The last 24 hours in Trump
I think they have been good.
The GoFundMe for the Wall has passed $11 million. Liberals are trying to get GoFundMe to shut it down, saying that it’s racist.
Perhaps the GoFundMe is the final straw that shamed Trump to going back to his promise to shut down the government if he doesn’t get funding for his wall. The funding has passed the House. I hope that any Republican Senators who vote against it get voted out of office at the first opportunity.
I don’t know if I agree with Trump’s Syria withdrawal, but at least he’s showing the Deep State who’s boss. If Mattis doesn’t like that, then good riddance. Maybe it was Mattis wrote that anonymous op-ed?
Lion of the Blogosphere 
A leftie girl started a go fund me page to buy ladders to help illegal immigrants break into the country.
https://www.gofundme.com/ladders-to-get-over-trump039s-wall
If anything is illegal and should be banned, surely it is that one, raising funds to assist people in breaking the law? And if that is not where the money will go then it is false advertising.
DataExplorer
December 21, 2018 at 9:31 AM
Don’t the ladders have to be on the Mexican side, where U.S. law holds no sway?
Anthony
December 21, 2018 at 11:43 AM
But the dumb broad conspiring to break US law is on this side, guy
driveallnight
December 21, 2018 at 7:08 PM
I am no expert on the case law, but on the surface that would seem to run you afoul of 8 USC § 1324 Bringing in and Harboring Certain Aliens: https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/8/1324
PerezHBD
December 21, 2018 at 9:39 PM
One of those anti-immigrant laws that aren’t enforced.
Lion of the Blogosphere
December 22, 2018 at 12:49 AM
I think Trump is right to get out of the Middle East. Being there achieves nothing. Trillions have been wasted pursuing neo-con ideology, with nothing to show for it. And in Syria the West has been supporting the wrong side anyway.
The lioncub
December 21, 2018 at 9:52 AM
It’s the second biggest campaign ever already
Bruno
December 21, 2018 at 10:28 AM
Speaking of ladders, Tucker Carlson had a clip of Rep. James Clyburn repeating the moronic talking points about ladders last night.
Let’s do a little research and see if a really tall ladder can overcome a really high fence:
– The tallest commonly available commercial extension ladder is a “60 foot” size. Its actual extended length is 49 feet, and it has a safe working height of 47 feet.
– It is duty rated for 250 lbs. Depending on how much they weigh, one or maybe two people could use it at one time.
– The ladder itself weights 179 lbs., and its closed length is 21 feet. Not exactly easily transportable by people wandering around the desert.
– Not to mention being at the top of a ladder that height is inherently dangerous, and in the construction business is never done without having all the OSHA required fall protection. Of course, the “migrants” won’t have any of that due to the expense and the fact it would slow them down.
– And the ladder’s expensive. The Werner 560-3 ladder sells for $1163.57 at Walmart.
In reality, a 30 foot wall with features to prevent people from getting a handhold at the top would probably be sufficient. All this talk about ladders is a product of the political/media class that have never climbed on a ladder themselves, let alone been on a construction job site. Well OK,maybe they’ve driven past one and noticed that there were some thingies out there that looked like tools, but they couldn’t be absolutely sure.
Sgt. Joe Friday
December 21, 2018 at 10:34 AM
Good analysis, but remember that liberals base their decisions on FEEELings, so if the FEEEL that a ladder will work, well then OK.
Ashley Squishy
December 21, 2018 at 11:44 AM
Nobody expects an air tight border anyway. Just trying to make it significantly more difficult to get across. It’s not pointless to lock your car and house doors, even though windows can be smashed and crowbars can be used.
Steverino@steverino.com
December 21, 2018 at 1:30 PM
Absolutely correct. The idea is to “harden the target,” to discourage most would-be intruders. A determined burglar will get into your house if he wants to badly enough, but most burglars are low IQ drug addicts and will seek out the least difficult mark. Same idea here; show the smugglers and drug mules that we’ve gotten more serious about making illegal entry difficult and (a) there will be less of it, and (b) the price will go up, beyond the reach of many of the people who are coming now. If $5K to be escorted into the USA becomes $10K or $15K, then the number of people able to afford the trip will drop.
