The Trump Presidency | Biden Inaugurated

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RedTiger said:
Anyone know how Trump humiliated Merkel?
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He openly slated Germany and especially BMW and Mercedes and their importing of cars to the USA he also said he would put a stop to that and impose huge taxes on them. He then scolded all NATO members and mentioned Germany again when saying they owe years of membership fees and should start paying their fair share. He also refused to commit to the Paris Agreement and he didn't mention Article 5 in his speech. Let's not forget he handed her an imaginary bill for NATO fees when she came to the White House and he flat out ignored her and refused to shake her hand for the cameras.

There are also (I would say extremely valid) rumours suggesting that Trump must have been extremely insulting in private to Merkel. It's said Trump must have offered her no assurances or given her any hope or confidence in anything he said for her to react the way she did in her speech that said Germany couldn't rely on the US anymore.

To say that Trump has pissed off lots of countries and their leaders over the last few days of his trip is putting it extremely mildly and underestimating it severely.
 
German carmakers don't sell millions of cars in the U.S. Last year, the total unit sales of Volkswagen, BMW and Daimler reached 1.3 million (not counting Lamborghinis). At the same time, the German companies produce about a million vehicles in the U.S. For example, BMW made 32,659 sports utility vehicles in Spartanburg, South Carolina, in April 2017; it churns out 1,400 a day, most of them for export. The relatively few BMW X5s on German roads are made in Spartanburg, too: It makes sense for BMW to make the large cars closer to their main market.

Daimler made a total of 300,000 Mercedes cars in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, in 2016. The plant is the state's biggest exporter. VW's Chattanooga, Tennessee, operation has a 150,000-vehicle production capacity and also is export-oriented.

The U.S. does have an auto trade deficit with Germany. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, it exported $2 billion worth of cars, trucks, buses and parts to Germany (including those BMW X5s) in the first three months of 2017, and imported $7 billion worth. But it's with Mexico and Japan that the U.S. has the biggest vehicle trade shortfalls.

Source: https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2017-05-26/-bad-germans-and-other-trump-blunders
 
Blackwidow said:
German carmakers don't sell millions of cars in the U.S. Last year, the total unit sales of Volkswagen, BMW and Daimler reached 1.3 million (not counting Lamborghinis). At the same time, the German companies produce about a million vehicles in the U.S. For example, BMW made 32,659 sports utility vehicles in Spartanburg, South Carolina, in April 2017; it churns out 1,400 a day, most of them for export. The relatively few BMW X5s on German roads are made in Spartanburg, too: It makes sense for BMW to make the large cars closer to their main market.

Daimler made a total of 300,000 Mercedes cars in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, in 2016. The plant is the state's biggest exporter. VW's Chattanooga, Tennessee, operation has a 150,000-vehicle production capacity and also is export-oriented.

The U.S. does have an auto trade deficit with Germany. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, it exported $2 billion worth of cars, trucks, buses and parts to Germany (including those BMW X5s) in the first three months of 2017, and imported $7 billion worth. But it's with Mexico and Japan that the U.S. has the biggest vehicle trade shortfalls.

Source: https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2017-05-26/-bad-germans-and-other-trump-blunders
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I dont know why you even need to justify Trump's accusations. He is a dimwit and should be treated as one.
 
That BMW plant in Spartanburg is a massively important employer in my part of the state. Ironically, that plant employs A LOT of Trump voters. He shouldn't play with fire there.

Edit: that's not to mention all the knock on effects BMW has on the Upstate via people employed making parts to send there, Clemson locating the ICAR center near the plant, etc.
 
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Carolina Red said:
That BMW plant in Spartanburg is a massively important employer in my part of the state. Ironically, that plant employs A LOT of Trump voters. He shouldn't play with fire there.

Edit: that's not to mention all the knock on effects BMW has on the Upstate via people employed making parts to send there, Clemson locating the ICAR center near the plant, etc.
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Its amazing how little Trump knows outside real estate and grabbing pussies.
 
JPRouve said:


Is that campaign talks or something changed?
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Here's how I perceive it; other German users might disagree.

Germany has a bit of history of 'anti-Americanism' in parts of the society. Not just since the wall came down and UdSSR indoctrinated GDR citizens joined the FRG. Politically that was (and still is) reflected in some parts of the SPD (though not in the part which Schulz is rooted in), also in the Green Party, and nowadays of course the Left Party. I remember from my childhood days (80s) rallies against American weapons and troops on German soil, and 'Ami go home' graffitis. (Ami is a colloquial but very common German abbreviation for Amerikaner - Americans.)

Schulz has always been a die-hard European citizen. Not surprising if you look at his bio. (Journos who followed him for months and are otherwise critical of him say that this conviction is totally genuine, not made up.) He's always pushed for a strong, united Europe, with close relations with the US, tied to NATO, but a bit more at eye level, not just an appendix to the US.

