Open Side Menu Go to the Top
Register
The Presidency of Donald J. Trump: No smocking guns. The Presidency of Donald J. Trump: No smocking guns.

04-07-2017 , 10:10 AM
It's not exactly the craziest conspiracy theory.

I don't believe it, but it is way less far fetched than the usual **** the loons latch onto.

edit: Russia/Syria denying it was them and Russia seems to be pretty defiant about the whole thing.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/07/w...kes-syria.html

Last edited by Onlydo2days; 04-07-2017 at 10:20 AM.
04-07-2017 , 11:36 AM
Anyone that says this is a bad move is an idiot. I guess it's ok to let someone gas their own people. LOL at the row, why does America have to always take initiative and be the first to strike.

I'm sorry but this is why America is GOAT. I'm not a trump supporter but this attack was necessary. It might not mean much but sends a message. **** Russia btw. Putin is a piece of ****. Anyone that stands behind someone that gassed his own people is a pos.
04-07-2017 , 11:42 AM
I don't mind the attack but what's next? How much are we going to do to try and "fix" Syria? How are we going to do it without creating more enemies in the region? How can Trump justify this attack with his rhetoric during the campaign?
04-07-2017 , 11:45 AM
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jkpoker10
Anyone that says this is a bad move is an idiot. I guess it's ok to let someone gas their own people. LOL at the row, why does America have to always take initiative and be the first to strike.



I'm sorry but this is why America is GOAT. I'm not a trump supporter but this attack was necessary. It might not mean much but sends a message. **** Russia btw. Putin is a piece of ****. Anyone that stands behind someone that gassed his own people is a pos.

The strike isn't necessarily bad in and of itself but the hypocrisy is thick and stinging. Trump and the Republican Congress repeatedly warned Obama about not taking action. y If we care so much about Assad gassing his own people why can't we just take in more refugees? Why is the answer more military spending, action, and lived sacrificed?
04-07-2017 , 11:46 AM
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jkpoker10
Anyone that says this is a bad move is an idiot. I guess it's ok to let someone gas their own people. LOL at the row, why does America have to always take initiative and be the first to strike.

I'm sorry but this is why America is GOAT. I'm not a trump supporter but this attack was necessary. It might not mean much but sends a message. **** Russia btw. Putin is a piece of ****. Anyone that stands behind someone that gassed his own people is a pos.
the president is supposed to seek congressional approval before he deploys 400 marines to a foreign country and launches 4 dozen tomahawks at one of their airfields
04-07-2017 , 11:48 AM
Quote:
Originally Posted by FlyWf
Especially given awval's response to the Muslim ban. Oh, now you care about Syrians?

Bull ****ing ****.
This is why the "but dead babies"/"Trump showed humanity last night" crowd is insufferable. You don't give a **** about dead babies. You are not humane. If you were, you would support the US taking in refugees. You know, the same people you are claiming to care about. You (including the president) don't get to play this card.
04-07-2017 , 11:48 AM
The Syrian refugee ban wholly and completely negates this "action". Trump is a ****ing disgusting dumpster fire of disingenuousness and bull****.
04-07-2017 , 11:49 AM
Quote:
Originally Posted by stevepra
It seems short-sighted to me. However, I skimmed the comments at breitbart and they are against it as well so I'm beginning to wonder if there is some brilliance to it that I don't see. I remain skeptical of that.

Russia has already pulled out of a pact to not shoot our planes down and are planning to bolster the air defense system in Syria. I haven't seen any response from the rest of the world yet to know where anyone else stands.
The response has been positive by the good guys, negative by Russia, Syria, and the far right clowns. Not looking to heap praise on the administration by following the standard playbook of the FP establishment when it is politically convenient is noteworthy only because Trump is so inept.
04-07-2017 , 11:52 AM
Quote:
Originally Posted by Our House
For anyone who can answer so early on...

1) Was the strike a good move or not?
2) Are we expecting any retaliation?

