What good things did Mr. Trump actually achieve for the US? I don't see any. He mismanaged a pandemic and encouraged people to use bleach against it. He withdrew from the Paris climate agreement, ignoring the most important crisis we face globally. The Israeli-Palestinian conflict did not become better by Trump's decision to move the embassy to Jerusalem. It intensified the conflict. What success in the Middle East are you talking about?He certainly achieved good things for himself and his core family. He became richer, directly and indirectly. He spent a lot of time at his own ressorts and golf clubs and made money from the federal government by this, because his company billed the US government millions for it - including overpriced bills for Secret Service agents who stayed at his properties while protecting him.The irony is that the people who try to make a country great again always destroy it. For a land of the free what could be worse than a demagogue who takes away that freedom and destroys freedom of speech? We know an authoritarian system means the oppression of opponents. His vision of a Trumpistan is such a system without "enemies within" and without freedom of speech. -J. -------- Original message --------From: Pieter Steenekamp <piet...@randcontrols.co.za> Date: 11/9/24 5:07 PM (GMT+01:00) To: The Friday Morning Applied Complexity Coffee Group <friam@redfish.com> Subject: Re: [FRIAM] How democracies die I think many of you dislike Trump so much that it’s hard to see he might actually do some good for the US and the world. Let me share my thinking.I see Trump a bit like King Leopold II of Belgium. King Leopold did horrible things in the Congo, but he did a lot of good for his own country. Back then, people in Belgium didn’t know the terrible stuff happening in Africa because news travelled differently.Now, don’t get me wrong—Trump’s a flawed person, and I think we can agree on that. But, in his first term, he actually achieved some good things for the US and globally. For example, his administration was successful in the Middle East. If you’re interested in a deeper look, Lex Fridman’s interview with Jared Kushner offers some insights (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=co_MeKSnyAo). It's fair to say that Biden’s administration didn’t build on Trump’s progress there - in fact they messed up seriously.If we keep an open mind, it’s possible to see that Biden’s approach in Ukraine will stretch out the war and cost US taxpayers more over many years and the citizens of Ukraine will be the big losers. Given Trump’s previous success in the Middle East, it’s not crazy to think he could find a faster way to help end the war in Ukraine without a mess, like what happened with Biden’s exit from Afghanistan.Sure, Trump’s not a saint. But he’s not looking to go down as a failure either—he wants to be remembered as a winner.On Sat, 9 Nov 2024 at 16:43, Marcus Daniels <mar...@snoutfarm.com> wrote:Trump’s reads the room. If he feels his people would tolerate Russia using chemical weapons at a massive scale in Ukraine, then he’d be fine with that. Remember he was fine separating immigrant children from their parents. This property may well cause some deals to be made because they are afraid of the consequences. That’s not a skill in negotiation, that’s just the kind of terror that an organized crime boss might elicit. The U.S. doesn’t have a boundless number of Tomahawk missiles to give Ukraine, even if we authorized firing into Russia. They run a couple million U.S. dollars each. We aren’t even keeping up with Russia’s artillery manufacturing. Putin knows all this. For better or worse, Biden doesn’t want a war. From: Friam <friam-boun...@redfish.com> on behalf of Pieter Steenekamp <piet...@randcontrols.co.za>Date: Friday, November 8, 2024 at 11:49 PMTo: The Friday Morning Applied Complexity Coffee Group <friam@redfish.com>Subject: Re: [FRIAM] How democracies dieTrump's the kind of guy you should take seriously, not literally. When he says something big like, “I’ll end the war in Ukraine on day one,” he means he's dead set on making peace happen there. Anyone with half a brain knows he can’t actually snap his fingers and stop the war on his first day. That’s up to Russia and Ukraine to figure out, after all. But does Trump have a unique knack for pushing people toward a deal? Oh, you bet he does.In fact, William Spaniel, a professor over at the University of Pittsburgh, mentioned in a podcast https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zKH-QeRJBU8 that Putin seems to believe Trump will lay down a deal that both sides can live with. (And yeah, Spaniel seems to know his stuff.)So, here’s my hunch on what Trump might say to Ukraine and Russia, in my own words: “Alright, fellas, here’s the deal. Ukraine, let’s be real—Russia needs to keep a little slice of land to save face. It might sting, but if you don’t settle, Russia’s going to drag this war out and make it miserable for everyone. And Russia, let’s stop the drama now. You can keep a few bits, but if you keep pushing, we’re going to load up Ukraine with so many weapons it’ll make your head spin. Then, you’re gonna lose big time, and Ukraine will take back everything. But hey, it’s up to you, sweethearts!” On Fri, 8 Nov 2024 at 07:04, steve smith <sasm...@swcp.com> wrote: Marcuswrote:Seems like a lot of people will try to leave Africa because of climate change. I suppose they’ll end up in Europe, creating yet more folks like Trump to rile people up about it.Until the AMOC turns over and plunges Northern Europe into the kind of winter cold Maine-Nova Scotia currently "enjoy"?there was some B post-apocalypse movie starring a polar vortex which ended with all of Canada/US lined up at the MX border asking to be let in to avoid turning into popsicles... of course, the style of the movie had the sweet long-suffering people in the land of Manana politely inviting all the Karen's and Matt Gaetz's into their (now overwhelmed? country)... .- .-.. .-.. / ..-. --- --- - . .-. ... / .- .-. . / .-- .-. --- -. --. / ... --- -- . / .- .-. . / ..- ... . ..-. ..- .-..FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listservFridays 9a-12p Friday St. Johns Cafe / Thursdays 9a-12p Zoom https://bit.ly/virtualfriamto (un)subscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.comFRIAM-COMIC http://friam-comic.blogspot.com/archives: 5/2017 thru present https://redfish.com/pipermail/friam_redfish.com/ 1/2003 thru 6/2021 http://friam.383.s1.nabble.com/.- .-.. .-.. / ..-. --- --- - . .-. ... / .- .-. . / .-- .-. --- -. --. / ... --- -- . / .- .-. . / ..- ... . ..-. ..- .-.. 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