The only way to to graph Trump’s foreign policy performance is as an asymptotic equation approaching infinitely bad.  His horrid example at NATO fits that pattern.  He is doing everything inhumanly possible to alienate every friend we have.  And he claims victories to describe his failures.

Donald Trump took to the stage in Belgium to crow about how he scored a major foreign relations victory in getting NATO allies to increase their military budgets—by questioning the value of NATO and threatening to leave the vital military alliance. However, other NATO leaders are already disputing Trump’s statements, making his “victory” over NATO appear as illusory as his “agreement” with North Korea.

After two days in which Trump attacked multiple allies, particularly Germany, and denied that NATO had any value to the United States, Thursday morning he suddenly appeared to make an unscheduled speech, where he declared he has solved the problem of NATO.

Trump: Yesterday I let them know that I was extremely unhappy with what was happening … They have substantially upped their commitment and now we’re very happy and have a very, very  powerful, very, very strong NATO.

 

Trump tweeted overnight that NATO countries had to up their military budgets “immediately,” perhaps missing that bit where, in democratic nations, leaders don’t have instant, unchecked power to make such commitments. But where Trump’s appearance at last year’s NATO fiasco could be passed off as Trump simply not understanding how the alliance worked or was financed, that was obviously not the case this time.

Instead, Trump set out to “solve NATO” as he solves every other problem. First create the problem, then pretend it’s fixed. Then accept the applause. In this case, Trump didn’t name any country that had upped its commitment to NATO, or point to any real change that had resulted in NATO now “running like a machine” and being “much stronger than it was two days ago.” However, he did toss on more numbers about how much of Germany was controlled by Russia—all of them simply invented.

Meanwhile, the Washington Post reports that other NATO leaders are already stepping forward to deny they’ve changed their commitment for military spending… [emphasis added]

Inserted from <Daily Kos>

World, please be patient with us.  The American people who think are trying to undo Trump’s Republican Reich.  Whatever boycotts or sanctions you deem necessary, I ask for mercy to the people by targeting Trump’s assets.

RESIST!!

VOTE BLUE!!

When the High Priest of Hatred, aka Donald Trump, went into the business of stealing children from desperate Latinos, he either had no intention of reuniting them, heads a Republican Party too incompetent to reunite them, or both.  Fortunately judges put the Republican Reich under court order to reunite all 102 children five are less by yesterday.  When the deadline had come and gone yesterday, only four kids were back with their families.

As an initial deadline for the Trump administration to reunify separated migrant families arrived Tuesday, desperate parents said they still had no idea when they would see their kids again.

The federal government on Tuesday said that only four — out of 102 — migrant children under 5 years old had been reunited with their parents before the July 10 deadline, according to a court filing from government lawyers. Another 34 could potentially be back with at least one parent by the end of the day, according to federal officials.

"Why was it so easy for them to take our children but so hard to give them back?" asked Digna, a 37-year-old Salvadoran mother who has been separated from her two children since crossing the border in May. "It was traumatic for someone to tell these children they were going to be ripped from their mother’s arms."…  [emphasis added]

Inserted from <NBC News> 

It turns out that one of the children may actually be a US citizen.  Lawrence O’Donnell has that story and more from the families.

There  is no excuse for this abuse of power by the Racist Republican Reich!  Why racist?  They aren’t abusing people at the northern border, are they?

RESIST!!

VOTE BLUE!!

Donald Trump, Resident of the Republican Reich, has nominated an extreme ideologue, Brett Kavanaugh for Antony Kennedy’s seat on SCROTUS (Republican Unconstitutional VD).  If confirmed, he will vote to either overturn or thoroughly undermine Roe v. Wade.  He will vote to repeal the Affordable Care Act.  He will give the NRA whatever they want.  He has opined that sitting Presidents are immune from prosecution and may fire special prosecutors at will.  Reject Kavanaugh!

Abortion

Because he was a swing-vote in favor of abortion rights, Kennedy’s departure from the court has sparked alarm among abortion rights activists that Roe v. Wade, the landmark Supreme Court ruling that legalized abortion nationwide in 1973, could be overturned. In addition, Trump has long vowed to appoint justices who would reverse Roe and allow states to determine whether abortion should be legal.

Kavanaugh has not expressed outright opposition to Roe v. Wade.

One of his opinions likely to draw scrutiny from senators is a his dissent from a ruling of the DC Circuit last October that an undocumented immigrant teen in detention was entitled to seek an abortion.

In his dissent, Kavanaugh wrote the Supreme Court has held that "the government has permissible interests in favoring fetal life, protecting the best interests of a minor, and refraining from facilitating abortion." He wrote that the high court has "held that the government may further those interests so long as it does not impose an undue burden on a woman seeking an abortion." He said the majority opinion was "based on a constitutional principle as novel as it is wrong: a new right for unlawful immigrant minors in US government detention to obtain immediate abortion on demand." He added, however, that "all parties to this case recognize Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey as precedents we must follow."…

Inserted from <CNN>

Republicans claim that it’s OK for moderate and DINOs to vote for him because he acknowledges Roe v Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey as "precedents we must follow."  Their deception is glossing over the reason why.  Because appellate courts may not overturn precedent, he HAD to follow it, but if appointed, he could set new precedent.

That article only discussed abortion.  Here is Lawrence O’Donnell interviewing Elisabeth Warren on Kavanaugh’s other positions.

Can there be any doubt?

In the above graphic, my Senator, Jeff Merkley [D-OR], made his position clear.  Here’s a bit of what he says:

Tell the U.S. Senate: REJECT Brett Kavanaugh for the Supreme Court!

Donald Trump’s first choice to the Supreme Court, Neil Gorsuch, has shown himself to be a right-wing activist, backing recent decisions to uphold Trump’s Muslim Ban, gut workers’ rights, attack women’s health care, and undermine voting rights.

Now, Trump has nominated another extremist, Brett Kavanaugh. Kavanaugh is someone who argued that sitting presidents should be immune from prosecution, and that the president has the sole power to appoint and fire special prosecutors at will. And he was on the hand-picked list put together by right-wing activists who want to overturn Roe v. Wade, marriage equality, coverage for preexisting conditions, and more.

To sign Jeff’s petition, click here.

Whatever it takes, Kavanaugh must be stopped!

RESIST!!

VOTE BLUE!!

Now, if I were to tell you that I have never, or do never, enjoy the delights of gazing upon the female form, I’d either have to admit I was lying or turn in my TomCat ID card.  However, even I realize that breasts have a primary purpose, and for that purpose, nothing is better.  However, it appears that the Republican Reich wants to make them for ogling only!

A resolution to encourage breast-feeding was expected to be approved quickly and easily by the hundreds of government delegates who gathered this spring in Geneva for the United Nations-affiliated World Health Assembly.

Based on decades of research, the resolution says that mother’s milk is healthiest for children and countries should strive to limit the inaccurate or misleading marketing of breast milk substitutes.

Then the United States delegation, embracing the interests of infant formula manufacturers, upended the deliberations.

American officials sought to water down the resolution by removing language that called on governments to “protect, promote and support breast-feeding” and another passage that called on policymakers to restrict the promotion of food products that many experts say can have deleterious effects on young children.

When that failed, they turned to threats, according to diplomats and government officials who took part in the discussions. Ecuador, which had planned to introduce the measure, was the first to find itself in the cross hairs.

The Americans were blunt: If Ecuador refused to drop the resolution, Washington would unleash punishing trade measures and withdraw crucial military aid. The Ecuadorean government quickly acquiesced…. [emphasis added]

Inserted from <NY Times>

This shows just how low Republicans will to increase profits for the greedy.