His whipsaw approach to the tariffs has been driving the economy crazy for quite some time, there's so much uncertainty in the world, he whips up a frenzy with more tariff talk just as things are starting to settle down and he threatens to impose an additional 10% tax on any nation that has anything to do with BRICS. That organization cannot be stopped, it already represents more than half the world's population, it's only going to grow bigger and stronger, if nothing else just as a counterpoint to Trump's stunning level of arrogance and stupidity. 

 

He's in so far over his head with China, and he has no idea how to deal with them. His policies have allowed them to promote themselves as the new moral authority, something I never thought I would see in this life. 

 

It is indisputable at this point that the United States is disengaging from global leadership. While America’s retreat has so far been largely a choice – spearheaded by President Donald Trump’s “America First” administration – it may well become irreversible.

 

And if the Communist Party of China (CPC) has its way, the People’s Republic will emerge as the new global hegemon. 

China’s recently published white paper on national security, its first ever, offers a glimpse into the CPC’s plans. Reflecting President Xi Jinping’s “holistic national security concept,” the document articulates an expansive, integrated approach, encompassing political, economic, military, technological, cultural, and societal domains.

And unlike previous defense-focused white papers, it establishes political security – specifically, the CPC’s leadership – as the foundation of national stability, essential to enable China to act as a stabilizing force in a turbulent world.

 

Trump’s willingness to leverage American power to shape global affairs according to his whims is another incitement to instability, with his unilateral decision to bomb Iranian nuclear sites being the most obvious example. In fact, the Trump administration has scaled back cultural diplomacy and slashed development aid – hallmarks of America’s post-Cold War influence.

 

This has provided a critical opening for China to position itself as a stable and certain actor in regional and global affairs, a champion of multilateralism, an investor in and defender of the Global South, and a just peacemaker.

That chaos begins with the Trump administration’s embrace of economic nationalism and continues through Trump’s rejection of decades of US foreign-policy principles. 

 

This appears to matter little to the Trump administration, which seems convinced that national security depends not on global outreach, but on military deterrence, advances in cybersecurity, and economic protectionism, exemplified by high tariffs, efforts to secure critical-mineral supply chains, and limits on the export of advanced technology to China.

Within Asia, this vision has materialized in “treaties of good-neighborliness and friendly cooperation” between China and nine countries, and in China’s promotion of greater regional security cooperation, including with the ASEAN countries. 

 

More broadly, China is touting Xi’s Global Security Initiative (GSI), which was launched in 2022 as an alternative to Western-led security frameworks that can support broad-based, “win-win” cooperation on “complex and intertwined security challenges.”

 

For instance, Taiwan poses no threat whatsoever to China or its neighbors. But for many countries in the Global South, America’s history of double standards, including its inconsistent human-rights advocacy, has so decimated its moral authority that its interventions stand out as uniquely problematic, especially as it turns its back on soft power.

 

But as Trump’s America abandons that approach and alienates more of the world, China’s vision, focused on fortifying CPC control and building alternative frameworks for global engagement, has gained greater appeal.

 

Some excerpts are from this article:

 

https://tomorrowsaffairs.com/new-chinese-security-vision-and-american-retreat-from-global-leadership

Trump does not care if he destroys America; he has enough money to live anywhere he wants in luxury fop the rest of his life.

The only thing Trumps losing lately, and concerning inflation stoking tariff fears are high prices which are actually declining on imported goods. Trump's got a workable solution here adding another WIN for him and loss for the envious do-nothing-achieve nothing liberal liars and frauds. Trumps unwavering "plot" to MAGA is working in small bits and bites and his scintillating tariff strategy is another of his work in progress master achievements.

 

 

2 hours ago, JimHuaHin said:

Trump does not care if he destroys America; he has enough money to live anywhere he wants in luxury fop the rest of his life.

He does not care one iota for the average American. 

This sums him up perfectly:

Someone asked "Why do some British people not like Donald Trump?" Nate White, an articulate and witty writer from England, wrote this magnificent response:

 

"A few things spring to mind. 

Trump lacks certain qualities which the British traditionally esteem. For instance, he has no class, no charm, no coolness, no credibility, no compassion, no wit, no warmth, no wisdom, no subtlety, no sensitivity, no self-awareness, no humility, no honour and no grace - all qualities, funnily enough, with which his predecessor Mr. Obama was generously blessed. So for us, the stark contrast does rather throw Trump’s limitations into embarrassingly sharp relief. Plus, we like a laugh. And while Trump may be laughable, he has never once said anything wry, witty or even faintly amusing - not once, ever. I don’t say that rhetorically, I mean it quite literally: not once, not ever. And that fact is particularly disturbing to the British sensibility - for us, to lack humour is almost inhuman. But with Trump, it’s a fact.

