Mega-Thread: Trump Focused Discussion

[Breccia]

Trump is all about the grift

Yes...but this will be a tough one.

There's going to be a ton of scrutiny. Running his own social media while running for office will be a real problem, which could be a problem later. The issue is control. If Trump doesn't have majority shares, his board can change the site rules if, for example, they fear Trump is going to say something to get them directly sued. Trump will also want that ad revenue because he's broke.

Large financial backers are not Trump's friend much, nor will they be keen to back a project they think is doomed to fail due to lawsuits, insufficient support, or Trump getting bored and just not doing it. Like he did last time.

Trump will have to grass-roots this one. In the middle of high inflaction and a supply shortage that he caused, he will need his followers to flat-out give him huge piles of money, in exchange for nothing. I suppose he could try to have his PAC own it, but spoiler alert, (a) that already bit him and (b) I think that means he'd have to give it up, you can't realistically sell your company and your employees to a PAC then buy it back, and (c) hosting a site is itself a donation. The site could be sued and shut down right during the election.

This will be a harder grift to pull off.

[jonnysensible]

https://twitter.com/MikaelThalen/sta...17501026885632

the prelaunch going well

[Edge-]

https://twitter.com/MikaelThalen/sta...17501026885632

the prelaunch going well

https://twitter.com/ThatNotoriousK/s...23918261747716

RIP in pepperoni. Looks like they took down the public link for the site now, too.

I feel compelled to re-link this - https://twitter.com/brokep/status/1348194329005875203

The pirate bay, the most censored website in the world, started by kids, run by people with problems with alcohol, drugs and money, still is up after almost 2 decades. Parlor and gab etc have all the money around but no skills or mindset. Embarrassing.

Still fuckin applicable.

[Breccia]

So expect this to be underfunded, horribly moderated, and to be DoS'd to death within 48 hours of inception.

Makes sense, you're not the only one to say that. I wonder if, the site gets hacked, Trump will change his tune about investigating foreign hacks? Or if Biden could just handwave it and say "Putin told me he didn't do it. And I believe him."

[Edge-]

horribly moderated

Apparently the rules have absolutely nothing to say about harassing others. That's all kosher.

You just can't harass or be mean to site staff, or the company itself.

And it has all kinds of other highly dubious legal bullshit in there. I don't feel bad for a second for anyone dumb enough to sign up for this shit.

[beanman12345]

https://twitter.com/ThatNotoriousK/s...23918261747716

RIP in pepperoni. Looks like they took down the public link for the site now, too.

I feel compelled to re-link this - https://twitter.com/brokep/status/1348194329005875203



Still fuckin applicable.

Trump shoulda put Barron in charge, since he's good with the cyber?

[Zan15]

Ahh, yes, Truth. Something Trump has no idea about.

Best bits of the article:

Let's take bets on that first "TRUTH" being the election was stolen from him.


o it will be Trump ranting about "the election being stolen" and game shows/reality shows, probably with Trump ranting. I guess the sub will pay for the social media platform to be free.

My bets are within the first week, it gets hacked and DDoSed.

Nah my bet is they will have to take it down in the first week in order to add automated moderation because of the sick shit that is going to be posted there under the banner of "free speech".

my bet is the lawyers for this won't last a as long. They will go through them faster then trump goes to bankruptcy on his new ventures

[Kaleredar]

Nah my bet is they will have to take it down in the first week in order to add automated moderation because of the sick shit that is going to be posted there under the banner of "free speech".

my bet is the lawyers for this won't last a as long. They will go through them faster then trump goes to bankruptcy on his new ventures

Hell, you might as well say that "Trump will go through these lawyers faster than he goes through lawyers" at this point in Trump's legal experiences.

[Benggaul]

Wednesday's report:

80,425 new cases; about 21k fewer than last last week.

Top 10:

Fuck Florida.
Texas: 5,850 new cases; 253 deaths
California: 4,743 new cases; 145 deaths
Ohio: 4,574 new cases; deaths not reported
New York: 4,452 new cases; 44 deaths
Michigan: 4,395 new cases; 78 deaths
Pennsylvania: 3,584 new cases; 134 deaths
Washington: 2,751 new cases; 49 deaths
North Carolina: 2,610 new cases; 65 deaths
Wisconsin: 2,561 new cases; 1 death

Things continue to settle down nationally including the Great Lakes and Northwest regions which were flaring up a couple weeks ago. Levels remain much higher now than they were at this point last year, though it's worth mentioning that October last year marked the beginning of the catastrophic Fall/Winter wave and we are currently still in decline. Hopefully we'll continue to see these numbers drop and then fall off a cliff as the vaccine becomes available for under 12's, but I'm still pessimistic on our chances of avoiding another wave. We'll be coming up against flu season pretty soon as well, so I guess we'll see if COVID precautions help mitigate that again this year as it did last year or if it just creates more of a strain on the healthcare system.

