Mega-Thread: Trump Focused Discussion

[Skjaldborg]

We'll see how far "You wont BELIEVE what Trump said THIS WEEK!" will get them over the next four years.

Especially considering they couldn't drag it along this entire election cycle even; that's why they had to focus on "Biden, an old man, is really looking old these days" and "Harris really looked shorter and less tall than Trump on the debate stage" type nothingness.

Was watching the newest Last Week Tonight with my wife and we noted the «can you believe this kooky nonsense» tone of going over some of Trump’s possible picks for Cabinet.

We agreed that the time for that is long gone. It’s a given that the Trump admin will be some combo of unqualified, incompetent, and corrupt. We know it’d be funny to point and laugh, if their power and consequence weren’t real.

Smiling and saying «oh, you» at Trump officials cannot fly. It normalizes the lack of expertise and glossed over the damage they’ll do.

[Elenos]

All it takes is like five of the biggest pop stars to say "hey we're using Bluesky now" or somesuch and Twitter is right proper fucked. And there wont be a thing Musk can do about it. Because he has no ownership over why it was successful in the first place.

People have hoped for that with Youtube for a while now for instance, it hasn't happened. Because Youtube is where the money is unless you are a steamer, and no TikTok isn't comparable. Creators earn a lot more through YT than TikTok.

The democrat's failure was in their assumption that the American people would see through Trump's lying.

I'd argue that democrats thinking 'well if we just explain how things work they'll vote for us' is nothing short of a freaking disaster. No voter in any country gives a damn to be told those kinds of things by politicians.

Especially when the principal argument of the democrats on the economy was 'well we think it's doing great' when it sure as hell isn't doing great.

Narcissistic pricks don't usually pan out too well in history. Hell, even all of the most famous Roman generals and leaders are the ones who got their asses stabbed to death.

Something, something, Ozymandias.

Everyone dies, but we still remember the name of Caesar and what he did, heck him being murdered wasn't some great achievement.

[Kaleredar]

You mentioned a whole bunch of things that clearly don't matter to one of the world's richest men.

he doesn't care about having a public service, he also doesn't care about operating revenue.

That's the whole point of my post.

X is still by far the largest platform of it's type. It still is where any business worth it's weight keeps its interactions with its customers. It still carries a massive amount of weight in terms of even the scientific community. It literally affects the world massively and Elon is getting out of it exactly what he wants.

To call his takeover anything but a resounding success is just living in your own bubble.

Musk is no different than any of the other kleptocrat tycoons of the early 1900s who fancied themselves kingmakers who bought out newspapers to peddle their yellow journalism in.

How many of them do we remember today? How many of them do we remember fondly?

They aren't remembered particularly well these days. The ones that faired the best set up some sort of charity legacy to live on after them, usually dedicated to the arts or sciences. And seeing as Musk's chosen association is with Trump, a man known for stealing from charities... I don't know how well that legacy will fare.


Hell, "Elon Musk-type" is already a villain trope these days: a self-important loudmouth who acts smarter than he is thinking he's concocted some Machiavellian scheme who pans out to be a clearly incompetent buffoon by the end of the film/show/whatever. We already got that with Glass Onion. I look forward to the further Citizen Kane-esque lampooning of Musk in subsequent years.

[fwc577]

X is still by far the largest platform of it's type.

No it's not. Unless you mean largest platform of it's type called X.

[Kaleredar]

People have hoped for that with Youtube for a while now for instance, it hasn't happened. Because Youtube is where the money is unless you are a steamer, and no TikTok isn't comparable. Creators earn a lot more through YT than TikTok.

Youtube didn't poison its own well by selling out to neonazis and dipshit conspiracy theorists.

Hell one of the biggest criticisms of youtube is that it is too "corporate safe space," especially when it comes to fair use and commercialization. Whatever the hell Musk is doing sure as shit isn't that.

If you should have learned anything about the tech sector it's that these companies come and go.

Back in the 90s you'd be extolling the immutability of AOL and Netscape. In the early 2000s it'd be Myspace and MSN or some shit. "Nobody would go anywhere but Myspace, that's where everyone is!" Yeah, until they weren't.

I'd argue that democrats thinking 'well if we just explain how things work they'll vote for us' is nothing short of a freaking disaster. No voter in any country gives a damn to be told those kinds of things by politicians.

Especially when the principal argument of the democrats on the economy was 'well we think it's doing great' when it sure as hell isn't doing great.

You're right. The democrats needed to say "Trump is a fucking liar whose lying to your fucking face, every idea he has is terrible. Whatever fancy dream you have, Trump will not give it to you. Why? You don't need any reason other than that he's a con-man liar" and hit that message on the head for the entire election cycle.

The media needed to say "Trump says X, Y and Z, we've found all of these things to be false" instead of saying "darn Biden looks old these days, doesn't he? He's rambling incoherently just like Trump does, we don't want Biden doing that!"


