Trumps Presidency 2025

[Tiger337]

Just now, mtutiger said:

My point still stands. He's widely despised in the broader public, and The Big Club that you speak of, the guys like Bezos and Cook and Musk, would all prefer that he weren't

I don't think they care that much.  They will still drive policy in the United States and make billions one way of the other once he is gone.  They always do.  I think he is probably easier for them to manipulate, but they can still get what they want.  

[mtutiger]

1 minute ago, Tiger337 said:

I don't think they care that much.  They will still drive policy in the United States and make billions one way of the other once he is gone.  They always do.  I think he is probably easier for them to manipulate, but they can still get what they want.  

Sure, they'd still be heavy hitters under another administration (at least Amazon and Apple anyway)... but that doesn't mean they don't have a *clear* preference. They clearly do, and they clearly do *care* about it given all the money they have spent on this administration.

Your eyes and ears tell you something different perhaps, but I saw Tim Apple go into the The White House and give him that stupid plaque with a 24 karat gold base to appeal to his vanity and ego. And to get policy concessions they wanted. 

So again, my point stands.

[Tiger337]

2 minutes ago, mtutiger said:

Sure, they'd still be heavy hitters under another administration (at least Amazon and Apple anyway)... but that doesn't mean they don't have a *clear* preference. They clearly do, and they clearly do *care* about it given all the money they have spent on this administration.

Your eyes and ears tell you something different perhaps, but I saw Tim Apple go into the The White House and give him that stupid plaque with a 24 karat gold base to appeal to his vanity and ego. And to get policy concessions they wanted. 

So again, my point stands.

Yes, he is easy to manipulate, but I think they really would like him to shut the **** up, so they can perform their corruption quietly.  

[mtutiger]

5 minutes ago, Tiger337 said:

Yes, he is easy to manipulate, but I think they really would like him to shut the **** up, so they can perform their corruption quietly.  

They know who this guy is and how he's always been. They are in bed with him because they like him, warts and all.

[CMRivdogs]

I think you can see it in the redistricting talk. Not necessarily about Trump pet say (though he's the guy pushing the narrative) but in the "conversation" about what's happening.

To Virginia Republicans it's a power grab by Spanberger and the Democrats. And if you dare to mention what happened in Texas or what's happening in Florida they'll come up with some mambo  pambo that "justifies" it. 

[CMRivdogs]

Something good came out of Saturday Night

 

[CMRivdogs]

Yep, and all his flying monkey supporters too

 

Edited 56 minutes ago by CMRivdogs

[chasfh]

3 hours ago, mtutiger said:

Your point is... what exactly?

Ridiculing these guys as a bunch of weirdos isn't a downplay of a threat that they present. But they're also deeply despised right now in the broader culture, much more than they were in November 2024. And they oughtta be treated accordingly.

I disagree that ridiculing the Trump cabal as a bunch of weirdos isn't downplaying the threat, and the same goes for ridiculing them as stupid and incompetent. They are all those things, yes it's true, but to focus on the stupidity and incompetence and weirdness takes the pressure off their evil and, as importantly, leads us to forget that their hands are on the levers of more lethal power than any other ruling body in the history of the world. This thinking leads us into the false sense of security that they are too stupid and incompetent to control the world for even a second, and then we assume it will be their stupidity and incompetence that will bring them down, and so all we have to do is play the waiting game, which most D-leaning people believe will be this November.

There is a valid historical parallel because the Nazis seemed so weird when they themselves started out, so nobody took them seriously, until all of a sudden, everyone had to. I'm sure practically everyone agrees that Trump aspires to absolute power, but if you think he wouldn't want to wield it in the way Hitler did, with the power of life and death over an entire population, then you haven't been paying attention to the effusive praise Trump unabashedly heaps on Kim Jong Un for the way he has an entire nation at his beck and call, maintained through his own Hitlerian tactics.

I am all for making fun of this regime's stupidity and incompetence and weirdness. It's a great release valve during arguably the most stressful and uncertain time of our lives. What I am not for at all is sitting back and believing it is their very stupidity and incompetence and weirdness that must inevitably bring them down all on their own, and that we need do nothing more than wait them out.

