I and probably tens millions in the US are absolutely stunned:
Even Laura Ingraham, a Fox News staunch supporter, was near speechless in shock!
You beat me to it, Larry!
However, Jesse Watters is calling him "MAGA of the Mediterranean" with guests on telling us how Trump is out to make the world a better place.
I'm feeling increasingly bad for permanent Trump defenders that have to increasingly ramp up the delusional justifications for blatantly counterproductive, damaging, loony tunes dictatorship type moves that in just 2 weeks, have exceeded anything that even his biggest critics claimed he would do.
I thought the move with Canada last week was an unprecedented huge blunder that exceeded any of his previous blunders in foreign affairs. The worst unprovoked, unforced error that I know of in foreign affairs for a leader of the United States.
This one, rather than doing similar damage is just going to help decimate Trumps credibility in the eyes of those that wanted to give him a chance.
THE US CAN hit Canada with 25% tariffs, so that threat was real and very serious..........and it just turned many of the 40 millions residents of this wonderful country to our north, strongly against him and did PERMANENT damage to the relationship with our closest ally.
https://www.marketforum.com/forum/topic/109807/
However, the US ABSOLUTELY CANNOT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES-OTHER THAN CONQUERING IT IN A WAR-JUST TAKE OVER ANOTHER COUNTRY AGAINST THEIR WISHES.
Trump just made a declaration that he's taking over Gaza(to clean it out), then, as he put it, after he fixes it up nicer then before "The World can move back in"
Not Palestinians or people that he kicked out(which is part of what defines ethnic cleansing/genocide) but "The World".
He made these announcements a short while ago with his Muslim hating, genocidal partner in crime, Prime Minister Netanyahu next to him and approving all of it.
Netanyahu has likely had this strategy in his dreams since the horrific, Oct. 7 attacks took place on Israel....... for cramped Israel to be able to take over this land and replace Palestinians with his people in Gaza all along.
The IDF already did much of the dirty work for Trump. The people in Gaza have no way to fight back. Something like 8% of the population has been killed or seriously injured.
Much of the country has already been destroyed. They no longer have homes. The hospitals and schools have been destroyed. They are severely deprived of water, food and medical care. They have no electricity to power anything, including heat in the Winter or AC in the Summer. They don't have fuel or vehicles and must walk everywhere. They have no jobs. The children can't be educated.
People are not just dying from bombs. They are starving to death and all sorts of infectious diseases are spreading, especially because they are being surrounded by human waste.........urine, feces and trash. 10s of thousands of bodies are still buried under the ruble.
Trump just wants to herd all of them like cattle into Jordan and Egypt(despite all in those parties vehemently objecting).
Then he takes over Gaza, fixes it up and invites back people that Netanyahu and Trump want there. ...NOT the current residents.
Unlike what he threatened to do to Canada, which was serious as a heart attack, this is so absurd that it has an hilarious side to it as it exposes the extremely pathological mindset of Trump more than anything.
I already spent some time describing Trump's personality/mind set in several threads here:
Trump 7-26-24
https://www.marketforum.com/forum/topic/106215/
Getting elected by a big margin of victory just fed his pathological, mental illness(gave him positive reinforcement, instead of psychiatric treatment for his illness).
Yes, I admit that I voted for him.
Biden/Harris WERE THAT BAD!
Thanks, Mike.
Yeah, I don’t see how taking over Gaza (should he somehow really go through with this) would be consistent with “America First” and staying out of wars.
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c9w5q8qn59yo
+++++++++++++++
Netanyahu, his partner in ethnic cleansing was probably trying not to pee his pants with glee!
The chance for Middle Eastern countries/Palestinians agreeing to this is near 0.
After Israel violated the rights of everybody living in Gaza for 16 months and decimated the country, the table is set for President Trump to take it over by DECREE OF DONALD TRUMP by virtue of him knowing whats best for the Middle East, against the legalities of international law and rights of the humans living there.
So his decree is to steal the country from the rightful owners, kick them all out, rebuild it, then invite "the world" back in. Not the rightful owners or Palestinians but "the world".
And he's actually serious!
As crazy and impossible as this is..........revealing Trump's lack of respect for the rights of other countries and especially the people in the Middle East, what Biden did to Ukraine(and Russia) was 1,000 TIMES WORSE!
Trumps plan will never happen and it exposes his mindset.
