Is Trump the leader of the free world?

Yes_Minister said:

Do you seriously think the US never plays dirty when it comes to trade?

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"Dirty" is really in the eye of the beholder. Former US leadership has prioritized cheaper products over jobs. This is one-variable thinking IMO, which isn't healthy for the economy. Sure, products will be cheapest, but we'll also have people losing jobs, grow debt, reduce the economy long-term because we aren't making stuff, welfare programs will be stressed, and taxes will be reduced. That was an ass-backwards policy that Trump has helped solve through a reciprocal trade policy. Europe and others have been happy to raise prices of products on their own citizens to create jobs for them. I will say that the USA isn't actively allying with countries to cut the EU out like the EU has done to us. The EU has been waging what is effectively an economic war on most of the world. Think about it: The many countries of Europe have banded together in a protectionist strategy to shield themselves from the outside countries. That's an economic war, and we need to recognize it as such.

FreeWits said:

"Dirty" is really in the eye of the beholder. Former US leadership has prioritized cheaper products over jobs. This is one-variable thinking IMO, which isn't healthy for the economy. Sure, products will be cheapest, but we'll also have people losing jobs, grow debt, reduce the economy long-term because we aren't making stuff, welfare programs will be stressed, and taxes will be reduced. That was an ass-backwards policy that Trump has helped solve through a reciprocal trade policy. Europe and others have been happy to raise prices of products on their own citizens to create jobs for them. I will say that the USA isn't actively allying with countries to cut the EU out like the EU has done to us. The EU has been waging what is effectively an economic war on most of the world. Think about it: The many countries of Europe have banded together in a protectionist strategy to shield themselves from the outside countries. That's an economic war, and we need to recognize it as such.

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So do you think tariffs on Canadian lumber are okay? Do you think subsidizing dairy is okay? Do you think the US dumping corn into Mexico and rice into Haiti is okay? Do you think the US should follow the same rules you want the other countries to follow?

Yes_Minister said:

So do you think tariffs on Canadian lumber are okay? Do you think subsidizing dairy is okay? Do you think the US dumping corn into Mexico and rice into Haiti is okay? Do you think the US should follow the same rules you want the other countries to follow?

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The USA isn't "dumping" corn into Haiti. We are giving Haiti corn so they don't starve to death. The island is literally not self-sustaining, and they have to export PEOPLE every year because the island literally cannot hold the amount of people they have. So yes, I think giving food to poor countries that are starving is okay. As for Canadian lumber, I'm not up on all the details of that industry. Do I think the US should follow the same rules I want other countries to follow? The way you ask that question shows you don't understand my position at all. These aren't "rules" that countries must follow, they are policies I think US leadership should fight for. I have no problem with other countries looking out for their own. We should do the same. And if our interests aren't aligned, we should both find ways to try to get what we want. The EU isn't a country, though, they are a protectionist trading bloc. And when I say protectionist I mean the EU as an alliance of countries allows NO AMERICAN FARMERS TO SELL IN THEIR ENTIRE BLOC. That's protectionism. And they don't always enforce their protectionism through tariffs, either, they often do it through high taxes and other non-tariff policies.

This "yea those Europeans are going to get theirs now" garbage is laughable. Just another indication of how we as a country have bought into government and politics as reality TV. We are a joke and our President and our government generally are nothing more than a reflection of the joke we have become.

jnug said:

This "yea those Europeans are going to get theirs now" garbage is laughable. Just another indication of how we as a country have bought into government and politics as reality TV. We are a joke and our President and our government generally are nothing more than a reflection of the joke we have become.

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I wish the right-wing Trump supporters would make their mind up. Either Europe is a socialist basketcase on the verge of collapse, or it's beating the US economy so much that trade wars are necessary.

And Congress now putting on this Trumpian show of playing hardball with the Justice Dept and the Mueller probe is another joke. Congress after Congress has been throwing their Legislative Responsibilities over the wall to the Executive for Decades, but give them a political football to play with and now they are going to get tough?

If the Founders were to return today they would be appalled that a POS like Trump made his way to the WH. But they would be utterly dumbfounded at what the Congress has become after decades of doing something they don't have the right to do. None of those Congresses including this one has or had the right to toss away their Constitutional Legislative responsibilities. This is just another hole by the way in an argument that some what us to swallow. This has been the Congressional version of "If the President does it, it can't be illegal". HORSEFEATHERS.

These Congresses are just temporary custodians of Legislative responsibility. They don't the right to throw those responsibilities over the wall at the Executive and to throw out their chests now and talk tough about what the Justice Dept owes them is just another JOKE. They are a joke.

If the Founders came back they would be appalled at the quality of man that currently occupies the WH but they would be seriously considering taking current and recent past members of Congress and determining whether they should be putting them up in front of a wall and a firing squad and chastising the Court for standing silently by with their thumbs up their butts completely avoiding what they should have viewed as unavoidable.

Yes_Minister said:

It is said that the US President is the leader of the free world (that title seems irrelevant past 1991, IMO). Except Trump wants to promote a America First policy, which states that America's interests are different from the interests of other Western democracies. The US has tried to sell its interests as the same as other Western democracies interests, but that clearly is not the case now. Also how can Trump be the leader of the free world, if most free world countries did not choose him to be there leader? Maybe the leader of the free world is an old out dated title that has no value at the present.

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Hmm, yes the title is probably outdated and irrelevant today. During WWII until the end of the cold war, Leader of the Free World did apply. I think that title changed once the USSR broke apart and the Warsaw Pact disbanded. Then it became leader of NATO and Western Europe. NATO and Western Europe wanted to expand their influence and let a bunchy of Eastern European countries join NATO so perhaps the title became Leader of NATO and Europe.

Maybe Trump is telling NATO and Europe to get a different leader if they want to do things only in their interest and not the U.S.'s. It's hard to tell at this point. Regardless, in my opinion the title Leader of the free world ceased with the end of the cold war and the break up of the USSR.