Trump II

[Manoli]

Maybe it's good there's an EU and NATO.  Less chance they'll start shooting at each other again and drag us in to another European war. 

Alan , very quickly ('cos there's only 30 minutes 'till kick off) - this bruhah about NATO - Article 5 of the NATO Treaty states that 'an attack on one is an attack on all'.

The only time that it's been invoked is when America sought, and received, NATO support for the Gulf wars. Both Bushes , both wars. So who supported whom?

America and Europe are interlinked, we're allies and when the shit hits the fan, no matter how much we dislike it, we'll be by each others side. That's what America did for the Brits in the Falklands war, that's what'll happen again - if necessary.

Let's make it 'not necessary' and hope your President chills on the inflammatory & divisive rhetoric.
I'm off to watch the final ...

[Farmer]

I agree that America economic house is in disorder.  But some of that is because we continue to spend internationally when we can no longer afford it. Europe spends the 2% it's not spending on it's military on health care for it's people.

What?  From "not spending as much as 2%" to "apparently spending zero so that they're now saving that whole 2%"?  What nonsense.  The EU, on average, has about 9% more tax as a percentage of GDP than does the US.  They have different expenditures and different economies of scale than the US, but overall, they have more revenue to start with.

Now let's consider health expenditure.  In 2015 (latest figures I can quickly find), the US spent $9,451- per capita on health in PPP USD.  That's the highest in the OECD.  I don't have a quick EU figure, but the second highest OECD is Luxembourg on $7,765-.  Germany  was 6th with $5,267- and France was on $4,407- in 14th spot (just behind Australia, as a reference, on $4,420- in 13th spot).  The UK was down at 17 with $4,003-.  Anyway, taking an EU average would definitely come in LOWER than the US.  That's right.  The US spends MORE per capita on health than does the EU.  So where is your complaint that the EU is using money that the US can't afford?  The US already has more money - it's just not using it very well.

Let's look at some health outcomes.  Colorectal cancer 5-year survival rate - the US does well in 5th position but Australia (did you see we spend about half as much as the US) is in 4th.  The US does beat out the EU but 4th to 15th are all within a few percent of each other. 

What about cardiovascular?  That's a good one to look at.  Heart attack mortality rate.  Low is better.  Denmark on top at 2.9 per 100 hospital discharges after a 30-day in-hospital stay.  Australia number 2 at 4.4 the US number 7 at 5.5.  Hemorrhagic stroke?  Finland at number 2 at 13.1 and Austria at number 3 equal with Norway (and South Korea).  Australia comes in at 14 at 21.8 and the US at 16 with 22.3.  Ischemic stroke?  The US does very well here at number 4 at 4.3, with only Denmark as a Euro above them at 3.5.

Let's look at overall life expectancy.  The US comes in at number 31 with a "both sexes health-adjust life expectancy (HALE)" of 69.7 years.  Euro countries above that?  21 of them.  Australia, comes in at number 15.

So, the US spends at least 50% more than the EU on average (and probably closer to 75%), and more than double Australia, but that's not reflected in the health outcomes.

So where is the problem?  The US.  Tort reform and health insurance reform.  That's what will fix your health care costs.  It has nothing to do with NATO spending half or one (or even 2 - not that that's true) percent less on defence than the US.  The US already spends more.  That's the truth of it, not the nonsense from Trump.

Meanwhile, America is struggling to figure out where our health money is coming from while our military spends far too much overseas.    And Trump is raising military spending.  I'm not in favor of a fortress America.  But something's gotta give.  We can't afford things anymore.  We've got too many commitments to Europe, Asia, etc.

What you need to do is demand better value for your expenditure in health care.  You're wasting vast amounts because you're spending more without getting a return on it.  You should be able to reduce health care expenditure AND get better results without needing to change any other part of your expenditure.  The EU does it.  Australia does it.  Why not the US?  It's not an external problem for you, that's for sure.  If you can't figure out where to get the money, stop looking overseas and start looking at home.  Someone's taking it from the coffers and not giving you anything for it.

Regarding trade, the VAT may be an area that cannot be directly adjusted.  But we'll see.  I'm curious how the rest of Europe though feels about Germany.  Because of the common Euro, the cost of German production is artificially low.  It would be much higher if all of Europe still had their own money.  German use of the Euro  is hurting other European countries as well as America, maybe more.  What's their feeling on trade imbalances between Germany and these other EU countries?