People will be realizing that soon enough, it's only a matter of how long it takes Trump to burn through Biden's good economy. Just like in 2020. Hopefully it's quickly so that in 2026 congress can shift back to the democrats to run damage control on the last pathetic gasping years of the Trump presidency as best as possible.

But that's the cycle. Republicans fuck the country up, democrats have to fix it and get it on an even keel, Republicans prey on people's petty concerns about trivial nonsense and blame the democrats for not fixing things fast enough and weedle themselves back into power. Then the republicans fuck it up, double down on blaming some minority or some garbage and people become sick of their excuses, and people put the democrats back in power. Round and round it goes.

It's really tiring that the adults only get to lead the country some of the time.

[Azadina]

Investors backed him for a return on their investment, lol. They're stupid as shit for it, but there's a reason he didn't foot the entire price himself by liquidating his Tesla stock and tanking the shares.

He needs that stock to keep going to the moon so he can buy Iceland.

I want to go on a vacation in Iceland one of these years, so please god no. Don't let Elon the manchild twitterify Iceland.

[Huehuecoyotl]

This DOGE plan is so dangerous precisely because it's Musk. He's Dunning Kruger made flesh, and he'll potentially do what he did with Twitter, which is tearing things down with no clue about how they work (or why they are needed). If they follow through with their plans to effectively slash government spending to combat "waste", deporting immigrants and introducing tariffs, then the US is going to be heading VERY quickly into a massive recession, or possibly into a depression.

I guess this is what happens when you elect someone that's owned by a foreign power, who then puts power in the hands of someone born in another country. Neither of them care how much damage they do to the US; they'll never feel any of the consequences.

We're about to see if any of the remaining Republicans have spines, or if they are MAGA all the way through. Because nobody with a brain that genuinely cares for the country is going to let them do this.

[PhaelixWW]

This DOGE plan is so dangerous precisely because it's Musk. He's Dunning Kruger made flesh, and he'll potentially do what he did with Twitter, which is tearing things down with no clue about how they work (or why they are needed). If they follow through with their plans to effectively slash government spending to combat "waste", deporting immigrants and introducing tariffs, then the US is going to be heading VERY quickly into a massive recession, or possibly into a depression.

FWIW, Dunning-Kruger doesn't take into account the amplifying effect of having that much money, which makes it sooooo much worse.

I guess this is what happens when you elect someone that's owned by a foreign power, who then puts power in the hands of someone born in another country. Neither of them care how much damage they do to the US; they'll never feel any of the consequences.

Both of whom are billionaires who can't even see the bottom of the economic pyramid, let alone fathom the necessity of its stability.

We're about to see if any of the remaining Republicans have spines, or if they are MAGA all the way through. Because nobody with a brain that genuinely cares for the country is going to let them do this.

The good(ish) news is that a fair number of the politicians are more greedy than stupid; it'll be watching-a-train-wreck "interesting" to witness them fight each other over this.

That being said, we're all likely to lose because of it, so there's bound to be significantly more schaden than freude.

[En Sabah Nur]

He didn't do it for the money.

lol yeah, that's true. Ignoring that he basically backed himself into a corner with his meme price, he bought it because it was "too political" and he wanted to do something about the bots.

Look how that turned out...

- - - Updated - - -

Trump announces reparations for white people. He says he will ask the Justice Department to penalize colleges that consider diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) and fine them so he can pay “restitution” to white people who he considers the real victims of racial discrimination.

This fucking guy.

[PhaelixWW]

lThis fucking guy.

History will not be kind.

Is it sad that I had to check to see if that video was a deepfake because it seemed so blatantly bonkers?

[En Sabah Nur]

History will not be kind.

Is it sad that I had to check to see if that video was a deepfake because it seemed so blatantly bonkers?

Not sad at all. I did the same lol

Also just seen he's put a Fox presenter up for SecDef and the mind can only boggle so much. Sure, he has a history of service. But then you actually read some of the shit he's said, and you realise all that shit is actually why he got Trump's nod.

[Gabriel]

Anything is fixable, as long as legitimate elections continue.

You are the most optimistic person I've ever seen.

[PhaelixWW]

You are the most optimistic person I've ever seen.

Nah, I didn't say how long it would take.

The point of no return is the end of legitimate elections.

[Poopymonster]

I'm less optimistic. I don't think there will be fixing this. Unless we are insanely lucky and Trump 2's Congress is as incompetent as Trump 1's was, they are going to destroy what we think of as America.

People really, *really* just did not and still probably don't grasp how fucking dangerous this is. This isn't going to be a clown show like Trump 1 was.

