D J T _Elected in November 2016

o Donald J Trump, a businessman turned TV star turned-politico -

who had never before held elected office -- became commander-
in-chief of the sole true superpower of the world on January 20,
2017, having swept to victory on Nov. 8. By Americans.
o Donald Trump, who is the 45th president of the United States,
had told on Wednesday [9 Nov.] in New York. "Now it is time
for America to bind the wounds of division."
o In the early hours "I pledge to every citizen of our land that I will
be president for all Americans," Trump declared, in a
conciliatory address.
o He paid tribute to his defeated opponent and thanked his staff.

o "Hillary has worked very long and very hard over a long period of
time, and we owe her a major debt of gratitude for her service to
our country," he said of Hillary Clinton.
o Russia’s leader Vladimir Putin offered warm congratulations and
seized on the opportunity to urge Trump to help him get "US –
Russia relations out of their critical condition."
o EU leaders Donald Tusk and Jean-Claude Juncker invited him to
an EU-US summit at his "earliest convenience" to seek
reassurance about trans-Atlantic ties.
o Trump, spoke during the campaign of making US allies take a
bigger share of the Western security burden. "US leadership
is more important than ever.", the NATO head Jens
Stoltenberg warned him.
o Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe reacted to Trump's election
by insisting that his country and the United States are
"unshakeable allies."
o One ally took heart from Trump's win. Israeli Education Minister
Naftali Bennett said it guaranteed that his state would never have
to accept the idea of an independent Palestine.

o Trump's message was embraced by a large section of

America's white majority who has grown disgruntled by the scope
of social and economic change in the last eight years.
He has alternate experience and is well known for running
Beauty pageants and starring on his reality television series
"The Apprentice" as he is for building his property business,
hence Trump would be the oldest and constructive thinker ever
elected and Trump has refused to release his tax returns.
o On 8 Nov., he swept to victory through a series of hard -fought
wins in battleground states from Florida to Ohio. He amassed at
least 290 electoral votes.
o Trump being from Republican Party, it will have full control
of Congress and he will be able to appoint a ninth Supreme
Court justice to a vacant seat on the bench, deciding the
balance of the body.
o Data available begins to paint a picture of how Trump
managed to win the election, which began the race as an
outsider discredited for his lack of experience before
convincing the Republican Party and then the nation of
his abilities
o According to exit polls and result data, he successfully
wooed key swing states and fought off Clinton's attempts
to win the youth vote. Clinton got just 55 per cent of the
youth vote compared to the 63 per cent her predecessor
Obama garnered.
o As results came in for key swing state Florida early on, the
prospect of a Trump success became apparent. He beat
Clinton by a tiny margin of 2.4 per cent.
o History may remember the moment Clinton lost Florida
as the moment she lost Ohio.
o As a key state, Trump won Ohio. Demographics for the state
are in his favor, with the local population being whiter and
less education on average than the rest of the country. The
state previously supported Obama by 48 per cent, but his
Democratic successor Clinton failed to win voters’ support.
Trump beat Clinton by a country mile, gaining close to a ten
point lead.
o North Carolina: Trump soared to victory here, beating Clinton
51.3 per cent to her 45.9 per cent. The traditional white
Republican state has a history of supporting GOP candidates
but it was feared Trump would be seen as too far a break
from traditional candidates. However, the connected results
show his campaign succeeded in winning round traditional
Republican voters in the end.
o Wisconsin: The state has been historically a solid Democrat
safe seat. It is primarily white and highly educated. However,
voters did not connect with Clinton’s message and instead
plumped for Trump with 49.3 per cent of votes, compared to
Clinton’s 45.6 per cent.
o Exit polls suggest Clinton did not succeed in winning the
youth vote, to the extent that her predecessor did. 55 per
cent of young people aged 18-29 supported her, far short of
the 63 per cent support which contributed to Obama's
victory in 2012.
o Ottawa, Ontario - November 9, 2016
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau congratulated Donald J.
Trump, the President-elect of the United States of America
on his election victory. They reiterated the importance of the
Canada-United States bilateral relationship, and discussed
various areas of mutual interest. The Prime Minister invited
the President-elect to visit Canada at his earliest
opportunity. The President-elect offered the same to the
Prime Minister.
o Trump had lambasted China throughout the U.S. election
campaign, drumming up headlines with his pledges to slap
45 percent tariffs on imported Chinese goods and to label
the country a currency manipulator on his first day in office.
Xi had congratulated Trump in a message delivered shortly
after his surprise election victory last week and told him that
the issues facing the world's two largest economies, from
climate change and global trade to the security balance in
the Asia-Pacific needs be discussed.

