Drill Baby Drill...the US Politics Thread (Part 2)

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I like Gulf of Cuba, U.S.A. and Mexico. Or Gulf of CUM for short.

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https://x.com/RonFilipkowski/status/1889837575172677642

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The thing that gets me is that Trump is going to be lauded for stopping the war, when in reality he’ll sell Ukraine down the river, Putin will attack on a wider scale in a few years time and whatever European nations have not been overtaken by far-right Putin acolytes, will be standing alone.

It’s the Munich Agreement all over again.

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Best investment the war criminal ever made.

So, Trump is openly flouting the law and the US is rushing headlong towards a constitutional crisis, but it’s ok, because AOC said something once and, you know, trans athletes and stuff…

Yeah…sigh…
Not an excuse, but media coverage on the Ukraine War has been mostly abysmal here in Germany imo. Most people don’t have enough knowledge to filter through social media for trustable sources. So what a lot get is a picture of a pointless war that Ukraine can’t win anyway. You’ll get the same few experts trying to tell people otherwise, but then media love the he said/she said thing, so they’ll present someone making the counterargument. At best that leaves people confused. Add a chancellor that constantly sends a mixed message and many just retreat to a default ‘war is bad, peace is good’ position. Plus the russia bots.

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Trump calling into question some of the US Treasury debt, suggesting some of it is ‘fraudulent’, presumably based on the work of 23 year-olds who had never seen the system three weeks ago. There is a strong suspicion that they have misinterpreted the structure of TIPS (Inflation-Protected Securities), but the comments suggest just enough of a hint of disavowal to gear up some nervousness in the bond market.

That could get really ugly, really fast.

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Rachel Reeves does not like this comment.

That’s true but Trump made all sorts of comments about repudiating and/or restructuring Treasury debt in his first term.

Could he be just adopting his usual stance towards lenders - strikes me as the sort of thing he would do with his personal/ corporate debts…

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Actually, it might make her life dramatically easier. If T-bills become a questionable asset, gilt starts looking quite a bit better.

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He did, but there were more adults in the room back then. There has been more chaos in a month than he managed in the first two years of his administration, far more arbitrary action, far more disregard for Congress and the courts. The likelihood of acting capriciously toward the Treasury market seems far higher.

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It’s difficult to overstate how much even most Republicans in congress personally dislike him. They generally think many of these other noms are unqualified and dangerous. But they got personal satisfaction from blowing up Gaetz.

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Lavrov praising Trump as ‘well-mannered’ after his call with Trump. Sounds like the sort of thing one says about a good dog.

Reagan must be spinning in his grave.

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Trump is definitely a Russian asset. He is doing more to damage the west than Russia could have ever imagined.

I can’t help but feel that one key outcome of all this will be a massively strengthened China.

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There’s even a Chinese saying to that effect: 鹬蚌相争, 渔翁得利, which translates to, when the snipe and the clam fight, the fisherman profits.

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Of course it will. Under previous administrations, there was laid down much work to convince NATO allies, as well as allies outside NATO, that they should help deter China from regaining Taiwan by force of arms. Everyone agrees that Taiwan is part of China, but for the principles of self determination, this has been sold (it’s of course about economic factors, but principles are nice) to fairly unwilling allies. Ukraine is not part of Russia, but has been invaded unprovoked. Totally different scenario, but we are supposed to care more about Taiwan because that pleases the United States and Trump ? Nah…

Now the US will face China with possibly Australian, Korean and Japanese aid; but certainly not European. The incentive for European states to stop strategic deals with China that are economically very profitable, is weaker than ever. China is looking increasingly attractive.

Since all bets are off and Trump is saying out loud that the US will not guarantee the security of Europe, there is no reason why European states should endanger themselves by following behind the US and alligning their interests to that of the United States.
Of course, change will not happen tomorrow, but gradually. Trump is shattering the West.

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