Sgt. Joe Friday
December 21, 2018 at 4:07 PM
Conservatives generally like to point out that one cannot legislate morally righteous ideals into reality. The left’s favorite rebuttal is “well legislation is all about DOING THE BEST WE CAN!!”
When it comes to immigration, they take the realist position: “You can’t stop the movement of people, it’s just impossible,” and the cons take the “well we do the best we can” line.
I’m black pilled on the subject. If there’s one thing we learn from history, from the Bantu expansion to the displacement of the Dorest to the destruction of the Anasazi to the volkswanderung of the middle ages, it’s that people move en masse and violence follows and even mighty empires can do little about the ebb and flow of the dismal tide.
Seth Largo (@SethLargo)
December 22, 2018 at 5:57 PM
China built a Great Wall.
Lion of the Blogosphere
December 22, 2018 at 6:00 PM
I could easily get over the wall with a 2×4, foot of angle iron and a handful of 1/4″-20 bolts.
destructure
December 21, 2018 at 4:06 PM
It would be a rather cruel prank to only provide ladders on the Mexico side of the wall. But I suppose after awhile pile would grow deep enough to cushion the fall.
beancrusher
December 21, 2018 at 8:38 PM
With the US forces pulling out of Syria, Turkish media says the Turkish military will invade parts of Syria controlled by the Kurds:
This region includes all the Kurdish cities along the border.
The Kurds were the US allies in the fight against ISIS. The Kurds did much of the fighting to push ISIS out of its large cities. Now Trump is just abandoning them and is going to let Turkey slaughter them and try to push them into the desert.
This I think is what got Mattis angry enough to resign. If you have not read his resignation letter, you should.
MikeCA
December 21, 2018 at 12:02 PM
The AP is now reporting that it was a Friday afternoon call from Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan that motivated Trump to order US troops out of Syria:
https://apnews.com/ec2ed217357048ff998225a31534df12?fbclid=IwAR2uwWaZ94bk_wjTbm1Q4Ka6gxwuXyHJ-HxumCcnc79A6yuUVu8fPmipHkE
The US forces would have been caught in the middle of the battle between Turkey and the Kurds or they would have been fighting on the side of the Kurds against NATO member Turkey. Trump decided to just abandoned the Kurds, apparently without even consulting Mattis.
MikeCA
December 21, 2018 at 12:23 PM
Kurds are not our problem regardless of their help in the past. US needs to stop poking its unwanted nose in places it doesn’t belong. Besides if we support Kurds we lose Turkey, much more important to NATO. Time to be smart people.
wt
December 21, 2018 at 9:11 PM
From what you’re saying, it was a smart decision to get the f*** out.
like we wanted to be caught in the middle of a battle between the Kurds and turkey? I really don’t think so.
Look. I’m not sure this was the right decision in the long run. I suspect we will be sucked back into the vortex. But under the circumstances if what you’re saying is true I would be in favor of it.
I was watching the European news, and it was pretty much the same as all the b******* on PBS. You have the usual jerk-offs shrieking about how America is unreliable, we have lost our reputation for reliability and so on.
please give me a break. I have been hearing the same s*** for 40 years now.
The Republicans used the same argument to argue in favor of our staying in Vietnam!
and there have been many examples since. Trust me, whenever a country needs cannon fodder and money they will come whining to Uncle Sam.
gothamette
December 22, 2018 at 12:18 PM
A systematic extermination of all musloids solves your every pearl-clutching concern, Mike. But I have a strong suspicion that had former President GRIDS pulled US forces out of Syria you would be, so to speak as it were, verbally fellating O’GRIDS in the comments here. Certainly, NPR congratulated O’GRIDS no matter what he did, and you lift all your narrative from NPR. Viz.
Just like there’s no such thing as a moderate Nazi, there’s no such thing as a moderate musloid.
hard9bf
December 23, 2018 at 11:56 AM
We should have armed the Kurds a long time ago instead of just giving them some air support. Now, all of a sudden, the very people who were against arming the Kurds are saying, “omg, what about the Kurds!”
Lion of the Blogosphere
December 21, 2018 at 2:47 PM
The Saudis and UAE already sent troops a month ago that will replace the Americans. And what equipment will they have? That’s right, good old USA military equipment, the very equipment that Lindsay Graham and the Senate wanted to cancel because of the Khashoggi thingie.
