mtutiger

I've been beating this drum for a while, but Trump/Musk are touching a lot of third rails with his cuts. It was inevitable that, sooner or later, people were going to notice and be pissed off. Cliff Bentz' town hall, held in LaGrande, OR (in a county won by Trump 68-31ish), is probably the biggest red flag to me out of all the ones I've seen reported. But it makes sense when you consider that it's an agricultural area and an area with a large US Forest Service presence (the feds own something like 40-45% of land in Union County, OR)... taking a meat cleaver to federal jobs in in the American west in particular, where so many jobs are tied to the federal government, is just really terrible politics (on top of being devastating to these communities) Trump has always gotten a lot of rope because of the good economy in 2017-2019. And just generally because people assumed he wouldn't do a lot of the extreme stuff he campaigned on. But he and Elon are doing a great deal to unravel that goodwill as we speak.

A four star general who worked his way through the system and is fully and eminently qualified for the job, and whom has been well liked generally across the political spectrum, who was nominated by TRUMP himself in 2020 to be Air Force Chief of Staff, is being replaced by a retired three star general who isn't remotely qualified and for whom was once quoted (while wearing a MAGA hat): Meritocracy my ass.... looks more like DEI for Trumpers.

LaHood (my critter) doesn't do them, but honestly wouldn't surprise me if he got a similar reception to some of these guys if he did one... Even if it were in a place like Princeton or Streator, the freezes on USDA programs and attacks on Medicaid are poison for farmers

Solid observation...

Boom Boom Boss Man Got Involved

Well, as @Archie assured us in the other thread, everything is hunky dory, no issues whatsoever. Case closed /S

If a far right leader in France calls it a Nazi salute, is it safe to call it a Nazi salute???

What a disgrace

Certain folks who are simps for DOGE will never admit it, but having to fire and then track down and rehire nuclear safety experts cannot be described any other way than being an abject failure.

I saw a FB thread from an acquaintance of mine after the first matchup talking about how exciting it was and drawing parallels to the 1980 Olympics... and the entire time I was staring at the thread I was wondering whether they were oblivious to the fact that in the this parallel, our nation is the one playing the role of the USSR (as the aggressor nation). Really try to hard to compartmentalize sports and politics and all, but it was really hard to be anything more than ambivalent to how this game would turn out tbh. Which really sucks.

Trump's tariffs raise alarms for Illinois farm industry If they were getting "good results", you wouldn't have orgs like the Illinois Farm Bureau (probably the only bastion of GOP power in an otherwise blue state) speaking out on the record warning against his policies, would we?

You sure about that?

State Media

Yeah, Sargent has a POV but is a lot more self aware of it than most from his crowd.

We're currently being led by a guy whose favorite past time is name calling. And a guy *you* voted for. So please spare us your high minded talk about civilized debate and decorum... It's a load of horse****

Ewsieg is about the closest thing to a moderate independent type voter this forum has... He leans more right than left if anything. If you're a conservative political movement and are disparaging someone like him, that's... Not great. Particularly in off year or midterm type elections, and particularly when Trump himself isn't on the ballot

This is a rhetorical question, right?

I realize you agree with me when I say it, but if the expectation isn't for politicians or the appointees to make people people's lives better or to make them safer, what is the point exactly? Absent that, that just makes a person a nihilist

Will reiterate what I said previously about Patel.... the FBI's purview extends far beyond whatever grievances 47 holds at any given time. And every indication I have seen suggests that Patel will mostly be focused on 47's grievances above anything else. So I do not see how his appointment and confirmation makes any of our lives better or makes us safer.

It's textbook "sunk cost fallacy"... it's hard to admit when you're wrong.

In theory at least, a lot of this can still be fixed, but the one thing we'll never get back is our credibility. EDIT: I remember during the campaign, a French diplomat said the following: Now, we can argue whether Europe has done enough for their own collective security (certainly a fair debate), but there's a price to the United States for alienating our friends as well and pushing them away. And that quote is a big reason why they will never trust again.... even if we eventually kick Trump and Trumpism to the curb in the future, who's to say that we won't snap back to where we are at today? We just aren't a reliable partner anymore.

There were legitimate moments of embarrassments during his first term, but there was enough of a presence of adults within his administration then that kept things at a simmer. At various points you had guys like Jim Mattis, Mark Esper, Steve Mnuchin, Gary Cohn, Rex Tillerson, even Mike Pompeo (who I cannot stand).... not perfect people, not people I agree with on policy, but institutionalists who understand the world order that America created post-WW2 and why it is important. Those people are long gone from this administration... and the "institutionalists" that do exist in this new administration (ie. Marco Rubio most notably) are eunuchs who are happy to see their credibility used to launder terrible and capitulating policy. Presidencies have come and gone, including some I've liked and some I haven't (including Trump I)... but this is definitely the first time I've felt ashamed to be an American. And we've earned every bit of ire that the Canadians, Ukrainians, or other of our allies will throw at us.