Biden caused over 1 million casualties and people still believe it went towards helping/supporting Ukraine because the Military-Industrial-Political-Media complex were the gatekeepers that owned him and the false narratives.
https://www.marketforum.com/forum/topic/108760/
++++++++++++
I insisted that the only reason for me to vote at all for president last November, was to vote for Trump because he will end the war in Ukraine(which would have never happened if he was president in 2021-99% certainty.
Ending the fake green fraud is nice icing on the cake but ending the war in Ukraine is the top priority that still trumps all this complete nonsense, like his absurd, new position about Gaza.
I reserve the right to determine when the damage of his nonsense exceeds the importance of ending the war in Ukraine (for me) and that could come quickly
BTW, do expect protesting, that turns into rioting this Summer from the far left, not that different from the George Floyd riots of 2020 but hopefully, not close to the same magnitude!!
https://thehill.com/policy/international/5128091-saudi-arabia-donald-trump-gaza-strip-israel/
++++++++++
Trump just embarrassed himself and damaged his credibility(and that of the US) on a stratospheric scale, around the world with this absurd position.
It mainly just gave us a look into his pathological/flawed thinking/mental illness. How appropriate, that one of the worlds most diabolical men, extreme far right, PM Netanyahu of Israel was standing next to him while he revealed their plan.
Trump is a clown. This is absurd. I can't believe this has gone on for more that a 24 hour news cycle. I agree with 95% of metmike's posts in this thread. Not the part about who he voted for.... ;-)
Hey Mike,
How can you consider Biden as bad as Trump based on what’s been going on since 1/20/25?
Check this out with regards to NOAA: why is Musk, who was not elected nor approved by Congress being allowed to do all of this? For example:
“Sources tell WIRED that NOAA employees were ordered to give an engineer from Elon Musk’s DOGE task force access to all of the agency’s Google sites by the end of business on Wednesday”
https://www.wired.com/story/doge-engineer-noaa-data-google-musk-climate-project-2025/
Hey Mike,
What do you think about this?
US Senate phone system has been receiving ~1,600 calls/minute vs the normal 40/minute per a Sen. Lisa Murkowski tweet! That’s 40 times the normal!! I don’t recall anything like this during the Biden Admin. You think Biden is worse?
"Hey Mike,
How can you consider Biden as bad as Trump based on what’s been going on since 1/20/25?"
Thanks, Larry.
Using authentic facts, NOT emotions, feelings or speculation, its not even close. I've been right on top of almost everything bad that Trump has been responsible for, including the complete nonsense, like in this thread(as well as being able to acknowledge the good stuff).
There is near 100% certainty for me, based on the authentic facts shown here dozens of times that Biden caused the war in Ukraine. The southern border is another crisis that Biden caused but let's just take the war in Ukraine.
How many causalities did Trump's, loony tunes, no chance in a million years strategy cause in Gaza so far?
0 and it will likely stay at 0 because it will never happen.
How many casualties did Biden's insane Ukraine strategy cause?
1,000,000(casualties is a statistic that includes incapacitating injuries and desertions).
If you want an apples to apples comparison, then Netanyahu and Biden would be more fair or Putin and Netanyahu.
There are other realms in the US to compare Trump and Biden too and its too early to make a fair comparison(clearly, Trump is causing 100 times more chaos) but remember the reason that I clearly stated for voting for Trump;
BECAUSE HE WILL END THE 3 YEAR WAR IN UKRAINE. If not for that fact, metmike would not have voted for president last November.
We'll see if he ends the war or not but Trump sure is giving it his best shot(even you have to admit that) and Biden's, crystal clear objective for 3 years was the polar opposite.........sustaining the war as long as possible and never negotiating for peace.
I also mentioned that I reserve the right to adjust that opinion based on the authentic facts coming in and unlike everybody else that has already decided before waiting to see what happens with Trump, I'm merely giving him a very low score in several areas to start(tariff on Canada, for instance) which Biden would NEVER do and Biden would win for me.
But I have not concluded anything in many key areas...........EXCEPT THAT HE'S DOING HIS BEST TO END THE WAR IN UKRAINE. And he just made a buffoon of himself with his absurd Gaza proposal that resulted in 0 deaths.
Unless you count the death of his credibility
I also think that Elon Musk is a world class charlatan that uses people to enrich himself.
He knows how to RECOGNIZE OPPORTUNITIES to maximize selling bs to elevate himself and make money. Several years ago, when he saw the far right cult worshipping of Donald Trump, he recognized an opportunity and inserted himself into the picture to exploit tens of millions of Rs for his self serving interests.