o Trump criticized U.S. allies, including Japan, for free-riding

on U.S. security guarantees, in the face of a rising China
and volatile North Korea.
o Chinese President Xi Jinping called U.S. President-elect
Donald Trump and congratulated him on his victory.
“Cooperation is the only choice for relations between the two
countries”, he told Trump.

o Beijing hopes for stability as it faces daunting reform

challenges at home, a slowing economy, and a leadership
reshuffle of its own that will put new party elite around Xi
in late 2017

o "The Facts prove that cooperation is the only correct choice

for China and the United States,” told Xi in the call he made
to Trump on Monday from China.
o "The two sides must strengthen coordination, promote
the two countries' economic development and global
economic growth, expand all areas of exchange and
cooperation, ensure the two countries' people obtain
more tangible benefits, and push for better development
going forward in China-U.S. relations," Xi said, educating
Trump.

o China has signaled it will promote plans for regional

trade integration, vowing to seek support for a Beijing-
backed Asia-Pacific free trade area at a summit in Peru
later this December.
 May 22, 2017

Trump puts the onus on Muslim world to combat terrorism

In speech to Arab and M uslim leaders, President rejects clash between the West and Islam

RIYADH:
U S President, Don Trump called on Middle Eastern leaders to a “crisis of
Islamic extremism”, emanating from the region casting the fight against
terrorism as a “battle between good and evil”, not a clash between the
West and Islam.

Mr. Trump’s address on Sunday [21 st] was the center piece of his two day
visit to Saudi Arabia, his first stop overseas as President. During a meeting
of more than fifty Arab and Muslim leaders, he sought to chart a new
course for America’s role in the region, one aimed squarely on rooting out
terrorism, with less focus on promoting human rights and democratic
reforms.

“We are not here to lecture we are not here to tell other people how
To live, what to do, who to be, or how to worship,” Mr. Trump said,
speaking in an ornate, multi-chandeliered room. “Instead we are here to
offer partnerships based on shared interests and values to pursue a better
future for us all.”

Even as the President pledged to work alongside Middle Eastern

nations, he put the onus for combating terrorism on the region.
Bellowing into the microphone, he implored Muslim leaders to
aggressively fight extremists_ “Drive them out of your places of worship.
Drive them out of your communities.”

The President has been enthusiastically embraced in Riyadh, where the

ruling royal family has welcomed his tougher stance on Iran, its regional
foe. Sitting alongside Mr. Trump, Saudi King Salman declared: “The

Iranian regime has been the spearhead of global terrorists.”

*****
CLIMATE CHANGE AGREEMENT TRUMPED: JUNE-2017

U. S. President Donald Trump withdrew from the Paris Climate

Change Accord, saying that the agreement punished the U.S.A. For a
country that has unambiguously contributed most to causing climate
change, Trump’s speech was cloaked in victimhood. He argued that the
agreement was unfair to his country because it hurts American jobs, is a
disguised form of income distribution, and impinges on the country’s
sovereignty.

