Want to understand what Trump is doing?

A few pages back, Rula gave a list of a small number of USAID activities that don't fit the strict brief of famine relief, clean water, HIV centres, local pandemics.

Deliberately choosing small amounts spent on one off support for LBGQT events in countries hostile to gay people.

Trouble with examining USAID is that much of it is military related or as they put it

"Promoting democracy, good governance and the rule of law ($2.3 billion, or 3.2%)". Which can be "Read" in many ways. (Take our aid as long as you're pro USA and go along with us)

A lot of aid that will be slashed is

"In fiscal 2023, U.S. aid dollars supported programs and activities in 177 individual countries and 29 regions. They also helped fund global endeavors. The individual projects were carried out by a wide range of foreign government agencies, nonprofit groups, international organizations and for-profit companies and universities, numbering in the thousands globally."

What was needed, and didn't happen, was a proper examination of where essential humanitarian aid was being given, with an eye to keeping it that way but cutting other programmes

This article gives a really full list, but wading through it takes some commitment!

www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2025/02/06/what-the-data-says-about-us-foreign-aid/

MaizieD

David49

FriedGreenTomatoes2

He's a disruptor and is disrupting cosy little globalist clubs. Long may he do so.

We really should not underestimate the financial power of Trump and the US. Europe was rebuilt after WW2 and rearmed for the Cold War. Compared with that rebuilding Gaza is straightforward.
He can also make it very difficult for countries that rely on US aid and military support.

You know what, David, if he pays off the 'national debt' as he has said he will. he won't have any financial clout at all because all his money will have gone...

Unless he orders the Federal bank to create a bit more...

Gosh, we so dont agree on how to run finances.

”And the decades old conflict will continue”

Sadly Dickens I think it’s looking like this will be the outcome.

Trump is making the situation worse; 'putting out a fire with gasoline' springs to mind. I wish other world leaders would step up and ask the most obvious question ie who owns and therefore has the legal right to sell Gazza?

If for a moment we went along with Trump’s fantasy plan for Gaza, some questions emerge - eg
1. How much is paid and who decides?
2. As the people of Gaza will be displaced and dispersed, how is the USA payment divided up and to whom?
3. Once the transformation of land is complete, Disneyland Gaza presumably will be offered for sale to the highest bidder. Thus the USA will seek a large return on its investment. What price will Israel be willing to pay?
4. How is Hamas excluded from the project?
Trump’s plan is almost as crazy as our own government’s rebuild of 40 hospitals…. But the fantasy can be played with for awhile…..

I've put this over on the Trump/Gaza thread but last night Trump said

"“As far as I’m concerned, if all of the hostages aren’t returned by Saturday at 12 o’clock – I think it’s an appropriate time – I would say, cancel it and all bets are off and let hell break out,” the president told reporters in the Oval Office after signing executive actions.

“I’d say they ought to be returned by 12 o’clock on Saturday, and if they’re not returned – all of them, not in drips and drabs, not two and one and three and four and two. Saturday at 12 o’clock, and after that, I would say, all hell is going to break out.”

Meanwhile CNN reports that a constitutional crisis looms between the judiciary and POTUS as there are only 2 or 3 occasions in the past where judicial decisions have been ignored.

Gosh, we so dont agree on how to run finances.

I'm not surprised at that, fancythat. But what is it that we don't agree on? Paying off the 'national debt'?

Wyllow3

Meanwhile CNN reports that a constitutional crisis looms between the judiciary and POTUS as there are only 2 or 3 occasions in the past where judicial decisions have been ignored.

Out US friend, imaround said this last night

What happens if he doesn't? Well, the court will send a US Marshall to the Treasury to force it. Except Trump has control of the DOJ and Pam Bondi can order the US Marshall to not enforce the court order.

There could well be a consitutional crisis, but if the Department of Justice can order law enforcement officers not to enforce the law, where does the US go then?

ronib, one of the unlooked- for consequences of sacking people who then set up on their own as consultants, is that this can cost more.
It happened in schools, when local authority external services were disbanded.
Understandably, many individuals then went self employed as consultants, and this was more costly for the school budget.
Of course, if the expertise is no longer required- if, for example, you shut down, for example, the Environmental Protection Agency, then there are savings, but there may be no work for the former employees, self employed or not.
Of course, in such a scenario, there may be other problems to follow, also...

Sorry - two "for examples"?!