Germany is the powerhouse of the EU.  Around 20% of EU GDP is Germany.  The UK on 17% is leaving which will just make Germany even more significant.  France is third (will be second) at 14%.

The other EU countries have purchasing power due to the Euro that they would never have without it and because of free movement, trade, and employment, citizens can move and work and live anywhere in the EU.  There are countries still applying for membership - so I don't think they have any issue with Germany.

You keep wanting to see the EU fail, but when we look into it, it's the US at home that has issues they need to fix - it's nothing to do with the EU except that as a trading block they are able to negotiate better deals than if they were individuals and you (and Trump) don't seem to like that.  To use your terminology, they're good negotiators and they're looking after the EU, not the US.  Get used to it.

[LesPalenik]

So where is the problem?  The US. Tort reform and health insurance reform.  That's what will fix your health care costs.  It has nothing to do with NATO spending half or one (or even 2 - not that that's true) percent less on defence than the US.  The US already spends more.  That's the truth of it, not the nonsense from Trump.

Hit the nail on the head!

[Alan Klein]

Phil:  All those statistics don't matter.  Trump and his voters want Europe to pick up more of the costs to defend Europe.   It's your continent and countries mainly that are being defended.  We want to reduce our costs.    You're admitting Germany is a "powerhouse". Yet their military expenditure is less now (around 1.2%, way under the promised 2%) than it was ten years ago,  It's a joke.   They can certainly contribute more money as can other countries.  You're right that we can't force countries to meet any 2% but neither do we have to commit to station in Europe the amount of troops we do.  http://www.economist.com/blogs/graphicdetail/2017/02/daily-chart-11

Let's put aside the statistics and let me tell you how many Americans personally feel about it. Not what you read in the anti-Trump press.   

First there is an admiration of Europe, one of comradeship.  We are connected at the hip traditionally, economically, militarily.  Many Americans have ancestors from Europe.  Americans have a feeling of pride that we were able to help free Europe from the Nazis and from further encroachment by the Soviet Union during the Cold War.  The Marshall economic assistance plan and military defense kept the Soviet bear at bay without a major conflict.  Unfortunately we weren't as successful holding back the Communists and dictators in Korea and Vietnam.  Currently, Korea is more of a worrisome hot spot than Europe. 

In any case, since the Soviet Union failed in 1990, Americans have wondered more and more why we have to keep paying so much to defend your continent.  Especially because Europe is now very rich.  America's economy is much depressed from where it was 50 years ago.  People are worried about their jobs and health care and other issues.  We have huge debt and deficits.  American think Europeans are just passing the defense costs to us as usual and we're idiots to allow them to do that.  When push comes to shove, there could well be a clamor to pull out of NATO entirely and let Europe defend itself, all by itself.    If Europe still desires America to be there in a strong way, they should show that they care about defending themselves and paying for it instead of making up silly excuses like the 2% was only an aim to be met in 2024.  Americans won't wait.  Then want to see progress now or they're going to demand the President pull out and Congress stop funding it. 

A word to the wise. 

[Farmer]

I don't live in Europe - it's not my continent.

The statistics DO matter because Trump is using them as a basis for his comments, attacks, rhetoric, etc.

If the US wants to spend less on NATO defence, then go right ahead.  It already spends more than the 2% target, so why not drop down to that level as a start?  That would be within the agreement.  Then ask the other members if they are still committed to meeting 2% by 2024 and if they are, good and well.  If Europe decides they want more defence than that being offered by NATO at those levels, they can spend more.  There's nothing wrong with that.  But saying that the EU owes the US or that the EU is what causes the US to not be able to deliver cheaper and better healthcare is just nonsense.  Time and time when we examine the reasons the US is growing in debt and not turning it around, it's because of domestic US issues and very little to do with anyone else. If you become as isolated as Trump wants, you'll quickly run out of countries to blame!

Own your own problems and fix them, stop blaming others.  Americans can think Europeans are passing costs of defence on to them as much as they want, it doesn't make it true as has been demonstrated.  Not a single extra cent has been required from the US as a result of any NATO nation not meeting the 2% target for 2024.  There is no single budget which the US has to chip in to make up because someone else hasn't paid enough.  Each country commits what it decides to commit under the various guidelines and then NATO works with that.

