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Trump alleged to be "keen" for US to join Commonwealth

Trump alleged to be "keen" for US to join Commonwealth

Old Feb 24th, 2017, 03:48 AM
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Trump alleged to be "keen" for US to join Commonwealth

This is a spectacular example of media fantasy drift.

But Murdoch's poshest paper reports today that Trump is "keen" for the US to join the Commonwealth: the latest rebranding of what was once called the British Empire.
http://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/co...tain-z5qwqbr97

Most of you will be paywalled out of that site. But the story says, essentially, that a bunch of enthusiasts want to set up a branch of the Royal Commonwealth Society (a harmless pressure group for better relations between English-speaking nations) in the US.

A hard-core nutcase behind the Brexit campaign, getting hold of the wrong end of the wrong stick, claimed that "Donald Trump is “very positive” about joining the real Commonwealth (an English-speaking mini-me of the UN, headed by the British monarch, membership of which has to be agreed on by all 52 current participants),

The main Brexit funder added that "Trump is going to be the most pro-British president ever"

This must be the only comment about Trump even more deranged than anything Trump has ever said. It's not true of course that for Trump, it's always "America First": only Trump himself can ever be in that position.

But we can safely say that no US president since James Madison (the madman who invaded our territory, provoking us to burn his house down so he's learn some manners) has been more set on undermining Britain. Or to demonstrate his commitment to equal opportunities by trying just as hard to undermine every other foreign nation on earth. Except possibly Russia.
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Old Feb 24th, 2017, 03:53 AM
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You know, I'm beginning to think that Donald J Trump is about as "mad" as George III. Next thing we'll hear is that somebody is "reading" Trump's excrement.

Perhaps you need to launch another little "armada" of your own and burn down the house a second time; that would be the one down here in Florida. I promise to drive up the beach from my house to watch it happen, too.

BTW, see you later this summer as I'm gonna be "in town" for the night on the way to Cornwall. Be fun, actually. Cheers!
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Old Feb 24th, 2017, 04:00 AM
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You put UKIP with TRUMP and you are in danger of entering a special door at the back of the wardrobe
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Old Feb 24th, 2017, 04:56 AM
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Donald J Trump is about as "mad" as George III.

George later recovered. He never took real (or had) responsibility for managing America: that was the job of our local MP, Frederick North.

And America's leaving the Empire was one of the great win-win events of all time (except for the American colonies' black and indigenous inhabitants of course): the colonists got the country to themselves: the British were freed to colonise most of the rest of the world.

Nothing about Trump is anything like as benign.

Except for his extraordinary inability to do anything. Where's that Muslim ban he promised for ten days ago? Why hasn't he directed his Secretary of the Treasury to declare China a currency manipulator, which in October he said he'd do on Jan 20?

I could go on....
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Old Feb 24th, 2017, 04:59 AM
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Be careful what you wish for.
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Old Feb 24th, 2017, 05:06 AM
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VP visited Belgium yesterday.
Bruxelles went from a 'hellhole' to 'a nice city'.

Paid by with some of my taxes... We could have built a wall to keep Trump out of Belgium with that money, as he is supposed to come on may 25.
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Old Feb 24th, 2017, 06:16 AM
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>> the British were freed to colonise most of the rest of the world.
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Old Feb 24th, 2017, 06:27 AM
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Trump is one of those types, where if he shakes your hand, you need to count your fingers afterwards.
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Old Feb 24th, 2017, 07:10 AM
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>>And America's leaving the Empire was one of the great win-win events of all time
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Old Feb 24th, 2017, 07:19 AM
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An article on this appeared in The Telegraph the other day. Said his mother was Scottish and a Royalist and that Dump wanted to get closer to the Royal Family. Ha!
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Old Feb 24th, 2017, 07:20 AM
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All he wants is a knighthood for his services to humanity. If HM would suck it up and accept him on the New Year's Honours List, he will be satisfied.

Even scarier. Wasn't his mother born in Scotland? If she had been born in Ireland, he could have Irish citizenship for the asking. What about children and grandchildren of Scots and UK citizenship?

Scarier still, I am reasonably certain that as the spouse of a native Slovenian, he could qualify for Slovenian citizenship and an EU passport when he is turfed out here.
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Old Feb 24th, 2017, 07:36 AM
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Interesting to see how associating UKIP with the Trump brand is destroying it in the UK.

Or not?
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Old Feb 24th, 2017, 08:17 AM
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>>What about children and grandchildren of Scots and UK citizenship
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Old Feb 24th, 2017, 08:17 AM
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"Interesting to see how associating UKIP with the Trump brand is destroying it"

I think they're doing that all by themselves. Though you might say their cunning plan is to look as if they're self-destructing, but actually take over the Tories.

In each of the by-elections since the referendum, they've attracted fewer votes than in 2015.

But then so have the Tories.
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Old Feb 24th, 2017, 08:24 AM
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"the spouse of a native Slovenian, he could qualify for Slovenian citizenship and an EU passport"

Are you sure? Mrs F would only qualify for an Irish passport on the back of mine if she'd met fierce Irish minimum stay requirements or could demonstrate a real threat to her safety in Britain.

What she can do, though, is live elsewhere in the EU (if I lived there) after Brexit because preventing her would infringe my human right to a normal family life.

The likelihood is that Trump has the right to live in the EU (but not Britain after 2019) if his wife does.
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Old Feb 24th, 2017, 08:36 AM
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Which "wife" would that be? Are we certain he'll limit himself to three and two of whom have been immigrants?
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Old Feb 24th, 2017, 09:07 AM
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Typical inflammatory journalism (thetimes article), even some respected media outlets in the US have lost it with their biased reporting.

The Commonwealth Society is a charity and PR arm of Great Britain, and exists in countries that are certainly not part of the COmmonwealth nor belong to the UK. Italy has a branch, for example, and so does Belgium and Switzerland. Other countries have similar things with branches and offices in other countries for PR and cultural enrichment (such as teaching languages, events, etc.--Alliance Francaise, Goethe Institut, etc.). Establishing a branch in the US doesn't make the US part of the COmmonwealth. The WH merely sent a polite response back to the idea of them opening an office in the uS (I am actually surprised to learn there isn't one already when there is in Italy and other countries).

Trump isn't eligible for Slovenian citizenship unless they both decamp and move to Slovenia and live there at least a year. Why on earth would that happen.
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Old Feb 24th, 2017, 10:31 AM
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I think if Grandpa Trump was still a German citizen when Pa Trump was born, Pa Trump was a German citizen by birth, making DT one too.
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Old Feb 25th, 2017, 12:21 AM
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It looks as if he had definitely lost his German citizenship by then: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frederick_Trump
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Old Feb 25th, 2017, 12:55 AM
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President Trump, as he was born 70 years ago, only a British father, married to his wife, could transmit citizenship. But the law changed in 2009 and he can apply for registration as citizen by having a British mother otherwise than by descent. He applies on form UKM, and only needs to pay £80 for citizenship ceremony. But if he has serious criminal conviction or civil judgment, that could disqualify.
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