here wanting to turn selected portions of the Middle East to glass on occasion. I wonder how many would criticize him for asking about it.

Even though he seems to be the only one with sand enough to even ask.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

False alarm. Story is back up.

Evi L. Bloggerlady said...

Joe Scarborough murdered his intern?

I am not saying that, I just hear others are asking the question.

Evi L. Bloggerlady said...

ed, Is it just a coincidence that Hillary Clinton asks if Trump can be trusted with nuclear codes and then Joe Scarborough makes this comment a few days later. It's another media trap for Trump.

Trying to say others think we should nuke the middle east is not exactly the best strategy for countering this sort of thing.

edutcher said...

OK, everything is a trap for Trump and he's not handling it right.

We got it.

You do remember they said the same about Reagan, right?

Trying to say others think we should nuke the middle east is not exactly the best strategy for countering this sort of thing.

A lot of this is flowing from Teheran. We all know what that money will be used to do. They're not building that bomb because they like mushrooms.

We tried envelopment and a lot of people whined about nation building. A lot of people whine about endless wars.

This, sweets, is what's left.

PS FWIW The Donald said, if attacked he'd bomb the, uh..., life out of them. Everybody laughed and said he's bluffing. So he asks about the codes, etc.

Reagan said, once he was inaugurated, the mullahs release the hostages or else. They were released.

I do detect a pattern.

But E will just call me a true believer and say Trump shouldn't have done it. Somebody else will say he should have been more nuanced, or Presidential, or civil, or something.

As The Blonde is fond of saying excuses are like ani (Latin plural), everybody has at least one.

virgil xenophon said...

The point about "nuclear brinkmanship" as a form of nuclear deterrence former Sec of State John Foster Dulles (Eisenhower Admin) once said, "is that one has to be seen to be willing to go to the brink in order that one doesn't have to."

Synova said...

Every now and then someone will get all upset that the US military is planning to nuke all of Europe or invade England or do something else... doing war exercises in Chicago down-town... that sort of thing. It's their job to practice scenarios and they're likely to use a silly scenario before the one that they're really practicing for *and* none of that means we're about to invade North Korea (even if we should.)

The answer to "why can't we use nuclear weapons" is... of course we can. We've got them. We CAN use them. We MAY use them. There is nothing stopping us from using them but good sense.

AND... it would probably be a good thing if some of the leaders of some countries believe we WILL use them if they don't shape the eff up.

Trump blabbers on, it's true, but it's hard to believe that he's actually a nut-case. It's probably true that the "intelligence community" fears him even more than they hate Hillary. But just *reason* you know... logic... he really can't be *unstable* and have done what he's done. (And as my brother says... look at his kids... not Kardashians any of them.) He can't fail to understand human nature and have done what he's done.

I don't think that Hillary is as ignorant of human nature as Obama is. I honestly don't think Obama has even the first clue about how people outside of his extremely narrow venue function. Hillary... I don't know. But even if you think that Trump is PLAYING the whole country, at least he understands people well enough TO play them.

That doesn't mean he won't be a disaster for president, but it's something.

Meanwhile, he makes half a dozen statements about how fabulous babies are and how much we all like them and asks a mother to take her crying kid out of the hall and the headlines are "Trump throws mother and crying baby out!"

Yeah no... I don't believe that he was asking stupid questions about nuclear weapons just because he was asking questions. I don't believe anything anyone says anymore.

edutcher said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
edutcher said...

Julie Pascal said...

Every now and then someone will get all upset that the US military is planning to nuke all of Europe or invade England or do something else... doing war exercises in Chicago down-town... that sort of thing. It's their job to practice scenarios and they're likely to use a silly scenario before the one that they're really practicing for *and* none of that means we're about to invade North Korea (even if we should.)

Nice to see someone gets it. The flip side is they're practicing to take over the country (remember that one a couple of years ago?).

Nobody seems to understand, you can't build an exact replica of a major city replete with 100-story high rises on every Army post in the country.

Trump blabbers on, it's true, but it's hard to believe that he's actually a nut-case. It's probably true that the "intelligence community" fears him even more than they hate Hillary. But just *reason* you know... logic... he really can't be *unstable* and have done what he's done. (And as my brother says... look at his kids... not Kardashians any of them.) He can't fail to understand human nature and have done what he's done.

Nice point. And I doubt the lifers in intel or the military really fear him more than Hillary. Look at what's happened the last 8 years.

I don't think that Hillary is as ignorant of human nature as Obama is. I honestly don't think Obama has even the first clue about how people outside of his extremely narrow venue function. Hillary... I don't know. But even if you think that Trump is PLAYING the whole country, at least he understands people well enough TO play them.

Have to quibble here, but I don't think Hillary's venue was any broader than Barry's unless you believe she actually associated with those... people in Arkinsaw.

ndspinelli said...

I was listening to Fox News in my car. There are rumors that Trumps kids, Manafort, and a select few Republicans are going to have an intervention w/ Trump this weekend to try and get his mind right. Manafort denied it. I didn't see his face, although he is a poker faced guy. I couldn't tell if he was being truthful or not. This was Fox and the reporter was being even handed. I hope the reporter was correct.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

I don't believe anything anyone says anymore.