Again, if the US wants to spend less, then do it.  Don't whinge and whine about the EU states, just spend less.  It will be a tiny blip in the ocean but it might make you feel better.  You'll still have overpriced, under-performing healthcare, and you'll still lack a coherent national tax policy to deal with imports by private citizens (because, you know, states' rights are more important than working as a nation).  Oh, and you still won't get Mexico to fund the wall.

Oh, and to add to my previous comments about fixing things which Les quoted.  You also need to fix things like tax deductions for health insurance and lack of portability between employers.  Remove it from being linked to employment and remove the tax breaks and you'll go a long way to pulling an immense amount of pork out of the industry that just pushes up costs by lining the pockets of insurance shareholders (and executives) and healthcare in general.

Now, I have 3,500 words to write for a paper on strategic choice and implementation - so that's the rest of my day allocated.  I'll leave you with a word to the wise that headlines my paper:

"Do nothing that is of no use."

-   Miyamoto Musashi, translated from Go Rin No Sho

Trump's doing a lot, but it's not achieving much.  He should listen to Musashi.

[Alan Klein]

It's America's business if it isn't running it's economy or health care right.  If a bank is in financial straight because they haven't manage it properly, you don't tell them that they should get their own situation straitened out when they ask for your late loan payment.  Germany and the other countries should increase their expenditures to meet their commitments.   We also want them to pay more in any case because we can't carry the load any longer.  We can certainly reduce our commitment there.  I'm in favor of that.  But Trump and Mattis is willing to wait the give Europe a chance.  Frankly, I think we should pull out some of our forces in any case. 

[Farmer]

One last thing before I dive into the paper.  You keep saying they're not meeting their commitments, but then you complain when those commitments are shown as actual facts (i.e a 2024 target).  There is no current requirement for them to be at 2%.  That was just made up by Trump based on his either misunderstanding or blatant lies,

If the US wants to change those commitments, then by all means table it or reduce your own, but stop saying the EU isn't meeting a commitment that doesn't exist and then blaming them for all your woes.

As I said, you're wasting at least $500B on healthcare compared to the most expensive Euro nation and double that compared to Australia, on a per capita basis.  That ranges from about the same to nearly double what you spend on defence IN TOTAL (not the small slice that is NATO).

[Alan Klein]

...  Americans can think Europeans are passing costs of defence on to them as much as they want, it doesn't make it true as has been demonstrated.  Not a single extra cent has been required from the US as a result of any NATO nation not meeting the 2% target for 2024.  There is no single budget which the US has to chip in to make up because someone else hasn't paid enough.  Each country commits what it decides to commit under the various guidelines and then NATO works with that.

Again, if the US wants to spend less, then do it.  Don't whinge and whine about the EU states, just spend less.  It will be a tiny blip in the ocean but it might make you feel better...

  I wanted to comment separately on this point you made.  If war breaks out in Europe, let's say against the Russians, and Europe's military is not of sufficient size because they've been lax in meeting their military expenditures, then more American troops will have to be used to defend Europe at our expense in American blood and American treasure.  Who are you or Europeans to demand that Americans die defending Europe?  It's their nations and continent , not ours.  This is the problem that Europe and a lot of other places have taken America for granted.  We won't accept that any longer.  We shouldn't spend less as you suggested, so casually passing the buck.  We shouldn't spend anything. 

[Farmer]

Then don't spend anything.  Go for it.  Remove all your bases from everywhere around the world (and remove your shared intelligence stations, communications stations, and so on - you don't get to keep those but remove everything else).  Remove it all.  Stop visiting foreign ports, stop using foreign airfields or flying over other countries to achieve your political and military goals.  Go for it.

[kers]

... We won't accept that any longer.  We shouldn't spend less as you suggested, so casually passing the buck.  We shouldn't spend anything.

WE? - are you the spokesmen of the majority of the US Citizen?
It is just Alan Klein who is talking. Don't make your self bigger than you are.
and then even Trump did not get more votes than Clinton. Your country is deeply divided.

It is the choice of the US Government to spend so much money on defense as already stated.
Trump just withdraw from a climate treaty signed only one year ago by the United States. A treaty that has been worked on for more than a decade and was signed by almost all states in the world.
These kind of actions makes the US less trustworthy. Mr Trump breaks down in a few months that other presidents took years to built.
He grabbs not only women but all Americans by the pussy.

[James Clark]

Then don't spend anything.  Go for it.  Remove all your bases from everywhere around the world (and remove your shared intelligence stations, communications stations, and so on - you don't get to keep those but remove everything else).  Remove it all.  Stop visiting foreign ports, stop using foreign airfields or flying over other countries to achieve your political and military goals.  Go for it.

