#upon being asked what he thought of canada being annexed like????

[xariarte]

all those american hockey players who are like, "yeah the way canadians are booing the anthem is lame" lack brains bc if canada's prime minister was threatening to annex your country, americans would be doing way more than BOOING AN ANTHEM

[trumptweettuesdays-blog]

TTT 7.17.18

This week’s themes are  Meeting with Putin and Russia Collusion, Meeting with May, Supreme Court, NATO, Immigration, North Korea, Campaigning, Pfizer, Propaganda, and Presidential Notes

Meeting with Putin and Russia Collusion 

Trump met with Russian President Putin in Helsinki, Finland.  While there Trump was asked about the fact that U.S. intelligence agencies stated that Russia interfered in the election.  Trump said that though he believed the U.S. intelligence agencies, he felt that Putin was very sincere in his denial of any participation in meddling.  Trump said: “I accept our intelligence community's conclusion that Russia's meddling in the 2016 election took place. Could be other people also. A lot of people out there.” Democrats and even many Republicans were shocked that Trump took Putin’s side and that he was on such friendly terms with Putin given the election meddling and numerous other moral and legal violations by Putin.  Trump defended himself by saying it was important to leave the past in the past, and that he was making the right decision by creating a positive relationship with Putin.

Although Trump would not say a bad wrong about the Russian dictator, he did bash former U.S. intelligence agency officers and other Democrats. He also took the opportunity to continue his claim that the investigation into the Russia collusion was a “witch hunt.”

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-44864739

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/jul/17/donald-trump-putin-summit-republicans

Meeting with May

Trump met with Prime Minister May Last week. May reported that he advised her to sue the European Union over Brexit, advice that May seems to condemn as she instead enters negotiations.

There was also some chatter as there was a picture of Trump holding May’s hand, but she says he was just helping her with some stairs.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/15/world/europe/uk-trump-theresa-may-brexit.html

Trump’s visit was also met by a very large anti-Trump protest rally.  Groups from many contingencies including women, LGBTQ, and pro-PM May, and pro-London Mayor Khan were in the streets making noise. At one point they sang:  “Donald, racist bigot, sexist bigot, Donald, Trump is a disaster.”  Protests also featured a large balloon of Trump in a baby diaper and holding a cell phone; Mayor Khan gave permission for the protest and flying of the balloon, which Trump heavily criticized him for.  U.S. protestors now received permission to copy the balloon design and plan to fly in locations around the country, including near his country club.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/jul/13/women-lead-day-of-angry-london-protests-against-donald-trump

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/baby-trump-balloons-blimp-protests-london-us-president-inflatable-a8452541.html

Supreme Court

Trump put forward Brett Kavanaugh as his nominee for the Supreme Court, this is the second time Trump has been able to nominate someone for the position on the nation’s highest court. The first justice he placed on the Court was Neil Gorsuch, a conservative and another White man. Trump was only able to get Gorsuch because Republicans strategically stalled and politically manipulated the situation during Obama’s presidency so that the choice would be Trump’s and not Obama’s.  Now that Trump is upset that Democrats do not support his choice of Kavanaugh, he’s blaming Democrats for not playing fairly.  This is another example of his extreme hypocrisy, not to mention the fact that it is the duty of Senators to vet the president’s nominee for the Supreme Court. 

https://www.cnn.com/2018/05/21/politics/gorsuch-comes-through-for-trump-and-big-business/index.html 

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/09/us/politics/trump-supreme-court-announcement-transcript.html 

NATO

Trump has been scathing in his criticisms of NATO members for not contributing more of their money to the funds.  He claims that the U.S. is providing way more of their fair share; in 2014 several NATO members promised to increase their funding, which was partially due to Russia’s increased show of threat after they annexed Crimea.  Trump reported that several countries agreed to up their spending and thanked him for his leadership; details on which countries or who said thanks is not to be found.

Trump also claimed that his meeting with Putin was ever more successful than his meeting with NATO, a narrative he pushed after showing love and support for Putin even though U.S. intelligence agencies found that Russia meddled with the election.

http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/397151-trump-nato-summit-was-truly-great

https://www.cnn.com/2018/07/17/politics/trump-nato-vladimir-putin-news-conference/index.html

Immigration

Trump continued his nativist propaganda this week, heightening the belief that undocumented immigrants are criminals by Tweeting out several stories depicting immigrants as particularly violent.  He also went so far as to say immigrants we're just using children to cross the border - a direct reply to criticisms that Trump separated families at the border and has now failed to reunite them as promised. Trump knows no boundaries to his racist propaganda as rather work on immigration policy he depicts immigrants as criminals, violent, and now child abusers.

