Mega-Thread: Trump Focused Discussion

[gondrin]

So, while all the focus is on Trump, Musk and DOGE and for good reason, there is a reason why the Federal Government and the State Governments are pretty much separate entities that function pretty much independent of each other, for the most part. Outside of some funding, the States are pretty much self-sufficient, so to speak.

So, what happens when a Governer of a state basically tells Trump to go fuck himself? He threatens to withhold funds which were duly appropriated and threatens legal action. He will more than likely lose because, for one, he cannot unilaterally withhold funding and two, as said above, outside of some very specific things, the States are pretty much independent of the Federal Government.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/opini...0d0582ea&ei=88

The Governor Who Stood Up to Trump

The Trump administration is enmeshed in a long and rapidly growing list of legal challenges to the novel powers it has claimed for itself. But to try to understand the situation in terms of the individual cases, and the legal questions they implicate, is to miss the forest for the trees. The larger picture is that Donald Trump refuses, or is simply unable, to grasp any distinction between the law and his own whims.

That conflation was on display once again today at a meeting of governors at the White House. As Trump lectured the audience on his executive order banning transgender girls and women from participating in girls’ and women’s sports, he paused to single out Maine Governor Janet Mills.

“Are you not going to comply with it?” he demanded of her. “I’m complying with state and federal laws,” she replied. To this, Trump shot back, “We are the federal law.”

It is entirely possible that, if the state of Maine challenges the executive order, Trump will prevail legally. But what is important about this exchange is not whose interpretation of Title IX and the Administrative Procedure Act has a better chance to win five votes on the Supreme Court. It is that Trump is treating the law as coterminous with his own desires.

Trump then threatened Mills with the prospect of stripping away federal funding for her state: “You better do it, because you’re not going to get any federal funding at all if you don’t.” Legally, it is possible for the federal government to deny states certain funding streams under certain conditions. But Trump cannot simply cut Maine off financially because the state chooses to challenge a federal policy. Distinctions like this, however, seem totally lost on the president, who sees himself as national king—note his use of the royal we—and every other American, including each of the 50 states, as one of his quavering subjects.

Trump has grown ever more brazen about his belief that his activities are by definition legal, and activities he opposes by definition criminal. That belief is implied by a long, long list of statements and actions, stretching from his career in business, when he routinely treated laws (forbidding him from discriminating against Black tenants or committing tax fraud) as suggestions; to the final days of his presidency, when he attempted to overturn his election defeat; to his post-presidency, when he flagrantly disregarded requirements that he turn over classified documents. It is also implied by his habit of describing a long list of political opponents as criminals.

Trump recently summarized this belief by writing on X, “He who saves his Country does not violate any Law.” (The possibly apocryphal quote is commonly attributed to Napoleon Bonaparte, who was, famously, a dictator.) His statement to Mills is utterly consistent with this belief: Since Trump cannot violate the law, it follows that the law means whatever he says. He has progressed from demonstrating his disregard for the law to stating it as a doctrine.

So, Trump is claiming "He is the law", which he isn't. He is claiming he can cut off funds to the states, which he cannot. He will find out soon enough that there are plenty of people who will not tolerate tyrants, kings or dictators, both within and outside of the US.

[Breccia]

Remember folks, according to his press secretary, the Kennedy Center "Got woke and went broke.". Problem is, it was doing fine before the takeover. I guess it is another part of the Trump curse.

Came here to link WaPo article myself. Indeed, not only are sales down, but acts are dropping and they will fall further.

[gondrin]

So, because Trump is a very petty person, he is looking to have the Federal Government to sell off the Nancy Pelosi building in San Francisco.

https://www.reddit.com/r/UsaNewsLive...down_and_sell/

[Draco-Onis]

It's about time someone "backstabbed" Trump before he could do them in. Even if Adams is corrupt, he's doing it the right way.

I wouldn't give him any credit, the governor hasn't removed him due to elections being in November but he now has babysitter limiting his actions. In other words Adams didn't backstab him, his hands are just tied although Trump may not care.

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Came here to link WaPo article myself. Indeed, not only are sales down, but acts are dropping and they will fall further.

Trump has always wanted to be part of that group so he thought he could bully his way in, it's sad he is the president of the United States you'd think that would be enough.

[Corvus]

In yet more evidence that Trump is russia's friend and Europe's enemy, to mark the 3rd year of russia's invasion, Ukraine had crafted a UN resolution condemning russia's aggression which Europe was going to back.

The US has pressured Ukraine to withdraw it, who promptly told them to F off. The US also said they will vote against it if it proceeds.

https://archive.md/EQTaJ

[Kaleredar]

Remember NYC mayor Eric Adams, and how the DoJ tried really hard to shut down the charges against him in order to get his loyalty to Trump? Well, Trump's probably going to be pissed real soon, because Adams is allowing the lawsuit over DOGE unlawfully taking money directly from NYC's accounts to go forward.

I'll go on the record and say that I hope Adams faces justice for his corruption, but man, it's very funny that the quid quo pro-bought loyalty dissolved within, like, a single day.

Adams probably correctly assesses that for however detested he is in New York proper, trump is far more detested nation, nay, world wide and there’s significant goodwill to be gleaned (or in Adams’ case, somewhat gleaned back) by keeping the screws to trump

[gondrin]

[Cthulhu 2020]

Trump fires chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff

He's going to install a loyalist under the guise of National Security Lol.



So, yeah, Trump's going to install someone who has no such experience, because he says so.

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Meanwhile at CPAC:

The Joint Chiefs are the ones who (supposedly), when Trump gave/gives the orders to _____________ told/tell him "No, you can't do that."