Yeah.. this is the thing that a portion of my countrymen don't seem to get.  We aren't in Europe just because we're awesome guys that like to blow money helping our European friends out.  We actually get something out of it too.

[Farmer]

Yeah.. this is the thing that a portion of my countrymen don't seem to get.  We aren't in Europe just because we're awesome guys that like to blow money helping our European friends out.  We actually get something out of it too.

To be fair, whilst you do get something out of it, it's also because you're good guys (as a nation) who like to help friends.  I don't think the US has historically been completely mercenary about it all, but, yeah, there's a cost to everything (like my procrastination here seems like a waste of time instead of discussing the value of Porter's generic strategies and Treacy and Wiersema's value disciplines, but actually it gives me some head space for a few minutes to really focus how their points are relevant to what I'm saying and to consider whether they are actually right in the first instance and how can I support or refute that.  At least that's what I'm telling myself!).

[Guillermo Luijk]

But they don't like each other.   Isn't their hanging together mainly because it's so advantageous to them they bailed out the Greeks?  Even the Brits couldn't take it anymore.

Is that what Trump says?. I'm Spanish, I used to be Dutch. I like all European countries and I always feel at home when I visit them. They are far more familiar to me than any Spanish speaking country in America for instance, despite the fact of sharing our mother language. I can travel and work freely in any EU country, and in most of them I can pay and get paid in euros.

Brexit was a big mistake, specially for the UK citizens themselves. The oldest and more affected by the crisis part of the British society decided to leave by a narrow margin (seeking to make UK big again I guess), something most Londoners and new generations regret. Luckily local separatists (Le Pen) are not succeeding.

VAT is not a tax designed to make other countries less competitive vs EU, it's an internal tax on goods and services to make an entire continent work. When you drink a beer at the corner's bar you are paying VAT, and with that you are paying European infraestructures, health,... As a non EU citizen you can ask for a VAT refund if one day you decide to leave the 'safe' America and visit us.

Regards

[LesPalenik]

An old joke which really should go in the Humor thread, but then most posts in this thread could go there, too.

A policeman sees a drunk man searching for something under a streetlight and asks what the drunk has lost. He says he lost his keys and they both look under the streetlight together. After a few minutes the policeman asks if he is sure he lost them here, and the drunk replies, no, and that he lost them in the park. The policeman asks why he is searching here, and the drunk replies, "this is where the light is".

Alan, you are constantly circling around the inadequate European NATO contributions, instead of looking at the areas where one could save real money, such as US health system.  Yes, it's easier to ask for more NATO contributions than to reform a bad health system, but that's where the priorities should be.

I don't think, anyone is disputing that all countries should contribute to the NATO expenses and to keep it, but as Phil suggests, no one is forcing USA to spend more than 2%. A prudent course of action would to review all defense expenses and reduce some in not so essential areas. Regrettably, Trump just recently wasted bunch of perfectly good rockets on a questionable bombing mission in Syria, and the current US administration just increased the military budgets in many of their departments.

[Alan Klein]

Yeah.. this is the thing that a portion of my countrymen don't seem to get.  We aren't in Europe just because we're awesome guys that like to blow money helping our European friends out.  We actually get something out of it too.

We're paying more than what we're getting out of it.  We need the Europeans to contribute more to their defense, something they could certainly afford and which they agreed too. 

[Farmer]

There you go claiming they agreed to something, but then changing what they actually agreed to.  It's 3 years into a 10 year period over which spending is to increase.

Stop making up BS and then complaining when someone doesn't do the BS you made up.

[Alan Klein]

There you go claiming they agreed to something, but then changing what they actually agreed to.  It's 3 years into a 10 year period over which spending is to increase.

Stop making up BS and then complaining when someone doesn't do the BS you made up.

But spending did not increase.  In fact, for rich Germany it's been going down for ten years.  The intent of the agreement was that regular increases were to be made so that by the end of ten years (2024) they'd at least reach the 2%.  The payments were to be reviewed on a regular basis.  They're not suppose to wait until the end of the ten years before any increase would be made.  That argument is just weaseling out of their commitments.  We should just start reducing troops until they get the point. 

