The Trump Presidency is steadily taking root

a reply to: nwtrucker

Thank you bud.

originally posted by: angeldoll
I read a scary article yesterday, that people are beginning to accept his crap as "normal". It's NOT normal. HE is not normal. His cabinets are NOT normal. For God's sake, get his family out of the west wing, (how ridiculous is that?) stop lying like a rug, and engage in some diplomacy and stop acting like a fool.

All this sh!t is NOT normal. How much more of this crap are we going to have to put up with? His approval rate is at 34% so I would say, he's not doing well at all. In fact, he's doomed in his own destruction.

Hey! Just another perspective, right? On a site where all 34% of those people who approve of him apparently post here.

"Complacency is the hobgoblin of little minds." I think somebody really smart said that.

It is normal. You just got used to a political terrorist in Obama.

a reply to: UKTruth

The terrorism from that era is only just getting started...

a reply to: nwtrucker

Do you have a source on that 'deal' being negotiated by the Obama administration?

Here's a couple:

Trum p says his Saudi deal will create jobs. The companies involved aren’t so sure.

Whether and where those jobs will actually materialize is anyone’s guess — and the only new jobs that have been announced will be in Saudi Arabia, where Lockheed Martin will employ 450 workers to manufacture Black Hawk helicopters.

i.e no American jobs (at least not yet)

Regardless of its worth, everything about the Saudi arms deal — except for the $24 billion in military gear that was approved for sale to the Saudis by President Barack Obama and was reportedly part of the package — is pure Trump:

and except for

For one part of the larger deal, which reportedly comes to $350 billion over 10 years and includes both military and infrastructure spending — the $20 billion that the Saudis pledged to private-equity giant Blackstone to help the firm fund U.S. infrastructure projects — the answer to the latter question is very little. Trump adviser and Blackstone chief executive Stephen Schwarzman said the $20 billion had been in the works for more than a year, easily predating Trump’s administration.

And is the total $350billion or $110billion?

Trump’s $110 Billion Arms Deal With Saudi Arabia Doesn’t Exist

The signature triumph of President Trump’s trip to the Middle East was the sale of $110 billion of weapons to a totalitarian, Islamist government that funds terrorism, arrests women for driving, and is deliberately engineering a famine in the region’s poorest country.

Wait. Wut? Is it $350 or $110 billion? I don't know where WaPo got that $350billion figure - everybody else says $110 billion.

But like so many other episodes of this reality-TV presidency, Trump’s big sale was a stage-managed stunt. As the Brookings Institution’s Bruce Reidel writes:

I’ve spoken to contacts in the defense business and on the Hill, and all of them say the same thing: There is no $110 billion deal. Instead, there are a bunch of letters of interest or intent, but not contracts. Many are offers that the defense industry thinks the Saudis will be interested in someday. So far nothing has been notified to the Senate for review. The Defense Security Cooperation Agency, the arms sales wing of the Pentagon, calls them “intended sales.”

None of the deals identified so far are new, all began in the Obama administration.

… Moreover, it’s unlikely that the Saudis could pay for a $110 billion deal any longer, due to low oil prices and the two-plus years old war in Yemen. President Obama sold the kingdom $112 billion in weapons over eight years, most of which was a single, huge deal in 2012 negotiated by then-Secretary of Defense Bob Gates … With the fall in oil prices, the Saudis have struggled to meet their payments since.

If so, why wasn't it consummated then?

Deals like this don't happen overnight. I have no idea what the discussions have been; I do think there were issues with the Saudi involvement in Yemen, and the Administration held up some items from the 'old' deal - that may well have had a cooling effect on the 'new' proposals. Oh, and hey, you know that Saudi is a financial backer of international terrorism, dontcha? Think that may have given Obama pause?

Obama did approve a $25billion deal, and the $20 billion Blackstone part took over a year to set up and Trump claimed brownie points for that. Do you think the details of the other $65 billion (or $305 billion if you use WaPo's numbers) just popped up out of thin air in a couple of months while Trump didn't have anyone running the Defense Department, State Department, whatever department? This stuff is on-going carry over work, in the planning, negotiating stages for a very long time.


My guess is that Trump saw that there was something on the table and he just said "Okay, lets go with what is there ready or not. I can say something cool and claim its worth hundreds of thousands of jobs while I'm at it". Furthermore, Trump 'needs' a plausible reason to bomb Iran (or at least abrogate the nuclear treaty) so this way he gets the Saudi's to beat up on Qatar, who will be supported by Iran, and 'viola'. Trump is great at this kind of hostile action, 'believe him'.

originally posted by: nwtrucker
a reply to: rnaa


Do you have a source on that 'deal' being negotiated by the Obama administration? If so, why wasn't it consummated then?

From what I've seen, the Saudis weren't very happy with Obama and his deal with Iran...likely the real reason and fear that they positioned themselves with the U.S via Trump and his 180 degree policy shift with Iran.. Also, the greeting for Trump was way above the respect shown Obama and his visit.(Not that I trust the house of Saud.)


I'm not saying your take is wrong. Just from what I've seen, your view of it raises more questions. Just saying.

That is indeed a very interesting talking point. I can just picture the Saudis being pretty pissed off with Obama over Iran.

I'm going to say right now that I prefer the Shiites over the Sunnis due to there more secular attitudes. However, the whole 'keep your enemies closer' attitude does kind of make sense in a twisted way.

a reply to: rnaa

Thanks for the links. First off, I don't trust the Saudis. Of course deals take time. Yet, they consummated with Trump. Obama 'bent over' for Iran and with their 'deal'. That logic tells me the 'deal' by SA was a carrot and withheld. Just a guess, I admit.


The 110 Billion was the first year's deal. The 330 Billion was the total 'proposed' package over ten years, IIRC.

As far as the Corporate quote about jobs, I trust it not. Some corporate types are losing due to Trump policies and some gaining. It isn't even logical that increased orders wouldn't increase jobs somewhere down the line.

As you point out, nothing signed. A PR move by both the Saudis, obviously to make Trump look good- as was the royalty level greeting Trump received- and by Trump. I still believe the House of Saud is more fearful of the Syria-Russia-Iran coalition than the U.S. and Israel.


Just speculation on my part, but IF SA doesn't get their # together and work with Trump- he's obviously given them a 'mulligan'- it'll be Trump that cancels, not SA.

That open hand by Trump could easily become a fist....

SA fought HARD to keep their NAME out of the 9.11 Comission report.

Conservatives for YEARS have criticized Saudi. Now?

NOPE! Not a big deal at ALL!

Weird how things FLOP 180 degrees ... eh?

a reply to: Wide-Eyes


I recall a few months back that the Saudis were working with Israel on intel and counter insurgency issues...

Apparently, they're beginning to realize they have nothing to fear from Israel....FINALLY!


All these little points seem to add up to SA 'bending knee' to the U.S. rather than the decades of the other way around.

a reply to: nwtrucker

Well if I was Iran, I would be bending knee to the US and Israel right now to avoid any excuses for a war. Iran need to be extremely cautious in the next few years.

They are on the list and they know it.

It's less taking root, than oozing around like a watery mold.

This week alone, we had the ridiculous loyalty oaths of his feckless politburo, and the song styling of Jeff "Nervous Man" Session:



And we learned Trump's under criminal investigation for obstruction of justice, money laundering, and likely collusion (i.e. espionage).

If those are roots they're very weak, spindly things.