Trumps Presidency 2025

[Motown Bombers]

4 minutes ago, Tiger337 said:

I hope the media ignores this distraction.  It will just make his detractors look petty.    Let's stick to the real issues like letting Musk control all of the govt's finances and taking the side of an enemy in the war against an ally. Yeah, I know they won't.  The media loves BS like this.

I disagree. I think trump saying he is a king and overturning a popular law in a state is a big deal. He's singling out a city because it didn't vote for him. It will just escalate from here. Plus, people are more likely to respond when the federal government starts sticking their nose in local issues. 

Edited February 20 by Motown Bombers

[Tiger337]

4 minutes ago, Motown Bombers said:

I disagree. I think trump saying he is a king and overturning a popular law in a state is a big deal. He's singling out a city because it didn't vote for him. It will just escalate from here. Plus, people are more likely to respond when the federal government starts sticking their nose in local issues. 

Sure, it's a big deal but the media is going to focus on the king comment which is going to passed off as a joke.  This is what he wants.  He's doing the same thing he always does.  He floods the media with new stuff every day and then everyone forgets what he did last week.  

[Tigermojo]

Donald Julius Caesar Trump 

Donald Benito Mussolini Trump 

Keep flapping your gums. History repeats itself.

[Hongbit]

The magnitude of this statement from a sitting US President can not be understated.   A shocking turn in policy that makes very little sense domestically or globally.    

The only thing I can think of that logically explains it is that Trump really has been controlled by the Russians for all this time.  

[ewsieg]

7 minutes ago, Hongbit said:

The magnitude of this statement from a sitting US President can not be understated.   A shocking turn in policy that makes very little sense domestically or globally.    

The only thing I can think of that logically explains it is that Trump really has been controlled by the Russians for all this time.  

Even during Trumps first term when people would say we're an international embarrassment, I would shrug my shoulders and think of all the crap other countries do that we put up with.  In just a months worth of this new term, I'm at the point where I legitimately would second guess international travel just because I'd be embarrassed to tell people where I'm from.  My friends wife spent a summer in Europe right out of college and used a backpack she got from a 2nd hand store, it had a Canadian flag on it.  There were a handful of places that she said she was treated significantly better once people saw it.  I could only imagine what it might be like now.

Also to note, years ago in Munich I stopped to watch a street performer and when he asked everyone where they were from, I was the only American and standing next to a Somalian.  He openly joked the Somalian should kill me, we all laughed.  Not sure I'd be as comfortable today.

[Tigerbomb13]

18 minutes ago, Hongbit said:

The magnitude of this statement from a sitting US President can not be understated.   A shocking turn in policy that makes very little sense domestically or globally.    

The only thing I can think of that logically explains it is that Trump really has been controlled by the Russians for all this time.  

It’s going to take a very long time to fix all the messes and our reputation around the globe just from this first month alone. 

[CMRivdogs]

21 minutes ago, Hongbit said:

The magnitude of this statement from a sitting US President can not be understated.   A shocking turn in policy that makes very little sense domestically or globally.    

The only thing I can think of that logically explains it is that Trump really has been controlled by the Russians for all this time.  

The Russians have been working on him since the mid 80s. 
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/jan/29/trump-russia-asset-claims-former-kgb-spy-new-book

 

[mtutiger]

36 minutes ago, Tiger337 said:

Sure, it's a big deal but the media is going to focus on the king comment which is going to passed off as a joke.  

This is beside the point, but aren't  jokes supposed to actually be funny?

Honest to God, I see this excuse for Trump whenever he says and does crazy **** all the time, but as a matter of comedy, in almost every case it's lame and unfunny as hell.

[Tiger337]

3 minutes ago, mtutiger said:

This is beside the point, but aren't  jokes supposed to actually be funny?

Honest to God, I see this excuse for Trump whenever he says and does crazy **** all the time, but as a matter of comedy, in almost every case it's lame and unfunny as hell.

Prsonally, I don't think he ever says anything funny, but many of his followers think he's hilarious.  .  

