Spreaders of Conspiracy Theories: Unmasking the Motivations Behind the Lies

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Trump pressures China on North Korea before Xi talks

By Valerie Volcovici and Matt Spetalnick

REUTERS

 

U.S. President Donald Trump attends a meeting at the White House in Washington, U.S., March 31, 2017. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst

 

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump held out the possibility on Sunday of using trade as a lever to secure Chinese cooperation against North Korea and said Washington might deal with Pyongyang's nuclear and missile programs on its own if need be.

 

The comments, in an interview published on Sunday by the Financial Times, appeared designed to pressure Chinese President Xi Jinping ahead of his visit to Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida this week.

 

"China has great influence over North Korea. And China will either decide to help us with North Korea, or they won’t. And if they do that will be very good for China, and if they don’t it won’t be good for anyone," Trump was quoted as saying, according to an edited transcript published by the newspaper.

 

Asked what incentive the United States had to offer China, Trump replied: "Trade is the incentive. It is all about trade."

 

Asked if he would consider a "grand bargain" in which China pressured Pyongyang in return for a guarantee the United States would later remove troops from the Korean peninsula, the newspaper quoted Trump as saying: "Well if China is not going to solve North Korea, we will. That is all I am telling you."

 

It is not clear whether Trump's comments will move China, which has taken steps to increase economic pressure on Pyongyang but has long been unwilling to do anything that may destabilize the North and send millions of refugees across their border.

 

It is also unclear what the United States might do on its own to deflect North Korea from the expansion of its nuclear capabilities and from the development of missiles with ever-longer ranges and the capacity to deliver atomic warheads.

 

NORTH KOREA REVIEW COMPLETED

 

Trump's national security aides have completed a review of U.S. options to try to curb North Korea's nuclear and missile programs that includes economic and military measures but leans more toward new sanctions and increased pressure on Beijing to rein in its reclusive neighbor, a U.S. official said on Sunday.

 

The official said it was not immediately known whether the recommendations put together by Trump's National Security Council had yet made their way to the president.

 

The White House declined comment on the NSC recommendations.

 

Trump and Xi are also expected to discuss Chinese ambitions in the South China Sea, through which about $5 trillion in ship-borne trade passes every year, when they meet on Thursday and Friday. China claims most of the resource-rich South China Sea, while Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam also have claims on the strategic waterway.

 

Trump's deputy national security adviser, K.T. McFarland, said there was a "real possibility" North Korea could be capable of hitting the United States with a nuclear-armed missile by the end of Trump's four-year term, the Financial Times reported.

 

McFarland's estimate appeared more pessimistic than those of many experts, who say North Korea's ability to launch a nuclear missile at the U.S. mainland is at least years away.

 

"The typical estimates are that it will take five years or so," said Siegfried Hecker, a former director of the Los Alamos National Laboratory in the United States and a leading expert on North Korea's nuclear program.

 

(Additional reporting by Timothy Ahmann, David Brunnstrom and John Walcott; Writing by Arshad Mohammed; Editing by Sandra Maler and Peter Cooney)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2017-04-03

[boomerangutang]

I don't trust a man like Trump who speaks to people as if they're all 5 year olds. Trump's outlook changes day to day.   Even his wire-tapping Obama claim (along with childish name-calling) was tweaked days later. Xi is a thug, but at least he sticks with his ideas, and his mind isn't like watery oatmeal in a 3 wheeled jeep on a bumpy road.

 

 

Edited April 3, 2017 by boomerangutang

[thesetat2013]

pretty sad state of affairs when. the results of their assessments are released to the news before the President even see them... 

Trump needs to fired all of these officials and get some that can keep their taps shut until he approves releasing information to the public

 

[malibukid]

good for him for standing up to China.  new sheriff in town. they will not f#^& with Trump.

Quote

 

 

[tonray]

Yeah....just like when Trump said "it won't happen" when asked about NK testing ballistic missile and "I will repeal Obamacare", and I will quit NATO", and I will cancel NAFTA". 

 

At some point we all learn that he is all bluster and no meat. Where's the beef, Donnie ?

[Pinot]

This will end like every meeting with other heads of state with the dangerously naive Cheeto Jesus alienating him. The guy is a disaster as President. A simpleton elected by the deplorables. 

 

So it goes. 

[daveAustin]

At least he's saying something to China, unlike every other president who didn't have any stones and just wanted it to go away.

