In what world is international trade "foreign aid?" Actual foreign aid to Mexico is about $50 million a year.
You are aware that the Mexican government is one of the most corrupt in the world? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corruption_in_Mexico#Border_Issues "The Mexican government has historically accomplished very little in terms of effectively curbing the offenses of these TCOs and cartels, and has often actually been complicit in aiding their actions."
Surely. But what will a wall change? If the Mexican govenment is that complicit, then they can easily dummy up some passports or whatever other kind of travel documents for air/water travel. Which I'm guessing renders a wall pretty much moot, right?
Sorry, I was looking at a chart that was inflation adjusted for 2010. ( http://us-foreign-aid.insidegov.com/l/112/Mexico )
I'm really not arguing for/against a wall. I was just pointing out that Mexico doesn't have a whole lot of choices that don't severely cripple their own economy.
Trump is going to try to cripple their economy whether they go along with his wall or not, so Mexico really doesn't have anything to lose by telling him to pound sand.
To me, the treatment of Mexico can be tied directly to backing out of trade deals, defunding the UN, questioning the value of NATO. In one form or another, whether it's through illegal labor freely remitting funds out of the country untaxed, paying for bureaucratic bodies who are ineffective at best or forcing countries to foot their share of their own sovereign defense costs; it all points to this Government telling the world that the times of free-riding are quickly coming to an end. I am hopeful that the next phase of this shift will see military installations in some of the 150 countries we are currently in start to close. With all that money not being pissed away in playing Team America around the world, we can probably afford some pretty kick ass upgrades to our infrastructure and schools.
I don't understand this idea that the post-war order the US built and maintained over the last 70 years is all just some big giveaway to the rest of the world, that no President, Democrat or Republican, has been able to see for what it is. We benefit massively from it, and at a dirt cheap price (both in blood and treasure) compared to what similar gains would cost to achieve in a purely belligerent and militaristic way. Trump has been adamant about increasing our military spending, so I don't know where this purported giant savings is going to come from.
Paying the operating costs for the military facilities and people around the world, if they want to maintain that order should be borne by the host nations. If everyone else is so interested in keeping the UN and NATO running, they should offer to cover more of 20-25% covered by the US. We all know, when the bullets start flying, it will be the US that has to do ALL of the heavy lifting. If the rest of the world thinks it such a great idea they can pay for it. I'm interested in a strong national defense that is paid for the by the taxpayers. If the world wants a strong international defense backed by the US (which is what they currently have), they can pay to support that. Globalization and international policing is not working. Time to try something else.
So military spending by the EU/Japan/South Korea/etc goes up. Military spending by the US goes up. Where in this equation are we finding extra money to fund schools, roads, etc?
http://bigstory.ap.org/article/46a9...pokesman-trump-calling-20-percent-tax-imports 20% tariff at the southern border proposed
No matter your feelings on the wall, I think we can all appreciate the brilliance of this comment left on a story about the wall: The Chinese took their Great Wall of China down because it was a symbol of communism, confinement, and oppression. So that's what we will have an oppressive America, confined by a wall. I hope the Mexican let me in, I'll spend my free American money and make them prosper.
Poll after poll after poll keep indicating that Trump supporters genuinely do not understand the reality in which they live. Very basic things like "Obama was born in the United States," "Antonin Scalia was not murdered," "Trump's inauguration was not as well attended as either Obama's or the Women's march," "the stock market is higher now than it was in 2009," "Donald Trump did not win the popular vote," and "vaccines do not cause autism." I don't know how we're supposed to have a functioning democracy when a good chunk of the country doesn't have the tools to make a rational decision, even before their ideology and personal opinions are applied.
http://imgur.com/a/i9iH6 In his first week, he has: Frozen all EPA grants and forbidden the EPA from awarding any new contracts. Placed gag orders on the EPA and USDA that forbids their employees from talking to the media about anything. Banned all federal agencies from posting on social media about anything. Instituted a federal hiring freeze that prevents every federal agency, even your local post office, from hiring any new employees (military and the Department of Homeland Security are exempted) Re-instituted and strengthened a global gag order on abortion information. Nominated a man who said he wants to eliminate the Department of Energy to head the Department of Energy. Nominated a woman who said she wants to eliminate public education to head the Department of Education. Nominated a man who wants to eliminate net neutrality to head the FCC. Signed a bill that hikes FHA mortgage rates for poor people. Signed executive actions to push through construction of the Dakota Access and Keystone oil pipelines. Ordered his press secretary to lie to the press about the size of his inaugural crowd. Introduced the phrase "alternative facts" into the public discourse. Told congressional leaders that 3 million "illegal votes" cost him the popular vote in the election, then had his press secretary double-down on the claim the following day, and now has Congress investigating his baseless claims. Said in an on-camera interview with David Muir of ABC News: "I've spoken as recently as twenty-four hours ago, with people at the highest level of intelligence, and I asked them the question, 'Does it work? Does torture work?' And the answer was yes. Absolutely." Claimed in an on-camera interview with David Muir of ABC News that not a single one of the 3-5 million "illegal votes" he alleges were cast in the 2016 election were cast for him. Threatened martial law in Chicago via a twitter post. I cannot fathom how the next 4 years are going to go if anyone takes him seriously.
I feel like I should point out that my local post office has had a "Now Hiring!" sign outside it for the last week or so.
Nice polling. No bias at all. Sample Question: Q22 What do you have a higher opinion of: Donald Trump or root canals? 38% Donald Trump ................................................ 49% Root canals ..................................................... 13% Not sure
Everything is bias, nothing is real, therefore we don't have to take responsibility for our choices. The Republican credo.
Hey, if you want to put a great deal of stock and formulate an opinion of all those who voted against you by using a poll that asks: Do you have a higher opinion of Donald Trump or Hemorrhoids Cockroaches Nickelback Used Car Salesmen Traffic Jams Hipsters DMV Root Canals Jury Duty Lice By all means knock yourself out and continue to whine about uninformed, stupid voters. Until the left figures out that calling everyone that doesn't completely and totally follow the party line names, they're going to continue to lose power. Good luck with that.
The polls you have posted are by a blatantly obvious Democratic polling company. Are you really that fucking surprised that they say people hate Trump? Looking at those "polls" I find it hard to believe they didn't intentionally manufacture them to get the results they desired. Seriously... on what planet is Trump vs Root Canal a realistic question? The more you post bullshit like that the less credible you become.
I don't care about the various approval rating questions, I care about the correlation between voting for Trump and believing falsehoods about very simple factual matters. Same thing in this Economist/YouGov poll: https://d25d2506sfb94s.cloudfront.net/cumulus_uploads/document/ljv2ohxmzj/econTabReport.pdf