He's an extraordinarily brilliant guy and some of his products have great value but there is no question that he lacks integrity, honesty and for me, credibility because he's the worlds most financially successful charlatan.
But again, some of his products are genius.
So we have to ask: Is what hes doing now the genius pioneering type application that will save our country from an impossible to manage future budget (it might be) or is this the version of Elon Musk that makes complete nonsense, anti science claims that we will have a million people living on Mars in XX number of years?
Time will tell but I agree that extremely painful cuts MUST be made all over the place to keep us from becoming insolvent, to avoid a disastrous future for our kids/grandkids.
https://www.marketforum.com/forum/topic/93884/#93892
Elon Musk is a Fraud
Started by joj - Dec. 15, 2022, 9:23 p.m.
https://x.com/lisamurkowski/status/1887185844882358562
On this link, Larry.
We are thinking exactly the same on this. It's why I've been predicting escalating protesting that will likely erupt into some violent rioting..........as soon as the weather warms up.
++++++++++++++
By metmike - Feb. 5, 2025, 11:04 a.m.
Protests Against Trump and Project 2025 Are Planned in Cities Across the U.S.
https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory/protests-trump-project-2025-planned-cities-us-118473569
++++++++
You ain't seen nothin yet!!!!
Just wait until the weather warms up. This has the potential to be similar to the rioting that happened during the George Floyd protesting in the Summer of 2020.
The same people are just as, if not MORE upset right now. Why would we expect them to act differently this time, since they were not held accountable last time??
It will be interesting to see how Trump attempts to stifle the protesting/rioting.
This could actually set off an even stronger reaction as they reject his efforts to suppress them!!!
Why would anybody tracking the dynamics and direction using authentic facts, expect differently???
Cold Civil War?
We're already in it! Now we wait for the new battles and escalation during the next 4 years!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Floyd_protests
++++++++++++
I'm not pretending that this isn't important because I voted for Trump to end the war in Ukraine. I had resigned myself to NOT voting and my wife commented that I'm always on the forum making political comments, so it doesn't make sense for me to have all these strong opinions......... then not vote.
I knew I could NEVER reward the previous administration for the reasons already stated.
That left it up to finding good reasons to vote for Trump that offset the many reasons to NOT vote for him.
Immediately, I recognized that ending the war in Ukraine was clearly the definitive reason because of the diametrically opposed, polar opposite agenda of Bidens in Ukraine that I've spent hundreds of hours typing/speaking out against.
No matter how bad Trump ends up, I will never regret NOT voting for Harris.
I can easily morph to a position that he did more damage than the good he did in ending the war in Ukraine.
With regards to the protesting and rioting that lies in our future. We can't blame Trump for people breaking the laws when they riot because they disagree with what he's doing.
I'll judge Trump based on the good/bad he does and NOT how the left/far left and MSM react. Their reaction is on them. If they OVER react, to Trump's over reaction, it doesn't make 2 wrongs a right!
++++++++++
Also, as stated many times here in the past(evidence provided), I believe strongly that Trump is Islamophobic and this was one of the reasons for me to NOT vote for him. I was pretty certain that he would hook up with his Muslim hating and far right, , pathologically thinking pal from Israel, PM Netanyahu to come up with some crazy anti Palestinian plan.
I was actually more worried about them trying to push thru something viable that was completely 1 sided towards Israel/the US that would continue to increase the harm.
Instead, if this was a tied football game, late in the 4th quarter with 5 seconds left, with Donald Trump the coach of offense, with the ball on the opponents 1 yard line, needing a field goal to go ahead.
And coach Trump told his quarterback to take a knee and declare they won the game without scoring any points!
Coach Trump's credibility would be destroyed forever.
Even if his team came back and won in overtime, his hall of fame farcical call would live on in infamy.
Thanks, joj!
The five on Fox tonight stated that Trump is the only one,of everybody that really cares about the people in the Middle East.
This was on my ipad in response to you and never went out last night.
Thanks, Mike!
I‘m not a Rand Paul fan but he at least is speaking up in opposition to Trump and sticking to his principles unlike Trump’s nonsensical BS (Paul said this yesterday). Unlike Trump, he makes sense as far as his core beliefs are concerned:
“The pursuit for peace should be that of the Israelis and the Palestinians,” Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) wrote in a post on Wednesday. “I thought we voted for America First. We have no business contemplating yet another occupation to doom our treasure and spill our soldiers blood.”