2,005 deaths is around 50 more than last Wednesday and brings the total to 751,811. A disappointing increase buoyed by another giant Texas total and, well, Oklahoma has been going fucking bananas the past few days with their death totals. Records for the past three days (today at 164) that have to be corrections because their cases haven't been anything to worry much about this time around. This record doubles their previous record set back in January. Someone else will have to do a deep dive on that because all of the sites I've tried to access for answers have been blocked for the EU. Either way, I'd put an asterisk next to the increase today.

Related news:

Thousands of children have suffered from a mysterious Covid-related condition

Throughout the pandemic, MIS-C has followed a predictable pattern, sending waves of children to the hospital about a month after a Covid surge. Pediatric intensive care units — which treated thousands of young patients during the late-summer delta surge — are now struggling to save the latest round of extremely sick children.

Other people have covered the other articles I had earmarked, but this one is probably depressing enough to cover it.

Stay safe, folks.

[gondrin]

Nah my bet is they will have to take it down in the first week in order to add automated moderation because of the sick shit that is going to be posted there under the banner of "free speech".

my bet is the lawyers for this won't last a as long. They will go through them faster then trump goes to bankruptcy on his new ventures

Since this will go public and have actual investors, could they pull an Apple and forcefully kick out Trump if they don't like where it is going like Apple did with Jobs?

[Azadina]

I'm actually more stunned not by them holding guns, but them listing them all.
On a christmas card.
A gun list.
A fucking list of guns on a christmas card.

It's beyond hilarious. Like they're so proud of couple cheap junk pistols and such, that they had to list them as some sort of a flex. Why be a gun nut and then cheap out with basic junk?

[Corvus]

We'll be coming up against flu season pretty soon as well, so I guess we'll see if COVID precautions help mitigate that again this year as it did last year or if it just creates more of a strain on the healthcare system.

Extremely low flu rates have been reported all around the world over the last two years so I'd say it is likely to continue. Australia has gone from 300,000 flu cases and more than 900 deaths in 2019 to just 550 cases and no deaths so far this year - and most of those cases were from international travellers given that the flu, unlike covid, has difficulty surviving in summer. Of course we are a dictatorship on par with North Korea according to some Republicans....

And on top of that, one for the 4 flu viruses (influenza B/Yamagata) may accidentally have been eradicated. There hasn't been a case of it reported anywhere in the world since April 2020.

[PhaelixWW]

Extremely low flu rates have been reported all around the world over the last two years so I'd say it is likely to continue. Australia has gone from 300,000 flu cases and more than 900 deaths in 2019 to just 550 cases and no deaths so far this year - and most of those cases were from international travellers given that the flu, unlike covid, has difficulty surviving in summer. Of course we are a dictatorship on par with North Korea according to some Republicans....

And on top of that, one for the 4 flu viruses (influenza B/Yamagata) may accidentally have been eradicated. There hasn't been a case of it reported anywhere in the world since April 2020.

There's also the sad fact that the people most at risk of dying from the flu are also the people who are most at risk from COVID, so many of the people who would likely have died this year might already be gone.

[Levelfive]

I am guessing his russian handlers are chuckling at that name.

I would be surprised if they didn't suggest it. Pravda.

[Levelfive]

This has been posted here before (it was actually written in November 2020, which makes it even more alarming), but it's worth looking at again now that we know no one is coming to save American democracy:

"2 | You’ve already lost

It’s absurd, because the whole thing seems like a clown show. Coups are supposed to be orderly, authoritarian, not this dumb shit. It honestly seems like a grift to bilk supporters out of more money. You can just roll it back, right? Right?

No. No no no. Oh God no.

The tragic thing which you do not understand — which you cannot understand — is that you’ve already lost. You cannot know exactly what — that’s the nature of chaos — but know this. You will lose more than you can bear.

We lost our children, playing at church. We lost our friends, sitting down to brunch. Muslims lost their dignity and rights. Your Republicans have set forces into play they cannot possibly understand and certainly cannot control. And they don’t even want to. To them, chaos is a ladder.

This is the point. You have taken an orderly system balancing a whole lot of chaos and fucked with it. I don’t know how it’s going to explode, but I can promise you this. It’s going to explode.

This is precisely why we have elections, and why both sides accept the results. To keep the chaos at bay. The whole point is that you have a regular, ritual fight rather than fighting all the time. Once one side breaks ritual then you’re on the way to civil war. Once you break the rules then chaos ensues. What exactly happens? I don’t know. It’s chaos.

