Sound The TRUMPets! A Thread for Presidential Pondering 2016-2020(?)

[Karl Henning]

Not fair!  Get 'im out!

[zamyrabyrd]

Yes, it is sickening. What makes it worse is that the question the reporter was trying to ask was exceedingly simple: There has been a big uptick in threats including bomb threats against Jewish institutions. What if anything are you going to do about it?

Well, what should he do about Antisemitism? It seems to me, "damned if you do or don't".

[kishnevi]

Well, what should he do about Antisemitism? It seems to me, "damned if you do or don't".

He could have given a different answer, is what he could have done.
He could have pointed out the rise in Islamic anti-Semitism.
He could have pointed out the Left's crusade against Israel and how that is allowing anti-Semitism to take root among the Left.
He could have made it a law and order thing.
Any of those would have harmonized nicely with his administration's policies.

Instead, he whined that it was a plot by the Left to make him look bad.

[zamyrabyrd]

Actually the reporter was quite gracious after the conference, despite the rude answer he got from Trump:

https://www.youtube.com/v/q--TSu6knoY&t=11s

[Florestan]

He could have given a different answer, is what he could have done.
He could have pointed out the rise in Islamic anti-Semitism.
He could have pointed out the Left's crusade against Israel and how that is allowing anti-Semitism to take root among the Left.
He could have made it a law and order thing.
Any of those would have harmonized nicely with his administration's policies.

Instead, he whined that it was a plot by the Left to make him look bad.

And he certainly could have used "Please, let me finish my sentence!" instead of "Quiet! Quiet!" --- or could he? 

[Florestan]

Actually the reporter was quite gracious after the conference, despite the rude answer he got from Trump:

He was gracious during the conference as well. A true gentleman.

[Karl Henning]

Actually the reporter was quite gracious after the conference, despite the rude answer he got from Trump:

Even more gracious than the President, indeed.

Anyway, what more could El Tupé do about Anti-Semitism better than hiring Bannon as his chief strategist?

[Todd]

Turns out Trump is a precog.

[drogulus]

He could have given a different answer, is what he could have done.
He could have pointed out the rise in Islamic anti-Semitism.
He could have pointed out the Left's crusade against Israel and how that is allowing anti-Semitism to take root among the Left.
He could have made it a law and order thing.
Any of those would have harmonized nicely with his administration's policies.

Instead, he whined that it was a plot by the Left to make him look bad.

     The left is not threatening violence against Jews. Sure, he could have answered with usual suspects garbage while treating the reporter like a human being. That would have been better than what he did, though it would have been par for the demagogic course. If you're sentient you know the left is not attacking or threatening Jewish community centers. The question is properly directed to Trump because 1) as President he should reassure anyone in danger that violence and threats will not be tolerated by the government and 2) as Trump the demagogue he must be forced to do his duty because he won't if he isn't.

   

[zamyrabyrd]

Turns out Trump is a precog.

Are they going to blame him? Like self-fulfilling prophecy?

[kishnevi]

     The left is not threatening violence against Jews. Sure, he could have answered with usual suspects garbage while treating the reporter like a human being. That would have been better than what he did, though it would have been par for the demagogic course. If you're sentient you know the left is not attacking or threatening Jewish community centers. The question is properly directed to Trump because 1) as President he should reassure anyone in danger that violence and threats will not be tolerated by the government and 2) as Trump the demagogue he must be forced to do his duty because he won't if he isn't.

   

The campus Left and the professional Left are very active in supporting Hamas--whose principal goal is killing Jews--and shutting out Jews from campus politics, activism, and even free speech on the claim, often contrary to fact, that they support the Israeli right wing.

The possibility that the bomb threats emanate from various sectors of the Left is not a fantasy, although not currently the most likely source.

[Florestan]

Turns out Trump is a precog.

He set it up, aided by the Russians. 

[zamyrabyrd]

The campus Left and the professional Left are very active in supporting Hamas--whose principal goal is killing Jews--and shutting out Jews from campus politics, activism, and even free speech on the claim, often contrary to fact, that they support the Israeli right wing. The possibility that the bomb threats emanate from various sectors of the Left is not a fantasy, although not currently the most likely source.

