Trumps Presidency 2025

[romad1]

so, I was forced by a family function to be near my Trumpie brother.  He started to engage me about how sad the Charlie Kirk death was and I shared my son's joke:  "well at least he died doing what he loved, instigating campus shootings."

[gehringer_2]

1 hour ago, Tigermojo said:

I was browsing the conservatives sub on Reddit and a lot of the comments are almost exactly what we comment here. Change a couple words and it could be a discussion here. Does that mean we're not that far apart? Does that mean we're all being manipulated and pitted against each other?

there is often an appearance of agreement on objectives, but the disagreement about what is true - or alternatively - who can be believed,  is pretty deep and I don't know how you paper that over easily. When the traditional cultural sources of credible knowledge (e.g. news networks and newspapers that reported straight and that everyone trusted) began to fail in the digital age, I had thought it wouldn't take that long for new trusted, authoritative sources to emerge. Man - was I wrong about that. I don't see any sign at all that any person, place, or thing is emerging to fill the chasm in the US market for trustworthy news. And of course that may be because neither side cares if one does. In the US we can usually get anything we are willing to pay for.

[mtutiger]

11 minutes ago, gehringer_2 said:

there is often an appearance of agreement on objectives, but the disagreement about what is true - or alternatively - who can be believed,  is pretty deep and I don't know how you paper that over easily. When the traditional cultural sources of credible knowledge (e.g. news networks and newspapers that reported straight and that everyone trusted) began to fail in the digital age, I had thought it wouldn't take that long for new trusted, authoritative sources to emerge. Man - was I wrong about that. I don't see any sign at all that any person, place, or thing is emerging to fill the chasm in the US market for trustworthy news. And of course that may be because neither side cares if one does. In the US we can usually get anything we are willing to pay for.

The credible news angle is only part of the issue - the other part is that people find themselves seeking out "news" that confirms their worldview. And in a world where "news" isn't he the basic reporting of facts, it's a commodity that is marketed to people based on what they want. Which ultimately leads to the destruction of any shared truths.

As much as we blame the news media, and boy oh boy do they deserve it a lot of the time, especially in a capitalist system, they are just giving the people what they want. We collectively deserve blame for that.

Edited Saturday at 10:25 PM by mtutiger

[mtutiger]

"Pro Life"

[gehringer_2]

27 minutes ago, mtutiger said:

The credible news angle is only part of the issue - the other part is that people find themselves seeking out "news" that confirms their worldview. And in a world where "news" isn't he the basic reporting of facts, it's a commodity that is marketed to people based on what they want. Which ultimately leads to the destruction of any shared truths.

As much as we blame the news media, and boy oh boy do they deserve it a lot of the time, especially in a capitalist system, they are just giving the people what they want. We collectively deserve blame.

This is true. Maybe is was never all it was cracked up to be, but originally you had to pledge to operate in the public interest to get an FCC license to operate a broadcast radio or later, TV transmitter. And there was a certain level of noblesse oblige that remained at work pretty much right up to the birth of cable. I think 20/20 hindsight tells us the the Reagan admin's and general GOP resistance to bringing cable TV under the jurisdiction of the FCC was the original sin for a lot of what is wrong the US media today. Because if cable had been brought under the FCC with a public service mandate, the precedent would have been set for the internet to have been as well.

If there is one thing I really despair about it is that American voters don't understand that rules matter. They're always looking for the result in relative ignorance that it's the rules that produce the results. But of course rules debates generally don't work as soundbites.

Edited Saturday at 10:52 PM by gehringer_2

[Mr.TaterSalad]

19 hours ago, pfife said:

I remember when Lolic said Doge was gonna be the best thing trump does.

 

Thanks Slump, Lolic, and Archief

From the oh no **** desk:

 

Exclusive: Musk got DOGE's mission "backward," Lutnick says

Elon Musk got DOGE wrong by focusing on firing people instead of on slashing government waste, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick tells Mike Allen in the premiere episode of "The Axios Show."

 

To the extent DOGE keeps functioning, Lutnick said, its cuts will be aimed at costs, not headcount.

https://www.axios.com/2025/09/12/doge-elon-musk-howard-lutnick

 

Code word, we can't do anything or run government departments because DOGE fired too many people. Oooopppsss!

