US Politics

Er, I'm fairly sure only Americans do live on Guam. It's US territory – if you're born there you are an American citizen.

Good try though, right?

Yeah, but what about all the people in neighbouring countries? Do you think nuclear fallout respects borders?

yeah, guam's flag tho...

10/10 best flag ever!

Trump 1999:
https://twitter.com/NBCNews/status/895094791263764480

He speaks so differently now/is less articulate (albeit from not a high bar). Maybe all that talk of him declining is real.

Yep, when you see videos of 90's trump you can kinda see how he made it in life. Current Trump it just makes less and less sense the more you hear.

In that clip he's still/already talking simplistic bollocks full of commonplaces and contradicts himself. But yes, he seems to do the same now but incoherently.

as he obviously knows their actual capabilities.

The man who doesn't attend briefings, read reports or listen to people but does read crackpot conspiracy-theorist websites. And reacts loudly in public first, from gut instinct, before even thinking to check anything.

If the report about their actual capabilties is shorter than a haiku then maybe

... but probably not

That's what worries me about the whole 'fire and fury' bit. It sounds scripted, so he's actually sat down with other people and decided this is the way forward.

Oh, I'm not saying he was ever some kind of wise deep thinker, just that he used to be able to talk, give good interviews and could probably have given good speeches. Now he seems incapable of thinking and speaking at the same time, which just makes the whole thing more remarkable.
It also seems to back up the theory that there may be something wrong with him as it certainly seems to be getting worse rather than better which is worrying given I doubt he would admit a mental illness until he's fucked up a whole load more stuff.

Very good...

Whats the confidence level on the "they're guidance is shit" part?

Possibly the same as for the previous blithe statements to the effect that 'they're years, no decades, from making a workable ICBM', or 'yes they've made an atomic device but that's a very different thing from making a warhead that'll fit on a missile'.

They have been regularly dismissed as incompetent, comedy Asian villains, and they have made steady progress regardless. Yet the pronouncements about how they can't possibly build a re-entry vehicle or guidance system continue.

This is old tech. It's been around since the 1950's, and it's do-able if they haven't already done it. The talking down of their capabilities comes from the same place as misplaced faith in the US' ABM capability (which, due to decades of cancelled and underfunded attempts is not worth shit) - a comfort blanket and undertones of racial superiority.

People have done language analysis on his speeches and his vocabulary and sentence structure etc. has regressed massively since the 90's.

Talk of Putin and/or China "sharing" tech

I know a then british citizen who lived and worked on Guam for a few years. There will be plenty of expats around.

The Trump NK comments were direct from his brain; White House and NatSec team had no idea what he was going to say

Its a territory i don't think people there are US citizens they don't get a vote similar to Porto Rico but to clarify the fox report only reported on US military personnel who would be casualty's.

US citizens, but without Presidential votes,
and,
a myriad of other wrinkles ........ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guam

I really don't doubt that, but I don't find him very impressive in that clip in the first place.

Indeed. But also, rockets are just plain difficult to get right. It's daft to assume no progress will be made but right now there just isn't much of a threat.