You are not the only. Link.

edutcher said...

nd, the Murdoch brothers are running Fox now that they slimed Ailes. Take that into account. And rumors are just that.

The version I saw (AP, I think) is that it's Rinse.

Evi L. Bloggerlady said...

ed, stop mistaking me for AA.

Yes of course it is a trap. And I did not say Trump handled this wrong. He has not responded to it yet. It is a rumor story (that very well may be completely false or taken completely out of context and presented by Scarborough). Right now, this story is less about Trump than the media (and Hillary) trying to paint the picture of Trump being dangerous (sort of like the flowers advertisement in the sixties).

Trump did not say anything wrong. You are the one who said:

I hear a lot of people here wanting to turn selected portions of the Middle East to glass on occasion. I wonder how many would criticize him for asking about it.

Even though he seems to be the only one with sand enough to even ask.


Thank God you are not Trump's PR spokesperson, he would really be in trouble.

rhhardin said...

What was the answer to why we don't use them?

rhhardin said...

It can't be that they're too destructive. There's small tactical nukes.

edutcher said...

E, I mistake you for no one but you.

Any inferences you make are your own.

That's it; I was speaking about here and nowhere else although what I said about inferences would appear the tip of the iceberg. But at least he is interested enough in his responsibilities to ask, unlike the ignoramus we have had for 8 years.

PS FWIW Does anybody else take note of the LA Times poll when they see it?

Right now, in the midst of the Khan job, they have The Donald up 1.5. And they've had him up MOE or better for the last couple of weeks. I thought Hillary was up 25 or something, according to CNN.

Their methodology:

Each day’s poll respondents are a subset of the UAS election panel, roughly 3000 U.S. citizens who were randomly recruited from among all households in the United States. Respondents are asked three predictive questions: What is the percent chance that… (1) you will vote in the presidential election? (2) you will vote for Clinton, Trump, or someone else? and (3) Clinton, Trump or someone else will win?

Results are weighted to match demographic characteristics, such as race and gender, from the U.S. Census Current Population Survey and aligned to the 2012 presidential election outcome using self-reported vote in that election.


My point is merely this, because I am understandably skeptical of anything out of the LAT, if they are being truthful, why, when all the other Lefties are lying their faces off?

And, if Trump is really up, albeit within the MOE, given that the media tells us Cacklepants was supposed to have had a great bounce out of the convention and all the "damage" people say has been done to him over the Khan job, how bad is she really doing if she can't get a bump with all this good stuff rolling her way?

edutcher said...

rhhardin said...

It can't be that they're too destructive. There's small tactical nukes.

Developed in the 50s, they could be placed and detonated by one man. Follow the links, a lot of interesting stuff.

It should surprise no one, the Ozark Mafia outlawed their use 20 years ago.

(I would also not be surprised if there were a couple, perhaps at one time stored next to the crate containing the Ark of the Covenant, in some dusty government warehouse, just in case)

Evi L. Bloggerlady said...

rhhardin, that assumes the question was even asked. We don't even know what the context of the question was, even if it was asked.

This whole load of malarkey is about trying to paint Trump as someone who would go nuking people he disagrees with. That Hillary raised this in her DNC speech and now Scarborough is raising it is planned. It is about painting Trump as out of control.

The proper answer by Trump or any candidate about using nuclear weapons is (and always is): "The question or whether or not to use nuclear weapons is something I hope never occurs and would be an issue of last resort." And when the inevitable follow up comes on what would justify using them, any candidate should say "I can't answer that for obvious security reasons." If I were Trump, I would then pivot and attack Hillary and the media.

Evi L. Bloggerlady said...

As for small tactical nukes, ed is right, they have been around since the fifties. I seriously doubt the US wants to be the first to use that type of weapon other than retaliation for some sort of similar strike first. But it is best a president or candidate keep it ambiguous and leave it at that.

Evi L. Bloggerlady said...

ed, unlike AA, I want Trump to win (well I really want Crooked Hillary to lose).

You are a true believer. Hey, maybe that LA Times poll is the truth and everything else there is just BS. We will see.

edutcher said...

No, I am not blind to the man's faults, but I came to the conclusion he was the only one who was willing to fight for this country and not Goldman Sachs or Tom Donahue.

You seem to cling to the idea being nice is always a virtue and mincing your words will get you someplace with the Lefties. The Dole, McCain, and Romney Administrations would tend to bear you out.

PS As I say, I don't know what to make of the LAT. Could be they're being smart and figure if Trump wins and they gave people the straight skinny while all the networks and papers are lying (and losing money), they might survive another 20 years.

Dust Bunny Queen said...

Trump really needs to focus and stop getting drawn into these pointless and circular arguments. The media, the Dems, and the GOPe are all lobbing shit at Trump from all sides. He needs to not respond to everything but rather to focus on those that are important and which he can turn into ISSUE talking points.

