AreWeAllJamesMatthewBerrie
NowVille
Leyland Cecco of the Guardian, summing up Mr. Carney's first visit to the land down under as our PM:
...Trump said it would be “beautiful” to merge the two countries, saying the prospect “would really be a wonderful marriage”.
Carney, drawing on Trump’s pride in real estate dealings, reminded the president that in the industry, “there are some places that are never for sale”.
“That’s true,” said Trump.
“Having met with the owners of Canada over the course of the campaign ... it’s not for sale,” said Carney. “Won’t be for sale, ever.”
Later in the meeting, Trump brought up the idea again, telling Carney and the assembled media: “I say, never say never.”
“Never, never, never, never, never,” Carney appeared to say quietly...
Mr. Trump went on to say that there is nothing Mr. Carney and/or his negotiators can do about the tariffs, at least for the moment, because, 'that's just the way it is'.
Jeebuz!
7 comments:
Oh, but don't you believe it!
Trump is going to continue to try. he also likes to "needle" people and he knows Canadians don't like it so he'll continue. Liked how Carney handled it. Don't think Trump and his gang expected his responses. Did notice, from what was shown on t.v., Vance kept his mouth shut this time.
Trump will continue to do what he wants and attempting to negotiate anything with him is a waste of time. The latest elimination of a dept. could well cause a lot of deaths, if there is another "plague" Slashing the National Institutes of Health is not smart nor is slashing money sent to states for health. This will not end well and could result in major problems in hospitals, research......ah well the Americans voted for him, so they can learn to live with it or die because of it.
If one were the master of quick wit and repartee, when Trump said "“I say, never say never.”; Carnival Carney should have shot back; "Yes Mr. Trump, you can say the same about Canada acquiring nuclear weapons".
That would definitely be baiting the bear, inciting grudge reactions. Let's play a longer game for once, and not stoop to using Trump's own playbook.
Let us not forget that this crisis is somewhat self-inflicted, and that going back to what was before DJT is still keeping us on the roller coaster to oblivion while the window of opportunity to resolve the totality of our political/social/environmental/economic woes diminishes by the day. We don't have to wallow in that thought, but it would be good if more of us devoted a little more intellectual and emotional space from our vast meningeal reserves.
There are people who you can not play the long game with. They only understand brute strength or very clever games which they don't win. Going the "ugly" route is still fine as long as you play it "elegantly". Right now trump is enjoying being the centre of attention and thinking he will win by being a bully. As trump continues to destroy his own country, at some point some one is going to be very unhappy and we know what that usually results in,
“Needling” people is as typical tRump as riffing, eg E Jean Carroll: he even riffs when he loses, eg ibid, and 2020. He riffs on illegal immigrants, ten years now; they are “bad people” from “mental institutions” (we can’t be sure if he came to that by way of legal asylum seekers, having confused the homonyms of “asylum”—but, whatever, he’s been riffing on “the invasion” since at least 2015). Another example: his predecessor was allegedly one of those “bad people” because of his middle and last names—Muslim AND Black—and an “invader” because he was allegedly born outside the USA and therefore Muslim, Black AND insane—because it rhymes with “Hussein” (the man’s “look-mommy” glee—the riffing integral —when he ‘discovers’ or ‘reinvents’ words like “groceries” and “U.S.” and “us” is utterly palpable). Fortunately or not, his plans never seem to work out—which is what you get when you plan by riffing; he does a lot of damage in the process but it’s more superficial than many imagine. There are tells too: if it were really the foreign riffraff riffer’s ‘fight of his life’ he would have provided more riffs about Obama’s alleged Kenyan birthplace when the first Black candidate in US history first announced his campaign for the presidency back in 2008, probably presuming Obama would lose to Romney the white Mormon. Then as tRump bought full page newspaper spreads to advertise his “birther” allegation during Obama’s first term, he notably declined to run against the incumbent in 2012 and contest Obama’s last-term bid. One gets the feeling that tRump is fundamentally afraid of coloured people. Or maybe he strategized that a 2nd Buh-lack presidency would set up his rampant racist rhetoric for 2016. And of course he’ll riff on “Buh-lack” people who aren’t really “Buh-lack” but only half “Buh-lack.” Yet his riffing is costlier than his raping —as Ms Carroll’s two trials proved, one civil settlement, $5 million, for the heinous assault he committed on her, the next settlement orders of magnitude greater after a kind of riffing called “noodling,” but “defamation” in the legal sense. But he keeps doing it —compulsively, apparently. He’s got the Peewee Herman rejoinder down pat as if to say “I meant to do that” when he commits malapropisms. The question is, however, how much of it is attempting to conceal serious cognitive decline. He might be the last to know.
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