In a speech delivered at the White House's Rose Garden, President

Trump indicated that India and China - in his words among the world's
leading polluters - were getting off easy.
India, which he has unfairly blamed for seeking climate funds and
building coal plants, shall strengthen its cut in the emissions intensity of
GDP by 35% by 2030, based on 2005 levels and expand its renewable
energy program.
 Trump compared the concessions granted to India under the deal,
saying that while India was allowed to double its coal production by 2020,
the United States was expected to "get rid" of its coal jobs 'The agreement
doesn't eliminate coal jobs, it just moves them to foreign countries,' Trump
told a gathering of media in Washington. But India has moved further and
faster down the path of clean energy than most, based on entirely on
domestic resources.

President Trump went on to say that the Paris climate accord was an
example of an agreement that disadvantaged the U. S. A. and was in fact
about other countries gaining a "financial advantage" over the U. S.
Supporters of the accord condemned Trump's move as an abdication
of American leadership, an international disgrace and a monumental
foreign policy blunder. His predecessor, Barack Obama, expressed regret
over the pullout from a deal that he was instrumental in brokering.
"We're getting out," Trump said at a ceremony in the White House
Rose Garden in which he decried the Paris accord's "draconian" financial
and economic burdens. He said American withdrawal "represents a
reassertion of American sovereignty."
Trump said the United States would begin negotiations either to re -
enter the Paris accord or to have a new agreement "on terms that are fair
to the United States, its businesses, its workers, its people and its
taxpayers."
US allies voiced dismay over Trump's move, and France, Germany
and Italy dismissed his suggestion that the global pact could be revised.
With Trump's action, the United States will walk away from nearly every
nation in the world on one of the pressing global issues of the 21st
century.
Trump said the United States would cease payments to the UN
Green Climate Fund, in which rich countries committed billions of dollars to
help developing countries deal with floods, droughts and other impacts
from climate change.
The United States was one of 195 nations that agreed to the accord
in Paris in December 2015. But Trump said the accord would "undermine
our economy, hamstring our workers, weaken our sovereignty, impose
unacceptable legal risk, and put us at a permanent disadvantage to the
other countries of the world."
"We don't want other leaders and other countries laughing at us
anymore." Trump added as he tapped into the "America First" was the
message he used as elected President last year. “Amarica first to
perdition” will be the consequence of the trumpeting.
Tesla Inc. Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk said he will leave White
House advisory councils after Trump's move. "Climate change is real.
Leaving Paris is not good for America or the world," Musk said in a Twitter
post. General Electric CEO Jeff said he was disappointed, adding, "Climate
change is real. Industry must now lead and not depend on government."
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell applauded Trump "for
dealing yet another significant blow to the Obama administration's assault
on domestic energy production and jobs." The U N climate agreement has
two bedrocks, namely, responsibility for causing the problem and different
levels of capacity of countries to act. Trump entirely ignored these as salient
factors.
 The U.S. exit makes more transparent the political stakes on climate
change in the U.S., and is more likely to force a national conversation in
that country on where its interests lie. Climate-concerned American citizens
get an offer or an opportunity to more productively engage and transform
U.S. domestic climate politics. Doing so would be far more productive, in
the longer term than perpetuating a trend of accommodating the U.S. and
dragging down global action.
The language of victimhood that is spoken by Trump needs to be
debated and challenged. Paris was a part of collective bargain after stiff
negotiation. In the Trump retelling, the past is irrelevant, and so are
differential levels of poverty and wealth. This has to be challenged.
The rejection of clean energy as promoting national interests is not
right. To prioritize coal and other fossil fuels has to stand the test of time and
empirical scrutiny. India could explicitly and formally make common cause
with countries such as China and the EU, which have reportedly planned an
alliance to lead implementation of the Paris Agreement.
Based on India’s recent track record of falling solar prices and declining
estimates of coal needs, India is also well placed to forcefully make the case
for the merits of a clean energy transition. The U.S. exit could help bring
back into focus the stakes: the technocratic and legalistic process of global
climate negotiations, for the poorest, galvanise greater action at multiple
scales, help bring together unlikely bedfellows and cement new alliances.
These would be appropriate responses to an otherwise destructive and
irresponsible act.
*****
May 28 SUNDAY
All the Presidents words
The words ’Islamic’ and ‘Islamist’ in the context of terrorism may suit
moderate or hardline views. U.S. President Don mixed them up in Riyadh
this week, though it was not deliberate. The written draft said Islamist,
which refers to religious aspects. The White House later clarified that the
President was too exhausted and this led to the mistake.

