Quote Originally Posted by Poopadoop View Post
2. What do you think has happened/is happening with N. Korea because of Trump?
The short of it is Trump has been trying to get Xi of China on his side from the beginning, while also getting other big players into his strategy. Trump put a lot of work into showing Xi respect and framing North Korea as something Xi wants to and can get done but if Xi doesn't Trump will. Trump turned himself into Kim, so to speak, by using similar type of escalating rhetoric. He has shown the world he does what Mattis thinks is best when it comes to the military at least enough of the time that nobody knows who is in charge on this issue. This point was something we covered in my game theory class as it related to Khrushchev and the Politburo. Not knowing who was in charge put Kennedy and his generals in a worse spot strategically. Trump has massaged Xi with trade negotiations as well. That all is sort of stage setting, the real meat is in what has been happening recently.

The strategy that the tactics above gear towards is to wage economic war against Kim. Recently, that has come by in a big way. Tons of different new sanctions have been put in place, and the most important ones, oil, are getting restricted a significant amount. Then shortly after we start hearing about these oil restrictions, we hear that Kim has agreed to talks with South Korea. Then SK says Trump was the one who got that done.

We're winning this thing. If you saw me talking about this several months ago I was praising how smartly Kim's regime has been acting and that he might have a better strategic position than Trump does. That was related to Trump being constrained more than Kim. But man was I wrong. Kim going to SK isn't the end, it's not even close. But it is Kim showing some bend to Trump (and Xi and others), though it is Kim bending in a very smart way because it allows him to get SK to agree to something Trump doesn't want.

3. My understanding is ISIS was already shrinking, but I already responded to this with Banana so nm.
If it did shrink at the tail of Obama's term, it was small shrinkage and it came after it grew significantly. The shrinkage under Trump has been about as rapid as Trump's big talk during the campaign said it would be.

There is evidence that Obama didn't take ISIS seriously. There is also evidence (leaked audio) of Secretary of State Kerry implying that they viewed ISIS as a tool against Assad. I think they made a pigsty of it and Trump came in and cleaned up.

5. You're right the cutting of regs doesn't get talked about by the left, except derisively. I think the objection is that there's a trade-off between what is good for business and what is there to protect people from unfettered business practices.
Especially since probably the best way to deter bad practice in business is to let the market function the way it normally does, anybody who doesn't like regulation cuts should point out the exact cuts and provide explanation for why keeping them makes people better off.

A different way of viewing this is that regulations keep bloating over time. Every day, every month, every year, every decade, there are many more regulations than before. Where's the evidence that shows that we're getting safer because of this?