Biden gets on board (Page 2)

Not saying you don't have the biggest GDP or Nuclear weapons.

You posted a bunch of numbers showing the "generosity" of the US, I simply said that if you put in terms of per capita, you aren't any more, not much less charitable than any other country.

I said it before, the world needs a leader, like the US has traditionally been. It's good for the world and it has served US interests at the same time.

You started this thread of discussion by saying Biden was not fit to be the "leader of the free world". My point is Trump is certainly not.

And you are entitled to your opinion. I suppose we just disagree on how the world should be “led”. We LEAD the world in GDP and technology and liberty. Maybe other counties need to follow our lead. It is not the job of a leader to drag someone into our way of thinking about capitalism and liberty. Countries are free do do as they see fit. We lead by example.

BTW we also lead the world in higher education, space exploration, military technology....but most importantly, in liberty.

Back to OP. Biden would be a puppet of the far socialist left and I honestly believe he is in mental decline and will never be able to serve out 4 years.

I think the thing we see differently is dependency on one country to another.

It's not a hard dependency, the US could 100% live on its own without ever talking to someone outside its borders. But it's much better off with allies and friends and those allies are much better off with the US.

Generations of leaders before recognized this and tried to build on it. Economic cooperation makes everyone richer. Military aid and cooperation makes everyone safer.

In the absence of these alliances another country will fill the void. That is currently China. And as much as I disagree with some of your choices, they are your choices. I would much rather have you as an ally than China.

These alliances takes years to build and they have all kinds of shortcomings. But to just destroy them, based on half truths is bad for everyone. This is frustrating for me. Many countries could try and "lead" this but it takes clout.

China is taking over latin america. China is going to now fill the void in Europe. This isn't good for Europe and sure isn't good for the US.

BTW, I don't think Biden is quite there but I do believe he's still better than Trump. And I wonder if he'll last 4 years as well. I'm sure you guys could have come up with 2 better candidates than this. Kanye isn't one :-)

Please define lead? What else do you think the US taxpayer should be paying for on other countries? Right now, more than ever, we have our own problems. We do not need to take on all the problem of the world.

I don't think the US taxpayer should be any more than it is. Maybe it is contributing too much to some efforts.

If they are paying more than their fair share for the UN, or WHO or......have a proper dialogue to solve it.

If Canada committed to x% of GDP to NATO and is not doing, force them to. But do it properly. not by public shaming, hissy fits.....

Look at this. What country, typically an ally of the US, actually has a good relationship with the US right now ? This is not normal.




Edited by marcag 2020-07-07 5:16 PM

Meh......they'll suddenly have a great relationship if they need military help. LOL

So true. Now that I think of it, why waste time on diplomacy.

Get dirt on your prez's political opponents, learn to spell qui-pro-quo and bam, military aid !!

Seriously? How much dirt did Canada dig up?

You stated previously that is NATO members were not paying their fair share it should be rectified. Why wasn’t this done during the last 30+ years? Because presidents didn’t want to “offend” our “allies” by calling them out. This includes both dem and rep administrations. We finally have a president with the balls to call them out! Same situation with moving the embassy in Israel. Obama, Bush and Clinton all ran on the promise of moving it. Yet after they one they suddenly lost the balls to do so. They were afraid of the backlash. Trump did what he said he was gonna do. That right there is why his supporters are rock solid in their support of him.

A man’s word is his bond. If his word is no food, he is no good. These are words I live by and have do so my whole life. I’m not a Bible thumper but my favorite scripture is, “He that swears an oath, even to his own hurt, and changes not”. IOW, you give your word, you keep it even if the situation changes and it hurts you to do so. People borrow money or run up cc debt with the promise of paying it back. But when they lose their job and it’s harder to pay back, they default on the debt, they go back on their word. It’s easy to make promises on the campaign trail but after being elected it’s harder to do. This is true of Dems and reps, especially when it comes to fiscal issues of spending and debt. It’s one thing to run on cutting spending but once in office you realize that your next election is at stake if you don’t go along with the spending bills.

Jokingly I was referring to Ukraine

Canada hasn't asked for military aide. We were however first to jump in Afghanistan when a Nato Ally was "under attack".



I think one of Trump's biggest accomplishments is he kept his word on election promises. I applaud him for that.

How truthful he is in general is another story.


Edited by marcag 2020-07-08 6:37 AM

I have a good friend who tends to boast about everything he has ever done and he is prone to stretching the truth to make himself look better. But he’d take a bullet for me without a moments thought and I would do likewise for him. We all have flaws. Mine is the lack of humility. I am very proud of my humility. I once won an award for my humility....but when I went to accept the award, they rescinded it.

I wish Trump was more humble and stuck to the facts but he is a showman and perhaps this is why he as been so successful.

I'll give you another example of diplomacy and how you deal with your allies.

The CFO of Huwaei is "wanted" in the US for some type of illegal activity. Not sure the details, I think it's related to business they did against an american embargo.

She (the CFO) was in Canada. The US asked to arrest and extradite her. We arrested her. China retaliated and arrested two innocent Canadian citizens and charged them with espionage. They made it clear it was retribution.

So we did what was right but one of our allies and got screwed doing it. Now two canadians

Many US diplomats have asked Trump to intervene. Pompeo himself has said this is just wrong. We have no clout. They are upping the pressure with economic sanctions. All because we are doing what's right by our allies.

Should Trump intervene. We know he won't. He doesn't want to upset president Xi. He can call it Kung Flu, but wouldn't want to upset president Xi.

So you blame the US for what China did? I’m sure the US and Canada has an extradition policy and if Canada asked us to extradite someone we would do it and deal with the consequences accordingly.

Nope I do not blame the US for what China did.
But I would expect the US to follow the suggestions of it's senior diplomats, Pompeo included and put pressure on China.



Interesting. The wife of a US diplomat killed a british motorcylist, driving on the wrong side of the road. She immediately fled the country. The UK ask for her extradition. The US refused with the excuse of diplomatic immunity. I have heard several diplomats with no skin in the game, from completely unassociated countries say there is no way diplomatic immunity applies.

The UK and US have an extradition agreement. Johnson appealed directly to Trump. It got stuffed.

Two incidents that have diplomats from all over shaking their heads.

For some reason this cracks me up! Diplomats all over the world shaking their diplomatic little heads over Trump. LOL.

I think this is one area we have very diverging opinions : the value of foreign affairs.

I just read that the NYTs is recommending Biden not debate Trump unless Trump releases his tax returns.

So you see, I’m not the only one who thinks Trump will destroy Biden in the debates. If Trump doesn’t destroy him Biden’s husband will.

It cracks you up because many of those people forgot they aren't in charge of making policy. They have been entrenched in those jobs for years and decided they know best. Nah.. you work for the President, who sets foreign policy, or you quit. I see Lt. Col Vinman has resigned and is still whining....buh-bye.