Trump's U - turns

[MarkPerry 488]

Okay, that's cool. Since the Marcos years, it's usually a lot running, so the winner doesn't usually get a large percentage of the votes.

And I really do like the public response to a new President. They seem to always give whoever is elected a chance. Aquino was incredibly popular when elected, just like Duterte. One of the big issues for Aquino was fighting corruption. He did a really lousy job at that and his popularity sank in his six years.

People are behind Duterte when it comes to his drug war. The country is very divided on the Marcos burial and I don't know why he chose to support the Marcos's, unless he owes them favors.

But,I really think he's making a mistake in wanting to move away from the US and towards China and Russia. That definitely goes against the will of the people.

But, he really seems to like Trump. Let's just say they have similar speaking styles. If that gets Duterte to turn back towards the US, then that would be a great thing as far as I'm concerned.

Thanks for the explanation

[Voice of Reason 10,298]

BJ, come on, man. Are you seriously arguing that a 15.83% lead is a "landslide", but a 15.56% lead is not??? Even a 3% margin isn't all that great, but argues your point a bit better.

In a contest between 5 folks, anything over 20% is doing good. 39% is almost twice what should be expected, eh?

Yeah, they had five candidates. They always have a lot running. But we both already knew that, right?

But I don't know about landslide. Duterte got 39.01% and the next closest was 23.45%. He didn't even get 40% and he won by 15.56%

Let's look at other elections. In 2010, Aquino got 42.08% and the next closest was 26.25%. Aquino got 40% and won by 15.83%. Seems like a bigger landslide.

Let's go back to 1998. Estrada got 39.86% and the next closest was 15.87%. He didn't get 40% but got more than Duterte, he also won by 23.99%. Obviously a bigger landslide.

Remember, Duterte is only the sixth President since Marcos. When you actually compare his results with those of others during the modern Philippines, his popularity is once again nothing special.

[B_J 2,752]

BJ, come on, man. Are you seriously arguing that a 15.83% lead is a "landslide", but a 15.56% lead is not??? Even a 3% margin isn't all that great, but argues your point a bit better.

In a contest between 5 folks, anything over 20% is doing good. 39% is almost twice what should be expected, eh?

I should have been clearer. What I'm saying is that the results in the Duterte election were not really that special.

People aren't in love with the guy. They like that he is an outsider and they trust him as far as him

not being corrupt.

But the opinion of him will change drastically if he continues being anti-US/pro-China. And the Marcos issue isn't helping him either.

[Rob L 3,811]

The US has a rather dubious ally in Saudi Arabia if we're looking at it from a moral/ethical standpoint. So, there's that.

 

On the Russia situation: Russia's military is peanuts compared to the US...they have only one single aircraft carrier (which was built in the Soviet Union, so you can imagine how "up-to-date" it is) compared to the US's 10 (or 19 depending)...Russia is having a severe economic downturn right now, they won't be able to just vaporize money out of nothing to build up their military. Oil is limited and not exactly the hot commodity it used to be. A lot of the fat cat oligarchs have grown used to their comfortable lifestyle and I don't think they'd care or be willing to start living poorer in order to go and conquer the Baltic States in Europe. This isn't the Red Army willing to die to defend the Motherland we're talking about, it's quite a different situation. Russia likes playing an influence game with propaganda in Europe and the US, but it pretty much ends there. They just don't have the funds and military to back up anything beyond that. If they didn't have nukes, they wouldn't even be considered a threat at all to the West. Of course, as well all know, Europe basically has even less of a military than Russia due to the NATO agreement, so I get why Europe would see Russia as threat. But if Russia were stupid enough to declare war/start invading Europe....it would be the WW I/Russian Revolution situation all over again. History would repeat itself and Russia would revert into a Civil War/Revolution-like chaos scenario because people wouldn't have food. And when people don't have food, rulers tend to stop being popular. Same thing happened to Gorby in the 80's when the Soviet Union collapsed....food started becoming scarce in the 80's, and shortly afterwards the Iron Curtain fell. Putin is still popular because Russia still has food, still has cars, people still have all the Mod-Cons of daily life that the West has too, but if that suddenly dried up in order to go and invade Europe, I don't really see that being a popular move for Mr. Putin if it leads to further economic decay. Russia is not united by a strong ideology anymore (unlike the USSR or the Empire days) and a major war would end up being self-destructive for Russia (and therefore Putin) because of that fact and the tanking economy.