Aside from feeling slightly nervous over the possibility of escalation, I'm not sure how to take the news just yet.
This is the scariest part. If the base in Iraq where the 500 US soldiers are stationed suddenly gets hit or something we're in for another nightmare in the Middle East.
04-07-2017 , 12:03 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jiggymike
The strike isn't necessarily bad in and of itself but the hypocrisy is thick and stinging. Trump and the Republican Congress repeatedly warned Obama about not taking action. y If we care so much about Assad gassing his own people why can't we just take in more refugees? Why is the answer more military spending, action, and lived sacrificed?
$$$$ is always the answer
04-07-2017 , 12:03 PM
In a vacuum, I suspect that there are reasonable arguments pro and con for what someone else accurately described as a brushback pitch aimed at the Assad gov't.

But any strategy that increases the odds of an acute crisis, however marginally, is probably the wrong strategy if Donald Trump is the President. And that's because the idea of Trump having to handle an acute crisis is beyond terrifying.

In other words, even if the airstrikes would have been an appropriate strategy for some hypothetical US president, it's very likely a bad strategy for the country given that Trump is the president.
04-07-2017 , 12:08 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by Onlydo2days
It's not exactly the craziest conspiracy theory.

I don't believe it, but it is way less far fetched than the usual **** the loons latch onto.

edit: Russia/Syria denying it was them and Russia seems to be pretty defiant about the whole thing.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/07/w...kes-syria.html
It does make very little sense why Assad would upset the apple cart unless it was just a test to see what Trump would let him get away with. Trump was on his side and even saying he was willing to stay out of it and let them work their own problems out. So Assad had it made. Why would he do anything to piss Trump or the US off? (he still has it made btw as this does nothing to shift power).

I first question whether we can trust US intelligence (or what the Trump administration says is US intelligence). Did the the gas strikes really emanate from that particular airfield? I think this president/administration would lie about something as significant as foreign affairs just as quickly as it does about something as insignificant as crowd size and that's downright scary! Nevertheless, if true, it can't be a bad thing to strike the airfield if the chemical attacks were indeed launched from it.

The other possibility is that Trump truly did have a change of heart for he is a very simple minded man. It's possible that for the first time he actually saw pics and vids of all the children (and even dead babies) who died and some a very slow and agonizing death and that it moved him. Underneath all the faults of this dumb buffoon's bluster, and braggadocio lies the semblance of a heart when he directly sees the horrific effects of something. It's not hard to believe that someone so self-absorbed does not have empathy until something smacks him right in his face. Remember how cordial he was when he first met with Obama at the WH? Or how conciliatory he was to Clinton after receiving her call of concession? Then he goes back to his bluster. Out of sight/out of mind with this president.

And yeah lastly, there's nothing like a war to increase favorable poll ratings for a sitting president and take attention away from all his other problems. So it could be that.

I'm not in any way defending Trump. Just trying to figure out his many personality disorders.
04-07-2017 , 12:16 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by +rep_lol
the president is supposed to seek congressional approval before he deploys 400 marines to a foreign country and launches 4 dozen tomahawks at one of their airfields
The marines are fighting ISIS which is authorized under the 2001 AUMF. It is my understanding that the President limited ability to react to word (90 days) before some sort of Congressional action is required. It would be great to get a new AUMF and a coherent long term plan for the Syria but this was a job for Hillary and she lost.
04-07-2017 , 12:23 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by seattlelou
The marines are fighting ISIS which is authorized under the 2001 AUMF. It is my understanding that the President limited ability to react to word (90 days) before some sort of Congressional action is required. It would be great to get a new AUMF and a coherent long term plan for the Syria but this was a job for Hillary and she lost.
War Powers Resolution gives the potus 60 days plus 30 for withdrawal.

The only military thing I *might* do in Syria is support the anarcho-feminists in Rojava.
04-07-2017 , 12:33 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by Rococo
In a vacuum, I suspect that there are reasonable arguments pro and con for what someone else accurately described as a brushback pitch aimed at the Assad gov't.