[Berkshire]

43 minutes ago, malibukid said:

good for him for standing up to China.  new sheriff in town. they will not f#^& with Trump.

 

How silly.  Trump has no credibility.  The Chinese aren't worried about Trump because he's a toothless bully who's hated in his own country.

 

The latest from the LA Times, Our Dishonest President.  Expect a lot more from concerned Americans who can see the damage Trump is doing to the USA.

 

[What is most worrisome about Trump is Trump himself. He is a man so unpredictable, so reckless, so petulant, so full of blind self-regard, so untethered to reality that it is impossible to know where his presidency will lead or how much damage he will do to our nation. His obsession with his own fame, wealth and success, his determination to vanquish enemies real and imagined, his craving for adulation — these traits were, of course, at the very heart of his scorched-earth outsider campaign; indeed, some of them helped get him elected. But in a real presidency in which he wields unimaginable power, they are nothing short of disastrous.]

 

http://www.latimes.com/projects/la-ed-our-dishonest-president/

[ilostmypassword]

11 minutes ago, daveAustin said:

At least he's saying something to China, unlike every other president who didn't have any stones and just wanted it to go away.

You mean like his promise to declare China a currency manipulator on his first day in office. Rather, make that his broken promise to declare China a currency manipulator on his first day in office.

The Chinese must be trembling in fear.

Edited April 3, 2017 by ilostmypassword

[craigt3365]

He's hosting Xi at his golf course in Florida.  Horrible idea.  Xi has banned all members of the party from playing golf.  There's even a book out about how evil golf is in China.

 

Best of luck, as China does need to reign in NK. 

[Thailand]

He is efing up everything he says he is going to do, just anothe upcoming failure to add to the list.

 

The Russians and the Chinese must be loving every minute of this presidency.

[malibukid]

it all gets real in the end.

Edited April 3, 2017 by malibukid

[ilostmypassword]

15 minutes ago, malibukid said:

it all gets real in the end.

As the unreal Trump administration is already finding out.

[alanrchase]

3 hours ago, thesetat2013 said:

pretty sad state of affairs when. the results of their assessments are released to the news before the President even see them... 

Trump needs to fired all of these officials and get some that can keep their taps shut until he approves releasing information to the public

 

Surely you meant "keep their tapps shut"?

[boomerangutang]

3 hours ago, tonray said:

Yeah....just like when Trump said "it won't happen" when asked about NK testing ballistic missile and "I will repeal Obamacare", and I will quit NATO", and I will cancel NAFTA". 

At some point we all learn that he is all bluster and no meat. Where's the beef, Donnie ?

.....and when Trump stated that Russia won't go into Ukraine when, weeks earlier, Russia had not only gone into Ukraine, but had taken Crimea.   Trump is to world affairs what a mule is to computer programming.

 

2 hours ago, daveAustin said:

At least he's saying something to China, unlike every other president who didn't have any stones and just wanted it to go away.

Wrong.  Since Nixon, every US prez has had a State Dept to deal diplomatically with China.  Trump put a greedy do-nothing billionaire as head of State, who only cares about drilling in the Arctic.  Trump is also also gutting the State Dept of most of its career people, - those who haven't already quit in disgust at his ineptitude.   With no one minding the store, the US will decline as a world power, along with its influence.  Instead of world policeman, it will devolve to world's laughing stock and butt of jokes.

[Morch]

5 hours ago, thesetat2013 said:

pretty sad state of affairs when. the results of their assessments are released to the news before the President even see them... 

Trump needs to fired all of these officials and get some that can keep their taps shut until he approves releasing information to the public

 

 

But perfectly acceptable now for POTUS to post baseless late night tweets, "informing" the public about whatever nonsense he's got going - then let said officials scramble to deflect, deny, interpret and whatnot. 

 

 

[Thaidream]

 

theLos Angeles Times editorial is absolutely spot on.  It's not only that Trump is incompetent- he is dangerous.  Add to that, he is surrounded by a team that has little real experience in handling important issues and no one does their homework on the hisotry of events or relations with other countries.

Trump has managed to piss off just about everyone he meets. His idea of negotiation is my way or the highway.  That may work in New York City on a local level but on the World stage- he is not going to bully his way to get everything he wants. He is heading for war with North Korea which would be disastrous for South Korea, Japan and America. Of course, America can win militarily but the human cost will be very high; not to mention America's standing on the World stage.  Trump  is more than dangerous. He is a disaster. Let's hope someone invokes the 25th Amendment.