 

He doesn’t even seem to understand what a joke is - his idea of a joke is a crass comment, an illiterate insult, a casual act of cruelty.Trump is a troll. And like all trolls, he is never funny and he never laughs; he only crows or jeers. And scarily, he doesn’t just talk in crude, witless insults - he actually thinks in them. His mind is a simple bot-like algorithm of petty prejudices and knee-jerk nastiness. There is never any under-layer of irony, complexity, nuance or depth. It’s all surface. Some Americans might see this as refreshingly upfront. Well, we don’t. We see it as having no inner world, no soul. And in Britain we traditionally side with David, not Goliath. All our heroes are plucky underdogs: Robin Hood, Dick Whittington, Oliver Twist. Trump is neither plucky, nor an underdog. He is the exact opposite of that. He’s not even a spoiled rich-boy, or a greedy fat-cat. He’s more a fat white slug. A Jabba the Hutt of privilege. And worse, he is that most unforgivable of all things to the British: a bully. 

That is, except when he is among bullies; then he suddenly transforms into a snivelling sidekick instead. 

 

There are unspoken rules to this stuff - the Queensberry rules of basic decency - and he breaks them all. He punches downwards - which a gentleman should, would, could never do - and every blow he aims is below the belt. He particularly likes to kick the vulnerable or voiceless - and he kicks them when they are down. So the fact that a significant minority - perhaps a third - of Americans look at what he does, listen to what he says, and then think 'Yeah, he seems like my kind of guy’ is a matter of some confusion and no little distress to British people, given that:* Americans are supposed to be nicer than us, and mostly are.* You don't need a particularly keen eye for detail to spot a few flaws in the man. This last point is what especially confuses and dismays British people, and many other people too; his faults seem pretty bloody hard to miss. After all, it’s impossible to read a single tweet, or hear him speak a sentence or two, without staring deep into the abyss. He turns being artless into an art form; he is a Picasso of pettiness; a Shakespeare of bull<deleted>. His faults are fractal: even his flaws have flaws, and so on ad infinitum. God knows there have always been stupid people in the world, and plenty of nasty people too. But rarely has stupidity been so nasty, or nastiness so stupid.

 

He makes Nixon look trustworthy and George W. look smart and articulate. In fact, if Frankenstein decided to make a monster assembled entirely from human flaws - he would make a Trump. And a remorseful Doctor Frankenstein would clutch out big clumpfuls of hair and scream in anguish: 'My God… what… have… I… created?

 

8 minutes ago, spidermike007 said:

"A few things spring to mind. 

Trump lacks certain qualities which the British traditionally esteem. For instance, he has no class, no charm, no coolness, no credibility, no compassion, no wit, no warmth, no wisdom, no subtlety, no sensitivity, no self-awareness, no humility, no honour and no grace - all qualities, funnily enough, with which his predecessor Mr. Obama was generously blessed.

I thought Mr. Biden was his predecessor, but I guess a guy with no brain and a propensity to sniff little girls and shower with his daughter is better off forgotten.

1 minute ago, BritManToo said:

I thought Mr. Biden was his predecessor, but I guess a guy with no brain and a propensity to sniff little girls and shower with his daughter is better off forgotten.

The anti american sentiment on the left started with obama. Obama is the leader of what the left is today, hes the reason they are probably gonna need reform the democrat party into something else

57 minutes ago, blaxon said:

The only thing Trumps losing lately, and concerning inflation stoking tariff fears are high prices which are actually declining on imported goods.

 

Care to explain how an imported product, which now cost more to import, can decline in price for the end user?

In the same vein as the OP.

Breaking News:

Trump's Presidential Library burned down yesterday. Both books were completely destroyed. The tragedy is that he had not finished coloring in one of the books.

Not even close. At least Trump, unlike Biden who has never had a plot beyond influence peddling and sniffing people, Trump has a plot to lose except that there is not a lot of losing in the Trump MAGA algorithm this 2nd term but just a whole lot more continuation and more of the good stuff from Trumps first term and now more evident than ever is the "plot-less" and unaccomplished democrats previously lead by an incompetent brain addled stumbling and mumbling babbling nobody and corrupt moron cannot figure out their next move or who should continue in the failed footsteps of arguably the worst and moat corrupted politician in US history. Watching Trumps admin work it's magic is enlightening and reassurance that America is back.

 

 

The only plot that matters right now is Project 2025. 47 has abdicated his responsibilities to Stephen Miller and only makes TV appearances when the mood suits him. The US is basically phooked. This will pass. It may be like a kidney stone, but it will pass. Then hopefully future generations will be able to fix the damage.  Thankfully I won't be around all that much longer to witness their suffering.

18 minutes ago, BritManToo said:

I thought Mr. Biden was his predecessor, but I guess a guy with no brain and a propensity to sniff little girls and shower with his daughter is better off forgotten.

Better to sniff than to act on one's impulses. Don is as guilty as they come. He was even caught on videotape with Epstein saying how he likes them very young. How young? 15? Quite likely. He is sufficiently bent morally to embrace that sort of action. 

Now he said that he wants 50% tariffs on kobber and 200% on medicine.

This person is evil.

President Donald Trump has avoided talking about his plan to scrap the federal disaster response agency after the catastrophic flash flood in Texas that killed more than 100 people, including children attending a girls-only camp.

 

Asked shortly after the disaster whether he still intended to phase out the Federal Emergency Management Agency, Trump said it wasn’t the right time to talk about it. Nor did he mention such plans during a nearly two-hour meeting with his Cabinet on Tuesday.