It doesn't mean he just stands there and takes the shit bombs. He can deflect the stupid and trolling ones by being the bigger man or pointing out that these are distractions from the REAL issues that the voters want him to address. They want him to expend his energy in wasteful and disjointed responses to everything. FOCUS!!! Damn it.

Pick 6 or 8 issues and keep reinforcing them. Nitpicking and responding to sidetrack attacks is only getting him off message and creating the impression of chaos and uncontrolled emotion.

The desire to strike back is natural. It is my nature as well, but you have to focus on the goal. Revenge can come later :-D

edutcher said...

He's doing that, but I think he saw what the Khan job really was about - building the case against a hold on Moslem importation.

I linked a Surber piece about the main points of his attack (maybe I should do it again), but, if you look at his response to Pissy's hissy fit yesterday, there's only one line about anybody but Cacklepants.

I think way too many people are getting obsessed about the Khan job and laying it on him.

Trooper York said...

Despite the polls I think the election is very close at this point. Especially in the battleground states where the white working class will be the determining factor. Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan and the rest.

Events that we have no idea about with be the deciding factor. Terrorist attacks. What may be divulged in Hillary's emails by Wikileakes. Something that we have no concept of will be the determining factor.

I think that Trump will win in a replay of the Bill Clinton/George Bush election. With the Third party throwing it to Trump. I think Gary Johnson and Jill Stein will soak up a lot of the disaffected voters who hate both Trump and Clinton. If they all went to Clinton she would win easily. But she is so disliked and so much is going to come out that people will not vote for her. So Trump wins with a divided electorate.

Trooper York said...

That is precisely how he won the primaries and I think the Presidential Election will be a replay of it. The press has no concept because they can not conceive of the people who support Trump. So they will read everything wrong every time.

Trump has to stay being Trump. They can't turn him into Mitt Romney. That is a sure path to defeat.

Evi L. Bloggerlady said...

ed, do not mistake fighting smart for being Mitt Romney.

Mitt Romney was excellent during the first debate. First time I saw him take Obama on, it was great.

We never saw that Mitt Romney again. Which is why he lost.

I want to see Trump be Trump in taking on Crooked Hillary and the Crooked Rigged Media. But part of that is recognizing media traps for what they are and not doing what they expect you to do. What will catch them blindsided every time if Trump builds public support against them, they never see that coming. It freaks them out.

He can do it.

edutcher said...

Trooper York said...

Despite the polls I think the election is very close at this point. Especially in the battleground states where the white working class will be the determining factor. Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan and the rest.

Events that we have no idea about with be the deciding factor. Terrorist attacks. What may be divulged in Hillary's emails by Wikileakes. Something that we have no concept of will be the determining factor.


OK, I think the real polls may favor Trump a bit more than the MOE (see my thing about the LAT; also the gyrations the Democrat Party is going through for a bunch of people supposedly in the driver's seat), but otherwise I agree with Troop.

I've been saying all along this will be event-driven and there's almost no event on the horizon (big market crash, terror attack w/ several hundred dead, mass murder by illegal(s), scandal (incl more email revelations)) that Hillary can use to advantage; it's all going to favor Trump.

I'm also going to go out on a limb here, and I really try not to do it - there was a Michael Barone piece linked on Insta (saw it in the sidebar) talking about how the public's anger may well alter the electoral map - YMMV.

I think that anger could very well blow things wide open, not just in a handful of swing states, but generally. There was a piece on Chiraq having the worst murder record in a decade. The economy is lousy and not getting better.

I remember that one electoral map Ned Silver had showing Trump winning if the election today and I noticed a lot of light blue states. I am talking those states going red. And maybe a few of the darker blue ones, too.

I think this can blow wide open and it won't take much to do it. Maybe not a thumping like '84, but big enough to have people talking for a long time.

ndspinelli said...

So far, this has been a fairly intellectually honest discussion, w/ DBQ leading the way. Some always spin, I think they are just stuck on the compulsive spin cycle. But, most of us are on the same page. FOCUS is the operative word. HAMMER this paying ransom. It's Iran/Contra only a plane load of cash instead of weapons. HAMMER that a special prosecutor was appointed in Iran/Contra. I know that will never happen but HAMMER IT GODDAMIT!!

edutcher said...

Evi L. Bloggerlady said...

ed, do not mistake fighting smart for being Mitt Romney.

Smart is not the same thing as cautious.

Dust Bunny Queen said...

The media and the constant attacks are meant to keep Trump on the defensive. He should not apologize for making statements that are true or which accurately reflect his positions. What they want is to get him to apologize and backtrack. This is the modus operadni they use to attack the GOP candidates. So far, Trump is not falling into the apologize and look weak trap. However, they are also baiting him to get him to respond to each and every rumor and baseless attack and to their twisting of his words.

They want him to look weak and if they can't do that they want to make him look crazy or unhinged.

Trump has taken the bait a few times. As I said, he should evaluate which shit bomb being lobbed at him warrants his attention or energy. Deflecting most with issue oriented responses and with plain statements that can't be twisted is probably the most effective. Attacking back hard and directly when it is also the most effective.