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/donald-trump-gaza_n_67a3766de4b073cc3ce8ea62?yptr=yahoo
“Sources tell WIRED that NOAA employees were ordered to give an engineer from Elon Musk’s DOGE task force access to all of the agency’s Google sites by the end of business on Wednesday”
++++++++++
I actually think that our government weather and climate agencies should start being held accountable for providing honest, objective authentic science. The NWS and NOAA provide countless products and services which are worth much more than what taxpayers dish out. They save thousands of lives every year. Meteorologists like me couldn't do our jobs without the data they provide. I'm massively grateful FOR THAT PORTION.
However, there's a significant segment of these people that provide the distorted, one sided science to push a fake climate crisis because the vast majority of them are cursed with liberal bias and ideologies which causes their political affiliation to taint the science they provide to others that use them as their authority. i've witnessed this first hand, probably thousands of times the past 2 decades. They collude and are NEVER held accountable.
I've provided many dozens of examples in the past. THIS IS REAL!
Let's use just this one that I plucked from the internet because it represents a collusion of our government to push a fake climate crisis using junk science and lies.
The Fifth National Climate Assessment is the US Government’s preeminent report on climate change impacts, risks, and responses. It is a congressionally mandated interagency effort that provides the scientific foundation to support informed decision-making across the United States.
https://nca2023.globalchange.gov/
Fossil fuel–based energy systems have resulted in disproportionate public health burdens on communities of color and/or low-income communities. These same communities are also disproportionately harmed by climate change impacts.
++++++++++
Complete rubbish! The opposite of reality.
1. Cheap and reliable fossil fuels BENEFIT poor people the most........BY FAR because energy costs are a much higher % of their income.
2. The increase in CO2 from fossil fuel emissions has increased food production by ~26% around the world. Free atmospheric fertilizer. Fossil fuels(natural gas) are used to make synthetic fertilizer which has doubled food production. The cost of food is a much higher portion of a poor persons income.
The people they claim are being hurt the most.......are actually benefiting the most from increasing CO2 during this current climate OPTIMUM FOR LIFE.
Death by GREENING!
Started by metmike - May 11, 2021, 2:31 p.m.
https://www.marketforum.com/forum/topic/69258/
Anothersecret about fossil fuels: Haber Bosch process-fertilizers feeding the planet using natural gas-doubling food production/crop yields. September 2019
https://www.marketforum.com/forum/topic/39215/
+++++++++++
Below are the organizations that manufactured that report(and thousands of others like it). They all collude on this junk science to mislead people into believing there's a climate crisis. Instead of educating and informing people, on this topic they are STEALING THEIR INTELLIGENCE!
I say investigate them all and start holding them accountable to authentic climate science as well telling the truth about the massive benefits of increasing CO2(a beneficial gas) which is only 50% of the optimal level for most life.
The EPA was once a great agency that was/is responsible for cleaning up our water, air and soils.
The EPA the past 2 decades is an embarrassment to this. They declared that CO2 was a pollutant so they could regulate it. This is a crime against everything they should stand for.
Fossil fuels rescued the planet from dangerously low levels of CO2. Most life is begging for more.
Calling it carbon pollution is a huge, anti science lie, just like calling water, H2O hydrogen pollution.
Carbon is a solid. CO2 is a gas that just happens to have 1 atom of carbon in it. Everything with an atom of carbon in it is not "carbon pollution".
https://www.marketforum.com/forum/topic/105305/#105316
This probably sounds like a foreign language to most people who have been brainwashed by our governmental agencies to not be able to comprehend AUTHENTIC climate and other types of science related to this field.
If I teach you to believe that 10+10 =30 over and over and over.
Then if somebody tells you that there's 10 of something and another 10 of that something........ You ASSUME its 30 without even counting it. If another person tells you its actually 20.........you won't believe it because your mind assumes that its 30. That's what you were taught. A person could defeat that junk math by actually counting the 10+10 to get 20.
But climate science is much more complicated. People don't have all the weather records or know what the physical principles of the atmosphere are. THEY MUST TRUST THE CLIMATE SCIENTISTS AND OTHER SCIENTISTS, WHO HAVE LET US DOWN BY LETTING THEIR POLITICAL IDEOLOGIES TRUMP THE OBJECTIVE AUTHENTIC SCIENCE.
