Mega-Thread: Trump Focused Discussion

[Teriz]

How much does pootie respect Trump? Not very much at all.

The phone call the other day? Pootie kept Trump waiting for an hour as he was in a meeting with business men. When reminded of the appointment, he said "let him wait" to laughter from the audience.

Trump is such a beta.

https://theconversation.com/putin-ma...opy_url_button

The White House was touting this as some huge victory too.

Straight up propaganda from the Stepford wife at the podium along with that BS about those immigrants they kidnapped out of the country and sent to a torture prison in El Salvador. I'm up here feeling like Padme in RotS watching democracy die right before my eyes.

[Nymrohd]

Considering how many of Bernie's former staff and loudest supporters have gone on to support Trump,Elon, Putin.. this is less of a surprise than.

The Ben and Jerry are MAGA and DOGE now?




Look, there needs to be a serious thread on how 70's counterculturism poisoned the left back then.
GenXers and Millenials reviving that BS has probably done the same now.
No wonder we got Reagan-but-Way-Shittier now.


Also, Limp Bikzut at Woddstock '99 ... the foreshadowing the maga redhats?

Eh I am reading this as a challenge to cut defense spending. Isn't US defense spending actually bloated?

[alach]

Its insanity how much the US spends on their military. Thats how you can tell musk and trump aren't actually serious about cutting government waste and saving money, or they would have started there, instead of half a percent on food for the hungry, AIDs prevention in Africa, and all of that.

[Nymrohd]

Its insanity how much the US spends on their military. Thats how you can tell musk and trump aren't actually serious about cutting government waste and saving money, or they would have started there, instead of half a percent on food for the hungry, AIDs prevention in Africa, and all of that.

The question is how much of it is effective. US needs to spend a lot on their military because historically their foreign policy depends on projection and they are dependent on intercontinental trade so they need to keep the shipping lanes safe. And that just costs a ton more. The question is how much corruption is there?

[Odinfrost]

The question is how much of it is effective. US needs to spend a lot on their military because historically their foreign policy depends on projection and they are dependent on intercontinental trade so they need to keep the shipping lanes safe. And that just costs a ton more. The question is how much corruption is there?

Well, considering Trump wants to isolate the US, your first and second point is completely moot, so there's plenty to cut from

[alach]

I find it hard to believe that troops in S. Korea or Afghanistan needed to have a KFC and a Pizza Hut and a Burger King on each base. I doubt it would be very hard to find some areas to cut waste without upending peoples lives.

[Breccia]

Two things this morning.

First, story I'm seeing is that Putin has already broken the ceasefire. It lasted a few hours.

Two, the WSJ and likely others report

Months ago, policymakers presumed they would spend 2025 gradually cutting rates to keep inflation heading down without a big rise in joblessness to achieve the so-called soft landing. The latest projections point to the prospect that tariffs covering a swath of goods and materials will send up prices while sapping investment, sentiment and growth, at least in the short run.

“We now have inflation coming in from an exogenous source, but the underlying inflationary picture before that was basically 2½% inflation, 2% growth and 4% unemployment,” said Fed Chair Jerome Powell on Wednesday.

Officials projected weaker growth, higher unemployment and higher inflation than they had anticipated in December. Moreover, nearly all officials judged that if their forecasts were to be proven wrong, it would be in the direction of even softer growth, more joblessness and firmer price growth.

A combination of stagnant growth and higher prices, sometimes called stagflation, could make it harder for the Fed to cut interest rates this year to pre-empt any slowdown.

Naturally, Trump took the news as a personal attack.

The Fed would be MUCH better off CUTTING RATES as U.S. Tariffs start to transition (ease!) their way into the economy. Do the right thing

Yes, Trump either read the report that said "tariffs and layoffs aren't helping" from the nation's top experts, then said "yes they are because I said so, here come some tariffs and layoffs"...or didn't read the report and is making demands based on the lack of evidence.

"Couldn't Trump be correct?"

Tell you what, let's revisit that when the GDP report comes in.

[Kiria]

So errr are you guys ok with this lunatic doing these things?

[PhaelixWW]

Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. thinks that the bird flu should be allowed to spread unchecked to identify birds that could be immune.

RFK, JR.: "We found out which birds were immune."

...

RFK, JR.: "None of them."

[Breccia]

Germany Issues Travel Warning for US

It's basically "don't go there, they have Nazis".

Germany updated its travel advisory for the United States to emphasise that a visa or entry waiver does not guarantee entry for its citizens after several Germans were detained at the border recently, a foreign ministry spokesperson said.

The ministry updated its travel advice website for the U.S. on Tuesday to clarify that neither approval through the U.S. ESTA system nor a U.S. visa entitles entry in every case.

"The final decision on whether a person can enter the U.S. lies with the U.S. border authorities," said the spokesperson on Wednesday.

However, the spokesperson emphasised that the change did not constitute a travel warning.

Yeah, no, that's a travel warning. "Be careful while traveling" is literally a travel warning.

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So errr are you guys ok with this lunatic doing these things?

Well, more people voted for this than for sanity, so, yes. Yes we are.

[Kiria]

Germany Issues Travel Warning for US

It's basically "don't go there, they have Nazis".



Yeah, no, that's a travel warning. "Be careful while traveling" is literally a travel warning.