[Farmer]

But spending did not increase.  In fact, for rich Germany it's been going down for ten years.  The intent of the agreement was that regular increases were to be made so that by the end of ten years (2024) they'd at least reach the 2%.  The payments were to be reviewed on a regular basis.  They're not suppose to wait until the end of the ten years before any increase would be made.  That argument is just weaseling out of their commitments.  We should just start reducing troops until they get the point.

You just made up details of the agreement that don't exist.

http://www.nato.int/cps/ic/natohq/official_texts_112964.htm

Nothing about "regular", just that in general they would reverse the decline in spending and either sustain (for those already there) or move to (for those below) a 2% target (among other things).

Significant changes in expenditure often take many years to occur and come to fruition.  You don't just go down to Walmart and buy some more guns and say "hey, we spent more, aren't we cool?". 

So, again, stop making up BS just to fit your narrative.

You do realise that today is a bad day to just make stuff up when discussing this with me? Whenever I'm writing a paper I'm in ultra-check-the-facts-and-find-real-sources mode.  I can normally smell BS a fair way off, when I'm in academia mode, it is even more heightened.

So I recommend using facts, properly sourced, read, understood, and presented instead of just trying to spin everything as being someone else's fault.  There are valid complaints to be made, and they have been, but the sensationalist approach isn't going to pass.

Oh, and how lovely your Trump is.  London is attacked and he first tweets how his travel ban needs to be lifted by the courts, then after that he expresses sympathy and support.  If he wants a ban (even though so far there's no evidence that it has been immigrants or recent arrivals, who are targeted by the bans, or from any of the targeted countries), he should draft one that is going to be considered legal and constitutional and if he thinks the current ones are then he ought to refer them to the SCotUS.  Funny how he hasn't done that after telling judges originally that he'd see them in court.

[Schewe]

I think Trump is thinking about what's good for America.

I don't doubt you honestly believe that but I think you really should reevaluate that position. Your belief in Trump is irrational and unfounded by facts and evidence. Trump has spent 70 years putting himself and his family before everybody else. There is no way he would or could spontaneously grow a conscience and suddenly decide to help others over his own self interest...he simply doesn't know how.

Look at everything that has happened...I know it's a lot to take in and understand. Trump won an election he didn't think he was gong to win. He ran to make money and expand his brand (he even admited that he could be the first presidential candidate to run and make money on it).

The conflicts of interest are staggering and monumental (and yet the GOP are covering for him). It doesn't stop there...Ivanka's and Jarad's conflicts of interest continue to mount as well as the Kushners. (selling visas to wealthy Chinese for their investments). Heck, Jarad even met with a Russian banker to talk business (according to the Russians, the WH say he didn't). The conflicts of interest filter down to the rest of Trump's WH with 12 ethics waivers last week and upwards of 2 dozen next week. Yeah, Trump wanted to drain the swamp so he could fill it with his people...it's more of the same only far worse than ever before.

You think Trump is for the little guy, the forgotten voters who have been left behind. How could you possibly believe that. Trump is the ultimate liar-in-chief. Even you have admitted be's full of bullshyte right?

You believed him when he said that Europe had unfair trade practices with the US. We just proved to you it was a lie...

You honestly think he left the Paris agreement because he thought it was best for the US? Lies...Picking Apart Trump's Climate Lies Is Unsurprisingly Easy. Here Are 9 Examples.

Why are so many US business leaders upset? Because pulling out is bad for America. He only pulled out because certain people convinced him while he was a candidate to promise he would pull out (and because Bannon had it on his bucket list on his whiteboard). Myron Ebell was likely instrumental.

Trump lies as a matter of course...he lies so much I honestly think he believes his own lies as truth. NEIL BUCHANAN: THE THOUSAND AND ONE LIES OF DONALD TRUMP.

Donald Trump lies. He lies all the time.

He lies effortlessly. He lies shamelessly.

He lies garishly and promiscuously.

Before, during, and after the 2016 presidential campaign, Trump has lied repeatedly.

Trump is unfazed that he has no facts to back up his lies, and he seems not to care about the fact-checks that repeatedly expose his statements to be lies..

But even if you ignore all that, wake up and look around...America is even more divided than ever before. But Trump does zero to try to bring people together, he constantly drives wedges between groups and foster distrust and even hatred. Has Trump don'e ANYTHING to actually help bring people together?

