Today’s comments were selected, in part, for their big-picture views and analysis.
From: Trudeau to shuffle cabinet with eye on 2019 election, trade diversification, by Robert Fife (a more recent version of this story can be found here)
I’m not a fan of Trudeau as a leader, Prime Minister or this government, but I love our country and want us all to succeed and do well in these uncertain times dealing the wild, unknown variable that is President Trump. I truly believe that Trudeau is focussed primarily on merit as a reason for this shuffle, along with the election, of course, even if he still sells his decisions as progressive. I want him and cabinet to do well and wish them success. We have so much uncertainty thanks to President “Chaos” Trump. If anything, at least Trump is a catalyst to unite us in our resolve to survive and withstand the upcoming challenges we face. I’ll wait until campaign 2019 starts to see who is best to continue the fight against the Trump administration. - Baloo416
No amount of cabinet shuffling can diversify trade away from the U.S., unless you believe that cabinet possesses some magical powers. As far back as Jean Chrétien and before, governments and companies have always looked for new places to sell their products and resources. There has never been a viable alternative, simply because geography can’t be duplicated elsewhere. The ease at which we access the U.S. market has always been the key point. We have and should continue to look at other markets, but to suggest that we haven’t done this before is simply wrong. - Jeff Spooner
From: ‘I said the word “would” instead of “wouldn’t.” ’ Trump reverses stand, says he accepts that Russia meddled in 2016 election, by Adrian Morrow
Sometimes a lie is so shallow and contrived that it transcends ethics and morality and offends the intellect. This is such a lie. Let’s be clear, if Trump had truly misspoken, he could have corrected himself any time, but he doubled down. It’s only when he got cornered that he mustered up the most pusillanimous and feeble excuse I have ever heard. - Black Swan
The response at Breitbart is interesting. There are many articles on the Helsinki fallout but the focus/approach is twofold:
- Various Republicans have criticized Trump but they are all underminers who still don’t get it (McCain, Ryan, McConnell, etc);
- Media, Hollywood and Democrats everywhere are going nuts (which is surely another indication that Trump is becoming increasingly effective).
Nowhere is there any suggestion that Trump believing Putin over his own intelligence community could be a profoundly serious problem for any western democracy, nor that presenting that position on an international stage is subversive, even traitorous. America is profoundly fractured. Some people’s positions are so extreme it’s hard to imagine the country ever coming together again. - Rick Munroe
From Russian military set to act on presidential ‘agreements’ by Mark MacKinnon
The question is what is to be done if Trump has made some intolerable agreement with Putin. The Congress may lack the authority to reverse such a decision or simply fail to act. Then how do the Allies respond, keeping the longer term in mind. The abrogation of responsibility by the U.S., I will assume and hope, is a temporary phenomenon that needs to be managed until Trump is gone. It is unclear to me how much longer this can go on for. The order that has been developed over the last 70 years needs to be supported. It has problems, but they can be fixed and they pale in comparison to complete dissolution. - Bill Hertha on Facebook
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