This year America had fascism on the ballot and nonwhite people mercifully said no. The fascists, however, are now saying fuck ballots. And enough of the population is like fuck yeah!

This is a major problem, and it won’t just go away on a technicality. I’m telling you, as someone that’s been there, you’ve already lost. It doesn’t matter if you get Trump out. He and the Republican Party are destroying trust in elections in general. This is catastrophic. You have no idea.

Your media are covering this like a high school dance, but it’s not funny. See this headline in the NYTimes. It’s wildly irresponsible. All your local coverage is.
No you fools, they’re supporting a coup

Ha ha ha, they lede, who’s going to tell him? Bitch, who’s going to tell you? An illegitimate leader has got all the guns and 40% of your population is down to use them. And y’all got jokes.

What I can tell you — what anyone who’s experienced this can tell you — is that it’s going to be bad. I didn’t know that churches and hotels would blow up on Easter Sunday, but I know now. I’m trying to tell you in advance. You’ve opened up a Pandora’s box of instability. All kinds of demons come out.

I have lived through a coup. It felt like what you’re feeling now. Like watching something stupid and just waiting for it to go away. But it doesn’t go away. You can forget about it, but it doesn’t go away.

There’s a ticking bomb at the heart of your democracy now. Your government, the very idea of governance is fatally wounded. Chaos has been planted at its heart. I don’t know what this chaos will grow into, but I can promise you this. It won’t be good."

More here: https://indica.medium.com/i-lived-th...w-437934b1dac3

[solinari6]

Damn, Trump's new social site has 2 fun things snuck in their TOS:

1) You can't say anything mean about us!
2) You can't use the site for any commercial endeavor unless we OK it first

LOL

[Machismo]

Damn, Trump's new social site has 2 fun things snuck in their TOS:

1) You can't say anything mean about us!
2) You can't use the site for any commercial endeavor unless we OK it first

LOL

Ironically, that makes them considerably more restrictive than Facebook.

[Edge-]

Damn, Trump's new social site has 2 fun things snuck in their TOS:

1) You can't say anything mean about us!
2) You can't use the site for any commercial endeavor unless we OK it first

LOL

Oh, I didn't see the second one...Do they not want other grifters encroaching on their territory? Because like...who the fuck do they think is gonna use the platform, even?

[Levelfive]

Damn, Trump's new social site has 2 fun things snuck in their TOS:

1) You can't say anything mean about us!
2) You can't use the site for any commercial endeavor unless we OK it first

LOL

Trump does not like it when other people speak freely or when other people try to milk his marks. There's also this woopsie doodle:

https://talkingpointsmemo.com/muckra...e-its-built-on

"The new social network founded by former President Trump may violate the terms of use of the software on which it is based.

On Wednesday night, after Trump revealed the TRUTH social app, Twitter users began to note that the network appeared to be based on an open-source social networking software called Mastodon, which allows people to modify the underlying code so long as they abide by its license.

But the Trump network appears to have taken the publicly available code for the website while violating the terms that make it free to use.

Mastodon founder Eugen Rochko told TPM in an email that TRUTH appeared to violate the terms of use that the software sets forth: making the source code available, and having a copy of the general product license available to users.

“I do intend to seek legal counsel on the situation though,” Rochko told TPM, while declining to discuss any specific legal action he may be contemplating.

“Compliance with our AGPLv3 license is very important to me as that is the sole basis upon which I and other developers are willing to give away years of work for free,” Rochko added.

The AGPL license mandates that software developed for free — like Mastodon — remain publicly available after its been modified. Under the license, TRUTH needs to share any modifications to Mastodon’s code.

The requirement allows developers to remain aware of how the software is being used so long as its run on public servers, continuing the chain by which different open-source developers continue to work on and further modify code that’s been created.

Trump Media & Technology Group, the company backing TRUTH, did not immediately return a request for comment.

Rochko first released Mastodon in October 2016. Since then, the open-source software has been the base for a number of “forks” — when developers take open-source software and modify it. That’s led to the development of several niche social networks that abide by the terms of use that Mastodon sets forth.

Trump announced the creation of the social network on Wednesday night, heralding it as a means to “stand up to Big Tech” firms. The former president was banned from major social networking platforms after the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection.

“We live in a world where the Taliban has a huge presence on Twitter, yet your favorite American president has been silenced,” Trump said in a statement announcing the launch. “This is unacceptable.”"

[Breccia]

who the fuck do they think is gonna use the platform, even?

Violent, racist cultists planning to overthrow democracy.

And they are right.

- - - Updated - - -

China is pushing the conspiracy theory that COVID came from Maine lobsters.

To be fair, it's no less stupid than "China made it in a lab".