Donald Trump has been in the office quite a while now. Just out of curiosity.

I don't usually get into political discussions, but when it comes to Trump, I just can't help myself. Lol. To be fair, I am neither for him nor against him on a day to day front. Does he have faults? Oh absolutely. But, I also believe that he genuinely wants to do right by the country. But want and reality are often two different things. ie., You want your kid to be good, so you reprimand the kid.... But when your efforts are executed by beating the child to a pulp.... It ceases to be a good thing.

Trump is unfortunately used to sycophants and sensationalism. It worked for him in the private seCtor and the media. Despite his bankruptcies, he's not only made a name for himself, but also quite a bit of coin. So while it's true that the US has a problem with illegal aliens, he goes too far and breaks up families. While the biggest terrorist threat has been ISIS, and they happen to be Muslim, he goes too far and tries to ban all incoming people from Muslim countries.

He's also used to being the big dog in a small sandbox. Now he's just another dog in a giant sandbox. Negotiation tactics are different with different players. But he only has the one (being the big dog). Geopolitical negotiations are more nuanced and world leaders are trained in years of "playing the game", one which he doesn't understand, which is how even North Korea is playing him like a fiddle. The agreement is to work towards denuclearization... Not to actually have it done.

And while that negotiation is a great piece of the puzzle to get started on... Trump is so desperate for approval that he's already claimed sweeping victory.  Who doesn't want to be loved? Who doesn't want to be liked? Who doesn't want to be told that they're doing a good job? Problem is, because he's desperate for some wins, he's looking at the individual battles and not looking at the war.

I really don't care about his character outside of the office. Big trees invite the breeze and he's human. A flawed, orange one... But human. But aside from being orange, which one of is isn't flawed? So I don't care about his personal transgressions so long as he's able to perform in the Office.

Problem is, with so many people leaving the White House, and eCh new member coming in understanding how to survive in their posts... He is surrounding himself with more and more sycophants, which leads to less discussion and debate. Which allows him to feed his own ego, and when it comes to geo-politics, ego helps no one.

Hence why I've voted that the US has gotten worse during his tenure.

~UD

The guys a corrupt moron and hence I voted worse and I am an American.

The trade war disupte does peak my interest though because with China and the us being so intertwined economically , I'm curious to see who backs down first.

Although he's a moron , I do feel the trade im balance needs to be addressed,but I'd rather see it done more constructively. What I want to see is Chinese companies be forced to party with us companies if they want access to us market's just like they protect Chinese companies and force us companies to have to partner in the same way. I feel by doing this it would force China to open up their market to open non protectionist competition. Then nflx would dominate the world and I would be filthy rich with call options.

I really don't know what kind of leverage Trump thinks the US has over China. I agree with puffy that the imbalance needs some rebalancing... But not only is China the single largest holder of American debt, it also holds an insane amount of US currency. All "WTP" (initials of Disney's teddy would Ave to do is flood the market and the US would be in a tailspin.
Remember George Soros?

I'm hoping that Trump has more tact than he shows. But alienating allies, cozying up with frenemies.... And antagonizing a sleeping teddy seriously worries me.

~UD

Generally I think he is a brilliant man in some ways, what he wants to do is balance out old deficits with other countries, but the reality of him being able to do it is very difficult.  With that said, his mouth is what gets him in trouble. If he would just shut up and do his job then maybe it would be a hole lot better.    He is a business man, and he is using business tactics to try to balance out the fairness.

China: hmmm, the whole IP stealing thing has to stop, and I think Xi knows it, but he cannot lose face to his people, so whilist satisfying the people he has to find a way to get the US to agree on terms.  Good luck to Xi, it's not going to be easy for him.

North Korea: I expect nothing to come out of that, Kim cannot be trusted, it's all a big joke.

Europe: Hmm this is sort of comical.  I am not sure who to believe.  Has Europe really not been paying their bills?  The US still has bases in Europe, who is paying for those?  I cannot find any reliable information, most of it is all crap.  It would be interesting if in fact Europe has not been meeting their UN obligations that they should pay up and perhaps that is the reason why they are pissed?   If the US left Europe entirely would Europe feel secure to counter Russia themselves?  I have no idea.

US: Trade war, yeah, it's gonna sting for awhile I think.  Consumers will get the bad end of the stick.  Small price to pay short term, but if this continues, yeah...  it's not going to be pretty.

And pissing off allies is probably not the best idea.   But the Chinese market has been hit because of all this, investors have kind of lost some hope in the Chinese Govt's ability to deal with it.  And I partially agree.

Anyway, time will tell.  I am not for him or against him, I am sort of sidelining it to see where it all leads.

Trump is a excellent business man.  However he has a destructive personality and a overly inflated ego.  Those personality traits make him unsuitable for a career in politics.  The proof, he was fired from his own company.  Which he built from the ground up.  He is a serial womanizer.  He believes that he knows everything about the world.  He is the first president in history to use a smartphone, which is not encrypted and is not secured by the Secret Service.  He is starting a Trade War with China, despite the fact that China has purchase the largest majority of the US deposit debt.

