re: #2 Scout

Of all the stupid things trump has done, I personally think pulling the U.S. out of the Trans-Pacific Partnership was the stupidest.

25 GOP senators urge Trump to restart TPP trade talks, a deal he called a ‘disaster’

It made perfect sense to them at the time, because they thought that the TPP would collapse without US participation and we’d just create something to take its place or negotiate unilateral deals with the other TPP parties.

What they didn’t count on was the other countries saying “We’re close enough to ratification that we don’t need the US” and pushing forward.