So it’ll be Muslims fighting and dying, not Americans any more. Sounds good, right? Aren’t we glad Trump’s in charge and not neocon Lindsay or his dead buddy?
https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20181122-saudi-arabia-uae-send-troops-to-support-kurds-in-syria/
And as we know now, it’ll be Afghanistan next.
Bye, bye mad dog. I’m sure CNN has a spot open on one of their panels.
gda53
December 22, 2018 at 1:02 AM
The time to help the Kurds was right after we invaded Iraq. We could have partitioned the country, giving the Kurds their homeland, and beat feat, instead of spending years, blood, and treasure trying to keep an artificial construct from WW1 a going concern.
Mike Street Station
December 22, 2018 at 9:30 AM
Supporting the Kurds in Syria conflicts with the interests of our longtime ally Turkey, a NATO member, and until yesterday guys like you were pissed at Trump for not listening to our allies. Now we’re supposed to throw a decades old alliance aside in favor of one faction among three in a civil war that Americans don’t want to be involved in. If you want to go to war for the Kurds — and destabilize the Middle East even more than it already is — then kick Turkey out of NATO. Because we probably can’t keep both.
Richard
December 21, 2018 at 4:03 PM
The Battle to retake Mosul (in Iraq) was begun in Oct 2016 (while Obama was still president). The city was declared liberated in July 2017 long after Trump was president. The Obama administration had drawn up plans to continue the battle against ISIS into Syria. They had talked to both Turkey and the Kurds about leading the fight against ISIS in Syria. Both Turkey and the Kurds said they were willing to lead the fight with US support, but the Obama administration concluded that Turkey was not serious and would not really fight ISIS in Syria and that the Kurds were the only real option. The Obama administration handed off these plans to the Trump administration, which was reluctant to go forward with the plan. After many months Trump was convinced to approve the plan and the Kurds lead the fight against ISIS in Syria.
Now Trump is abandoning the Kurds. Turkey claims that they are now finally going into Turkey to wipe the remains of ISIS. I don’t believe that and I don’t think anyone else does either. Turkey is going into Syria to attack and degrade the Kurdish Peshmerga. The Kurds will give up on fighting ISIS and go back to defend their border cities. The Turkey military will never get far enough into Syria to fight ISIS.
Trump claimed Obama was responsible for ISIS because he pulled US forces out of Iraq. This decision may lead to a resurgence of ISIS in Syria and Iraq.
I have also read today that John Bolton was trying to extend the Syrian battle into a forever war by expanding the targets to be both Iran and ISIS. Trump, while strongly anti-Iran, still did not like Syria turning into a forever war. Apparently John Bolton tried to change the mission of US troops in Syria even though Trump did not approve this expansion.
MikeCA
December 21, 2018 at 11:48 PM
Everybody in the region is opposed to ISIS, so if you want them gone stop fomenting civil wars and separatist movements that weaken central governments. ISIS is only a player when there’s a vacuum of power.
Supporting the Kurds was always an alliance of convenience to weaken Saddam Hussein. Once he’s gone, you have to deal with the new reality we created, which is that the Iraqi government (now our ally) doesn’t want the Kurds to have the same autonomy they once enjoyed and the Turks really don’t want it because of their own Kurdish separatist movement. War hawks loved the idea of weakening Syria because it looked like a golden opportunity to replicate the old Iraq/Kurdish situation, but that just opened the door for ISIS. The Kurds are a weak hand surrounded by stronger antagonists who control the Bosporus and the Euphrates, and no US president was ever going to flip off both of the latter for a bunch of hill people.
Richard
December 22, 2018 at 10:19 AM
“The Kurds are a weak hand”
If we gave them the same caliber of weapons that everyone else has, they’d be a lot stronger.
Lion of the Blogosphere
December 22, 2018 at 11:41 AM
“If we gave them the same caliber of weapons that everyone else has, they’d be a lot stronger.”
They would not. The Kurds are hopelessly divided, just like everyone else in the middle East. In fact even speaking of the Kurds is a bit of a misnomer they are extraordinarily diverse they speak different dialects and they have never been united.