They want Trump to get caught in a morass of trivialities and to waste his energy responding to each and every one. Don't fall into that trap.

ndspinelli said...

Evi, His girlfriend, April, is MIA and poor ed just needs to find someone else who stole his strawberries as he rolls ball bearings in his hand. Respond to your tomato plants instead of ed, you'll get a better result.

edutcher said...

ndspinelli said...

FOCUS is the operative word. HAMMER this paying ransom. It's Iran/Contra only a plane load of cash instead of weapons. HAMMER that a special prosecutor was appointed in Iran/Contra. I know that will never happen but HAMMER IT GODDAMIT!!

Spin is where you see it.

One point you're missing and it's the crucial one.

Hillary had nothing (that we know) to do with this; it was Pissy and Lurch all the way.

Trump is not running against them. As I said before, when he responded to Pissy's tantrum, he gave PUS only one line. The rest was all about how Cacklepants was unfit.

Like the man said, FOCUS.

virgil xenophon said...

edutcher@12:45pm/

ADMs were given to Turkey as a NATO ally at height of Cold War. SOP for most NATO nations was to keep them in secure storage until heightened threat of war and only then deploy them. The more bloody-minded Turks, however are rumored to have deployed them along their Russian border and have been in place ever since. I ABSOLUTELY defy ANYONE to cite in the open non-classified literature as to what their final disposition has been. Islamic nukes, anyone? In fact at the time I departed the service in 1971 I couldn't find anything about their disposition in even the classified literature, as they seem to have been lost track of as early as then--and I had a security classification of TS, Cosmic (NATO) Atomal.(Nukes.)

Trooper York said...

The fact is that Trump is responding to Hillary. He blasts her everyday. The lying press does not report this. They spin everything as something Trump has to apologize for. He has to apologized to women. He has to apologize to Muslims. He has to apologize for talking about nuclear weapons. He has to apologize to Paul Ryan and John McCain and support them when they are doing everything in their power to undermine him.

Trump is blasting Hillary. But he can do that 99 times and the press will only focus on what they want to focus on. So he has to really attack them. I mean really attack them. Ask them stuff like "Doesn't your husband work for Obama?" "Didn't you contribute thousands of dollars to the Clinton Foundation?" "Isn't the head of your news division the guy who has a brother who is one of Obama's top aides?"

DBQ has it right. They will come up with the outrage of the day to try to force him to apologize. He has to come up with a strategy to sidestep it. I think he started to do that with this Khan thing. He needs to stick to a few simple phrases like "It is all a creation of the unfair media." Just repeat that as a mantra and they will be forced to go somewhere else. Or they will up the ante and show their bias in an even more unrestrained way.

This is going to be vital in the debates. Because he will not only be going against Hillary. He will be going against the Republican establishment, the conservative establishment, the media and almost all of the pundits. He only has himself, his family and his supporters. The Silent Majority of Americans who want America First.

edutcher said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
virgil xenophon said...

RE: "small" Tactical Nukes. People here don't know what they are talking about. Yes for ADMs , but the nukes that my F-4D was equipped with when I sat nuke alert in both the UK and at Incirlik, Turkey had the power of the ones that we dropped on Japan. They were "tactical" ONLY in the sense that they were to be dropped onto the tactical battlefield. And we have NEVER, EVER eschewed first use of nukes. In fact "first use" was key to our deterrent posture. We CONSISTENTLY advertised the fact that since NATO could not match the Warsaw Pact in manpower, we would resort to tac nukes right off the bat to off-set their advantage if the Russkis poured thru the Fulda Gap, thus acting as a deterrent to a conventional invasion. And this worked because the Soviets believed that such a "tactical" war in Europe would quickly become a world-wide conflagration and that they might actually lose as we were so closely matched in nukes. (Both the Russians AND China believe that there will be winners and losers in a nuclear war, btw, NO concept of MAD for them--we're the only ones stupid enough to believe in such a thing.)

edutcher said...

virgil xenophon said...

ADMs were given to Turkey as a NATO ally at height of Cold War. SOP for most NATO nations was to keep them in secure storage until heightened threat of war and only then deploy them. The more bloody-minded Turks, however are rumored to have deployed them along their Russian border and have been in place ever since. I ABSOLUTELY defy ANYONE to cite in the open non-classified literature as to what their final disposition has been. Islamic nukes, anyone? In fact at the time I departed the service in 1971 I couldn't find anything about their disposition in even the classified literature, as they seem to have been lost track of as early as then--and I had a security classification of TS, Cosmic (NATO) Atomal.(Nukes.)

Jack Kennedy, much like our own Pissy, thought he could charm the Russkies, but Khrushchev, having survived 20 years as Uncle Joe's whipping boy and only just averting a nuclear war, was not in the mood for nonsense and ate little Jack's lunch.

The missiles in Turkey were pulled as the price for pulling the missiles in Cuba. Idiot that he was, the first thing Kennedy told the Gray Lady (that, or Time), "We have to make our power pertinent in the world and Vietnam seems to be the place".

