The Many Faces of US Politics...

[screenexile]

Trump caught out badly flip flopping on jailing women who seek an abortion.

Surely this is going to be the theme from now on as we move to a General Election. He's going to have to start moving to the centre at some stage to win the White House but will this see his grassroots disappear??!!

Whatever about how heinous he is and catastrophic it would be for him to be in the White House it is an interesting race there's no doubt about that!

[Hound]

Trump caught out badly flip flopping on jailing women who seek an abortion.

Surely this is going to be the theme from now on as we move to a General Election. He's going to have to start moving to the centre at some stage to win the White House but will this see his grassroots disappear??!!

Whatever about how heinous he is and catastrophic it would be for him to be in the White House it is an interesting race there's no doubt about that!

I think it was "made a complete balls up, then tried to fix it" rather than "flip flopping"!

I'd say "I'm like Ronald Reagan" is a mantra we'll hear Trump repeat a lot between now and the end.

[Hereiam]

Is America looking at its first female president

[screenexile]

Is America looking at its first female president

I don't see how she can mess it up from here... y'know unless she goes to jail for the email thing!

[GJL]

Is America looking at its first female president

I don't see how she can mess it up from here... y'know unless she goes to jail for the email thing!

Hillary 2/5
Donald 7/2

Paddy knows.

[Hardy]

Is America looking at its first female president

Through its fingers.

[J70]

Trump caught out badly flip flopping on jailing women who seek an abortion.

Surely this is going to be the theme from now on as we move to a General Election. He's going to have to start moving to the centre at some stage to win the White House but will this see his grassroots disappear??!!

Whatever about how heinous he is and catastrophic it would be for him to be in the White House it is an interesting race there's no doubt about that!

Bad week for "The Donald". First, his campaign manager gets charged with assault on the Breitbart reporter, with the video proving Trump a liar. Then Trump hilariously tries to say the video proves HIM right and that the woman (a reporter) was holding a deadly weapon (a pen). So first, she was never touched, but then Lewandowski grabbing her was justified because she might have killed Trump!

Then the abortion thing yesterday, which he had to very quickly disavow.

Of course the "Trump tells it like it is" morons will see all this as only further evidence of how he will " make America great again".

[foxcommander]

Is America looking at its first female president

I don't see how she can mess it up from here... y'know unless she goes to jail for the email thing!

Hillary 2/5
Donald 7/2

Paddy knows.

Leicester City 5000/1

Paddy is a spoofer

[GJL]

Is America looking at its first female president

I don't see how she can mess it up from here... y'know unless she goes to jail for the email thing!

Hillary 2/5
Donald 7/2

Paddy knows.

Leicester City 5000/1

Paddy is a spoofer

£2.5 Billion. Spoofer indeed.

[AZOffaly]

What odds is Bernie?

[GJL]

What odds is Bernie?

12/1

[Hardy]

I see Jeb Bush is 540/1 on Betfair. I'm going to have a wee flutter. It could well be a contested convention. Even if it's not, I wouldn't be surprised to see the Rep. grandees tweak the rules to stymie Trump. In either case, all sorts of people come into play, not just the remaining candidates at the end of the primaries. A return to the Bush dynasty might well be exactly the recipe to calm the troubled waters.

At least I don't think it's as unlikely as 540/1.

[J70]

If there is to be a saviour or knight in shining armour, Paul Ryan will be the man.

[easytiger95]

I see Jeb Bush is 540/1 on Betfair. I'm going to have a wee flutter. It could well be a contested convention. Even if it's not, I wouldn't be surprised to see the Rep. grandees tweak the rules to stymie Trump. In either case, all sorts of people come into play, not just the remaining candidates at the end of the primaries. A return to the Bush dynasty might well be exactly the recipe to calm the troubled waters.

At least I don't think it's as unlikely as 540/1.

Throwing money away there Hardy - Ryan will be the unity candidate as J70 says.

[Declan]

While the charade of the election takes over the media behind the scenes it's the same old story:


As tensions continue to escalate between Russia and the West, the Pentagon has announced plans to deploy U.S. troops, armed with modern equipment and heavy artillery, full time along NATO's eastern borders.

The so-called "European Reassurance Initiative," will be the first such deployment since the Cold War ended, The Wall Street Journal reported. Its purpose: To deter Russian aggression while serving to reassure Western allies of U.S. commitment to the region.

General Philip Breedlove, the top U.S. commander in Europe, announced the plan on Wednesday, calling it a "strong and balanced approach to reassuring our NATO Allies and partners in the wake of an aggressive Russia in Eastern Europe and elsewhere."

"Our allies and partners will see more capability," he said in a statement. "They will see a more frequent presence of an armored brigade with more modernized equipment in their countries."

The new proposal would put an additional U.S. armored brigade in Europe, specifically along NATO's eastern flank. The brigade, which typically comprises about 4,200 soldiers and hundreds of heavy vehicles, tanks and other equipment, will rotate in on a continual basis, and will be divided across six countries: Lithuania, Estonia, Latvia, Poland, Romania and Bulgaria.

Lt. Gen. Ben Hodges, the commander of U.S. Army Europe, said the proposal would create "a constant presence of U.S. forces along NATO's eastern border."

"There will be American equipment and people in each of these countries," Hodges told the Journal. "We will have the flexibility to converge the entire brigade for exercises and that is an important part of the deterrence, to show a warfighting capability."

Slated to start in February 2017, the plan will increase the number of U.S. combat brigades in Europe to three. Currently, there are approximately 62,000 U.S. military forces, including a reported 25,000 Army soldiers, permanently based in the continent.

According to Pentagon spokeswoman Laura Seal, the proposal will also allow for the U.S. to bring in more advanced equipment to eastern Europe.

"This will be the most modernized equipment the Army has to offer, and will, over the next year, replace the less modern training equipment we put in Europe over the last few years," Seal told AP.
The new gear will reportedly include 250 tanks, Bradley Fighting Vehicles, Paladin self-propelled howitzers and more than 1,700 additional wheeled vehicles.

According to Mashable, the Pentagon requested $3.4 billion in February for the initiative, after the White House gave the go-ahead. Congress, however, still must approve the request.

Relations between the Kremlin and the West have been particularly strained since Russia's annexation of the Crimean Peninsula in 2014, and its subsequent military actions in Ukraine. Just this week, the mounting tension was highlighted again when Russian President Vladimir Putin said he would boycott the Nuclear Security Summit in Washington.

"Russia's decision to certainly not participate at a high level we believe is a missed opportunity for Russia above all," Ben Rhodes, deputy national security adviser to the White House National Security Council, told reporters on Tuesday. "Frankly, all they're doing is isolating themselves."