CDU/CSU however have always been very convinced Atlanticists, so convinced that they would have joined the war in Iraq if they had been in power.
When Merkel acknowledged that it would hinder her political career if she kept that view, she slightly adapted where necessary but remained a convinced Atlanticist.
However, she's first and foremost a pragmatist, not an ideologist. Don't forget that she's a scientist and will always attempt to convince her political counterparts by rational arguments. But that also means that she's among the first to acknowledge when someone - like Twitler and his administration - act so irrational that it would be totally naive to rely on the US/EU relationships as we know them. Then she acts as she does now.

If Clinton had won, I'm sure Merkel wouldn't think or seek more independence from the US, and Schulz in a very different way.
 
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Crossie said:
Here's how I perceive it; other German users might disagree.

Germany has a bit of history of 'anti-Americanism' in parts of the society. Not just since the wall came down and UdSSR indoctrinated GDR citizens joined the FRG. Politically that was (and still is) reflected in some parts of the SPD (though not in the part which Schulz is rooted in), also in the Green Party, and nowadays of course the Left Party. I remember from my childhood days (80s) rallies against American weapons and troops on German soil, and 'Ami go home' graffitis. (Ami is a colloquial but very common German abbreviation for Amerikaner - Americans.)

Schulz has always been a die-hard European citizen. Not surprising if you look at his bio. (Journos who followed him for months and are otherwise critical of him say that this conviction is totally genuine, not made up.) He's always pushed for a strong, united Europe, with close relations with the US, tied to NATO, but a bit more at eye level, not just an appendix to the US.

CDU/CSU however have always been very convinced Atlanticists, so convinced that they would have joined the war in Iraq if they had been in power.
When Merkel acknowledged that it would hinder her political career if she kept that view, she slightly adapted where necessary but remained a convinced Atlanticist.
However, she's first and foremost a pragmatist, not an ideologist. Don't forget that she's a scientist and will always attempt to convince her political counterparts by rational arguments. But that also means that she's among the first to acknowledge when someone - like Twitler and his administration - act so irrational that it would be totally naive to rely on the US/EU relationships as we know them. Then she acts as she does now.

If Clinton had won, I'm sure Merkel wouldn't think or seek more independence from the US, and Schulz in a very different way.
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Thanks for that.:)
 
langster said:


Well, if you can't beat them.................................................

Also, the replies, ugh, so depressing and frightening.
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Some of those people are the absolute very worst America has to offer. One feckwit had as his profile bio "#Catholic, #Freedom, #Liberty, #banislam".

These wacko right wing religious nuts love freedom and liberty but only for the people who think like they do.
 
Rado_N said:
Some of those people are the absolute very worst America has to offer. One feckwit had as his profile bio "#Catholic, #Freedom, #Liberty, #banislam".

These wacko right wing religious nuts love freedom and liberty but only for the people who think like they do.
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:confused:
 
Unusual timing from CNN on releasing this story. Their stories tend to be released during the day and not early morning.

 
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Fergies Gum said:
Unusual timing from CNN on releasing this story. Their stories tend to be released during the day and not early morning.

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Logged in to post this. :)

Speaking of CNN: They interviewed a small panel of Twitler supporters. Migraine-inducing to say the least.
 
Adisa said:
There were rumours over the weekend staff were about to leave and write books.
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The guy who said that is on par with Claude and Mensch.

A liar who is looking for attention and should be ignored with the claims he makes.
 




I can't believe someone hasn't taken him to one side and told him not only that he is wrong, but also to SHUT THE FECK UP! He's making things much, much, much worse. I think it's intentional too. He wants the US to appear like the victim, to appear they are being hard done by and that only he can fix it. Then when he fights back he can say it was only in self defence.

And now he's back to Russia again.

 
Rado_N said:
It's also taken over the Fake Senate you clown.
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He's unbelievable. He really doesn't know when to shut up does he?

Apparently Spicey Spicer is back doing todays WH press briefing. He's going to be taking some shit and it will be interesting to see how he handles it and what he says. Then wait a few hours for Trump to come and contradict him :lol: Seriously though, on top of all the Kushner stuff that KellyAnne has been explaining away all morning, one of the questions will be why did their communications director resign after only 3 months in the job?
 
langster said:




I can't believe someone hasn't taken him to one side and told him not only that he is wrong, but also to SHUT THE FECK UP! He's making things much, much, much worse. I think it's intentional too. He wants the US to appear like the victim, to appear they are being hard done by and that only he can fix it. Then when he fights back he can say it was only in self defence.

And now he's back to Russia again.

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He's a fecking embarrassment.
Imagine how Americans must feel?
 
That Germany tweet.
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If he can't get his head around the data on his "historical" Electoral College win, why think he can get his head around any kind of data, nevermind complex trade deals?
 
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