Having almost started a nuclear war and not learning his lesson, I've often wondered, given all the wishful thinking on the subject, if Kennedy's assassination really was a plot, maybe it was the KGB and not the CIA pulling the strings. Might explain Nikita's rather rapid ouster a year later.

Surprised you never heard that.

PS Good point about the lying press. Go to Breitbart, Gateway (a little rah-rah, I grant), Last Refuge, and you get stuff you don't see elsewhere. EBL has a pretty good blog roll as does Feral Irish.

The Lefty media is just that and you can't trust them. Fox is useless anymore, CNN makes Dr Goebbels' Ministry of Information look good. Surber has some good insights and stuff about politics most don't know.

edutcher said...

ndspinelli said...

I didn't "miss" anything Baghdad Ed.

Yes, you did, Capt Queeg. Spare me the name-calling. I don't do it to you.

Dust Bunny Queen said...

Why does Hillary think it so terrible that Trump wants to get along with Russia?

Exactly. Trump wants to deal with Russia. They are our adversary/opponent. Not our enemies with whom we are at war. You can deal with an adversary and make deals that can benefit each other.

It doesn't mean that we are going to be BFFs with Russia or become partners. Just get along.

Hillary wants to start adversarial/enemy types of relationships with Russia.

Trump is doing the smart thing in keeping Putin at arms length but not slapping him in the face, insulting him or accusing him of various things like spying on the US. Well....of course they are spying on the US...we are spying on them too :-) Those are the rules. No one should be surprised.

edutcher said...

I think Hillary has JFK disease, where she thinks she has to pick a fight anywhere she can to prove... maybe to prove she can add those extra 10 states* so she can have the America That Is Yet To Be, the way Kennedy had to prove something (he was the one who popularized James Bond, remember?), maybe that he was the hero Old Joe pumped him up into being.

* we've traveled to every corner of the United States. I've now been in fifty .... seven states? I think one left to go. One left to go. Alaska and Hawaii

(I'm the first to say he was probably just punchy there; late on a Friday)

PS oopsy, Sessions and Miller have crafted a foreign policy where we don't go looking for fights. Not picking a baseless fight with Vlad is just part of that.

Trooper York said...

I think there is vast constituency of people who don't want more unnecessary wars. Who don't want to go butting into other peoples problems. Who want to help America First not the towel heads and the Euro trash and every other douchebag that wants to defend their rice bowl with American blood and treasure.

Let's avoid foreign entanglements. Let's concentrate on jobs for Americans and not on glottalization. Let's concentrate on the people who need a hand here instead of importing terrorists and drug criminals. Let's put in domestic content legislation just like Reagan did. Let's put Americans and America First.

ndspinelli said...

I read a piece today from an NSA whistleblower who predates Snowden. He says Comey could have gotten ALL Hillary's emails from the NSA just by asking. He also said it makes more sense that it was the NSA that leaked the DNC emails, not Putin. The NSA HATE Hillary because her arrogance leaked the most confidential tradecraft of the NSA in one of her emails.

ndspinelli said...

virgil, I didn't know this about you. Thanks. Contribute more often, dude.

Trooper York said...

Putin is mafia. You can make a deal with mafia. Just keep your side of the bargain. We can make a deal with him that will work. He wants respect. For himself. For his country. His power base is all of the Russian people who felt dissed by the West. Who felt that their country was a laughing stock. He is in fact a Russian populist. Who is out for himself by all means. Mafia.

Trump has dealt with Mafia all his life. He knows how to do that without getting his hands dirty or getting jammed up. He will have no problem dealing with Putin.

Hillary on the other hand will have to prove that she has got the biggest set of balls on the playground. She is an interventionist. A lousy interventionist because everything she touches turns to shit. Libya. Syria. Egypt. The list goes on and on. She has been a miserable failure and will be much worse as President.

Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...

Ok. NOW he's unfit for office. That's disqualifying.

The answer to "why can't we use nuclear weapons" is... of course we can. We've got them. We CAN use them. We MAY use them. There is nothing stopping us from using them but good sense.

Yeah! Let's bang them on a table like Krushchev did with his shoes! That'll show 'em!

The uses of ambiguity are totally lost on the wing-nuts. The point is to be specific in policy and ambiguous on when to blow up the whole show. Trump is the exact opposite.

Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...

He wants respect. For himself. For his country.

Nope. Just for himself.

Same with Trump.

Having an ego big enough to confuse oneself with an entire nation doesn't mean that you have it within you to do anything good for that nation.

Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...

That's something I think Trump should talk about.

He should but he won't. The anti-war right apparently doesn't appeal to him as much as the pro-war right.

Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...

The media and the constant attacks are meant to keep Trump on the defensive. He should not apologize for making statements that are true or which accurately reflect his positions. What they want is to get him to apologize and backtrack. This is the modus operadni they use to attack the GOP candidates. So far, Trump is not falling into the apologize and look weak trap. However, they are also baiting him to get him to respond to each and every rumor and baseless attack and to their twisting of his words.

