The Many Faces of US Politics...

[trileacman]

Putin is the big winner in all of this. Has far greater diplomatic savvy than Trump who is all talk and relatively unable to back it up with action. The Wall, banning Muslim entry, jailing Clinton, etc could not be attempted in their entirety and will be only be attempted in some watered down piecemeal to save face.

Putin is the opposite, much more adept at unilateral action and has caught the West sleeping twice recently, firstly annexing Crimea and also diffusing the chemical weapons situation in Syria. It may have come at the cost of sanctions and such but it must be said when the West was dithering and talking he caught them on the hop.

I'm no admirer of Putin's ideology and understand the comparisons he has to a dictator but I do respect his acumen when it comes to international diplomacy. The USA's held their superpower position for the last century by rattling a big sabre. Trump's empty threats if repeated as president could lead to more countries calling their bluff on serious issues, Russia in particular could use Trump's inexperience (and apparent regard for Putin) to their advantage in the coming months.

[Declan]

In one last act of sad historical irony last night, Donald Trump  held his victory party in the hotel where Malcolm X spent his final night.
Interestingly "HILLARY WON THE POPULAR VOTE." A quarter-million more Americans wanted her, not him.

[Owenmoresider]

Watching the uber liberals shit themselves is almost worth the uncertainty.

Certainly no fan of Trump, but that is true, some real amusing hysterics from people on social media. Whatever you think of Trump and how good/horrid he may be, Clinton's defeat couldn't have happened to a nicer person.

[OgraAnDun]

Regarding the Suwalki gap... Russia are 'trying to annex' the Balkan countries (an easy explanation for dummies like myself) How has Trump got anything to do with this??

Trump said he would evaluate whether NATO members had paid their agreed amount into their defence budget before coming to their aid if they ever needed help. I don't know the exact figures but I'm fairly sure most of them (certainly the European members) aren't meeting the minimum spending of 2% GDP on their defence budgets.

[foxcommander]

And to think Irish politicians thought about banning Donald Trump from visiting earlier this year

That was the UK. And it was because of a petition to ban him.

http://edition.cnn.com/2016/01/18/europe/uk-parliament-debates-trump-ban/

It was Richard Boyd Barrett who was making noises about a ban.
Whats also worse is that Fine Gael and Fianna Fail publically backed Hillary's campaign and snubbed Trump. Not a good policy.

http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/politics/tnaiste-tds-to-fly-to-us-for-democrats-convention-34908788.html

Show us where 'Irish politicians thought about banning Donald Trump'.

One clown making 'noises' is hardly the same thing.

Here: http://fusion.net/story/255400/ireland-trump-ban-petition/


Enda said he'd meet him but give him an earful about his stances. Like Enda can take someone down with his quick wit...

Did you read your own link?

"..Though they will be discussed by the committee, it seems unlikely that they will result in any action...."

The bold above doesn't con anywhere near proving your claim that 'Irish politicians thought about banning Donald Trump from visiting'.

according to journalists. Read the first line.
http://www.thejournal.ie/ban-trump-tds-2546089-Jan2016/

There's a huge difference between thinking about it and putting into action.

You're a bitter fella today. Cheer up lad.

[Minder]

Watching the uber liberals shit themselves is almost worth the uncertainty.

Certainly no fan of Trump, but that is true, some real amusing hysterics from people on social media. Whatever you think of Trump and how good/horrid he may be, Clinton's defeat couldn't have happened to a nicer person.

As with the last General Election in 2015, Brexit and the US election, the lefties need to realise these things aren't won on social media

[GJL]

Serious amount of drama queens around the world. He won. The sky did not fall in. Get over it and get on with your lives. You never know, he may even do a reasonable job. As Clinton said herself, he deserves a chance to lead.

+1. It won't make a damn bit of difference to my life.

Oh yes it will!

How exactly ?

[Syferus]

Muppet is the board's resident Bill Maher, and as right as often as the man himself. Rarely.

[Milltown Row2]

Serious amount of drama queens around the world. He won. The sky did not fall in. Get over it and get on with your lives. You never know, he may even do a reasonable job. As Clinton said herself, he deserves a chance to lead.

+1. It won't make a damn bit of difference to my life.

Oh yes it will!

How exactly ?

I'm still waiting on brexit making a difference... would need to be worse than than the bank failure otherwise it's actually ok

[seafoid]

Serious amount of drama queens around the world. He won. The sky did not fall in. Get over it and get on with your lives. You never know, he may even do a reasonable job. As Clinton said herself, he deserves a chance to lead.

+1. It won't make a damn bit of difference to my life.

Oh yes it will!

How exactly ?

I'm still waiting on brexit making a difference... would need to be worse than than the bank failure otherwise it's actually ok

MR some UK diplomat said the UK foreign policy for the last 40 years has been as a bridge to an open US into an EU in which the UK paid a full part. Now all that is in bits .

[Milltown Row2]

Serious amount of drama queens around the world. He won. The sky did not fall in. Get over it and get on with your lives. You never know, he may even do a reasonable job. As Clinton said herself, he deserves a chance to lead.

+1. It won't make a damn bit of difference to my life.

Oh yes it will!

How exactly ?