That's climate science today. People have been taught to believe in many things that are not true. They get repeated over and over and over. We are told that the governments climate scientists, the experts validated all of this and that we need to believe the climate authorities.
The majority of climate scientists work for the government.
I am all for cleaning house to get rid of all the junk, biased science out of the fake climate crisis and turn it into HONEST science that tells us ALL SIDES.
What are the chances that CO2 really is a magical molecule that only harms good creatures and good things and mostly helps bad creatures and make bad things worse?
Whether its good life or bad life.........the impact of increasing CO2 is massively beneficial at these very low levels. Almost all of life on earth wants MORE CO2, not less. That's the authentic science.
All these organizations below , responsible for this report and reports like it ought to be investigated.....FINALLY!!!!
Thanks on the Rand Paul response, Larry.
I would characterize myself much closer to being a Libertarian than an R or D and I've agreed a great deal with Rand Paul on many things. The biggest one relates to our constant meddling in other countries affairs, especially thru military interventions.
He hit the nail of the head here.
Trump has been consistent on most of his actions the last 2 weeks based on his campaign promises.
Some were way too extreme(pardoning the criminals of the Insurrection-but we knew that was coming).
The tariff on Canada was a huge shocker, unforced error with nothing but downside.
However, his plan in Gaza, clearly in cahoots with his diabolical pal Netanyahu was just a display of pure pathological, narcissistic thinking that contradicts what he stands for (America first-staying out of wars).
He obviously thinks that he's saving the Middle East for Israel.
He believes that the almighty Donald Trump(who was endorsed to do anything he wants by getting elected last November) just needs to wave his arms to command many millions of people in several countries on the other side of the world to obey him. Doesn't matter that everybody outside of Israel and the far right know this is evidence of the man being delusional.
There is a 100.000% chance that Donald Trump suffers from this mental illness. In fact, to a degree that is very rarely seen, which is why its been so crystal clear.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delusions_of_grandeur
In his case, instead of being treated by a professional, his mental illness has advanced from the constant positive reinforcement the past year. Winning the election, has validated his delusions and ramped them up to a new level that would be impossible any other way.
His Gaza decree confirms this. It's completely out of touch with reality.
Incredibly, his puppets at Fox News are all glorifying this wonderful, genius plan that only Donald Trump could have imagined to save the Middle East and end the generations of war forever.
cutworm,
What do you think of Trump's plan for Gaza?
https://www.newsweek.com/trump-just-crossed-line-middle-east-theres-no-way-back-opinion-2026514
Elon Musk is trying to cut hundreds of billions in spending on foreign aid projects, while Trump wants to take on rebuilding Gaza at a cost of hundreds of billions To US tax payers.
Mike said:
“Elon Musk is trying to cut hundreds of billions in spending on foreign aid projects, while Trump wants to take on rebuilding Gaza at a cost of hundreds of billions To US tax payers”
—
Hey Mike,
1. Yes they’re obviously not jibing/cancel each other out.
2. Musk trying to cut these foreign aid projects:
“Lawmakers have also warned that any attempt to change the structure of USAID, an independent agency, would require action by Congress.”
Thanks, Larry!
I've not decided on whether Musk is saving us or not.
For sure he's violating the laws which have determined how we spend(waste) money in the past but if he followed those laws/protocol, nothing would get done because the corrupt, self serving politicians and interests that use and abuse those laws would block all his changes.
The left is failing to recognize any potential benefits from his actions.......all extreme negatives and disastrous. I see the potential for cutting billions in pork, waste and corruption out, which IS THERE, with no other way to do it.
+++++++++
Everybody is bent out of shape about Trumps plan but few are discussing the most important reality.
Who the heck is going to rebuild Gaza???
In a just world, Israel would foot 100% of the bill. In this world, who will do it?
This is NOT justification for Trump's absurd plan.
I've been very busy with family health problems. those should resolve themselves in a few months.
As For Gaza
This is the way that Trump starts negations. Start at an extreme and see if you can get the other side to move.
It looks like to me that there are other countries in that region that: 1) could help but don't feel the need, 2)Would do something to keep the US far away, 3) think that Trump is just so unpredictable, different than what they know how to deal with, but also know he can be their best friend or worst enemy.
So how do you get them to help solve the problem? Trump's answer is to advocate the US taking over. So then those in the area see that it would be better for them to change their position, to keep his military out.
only time will tell if I am way off track
---------------
As for Canada
A different view of the situation. Let me know what you think.