Ona lighter note, the latest Trump move is to sign. Executive order to shit way from using paper straws.
www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c2k574ydyyqo
If you watch the video, you can see the scarcely hidden amusement on the face of the side on the right of the picture as Trump talks about how paper straws explode.

Freudian slip , should be shift. Sorry about other typos as well.

ronib

PoliticsNerd redundancy can lead to new opportunities regardless of country… certainly in the Uk, large redundancy payoffs can provide a good cushion to embark on consultancy or freelance work for example. It’s a chance to restart for some. So does America not have such a system? That would be very surprising.

Ronib the issue is that Trump et al. are breaking the law. A judge, appointed by Donald Trump during his first term, has blocked the Administrative Leave and has instructed that the 500 individuals who have already moved onto it, must be removed and brought back to work.

Do you believe that we should all obey our country's laws or not? What relevance do opportunities after redundancy have to this? Absolutely none.

From a purely political point of view, this is just a gift to China, Putin, and others whom we would not want to see aided and abetted. However, the main point is not about that, nor is it about your views on the illegal sackings being an opportunity. It is about the law and whether the USA is able to uphold its own laws and constitution.

Nandalot

Ona lighter note, the latest Trump move is to sign. Executive order to shit way from using paper straws.
www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c2k574ydyyqo
If you watch the video, you can see the scarcely hidden amusement on the face of the side on the right of the picture as Trump talks about how paper straws explode.

It's not really a lighter note. It sums up his attitude towards the environment which is deeply concerning

MaizieD

^Gosh, we so dont agree on how to run finances.^

I'm not surprised at that, fancythat. But what is it that we don't agree on? Paying off the 'national debt'?

Like many of Trumps promises that’s not likely to happen, if there is a major reduction, it be an achievement.
Leaders of Egypt and Jordan are visiting the US, both major receivers of military aid, their cooperation in his Gaza plan will be crucial. Neither would be able to control internal terrorism without US help, we will see in the next few days wether they can be persuaded ( blackmailed) into cooperating.

I'm commenting on the Gaza thread but the long history of trying to control the Middle East by the West is strewn with conflict and failure, and the growth of terror not defeat.

Along comes a power crazed POTUS.

Wyllow3

I'm commenting on the Gaza thread but the long history of trying to control the Middle East by the West is strewn with conflict and failure, and the growth of terror not defeat.

Along comes a power crazed POTUS.

Yes we should not have got involved in the 2nd Gulf War, Libya or Afghanistan, the UK was just as complicit, polititians never learn from history, many wars have been lost in the past. You certainly can’t win a war by being woke or politically correct. Israel hasn’t got that restriction because Hamas has vowed to destroy the nation, so have to be defeated.

He has suspended the law that makes foreign bribery illegal.

"The Foreign Corrupt Practices Act makes it illegal for companies that operate in the United States to pay foreign government officials to secure or keep business deals"

www.nytimes.com/2025/02/11/us/politics/trump-fcpa-bribery-law-corruption.html

imaround

He has suspended the law that makes foreign bribery illegal.

"The Foreign Corrupt Practices Act makes it illegal for companies that operate in the United States to pay foreign government officials to secure or keep business deals"

www.nytimes.com/2025/02/11/us/politics/trump-fcpa-bribery-law-corruption.html

I posted in a reply a few days ago, he’s taking a few pages out of Chinas rule book, they don’t care who gets paid off, nor in what form.

As if it didnt happen already! but the NYT has got a firewall in the UK, imaround.

More money for big companies including the military/industrial complex, for example selling arms abroad.

Nandalot

Ona lighter note, the latest Trump move is to sign. Executive order to shit way from using paper straws.
www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c2k574ydyyqo
If you watch the video, you can see the scarcely hidden amusement on the face of the side on the right of the picture as Trump talks about how paper straws explode.

That poor man trying to stifle his laughter.

This is an actual bill that has been filed in Congress allowing Trump to request to purchase Greenland and rename it Red, White and Bluesville.

If Musk wants to get rid of Government waste, he should start by looking what taxpayer money is wasted by frivolous bills.

www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/house-bill/1161

Trump is now putting forward a law to disenfranchise married women. If they have changed their name from their birth name, they won't be eligible to vote. It has been suggested that their husband will vote for them.
Welcome to Atwood's future.

Grandmabatty

Trump is now putting forward a law to disenfranchise married women. If they have changed their name from their birth name, they won't be eligible to vote. It has been suggested that their husband will vote for them.
Welcome to Atwood's future.

I’d be interested to hear what the Trump supporters on here feel about that. I’d be taking to the streets.