Yet, he then also Tweets that Hispanics love him because they do better under his presidency. This statement is only, sort of partially true. The poll of 900 showed around 40 percent of Hispanics saying they feel financially better off but there is no statement about Obama and it wasn't a majority of the respondents.

https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/new-emerson-college-epoll--trump-congressional-democrats-voter-excitement-on-the-rise-4-months-from-midterm-elections-300677623.html

https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2018/07/10/trump-just-tweeted-about-emerson-college-poll-but-his-facts-weren-quite-right/SkKC6RatNX86J4m7bTNsgN/story.html

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/trump-migrant-children-reunite-deadline-parents-us-judge-aclu-a8439836.html

North Korea

Upon his initial meeting with Kim, Trump said denuclearization would happen quickly and begin right away. Now he's saying there is no time limit and that the process will likely take longer than anyone would like.  This timeline is a major reversal from what he was pushing just a couple months ago.

Meanwhile Trump Tweeted out a letter from Kim that overly congratulates Trump and refers to him multiple times as “his excellency.”. It's likely Trump just wants people to start calling him this in the US.  

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-44868727

Campaigning

DeSantis is running for governor of Florida and is now coming out ahead in the early polls.  DeSantis has received Trump’s support, and has featured Trump in his tv and mail ads.  

https://www.politico.com/states/florida/story/2018/07/17/poll-shows-trump-endorsement-gives-desantis-an-edge-in-florida-governors-race-513549

Trump is supporting Matt Gaetz of Florida.  Gaetz is a consistent supporter of Trump, frequently going on the news to defend him and argue their are “deep state” actors that are trying to ruin Trump. 

http://thehill.com/homenews/house/396855-trump-endorses-gaetz-in-reelection-bid 

Pfizer

As reported in last week's TTT, Trump admonished Pfizer for raising drug prices. The CEO asked for a phone call with Trump after which Pfizer delayed the increase of the drug prices for no more than six months. This gives Trump a win and makes it look like his campaign on reducing drug prices is working, an important statement during the upcoming mid-term elections. Of course, Trump does not note in his Tweet that the price increase is just a delay and not a permanent roll back. Always partial truths.

https://www.cnbc.com/2018/07/11/trump-told-pfizer-ceo-price-hikes-hurt-his-drug-plan-source-says.html

Propaganda

Trump Retweeted a video about his election win that highlights news pundits that did not believe he would win; he completed this video with more Tweets on how he won despite what others and the “fake news” thought.  Just more propaganda to keep him going, along with his feature on Sean Hannity and Tucker Carlson who are two of the nation’s most conservative attackers on activist movements.

And though Trump touts the stock market numbers, many economists say his trade and tariffs policies are hurting the economy and stock market.  Others suggest it is also possible that if the trade wars stay just long enough that the stock market could benefit.

Trump Retweeted Vice President Mike Pence’s op-ed in the the Daily Herald, which reads like a propaganda list of items that the Trump administration has made better for the U.S.  Pence mentions issues including tax deductions, end of federal regulations, and ending trade barriers.  The truth is that these policies all helped the wealthiest individuals in the U.S. the most

https://www.cnbc.com/2018/06/06/trumps-tough-trade-talk-has-cost-the-market-an-estimated-1-trillion.html

http://www.dailyherald.com/discuss/20180712/mike-pence-op-ed-trump-white-house-phenomenally-successful

Presidential Notes

Japan was hit by torrential rains that resulted in life threatening floods. Over 200 people died in the floods, and the destroyed area is now experiencing extreme heat.

https://www.cnn.com/2018/07/13/asia/japan-floods-intl/index.html

Trump and Melania attended a gathering in Brussels and posed for a beneficial photo op while Trump was in the area for the NATO meeting.

Trump congratulated the Thai navy seals who successful rescued 12 boys and their coach from a cave after being trapped for over two weeks.

https://www.theguardian.com/news/live/2018/jul/18/thailand-cave-rescue-boys-to-give-press-conference-live-updates