Paul Revere by Cyrus Dallin, North End, Boston

~~~

~~~

Saturday, June 2, 2018

Well, yeah. Except for the Trumpistas, who doesn't already know this?




Renowned Economist Jeffrey Sachs Rips Trump As A Gibbering, ‘Delusional’ Threat


He calls for removal of the president using the 25th Amendment.


American economist Jeffrey Sachs has written a scathing takedown of President Donald Trump, calling him a delusional, psychopathic “threat to the nation and the world.” He might be a “Manchurian Candidate” who is working as a “stooge” for some foreign power to destroy the U.S., Sachs wrote on CNN’s website Friday, referring to the spy movie thriller. 

 “Much more likely, Trump is just mentally unstable and narcissistic,” he added, calling the new announcement of tariffs on exports from Canada, Mexico and the European Union part of a “psychopath’s trade war.” 

 Sachs, a renowned Columbia University professor who heads its Center for Sustainable Development and serves as a senior adviser at the United Nations, said no one expressed “a single word of respect for Trump” during his recent trip to Europe. Their question was: “How did America fall so far so fast?” Sachs wrote. 

 Trump’s “so-called policies are not really policies,” he added. “Trade wars are on, off, on hold, on again, within the span of days. ... Foreign companies are sanctioned today and rescued the next. ... Global agreements and rules are ripped to shreds. 

Trump’s garbled syntax and disorganized thoughts are impossible to follow.” Sachs has bashed Trump’s economic actions several times. Earlier this year, he said the president’s tariffs prove he “flunked economics” and makes “primitive errors because he hasn’t a clue as to how the world economy works.”

Meanwhile:

19 comments:

skudrunner said...

What does the president have to do with PR not reporting the correct numbers. Jeffery Sach's advisor to the hollywood elite and director to sustainable development is a great reference because he looks at both sides. Maybe we could get kudlow to review the effects of obamacare on the working poor, hardly a fair assessment.

There are no trade wars even though the media portrays them as such. Tariff equalization would be a more accurate description. I think it is silly to try and protect union jobs in the steel industry by imposing tariffs but why should another country impose 10-15% tariff on imported American autos when we impose a 2.5% on foreign imports.

You really feel that is equitable? The one group who should support this measure is the democrats because they own the union vote which this protects the most. Of course democrats own the black and Jewish vote and look what they have done to those groups.

Les Carpenter said...

This no longer matters. It is a WASTE of pen and breathe. tRump has won. America is over the cliff. Rescue is not possible.

Buh Bye America... We have willingly accepted plutocracy, rule by personality, and ignorance.

The third world awaits our loyal servitude to a orange haired Jackass.

Right Dave?

Kevin Robbins said...

Apparently you don't have to be a renowned economist to notice. One of the mothers of the victims in Santa Fe said talking to him was like talking to a toddler.

Dave Miller said...

Shaw... I don't know the answer to this, but it's a question I've been thinking about a lot lately...

What if Pres Trump is the most disgusting person ever to be president but in spite of that America flourishes and grows? If, and I agree it's a big if, we get some sort of peace on the Korean peninsula, the economy continues to hum and people are working, what does the left say? Shouldn't we be rooting for success in Korea?

Sure he's a lout, a liar and a serial cheater. But what if, in spite of that, America prospers?

The left has never been on the morals train. As a largely non religious group, a persons moral sins have largely been overlooked as long as we agreed with their policies. Ted Kennedy is a good example. Besides his Chappaquiddick episode, he's had multiple wives, a long history of infidelity, drunkenness and more. Yet we stood by him. Because we believed in him and his view of government.

I get the hypocrisy of the right on Trump, I really do. I'm a pastor and a missionary. Many on the right are from my tribe of Christianity. Few see the betrayal of past values, and Christianity, as closely as I do. But setting that aside, admittedly a tall order, what if America grows and succeeds in Trumpland, albeit with different methods than us lefties would choose?

With all due respect to folks like Sachs, unless and until the GOP grows a spine, Trump is not going anywhere.

Dave Miller said...

Skud... please don't live in the old news that the Dems have done nothing for African Americans.

Yes, it's true that up until the mid 60's, Dems, especially from the south, were a pretty racist lot. But the two parties essentially switched in the years surrounding the Civil Rights Amendment. Those racist Dems left their party and aligned with the GOP. Then the moderate GOP members, slowly left, or were forced out of the GOP.

