Trump and Venezuela

[Leicesterbaggie]

Unfortunately, the world is now a much less safe place with Putin and Trump on the world stage. The sooner they can be got rid of the better it will be for all of us.

[baggieal]

Unfortunately, the world is now a much less safe place with Putin and Trump on the world stage. The sooner they can be got rid of the better it will be for all of us.

I would feel safer being in the USA though LB rather than thousands of single men entering the UK. Do our young girls feel safe in areas where single Afghans are roaming freely? Illegal immigration under Trump is almost zero and his popularity amongst his own citizens is still double that to Starmer so why should he care what non US citizens think? He will not give a damn and why should he, Rightly or wrongly at least he?s got a pair where our leader is even laughed at in Italy 😭

[baggieal]

Of course Greenland and its future is for those that live there and Denmark.

Our great leader at last has got off the fence and said this. Yippee a decision!

[Omegstrat6]

The horrendous killing of US citizen, Renee Good, by an ICE agent in Minneapolis and the reaction of Trump and cronies like Vance and Neom who spin a narrative completely at odds with the video evidence available surely prove that the current US administration is as much a threat to American citizens and their freedoms as it is to global stability, Europe and ourselves. That quote from Orwell's 1984 about the Party getting people to ignore the evidence of their own eyes and ears and instead to swallow the authorised version of events has subsequently appeared everywhere.

Trump has indeed successfully curbed immigration with around 69,000 illegal immigrants having been arrested by ICE in 2025 and attempted crossings well down but the devil is in the detail. Trump promised to target and get rid of the "worst of the worst"; the murders, the rapists, the criminals. His administration initially said it had identified some 435,000 illegal immigrants with criminal convictions not in custody, some 13,000 of whom they said were guilty of murder, 16,000 of ***ual assault, yet ICE have only managed to arrest under 1,000 of the former and under 2,000 of the latter. Of the 69,000 arrested so far, around 26% have criminal convictions and 26% have pending convictions so that half of this number-whilst being illegal immigrants-do not fit the dangerous profile that the Trump administration and the Right are selling. ICE has also arrested and detained more than 170 US citizens. Moreover, none of this has appeared to improve the lives of most Americans in terms of standards of living, access to housing, education or healthcare as Trump promised It would. Yes, some dangerous illegal immigrants have been (quite rightly) removed but this is a drop in the ocean and plenty more dangerous people remain who pose threats and the vast majority of these are US citizens.

It isn't that illegal immigration is not a problem in the US, of course it is, but the issue is two-fold. Firstly, Trump and the Right paint a blatantly false picture of all of these immigrants being dangerous criminals, murderers or rapists when the truth is that the majority simply want to work and create better lives for themselves and the second is the manner in which ICE operates. Thankfully, the vast majority of our own law enforcement officers are not armed and we do not have a gun culture in the UK but the parallels between what is happening in the US and what could potentially happen here if Farage, for example, gets in are surely clear.

Trump has appointed sycophants like Vance, Bundy, Neom, Miller, Patel and others to positions of power in order to help protect and retain his own position and crush any opposition or dissenting voices. He labels Renee Good a "domestic terrorist" whilst pardoning the "heroes" of the Jan 6th attack on the Capitol, he kidnaps and arrests one head of state who has links to drug gangs whilst pardoning another, he talks of isolationism but acts like an imperialist, he talks tough but consistently gives in to Putin over Ukraine and then makes advances on an Allied country over Greenland. Until America properly wakes up and this POTUS is gone, the UK surely has to further strengthen its links with Europe because Trump cannot be trusted and poses a threat to us politically, economically and to our national security.

I get why Starmer-who must clearly know by now what Trump is like -is unwilling to forcefully condemn him and treats him with kid gloves because we are overly dependent on the US for our security and trade and if the Orange One has a tantrum and pulls out of NATO and threatens trade sanctions/ tariffs then it won't be just Ukraine that suffers. Other European leaders clearly think the same. But if Trump is untrustworthy, then we need to look elsewhere. In the US, commentator Jon Stewart has already pointed that the UK and other European nations are now considering strengthening trade ties with China. Not because they trust China or like the regime but because Trump's actions are giving them little alternative. I'm beginning to see that viewpoint.