 

The flood and its devastation appear to have, for the moment, tamped down talk by Trump and Noem of scaling back FEMA, which helps states respond after hurricanes, tornadoes and other natural disasters by providing food, water and temporary housing and federal financial and other assistance.

 

Real disasters? Assistence is still needed? Huh. Maybe is was a bone headed idea after all. 

8 minutes ago, norsurin said:

Now he said that he wants 50% tariffs on kobber and 200% on medicine.

This person is evil.

Evil does not even begin to describe what this man is. A reckless, callow, ungodly, black hearted narcissistic psychopath is closer to the mark. 

Just now, spidermike007 said:

Evil does not even begin to describe what this man is. A reckless, callow, ungodly, black hearted narcissistic psychopath is closer to the mark. 

 

That thorn in your side just keeeps twisting, and twisting, doesn't it.

 

 

You do understand that it is not going away anytime soon.......live with it, and stop whining FFS.

37 minutes ago, spidermike007 said:

A few things spring to mind. 

Trump lacks certain qualities which the British traditionally esteem. For instance, he has no class, no charm, no coolness, no credibility, no compassion, no wit, no warmth, no wisdom, no subtlety, no sensitivity, no self-awareness, no humility, no honour and no grace

 

Given the current state of the UK.

 

Perhaps it is to the benefit of Americans that Trump has none of those traits.

 

Signed

 

A Brit.

3 minutes ago, hotandsticky said:

 

That thorn in your side just keeeps twisting, and twisting, doesn't it.

 

 

You do understand that it is not going away anytime soon.......live with it, and stop whining FFS.

A lot of Germans said the same thing in the late 1930's and early 1940's.

1 minute ago, HappyExpat57 said:

A lot of Germans said the same thing in the late 1930's and early 1940's.

 

 

About Trump?

42 minutes ago, spidermike007 said:

He makes Nixon look trustworthy and George W. look smart and articulate. In fact, if Frankenstein decided to make a monster assembled entirely from human flaws - he would make a Trump. And a remorseful Doctor Frankenstein would clutch out big clumpfuls of hair and scream in anguish: 'My God… what… have… I… created?

 

You make Trump look like an honest upstanding citizen.

 

Do you ever have an original thought?

 

 

 

 

Is Trump completely losing the plot?

 

Yep. 

NO!!   

 

YOU are the one 'losing it' - along with all the woke liberals.  Get over it - you lost - we won. 

 

PS - Biden 'lost it' many years ago and you guys hid it. 

The hypocrisy and self-delusion of the woke left is astounding.  

9 minutes ago, spidermike007 said:

Evil does not even begin to describe what this man is. A reckless, callow, ungodly, black hearted narcissistic psychopath is closer to the mark. 

When your rational spidermike007, you make sense.  When you start down this path of rants, you're no longer rational. 

Those traits are pretty much a shared characteristic of virtually every politician in the US and the world.  Yeah, Trump has those characteristics, as does Biden, Obama, "Dubya" Bush, Clinton, most of the Senate and the House. 

4 minutes ago, TroubleandGrumpy said:

NO!!   

 

YOU are the one 'losing it' - along with all the woke liberals.  Get over it - you lost - we won. 

 

PS - Biden 'lost it' many years ago and you guys hid it. 

The hypocrisy and self-delusion of the woke left is astounding.  

So because Biden was an idiot, which he was, that somehow makes Trump not? 

I love reading stupid comments from lefties. 

57 minutes ago, connda said:

When your rational spidermike007, you make sense.  When you start down this path of rants, you're no longer rational. 

Those traits are pretty much a shared characteristic of virtually every politician in the US and the world.  Yeah, Trump has those characteristics, as does Biden, Obama, "Dubya" Bush, Clinton, most of the Senate and the House. 

Trump broke the minds of lefties. 

1 hour ago, Airalee said:

You make Trump look like an honest upstanding citizen.

 

Do you ever have an original thought?

 

 

 

 

 

 

It never has an original thought.   

1 hour ago, blaxon said:

Not even close. At least Trump, unlike Biden who has never had a plot beyond influence peddling and sniffing people, Trump has a plot to lose except that there is not a lot of losing in the Trump MAGA algorithm this 2nd term but just a whole lot more continuation and more of the good stuff from Trumps first term and now more evident than ever is the "plot-less" and unaccomplished democrats previously lead by an incompetent brain addled stumbling and mumbling babbling nobody and corrupt moron cannot figure out their next move or who should continue in the failed footsteps of arguably the worst and moat corrupted politician in US history. Watching Trumps admin work it's magic is enlightening and reassurance that America is back.

 

 

As you mentioned it... 🤣

 

It takes time to lie! 

 

Fact check: Debunking 11 of Trump’s false claims at Cabinet meeting

https://www.cnn.com/2025/07/08/politics/fact-check-trump-cabinet-meeting

2 hours ago, spidermike007 said:

He does not care one iota for the average American. 

He only cares about himself!

1 hour ago, hotandsticky said:

 

 

About Trump?

Obtuse and droll. Your posts are usually a LITTLE better than that.