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Well, more people voted for this than for sanity, so, yes. Yes we are.

I feel for the sensible ones who did not vote for that government, their gonna get alot of you killed through pure absurdity.

[Breccia]

I feel for the sensible ones who did not vote for that government, their gonna get alot of you killed through pure absurdity.

Yes. Yes they will. There is no punch line.

On topic: Tesla stock short sellers get $16.2 billion dollarsby correctly predicting the damage Musk did to his own brand.

"Okay, but why post here? There's an entire Musk thread."

Musk is in the White House. Trump just did a Tesla commercial. This is the correct thread.

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And on the topic:

Our Ruling

Kennedy said "a lot of studies" show that getting measles "boosts your immune system later in life against cancers, atopic diseases, cardiac disease."

Experts said research on this topic is not conclusive. Some studies have shown an association between measles infections and improved outcomes against those diseases later in life, but that research had limitations and none proved that measles caused those outcomes.

More conclusive studies show that measles infections can suppress people’s immune systems for up to three years, putting them at risk for other infectious diseases. The measles virus can also cause serious health consequences or end in death. Health experts overwhelmingly recommend vaccination over natural immunity.

We rate this claim False.

[Kathandira]

Yes. Yes they will. There is no punch line.

On topic: Tesla stock short sellers get $16.2 billion dollarsby correctly predicting the damage Musk did to his own brand.

"Okay, but why post here? There's an entire Musk thread."

Musk is in the White House. Trump just did a Tesla commercial. This is the correct thread.

On Sunday I was talking with my Father-in-Law. He is infatuated with wealthy people, but he is also pretty liberal in his social views. We were talking about the future of the EV. My stance was, there are a lot of fluctuating factors to whether we will see an increase or decrease in EV purchases over the next few years. I was attempting to explain that Elon is torching his own brand, and american automakers are still shaking on their investment into EV production. It is a very unstable situation and no one can say for certain what the future of Electric vs Combustion will look like. He was dead set that EV production is ramping up and will likely get a 50% market share in the US within the next few years based on a projection of EV claiming 8% of the market in a short time.

Last year american automakers slowed down or paused their EV production. This year I saw articles saying they are picking it back up again. However, with Elon-in-Chief holding the checkbook for federal grants and such, US automakers will likely not get any incentives to move forward. So we will see how long this resumed production will continue without hand outs to fund it. After all, why would Elon hand out money to create competition?

[Kaleredar]

So errr are you guys ok with this lunatic doing these things?

RFK is particularly problematic. Because he’s not in it for the money.


Well, I’m sure he IS in it for the money. But RFK genuinely believes this anti-vax pseudoscience bullshit. Which means no amount of antithetical evidence… or common sense… will turn him back from this absolute nonsense.

[Gabriel]

Its insanity how much the US spends on their military. Thats how you can tell musk and trump aren't actually serious about cutting government waste and saving money, or they would have started there, instead of half a percent on food for the hungry, AIDs prevention in Africa, and all of that.

Complaining about US military spending is so fucking dumb when they still allow the Medical Insurance industry to exist.

[Kathandira]

On the topic of the conflict of interest of having a private business owner in charge of of who gets government funding.

Which of the 4 years of this term do you think we will see Elon go after internet service providers to make more room to fund Starlink as a national replacement?

[NED funded]

The people hate the government bc there are no symbols they can point towards in the way it works for them. The Hoover dam construction was really good propaganda for the government (in addition of being really useful), projects like that wont happen or get infinite delays bc regulations destroyed the ability of the government to do things. That is why Musk and Trump can get away with DOGE stuff. When people think of government spending they thing of the billions of dollars wasted on lawsuits fighting to get permits to build high speed rail, all bc regulations get in the way of the government doing stuff. Its also why republican states are gaining population, the regulations favour doing stuff, they accept the trade off and just build stuff.

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The cancellation of the Keystone pipeline was a disagrace btw. That project met literally all the reviews it was subjected to again and again, only by activists to use the legal system and existing regulations to get more delays. Its no surprise business owners hate the government, even if you meet all of their regulations they can get your investments cancelled bc meeting the regulatory standards doesnt protect you.

[Kathandira]

The cancellation of the Keystone pipeline was a disagrace btw. That project met literally all the reviews it was subjected to again and again, only by activists to use the legal system and existing regulations to get more delays. Its no surprise business owners hate the government, even if you meet all of their regulations they can get your investments cancelled bc meeting the regulatory standards doesnt protect you.

Those pesky protected lands...those native americans who would be affected by a pipe burst should just move somewhere else...

[Breccia]

This year I saw articles saying they are picking it back up again. However, with Elon-in-Chief holding the checkbook for federal grants and such, US automakers will likely not get any incentives to move forward.

Let's not forget how specifically and directly Trump will make it harder to get a Tesla in the US. In particular, the tariffs he's going to slap on everyone for everything will include the batteries Tesla makes overseas and imports, meaning that the % jump in Tesla price will be higher than the % jump in most other car prices.

[NED funded]

Those pesky protected lands...those native americans who would be affected by a pipe burst should just move somewhere else...

The pipeline did not cross any reservation lands. The company engaged with state and more local actors since 2002 xd

It wasnt until much later that the same tribes decided to sabotage the project, even after it had changed routes to not touch their land