I'm still waiting on brexit making a difference... would need to be worse than than the bank failure otherwise it's actually ok

MR some UK diplomat said the UK foreign policy for the last 40 years has been as a bridge to an open US into an EU in which the UK paid a full part. Now all that is in bits .

When I'm living on the streets I'll let you know!!

[muppet]

And to think Irish politicians thought about banning Donald Trump from visiting earlier this year

That was the UK. And it was because of a petition to ban him.

http://edition.cnn.com/2016/01/18/europe/uk-parliament-debates-trump-ban/

It was Richard Boyd Barrett who was making noises about a ban.
Whats also worse is that Fine Gael and Fianna Fail publically backed Hillary's campaign and snubbed Trump. Not a good policy.

http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/politics/tnaiste-tds-to-fly-to-us-for-democrats-convention-34908788.html

Show us where 'Irish politicians thought about banning Donald Trump'.

One clown making 'noises' is hardly the same thing.

Here: http://fusion.net/story/255400/ireland-trump-ban-petition/


Enda said he'd meet him but give him an earful about his stances. Like Enda can take someone down with his quick wit...

Did you read your own link?

"..Though they will be discussed by the committee, it seems unlikely that they will result in any action...."

The bold above doesn't con anywhere near proving your claim that 'Irish politicians thought about banning Donald Trump from visiting'.

according to journalists. Read the first line.
http://www.thejournal.ie/ban-trump-tds-2546089-Jan2016/

There's a huge difference between thinking about it and putting into action.

You're a bitter fella today. Cheer up lad.

Read the article, as against the first line and you might understand what is going on. They weren't 'thinking about it', they were going to examine the Dail standing orders to see if it was even proper to bring it up.

And is it ever possible that you might stop the ad hominems?

[muppet]

Serious amount of drama queens around the world. He won. The sky did not fall in. Get over it and get on with your lives. You never know, he may even do a reasonable job. As Clinton said herself, he deserves a chance to lead.

+1. It won't make a damn bit of difference to my life.

Oh yes it will!

How exactly ?

I'm still waiting on brexit making a difference... would need to be worse than than the bank failure otherwise it's actually ok

MR some UK diplomat said the UK foreign policy for the last 40 years has been as a bridge to an open US into an EU in which the UK paid a full part. Now all that is in bits .

When I'm living on the streets I'll let you know!!

No one said you will be living in the streets.

But when you are arguing that you are still waiting for Brexit to make a difference, at least 6 months before it's 2 year negotiation process even begins, then you are not really analysing the effects of Brexit are you?

Regarding the 26, with Brexit and a Trump Presidency to commence before next summer, yes things will change in Ireland. Our biggest market will contract and the worlds' largest economy could move in any direction, bringing their multinationals and a huge part of our GDP with them.

The Baltics, Ukraine and even Findland could find themselves with a managing Russia flexing more muscle than usual, now that for the first time ever, they got their man into the White House. So how will that affect our EU colleagues?

If you want to argue that nothing will happen then fair enough, but it would add credence to be able to point to some reasons why. Calling people drama queens isn't really much of an argument and neither is saying that nothing has happened yet, when neither of the problem scenarios have even commenced yet, is an even dafter argument.

[GJL]

Serious amount of drama queens around the world. He won. The sky did not fall in. Get over it and get on with your lives. You never know, he may even do a reasonable job. As Clinton said herself, he deserves a chance to lead.

+1. It won't make a damn bit of difference to my life.

Oh yes it will!

How exactly ?

I'm still waiting on brexit making a difference... would need to be worse than than the bank failure otherwise it's actually ok

MR some UK diplomat said the UK foreign policy for the last 40 years has been as a bridge to an open US into an EU in which the UK paid a full part. Now all that is in bits .

When I'm living on the streets I'll let you know!!

No one said you will be living in the streets.

But when you are arguing that you are still waiting for Brexit to make a difference, at least 6 months before it's 2 year negotiation process even begins, then you are not really analysing the effects of Brexit are you?

Regarding the 26, with Brexit and a Trump Presidency to commence before next summer, yes things will change in Ireland. Our biggest market will contract and the worlds' largest economy could move in any direction, bringing their multinationals and a huge part of our GDP with them.

The Baltics, Ukraine and even Findland could find themselves with a managing Russia flexing more muscle than usual, now that for the first time ever, they got their man into the White House. So how will that affect our EU colleagues?

If you want to argue that nothing will happen then fair enough, but it would add credence to be able to point to some reasons why. Calling people drama queens isn't really much of an argument and neither is saying that nothing has happened yet, when neither of the problem scenarios have even commenced yet, is an even dafter argument.

Blind speculation is not exactly a great argument either. We will all look back in 10 years and wonder what all the fuss was about. Chill out. 

[muppet]

Thinking about this more, we have lived for the last few decades in the post Soviet Union era. Countries in Eastern Europe left the USSR, joined the EU and even joined NATO.

Along with the UN, the latter 2 organisations were created to prevent another World War. And they succeeded.

Now the UN is redundant, Britain has pulled the plug on the EU, while the US has elected a President who wants to scale down NATO and appears to be under the influence of a particularly menacing Russian dictator.

Yesterday may look, to future historians, as the inexplicable end to a great era.