What do you think of Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act that just got signed by Trump?
Is that a game changer? Does that mean it makes the trade deal more difficult to be signed by US and China?
shareIt does but trump had no choice but to sign it since it passed Congress with veto proof majorities. Unanimous in the Senate and 417-1 in the House.
Had he not signed it, it would have become law after 10 days regardless.
Yep. I thought he's gonna veto it and procrastinate until this bargain chip serves his purpose right. Guess after all he's not that willing to piss off his alliances and opponents.
shareI think he's obviously willing to piss off allies and opponents (except Putin), he's just not willing to suffer the public humiliation and defeat of watching his veto be overridden by Congress.
Same thing happened in 2017 when Congress by near unanimous consensus passed additional sanctions on Russia for their election interference. He balked but didn't dare risk the early defeat of having his veto overridden, so signed the bill begrudgingly. But he did drag his feet kicking and screaming the whole way when it came to ordering Treasury to follow the congressional mandate and.enforce the sanctions.
What's funny is how his supporters later tried to point to sanctions as evidence he'd been tougher on Russia than any previous president when that was all due to Congress.
Nice input! Thanks.
shareHe's not willing to piss off MBS either. Would be interesting to see how he'd react to a Saudi Arabian Human Rights Act. That country needs it more than China.
shareHas it made its way out of committee yet? Last I remember it was being stalled by his stooges in the Committee on Foreign Relations and prevented from a floor vote.
shareI have no idea. Last I heard it passed the House a few months ago and that was it.
shareInteresting AP reported this yesterday:
The Trump administration has quietly released more than $100 million in military assistance to Lebanon after months of unexplained delay that led some lawmakers to compare it to the aid for Ukraine at the center of the impeachment inquiry.
No coincidence this happens just when Senator Chris Murphy alerted the public how aid was being withheld.
Best guess is this was being done at the behest of the Saudis. MBS has been at loggerheads with Lebanon for awhile. share