 

The Ukraine/Crimea thing is much more complex situation historically and culturally. It's also a propaganda thing for Putin because of the overwhelmingly Russian population and pro-Russia support in those particular regions of Ukraine. Hence why the whole war in Ukraine has basically been contained and not gone on any further than that the Russian-speaking/pro-Russian regions. That's where the Russian influence stops and the military just doesn't pack the punch to carry it any further from there without rebel groups/internal support. That's my two cents on the whole "Russia wanting to conquer Europe (again)" topic. Maybe I'm totally wrong but that's my take on it. If the US actually starting backing Putin and throwing military support behind Russia....even in Syria, let's say, then obviously Putin benefits from the US's military might. I think that's why Russia is celebrating Trump's victory right now, because they assume they will get at least that out of Trump.

Excellent analysis.

My fears for Russia fall into the categories of: Assassination and intimidation to eliminate criticism and advance Putin administration interests. Another alleged incident in Romania last week which if course is denied.

Attempts to undermine western opinion and media (which we did see in the US election)

And the worse scenario which you highlighted where there us economic collapse which could have ripple instability into NATO states , the Mideast and Asia.

Our nation and allies needs plans for all if these scenarios and more.

[The Nature Boy 7,659]

Yeep in my best Dave Hester voice

Duterte was elected into office just a few months ago, I believe his term is 6 years

Indeed and he can only serve one term

[Dakine10 5,452]

Draining the swamp eh ? More like adding to it.

Hiring lobbyists:

Is it possible he just did two U-turns really quickly? It could be that he did a complete 360 and doesn't realize where he is yet. Give him time. One more U-turn and he'll be back on course.

[Ebunoluwa 6,136]

Today's U-turn is his wall . Just saw it on BBC. Asked about his plans for the Mexican border, he said "a wall is more appropriate" in some parts but "there could be some fencing"

[Rob L 3,811]

Today's U-turn is his wall . Just saw it on BBC. Asked about his plans for the Mexican border, he said "a wall is more appropriate" in some parts but "there could be some fencing"

Buh-leeve him

[Dakine10 5,452]

I think he might be lost. You can tell who he asks for directions by the way he goes next.

[eieio 1,594]

One of Vladimir Putin’s closest advisors has claimed Donald Trump’s victory has averted a third world war.

Speaking after Mr Trump won a shock victory over Hillary Clinton on Tuesday, Kremlin advisor Sergei Glazyev said the Democrat politician was a “symbol of war” and under Mr Trump the US had “a chance to change course”.

He told Russian news wire RNS: “Americans had two choices: World War Three or multilateral peace.

“Clinton was a symbol of war, and Trump has a chance to change this course”.

READ MORE

• Donald Trump's foreign policy 'almost exactly the same as Putin'
• It's not Donald Trump who matters now in the Middle East – it's Putin
• Vladimir Putin congratulates US President Donald Trump

Relations between the two countries have sunk to their lowest point since the Cold Warafter Russia was accused of interfering in the election with the strategic leak of emails which were damaging to Ms Clinton and the Democrat party.

In October, the Department of Homeland Security officially blamed Russia for the leaking of emailsexchanged by members of the Democrat National Committee (DNC) where they conspired to undermine the campaign of Senator Bernie Sanders. Russian officials have repeatedly denied allegations of interference.

On Thursday, Russia’s deputy foreign minister Sergei Ryabkov said the Kremlin had been in frequent contact with Mr Trump’s campaign team ahead of his victory.

He told Russian news agency Interfax that Moscow had “contacts” within Mr Trump’s inner circle.

[eieio 1,594]

Trumps U-turn. Watch on 60 mins. tonight.

Donald Trump will appear in his first extensive post-election interview Sunday on “60 Minutes” at 7 p.m. ET/PT

President-elect Donald Trump’s hard-line immigration stance was a central part of his campaign message in 2016 -- and he said in an interview airing Sunday that he plans to immediately deport approximately two to three million undocumented immigrants.