They played the Israelis really well for a while, but once the Israelis realized that the Kurds were fanatic Muslims and hated the Zionists, that alliance was quietly dropped.
This are Erdogan guy is really something. I personally believe that he was the one who shoved a million Muslims on to merkel’s plate. Now this.
the Israelis have decisively beaten the Arabs. They will never defeat turkey. I keep thinking that turkey and Iran will one day team up to destroy Israel.
gothamette
December 22, 2018 at 12:24 PM
Everybody in the region is opposed to ISIS,
Erdogan and Obama were pro-ISIS.
The only reason Obama wanted to take down Assad was because he knew ISIS would take over Syria in the aftermath.
The Undiscovered Jew
December 22, 2018 at 12:46 PM
If we gave them the same caliber of weapons that everyone else has, they’d be a lot stronger.
Syria’s Kurds can fall back on Assad and Putin for protection against Turkey. Russia and Syria were able to get Erdogan to pull back from an invasion of Northern Syria a few months ago.
Syria is Assad’s territory now so protecting his Kurds is his problem and something he can accomplish with Russia’s backing. There’s no reason to keep American troops defending Assad’s territorial integrity.
The Undiscovered Jew
December 22, 2018 at 12:51 PM
The Kurds are hopelessly divided,
The Kurds don’t matter.
The only thing that matters is that America, Israel, and the Saudis end up in great shape – Assad will be too weak to seriously threaten American-Israeli-Saudi interests for decades but Assad is *just* barely strong enough to prevent a power vacuum forming in Syria that would be filled by Islamic warlords.
The Undiscovered Jew
December 22, 2018 at 1:47 PM
Its time to wrap up from Middle East and leave it for Russia and Iran to sort it out. If China wants to secure some natural resources there all the better. USA has no role to play in middle east any more.
wt
December 22, 2018 at 2:21 PM
“The Kurds don’t matter.”
I said that, Yakov.
“Erdogan and Obama were pro-ISIS.”
So was Israel.
gothamette
December 23, 2018 at 11:59 AM
To Turkey, the Kurds are the REAL enemy, and to Israel the Iranians are the REAL enemy (with Assad as a sort-of Iranian ally). And Obama is just stupid.
Lion of the Blogosphere
December 23, 2018 at 12:46 PM
So was Israel.
But Israel supported ISIS for the right reasons, unlike Erdogan and Obama.
The Undiscovered Jew
December 23, 2018 at 2:18 PM
As long as the US evacuate South to North rather than North to South, the SAA and Russians will move in as we leave and block the Turks from moving against the Kurds.
Also remember that the Kurds in Syria are radical Marxists and they fought “for us” against ISIS as part of their longstanding effort to establish a Kurdish state, not out of any particular love for America or Americans. They didn’t sacrifice for us, they sacrificed for themselves, and they wouldn’t hesitate to slit our throats if they thought it would better advance their agenda.
PerezHBD
December 21, 2018 at 9:51 PM
I think I follow policy debates pretty closely, and I don’t think I ever saw a reasoned explication of why we had to oppose Assad, aside from “he gassed his people,” i.e. the same reason that was’t good enough for the Left in the case of Saddam.
Vipltd
December 21, 2018 at 12:13 PM
Assad was a pain in the ass to Western interests and allied with Iran and helping them stir up mischief.
However, Obama never had a plan to replace him with someone better. A SMART policy would be to find one of his generals willing to take over as dictator but who would also be out friend. But we never do anything smart. The Syrian civil war as been far worse for the average Syrian than life under Assad. And of course it allowed ISIS a home turf to assert itself–when Assad controlled Syria, he didn’t allow any Islamic fundamentalist movements.
Lion of the Blogosphere
December 21, 2018 at 2:48 PM
From a purely racial angle, it is interesting that the more or less “white” Persians and Alawites have been bigger enemies than the Arabs.
The Kurds are more or less white, too, though, so it should be easy for Trump to convince his base that it’s worth helping them out in a fight.