Give me a break. Find me a single general or strategist who agrees with Trump's newfound "maybe nukes are underutilized" trash talk. I realize everyone here is on a kick of bashing expertise, but I happen to think that when it comes to nuclear weapons policy, I'd rather hear from experts. Taking the genie out of the bottle on this one is just insane.

ndspinelli said...

Putin is KGB @ his core. Russia is run by oligarchs, or Mafia, if that is your frame of reference. But, Mafia want to be rich. They don't want to rule the fucking world. Putin is already rich. Exponentially more wealthy than Trump. He may well be the richest man in the world, w/ his wealth concealed. Putin wants to rule the fucking world and will do whatever it takes to do this. To not understand this basic fact is dangerous. If a guy on Court St. doesn't understand this, no big deal. If Trump doesn't, he will get bitch slapped. Some myopia cannot be corrected w/ lenses.

Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...

They want him to look weak and if they can't do that they want to make him look crazy or unhinged.

Trump has taken the bait a few times.


Oh has he now? Imagine that.

Maybe he's less "hinged" than you seem to assume. Read what his biographer said. Or is everyone now not credible except for Trump? Hmmm. Now Trump has all the answers? I wonder what we call that? Personality cult? Messiah complex? Hero worship? This is starting to become embarrassing. Just naked Trump-worship/Trump-faith. You're pushing me further to the Democrats with every comment.

edutcher said...

Rhythm and Balls said...

The anti-war right apparently doesn't appeal to him as much as the pro-war right.

Ritmo doesn't want to mention the pro-war Left, his girl Hillary's constituency.

Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...

Ritmo doesn't want to mention the pro-war Left,

What is there to mention? They exist. Did I ever deny that? And they're not really on the left though, per se. They're neocons. But they love Hillary. So what's your point?

..his girl Hillary's constituency.

See, again. you don't have a point. Just make up some bullshitting straw men because of how weak you are at defending your own point.

When it comes to pretending that you're right on everything, never admitting an error and lashing out at people who simply question, you do a poor Trump impersonation. But maybe you're his model, ed. Perhaps he looks to you for success. Show him the way, you nuclear weapons wunderkind.

Trooper York said...

Yeah Putin is a James Bond villain. He wants to rule the whole world. Right. I bet he strokes his cat and plans how he is going to take over Wisconsin. What a fucking joke.

He is just another capo like Gaspipe or Fat Tony. He is rich. But he wants to be richer. They all do. He wants respect for Russia. For him. You can flatter a guy like that. You can at the least deal with him. We don't have to make him an enemy. You can manipulate him. Wise up.

If I was going to appoint a Secretary of State I would dig up Meyer Lansky or his current equivalent. That's who we need. Not Lurch or Canklepants.

Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...

What the hell does kissing up to fellow mafioso Vladimir Putin have to do with getting all blustery on nuclear weapons?

So we need a manipulative Putin figure to play kissy face with Putin himself? I say it's better to just not play their games. His country's in the gutter. You guys seem to have a much higher regard for acting nationalistic while you bring your own country down than I do.

Trooper York said...

Ritmo you are totally wrong about Trump and what he has been saying about foreign policy. He is not courting the pro war Republicans. They all hate him with a passion. He is talking about the fact that our foreign entanglements and unending wars are stupid.

Trump is pro peace. He wants to get along with Russia. He wants to stop kowtowing to the Saudi's and the oil rich towels heads. No more blood for oil. Aren't you in favor of that? Isn't that the mantra of the liberal anti-war people? Why do they support warmonger Hillary and the neocons?

This bullshit by Joe Scarborough is just made up nonsense. It is more gist for the mill to portray Trump as a dangerous force. The danger is that he doesn't want to listen to the foreign policy establishment that is run by both parties. He consistently said he doesn't want to fight the old wars and the old battles that the neocons revel in. If you vote for Hillary you vote for endless wars. The same shit different day.

Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...

And I mean "you" generically. Putin's Nationalistic Act is not doing Russia any favors. Have you talked to any Russians lately?

Trooper York said...

Putting down your own country? Where do you get that from? I put down the traitors and slobs running it like Obama, Hillary and Lurch. Throw in Paul Ryan and John McCain while you are at it.

There is a big difference in extending a hand of friendship and dividing up the spoils with someone like Putin and kissing his ass. He has to act like Johnny Torrio did with Dion O'Bannion. Explain to him that everybody should have their territory and we can all make money. Of course if it doesn't work out you can call to Brooklyn for Frankie Yale to put out a hit. But you can also do some bidness.

Let them have Syria if they want. Shit let them have Turkey. They ain't commies anymore. They just want to make money. Like everyone else. Let them loose on ISIS. Have our militaries work together instead of driving him into the arms of China like they did with the recent joint exercises in the South China Sea.

We have no permanent alliances. Only permanent interests.

Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...

1, I hate the Saudis and the State Dept Arabists and I think the neocons are fooling themselves.