[On Balance]

The horrendous killing of US citizen, Renee Good, by an ICE agent in Minneapolis and the reaction of Trump and cronies like Vance and Neom who spin a narrative completely at odds with the video evidence available surely prove that the current US administration is as much a threat to American citizens and their freedoms as it is to global stability, Europe and ourselves. That quote from Orwell's 1984 about the Party getting people to ignore the evidence of their own eyes and ears and instead to swallow the authorised version of events has subsequently appeared everywhere.

Trump has indeed successfully curbed immigration with around 69,000 illegal immigrants having been arrested by ICE in 2025 and attempted crossings well down but the devil is in the detail. Trump promised to target and get rid of the "worst of the worst"; the murders, the rapists, the criminals. His administration initially said it had identified some 435,000 illegal immigrants with criminal convictions not in custody, some 13,000 of whom they said were guilty of murder, 16,000 of ***ual assault, yet ICE have only managed to arrest under 1,000 of the former and under 2,000 of the latter. Of the 69,000 arrested so far, around 26% have criminal convictions and 26% have pending convictions so that half of this number-whilst being illegal immigrants-do not fit the dangerous profile that the Trump administration and the Right are selling. ICE has also arrested and detained more than 170 US citizens. Moreover, none of this has appeared to improve the lives of most Americans in terms of standards of living, access to housing, education or healthcare as Trump promised It would. Yes, some dangerous illegal immigrants have been (quite rightly) removed but this is a drop in the ocean and plenty more dangerous people remain who pose threats and the vast majority of these are US citizens.

It isn't that illegal immigration is not a problem in the US, of course it is, but the issue is two-fold. Firstly, Trump and the Right paint a blatantly false picture of all of these immigrants being dangerous criminals, murderers or rapists when the truth is that the majority simply want to work and create better lives for themselves and the second is the manner in which ICE operates. Thankfully, the vast majority of our own law enforcement officers are not armed and we do not have a gun culture in the UK but the parallels between what is happening in the US and what could potentially happen here if Farage, for example, gets in are surely clear.

Trump has appointed sycophants like Vance, Bundy, Neom, Miller, Patel and others to positions of power in order to help protect and retain his own position and crush any opposition or dissenting voices. He labels Renee Good a "domestic terrorist" whilst pardoning the "heroes" of the Jan 6th attack on the Capitol, he kidnaps and arrests one head of state who has links to drug gangs whilst pardoning another, he talks of isolationism but acts like an imperialist, he talks tough but consistently gives in to Putin over Ukraine and then makes advances on an Allied country over Greenland. Until America properly wakes up and this POTUS is gone, the UK surely has to further strengthen its links with Europe because Trump cannot be trusted and poses a threat to us politically, economically and to our national security.

I get why Starmer-who must clearly know by now what Trump is like -is unwilling to forcefully condemn him and treats him with kid gloves because we are overly dependent on the US for our security and trade and if the Orange One has a tantrum and pulls out of NATO and threatens trade sanctions/ tariffs then it won't be just Ukraine that suffers. Other European leaders clearly think the same. But if Trump is untrustworthy, then we need to look elsewhere. In the US, commentator Jon Stewart has already pointed that the UK and other European nations are now considering strengthening trade ties with China. Not because they trust China or like the regime but because Trump's actions are giving them little alternative. I'm beginning to see that viewpoint.

Again Omeg, you put into writing what many are thinking. There is nothing in what you write above that I or most others would disagree with.

Your last sentence in particular is interesting as I had not been aware of what Jon Stewart had said. I have actually had thoughts on whether it would be worth the UK/Europe looking for closer ties with China. That in itself is a scary thought, taking into account their human rights etc. However, this is what it might come to given the Trump regime and all that that has brought in the first 12 months of his current presidency.

As for the murder of Renee Good, Trump has her blood on his hands as he does have much Ukrainian blood too. America does have a domestic and international terrorist in their midst, and it is in the form of its current president.

I spoke this morning with a retired firearms police officer and he remarked that if he was in the shoes of the ICE officer he would be expecting to be on a murder charge in the foreseeable future. I think we can all see for ourselves that that officer was not in danger and the red mist came down.