They do grasp how dangerous it is.
They want it that way.
They WANT it to be dangerous to be gay. They want it dangerous to be trans. They want it dangerous to be a person of color. They want it dangerous to be a non-Christian. They want it dangerous to be a liberal.
After all, that leopard would never eat their face.
Remember, that'd be hurting the wrong people.

- - - Updated - - -

From what I read, his Tariffs are estimated to fixable but under ideal situations its estimated to take 15 years just to clean it up. Not even to improve things, just to get back to here.

So, while things will likely be fixable, overall not withing most of our life times unless you are pretty young and even then not entirely likely.

Unless he destabilizes us to the point we are dumped as the worlds reserve currency, then we are fucked in a way that we will never recover from. Whatever becomes the new standard after that would have to destabilize just as bad or a lot longer to make them think of dumping them at which point we would still be the last on that list of new candidates. And all the influence and stability that reserve currency has given us will be gone forever.

Honestly been looking at banks that handle international banking so I can hopefully get out of here when my dad no longer needs me just so I don't have to deal with the mess and the stupidity anymore. The biggest issue I have is, even near Fort Liberty, any good international banking institution largely isn't around here except Navy Federal and they offer dog shit interest rates at best.

Planning on going for a passport book in the future too when I get time. Figure they are valid for 10 years so good chance I will be able to at least visit places to see before then.

Of course they're flexible. Sucka da cock, tariff go byebye. Rent a full 4 years at an Trump branded establishment/hotel/country club, tariffs go byebye.
See? he's very flexible for someone of his girth.

[Kathranis]

Facts are stubborn things or as Chernobyl put it "Every lie incurs a debt to the truth, sooner or later that debt is paid." Make no mistake this will apply to Trump too, heck it already did back in 2020.

Trump is pushing 80 and hell isn't real.

He'll spend what's left of his life enriching himself and his sycophants while they try to tear down what remains of our democratic institutions as we slide further towards fascism. If there's any saving grace here, it's that meritocracy is a lie and Trump has surrounded himself with idiots whose ambitions will hopefully be undone by their own incompetence. Things are still going to get worse before they get better; this administration will cause generational harm.

[Elenos]

Trump is pushing 80 and hell isn't real.

I'm sure Trump would agree with on that sentiment. If he did believe in an afterlife he wouldn't have broken almost every commandment!

For people like Trump the legacy they leave behind is what is important, people like Trump want their names remembered thousands of years from now, but I doubt the way people remember Trump will be good.

[Shadowferal]

Trump’s defense choice stuns the Pentagon and raises questions about the Fox News host’s experience

President-elect Donald Trump stunned the Pentagon and the broader defense world by nominating Fox News host Pete Hegseth to serve as his defense secretary, tapping someone largely inexperienced and untested on the global stage to take over the world’s largest and most powerful military.

The news was met with bewilderment and worry among many in Washington as Trump passed on a number of established national security heavy-hitters and chose an Army National Guard captain well known in conservative circles as a co-host of Fox News Channel’s “Fox & Friends Weekend.”

While some Republican lawmakers had a muted response to the announcement, others called his combat experience an asset or said he was “tremendously capable.”

Hegseth’s choice could bring sweeping changes to the military. He has made it clear on his show and in interviews that, like Trump, he is opposed to “woke” programs that promote equity and inclusion. He also has questioned the role of women in combat and advocated pardoning service members charged with war crimes.

No surprise here...

[Corvus]

Trump's plans for the military go beyond a choice for SecDef without experience - the WSJ is reporting that an executive order has been drafted to purge the armed forces. An 'independent' board will review generals and those deemed 'lacking in prerequisite leadership qualities - ie, they are 'woke' - will be fired. Top of the list is the current Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, who so happens to be African-American.

Given past comments about lack of loyalty by 'his' generals, this could very well be an actual purge of those whose loyalty is to the constitution and not the orange Hitler, to be replaced by sycophants and yes men. Armies led by them do very badly, but Trump wants them so they will shoot at BLM protestors and bomb Mexico, like he wanted to do last time around.

[PhaelixWW]

Trump's plans for the military go beyond a choice for SecDef without experience - the WSJ is reporting that an executive order has been drafted to purge the armed forces. An 'independent' board will review generals and those deemed 'lacking in prerequisite leadership qualities - ie, they are 'woke' - will be fired. Top of the list is the current Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, who so happens to be African-American.

Given past comments about lack of loyalty by 'his' generals, this could very well be an actual purge of those whose loyalty is to the constitution and not the orange Hitler, to be replaced by sycophants and yes men. Armies led by them do very badly, but Trump wants them so they will shoot at BLM protestors and bomb Mexico, like he wanted to do last time around.

Somewhere, Kokolums is getting excited.

[Belize]

Nah, I didn't say how long it would take.

The point of no return is the end of legitimate elections.

Arguably, some elbow grease and a few cocktails would eventually solve that problem too