Thanks, cutworm!
https://www.newsweek.com/trump-more-popular-eric-adams-new-york-city-2028185
With regards to the situation in Alberta, Canada related to fossil fuels.
thanks to my wife’s carbon capture business, I’m actually very familiar with the massive production of oil and gas coming from this 1 province.
There are all sorts of different relationships between Alberta and the rest of Canada as well as Alberta and the United States.
They range from;
1. the sales of that production
2. the managing of the CO2 emissions thru carbon sequestration, much of which is pipelined and used to force out oil and gas from mature wells.
3. battle with fake green energy interests that are pushing crap, anti environmental, anti authentic green wind energy via crony capitalism and political agenda.
4. massive tax receipts the country of Canada gets from these fossil fuel entities , in this 1 province that pays waaaaay more than their share to sustain the government of Canada and all the other provinces……many that refuse to develop their own abundant natural gas because of green ignorance and political ideologies, especially tied to the fake climate crisis and crony capitalism/government corruption.
On Trump using this to negotiate. I get this,being part of who Trump is when doing business.
This can be a powerful negotiating tool in many realms. However, he appears to have completely lost the ability to properly discern risk/reward dynamics. Or what he can gain vs what he loses.
in Gaza, what is his end point for gains to the US or world?
What would be the positive impact of completely alienating the entire Muslim world with an ethnic cleansing proposal?
With Canada, maybe he wants a NAFTA 3?
Violating the terms of HIS OWN NAFTA 2 and slamming Canada for their role in 2 out of every 1,000 lbs of fentanyl, kicking our closest ally in the teeth has like a 1000 to 1 loss to gain ratio.
However, I’m also very happy with his eliminating massive government waste, canceling fake green energy scams and ending the Ukraine war.
So Trumps agenda has 2 sides for me as an authentic environmentalist, atmospheric scientist and person against war and advocate for humanity outside of the United States.
His pardoning of January 6 criminals because they were committing crimes for him hits an all time pardoning low……..almost. Biden had just finished pardoning his entire crime family.
He probably got elected because of his position on fixing Joe bidens intentional border crisis, so it’s hard to condemn him for following thru with his campaign promises.
Regardless, DO expect massive protesting that turns into rioting in some places this Summer with the MSM amd Ds egging people on.
Near 100% chance. Hopefully not really extreme but it might get very bad. Sorry, I hate seeing this too.
About Trump (Gaza)
Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.
I'm not a chess player but what is a chess player's best move? How many moves ahead does a great chess player plan?
---------
Perhaps, however, the point is not to see the plan through. Trump's goal may not be to actually take over Gaza, but to shake the world out of its complacency. For too long, the international community has enabled Hamas and other radical groups by clinging to outdated conventions. The world's half-hearted responses to Hamas attacks on Israel—calling for Israel to moderate its response after terrorists murdered, kidnapped, and raped—have emboldened terror. This is precisely what Trump is challenging.
By suggesting that the U.S. take over Gaza, Trump is forcing a re-evaluation of everything. It's an invitation to reconsider the way forward. It sends a message to Hamas, to Egypt, to Jordan, and to the Palestinian Authority: the time for "business as usual" is over.
In this context, Trump's words are disruptive not just to the geopolitics of Gaza, but to the very frameworks of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. His idea will make Hamas think twice before rejecting a continuation of a hostage deal or refusing a broader settlement. It has the potential to force the Palestinian Authority to confront its own failures.
But there's another layer to this disruption—one that goes beyond Gaza. It may be that Trump's announcement was designed with Saudi Arabia in mind. Saudi-Israel normalization has long been a goal for both Israel and the U.S., and this initiative could serve as leverage in the ongoing negotiations.
When Saudi Arabia condemned Trump's plan, it may have been a calculated move. By floating the idea of a U.S. takeover, Trump could be offering the Saudis a "win" for future negotiations—taking the Gaza plan off the table to achieve a broader peace deal with Israel. The Saudis could use the removal of this idea to demonstrate their leadership in the Arab world
So, while the specifics of Trump's Gaza plan may never come to fruition, its impact is undeniable. It forces the world to confront uncomfortable truths about the nature of this conflict and its never-ending stagnation. Whether or not the plan is implemented, it has already achieved its purpose: it has disrupted conventional thinking and opened new possibilities for resolving the decades-old stalemate.
https://www.newsweek.com/maybe-trump-really-playing-3d-chess-gaza-opinion-2027379
Thanks, cutworm!