[losworld]

6 hours ago, Berkshire said:

How silly.  Trump has no credibility.  The Chinese aren't worried about Trump because he's a toothless bully who's hated in his own country.

 

The latest from the LA Times, Our Dishonest President.  Expect a lot more from concerned Americans who can see the damage Trump is doing to the USA.

 

[What is most worrisome about Trump is Trump himself. He is a man so unpredictable, so reckless, so petulant, so full of blind self-regard, so untethered to reality that it is impossible to know where his presidency will lead or how much damage he will do to our nation. His obsession with his own fame, wealth and success, his determination to vanquish enemies real and imagined, his craving for adulation — these traits were, of course, at the very heart of his scorched-earth outsider campaign; indeed, some of them helped get him elected. But in a real presidency in which he wields unimaginable power, they are nothing short of disastrous.]

 

http://www.latimes.com/projects/la-ed-our-dishonest-president/

It truly is a sad state of affairs when people are ignorant enough to take scathing one sided editorials like this at face value.  The media has been deceiving you for decades yet you eat up what they say.  You don't think the media has a vested interest?  Why are they so strongly against Trump?  Oh let me guess.... they are only doing it because they believe so strongly in a society with freedoms and morals and values and equality for all. Advertising from the corporate sector or those in power have nothing to do with it.  You people really need to wake up.

[alanrchase]

It truly is a sad state of affairs when people are ignorant enough to take scathing one sided editorials like this at face value.  The media has been deceiving you for decades yet you eat up what they say.  You don't think the media has a vested interest?  Why are they so strongly against Trump?  Oh let me guess.... they are only doing it because they believe so strongly in a society with freedoms and morals and values and equality for all. Advertising from the corporate sector or those in power have nothing to do with it.  You people really need to wake up.

Your opinion is noted and respected. I do agree the media is somewhat harsh on Trump. However there is so much Trump video footage out there that he makes himself sound like an idiot. To paraphrase Spicer "he is serious unless he is joking"?

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[craigt3365]

12 minutes ago, losworld said:

It truly is a sad state of affairs when people are ignorant enough to take scathing one sided editorials like this at face value.  The media has been deceiving you for decades yet you eat up what they say.  You don't think the media has a vested interest?  Why are they so strongly against Trump?  Oh let me guess.... they are only doing it because they believe so strongly in a society with freedoms and morals and values and equality for all. Advertising from the corporate sector or those in power have nothing to do with it.  You people really need to wake up.

It's a truly sad state of affairs when the US has a president who lies.  Speaks bad things about others.  Tweets fake news.  Etc.  Don't blame the media for this.  It's all about Donald.  Sadly, many believe his BS.  People really do need to wake up.

[losworld]

6 minutes ago, craigt3365 said:

It's a truly sad state of affairs when the US has a president who lies.  Speaks bad things about others.  Tweets fake news.  Etc.  Don't blame the media for this.  It's all about Donald.  Sadly, many believe his BS.  People really do need to wake up.

Provide some legitimate backup for these claims.  Anyone can hurl insults and innuendo.  The guy has been in office for two months and you have already convicted and tried him.  Guys like you must never become judges.

[losworld]

12 minutes ago, alanrchase said:

 

Your opinion is noted and respected. I do agree the media is somewhat harsh on Trump. However there is so much Trump video footage out there that he makes himself sound like an idiot. To paraphrase Spicer "he is serious unless he is joking"?

Sent from my SM-A500F using Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app
 

I wouldn't worry too much about the delivery it's the end product of change that matters.  Don't forget the media has never been harder on a President not out to get him with the aid of the intelligence community.  Do yourself a favor and watch Kennedy's "shadow government" speech but I guess Kennedy was just a conspiracy theorist out of the loop of knowledge... there are so many worries that their corruption may be unearthed they are in full panic mode.  The Russia fiasco is a smokescreen to try to distract from the real issues.

[craigt3365]

8 minutes ago, losworld said:

Provide some legitimate backup for these claims.  Anyone can hurl insults and innuendo.  The guy has been in office for two months and you have already convicted and tried him.  Guys like you must never become judges.

Come on.  You aren't aware of the lies he's spread and the BS tweets?  Seriously?  This has been going on for years.  Nothing new for the Donald.  Just the facts, mam.  Something judges like.