The result were parties vastly different from their own histories. The GOP became the Party of Lincoln in name only. The Dems became the party that fought for civil rights, due process and many other policies that benefitted African Americans.

Those, like yourself, who in 2018 tar the Dems with the past sins of their party, which they have disavowed, are simply being intellectually dishonest. Why do you continue to do that?

Dave Miller said...

Les... I haven't figured out what the world expects from us. I can however speak of Mexico.

On July 1 Mexico will hold her elections. And on July 2 they will announce, unless he is killed, that Manual Lopez Obrador will be the next President. And in December when he assumes office, instead of a partner, we will have an unfriendly neighbor living next door. Largely as a result of Mexican unhappiness with their economy and the inability of the PRI party to deal effectively with Trump.

And then the world will look different for us.

The partnership that has existed since the 1990's will be over and both countries will suffer as a result. You can't treat neighbors as enemies. Insults, tariffs, and disrespect are not the ways to build cross border alliances. Sadly, right now, that's part of the Trump legacy.

Les Carpenter said...

Humans are pretty much the same so I suspect the larger western community views tRump very similar to Mexico.

Infidel753 said...

Dave: As a largely non religious group, a persons moral sins have largely been overlooked as long as we agreed with their policies.

Biggest non-sequitur ever. It's always been the religious that hypocritically overlook abusive pastors, molesting priests, and all the holy thieves and sickos and criminals that seem to infest the upper ranks of every church -- even going to extraordinary lengths to protect them and intimidate the victims into silence. Now Evangelicals are doing the same for Trump.

Ted Kennedy.....we stood by him.

Not all of us. See my "obituary" when he died.

Infidel753 said...

Shouldn't we be rooting for success in Korea?

Of course we should be rooting for the best for the rest of the world. In Korea, the credit for the new prospects for negotiation belongs mostly to President Moon, not Trump -- most Americans pay little attention to what's going on in the outside world, so whenever anything happens, they assume that some American person or initiative must be the primary cause of it, since the real primary cause flew under their radar.

But even as we hope for other countries to prosper in spite of Trump, we should still not flag in our efforts to get Trump and as many Republicans as possible out of office. Trump is promoting bigotry and theocracy at home. His judicial appointments will eventually seriously erode gay rights, women's rights, workers' rights, and separation of church and state. His idiotic policies are undermining America's leadership role in the world and could eventually lead to an economically disastrous trade war. And every day he remains in office carries the continued risk of him carrying out some stupid military action in a fit of temper, perhaps even nuclear. We've been lucky so far to avoid any really major disasters. We're still obligated to remove him before one finally does happen.

Dave Miller said...

Perhaps Infidel, I should have said politicians, instead of "persons".

I'm not quibbling over evangelicals hypocrisy at this point, it's well on display. However, it is hard to deny for example, that liberals like us, largely gave Pres Clinton for his peccadillos. Even yesterday, he fails to acknowledge that his behavior was in fact, at least under the definition we'd used for years, was sexual harassment towards Monica Lewinsky.

As her boss, he was, as we'd been told for years by NOW and other feminist organizations, in a power position above her and that single fact, made it impossible for her to give consent to any sexual act. The simple fact that it happened, in the work place, between a boss and an underling many tiers below his level, was always considered harassment.

Except to tar Pres Clinton, would have wiped out "one of our own." So we brushed that aside. Oh that Al Franken would've been so fortunate.

Regarding Korea... based on what I've seen and read, an approach to Korea different from Trump seems to be one of more of the same. Well that policy hasn't worked. Why not try a different approach? Kim, lies, obfuscates and tries for the best advantage for Korea. The two are a good match. There are many opinions across the political spectrum that seem to grudgingly give Trump credit for bringing about the atmosphere for change.

I worry that many on the left might be so blinded by Trump hate/disgust/loathing that no matter what he does, we will not see anything good in what he does. We argued for years that if it happened on Obama's watch, he got the credit, or the blame. Why not now?

For the record, I can't stand Trump or his Admin.

Steven said...

No Infidel753 these people are not rooting for the country, they are rooting for the President to fail, they STILL haven't gotten over the failure of their GODDESS Hillary Clinton's downfall.
And the fact that a non-politician was able to defeat her. And I guess that they never will.
So there you have it in a nutshell. They would rather see the North Koreans have the bomb and for us to live in fear than to admit that this President has done what No other President including OBAMA was bale to do.