I think EU wouldn't have problem to ally with China instead of the US. Many have speculated that China is going to surpass the US on the world stage as the global leader. However, China does have a lot to achieve and more issues to address economically and socially. Sending Chinese students to study abroad is a brilliant strategy to improve China in multiple levels. The rest of the world can experience what mainland Chinese is like in person to debunk many of the urban legends while China can gain educated professionals without investing on their education system initially. Of course, they would have to eventually and they have. They have also been recruiting top talents to fill up their university's faculty.

EU can see that China has no real intention to take over the world nor interfere world affair like the US has in the last decade. Some may even resent the US dragging them into the Middle East to fight the war on terrorism. Many also blame the US creating their own problems by meddling with other countries' government like Iran, Iraq, Egypt, Lebanon, Southern America, Philippines, Indonesia, and so on.

And Donald Trump isn't helping either. On the world stage, he has openly insulted pretty much all the allies EXCEPT Putin. Not once has he said anything relatively bad about Putin. He even called Kim Jung Un rocket man and imposed severe threat to the North Korea dictator. Trump has done nothing but making the US a laughing stock to the rest of the world. He is really enabling Putin's deflection tactic on his people.

He is a joke! Only do the thing for his family business!

I voted for him for the mere fact that his opponent was a distructive liar and criminal. In the end of the day I do not regret my decision. The only consequence that affected me personally is about $200usd more in my paycheck every week with the new tax plan. I am a hk born naturalized us citizen living in CA who works in manufacturing.

Go read the Bob Woodward book "Fear, Trump in the WhiteHouse".

I don't excellent business man described in this book...it looks scary...
No impulse control, lack of preparation, can't make long term plans, doesn't know anything of the world....

Well i'm a Brit and i tell you what i would much rather have Trump in charge instead of the clowns we have trying to run our Country.

Take Brexit for example what a fecking catastrophe thats turning out to be. Have a vote all in agreement great job done. nope not at all the Anti Brexiteers want another vote. WTF why vote in the first place.

Give us Trump and he can build a wall round the UK blow up the channel tunnel and jobs a good one.

i suppose the time will tell when it comes to re-election as to how well he is really doing. So far from whats been seen i would say he is doing ok but then again that's only my opinion.

The world is openly laughing at America and their stupid president. But Trump doesn't know it and most Americans don't seem to know it. America is the dumbest country ever. China is the future.

IMHO its very funny when someone who doesn't have the brain power to become a billionaire and/or a US President feels compelled to call those that do a moron.

"the world is openly laughing at America"

ahhh come on bro, you're blowing some serious smoke out of your ass with that one

[ Last edited by  JJJ37 at 24-10-2018 08:49 ]

You should go try going to one of his rallies and see if you're welcomed there.

My 2 cents....

Pros
1. Trying to decrease Trade defect with China now at  record high at 31.69 billion wide.
2. Trying to prevent illegal immigration more than previous presidents.
3.  Against Sanctuary Cities that help illegal immigrants. Trying to stop illegal immigrants from getting free food, free education, free medical using tax payer's money.
3. Trying to repeal Obama Care act. Obama Care is not working for middle class.
4.  US Economy is growing just look at the stock market

Cons

1. Increased US Budget Deficit by cutting corporate taxes. Because he cuts the
    corporate tax rate from 35% to 21%, it is good for business and stock market,
    it is very bad for the huge US Budget Deficit.

2.  Trump plans to sign an executive order that would remove the right to citizenship
     for babies of non-citizens and unauthorized immigrants born on U.S. soil.
     In my opinion, for non-citizens ( green card holders ) NO.  
     and for unauthorized  illegal immigrants YES.

The American economy is stronger, American workers are experiencing more opportunities, confidence is soaring, and business is booming.

-GDP growth of more than 3% for two quarters in a row.

-The Dow has set record highs 70 times this year, rising 5,000 points in a year for the first time in history.

-Nearly 3 million jobs have been created since Trump took office.

-Low unemployment. The unemployment rate has dropped to 3.8, the lowest rate since April 2000, and job openings have reached 6.6 million, the highest level recorded. The number of people collecting unemployment benefits has continued to fall to a near 44-year low.

-304,000 manufacturing jobs have been created  and manufacturing employment stands at its highest level since December 2008.

-337,000 construction jobs have been created  and construction employment stands at its highest level since June 2008.

-The Keystone XL and Dakota Access pipelines are under construction. Jobs created: 42,000.

-67 percent of Americans believe now is a good time to find a quality job, according to Gallup. Only Trump have more than 50 percent of Americans believed it is a good time to find a quality job since Gallup began asking the question 17 years ago.

-Prioritized job training and workforce development to empower workers to seize more opportunities (Executive Order to expand apprenticeship opportunities).

-Consumer confidence in current conditions has reached a 17-year high, according to the Conference Board.
Optimism among manufacturers has hit record highs according to the National Association of Manufacturers.