Seth Largo (@SethLargo)
December 22, 2018 at 6:08 PM
Assad’s father sent troop to the Desert Storm operation. Assad himself is a secular leader who protected religious minorities in a country that was relatively free compared to many others in the region. Assad displeased the 51st US state to the south for whatever reason so we are supposed to have US forces there for all of eternity?
wj2016
December 25, 2018 at 9:46 AM
Assad was a pain in the ass to Western interests
Syria has been at least somewhat hostile to America since it was allied with the Soviets.
But since Syria is not going to be able to threaten any of its neighbors for decades (and since there is no alternative to Assad that doesn’t result in worse Islamic terrorists taking over) it doesn’t harm us or our allies to leave a very weak Assad in power over a militarily exhausted Syria.
The Undiscovered Jew
December 21, 2018 at 3:11 PM
Maybe it was Mattis wrote that anonymous op-ed?
I thought it was Nicki Haley?
The Undiscovered Jew
December 21, 2018 at 1:49 PM
Oh well, it doesn’t really matter who his advisors are: The whole world is the Donald Trump show where the only star that matters is Donald Trump.
The Undiscovered Jew
December 21, 2018 at 1:51 PM
Mattis is more likely than Haley. Though a career bureaucrat is most likely of all. Quiet sabotage is at the heart of a bureaucrat’s mindset.
Anonymously and passive-aggressively sabotaging their job for reasons of principle is the opposite of everything a career politician is inclined to do. What inclination has Haley ever shown towards this sort of behavior?
Someone with the mindset of a career pol who wants to sabotage Trump would engage in a very public resignation and humiliation of him, setting themselves up to switch parties and run as a moderate Democrat in an appropriate jurisdiction.
Wency
December 21, 2018 at 4:25 PM
Mattis is more likely than Haley.
I figured Haley was most likely because she stepped down as UN Ambassador shortly after the article appeared.
The Undiscovered Jew
December 22, 2018 at 12:39 PM
No, it wasn’t Haley or Mattis. It was Yleem Poblete, a Cuban-born fanatical neocon who works for Pompeo.
keroman
December 23, 2018 at 11:55 AM
I really like that Trump pulled out of Syria. I am against neoconservativism because it removes secularists and replaces them with radical Islamist crazies. Assad is one of my favorite leaders in the world. He keeps Syria secular, he hates ISIS and has protected Syrian Christians. I’m not sure if I believe he has gassed his own people. I think that could be neocon propaganda. But I would support him gassing anyone who is trying to change Syria from secular to a fundamentalist Islamic state.
Jay Fink
December 21, 2018 at 1:50 PM
If Mattis doesn’t like that, then good riddance.
His arrogant letter just proves I am almost always right.
As I suggested earlier this month, Mattis should have been fired long ago. He was more interested in restraining and scolding Trump than Mattis ever was in deterring or (failing deterrence) destroying America’s foreign adversaries.
https://pragmaticallydistributed.wordpress.com/2018/12/02/circulars-december-02-2018/
Fire Mattis
Trumpian foreign policy is becoming ever more coherent after he wisely applied the Condor Principle to Saudi Arabia. To make it still more coherent, Trump should fire Mattis and replace with another former, high-ranking, military commander. Mattis seems more concerned with acting as a contemptuous “adult” check on Trump than as a contributor to Trump’s foreign agenda. If Mattis doesn’t take Trump seriously then Trump would be better served by another former military commander as Defense Secretary who will give Trump advice intended to assist the President, not scold him.
The Undiscovered Jew
December 21, 2018 at 2:25 PM
TUJ! Good to see you.
IHTG
December 21, 2018 at 3:16 PM
It is. It really is.
The Undiscovered Jew
December 21, 2018 at 3:34 PM
This Mattis thing is strange and disgraceful. MSM and 538 etc. want me to believe that Mattis was the true adult in the room, a real American hero, and Drumpf’s decisions not to fulfill all of the military-industrial complex’s policy desires shows his utter insanity. Mattis resigned because of policy differences. What’s the problem?
Actually, the problem is that Trump should have known better than to hire this swamp creature in the first place. If that was what the reporting was about, it would make sense.
Blue Tribe Dissident
December 21, 2018 at 3:33 PM
It’s even more laughable when you remember that Obama fired Mattis in 2013, and nobody in the liberal media had a problem with it then.