The world is in a mess due to Putin and Trump and a few others. As has been said before, our domestic issues pale into insignificance given the global mess we are currently experiencing.

[Omegstrat6]

Again Omeg, you put into writing what many are thinking. There is nothing in what you write above that I or most others would disagree with.

Your last sentence in particular is interesting as I had not been aware of what Jon Stewart had said. I have actually had thoughts on whether it would be worth the UK/Europe looking for closer ties with China. That in itself is a scary thought, taking into account their human rights etc. However, this is what it might come to given the Trump regime and all that that has brought in the first 12 months of his current presidency.

As for the murder of Renee Good, Trump has her blood on his hands as he does have much Ukrainian blood too. America does have a domestic and international terrorist in their midst, and it is in the form of its current president.

I spoke this morning with a retired firearms police officer and he remarked that if he was in the shoes of the ICE officer he would be expecting to be on a murder charge in the foreseeable future. I think we can all see for ourselves that that officer was not in danger and the red mist came down.

The world is in a mess due to Putin and Trump and a few others. As has been said before, our domestic issues pale into insignificance given the global mess we are currently experiencing.

The world certainly is in a mess OB and whilst it is natural for most of us to be more concerned with immediate issues closer to hand whether family, home, work or domestic politics, a growing part of me is beginning to feel like those generations must have felt like in the build up to WW2 or during the Cuba Crisis.

A New World Order does seem to be taking shape whether deliberately so or not and whilst I certainly do not like a lot of what the CCP regime are doing or stand for it seems that Xi Jinping may be saner than either Putin or Trump after all. The UK cannot afford to allow itself to be over dependent on trade with anyone but if Trump cannot be trusted then it makes sense to at least forge better economic ties not only with Europe but also with China which may in turn afford us better protection from Putin. Far from ideal but then I guess all countries have to accept their limitations and have a degree of pragmatism and real politik. I have an increasing fear, however, that the UK is behind the curve at the moment and sleepwalking into potentially dangerous and unstable times. Cue the concerns of a certain Private Frazier...😁🤔

[kettering_baggie]

An analogy: years (many) ago when I was in a school classroom, the teacher decided to ‘let off’ a JetX motor; remember them, we put them in models, they had a solid fuel tablet that was ignited by a short fuse. I can’t remember what the lesson was supposed to be about. Anyway, when this JetX motor ignited, as it wasn’t attached to anything, it just took off and rocketed around the classroom at random, burning the ceiling at one point. Everyone just tried to take cover in case they were the next one to be hit by the aforementioned errant jet motor. Trump is like that JetX motor, whizzing around, seemingly at random, burning everything he touches and nobody knows what damage will have been done when the fuel runs out. How much ‘fuel’ does Trump have left? Too much.

[Omegstrat6]

An analogy: years (many) ago when I was in a school classroom, the teacher decided to ‘let off’ a JetX motor; remember them, we put them in models, they had a solid fuel tablet that was ignited by a short fuse. I can’t remember what the lesson was supposed to be about. Anyway, when this JetX motor ignited, as it wasn’t attached to anything, it just took off and rocketed around the classroom at random, burning the ceiling at one point. Everyone just tried to take cover in case they were the next one to be hit by the aforementioned errant jet motor. Trump is like that JetX motor, whizzing around, seemingly at random, burning everything he touches and nobody knows what damage will have been done when the fuel runs out. How much ‘fuel’ does Trump have left? Too much.

Trump would have us believe that his unpredictability and constant off-topic detours during speeches (his "waverings" as he calls them) are all a deliberate ploy and part of his famed "art of the deal" but his ever longer ramblings seem more an indication of mental health issues and the last thing that global trade markets or stability need at the moment is this madman with a JetX going off in his brain.

Meanwhile, as her Toddler in Chief ramps up his rhetoric about taking over Greenland, Karoline Leavitt helpfully releases new footage from the phone camera of the ICE agent who shot Renee Good three times in the face as a response to the "smearing" of this Federal Agent by the woke and radical Left and claims this as proof that he was only defending himself in the course of his duty. Right. That phone video clip hasn't be doctored at all has it 😂 The bit where he actually shoots her in the face isn't shown nor the bit where he called her a bitch directly having done so. Apparently, this agent was also allowed to drive himself off after the shooting. Still, I'm sure the FBI under the robust direction of non-partisan Kash Patel will have a fully transparent and unbiased approach with their investigation into it all.