1. Open fire with live rounds on unarmed protestors.
2. Stop the certification of the 2020 election through armed force.
3. Declare Martial Law to stop the election when it doesn't go his way.
4. All of the above


Trump isn't making a move to allow people to run for a third term because he plans for his second term to never end. When Trump said you'll "Never need to vote again" did you guys think he was making idle threats?

I wonder if @tehdang will use the usual conservative talking point that "every president installs their own joint chiefs" without realizing that most are kept around even if some are replaced. Trump's replacing all of the joint chiefs with loyalists.

[Doomcookie]

Sorry you didn't enjoy the response! If you meant to refer to some other instance of "Trump calling himself King," I'm all ears.



I do think it's a little obtuse if you're pretending a joke is serious. Maybe you're trying to ask me if I approve of the volume of trolling and shitposting coming out of the White House and DOGE.

it's a little obtuse to pretend he doesn't want to be a dictator.

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I found one that I thought was a joke (hopefully matching what he was referring to). I have said it wasn't that funny. That's my opinion on the subject.

Continue to preserve your feelings on me and how i post. I don't really concern myself with how Republicans make you feel.

You were asked your thoughts on the rape victims you mocked.

Care to expound?

[Rasulis]

Another lay off.

Michelle Beutler cleared 67 trees off a U.S. Forest Service road in two days. It was the spring of 2023, after a record-breaking winter in the Stanislaus National Forest in California’s Sierra Nevada. Beutler, 59, worked alone with a chain saw to remove every fallen tree on a 10-mile stretch of road between the town of Long Barn in Tuolumne County and the popular Hull Creek Campground. She single-handedly finished the work so the road could open in time for Memorial Day.

As a recreation technician based out of the Summit Ranger Station in the Stanislaus National Forest, Beutler’s job was to clean toilets, pick up trash and maintain recreation sites and campgrounds up and down Sonora Pass. She’d typically drive her Forest Service truck 100 miles a day. She sprayed pit toilets with a fire hose. She wiped away graffiti and removed thousands of pounds of house trash, old furniture and useless stuff that people dumped in the forest. She extinguished hundreds of abandoned and illegal campfires. She assisted law enforcement during emergency accidents, helping officers navigate a swath of rugged forest land that she grew up on and knows intimately.

Beutler was one of two recreation technicians in the Summit Ranger District. They both lost their jobs this week.

“There’s nobody left in our position to go out and do the work that we did,” Beutler said, noting that trash will accumulate and toilets in campgrounds will fester.

As she said, you probably shouldn't go camping this year. Wilderness Emergency First Responders were also cut.

[Breccia]

3. Declare Martial Law to stop the election when it doesn't go his way.

I mean, we know he was leaning that way last time, and was rebuffed. This seems like a contender.

[PhaelixWW]

I can't wait til 3 years from now we have to see people argue that it is okay for Trump to get a 3rd term... because the call for that keeps growing.

I'll admit that whenever I think of the possibility of Trump finding a way to legalize a third term, I just imagine Obama coming out of retirement to win the election, and how much that would infuriate Trump.

[Tech614]

Declare Martial Law to stop the election when it doesn't go his way.

The concept of martial law declared by the president doesn't even exist under US law. The closest you get is the insurrection act where the president can only order the national guard to go up hold the current laws of wherever he deploys them after giving a warning first. But that is just them replacing the normal police force and enforcing already written law, not making up new laws on the fly.

In before "tRuMp DoEsNt FoLlOw ThE rUlEs" and yet most of his attempts at not following them have eventually failed.

[Xath]

The concept of martial law declared by the president doesn't even exist under US law. The closest you get is the insurrection act where the president can only order the national guard to go up hold the current laws of wherever he deploys them after giving a warning first. But that is just them replacing the normal police force and enforcing already written law, not making up new laws on the fly.

In before "tRuMp DoEsNt FoLlOw ThE rUlEs" and yet most of his attempts at not following them have eventually failed.

Outside of firing 10s of thousands of federal workers for bullshit reasons destroying US soft power and demolishing internal systems you mean?

[Tech614]

Outside of firing 10s of thousands of federal workers for bullshit reasons destroying US soft power and demolishing internal systems you mean?

You should read what I said, read what you said and then wonder what they have to do with each other. Legit feels like you meant to reply to someone else cause it has absolutely nothing to do with what you quoted.

[Todd Duval]

I'll admit that whenever I think of the possibility of Trump finding a way to legalize a third term, I just imagine Obama coming out of retirement to win the election, and how much that would infuriate Trump.

The proposal for the 3rd term excludes anyone who has served two consecutive terms, to intentionally exclude any of the past living presidents from serving a 3rd term.

[Iphie]

The proposal for the 3rd term excludes anyone who has served two consecutive terms, to intentionally exclude any of the past living presidents from serving a 3rd term.

I mean if you're gonna cheat might as well go all in, right? (cheating as in changing the rules.)

[Drutt]

Trump has always wanted to be part of that group so he thought he could bully his way in, it's sad he is the president of the United States you'd think that would be enough.

Deep down he knows he is a worthless piece of shit, and he'll never escape that feeling. Nothing will ever be enough.

[Bwgmon]

Not exactly the first quality I was looking for in a Chairman of the Joint Chiefs:

"Trump then recalled the general saying, "'I love you, sir. I think you're great, sir. I'll kill for you, sir.'"

I'll be slightly fair there, that line is extremely "Trump inventing a beautiful conversation" coded, so I wouldn't put too much stock in it unless we hear it directly from the general's mouth.

[tehdang]

The proposal for the 3rd term excludes anyone who has served two consecutive terms, to intentionally exclude any of the past living presidents from serving a 3rd term.

The proposal is a proposed constitutional amendment. How many Democrats can you identify that will vote for that in the Senate?

But talking about the reality of this interrupts the doomposting and prognostications of the end of America.