Going to see Trump today.

[Sapper740]

Former President Donald J. Trump is one of the keynote speakers at the NRA convention in Dallas today along with the country's best Governor, Greg Abbott. It's first-come, first-served for seating so I'll be getting in line early so as to hopefully not miss out. I can only imagine what he's got to say but whatever it is it'll be entertaining. We're taking a lifted 4X4 in case there are some pro-Palestinian speed bumps along the way. News at 11:00!

[MAC702]

I wanted to experience one of his rallies when he came to Las Vegas as current president, while running for reelection. Yes, very entertaining.

[Aragorn243]

Good luck. I steer clear of his rallies here because they are a nightmare. Massive crowds, traffic at a standstill. Lines starting over 24 hours before he's even scheduled to appear. A mile walk from parking to venue.

[Sapper740]

Had to wait 4 hours to see President Trump but it was worth every minute of the wait. The Man is a skilled raconteur and it was obvious he wasn't using the teleprompter for most of his long speech. He is also very funny and his rendition of Joe's golf swing is SNL material. We got a deep background dive into how he convinced the President of Mexico to keep the illegals in Mexico while they awaited hearings on their cases and how he convinced Macron to drop duties on American products. Both stories were fascinating and humorous as he told them. President Trump laid out his plan for America when he is re-elected and I have great hope for the future.

[Flying10uk]

The problem will be, if Donald Trump is reelected, is if he "pulls the funding" for Ukraine and the supply of US weapons. This is because the UK, France and Germany will find it very difficult to make up the shortfall left by the absence of the US in terms of it's military aid to Ukraine. If Ukraine should fall or it is forced into accepting a so called "peace-deal" that concedes a significant amount of it's territory to Russia then we should expect President Putin to be back for MORE, as history has taught us with dictators. The next counties on President Putins "wish list" which are likely to appear very "appetising" to him could well be Nato members and one only has to look at a map to confirm this.

[Sapper740]

The problem will be, if Donald Trump is reelected, is if he "pulls the funding" for Ukraine and the supply of US weapons. This is because the UK, France and Germany will find it very difficult to make up the shortfall left by the absence of the US in terms of it's military aid to Ukraine. If Ukraine should fall or it is forced into accepting a so called "peace-deal" that concedes a significant amount of it's territory to Russia then we should expect President Putin to be back for MORE, as history has taught us with dictators. The next counties on President Putins "wish list" which are likely to appear very "appetising" to him could well be Nato members and one only has to look at a map to confirm this.

While Trump has repeatedly said that he could end the war in Ukraine very quickly, he has never actually said he would end arms shipments to Ukraine. That is speculation from the Western Press outlets such as the NY Times in the U.S., CBC in Canada, and The Times in the U.K. all of whom despise Trump and can't be trusted to report on him fairly or accurately. American aid to Ukraine is 8 X the next closest supporter of Ukraine, the U.K. Since this is a European war, why aren't the European countries stepping up to provide their 'fair share' of support to Ukraine? Further, it is hypocritical in the extreme to condemn Russian aggression while simultaneously buying their natural gas which pays for Putin to invade Ukraine! My take? The longer Ukraine bleeds Russia dry the better since Putin is unlikely to take on a much strengthened NATO (thanks to Trump) after years of expending lives and equipment in Ukraine. Further, the longer the war in Ukraine goes on the greater chance Putin will suffer an "accident" at the hands of a Wagner group member or someone similar. Putin won't have to worry about losing face if he's dead.
America also needs to be prepared for war in the Pacific with an increasingly belligerent China. We have fewer allies in that part pf the world, Japan, Korea, and Taiwan would all step up but the bulk of the fighting would (again) have to be done by Americans. A war in the Pacific would quickly become personal for my family as I have a nephew in the USMC who currently posted in Japan. If American resources are diverted and drained away in Europe, wouldn't that encourage China to start WWIII by invading Taiwan? There is much more at stake here than the Crimea and Donbas regions of Ukraine which is what any American president must consider.

[Flying10uk]

Like I have alluded to, if Russia and President Putin were ever to prevail in Ukraine it is likely that Russia wouldn't stop there and other countries in Eastern Europe would likely be at risk, if they are not already. Many of these countries, such as Poland and the Baltic states are already NATO members and we all know what that means or we should do.

[Bob Womack]

Folks, it is right there in the rules: no politics. We've been skirting it in a couple of threads in the past few days but this one tiptoed over the line.

Bob Womack
Milsurps Mod