You’re not cornered, mhaze?

Then maybe start engaging with what I’ve actually said - rather than zeroing in on paraphrased language so you can pretend the conversation is about “verballing” rather than your own rhetorical retreat.

Let’s be clear: I didn’t fabricate a quote. I paraphrased the tone of your post - a tone you established by describing countries as “begging,” companies as “racing,” and governments as “scrambling.” That’s not deception. That’s analysis. And frankly, if paraphrasing someone’s tone is enough to throw you off, that says more about the fragility of your framing than anything I’ve written.

This faux-indignation about “quote fabrication” is theatre - the same kind that tries to repackage bold, tidy narratives as loose collections of maybe-this-maybe-that whenever the scrutiny gets too close.

You say you’ll “call me out” every time I do it? Good. And I’ll be here each time, calmly pulling the curtain back when the spin starts to wobble.

Paranoia as you put it mhazie is why we dont have nasty diseases in Australia. You support the seppos above your fellow Australians. Traitor.

I see orange god has dropped even more tariffs, this time on phones and electronics. hahahahahaha Der furher cant even go a few days without changing its tiny little mind. Whats next? Put them back so he can crash the market again and make some more money for him and his cronies.

Anyone who thinks this fool knows what he is doing is not even looking they are deliberately blind and deserve scorn and condemnation.

Here's how it went. I said nations were begging to negotiate with Trump. I also characterised it as racing to negotiate and scrambling to negotiate.
JD didn't like that characterisation and instead preferred to think of them a engaging with Trump. That's fine. If he sees it that way, so be it. I didn't dispute his characterisation, just rejected it as accurate.

Then somehow a day later JD convinced himself that I'd backtracked from thinking nations were begging to thinking nations were merely engaging and asserted that to be the case.

So I bounced him on his duplicity and he's be floundering ever since to try to find a form of words that would salvage a modicum of pride. Unfortunately he's failed.

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Mikk thinks US beef is full of all sorts of diseases and that its traitorous to bring it to Australia. Of course, when I point out the illogic of that given that US people aren't dropping left and right from these supposed diseases, he ignores it...or misunderstands it. Who can tell.

No one is saying we should bring in diseased meat. But if it is indeed diseased then that needs to be proven otherwise the impression that its merely a trade barrier designed to protect local producers is confirmed. The original bans were bought in to stop the spread of BSE to Australia when it was rampant in the US in 2002. The U.S. is classified as having "negligible risk" for BSE by the World Organisation for Animal Health.

Just a quick clarification for the audience, since mhaze has now shifted into narrating the debate:

Yes, he described nations as “begging,” “scrambling,” and “racing” to negotiate with Trump - all in one post:

“50 countries. Then 70 countries. Now 79 countries. All suddenly shocked into taking the US and Trump seriously… racing to make accommodation… scrambling to find a way to salvage their trade position…”
(http://forum.onlineopinion.com.au/thread.asp?discussion=10583#369685)

He then listed examples like Apple repatriating jobs, Canada and Mexico relocating businesses, Europe buying US fossil fuels, and Australia rethinking beef quarantine laws - all as part of the same triumphant parade of consequences under Trump’s leadership.

In response, I pushed back on that narrative - not by claiming he literally used the word “engaging,” but by contrasting his theatrical framing with what these actions more likely represent: routine diplomacy, strategic reassessment, and self-interest. I paraphrased that as “engaging”:

“Countries engage, visit, discuss - especially when trade conditions shift.”
(http://forum.onlineopinion.com.au/thread.asp?discussion=10583#369705)

I later used quotes around “engaging” not to suggest it was mhaze’s word, but to differentiate my characterisation of the same events from his.

What happened next is familiar. The tone of mhaze’s posts shifted. Suddenly we weren’t looking at a domino effect of Trumpian brilliance, but a list of disconnected national responses. His claim about Australian beef became:

“[It’s] my opinion that a prudent Australian government would be doing this.”
(http://forum.onlineopinion.com.au/thread.asp?discussion=10583#369688)

Gone was the sweeping certainty. In its place: hedged speculation framed as common-sense realism.

Now he’s accusing me of “verballing” him - even though I clarified that I was paraphrasing his tone, not quoting his words. He’s reframing my paraphrase as fabrication in order to reframe the entire debate in hindsight.

But anyone who’s been following knows the real shift: bold declarations collapsed under scrutiny, and what’s followed has been a steady stream of walk-backs disguised as nuance.

“If you have to keep summarising the exchange in increasingly creative ways to feel like you won, you probably didn’t.” (Anon)

Anyway, I apologise for my friend's behaviour. I hope it wasn't too awkward or confronting to be suddenly addressed like that.

Trumpster, why has The Orange Man backflipped on Chinese electronics entering the US, China never "begged" Trump, in fact just the opposite, the brave Chinese stood up to the bully, and gave him a black eye. It wouldn't have anything to do with the fact that a US made I-Phone would cost American consumers $3,000 each, just as other electronic items would increase three or four fold in price. What about the toasters?

John Daysh, well done in showing the Trumpster, mhaze, for what he is, totally clueless and out of touch, just like his folk hero Donald.

"No one is saying we should bring in diseased meat" Ah, you are the someone, you intermated that to appease Trump, Australia should drop its strict quarantine laws an allow diseased American beef to enter the country. Australia is well aware of the biosecurity risks of American beef, that's why we don't let it in! End of story.

Squirm all you want JD but the evidence is in this very thread.

"Only after pushback did the certainty start to splinter: suddenly “begging” became “engaging,”.

You straight up said I backtracked on the characterisation of the reactions of governments from begging to engaging. This, apparently, caused by the withering logic of your attack (giggle!) But I didn't use the word 'engaging' or any other even remotely like it. But you did and likely got confused about who said what and now can't bring yourself to admit it. Well so be it. I'll keep that in mind for future reference.

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Meanwhile, "dozens of countries are pounding on the door for a tariff deal" according to National Economic Council Director Kevin Hasset. "There are a heck of a lot of concessions on the table,".

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Isn't it rather interesting, the way facts get crowded out by inane patriotic fervour. Paul's there waving the flag again, demanding Australians be protected from all that diseased US beef. What diseased US beef? Well none can be found but what have the facts got to do with it when unthinking jingoism meets unthinking TDS