Just a small sample from the Welker interview...

I’ll always talk about that. You know why? We subsidize Canada to the tune of $200 billion a year. We don’t need their cars. In fact, we don’t want their cars. We don’t need their energy. We don’t even want their energy. We have more than they do. We don’t want their lumber. We have great lumber. All I have to do is free it up from the environmental lunatics. We don’t need anything that they have. We’re giving them — I asked, I asked Mr. Trudeau — who I call Governor Trudeau, not Prime Minister, Governor — I said, “Governor Trudeau, could I ask you one question? Why are we giving you $200 billion? Why are we subsidizing Canada?” If Canada was a state it wouldn’t cost us. It would be great. It would be such a great — it would be a cherished state. And, if you look at our map, if you look at the geography — I’m a real estate guy at heart. When I look down at that without that artificial line that was drawn with a ruler many years ago — was just an artificial line, goes straight across. You don’t even realize. What a beautiful country it would be. It would be great. But, I don’t think the American public wants me to pay $200 billion a year to subsidize Canada. Again, remember this, we don’t need their cars, we don’t need their lumber, we don’t need their energy. We don’t need anything. We do very little business with Canada. They do all of their business practically with us. They need us. We don’t need them. 

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/trump-administration/read-full-transcript-president-donald-trump-interviewed-meet-press-mod-rcna203514

"a genius"

So many clever people explaining how stupid he is, and he is stupid, but we can't dismiss his position on the pole.

So we, the people, try to rationalise our various excuses for not killing the prick, the first time round... 😇

Carbon footprint slightly larger this afternoon in Vatican City. Habemus papam!

Wonder what the fuel is, for the white smoke coming out of Sistine Chapel.

ETA, apparently nowadays a mix of potassium chlorate, lactose and chloroform resin would be added to the ballots to produce white smoke.

Edited May 8May 8 by TheVat
chemistry nerd info added

54 minutes ago, TheVat said:

Carbon footprint slightly larger this afternoon in Vatican City. Habemus papam!

Wonder what the fuel is, for the white smoke coming out of Sistine Chapel.

ETA, apparently nowadays a mix of potassium chlorate, lactose and chloroform resin would be added to the ballots to produce white smoke.

American, too, though with dual US/Peruvian citizenship. But for another thread.......

In Trump’s first term he improved relations between the Middle East. He made deals with all the countries surrounding Iran.

Isn’t the tariffs just an extension of the prisoner’s dilemma? Apply tariffs while the U.S. economy is strong and tarrif every country. Those countries could work to together and retaliate, but with every country that makes a deal the U.S.gets more bargaining power.

Still think Trump is dumb? Every time a country makes a deal the stock markets will do better.

However I am disappointed that DOGE is dismantling government programs because this money could have went to fund them. I don’t know if the tariffs will work. But the money would probably go into the military instead of academics and healthcare.

But as it relates to conserving resources. We probably only need an eighth of the stuff we buy. What if Trump is right; a Barbie cost $60 so you have 2 instead of 20. But you just balanced the market for all toy makers. Of all countries.

8 hours ago, Trurl said:

In Trump’s first term he improved relations between the Middle East. He made deals with all the countries surrounding Iran.

Isn’t the tariffs just an extension of the prisoner’s dilemma? Apply tariffs while the U.S. economy is strong and tarrif every country. Those countries could work to together and retaliate, but with every country that makes a deal the U.S.gets more bargaining power.

Still think Trump is dumb? Every time a country makes a deal the stock markets will do better.

However I am disappointed that DOGE is dismantling government programs because this money could have went to fund them. I don’t know if the tariffs will work. But the money would probably go into the military instead of academics and healthcare.

But as it relates to conserving resources. We probably only need an eighth of the stuff we buy. What if Trump is right; a Barbie cost $60 so you have 2 instead of 20. But you just balanced the market for all toy makers. Of all countries.

If Trump is right, it's by accident.

Just bc the markets 'sigh' in relief when it's not as bad as it imagined, doesn't mean it wouldn't be better off without such an idiotic idea/deal.

Also, didn't the 'current' Isreali Palastinian conflict start after his first term?

Edited May 9May 9 by dimreepr

8 hours ago, Trurl said:

In Trump’s first term he improved relations between the Middle East.