“What we are going to do is get the people that are criminal and have criminal records, gang members, drug dealers, where a lot of these people, probably two million, it could be even three million, we are getting them out of our country or we are going to incarcerate,” Trump said in an interview with CBS’ “60 Minutes.” “But we’re getting them out of our country, they’re here illegally.”

He continued by saying that after the border is “secure,” immigration officials will begin to make a “determination” about the remaining undocumented immigrants in the U.S.

“After the border is secure and after everything gets normalized, we’re going to make a determination on the people that they’re talking about who are terrific people, they’re terrific people but we are gonna make a determination at that,” he said. “But before we make that determination...it’s very important, we are going to secure our border.”

Asked whether he really plans to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border -- a proposal that served as a centerpiece of his campaign message -- Trump replied, “Yes.”

Since Trump’s election on Tuesday night, the realities of actually building that wall have begun to set in The Mexican government has publicly reminded him that Mexico will not pay for the wall. And asked about the wall, Trump transition co-chair Newt Gingrich said the wall was “a great campaign device.”

Trump also told “60 Minutes” that the border wall, which was one of the centerpieces of his campaign platform, could be part wall and “some fencing,” in accordance with what congressional Republicans have proposed.

“For certain areas I would, but certain areas, a wall is more appropriate,” he said. “I’m very good at this, it’s called construction.”

[Rob L 3,811]

So we should always drive our election results in fear of insulting cronies of Putin, Americans now should fear their shadow and hand the crown jewels to a bully.

One of Vladimir Putin’s closest advisors has claimed Donald Trump’s victory has averted a third world war.

Speaking after Mr Trump won a shock victory over Hillary Clinton on Tuesday, Kremlin advisor Sergei Glazyev said the Democrat politician was a “symbol of war” and under Mr Trump the US had “a chance to change course”.

He told Russian news wire RNS: “Americans had two choices: World War Three or multilateral peace.

“Clinton was a symbol of war, and Trump has a chance to change this course”.

READ MORE

• Donald Trump's foreign policy 'almost exactly the same as Putin'
• It's not Donald Trump who matters now in the Middle East – it's Putin
• Vladimir Putin congratulates US President Donald Trump

Relations between the two countries have sunk to their lowest point since the Cold Warafter Russia was accused of interfering in the election with the strategic leak of emails which were damaging to Ms Clinton and the Democrat party.

In October, the Department of Homeland Security officially blamed Russia for the leaking of emailsexchanged by members of the Democrat National Committee (DNC) where they conspired to undermine the campaign of Senator Bernie Sanders. Russian officials have repeatedly denied allegations of interference.

On Thursday, Russia’s deputy foreign minister Sergei Ryabkov said the Kremlin had been in frequent contact with Mr Trump’s campaign team ahead of his victory.

He told Russian news agency Interfax that Moscow had “contacts” within Mr Trump’s inner circle.

[yuna628 9,676]

So we should always drive our election results in fear of insulting cronies of Putin, Americans now should fear their shadow and hand the crown jewels to a bully.

Yes peace. Glorious peace Comrades. Because we all know bowing down to Putin as our king and putting his boot upon our necks in submission is the best way to achieve peace... because if you do not he will kill you into thousand smashed pieces.. or subjugate you by force. People are saying.

[Ebunoluwa 6,136]

Ummmm, the feelings and the opinions of the people of this country have already been heard. Did you forget Nov 8th already?

Two memorable days in US history... 9/11 and 11/9.

Memorable and both disasters, yes I know.

[MarkPerry 488]

Today's U-turn is his wall . Just saw it on BBC. Asked about his plans for the Mexican border, he said "a wall is more appropriate" in some parts but "there could be some fencing"

Donald Trump is a US Citizen and US news, no need to going thru 3rd party to get your news, Get it direct if you are here in the Grand Ole USA

Fencing would be appropriate in some parts of the southwest especially in the middle of the desert where there barren land. The wall will be where it needs to be placed.

It will actually be easy to get a hand on illegal immigration in the USA, just enforce the laws on the books and place a fine of $25,000 to individualesne who employees or transports illegals in the USA. You get caught with handful of illegal aliens working for you and you have the federal government give you $100,000 fines for hiring 4 illegals aliens, the issue of illegals in the USA will solve itself. They will all take back home and self deport