2. But I don't believe that Russia is a rising power. You might be inspired by Russia and Russia's long history of playing east against west; maybe they did this for survival. But let's just say I'm way more pro-West than is Putin or any Russian nationalist for that matter. The Russians are a dour people. They have a dark fate. Nothing's ever gone right for them. They're practically nihilists. Sure, we can use them if it benefits us - against Mid-East terrorists or whatever (although usually Russia's been on that side, historically). I just see more limited returns on that.

3. It is more gist for the mill to portray Trump as a dangerous force.

You know, ignorance may very well be bliss - and even innocent bliss. But not when combined with great power such as only exists at the hands of the U.S. president. Then it's downright dangerous.

The danger is that he doesn't want to listen to the foreign policy establishment that is run by both parties.

Fine. Get creative here or there or whatever. But don't go off the whole damn reservation. State something creative but sensible, and get some reputable strategist to agree.

He consistently said he doesn't want to fight the old wars and the old battles that the neocons revel in.

That's good. Neither do I. But everything with him is just talk. There's no outline for what to trust that he says and what he needs to ignore and pretend he never said.

If you vote for Hillary you vote for endless wars.

I don't want to vote for Hillary and I don't want endless wars.

But I don't want somebody insane either.

Being wily and unpredictable is different from being a squirrel on acid and speed. He says something different every day - and usually for shock effect. There's a difference between being canny and just being a troll.

Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...

Putting down your own country? Where do you get that from?

I'm not saying you. I'm saying master blusterers with power and too much ego than they know what to do with like Putin and Trump. Bringing down not putting down.

I put down the traitors and slobs running it like Obama, Hillary and Lurch.

That's fine.

The rest of what you say in your comment I'm fine with.

Trooper York said...

I have spoken to some Russians actually. Yesterday as a matter of fact. They are pretty happy with him. They don't hate him. Now the Yukes and Lats and the Muslims from Whatthefuckistan hate him that's true. Because Russia is an Empire. Putin is an Imperialist. He wants to take over more stuff for the greater glory of Russia. He wants to take back some of what they lost. A lot of Russians feel that way. I don't see why that is our problem. Sorry. I don't want to saber rattle. China is the problem not Russia. We can make a deal. In fact I bet we can do something with Iran if we work hand in glove with Russia. It opens a lot of possibilities.

Why are you stuck in a Cold War mindset. You have to stop listening to the Neocons. The Muslims are the problem not the Russians. They want to import the Muslims who want to cut our heads off. They use Saudi Lawyers who specialize in importing Muslims and wants to impose Sharia Law as a club to attack Trump and the media and Republicans kiss their ass.

ndspinelli said...

The view from Court St. I get the love of Trump, you're both blowhards. Ask any fucking US General who the most dangerous man in the world is. Ask your new boyfriend Tom Cotton. They will all tell you it's Putin, hands down, ass eyes. An d it's not because he wants more money!! Putin is evil and he wants to rule the world. Your tough guy talk is pitiful Walter Mitty. Like W, Walter Mitty has looked into Putin's eyes and sees who he is. LOL!

Trooper York said...

Trump is not insane. Not by a long shot. He is just not afraid to say things that are different then the mealymouthed consensus of the risk adverse politicians. He is being portrayed as being insane by people like intern murdering Joe Scarborough and the rest of the corrupt media like George I donated thousands to the Clinton Foundation Snuffaluffagus.

I am perfectly happy if he goes outside of the current recycled foreign policy establishment. Back in the day Presidents would bring in people other then the usual suspects. Normal patriotic Americans. Not the Ivy league cultural elite who are loyal to something other than our country.

ndspinelli said...

Ritmo, Russia is a 3rd World Country and in dire straights because of plunging oil prices. That's what makes them so fucking dangerous. They were a lot more tranquil when oil was high. Well, how do you increase oil prices quickly? War, that's how.

Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...

Putin is an Imperialist. He wants to take over more stuff for the greater glory of Russia. He wants to take back some of what they lost.

(...)

Why are you stuck in a Cold War mindset.


It sounds like the Russians are the ones stuck in that mindset. And all empires are a problem for us, sooner or later.

You have to stop listening to the Neocons.

I promise not to listen to them. But they might agree with me on other things, just like Hitler wasn't all that bad on transportation.

The Muslims are the problem not the Russians.

Muslims aren't an empire. Their problem is that they once had one and thought of themselves that way. But they can't any more. Da-esh/ISIS/ISIL/whatever you call them are a threat, but they will never become as powerful an enemy to us in terms of manpower or strategic support as the USSR (for example) became.

They want to import the Muslims who want to cut our heads off.

That's nice. I hope they have fun with it - over there. But our immigration policy is already more restrictive than it's been in a very long time. I'm not saying I have a problem with calling out any administration or official for not making it effectively zero - go ahead and fight that fight if you want; I won't stand in the way. But there's more going on.

They use Saudi Lawyers who specialize in importing Muslims and wants to impose Sharia Law as a club to attack Trump and the media and Republicans kiss their ass.