Mr. Trump’s limited vocabulary and haphazard syntax compare in

sharp contrast with his predecessor Barack Obama. Added to that is Mr.
Trump’s proclivity to use foul language. In America elsewhere also, the
boundaries of decency are being pushed. From 2005 to 2012, the
Congress spoke at 11.5 grade level to 10.6 or dropped from talking like
juniors to talking like sophomores, said the 2012 report by National Public
Radio.
Last year, Carnegie Mellon University linguists analysed the
vocabulary and grammar of presidential candidates, and found that they
averaged eighth grade levels. Mr. Trump was below average on
vocabulary, at seventh grade, while Bernie Sanders stood highest at 10 th
grade levels. In terms of grammar, the President stood at sixth grade
levels. But he is not the worst in history. That honour goes to George. W.
Bush, whose grammar is fifth grade. Of all American Presidents through
history, Abraham Lincoln had the best grip over English grammar.
Positive side

But Trump’s English has a positive side, Wired reported in March.

Several English study groups for beginners on Facebook are using Mr.
Trump’s speeches as a resource. The repeated use of the simplest words
in the same speech_ stupid, horrible, weak, winning, bad, lose, etc.-
apparently help these learners familiarize themselves with basic concepts.
And the message to the new English learners is that to be successful in
America_ even to be President – you do not need any mastery over the
language. Mr. Trump’s self-perception of his language skills is quite
different from this reality. “I know words, I have the best words”, he had
said during the campaign. Recently he claimed he coined the phrase
‘pump priming’, which refers to the Keynesian economic principle of
bumping up public expenditure to accelerate the economy. ”Have you
heard that expression used before?...I just … I came up with it a couple of
days ago and I thought it was good,” Mr. Trump told his incredulous
interviewers from The Economist of a phrase that has existed for two
centuries.
May - July -2017
o Six month since November 2016, Trump has an approval rating in
excess of 35% with the American public. Over a third of the American
public is currently made up of inflexible, hardcore right-wing and
populist elements. Racism surely plays a role here too. The Presidency
can be won by for the republicans by adding roughly 15% of votes to
this core constituency.

o In 2016, Don Trump then lost popular vote to Hillary Clinton by a large
margin of over three million votes and yet he won the election to
become the President.
o Trump has turned back the clock on environmental legislation. Even to
a President who has lost a popular vote, the American political system
gives the executive power.

o The Trump presidency is the product of a flawed political system that

will obstinately not admit its faults.

o Putin said 755 U. S. diplomats must leave Russia and warned ties with
Washington could be gridlocked for a long time, in a move that followed
tough new American sanctions.

o The G20 meet highlighted the capacity of world leaders to work around
Don Trump. The gathering in July first week in Hamburg of the G20, a
group of 20 developed and developing countries was not unlike a large
family event: some catching up, some patching up, and that
unpredictable, rich uncle who needs to be managed and kept in good
humor.

o World’s powerful country led by a president tried redefining the world

order in narrow transactional terms; with economies changing due to
digitization and automation; with the strength of a country’s electoral
process increasingly tied to its cybersecurity; with migration on an
unprecedented scale; and with terrorism decentralized and dispersed.

o The G20 meetings in Germany reflected all this, either through the
dynamics between leaders or in the wording of official statements that
emerged from them.

o The summit also provided much needed opportunities for bilateral

meetings, some of which went beyond the ordinary renewal of
commitments among countries. The meeting between the U. S.
 President Don Trump and his Russian counterpart Putin was their first
after the election hacking scandal and Mr. Trump’s inauguration.

o Even with Mr. Trump’s recalcitrance on trade and the environment, the
G20 managed to pull together a communique.

o U. S. policy currently runs against the global consensus and the other
nineteen countries recognize the Paris climate agreement. America is
not first this side of the Atlantic. America will be the Atlantis the lost,
thanks to the Trump!

o In terms of trade, members committed to fight protectionism while

recognizing “legitimate trade defense instruments”.

o ‘No to’ to NATO, Climate change and trade led to protests with high
trumpet sound ‘Bump, Domp and Slump!’ All is not well with the world
and discontent has now flowed to Europe.