-Small business optimism has sustained record-high levels  according to the National Federation of Independent Business.

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Historic Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, cutting taxes for American families and making American business more competitive.

-American families received $3.2 trillion in gross tax cuts and saw the child tax credit double.

-The top corporate tax rate was lowered from 35 percent to 21 percent so American businesses could be more competitive globally.

-Rolled back unnecessary job-killing regulations beyond expectations. Deregulation has spurred business confidence, economic activity and stock market growth. saving $8.1 billion in lifetime net regulatory costs.

-Eliminated regulations at a two-to-one ratio, issuing 22 deregulatory actions for every new regulatory action. The Administration rolled back rules and regulations harming farmers and energy producers.

-Regional and community banks and credit unions got relief after President Trump signed legislation reducing harmful requirements imposed by the Dodd-Frank Act.

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Free, fair, and reciprocal trade deals that protect American workers, ending decades of destructive trade policies.

-Withdrew the United States from the Trans-Pacific Partnership negotiations and agreement.

-Working to defend American intellectual property from China’s unfair practices through a range of actions.

-Improved the KORUS trade agreement with the Republic of Korea, which will allow more U.S. automobile exports to South Korea with lower tariffs and increase U.S. pharmaceutical access to South Korea.

-Trade deals with Vietnam, Mexico and Canada. American agriculture has gained access to new markets.

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Leadership, secured vital investments in military, and addressed threats to national security.


-End to United States participation in the horrible Iran deal and immediately began the process of re-imposing sanctions that had been lifted or waived.

-Action to confront aggression by Iran and its proxies. Range of sanctions targeting Iranian activities and entities, including the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Qods Force.

-Led unprecedented global campaign to achieve the peaceful denuclearization of the Korean peninsula.

-Return of 17 Americans held overseas. In May 2018 alone, Venezuela released one American and North Korea released three Americans who came home to the United States.

-Historic increases in defense funding in order to rebuild military, after years of harmful sequester. Signed legislation to provide $700 billion in defense spending for fiscal year (FY) 2018 and $716 billion for FY 2019.

-Decimated ISIS.

-Strikes against Syria in response to the regime’s use of chemical weapons in April 2017 and April 2018.

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Secured borders, enforced immigration laws, and protected the safety and security of American communities.  

-Despite limited resources and obstruction from Congress, Trump has worked to take control of border and enforce our immigration laws.

-Called on Congress to provide the resources needed to secure borders and close loopholes that prevent immigration laws from being fully enforced.

-Authorized the deployment of the National Guard to help secure borders.

-Arrest made of 110,568  illegal aliens. Arrests made in this timeframe represented a 42 percent increase from the same timeframe in FY 2016. Of the 110,568 arrests made, 92 percent had a criminal conviction, pending criminal charge, were an ICE fugitive, or had a reinstated final order of removal.

-Combating the threat of MS-13 in order to protect communities from the horrendous violence the gang has spread.  In 2017, the Department of Justice worked with partners in Central America to file criminal charges against more than 4,000 members of MS-13.

-Cracked down on the import and distribution of illegal drugs in order to stop them from reaching our communities and causing even more devastation.  As of April 2018, U.S. Border Patrol has seized 284 pounds of fentanyl in FY 2018, already surpassing the total of 181 pounds seized in FY 2017. Most of these illegal drug come from China.

-Launched a nationwide effort to fight the opioid crisis, which has devastated communities across America.
The President’s Opioid Initiative seeks to reduce drug demand, cut off the flow of illicit drugs, and save lives by expanding treatment opportunities. Trump signed an omnibus spending bill which provides nearly $4 billion to address the opioid epidemic. The bill included $1 billion for grants focused on the hardest hit
States and Tribes and provided funding for a public-private research partnership on pain and addiction.
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More accountably  

-Signed legislation to bring more accountability to the Department of Veterans Affairs and provide our veterans with more choice in the care they receive.

-Signed the Department of Veterans Affairs Accountability and Whistleblower Protection Act of 2017, improving processes for addressing misconduct.

-Signed the VA Choice and Quality Employment Act into law, authorizing $2.1 billion in additional funds for the Veterans Choice Program.

-Eliminated the penalty for Obamacare’s burdensome individual mandate.

-Seeking to provide more affordable health coverage and broader access to affordable alternatives to Obamacare plans.

-Released a blueprint to lower drug prices for Americans.

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Religious liberties and conscience of Americans are protected and respected by the Federal government.

-Signed an Executive Order to protect the free speech and religious liberties..

-Guidance to all executive agencies on protecting religious liberty in federal programs.

I believe Trump is doing a much better job than President Obama.  

One thing I don't like is Trump increasing the huge budget deficit by the child tax credit and corporate tax rate cuts.
The money could have been used to lower the budget deficit.

Nevertheless, overall, In my opinion he has done a OK job compared to President Obama.  My favorite part is sex and payment to a porn star by Trump ........

All men pay for sex one way or another.  

true. sometimes I think a hooker would be even cheaper than having a wife