[mtutiger]

29 minutes ago, chasfh said:

I disagree that ridiculing the Trump cabal as a bunch of weirdos isn't downplaying the threat, and the same goes for ridiculing them as stupid and incompetent. They are all those things, yes it's true, but to focus on the stupidity and incompetence and weirdness takes the pressure off their evil and, as importantly, leads us to forget that their hands are on the levers of more lethal power than any other ruling body in the history of the world. This thinking leads us into the false sense of security that they are too stupid and incompetent to control the world for even a second, and then we assume it will be their stupidity and incompetence that will bring them down, and so all we have to do is play the waiting game, which most D-leaning people believe will be this November.

There is a valid historical parallel because the Nazis seemed so weird when they themselves started out, so nobody took them seriously, until all of a sudden, everyone had to. I'm sure practically everyone agrees that Trump aspires to absolute power, but if you think he wouldn't want to wield it in the way Hitler did, with the power of life and death over an entire population, then you haven't been paying attention to the effusive praise Trump unabashedly heaps on Kim Jong Un for the way he has an entire nation at his beck and call, maintained through his own Hitlerian tactics.

I am all for making fun of this regime's stupidity and incompetence and weirdness. It's a great release valve during arguably the most stressful and uncertain time of our lives. What I am not for at all is sitting back and believing it is their very stupidity and incompetence and weirdness that must inevitably bring them down all on their own, and that we need do nothing more than wait them out.

To be clear, I understand the risk that this administration has posed and continues to pose on the public. And certainly that requires vigilance going forward. But I think you mischaracterize my position... I don't think we should "wait these guys out", people absolutely should do what they can to donate to candidates or to attend protests or do whatever they think moves the ball down the field.

But I am going to continue to call things like I see them. And they are incompetent and they are weird, they are wildly out of touch with the median American with regards to things that they are most concerned about (cost of living; if anything, because of the war and tariffs, he proudly advertises making things even more expensive for everyone). Through their terror campaign up in the Twin Cities (which the people of the Twin Cities *won* in the end BTW), they have managed to burn bridges with the types of voters who helped him win in 2024 (ie. Hispanics / young voters). The President himself looks old and senile, increasingly does not command the sort of stature or the ability to command events or public opinion that he did earlier in his career. And the President, for his part, is now getting poll numbers that are approaching Bush Iraq levels.

I don't think that acknowledging these realities automatically means you don't consider the administration dangerous. That's where you and I differ IMO.

Edited 17 minutes ago by mtutiger

[chasfh]

3 hours ago, Tiger337 said:

What they don't want is for everybody to start pointing fingers at them instead.  

They don't have to worry about people pointing fingers at them, because neutering the effectiveness of doing so is what the preemptive projection they constantly engage in is all about.

There are countless examples, but here's a low-hanging one: without evidence (as usual), Trump accused Democrats of stealing the 2020 election on Election night itself, even before all the votes had been counted. Then, over the next two months, the Trump cabal laid the groundwork to steal the 2020 election, culminating with the January 6 raid, which was completely botched, so it didn't actually work that time. But it wasn't a total loss, because afterwards, anytime anyone accused Trump of trying to steal the 2020 election, it looked like a mere back-and-forth accusation without any teeth. Trump accused the Democrats first of stealing the election, then the Democrats accused Trump of trying the steal the election, then back and forth, back and forth, difference of opinion, tomato tomahto. That's how it's played out, and that's one of the reasons there's no consensus on the 2020 Election Theft issue, obvious though it all was.

That's the genius of the whole projection scheme, and no, it has nothing to do with Trump being an evil genius or some such rot, because he didn't come up with the idea. It's been in the Russian playbook for centuries. The reason it's been working so well in a sophisticated, reasonably well-educated, multicultural society such as ours is that we weren't used to it. But we're starting to get used to it, and in a hurry. Now we have to figure out how to fight it, and win.