JULY- AUGUST 2017

o North Korea vowed on August 7, tough new United Nations sanctions

would not stop it from developing its nuclear arsenal, as it rejected talks
and angrily warned U. S. of retaliation. The message of defiance was
the first major response to the U.S. drafted sanctions, which the UN
Security Council unanimously approved over the weekend and which
would cost North Korea one billion dollars a year.

o The North’s only sole major ally China, accused by the United States of

doing too little to rein in Pyongyang, piled on the diplomatic pressure by

vowing to fully implement the new sanctions.
o ‘We ain’t oblige unless the US-Nukes are off our chest’ was the
message though not in these words.
o U.S. has ruled out a quick return to talks unless ‘the Norkos halted its
ball-mis progr.’
o Seoul urged the Norkos to hold military talks to ease tensions on the
divided peninsula and for discussions on a new round of reunions for
divided families, but that was not accepted and was considered as ‘not
sincere.’

o The sanctions would be implemented by China too.

o Moon & Trump agree to maxi pressure plus sanctions although the
door to dialogue is still slightly open and creaks.

o In Afgonistan there is no peace, for civilians also.

o Jamaat-ud-Dawa is seeking to enter the political sphere by launching a
new party. Saifullah Khalid, a religious scholar and longtime official of
the group, is president of the newly-formed Milli Muslim League party.
He told reporters in Islamabad Monday that his party will work to make
Pakistan "a real Islamic and welfare state" and that it's ready to
cooperate with like-minded parties and financier of Pakistan called
Dawn Jamat Trumpf!

o A legitimate means of self-defense such as intercontinental ballistic

missile has been developed by peace loving small country to defend
itself in a world having a large and great military-industrial force that is
apparently democratic.
 Young undocumented immigrants, also known as 'Dreamers', will have to
face the possibility of winding down of the programme that granted work
permits to these immigrants. The dream could soon be over for lakhs of
immigrants, brought illegally to the United States as children, who have been
granted permission to stay and work in the US under the Deferred Action for
Children Arrival (DACA), which was introduced by former President Barack
Obama in June 2012. Over 7.5 lakh undocumented immigrants will be
affected by this move. Permits under DACA are granted for two years after
which candidates can apply for renewal. In a radio interview Paul Ryan,
Speaker of the US House of Representatives said that Trump should not
terminate DACA as "these children know no other country than the US". The
termination of DACA, which would result in possible deportation of these
students could cost over USD 200 billion to the American economy and the
cost to the government would be USD 60 billion. The average DACA
recipient is 22 years old, employed, and a student. 17 per cent of them are
on track to complete an advanced degree, the report added.

Donald Trump has responded to questions over whether he will take

military action against North Korea following its nuclear test this weekend,
commenting “we’ll see.” The president was asked about the isolated nation
following an announcement from Pyongyang on Sunday (3rd Sept.) that it had
successfully tested a hydrogen bomb that could be fitted to an
intercontinental ballistic missile.

Leaving church on Sunday, Trump appeared not to rule out any options,
responding to reporters asking whether he would attack North Korea by
telling them “we’ll see,” and suggesting on Twitter that negotiations with
Pyongyang were pointless.
 US: North Korea leader Kim ‘Begging for War’

The US says North Korea leader Kim Jong Un is ‘begging for war’
following the rouge state’s most powerful nuclear test to date.