Well, there's some truth in here and then there's some other stuff. The fight against jihad is an ideological and cultural one. I think U.S./western politicians have limited effect on changing religious doctrines. U.S./western polemicists? That's a different matter. But the beauty is that they're not elected and they don't have to be. It doesn't take anything to get on a Twitter feed and defend the west and agitate against terrorists and bankrupt theology. Anyone can do that. No need to rely on the government for that.

Trooper York said...

You really are a moron peeper. Of course Putin is a thug and a creep. That is why you have to manipulate him. Not kiss his ass. But not think that spitting in his face is the way to go. Putin is not evil. Or no more so than Hillary or Obama. The Generals have a vested interest in making Russia our enemy instead of China or the Muslims. All of the commands and tanks and bombers and shit are procured to protect against the Russians. So all our blood and treasure is to be leveraged to protect Germany from a nonexistent Russian threat while they import the real enemy to destroy the West. Fuck that noise.

No more so than any thug mafiosi. The Muslims are the ones that are evil. That want to destroy our way of life. The Russians want drugs, sex and rock and roll. We can deal with them. It is the Muslims that are the problem. How hard is that to understand? Even an ignorant jerkoff like you can follow that. Set the Russians off on the Muslims. Pat them on the back. If they want to take a slice off of Turkey that is no skin off our nose. There is a deal to be made.

Realpolitick. Not Neocon bullshit.

Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...

Ritmo, Russia is a 3rd World Country and in dire straights because of plunging oil prices. That's what makes them so fucking dangerous. They were a lot more tranquil when oil was high. Well, how do you increase oil prices quickly? War, that's how.

You're just reiterating my point on how short-sighted and poorly managed Russia has been. And a cautionary tale for our own policy choices.

If Russia wants to go to war let him go to war. I'm fine with loosening the leash on that disaster south of Siberia - up to a point. I'm not ok with them threatening Europe or Ukraine and I think the way they play off the Arabs is more involved than we need to get.

Trooper York said...

The way you change oil prices is bomb the shit out of oil wells in the Middle East and stop them from exporting. Or let the Russians do it so they can take the blame. That is where the manipulation comes in. Signal that we are ok with that.

Put tariffs on foreign oil and tax incentives on domestic fracking production. So our oil stays cheap but other people pay more. Europe pays more. China pays more. Everybody else pays more. Thus our goods become cheaper in the global market place. We get a competitive advantage. Us. America. Not the multinational corporations. The average American working Joe. ISIS loses it's oil money. Russia gets more money for their oil and more money for sex drugs and rock and roll. The dollar is a lot stronger against the Euro. We win. That's how you put America First.

Put America first. Fuck the rest of the world.

Trooper York said...

Why are you so worried about Europe Ritmo? You think they are worried about us? They hate us more than the Russians do. They are surrendering to the Muslims. What are the Russians threatening to do? Invade England? Invade France? Invade Swedish girls underpants? The Muzzies are already doing that. The Russians are the least of their worries.

America has no permanent alliances. Only permanent interests. Spending millions on protecting the Krauts and the Frogs is so sixty years ago. It's time for a change. We need to do what is best for us.

Trooper York said...

Spending billions not millions. Sorry.

Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...

Western civilization is a permanent interest and until the day that Europe declares itself as a wing of the new caliphate then I intend to make sure that they remain under the protective alliances that have always sustained and advanced western civilization.

Trooper York said...

Really? At what cost? Unending cost? Do we have to have troops in Germany and Japan forever? Is that what you think is best? When are they going to stand on their own two feet?

Trooper York said...

You have to want to preserve Western Civilization. I advance the theory that the governments of Europe do not want to preserve Western Civilization if they can not be politically correct.

Of course the populace is slowly turning on them. The first pebbles have rolled long ago. Now more extensive rocks are rolling. Brexit was a boulder. So the landslide will begin. The elites of European Union will be buried. They have to be if Western Civilization is to survive in any recognizable form.

More terrorist activity in England today. The drumbeat will continue right up until our election.

ndspinelli said...

ISIS has the desire to destroy us but not the means. Putin has the desire and the means, or Walter Mitty, he can give ISIS the means. He's KGB, cunning and brutally ruthless. From what I've seen of Trump and Putin, I would bet on Putin. And, I would bet heavy. I'm a good gambler, not a degenerate gambler. Just sayn'.

Putin is a bully. You don't spit in his face. That's girly. You let him know publicly, if ISIS ever hits us w/ chemical or nuclear, we will hit Russia w/ triple. So, Putin better make sure ISIS never gets their hands on anything. That will make Russia keep their buddies in Iran and Syria in line. That's "the deal" you give that little shithead. "The Generals have a vested interest in making Russia our enemy." They are our enemy. We have many. Life isn't binary, except in small minds.

Trooper York said...

Wait a minute? If ISIS hits us with nukes or chemical weapons we should bomb Russia? You are insane. Talk about your Walter Mitty tough guy fantasy bullshit! Man you project more than a twenty screen multiplex in the mall.

ndspinelli said...

All you NYC guys "know more than the Generals." I keep having to remind myself not all NYers are like you, big shot, a-holes. I also keep reminding myself you are not like this in real life. It's getting tougher and tougher.