Mega-Thread: Trump Focused Discussion

[PhaelixWW]

Wait, the leopards weren't supposed to eat MY face

Am I the only one who mentally hears a Wilhelm scream whenever I see a reference to face-eating leopards?

Then again, I feel like alligators and leopards inhabit the same sort of Hollywood predator niche, so I guess it makes at least some sense.

[Edge-]

Steelworkers Feel 'Gut Punch' as Trump Plans to Block Takeover

https://www.newsweek.com/pennsylvani...merger-1995300

I mean...it's likely a Democratic administration would as well. It's in review now. US Steel has national security value to it even if it's apparently a financial mess. Also while I'm not gonna click, I'm skeptical of most of Newsweek's reporting nowadays given that they're a garbage-tier content farm more often than they produce anything actually worth reading.

[NED funded]

I mean...it's likely a Democratic administration would as well. It's in review now. US Steel has national security value to it even if it's apparently a financial mess. Also while I'm not gonna click, I'm skeptical of most of Newsweek's reporting nowadays given that they're a garbage-tier content farm more often than they produce anything actually worth reading.

Yeah Biden blocked it as well. Not surprising. I am just happy that shit show will unfold on Trumps presidency.

[D Luniz]

Am I the only one who mentally hears a Wilhelm scream whenever I see a reference to face-eating leopards?

Then again, I feel like alligators and leopards inhabit the same sort of Hollywood predator niche, so I guess it makes at least some sense.

I just hear that stock jaguar growl

[Drutt]

Am I the only one who mentally hears a Wilhelm scream whenever I see a reference to face-eating leopards?

I wasn't hearing it before, but I sure am now.

[PhaelixWW]

I wasn't hearing it before, but I sure am now.

I'm sorry. You're welcome.

You take your pick.

[Rasulis]

Another face-eating leopard story.

Hegseth and Collins’ push for cutting veterans’ health benefits alarms service members and veterans groups

The demographic overwhelmingly voted for Trump.

“Your version of choice would cost billions more per year, bankrupting the system,” Shulkin recalls telling Hegseth in his memoir. “How can we responsibly pursue this? Unfortunately, he didn’t want to engage at the level of budget and other aspects of day-to-day reality. He seemed to prefer his sound bites on television.”

He should take a lesson from what's going on with Medicare Advantage. Privatizing is not always the right answer. Private insurance companies are more than happy to take the government money and cover the cheap treatments. However, when it comes to the expensive critical treatment, they tend to balk. Many seniors, as they get older and require more expensive care and treatment, ended up having to go back to conventional Medicare. The insurance companies received all the money during the healthy years, and the taxpayers ended up picking up the tab for the expensive end life care and treatment.

[Endus]

He should take a lesson from what's going on with Medicare Advantage. Privatizing is not always the right answer. Private insurance companies are more than happy to take the government money and cover the cheap treatments. However, when it comes to the expensive critical treatment, they tend to balk. Many seniors, as they get older and require more expensive care and treatment, ended up having to go back to conventional Medicare. The insurance companies received all the money during the healthy years, and the taxpayers ended up picking up the tab for the expensive end life care and treatment.

I know Hegseth and just right-wingers in general won't hear this, but private budgeting is almost always more expensive overall. The only way you get lower private budgets is by private agencies cutting corners that governments wouldn't, because they're unethical to cut.

Otherwise, take any private budget, and you'll have a certain amount of profit being taken off the top. Cut that profit section out, and bam. Public budget. Always lower. Only gonna be larger if you need to increase things like wages to standard government levels, which means the private group was underpaying to begin with; there's the lack of ethics.

And if your position is really "we can be more unethical AND pad our pockets in the process!", your malice is clear. You're trying to do a bad job so you can steal as much of the funding for yourself as possible. How is that a reasonable basis for anything?

[Rasulis]

I know Hegseth and just right-wingers in general won't hear this, but private budgeting is almost always more expensive overall. The only way you get lower private budgets is by private agencies cutting corners that governments wouldn't, because they're unethical to cut.

Otherwise, take any private budget, and you'll have a certain amount of profit being taken off the top. Cut that profit section out, and bam. Public budget. Always lower. Only gonna be larger if you need to increase things like wages to standard government levels, which means the private group was underpaying to begin with; there's the lack of ethics.