Richard
December 21, 2018 at 4:09 PM
Mattis deserved to be fired over his support of transexuals in the military.
gothamette
December 22, 2018 at 12:26 PM
Yeah…boo hoo.
An independent Kurdistan could not survive alone without US help and, furthermore, such a Kurdistan would be motivated to annex Turkey. So, yes, their existence puts us into direct conflict with Turkey.
They will just have to go the way of Tibet.
Besides, weren’t they the ones who massacred Armenians on behalf of the Turks?
map
December 21, 2018 at 4:42 PM
Interesting article outlining a plan of action that could get the wall without the 60 votes. Involves keeping the Congress open over the Holiday and forcing the Dems to physically filibuster the spending bill. I love it, but sadly, I don’t think we have a Senate Caucus with enough resolve and character to do it:
https://www.conservativereview.com/n…it-a-shutdown/
PerezHBD
December 21, 2018 at 9:58 PM
You conveniently leave out the fact that in the last 24 hours the Supreme Court once again made it impossible for the president to enact immigration restraint.
Ruth Bader Ginsburg voted from her hospital bed, where she is having cancerous nodules removed from her lungs. Please be so good as to note that.
About the wall. I’m sick and tired of hearing about this. The wall is mostly symbolic.
Israel. Yes it is true, the Israelis build a wall and illegal immigration has been stamped out.
But, it’s not the wall, it’s what happened before that. The illegal African immigrants were transported through the Sinai by Bedouin gangs. The Egyptians just laughed at them. The Israelis and the Egyptians got together and stamped this out. I don’t know how they did it, but I do know that the Bedouin are wiley and corrupt and they listen to authority. So my guess is that the Israelis and the Egyptians basically said to the Bedouin mafiosos that if they didn’t stop this fuckery they were going to be exterminated. And oh yeah, they paid them off.
There is no such authority with respect to the hordes coming through Mexico and going over a proposed wall.
gothamette
December 22, 2018 at 12:30 PM
The new “Remain in Mexico” policy is still in place, at least for now.
IHTG
December 23, 2018 at 8:20 AM
IHTG
December 23, 2018 at 8:21 AM
Clearly, you are privy to information that I am not.
gothamette
December 23, 2018 at 5:34 PM
I think any other Republican could have got $5 billion for the wall. It is just Democrats do not want to give Trump anything because they hate him so much.
DataExplorer
December 22, 2018 at 12:40 PM
“…any other Republican” wouldn’t have had any interest in 5 Billion, or 5 cents, for a wall.
Mike Street Station
December 23, 2018 at 6:42 AM
The Kurds killed the Armenian but were repentant unlike the Kurds. They were extra-ordinarily courageous against the crazy muslim. Usa has been a force for evil in the Arabic peninsula
Bruno
December 22, 2018 at 12:48 PM
Syria is not in the Arabian peninsula. America hasnt really had any influence on the politics of the Saudis, the only influence theyve had is discovering all the oil and teaching them how to drill it. And they can thank America that they have first world living standards. Its not Americas fault that they themselves chose to be religious fundamentalists.
DataExplorer
December 23, 2018 at 6:00 PM
The Imperial Senate was abuzz, like a hornets nest. Why does this Trump want a wall here? We need to hold Afghanistan and Syria says Lispy Lindsey. An Armchair General left his desk in protest.
Chuck Schumer says,”No wall for You!”, to Americans. “If you want to fight, go to Syria.”, is the message in the Imperial Senate.
Thanks loads, Schmuck. You and Soros are the Best Friends Hitler ever had.
Joshua Sinistar (@Joshua06716)
December 23, 2018 at 9:35 AM
If walls keep illegal drugs out then prisons are drug free, right? Consider that most drugs are concealed and driven over official boarder crossings, oh and tunnels and drones and catapults (Oh my!). Did I mention the cocaine submarines? If Trump wants to go with the untested pole version with slats then he probably never had a mail slot in his front door- frankly the only drug that can’t fit is large bottles of alcohol! Trumps 83 IQ just isn’t good enough.
Shelia Delphin
December 26, 2018 at 9:14 PM
And locks can’t keep robbers out of your house, so why bother with them?
Lion of the Blogosphere
December 26, 2018 at 10:05 PM