US Politics |OT|

[the-pi-guy]

Tober said:

I'm not as good as you clipping parts of the discussion in a way to make it more readable, so apologies for that in advance.

Funnily enough, I've been criticized for it. 

Even though I'm just trying to make it a little clearer what I'm responding to.

Tober said:

"Significant death and disease? Really?? OK The USA does know a lot about causing death and disease all over the world LoL." This was a tongue in cheek comment about the US favorite pastime: Bombing other countries. If the USA would reign that in, it would do more good than any foreign aid program.

USAID and vaccines: Helping save 9.3 million children in the last 10 years

I'm well aware the US government has caused a lot of damage. But they've also had some great programs that have done an incredible amount of good. 

Tober said:

I believe the stance of trumps political adversaries has always been he's the 'Liar in Chief', it's been over the campaign and beyond for years. A good example though where all of a sudden his word is taken seriously is when in his first term he claimed he would leave NATO. This caused quite the ruckus. He'd obviously never do it, because NATO is a big customer for US military equipment, but since he was painted as "a Madman that is capable of anything", it was taken seriously and several countries upped their defense budget.

We see something similar now. He claims to shut down USAID. Everyone takes his word for it, but if you notice the pattern, then he always claims big to get something moving and in the end something else happens. USAID as with every other foreign aid program of any country (including my own), is a great vehicle to bribe other foreign officials. Trump knows that and won't give that up. At most he will fold it in the the Department of State. 

You're giving Trump an enormous benefit of the doubt, despite his actions contradicting it. I will believe it if/when it happens. 

You're presuming that Trump does this to make big promises, and not the possibility that sometimes his mind has gotten changed by his advisors or Congressional Republicans.

I think in general, Trump does things to benefit himself. If he thinks it would make him more popular amongst Americans to pull out of NATO, I bet he would do it. 

Tober said:

Bubbles are real. That is no insult. We are part of a bubble called "Gamers who like statistics". That's why we are on this site. Overall I cannot leave the impression that most contributors to this Political forum would rather walk through glass shards barefooted than mention anything they agree with Trump on. Or Republicans in general. Yet he is voted in by the majority of Americans. I can only assume not many of those are "Gamers who like statistics". Perhaps my impression is wrong. Could be.

I'll note that I didn't say "bubble" - but rather criticizing echo chambers where everyone have the same opinion. I wasn't using it as an insult. 

I think plenty of people here would agree with some things. No more minting 'wasteful' pennies, Trump tells Treasury. 

I'd be happy to see more efficient government spending. But I'm concerned about who will benefit and who will get hurt from the cuts. Trump has a solid track record of helping the people who need help the least, while hurting the people who need the most help. And some people here are more concerned by how the process is happening. 

Congress is supposed to be in control of spending, and yet we have the richest person on the planet going through deciding what he likes and doesn't like. 

Trump was voted in by a plurality, not a majority. US also has a bad track record for voter suppression, which likely had an impact on how well Trump did. 

I also feel like it doesn't make sense to criticize people who are gamers for being politically interested. Some of the people on this forum have PhDs in different subjects. It makes little sense to dismiss this "bubble" on account of just being gamers. Personally I am more involved with politics than I am with gaming. I've only played a couple games in the past year. 

Tober said:

Russian Propaganda? I don't know. But than again a lot was claimed Russian propaganda over the years. Hunter's laptop? It just seems these are words uttered easily like 'Dictator', 'Threat to Democracy'. Words that are thrown around so many times, they start to loose meaning.

But we'll ignore Trump calling this the laptop from Hell?