Shaw Kenawe said...

Steven said...
"No Infidel753 these people are not rooting for the country, they are rooting for the President to fail..."

That's exactly what the wingnuts did when Obama won in 2008. Rush Limberger led the screamers in their hope for Obama to fail. Shoe on the other foot, and all that, eh?

More people voted for Hillary Clinton than voted for President Spanky. She was America's choice, not the foul-mouth Don the Con. Hardly a "downfall" when the majority of Americans chose her.

Trump is a politician of the first order: He doesn't fulfill his campaign promises, he hasn't drained the swamp, and he lies on a daily basis. A real DC politician by definition.

"President has done what No other President including OBAMA was bale to do."

So far, President Spanky has done nothing. I wouldn't count your chickens quite yet. Don the Con is a bumbling idiot who knows nothing about diplomacy or foreign policy. He proves that all the time.

Shaw Kenawe said...

Trump Aides Worry He Doesn’t Have Good Grasp on the North Korea Situation

Q.E.D.

Ducky's here said...

skud, Germany makes a lot of it's cars for the American market in America. Porsche is the major exception.
We import some luxury models.

Now do you think he should be mouthing stupidity like wanting to push German luxury cars out of the American market just because he dislikes Angela Merkel? Is that sound trade policy?

His trade policy seems just to the right of L'etat c'est moi .

Ducky's here said...

Steven, the idea that the left wants to see NK have the bomb ignores the fact that they already have it.

If he can get through this first round with some progress toward a treaty between NK and SK, I will be the first to congratulate him.
However, if he approaches this in the same way he's tried to push our allies around on trade then he may make matters worse.

Cross your fingers. But admit that he's not well qualified for something this nuanced.
We may take hope that they have found a freezer to stash Bolton.

Les Carpenter said...

All the numerical data are true Shaw. However under our constitutional system tRump winning an electoral majority as well as the majority of states is our pResident.

We're stuck with prez Spanky for 8 years UNLESS democrats can field a candidate AND an agenda that can defeat his "MAGA" and white supremacist package.

Infidel753 said...

Dave: As her boss, he was.....in a power position above her and that single fact, made it impossible for her to give consent to any sexual act.

And that is utter nonsense, as everybody who has actually been in a relationship like that knows (I have, twice, when I was much younger). Ridiculously broad definitions of sexual abuse are a big part of the reason why it's been a struggle over the years to get real sexual abuse taken seriously. You cannot compare a relationship between two consenting adults with actual coercion and aggression of the kind Trump, Greitens, Weinstein, etc. engaged in. I'm not saying that just because Clinton was a Democrat. I think Franken deserved worse than he got, and Kennedy should have served a long prison sentence for Chappaquiddick and been drummed out of politics. I'm talking about types of actions.

Shaw: That's exactly what the wingnuts did when Obama won in 2008

In fact, they did much worse. Trump himself promoted racist lies about Obama's birthplace. In the midst of the worst economic crisis in eighty years, McConnell said that his top priority would be to make Obama a one-term President. I'm certainly not rooting for Trump to fail in Korea in the sense of anything that would increase the risk of war there, because the lives and prosperity of the Korean people are more important and should not be held hostage to Americans' inability to make our own political system function properly. Thank goodness that (according to your link) he's meeting with Moon who can perhaps talk some sense into him. I do hope Trump will fail at things which would harm the country, such as his attacks on abortion rights and separation of church and state. There is nothing unpatriotic about opposing actions of a politician you believe to be harmful.

Trump Aides Worry He Doesn’t Have Good Grasp on the North Korea Situation

No kidding. Just a week before his meeting with Kim Jung-Un he had a meeting with Kim Kardashian. I half expect him to get them mixed up and claim he made the Kardashians give up their nuclear weapons.

Dave Miller said...

Steven... you must be confusing us with the likes of Rush Limbaugh and Mitch McConnell... surely you remember what they said publicly about wanting Pres Obama to fail.

What lib here has ever said that? What Dem congressional leader had ever said that about Pres Trump.

Facts... sticky things aren’t they?

skudrunner said...

Duck, I think tariffs should be equal or just eliminated for every country but that won't happen. There are a lot of unanswered questions and foreign made components put in American made items is one of them. Ford make a lot of the engines in Mexico, Honda make the majority of their components in Japan but both of these vehicles are assembled in the US.

Trump is playing to his base not unlike what Bernie and Bernie and Warren only a different message.