Exactly, that is why the question touched a raw nerve.
Now, what if DT said the above? All you would need is one Neo-Nazi white supremacist who by the way supports Trump and happens to be an Antisemite to contradict this premise of the Left being the racists, then all hell would break loose.

[Todd]

Are they going to blame him? Like self-fulfilling prophecy?

Someone will, no doubt.

He set it up, aided by the Russians. 

You know it is dangerous to leak secrets that reveal the extent of the Trump-Putin bromance.

[ahinton]

Immediately shut down all mosques in which radical Islam is preached (plenty of them in Europe, especially France, Belgium and the UK), deport all non-national radical imams and forbid the national ones ever to preach in another mosque (you are British, Anjem Choudary surely rings a bell to you). Tolerating those who openly and publicly proclaim that their sacred duty is to destroy you is not virtue, it is the folliest of follies.

I did and do not suggest that nothing could or can be done; I do not say that what you suggest could not be accomplished at least in some instance. What I do say is that this would do little more than knock the tip off the iceberg, especially since such deportees would only go do so their dastardly stuff somewhere else until found out for it in the place to which they've been deported.

[Florestan]

I did and do not suggest that nothing could or can be done; I do not say that what you suggest could not be accomplished at least in some instance. What I do say is that this would do little more than knock the tip off the iceberg, especially since such deportees would only go do so their dastardly stuff somewhere else until found out for it in the place to which they've been deported.

You have to start somewhere, though. By this all-or-nothing token, we should not prosecute murder cases because we can't solve them all.

[ahinton]

Nor do you offer any credible answers, or any answers, at all.

#1750 offers some, which are fine insofar as they go and to the extent to which they can be carried out successfully, although shifting the problem elsewhere obviously does little else besides relocating it.

I do not offer answers of any kind that I do not pretend to have; to offer any that I can only pretend to have would be dishonest. The police and security services in most democratic countries are by no means without powers to take certain steps in this regard, but the prospect that this would be sufficient to stamp out radicalisation and the terrorist activity that often follow on from it altogether would be little more than a pipe-dream. What is important (albeit only in the long run) is to try to get to the bottom of what motivates people to radicalise others and what prompts people to plan and/or commit acts of terrorism, without a thoroughgoing understanding of which what happens will, as I mentioned previously, be little better than trying to kill off all dangerous and potentially dangerous mosquitoes by swatting and/or spraying them.

I've never claimed otherwise; please point out where I made such a claim.

I do not know whether you made such a claim but I did not state that you had personally done so; don't take so much on yourself and assume too much.

And then point out where other people argued the US has the jurisdiction, as opposed to the power, to do so.  The US, does, however, via its sovereign power as a nation state, and practically through its extended sovereignty overseas at US embassies, consulates, and diplomatic missions, and through working with other governments, have the power to restrict who enters the US without having to meet the beyond a reasonable doubt standard.  That is one, small, practical tool to be used.

It is indeed, but there can be no guarantee of its use being successful in all instances. As I've stated, steps can be taken but, just as governments' police and security/intelligence services can do what they're empowered to do, so can those intent on committing crimes against people, property, the state or whatever; it's a matter of who can be the winner of any battle of wits at any time and in any place.

In any event, the problem where US (and other countries) is concerned is that those who might threaten people, property and the state are not all immigrants, some of them already being based in US.

[ahinton]

You have to start somewhere, though. By this all-or-nothing token, we should not prosecute murder cases because we can't solve them all.

I no more suggested that nothing can or should be done than I did that nothing is being done; police and security/intelligence services do what they can and perhaps they could do better but, until and unless those trying to do something about it for the long term develop sufficient grasp of what is at the root of such activity, I doubt that much will improve.

I don't think that anyone is suggesting that terrorism cases should not be prosecuted because they cannot all be solved but, as in murder cases, first catch your criminal/s and then subject them to due judicial process.

[ahinton]

Turns out Trump is a precog.

Turns out that the reporter can't even spell "predominantly"...

[Florestan]

I don't think that anyone is suggesting that terrorism cases should not be prosecuted because they cannot all be solved but, as in murder cases, first catch your criminal/s and then subject them to due judicial process.

The radical imams I was refering to walk freely in many European cities and are known to the police and secret services by first name, second name and address.