The American ambassador to the UN, Nikki Haley said her

country did not want conflict with the Pyongyang regime but its
patience was not unlimited.

Addressing the UN Security Council, Ms. Haley said ‘enough is

enough’ on North Korea and warned that its approach of imposing
“incremental” sanctions against the secretive nation had not worked.
The US envoy urged the 15-member council, which is discussing the
crisis, to adopt the ‘strongest possible measures’.

Ms. Haley said: “Despite our efforts the North Korea nuclear program is
more advanced and more dangerous than ever”

“War is never something the United States wants. We don’t want it

now. But our country’s patience is not unlimited.”

On Sunday (Sept.3) North Korea detonated what it called a hydrogen

bomb _ its sixth and biggest nuclear detonation. The regime said the
test was “perfect success” and involved a bomb designed to be
mounted on its newly-developed intercontinental ballistic missile.

Wednesday January 30, 2019

Iran's President Hassan Rouhani slammed his critics defending the political
achievements of a landmark 2015 nuclear deal and calling the US an oath
breaker.
 Before Trump action on New Year eve:

With each passing day, the United States and Iran draw each other
deeper into conflict. So far, they have stopped short of war. But the
likelihood of an armed conflict increases with every additional
provocation, whether it is an attack on a civilian tanker ship or another
round of sanctions. Both countries, with their all-or-nothing strategies,
are to blame. President Donald Trump’s administration has pursued a
“maximum pressure” campaign against Iran built on suffocating
economic sanctions and a de facto oil and gas embargo. Iran has
pursued a maximum resistance strategy, escalating into attacks on
shipping lanes, downing a U.S. drone over the Persian Gulf, and
rejecting out of hand all opportunities for de-escalatory talks with
Washington. With both states unwilling to back down, the march toward
war continues.

3-1-2020

Iran-U S Conflict starts anew in the New Year:

Iran's supreme leader appointed the deputy commander of the Quds Force,
Brigadier General Esmail Ghaani, as the replacement for Qassem Soleimani,
the former head of the elite force who was killed in a U.S. air strike on Friday,
state media reported.

The al-Hashd al-Shaabi, an umbrella group of Iran-controlled militias in Iraq,

announced on Twitter that Soleimani was killed along with its leader Abu
Mahdi al-Muhandis. Iran’s state-run media said the strike was carried out at
Baghdad airport.
Ghaani became deputy commander of the Quds Force, the overseas arm of
Iran's Revolutionary Guards, in 1997 when Soleimani became the Force's
chief commander.
Ghaani was quoted by Iranian media as saying in 2017 that U.S. President
Donald Trump's "threats against Iran will damage America ... We have buried
many ... like Trump and know how to fight against America."
Today the United States killed Major General Qassem Soleimani, the
commander of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps’s Quds Force and
Iraq’s Muhandis.
The United States is now in a hot war with Iran after having waged war via
proxies for the past several decades.

This doesn’t mean war, it will not lead to war, and it doesn’t risk war. None of
that. It is war.

“We shouldn’t be surprised to see the Supreme Leader order covert

operations all over the globe (including, dare I say, in the US) that involve
assassinations & other acts of terrorism. We should expect to see the most
significant / aggressive response,” tweeted Yashar Ali, a journalist who
closely tracks developments in Iran.
He added in another tweet: “But killing Soleimani is not like killing the head of
a terrorist org. It’s like killing the head of a terrorist organization and a head
of state. You have to treat it as such and the US has not DIRECTLY engaged
in assassinations on that level in decades.”

US China Sign Trade Deal

After nearly two years of conflict between the world's two dominant economic
powers, the United States and China signed a trade truce on Wednesday,
letting businesses around the globe breathe a sigh of relief.

US President Donald Trump, who currently faces an impeachment trial and

then a tough reelection bid later this year, called the agreement
"momentous."

But tariffs on hundreds of billions of dollars in imports remain in place,

leaving American consumers and businesses to foot the bill.