to be fair, your explanation was pretty much exactly what i meant.

:)

You may be right about the bunker-busters (the rest of the week should answer that question), but I think the Nobel (or "Noble" as he calls it) Peace Prize will be forever out of reach for him, personally. Just my $0.02...

Yes, well, I am not convinced that Trump knows much about the art of the deal nor about how to solve the Iran nuclear issue nor the Israeli-Palestinian conflict nor how to generally put that entire region on a more peaceful track, so I wouldn't bet on Trump receiving a Nobel peace prize, either.

to be fair, your explanation was pretty much exactly what i meant.

;)
JL

nypoet22 [2] -

OK, now THAT was funny!

It was... and I'm standing myself in the corner (again) for apparently not realizing he was joking.

Good point about the old-man thinking. I keep wondering when the media will actually notice this. He has seemed out of touch and very low energy for like the past year or so, at least...

-CW

Yeah, major egg on my face. I mean... you try to write a nice article about Trump... you even avoid using the TACO term... and it all falls apart.

(sigh)

-CW

You may be right about the bunker-busters (the rest of the week should answer that question), but I think the Nobel (or "Noble" as he calls it) Peace Prize will be forever out of reach for him, personally. Just my $0.02...

-CW

OK, now THAT was funny!

:-D

-CW

Stephen Miller. And his henchmen. That's who I was talking about. They have no long game, they are all about cruelty for cruelty's sake, I think.

and I would check the box of "ideological morons," personally...

-CW

ICE raid

ICE officials told to resume raids on hotels, restaurants, and farms

Well, that was quick.

Wow, Bash! That really was quick.

What could be the explanation for this rapid complete 180 degree flip-flip on the flip-flip?

Don't tell me. *thinking* It's TACO Tuesday!

I guess he is bitter about the whole No Kings being the biggest protest in American history while the military was having too much fun at his underattended birthday parade...

That too. Is this perchance going to be one of those "immigrants for me but not for thee" type issues? When does ICE raid Trump Winery, hotels, (obviously) Mar-a-Lago, etc.?

Well, that was quick. I guess he is bitter about the whole No Kings being the biggest protest in American history while the military was having too much fun at his underattended birthday parade...

If Trump is willing and able to provide that kind of leadership and get the region on track to solving the Iranian nuclear threat as well as the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, then he may very well get that Nobel peace prize he dreams of. People ...er, presidents have received that particular recognition for a lot less!

The Norwegian Nobel Committee handing a Nobel Peace Prize to the guy who actually ripped up the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action a.k.a. Iran nuclear deal in 2018 and actually also repeatedly discussed the idea of Gaza being taken over by the United States and floating the name "Riviera of the Middle East" and describing Gaza's potential as a resort and sharing an AI-generated video on his American Pravda social media depicting "Trump Gaza" (complete with a golden statue of himself) would be interesting as hell but seems highly improbable (in my opinion).

I mean, keep in mind that Trump is still the jerk who routinely speaks of Canada as the potential 51st state of America, covets Greenland and is definitely the moron who started a trade war with generally the entire human world and also islands containing no humans whatsoever but definitely some penguins. Just saying. :)

contrary to popular belief, donald is not stupid. he just plays stupid on TV.

Yes, but I would say that depends entirely on what you specifically mean by the term "stupid." There are definitely demonstrable ways in which Trump is infinitely ignorant; he's just definitely not "stupid" regarding the issues of exploitation, manipulation, and pathological fabrication and therefore has no practical need of science and actual factual information because he generally takes both sides of any issue you can name while routinely creating his own reality when it suits him.

He also believes his own totally fabricated bullshit. How stupid is that?

Well, if it was a decision that Trump made after talking to only one person (doubtful), I will speculate that it was an individual with the surname "Trump" and definitely was not anyone named "Stephen Miller."

He is finally (slowly) realizing that the vast majority of undocumented immigrants work very hard, are good people, and they form the backbone of several important American industries.

I'm going to take issue with the idea that Trump didn't already know this since he's definitely been exploiting (and attempting to exploit) undocumented immigrants for decades in his several "important American industries," and he obviously claims to hire "only the best people." Trump therefore admitting that the people he hires are "great" isn't exactly a revelation. Yes, there's obviously some sarcasm in that exercise of dot connection.

Because the entire policy shift happened so quickly, without any planning or coordination, it caught others in Trump's inner circle by surprise.

This is the group we are referring to when we make the factual statement that connecting the dots isn't exactly the strong suit of many of the MAGA minions.

The "round them all up" faction is reportedly apoplectic about this change in policy, and Trump has even been getting pushback from some of his MAGA followers who were blindsided by Trump backing down in such dramatic fashion.

How uninformed and/or outright ignorant do you have to be to be "blindsided" that an opportunist who has been exploiting undocumented immigrants for decades would ultimately take your side regarding said issue when the rubber met the proverbial road? Trump will obviously still attempt to take both sides of the issue; meanwhile, it'll be interesting to watch as the so-called "blindsided" MAGAts meet the wheels of the bus going round and round.

To tell the truth, I did expect Trump to cave on farmworker raids.

You think!

Note (by punctuation) that that is definitely not a question; that's a compliment. :)

Yes, he definitely is not. And, to the point,

I've beem thinking that this new war between Israel and Iran opens the door to many possibilities for sustainable peace in the Middle East, at long last. Which would include Trump talking about giving Bibi those bunker-busting bombs (and the bombers) that will in turn give the Iranians something to think about. But, as with most geopolitical crises, it's going to take some pretty deft US leadership of the kind rarely if ever seen in my lifetime.

If Trump is willing and able to provide that kind of leadership and get the region on track to solving the Iranian nuclear threat as well as the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, then he may very well get that Nobel peace prize he dreams of. People ...er, presidents have received that particular recognition for a lot less!

But I am now more curious than ever about the "round them all up" faction of the White House staff that you mention, saying they are "reportedly apoplectic about this change in policy". Who exactly are these people? What did THEY think was going to happen to the American economy, on their president's watch, had they succeeded in rounding all the undocumented immigrants up? What was their plan, their big picture, their long game?

Are these people intelligent in any sense, or are they ideological morons who don't actually think about the world as it really is? Trump, I understand. He sells what he thinks will sell for his own benefit, and he doesn't actually have any beliefs at all - it's just transactional for, again, his own benefit. But his advisers, who he does listen to and who do work out the actual operational orders, legal documents, manpower allocations, and media releases that he has no idea of: where do they come from, and why are they so incredibly, unbelievably stupid about the real world of economics and politics?

TACO. Trump Always Chickens Out. And here he's doing it again. Predictable, as you say about your own instinct on this cruel and often illegal 'deport them all' policy. But the reason he always chickens out is he's getting incredibly bad political and policy advice from ... from whom?

Consistently, over many years now, incredibly bad political and policy advice. From whom?