And if your position is really "we can be more unethical AND pad our pockets in the process!", your malice is clear. You're trying to do a bad job so you can steal as much of the funding for yourself as possible. How is that a reasonable basis for anything?

No argument from me. I don't want my healthcare to be decided by a bunch of bean counters.

Patients Who Leave Private Medicare Insurers for Government Coverage Are Costlier Than Most, Study Finds

Overall, the patients fleeing private insurance plans cost 27% more in 2022 than traditional Medicare beneficiaries who hadn’t been enrolled in the so-called Medicare Advantage plans, where the government contracts with insurers to oversee care for seniors and disabled people.

A third of the extra spending came from costly nursing home bills, a type of service a recent U.S. Senate investigation found private insurers deny at unusually high rates, the KFF authors noted.

The KFF findings corroborate those of a Wall Street Journal investigation published in November. The Journal’s investigation found Medicare Advantage patients near the end of life left their plans at double the rate of other members, and cost more than twice as much as comparable traditional Medicare members. The dropouts were five times as likely to use often-denied nursing home services within a week of shifting to traditional Medicare compared with other similar members.

Overall, the private plan dropouts cost the traditional Medicare program an average of nearly $2,600 per member more in 2022 than people who hadn’t previously been enrolled with Medicare Advantage insurers, even after adjusting for differences in their health status.

Even the hospitals and doctors are not happy. Both with the reimbursement and the increased red tape. Our doctors are ecstatic that my wife is on traditional Medicare with Medigap F. The paperwork required for our visits are minimal compared to those on Medicare Advantage.

15 U.S. Hospitals, Health Systems Dropping Medicare Advantage In 2024
Excessive prior authorization denial rates, slow payments from health insurers among the reasons.

Anybody here know of any stories of successful privatization of government services? As far as I am aware, most, if not all, of them ended up pretty disastrous. Great Britain sewage pollution disaster due to Thatcher privatization of England water service should be an object lesson for everyone who want to privatize government services.

[Gorsameth]

Your telling me that the people who flee private health insurance who deny them coverage for government plans who actually cover procedures are more likely to be in need of healthcare?

I am shocked, shocked I tell you...

Healthy people are not 'fleeing' their insurance company because they aren't interacting with their insurance company. They don't have to, they are healthy...

[Edge-]

Another face-eating leopard story.

Hegseth and Collins’ push for cutting veterans’ health benefits alarms service members and veterans groups

Did Pete tell his mom he wanted to do this? I know she's been lobbying on his behalf aggressively, as any good mother of an alcoholic who isn't dealing with his alcoholism would do.

[Nymrohd]

Anybody here know of any stories of successful privatization of government services?

Services markets where the profit motive comes in direct opposition to the intent of the service can by default never be privatized successfully. Maybe in the short term privatization of extremely corrupt public services in former soviet states might have had a positive effect but never on the long term. Really, they almost always end up subsidized by the state to force them to "incentivize" offering services that do not really make an economic sense but absolutely are required socially.
Now privatization of government monopolies can work; Sugar was a government monopoly forever here and prices dropped when the market was opened with no loss of quality that I can remember. Allowing private business to operate in a place when only government monopolies were once allowed has worked for former socialist governments transitioning to social democracies but that is a very different form of privatization (though it's still a privatization). Voucher privatization also worked on the short term for them?

The only point of a privatization for a developed country is when the government is indebted and cannot support that service any longer and even then it should never be sold but rather leased for a fixed term.

[En Sabah Nur]

Little bit of Twitter spam.

Trump says he plans to deport every single undocumented immigrant

Trump declines to guarantee that his tariffs won’t spike inflation

Trump’s evidence for his lie that migrant gangs are taking over parts of Colorado is that he says it all the time at his rallies

Trump confirms that he plans to deport US citizens who have undocumented parents

Trump says he plans to end birthright citizenship

Trump says he’s open to repealing the ACA

“We have concepts of a plan” — Trump on his healthcare plan

Trump says he doesn’t plan to appoint a special prosecutor to investigate Biden but leaves the door open to changing his mind

I know not everyone wants to actually click on Twitter links, but I don't think you need to in order to get what each link is about.

