DramatistDreamer

Exactly! Trump has two towers in Turkey, people shouldn't forget that when assessing his motives for leaving the door open for Turkey's military to attack the Kurds.

I actually agree with some things but not totally. Having family from other countries and getting their perspective, I get more of a clear-eyed perspective of how the U.S. has been perceived over the last couple of decades. The U.S. was never perceived as being totally trust-worthy by many countries (particularly those with a majority non-white population) but hear me when I say that Obama definitely made inroads in that respect. Also when it came to formulating treaty agreements, there was almost always a base level of some sort of trust (perhaps out of mutual necessity, as you mentioned) that the U.S. had that, it would, as a nation be a reliable partner (as Angela Merkel alluded to) and keep their end of the agreement. The U.S., under Trump, doesn't even have that base level of assumed integrity. Under Trump, the U.S. has shown that not only will they say one thing, one day, only to reverse themselves the very next day but not a word that is said or put into writing, can be taken seriously. That has not always been the case--that is a new contribution from the Trump administration to the perception of the U.S. worldwide. The level of damage that Trump has done is brand new and it will last generations.

Wow, I actually think that Sheryl Underwood put it the most succinctly and I wasn't expecting that, tbh.

In the meantime, I don't know any country that will trust the U.S. at this point, especially with Trump in office. Perhaps some of the damage can be repaired once he's out of office, but that will take a lot of time an effort. It has gone beyond undoing agreements that the Obama administration put in place, Trump has actually been destroying some long-standing accords, treaties and agreements that have been in place for generations. Angela Merkel alluded to the U.S. no longer being a reliable partner during the nascent days of the Trump administration and things have only deteriorated since then. Trump has been wrecking long-existing partnerships and obliterating what level of trust there was, not to speak of the countries (Latin America, the Caribbean, Africa) that often tended to look warily on the U.S. where the Obama administration had just begun to cultivate trust--I seriously doubt those places will ever have one iota of trust where the U.S. is concerned. Trump has done a ton of damage, diplomatically speaking. His foreign policy is the worst I've ever seen of any president in my lifetime.

Speaking of DJH and DH, this article by Anais Granofsky, who played Lucy Fernandez is such an interesting read. https://torontolife.com/city/life/mom-welfare-dad-hippie-grandparents-two-richest-people-toronto/

When my free trial runs out in a few days, that won't be an option for me. YouTube is free and the picture quality has always been pretty solid. PBS used to stream it on their YouTube Channel, but I don't know whether they still do this--I haven't checked lately.

Can someone contact the Marion Stokes estate to see if she, by any chance, recorded some of those episodes that we are all craving to see but somehow no soap fan seems to have?

I've never gotten the sense that Caso was all that much revered, tbh. During about half of his tenure, the talk focused on Marland as HW, which really does say that no matter how much skill an individual may possess as an EP, you can't have a good show without good writing. The remainder of Caso's tenure, unfortunately was marked by stories that were either dull, depressing, or just didn't really work, and for better or for worse, it is that part of his tenure that stays in the minds of many ATWT fans. I mentioned Caso as being a likely good interview based on some things I've heard him say in the past. He seems to at least have a sense of self-awareness and he seems frank, without vanity and knowledgeable about the limitations of the job and the industry. It's not perfection that makes someone a great interview, it's honesty, awareness and the ability to provide insight free of arrogance or defensive posture.

Lord knows, I feel like I could have been there, I've been hearing about it so much without even trying, LOL.

...and so was Debbi Morgan.

Peter Parros (Dr. Ben Harris, ATWT) was at the opening of the Tyler Perry Studios.

Oh, I hope she does go to prison.

In another thread, we were discussing/imagining a Ken Burns style documentary on the history of the Daytime drama and, in the back of my mind, I immediately thought that Laurence Caso should be included in any documentary on the subject because he strikes me as someone who would be insightful when asked questions. The rest of them (that are still with us) seem highly defensive and egotistical (ahem, I'm looking at you, JFP and Goutman)

Although I plan to read the article, I can't never forget that The Daily Beast also has their own serious issues.

Foreign policy? What foreign policy? Trump's no longer even pretending to have one.

Thanks for posting. This is a succinct thread. It really confirms what I said about the Trump administration doing the least in Syria (as the Kurds did the majority of the fighting) as he's wanted to extricate the U.S. from that area since he took the oath of office, regardless of the reality or the consequences. As McGurk says, Trump doesn't care about any of the people in Syria. Although no one will say this publicly, Trump's pronouncement on Turkey and then Turkey's response a few hours later, reeks of a plan in the making for quite some time. Trump has got investments (i.e. money) tied up in Turkey and we know how much Trump cares about money, far more than he cares about the American people. I guess the Syrians aren't the only ones that Trump could care less about.

Did you see my tweet on the previous page?

This was planned. Also, no one is afraid of Trump's bluster and pseudo-threats. Just ask North Korea.

I honestly think it's a confluence of factors but Trump is heavily invested in two out of three of those countries. It's not secret that he has two towers in Turkey and we all know that money comes first with Trump. He needs to appease Erdogan to keep his investments safe. Erdogan as does his government hates the Kurds. Putin wanted the U.S. out of Syria for years. KSA has a distrust and dislike for Iran that stretches back to the Iranian Revolution. Trump also has investments in KSA. Trump wanted to have towers in Russia but has been thwarted going back to the late 1980s, he's been trying to curry favor ever since. As corrupt as things in Russia might have become under Yeltsin, at least Yeltsin showed some care for the Russian people. I don't even think that Putin cares about a soul except himself (and maybe his daughter, perhaps the bond that he and Trump share) but I think the wheeling and dealing is actually all in plain sight with Trump. IMO it's about showing the evidence. The tax returns, I suspect will reveal a whole lot of financial chicanery similar to what the Trump family has been known to pull in NYC real estate.