But any strategy that increases the odds of an acute crisis, however marginally, is probably the wrong strategy if Donald Trump is the President. And that's because the idea of Trump having to handle an acute crisis is beyond terrifying.

In other words, even if the airstrikes would have been an appropriate strategy for some hypothetical US president, it's very likely a bad strategy for the country given that Trump is the president.
Very well put.
04-07-2017 , 12:41 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by TheHip41
$$$$ is always the answer
Xenophobia/racism/political opportunism seem the root cause for not accepting more refugees. We could send more money to the region and try to improve the standard of living of the refugees (6M). We pay a lot of the UN program funding(40 percent) but that isn't the total cost.
Refugee resettlement is the right thing to do but let's not pretend that it was ever anything more than a partial answer. The largest number of refugees I heard proposed by the Obama admin was 10K/yr. A nice symbolic gesture, nothing else.
The US has failed here by not being able to lead the world to a solution that allows the refugees to return home. A plan that does that has remained elusive.
04-07-2017 , 12:44 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by +rep_lol
the president is supposed to seek congressional approval before he deploys 400 marines to a foreign country and launches 4 dozen tomahawks at one of their airfields
Yeah, but he thinks he's a king, so that doesn't apply to him.
04-07-2017 , 12:46 PM


Rany Jazereli is a Syrian-American baseball writer and KC Royals fan - who also writes about Syria from time to time. I've posted his stuff on here a few times. I trust his intuition more than pretty much any talking head on TV. At least I know he has no agenda beyond caring deeply about the people of Syria.
04-07-2017 , 12:48 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by microbet
War Powers Resolution gives the potus 60 days plus 30 for withdrawal.

The only military thing I *might* do in Syria is support the anarcho-feminists in Rojava.
Thanks, Trump says it is over and they have no other plans for action. The admin excels in no plans I believe em.
04-07-2017 , 12:58 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jiggymike
The strike isn't necessarily bad in and of itself but the hypocrisy is thick and stinging. Trump and the Republican Congress repeatedly warned Obama about not taking action.
Or, he held a belief until he assumed the Presidency and then became privy to information he, nor any of us, has access to. It is not uncommon to change your mind when new information becomes available. There is nothing hypocritical about that.
04-07-2017 , 01:02 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by pokeraz
Or, he held a belief until he assumed the Presidency and then became privy to information he, nor any of us, has access to. It is not uncommon to change your mind when new information becomes available. There is nothing hypocritical about that.
This is the single dumbest post itt. It's so stupid it negates anything you ever post again. Well done.


Hint: The orange moron could have acknowledged that Obama had information he did not, but instead he tweeted stupid thing after stupid thing but NOW we should respect that cheetoo nazi has information we don't.
04-07-2017 , 01:05 PM
I imagine Trump has plenty of information I do not. I never watch Fox News.
04-07-2017 , 01:27 PM
I was watching the start of Spicer's press briefing but they didn't want the cameras on him so the camera guy panned over to focus on a jar of cheeseballs. I think this has some significance for our situation. Unless I imagined it.
04-07-2017 , 01:36 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by seattlelou
Xenophobia/racism/political opportunism seem the root cause for not accepting more refugees. We could send more money to the region and try to improve the standard of living of the refugees (6M). We pay a lot of the UN program funding(40 percent) but that isn't the total cost.
Refugee resettlement is the right thing to do but let's not pretend that it was ever anything more than a partial answer. The largest number of refugees I heard proposed by the Obama admin was 10K/yr. A nice symbolic gesture, nothing else.
The US has failed here by not being able to lead the world to a solution that allows the refugees to return home. A plan that does that has remained elusive.
I was answering the question:

why we using military for dead kids, when we dont care about alive kids (refugees)

The answer is money. War = $$$$$ for rich people.
04-07-2017 , 01:50 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by uDevil
I was watching the start of Spicer's press briefing but they didn't want the cameras on him so the camera guy panned over to focus on a jar of cheeseballs. I think this has some significance for our situation. Unless I imagined it.

      
m