Of course, whether or not she agreed with ICE, Good should have obeyed a Federal Agent but she was no threat to him or the others and whilst it certainly looks like she clipped him in turning the car to the right (actually in a direction away from where he was initially standing) to get away, this was not at speed and the agent was certainly not "run over" by her. The ICE procedures make it clear that officers should not put themselves in harm's way by positioning themselves in front of a vehicle and also clearly state that lethal force should not be used if a subject simply attempts to drive away and poses no threat (e.g. does not have a weapon or does not deliberately use the vehicle to attack them).

The BBC currently has both videos up online so people can make their own judgement. Rather like trying to judge VAR, some aspects of what actually happened are unclear from either of these videos but others seem pretty obvious to me, including the evidence to rebut any claims that the agent was run over or seriously injured or that Good deliberately "weaponised" her car to ram the agents or that she posed a threat to them that would justify the use of lethal force. Two more shootings in Portland by Federal Agents during a vehicle stop last night as well. Without too much detail it's impossible to say yet whether these were justified or not but whatever is happening in the US, this current POTUS is making no effort whatsoever to try and end divisions and bring some unity to the country. If Trump can behave like this with his own people, we can hardly expect better from him in his dealings with ourselves.

[On Balance]

Below is a link to an interesting article by the Guardians Simon Tisdall. Quite a long read but it puts into perspective what a danger to the world Trump is.

Link below.

https://www.theguardian.com/commenti...mp-lies-europe

[Omegstrat6]

Below is a link to an interesting article by the Guardians Simon Tisdall. Quite a long read but it puts into perspective what a danger to the world Trump is.

Link below.

https://www.theguardian.com/commenti...mp-lies-europe

Interesting read OB and I personally don't find much to disagree with in it.

In the US, late night hosts like Kimmel, Colbert, Meyers and Stewart do a decent job of pointing out the dangers that Trump poses domestically (though Stewart can also discuss the wider implications of his actions) and it has been noticeable that their use of political satire has turned increasingly more serious of late. All of them, of course, are viewed by the MAGA crowd as being part of the Radical Left suffering from "Trump Derangement Syndrome". Here in the UK, many on the right feel similarly with Farage, for example, continuing to fawn over the Orange One and the response by the Mail to Kimmel's "alternative Christmas Speech"on C4 making you seriously wonder whether they pre-wrote the article without bothering to actually listen to what he was saying such was the vitriol expressed. But things are slowly turning here as they are in the US.

As Trump's behaviour and actions escalate, more commentators in the UK are now beginning to worry about the consequences for not only global or European stability but for the impact that his decisions will very likely have on ourselves. What Trump does, does in fact matter to us.

It is not just the likes of O'Brien, Tisdall, Bowen or others widely viewed as being overtly leftist that are raising concerns however and recent articles by Andrew Neil, for example, show that he too is changing his mind. He may not agree with everything these commentators from the other side of the political spectrum are saying but Neil does now seem to view Trump as becoming an imperialist grifter whose actions over Venezuela and rhetoric about Greenland can only encourage Putin's aspirations on Ukraine and Xi Jinping's over Taiwan, a POTUS that can no longer be regarded as a trusted ally. Neil too urges closer ties with Europe for both economic and military protection.

I just hope that we are not too far behind the curve on this and that for all of Starmer's diplomatic unwillingness to publicly criticise Trump, behind the scenes there is a lot of work going on to ween us off our over dependence on the US and find alternative partners we can better rely on. We can hope that more Americans wake up, Trump finds himself out of power and that "normal relations" are re-established between the US and Western Europe but there is not time to wait for this and the fault lines dividing political opinion there seem too deep to be resolved quickly. Moreover, the Truman Doctrine, which enabled US support for Western Europe as part of a containment plan against the perceived threat of Communist Russia and China and that has informed much of American foreign policy since, now seems unlikely to return.