I actually posted that same article earlier this weekend with a comment........and much more below it:
Re: Re: Re: Constitutional Crises Coming....
By metmike - Feb. 8, 2025, 10:12 p.m.
+++++++++++
As a chess coach for 3 decades, I say the D is for Deranged(-:
++++++++++++++++++
What I see clearly is 2 impossibly divided sides.
1 side bashes everything Trump does, even good stuff.
1 side defends everything that Trump does, even REALLY bad stuff.
I see the good and bad of Trump and try call it objectively and based on each realm.
The REALLY bad, with no way to defend it items that come to mind:
1. Trumps blanket pardoning of January 6th criminals.
2. Trumps threatened 25% tariff on our closest ally and trading partner, Canada. Blatantly violating Donald Trump's terms of Nafta 2.
3. His plan in Gaza. This falls under the "1 side defends everything that Trump does, even REALLY bad stuff" . Justifying it with a position that Trump is so brilliant that only he and his cult that trusts him understand what he is really doing (3D chess) and its never been tried before doesn't stack up to the realities. We've never tried nuking Russia to get them out of Ukraine before either. I don't expect Trump loyalists to be able to comprehend legit criticism of some of his most stupid ideas. On this REALLY BAD one, because he gets support from some of the pro Israel Ds, it makes it appear to be viable and ethical and worth a try……..never mind all the profound legal, moral, emotional and underline Islamophobia , ethnic cleansing violations/realities that make it impossible and really, REALLY wrong.
4. The left is squawking the most about Elon Musk, who is a mega charlatan that should never be trusted. I see both sides on this but legally, Trump is blatantly violating the powers he was given from being elected president. But what will happen if this problem is not addressed this way? Even worse consequences!
https://www.newsweek.com/trump-plaza-gaza-serious-brilliant-timely-vision-opinion-2028998
++++++++++++++
Yeah, right. We also heard numerous sources (most MSM) telling us for many months that we would win the unwinnable war in Ukraine and should fight until Russia is defeated...when Ukraine never had a realistic chance from the get go, which is why Russia invaded to prevent NATO from getting Ukraine.
Far-right Israeli politician Itamar Ben Gvir has called for a "massive attack on Gaza, from the air and land" and a stop to humanitarian aid shipments to the enclave in response to Hamas' suspension of a hostage exchange.
Hamas officials announced on Monday that the exchange would be delayed, saying Israel had violated the conditions of a ceasefire agreement which came into effect three weeks ago.
++++++++++++++++
This would also solve Trump's ethnic cleansing problem of where to permanently relocate residents of Gaza, since he's suddenly declared that the United States will own Gaza...... so he can rebuild it for Israel. They don't want to go and nobody will take them.
Kill them all = problem solved!
Then claim that it was Israel defending itself.
++++++++++++++++++
It's pretty embarrassing to those that are defending this plan and reveals a great deal about their very offensive, Islamophobic, anti humanity mindsets more than anything because it's never going to happen.
I said, "As For Gaza
This is the way that Trump starts negations. Start at an extreme and see if you can get the other side to move.
It looks like to me that there are other countries in that region that: 1) could help but don't feel the need, 2)Would do something to keep the US far away, 3) think that Trump is just so unpredictable, different than what they know how to deal with, but also know he can be their best friend or worst enemy.
So how do you get them to help solve the problem? Trump's answer is to advocate the US taking over. So then those in the area see that it would be better for them to change their position, to keep his military out.
only time will tell if I am way off track
Now look this is how it's working out:
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cjd32xyjg4eo
A $53bn (£41.4 billion) reconstruction plan to rival President Donald Trump's idea for the US to "take over Gaza" and move out more than two million Palestinians has been approved by Arab leaders at an emergency summit in the Egyptian capital Cairo.
"The Egypt plan is now an Arab plan," announced the secretary general of the Arab League Ahmed Aboul Gheit at the end of this hours-long gathering.
Without referring specifically to President Trump's ideas, he underlined that "the Arab stance is to reject any displacement, whether it is voluntary or forced".
Egypt had produced a detailed blueprint, with a 91-page glossy document including images of leafy neighbourhoods and grand public buildings, to counter a US scheme labelled as a "Middle East Riviera" which shocked the Arab world and beyond.
Thanks,cutworm!
Using your rationale means that any plan that they use..........Trump gets credit for.
