Who would trust Bojo or Trump

[misty]

I reckon his supporters would certainly give that the thumbs up.

Given that Mexico is the second highest country the USA exports to & is 3rd on the total trade list, his supporters will quickly lose the faith.

[Angelo222]

And how do you think he's going to achieve that, pray tell?

Hasn't he promised to construct a high wall along the border and fund it out of the annual aid budget paid to Mexico.



A 2006 federal law required a double-layered fence along hundreds of miles of the U.S.-Mexico border. But that law has since undergone significant changes. (U.S Fish & Wildlife Service photo)

www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/article/2016/jul/26/how-trump-plans-build-wall-along-us-mexico-border/

[Carana]

Hasn't he promised to construct a high wall along the border and fund it out of the annual aid budget paid to Mexico.



A 2006 federal law required a double-layered fence along hundreds of miles of the U.S.-Mexico border. But that law has since undergone significant changes. (U.S Fish & Wildlife Service photo)

www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/article/2016/jul/26/how-trump-plans-build-wall-along-us-mexico-border/

What "aid budget"?

One idea is that he'd amend a law so that identity controls on financial institutions include wire transfer companies to stop illegal immigrants from sending money back home. Ok, but there are ways around that.

Another idea is somehow and somewhat more nebulously connected to the trade deficit. I'm guessing that that would mean slapping tariffs on Mexican imports, which would mean scrapping the current NAFTA agreement - and that would probably take years.


http://www.politifact.com/florida/statements/2016/jan/26/donald-trump/donald-trump-says-course-mexico-can-pay-wall-becau/

https://ustr.gov/countries-regions/americas/mexico

[Carana]

With his idea of a wall and his bizarre idea of a "fund" to which citizens would somehow willingly contribute to pay for renovating delapidated bridges, I'm wondering if Trump Inc isn't hoping to diversify away from casinos, hotels and golf courses into the public infrastructure sector...  &%+((£

[Carana]

Another thought... but didn't he say that he wanted to deport all illegal immigrants (a significant proportion of which are presumably Mexicans)?

So... he somehow gets the law changed on the definition of financial institutions. (I actually agree with that, but for different reasons.)

But that doesn't fund his bridge. So what he seems to be actually saying is that the Mexican government should somehow cough up the cost to stop this hypothetical new statute from being enacted so that illegal immigrants (whom he intends to have rounded up and shipped back) can continue to send money back to Mexico. The Mexican government is having trouble paying for basic public services, so I'm not sure where this massive amount of money is meant to come from.

How can he simultaneously deport illegal immigrants and blackmail Mexico into paying for the wall?

I can't make it make sense...  &%+((£

[John]

US foreign aid budget to Mexico estimated at over $400,000,000 in 2013.

http://us-foreign-aid.insidegov.com/q/112/1590/How-much-money-does-the-U-S-give-to-Mexico

[Carana]

US foreign aid budget to Mexico estimated at over $400,000,000 in 2016.

http://us-foreign-aid.insidegov.com/q/112/1590/How-much-money-does-the-U-S-give-to-Mexico

Ok... assuming that that is still the case.

So what is he proposing to cut down on? Military support? Anti-terrorism cooperation? Fighting narcotics trafficking?

[John]

One suggestion was that Mexico make a one-off payment to the US to pay for the wall otherwise the US would stop remittances being sent back to Mexico by illegal immigrant workers.

http://fox42kptm.com/news/nation-world/five-ways-donald-trump-can-make-mexico-pay-for-the-wall

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/apr/05/donald-trump-mexico-border-wall-plan-remittances

[Carana]

From those 2012 figures...

Development Assistance: $17,948,047
Economic Support Fund/Security Support Assistance: $40,810,450

Ok.

But what do you suppose lies behind that assistance? A noble, charitable "help thy neighbour" motivation?

Or ensuring political stability in a neighbouring country and US-based profitable economic investment?

[Carana]

One suggestion was that Mexico make a one-off payment to the US to pay for the wall otherwise the US would stop remittances being sent back to Mexico by illegal immigrant workers.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/apr/05/donald-trump-mexico-border-wall-plan-remittances

Yes, I know. That's the essence of what I posted just further up.

[John]

From those 2012 figures...

Development Assistance: $17,948,047
Economic Support Fund/Security Support Assistance: $40,810,450

Ok.

But what do you suppose lies behind that assistance? A noble, charitable "help thy neighbour" motivation?

Or ensuring political stability in a neighbouring country and US-based profitable economic investment?

Maybe the priorities have changed recently?

[Carana]

Maybe the priorities have changed recently?

In whose eyes?

Possibly. In which case, anti-terrorism, police cooperation, drug-smuggling, political stability, improving conditions to help more Mexicans to make a living in their own country, quite probably lower costs for US companies investing in Mexico, a free trade agreement, etc., are no longer important.

OK. Good luck with that.

[Carana]

I had a read about Trump's plan to turn the White Himg e into a Casino.

Just for a second I thought it was an April fool's joke. %&5%£ %&5%£

Tongue-in-cheek, no doubt, but I'm starting to realise that it doesn't seem that far from reality.

What I found scary is the very fact that I tried to check if there was any truth to it. 

[Carana]

Does anyone have any idea what he means by a "fund" to support public infrastructure?

This wouldn't be a vague euphemism for a new Trump Inc company, by any chance, with foreign investment by - let's say - some of his Russian bromance interests? Can't be, perish the thought....

[Carana]

On a - perhaps superficially - lighter note on the "short-fingered vulgarian":

http://www.vanityfair.com/culture/2015/10/graydon-carter-donald-trump#6

Snippets:

Like so many bullies, Trump has skin of gossamer. He thinks nothing of saying the most hurtful thing about someone else, but when he hears a whisper that runs counter to his own vainglorious self-image, he coils like a caged ferret. Just to drive him a little bit crazy, I took to referring to him as a “short-fingered vulgarian” in the pages of Spy magazine. That was more than a quarter of a century ago. To this day, I receive the occasional envelope from Trump. There is always a photo of him—generally a tear sheet from a magazine. On all of them he has circled his hand in gold Sharpie in a valiant effort to highlight the length of his fingers.


The bottom line:

He may be giving the American political system the roughing up it so sorely needs, but even the remote possibility that one of those tiny fingers could be within reach of the nuclear hot button should give any sane Republican the chills.