 

Here's some good research for you:

 

http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_slatest/2016/11/05/toronto_star_compiles_list_of_almost_500_trump_lies_during_campaign.html

 

http://www.dailywire.com/news/4834/trumps-101-lies-hank-berrien

 

Gotta love this one:

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2016/01/28/upshot/donald-trump-twitter-insults.html

Quote

The 325 People, Places and Things Donald
Trump Has Insulted on Twitter: A Complete List

 

[Thaidream]

I have no intention of becoimg a judge but as an Ameerican citizen and a voter I can and will judge the President of the United States because he is answerable to the electorate.

Donald Trump has insulted just about everyone who disagrees with him and also foreign leaders. This is unbecoming for the President of the US and shows a complete lack of a rational temperament.

As for lies, there are plenty but the one that really sticks out is the lie he told about President Obama tapping his phones while a candidate for President. He knows damn well this is untrue and did it to divert attention from investigations into his and his campaigns relationship with Russia.

Read the Los Angeles Times editorial and learn what America really thinks about Trump. He lost the popular vote by almost 3 million votes- he has no mandate to govern because he is incompetent.

 

[craigt3365]

8 minutes ago, losworld said:

The Russia fiasco is a smokescreen to try to distract from the real issues.

Too many dots connecting for it not to be real.  How far it goes is the question.  Flynn would not have resigned if it was nothing.  Trump's tweets are the smokescreen.

[alanrchase]

I wouldn't worry too much about the delivery it's the end product of change that matters.  Don't forget the media has never been harder on a President not out to get him with the aid of the intelligence community.  Do yourself a favor and watch Kennedy's "shadow government" speech but I guess Kennedy was just a conspiracy theorist out of the loop of knowledge... there are so many worries that their corruption may be unearthed they are in full panic mode.  The Russia fiasco is a smokescreen to try to distract from the real issues.

I believe I agreed the media is harsh on Trump? I personally think Trump is too dumb to realize any "manipulation ". For a man who has touted himself the expert on everything he constantly falls short. Healthcare is complex? Uranium is dangerous? Feel like I am 8 years old again.

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[alanrchase]

Here we go.

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[dunroaming]

9 hours ago, malibukid said:

good for him for standing up to China.  new sheriff in town. they will not f#^& with Trump.

 

I don't think anyone wants to copulate with Trump.  however I think that metaphorically speaking it is likely they will have him spread-eagled on his bed and then p*ss all over him.

 

As for North Korea, China will decide just what action they want to take.  They have the option of severe sanctions that would effectively cripple NK.  On the other hand that would bring even worse hardship to the people there and trigger more refugees flooding into China.

 

America would struggle with sanctions and that doesn't suit Trump's style.  The other option for the US then is military.  Just what the USA needs, another conflict to screw up.

[stevenl]

It truly is a sad state of affairs when people are ignorant enough to take scathing one sided editorials like this at face value.  The media has been deceiving you for decades yet you eat up what they say.  You don't think the media has a vested interest?  Why are they so strongly against Trump?  Oh let me guess.... they are only doing it because they believe so strongly in a society with freedoms and morals and values and equality for all. Advertising from the corporate sector or those in power have nothing to do with it.  You people really need to wake up.

The corporate sector loves Trump. So following your reasoning the media should love him as well.

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[Berkshire]

3 hours ago, losworld said:

It truly is a sad state of affairs when people are ignorant enough to take scathing one sided editorials like this at face value.  The media has been deceiving you for decades yet you eat up what they say.  You don't think the media has a vested interest?  Why are they so strongly against Trump?  Oh let me guess.... they are only doing it because they believe so strongly in a society with freedoms and morals and values and equality for all. Advertising from the corporate sector or those in power have nothing to do with it.  You people really need to wake up.

So what media do you listen to?  Breitbart?  Fox News?  Infowars?  National Inquirer?  Geez man, I never realized that people have so much trouble separating real news from crap.

 

But what I really don't understand about Trump supporters is what exactly are you supporting?  The guy lies constantly.  He's not going to keep his campaign promises.  Since he's been in office, he's made a lot of noise but accomplished nothing.  He couldn't pass the Obamacare repeal/replace, can't get his travel ban pass the courts, can't get Congress to fund his wall, etc., while trying to destroy the environment, help his rich business buddies, enrich himself, engage in nepotism, insult our allies around the world, etc.

 

He's not draining the swamp, he is the swamp.  So what are you guys supporting?