Evidence?

8 hours ago, Trurl said:

He made deals with all the countries surrounding Iran.

He killed the deal that was keeping Iran from developing nuclear weapons.

8 hours ago, Trurl said:

Isn’t the tariffs just an extension of the prisoner’s dilemma? Apply tariffs while the U.S. economy is strong and tarrif every country. Those countries could work to together and retaliate, but with every country that makes a deal the U.S.gets more bargaining power.

Still think Trump is dumb? Every time a country makes a deal the stock markets will do better.

People can make money in the stock market even in a bad economy. That’s not the case for workers and small business owners.

Trump’s “deal” with the British means a few rich people can buy a Rolls Royce. Meanwhile, US auto companies are still getting hammered by tariffs on imported components.

(Trump has no legal authority to make trade treaties, and his tariffs are likely illegal)

8 hours ago, Trurl said:

However I am disappointed that DOGE is dismantling government programs because this money could have went to fund them. I don’t know if the tariffs will work. But the money would probably go into the military instead of academics and healthcare.

But as it relates to conserving resources. We probably only need an eighth of the stuff we buy. What if Trump is right; a Barbie cost $60 so you have 2 instead of 20. But you just balanced the market for all toy makers. Of all countries.

Who the hell thinks parents buy their kids 20 dolls for Christmas? Rich idiots, for one, who get whatever they want. And they’re quite adept at telling the masses to make sacrifices while they make none. We’ll see how that plays out starting pretty soon, when certain goods aren’t available.

From: https://xkcd.com/3073/

13 hours ago, Trurl said:

In Trump’s first term he improved relations between the Middle East. He made deals with all the countries surrounding Iran.

Making "deals" is not policy. The latter requires a coherent framework with specific goals. Those were all missing.

Council on Foreign Relations

Trump’s Middle East Legacy Is Failure

The president has had a handful of successes—but never anything approaching a strategy.

Every White House has trouble being consistent in its foreign policy. The problem with Trump’s approach to the Middle East is not actually inconsistency but rather the scattershot quality of his encounters with the region. [...]

The president says he wants to get out of forever wars, and toward that end, he has greatly reduced the U.S. presence in Iraq and Afghanistan. At the same time, he has pursued a maximum pressure campaign on Iran, which is a never-ending spiral of more and more pressure. The risks of escalation and conflict in such an approach seem clear, suggesting that perhaps this is what the president or officials in his administration want. Then again, Trump did not respond to Iran’s provocations in the Persian Gulf in the summer of 2019, though he deployed thousands of troops there for a time. [...]

hen there was the “deal of the century,” which was supposed to do what no other U.S. president has ever done before—produce a conflict-ending agreement between Israelis and Palestinians. I don’t spend as much time on this issue as others, but it has been a few months since I’ve heard about what came to be known as the Trump/Kushner peace plan. The plan went nowhere because it demanded that the Palestinians negotiate a final, ignominious surrender, something that anyone with even the mildest curiosity about the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians knows that they will not do. Resistance to Israel’s occupation and steadfastness under the duress of that occupation are important components of Palestinian identity. When it became clear that the Palestinians were not interested in such a one-sided deal, the president lost interest. [...]

It may be too much to ask for success—however defined—in the Middle East. But the president of the United States owes the American people a strategy. After four years, the Trump administration has failed on that count. It has offered just episodic attention to whatever issue stops in front of the president before the next turn of the metaphoric Lazy Susan atop the Resolute Desk. There’s no reason to think another four years would offer anything better.

23 hours ago, swansont said:

We’ll see how that plays out starting pretty soon, when certain goods aren’t available.

Indeed.

On 5/8/2025 at 9:48 PM, Trurl said:

Still think Trump is dumb? Every time a country makes a deal the stock markets will do better.

Yet all they will do is to counteract the drop he caused in the first place. It is like putting out a fire you started and brag about the lives you saved.

I will say one thing about abilities, though. Trump and Musk are very good at grifting people. They have the rare ability to lie and and convince people of it. Trump sometimes contradicts himself in the same sentence and still folks believe both contradictory statements. These is not a common ability and I should give him credit for that.

However, these abilities are great for cult leaders and dictators, and are not for jobs where one would need background knowledge (like economics).