[mtutiger]

17 minutes ago, ewsieg said:

Even during Trumps first term when people would say we're an international embarrassment, I would shrug my shoulders and think of all the crap other countries do that we put up with.  In just a months worth of this new term, I'm at the point where I legitimately would second guess international travel just because I'd be embarrassed to tell people where I'm from.  My friends wife spent a summer in Europe right out of college and used a backpack she got from a 2nd hand store, it had a Canadian flag on it.  There were a handful of places that she said she was treated significantly better once people saw it.  I could only imagine what it might be like now.

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.

[mtutiger]

32 minutes ago, Tigerbomb13 said:

It’s going to take a very long time to fix all the messes and our reputation around the globe just from this first month alone. 

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:

Quote

"We cannot leave the security of Europe in the hands of voters in Wisconsin every 4 years"

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.

Edited February 20 by mtutiger

[CMRivdogs]

 

 

[Tigeraholic1]

Kash Patel the next FBI director! That was a huge one for me, lets go!

[oblong]

I'd be embarassed to say that.

 

[Motown Bombers]

 

[Hongbit]

34 minutes ago, Tigeraholic1 said:

Kash Patel the next FBI director! That was a huge one for me, lets go!

Yet another great win for Mother Russia, Comrade.  

[Motown Bombers]

18 minutes ago, oblong said:

I'd be embarassed to say that.

 

I’d be embarrassed if I said I was done posting here but continued to post here. 

[Edman85]

7 minutes ago, Motown Bombers said:

I’d be embarrassed if I said I was done posting here but continued to post here. 

True. I speak from my own experience 20ish years ago on this.

[mtutiger]

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.

Edited February 20 by mtutiger

[Hongbit]

There’s an old Soviet saying about using misinformation to confuse and control that is roughy translated in English as Drain The Swamp.  

[Tigeraholic1]

5 minutes ago, mtutiger said:

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.

Another department reset. Love love it. 

[Tigeraholic1]

24 minutes ago, Motown Bombers said:

I’d be embarrassed if I said I was done posting here but continued to post here. 

I stopped until Stan got triggered from Emoji's. 

[LaceyLou]

On 2/18/2025 at 5:59 PM, chasfh said:

Yeah I’ve been wondering that—how would a sovereign country with 10 different state-like provinces and three territories be subsumed as a single state into the United States? That seems like that might be the only way the red hat party would, as electoral politics are currently constructed, get a political benefit in the long term—maybe.

A country of 41 million would become the second most populous state in the union, and dividing up the presumably 540 electoral votes (that’s an extra two senators for the 51st state, everything else stays the same), that would be something on the order of 40-ish electoral votes for the state of Canada—all of them likely to go to Democrats for the foreseeable future, especially true after a forcible takeover of their country.

It would be even worse for the red hats electorally if each province came in as its own state, at least the ten current provinces. The red hats would be certain to win only Alberta and probably Saskatchewan. They probably wouldn’t even win Quebec, because all the fire-breathing political right wingers they have up there are also social liberals who hate religion, and that doesn’t comport with red hat ideology. The other seven new states would be locks for the Democrats—again, as electoral politics are currently constructed.

Which means the only way this could be a political win for red hats is to overturn the Constitution and create a new political order in which free and fair democratic elections no longer figure into the political calculus. And even though I firmly believe Canada becoming the 51st state is merely a canard to keep us all arguing amongst ourselves and stop paying attention to how they are destroying our democracy right now, I think they’re already planning for that eventuality regardless, don’t you?

I've been thinking about this for the past few days and.... I don't think T is planning on bringing in Canada as a 51st state unless/until it's established that it'll vote the way he thinks they 'should.' My spidey sense is telling me he's more likely thinking of it as becoming Lebensraum for 'real Americans' only. I have no idea how he would go about doing this, and frankly I hope I never find out.

[Tigerbomb13]

I somehow am getting alerts from Reddit’s /fednews, which I’ve been watching. It’s filled with government employees who have recently lost their jobs. I know it’s just Reddit, but I’m getting the sense in general that anger towards this administration is growing, and it’s growing fast right now. 

[Mr.TaterSalad]

I noticed we had another nearly 500 point down day with the Dow today. Another Trump slump in the market today.