Pretty much "pick your poison" kinda things here. Does anyone actually believe Trump (or his admin) won't try and go for Biden? Hunter has been pardoned and there are republicans in power that think their investigation should carry on, for instance. Or how about deporting citizens with undocumented parents? lol

Honestly, all I can think is "good luck, dude." Especially on the "deport every single undocumented immigrant" bit.

[Breccia]

Honestly, all I can think is "good luck, dude."

He needs more than luck.

All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.

That's the 14th Amendment. Removing that will take more than a Sharpee.

I don't think the GOP have a thick enough lead in the House/Senate to repeal the ACA. It won't take too many of them to get jitters and realize "oh right, my voters sometimes get sick". But sure, go ahead, best case you fail and look like schmucks, worse case you succeed, directly leading to an increase in death count of your own Trump supporting voters and giving them a reason to evict you.

And did anyone really think Trump had evidence of his claims? Not even his ardent supporters even bother.

[En Sabah Nur]

He needs more than luck.
That's the 14th Amendment. Removing that will take more than a Sharpee.

What about Sharpie in different colors!?

I don't think the GOP have a thick enough lead in the House/Senate to repeal the ACA. It won't take too many of them to get jitters and realize "oh right, my voters sometimes get sick". But sure, go ahead, best case you fail and look like schmucks, worse case you succeed, directly leading to an increase in death count of your own Trump supporting voters and giving them a reason to evict you.

I don't even think they need to get jitters. Most of them will already know it would be stupid to get rid of it. Especially when, all these years later, the replacement is still a "concept of a plan." I'd assume the replacement would end up being the exact same thing, just with a more "MAGA" name to it. And the clowns will praise it as the greatest thing ever.

And did anyone really think Trump had evidence of his claims? Not even his ardent supporters even bother.

If they did, they're the most gullible fools to walk the planet, and I'd like to sell them some land.

[Breccia]

What about Sharpie in different colors!?

Neither of us believe Trump would use more than one color.

[PhaelixWW]

Neither of us believe Trump would use more than one color.

Point of order: he uses a different color on his face every single day.

[Masark]

That's the 14th Amendment. Removing that will take more than a Sharpee.

Yeah, it'll take 5 justices hot to overturn Wong Kim Ark like they overturned Roe v. Wade.

[Captain N]

Yeah, it'll take 5 justices hot to overturn Wong Kim Ark like they overturned Roe v. Wade.

Won't even take that. The justices have already declared that Trump can do whatever he wants and it's completely fine. The Constitution at this point is a piece of toilet paper that this Administration are going to wipe their asses all over.

[Dontrike]

Huff sanewashes yet another "weave" (aka dipshittery) from Donny Dumdum as he thinks groceries is an exotic word that no one uses besides him.

Donald Trump broke out his signature weave this weekend as he turned to discussing grocery prices when pressed about his vow to “go after” President Joe Biden in his second White House term. (You can check out his word salad in the clip below.)

The president-elect, who sat down with “Meet the Press” host Kristen Welker on Sunday, was asked about a “significant” pledge he made on his Truth Social platform where he said he’d appoint a “real” special prosecutor to go after “the most corrupt president in the history of the USA.”

Trump, who initially questioned “where” he made the pledge, told Welker that his “retribution will be through success” when asked whether he’d really go after the president.

“I’m looking to get — bring prices down. I won on two things, the border and more than immigration. You know, they like to say immigration. I break it down more to the border but I won on the border and I won on groceries,” said Trump, who also claimed he “can’t guarantee” if his tariffs will cost Americans more.

He continued, “It’s a very simple word, groceries. Like almost — you know, who uses the word? I started using the word — the groceries. When you buy apples, when you buy bacon, when you buy eggs, they would double and triple the price over a short period of time. And I won an election based on that. We’re going to bring those prices way down.”

Trump — who’s previously explained that the “simple” word “groceries” means “everything you eat” — has been mocked due to his outlandish food-related claims, including one in September where he declared that people can’t walk out of their apartments to buy bread “without getting mugged or wrapped or shot.”