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https://www.wcax.com/video/2025/03/18/white-house-press-secretary-responds-french-lawmaker-who-wants-us-return-statue-liberty/

Sounds like something Jacqui Lambie would say.

That's why locking into a decades long, hugely expensive contract apparently based on the assumption that there won't be any significant changes in undersea warfare technology or geopolitical alliances is so shortsighted. If we want manned replacements for the Collins Class submarines there are more cost-effective options that could be delivered sooner.

I think that Trump's sellout of Ukraine is a low and cowardly act for a US president and I doubt that he is remotely capable of this kind of strategic analysis, but at the same time this military analyst makes some valid points. https://www.realcleardefense.com/articles/2025/03/17/a_moral_and_strategically_sound_strategy_in_ukraine_1097971.html

So GON, you're saying you wouldn't necessarily know if you were being inhumanely treated, and would need somebody to tell you? That's a bit concerning. That's very noble of you GON, but how are you going to make Australia great again? And if you're not sure it ever was, how will you know if you've succeeded?

What, you mean by falling over ourselves to try and keep Australia in their good books? Still, good to hear you at least admit that `some' criticism of the US is justified, although that's an understatement if you ask me. As for Trump being there to help build trust in the US again, he sure has a strange way of going about it when what he's doing is destroying any trust his former allies may have had in the integrity of the US. How do you expect the most blatantly untrustworthy individual in the White House to build trust in the country? Trump is smashing the car alright. Hopefully one day someone else may be able to repair what's left of it, but it will need a complete rebuild starting with a pile of scrap metal.

What imagined problems are you trying to solve with your elite surveillance squad? That team isn’t led by someone called Musk, is it?

No he doesn’t. He thinks allies are just freeloaders and ripoff merchants. He is not interested in alliances.

My brother in law is a retired cray fisherman. He used to fish out of King Island and around Tas. His deckie went overboard once. Couldn’t swim and was going down but the brother in law just managed to grab him and haul him back on board. Lucky guy.

Lots of professional fishermen can’t swim.

Wasn't the French sub a nuclear design that we asked them to change to DE at great expense? I can see the sense in having long range nuclear subs but spending all that money on the AUKUS deal with all the risks of non-delivery and unpredictable future warfare needs seems like a bad risk. We should just go back cap in hand and buy the French nuclear subs. We would probably be up and running much faster.

Don't bother with part two on my account. I've seen enough already.

... especially when you have to admit you were wrong.

No he isn't. Where did you hear that nonsense? He's simply said that a ceasefire sounds like a good idea, but it would only be on his terms.

Far from making America great again, Trump is doing the exact opposite through his lawless mismanagement and sheer stupidity. He has said that tariff wars are good and easy to win but his erratic approach has created financial anxiety in the US and around the workd. The US stock market is already down 10% and will probably drop further. The cost of living will soon go up. He is trashing the justice system and going after his many enemies. He has upended the country’s security agencies and made the US more vulnerable. He has sided with Russia against Ukraine and Europe. Government employees are losing their jobs all across the country, which will have significant knock-on effects in their communities. His approval ratings are dropping steadily and most of the country thinks it’s heading in the wrong direction. He is the most ignorant US president in history when it comes to his general knowledge. Trump watches the markets and his approval ratings very closely so he won’t like the current trend. On the other hand he can never admit that he was wrong about tariffs or any of his other decisions, so he’s going to paint himself into a corner very quickly. His MAGA base may finally realise that he isn’t the genius he said he was. Who knows how he’ll react then. The US will become the country Trump said it has been for years.

No, Trump is a malevolent, but incompetent narcissist, with a great need to maintain maximum fealty from his fellow Americans. There you are, GON. I've corrected your typos.

A political science academic in the US said recently about Trump’s attitude to former allies that, “Trump is so obsessed with the problem of free riders that he forgets that it was in America’s interest to drive the bus”. Sums the current tariff and slash and burn debacle up pretty well.

$14m per trip to the golf course apparently.

I agree with all that, Nev including with repeating myself.

What he said was relevant and accurate but not very smart given how easily Trump takes offence. It will simply make him more determined to apply his tariffs to us. As an ex-PM, what Turnbull says gets noticed. Public comments like that are not very helpful when the government of the day has to negotiate with a vindictive narcissist to get the best trade terms for the country.

I’m not disagreeing with what Turnbull said. He’s quite right. But as an ex-PM he shouldn’t be making himself a kind of de facto spokesman for Australia knowing that the government has to deal with Trump and his tariff threats. All he’s doing is making negotiating with Trump harder. It’s shortsighted on his part, notwithstanding that what he’s saying is right.

Yes but Turnbull is no longer the leader and he should be more aware of the likely consequences of what he says.

Turnbull hasn’t made it any easier for Albo by laying into Trump. That wasn’t a very smart thing to do.

Yes it was weird. I thought the link might have been hijacked unless something is going on. Phone seems to be OK. It’s behaving normally.

Red I clicked on that link and got a message saying my phone was infected with two viruses and was directed to a website to remove it. I didn’t, thinking it could be a scam.