This isn't Ukraine where Trump is directly involved in legit. negotiations and has major clout because the United States has a huge say in it. Not only with our massive funding in Ukraine and close relationship with that country but also impacting Russia/Putin's position, because Putin will listen to him. Clearly he's controlling Zelensky too.
In Gaza, Trump made a loony tune claim that could NEVER happen and people in the Middle East and most people everywhere know its a ludicrous claim........except the ones that think Trump is the magical mystery man and believe everything he says.
Trump is not involved in any negotiations in the Middle East. Nobody takes him serious. This is INDEPENDENT of Trump because he has a ZERO position in Gaza, except for his crazy, fork tongue words.
Israel sure as heck takes Trump serious and wants his idea to be true. He and Natanyahu are tied at the Islamaphobic hip.
I know that you think the Arabs are doing this because they are afraid that Trump might follow thru with his plan.
For there to be a serious negotiation between 2 parties, both parties should:
1. Have some clout and personal connections to people in the negotiating process.
2. Have a plan that makes sense and is possible.
Trump is following the EXACT same mentality with regards to Greenland the Panama Canal. He has ZERO credibility and spouts complete nonsense on those 2 locations too.
What is he negotiating for with Greenland and the Panama Canal? He's an outsider and those places have 0 interest in doing business with him.
My personal opinion is that this is part of his advancing mental illness and delusions of grandeur. Trump things of himself as the omnipotent one and its being reinforced by millions in his worshipping cult that also think he's the omnipotent one.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delusions_of_grandeur
+++++++++++++++++
Trump does in fact have more power than anybody else in the world right now and is using it. So he's not imagining that but his omnipotent self image and galactical sized ego has taken him to the land of serious delusions. No doubt about it. Instead of getting treatment so he stops imagining that he's going to do things like take over Greenland, The Panama Canal and Gaza, his worshippers interpret it as Trump being smarter than everybody else and the nonbelievers are just not sharp enough to see the brilliant reasons for many that Trump does.
I see exactly what the reasons are. He has pathological thinking!!!!
There was no movement on the part of Egypt or the Arabs to do anything till Trump gave them something to think about.
"There was no movement on the part of Egypt or the Arabs to do anything till Trump gave them something to think about."
Thanks, cutworm.
All you're doing is repeating the same thing you said before. Attributing anything positive that happens in the Middle East to Donald Trump's loony, impossible claims.
If somebody else fixes the problem it was really because of Donald Trumps brilliant negotiating with impossible threats that have a near 0 chance of happening.
If this was the ONLY loony statement by Trump, we might think that possibly this strategy was what he had in mind. However, loony statements with no REASONABLE positive strategy or outcome DEFINE President Trump.
I gave you 2 other over the top examples:
1. Greenland
2. Panama Canal
Despite those places, that have ALL the control and ownership reacting VERY strongly to reject his crazy terms, he continues on, when it only provides how strong the evidence is that he's delusional and obsessed with believing that he's omnipotent and doesn't need to respect other countries and other people.
He's the all powerful Donald Trump that sees the world as a place to impose himself and our country.
Again, he is reinforced with his delusions of grandeur by 2 things:
1. His MAGA people that worship him like cult followers
2. He actually is the most powerful person on the planet and its not such a great leap to go from that to his delusions that greatly amplify the magnitude of his power into OMNIPOTENCE.
3. In Ukraine, he is applying this in a way that I celebrate and having this profound, POSITIVE impact also, unfortunately reinforces his self image of being omnipotent. UkrainIan’s are finally getting the peace they‘ve been crying out for and it’s all because of 1 man…president trump. So I truly appreciate the times when trumps unpopular positions really are brilliant AND VIABLE!
However, Only a person that thinks they are omnipotent says some of the crazy stuff he does........like with Greenland, the Panama Canal and Gaza.
This pathological thinking appears to be causing him to NOT see the negative impacts of his omnipotence, being used(ABUSED) to impose tariffs in a loony way on close ally's and most important trading partners.
His MAGA supporters are all oblivious to the actual facts and continue to defend the loony anti free market tariffs as Trumps way to effectively negotiate. Even farmers that ARE hurt because it hurts our exports of ag. products don't want to admit it.
If anything positive happens in these places, his followers immediately connect it to Donald Trump's role.
Never any bad stuff.
I am not TDS as you know. I'm able to see the difference between good things and bad things that result from the influence of Donald Trump. There are plenty from both sides.