[chasfh]

3 hours ago, gehringer_2 said:

there is often an appearance of agreement on objectives, but the disagreement about what is true - or alternatively - who can be believed,  is pretty deep and I don't know how you paper that over easily. When the traditional cultural sources of credible knowledge (e.g. news networks and newspapers that reported straight and that everyone trusted) began to fail in the digital age, I had thought it wouldn't take that long for new trusted, authoritative sources to emerge. Man - was I wrong about that. I don't see any sign at all that any person, place, or thing is emerging to fill the chasm in the US market for trustworthy news. And of course that may be because neither side cares if one does. In the US we can usually get anything we are willing to pay for.

Mainstream media is as trustworthy as news as it's ever been. It's simply that the landscape has shifted underneath it.

[chasfh]

3 hours ago, mtutiger said:

"Pro Life"

Babies are innocent. Once they grow past the baby stage they are guilty as hell.

[mtutiger]

16 minutes ago, chasfh said:

Babies are innocent. Once they grow past the baby stage they are guilty as hell.

It's a very small detail from the week that was which been overlooked, but the way that Steven Crowder moved quickly to rebrand as the "#1 Conservative Daily Show" after Charlie Kirk was murdered kinda says a lot about the culture of life on that side, doesn't it?

Edited Sunday at 02:30 AM by mtutiger

[CMRivdogs]

 

[mtutiger]

42 minutes ago, CMRivdogs said:

 

This is what happens when you outsource everything to AI....

[gehringer_2]

4 hours ago, chasfh said:

Mainstream media is as trustworthy as news as it's ever been. It's simply that the landscape has shifted underneath it.

Even if I grant that as true, and I’d have to think about 🤔, it still doesn’t enjoy the kind of validation across the body politic needed to persuade both sides to accept the same reported facts. 

[chasfh]

5 hours ago, gehringer_2 said:

Even if I grant that as true, and I’d have to think about 🤔, it still doesn’t enjoy the kind of validation across the body politic needed to persuade both sides to accept the same reported facts. 

If you think no one in the mainstream media has any journalism ethics anymore—either because the RWM tells you repeatedly this is so, or because the NYTimes allows the occasional conservative op-ed, or because you sense the scales have fallen from your eyes—then might as well just give up already.

Although I will grant you that CBS is basically gone as it’s being gutted from within after money and pressure from without.

[CMRivdogs]

Sounds like something out of a Mel Brooks movie 

 

[Tigerbomb13]

2 hours ago, CMRivdogs said:

Sounds like something out of a Mel Brooks movie 

 

Pure incompetence 

[Dan Gilmore]

FBI DEI hires: Dumb, Egotistical, Incompetent 

[smr-nj]

It’s funny. I needed a chuckle.

[chasfh]

5 hours ago, CMRivdogs said:

Sounds like something out of a Mel Brooks movie 

 

50/50 they knew it was gonna happen and did it on purpose 

[Mr.TaterSalad]

You got that right!

 

[chasfh]

6 minutes ago, Mr.TaterSalad said:

You got that right!

 

Total catnip for the red hats.

[Dan Gilmore]

And the logical other shoe dropping…if you like him, you aren’t smart. But yeah, that won’t sink in to them.

[Motown Bombers]

Thread

 

[smr-nj]

But I’m sure ICE hires only the best people! The smartest!  they’re not in it for the bonus money! They’re Patriots doing their patriotic duty joining ICE, and they’re always educated! They know all about things!

Come on.

Just like their fearless leader, the orange menace….. Stupidity is preferred. Ignorance is preferred. Cruelty is the point.
Who can be surprised by any of this? Absolutely no one.

[LaceyLou]

7 hours ago, CMRivdogs said:

Sounds like something out of a Mel Brooks movie 

 

This is heartbreaking. It's also infuriating in that the shelter has to ask for donations from the public for basic supplies. Shouldn't whoever caused them to be exposed to the meth be providing these things??

I suspect there will be no consequences for anybody except the victims. 

[CMRivdogs]

2 hours ago, Mr.TaterSalad said:

You got that right!

 

 And he's not crazy about smart people.