Then look at what will happen to people if Trump and the GOP get what they want for healthcare and taxes and spending. Unless you are white and wealthy you're gonna be screwed. Tax cuts for the 1%? Ask Warren Buffett, Bill Gates, Michael Bloomberg, Jeff Bezos, Mark Cuban, Mark Zuckerberg among others what they think of Trump and the GOP? You know what they think right? Thanks Trump and the GOP are not acting in the best interest of America on healthcare, taxes and the environment.

Now, you can pooh pooh the mainstream media for being biased and negative, but all you need to do is look at the facts...

Trump is not really acting rationally. He's mean and small minded, obsessed by meaningless things and I think seriously compromised by scandals, ethics and even his own mental health. Consider this...Trump used to be a witty and entertaining speaker but now talks like a 3 yr old. It's easy to see this for yourself...look back (lot on YouTube) if interviews of Trump over the years...he could hold an intelligent and coherent conversation...listen to him speak now and it's incomprehensible. It's been noticed by many even some of his friends. Trump wasn’t always so linguistically challenged. What could explain the change?

It was the kind of utterance that makes professional transcribers question their career choice:

“ … there is no collusion between certainly myself and my campaign, but I can always speak for myself — and the Russians, zero.”

When President Trump offered that response to a question at a press conference last week, it was the latest example of his tortured syntax, mid-thought changes of subject, and apparent trouble formulating complete sentences, let alone a coherent paragraph, in unscripted speech.

He was not always so linguistically challenged.

STAT reviewed decades of Trump’s on-air interviews and compared them to Q&A sessions since his inauguration. The differences are striking and unmistakable.

Research has shown that changes in speaking style can result from cognitive decline. STAT therefore asked experts in neurolinguistics and cognitive assessment, as well as psychologists and psychiatrists, to compare Trump’s speech from decades ago to that in 2017; they all agreed there had been a deterioration, and some said it could reflect changes in the health of Trump’s brain.

So many of his supporters think Trump is really smart...even Trump will tell you he's smart, right? Trump to CIA: ‘Trust me, I'm like a smart person’ But I for one don't think he's very smart now (if he ever was). I think he's sneaky, I think he will say or do anything to get what he wants, I think he will blame all others for his own failures and I honestly think he's rather uneducated and unsophisticated. I actually think he's a bit dim and so does  Jennifer Rubin from WaPo: Trump might be the dimmest president ever. Ok it's only one person's opinion from a conservative perspective but she does make a good case...

President Trump does not read — except in small doses and when his own name appears prominently. Prior to the presidency, his only activities were work and golf. He does not mingle with intellectuals, cultural trend-setters or artists. It should come as no surprise — and it has not — that he is sorely lacking in sophistication, knowledge of the world, understanding of government and a rudimentary grasp of economics. Sitting atop arguably the great resource on the planet — the body of knowledge retained by American government experts on everything from economics to medicine to military history — he remains blissfully ignorant on a range of subjects. He surrounds himself with dim yes men who know little more than he and, in any event, tremble at the prospect of correcting their “Dear Leader.” But sometimes you wonder whether Trump is just, well, dumb.

Trump asked when the world will start laughing at the US. It already is

“At what point does America get demeaned?” he asked his rapt audience in the Rose Garden on Thursday, as his unusually golden comb-over glinted in the afternoon sun. “At what point do they start laughing at us as a country? … We don’t want other leaders and other countries laughing at us any more. And they won’t be. They won’t be.”

No they won’t. They won’t dare to laugh at an American president who takes a motorized golf cart through the streets of Sicily while his fellow leaders walk like pedestrians. They won’t laugh at a president whose handshake is a form of mortal combat where only one hand survives with its dignity intact. They won’t laugh at a president who thinks that saving the world is just another way to destroy the US.

The whole world would be laughing if it wasn't such a terrible period of time for America and the rest of the world.

It's time for Trump supporters to wake up and honestly evaluate what is happening and quit rooting for this disaster.

[laughingbear]

America is even more divided than ever before. But Trump does zero to try to bring people together, he constantly drives wedges between groups and foster distrust and even hatred.

That pretty much nails it for me, and I would add tha he serves special and dangerous interests only. Yes he is a 24x7 Liar, and his trip and 100 billion USD sale of arms to Saudi Arabia is  remarkable evidence for the warmongering of special interest groups. 

While at the same time assuring Israel to have the military edge in the midle east, supplying arms to the Wahhabi autocrats is the most cynical statement possible, allowing US arms makers to supply all sides.

Out of my guts I would say that I am hopeful that this presidency will not last the full first term, it would be better for all of us.

Best
G