Mega-Thread: Trump Focused Discussion

[Mayhem]

What are we supposed to do about any of this

I’m so tired im so demoralized i just feel so defeated bout everything. Is our country really completey collpaisng before our eyes? What are we supposed to do? What am I supposed to do about any of this? Just sit back and watch it happen? I can’t put into words how defeated I feel, just lowest of low. Its just completely shocking watching my country’s institutions and services all unravel before me. What am I supposed to do? How am I supposed to feel about any of this. Idk man. I just don’t know anymore. I feel sick

teaching people to do their jobs badly

I'll just leave this here for no reason at all.

[gondrin]

"Boomer gives African everyone's SS" was on my bingo card.

Speaking of SS, you want to see a bunch of pissed off people? Well, if this happens, you actually might see riots. Literal riots by the elderly and other Trump supporters.

The current acting chief of the Social Security Administration is threatening to "Turn it off" if DOGE isn't allowed to access private records. Yeah, fuck him. Shut it off and watch people literally start to riot and absolutely turn against everything Republican.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/polit...d=BingNewsVerp

Social Security Chief's 'Turn It Off' Comment Is Latest Insane Turn For Beleaguered Agency

The temporary director of the Social Security Administration suggested agency operations would be so impaired by a court banishing Elon Musk’s DOGE team from sensitive databases that he would just turn out the lights.

A federal judge on Thursday ordered Social Security to revoke the so-called Department of Government Efficiency’s access to various databases containing Americans’ personal information, and for DOGE employees or affiliates to delete any data they’ve taken and remove any software they’ve installed.

In remarks reported by Bloomberg on Thursday evening, Leland Dudek, the acting commissioner of Social Security, said his own staff would count as DOGE affiliates and seemingly joked about shutting down the entire agency.

“As it stands, I will follow it exactly and terminate access by all SSA employees to our IT systems,” Dudek said. “Really, I want to turn it off and let the courts figure out how they want to run a federal agency.”

It’s not clear if any agency operations would actually be affected by the order. Asked for clarification of Dudek’s “turn it off” remarks, the Social Security Administration simply said it would comply with the court order.

Rich Couture, spokesman for the American Federation of Government Employees subchapter that represents more than 40,000 Social Security workers, told HuffPost he hadn’t heard of anyone being shut out of IT systems.

Dudek’s remarks come as Social Security prepares to shed staff while also making major changes to agency operations, with plans to reduce phone service in favor of in-person visits to field offices across the country. Employees have told HuffPost it’s a difficult time to work for the agency, with increased calls from the public compounding anxiety about remaining employed.

“It’s almost as if we’ve turned into a call center with how busy we’ve gotten with calls,” one field office worker told HuffPost. “I mean it went from a point in time where we’d have maybe 100 calls a day, and then on a really big day, it would be about 150, and just on Monday, we had 350 calls.”

The worker said that even though the agency announced on Tuesday that more claimants would be told to do business at field offices starting March 31, in less than two weeks, the agency had not yet briefed staff on new procedures, which employees learned about from the press release.

He said Social Security employees take pride in their work and resent disparaging statements about government workers from Musk, Preisdent Donald Trump and other Republicans.

“We are still the ones out there trying our best to help people and take care of their claims, because we do understand that this is an important time of their life, and most people aren’t prepared for it, and we are there to help them,” the staffer said.

Dudek, formerly a mid-level anti-fraud staffer, became the acting commissioner of Social Security after going around his superiors to work with DOGE. He has since been a wrecking ball, consolidating offices, firing senior staff and even canceling contracts with the state of Maine in an apparent act of political retaliation against the state’s Democratic governor for standing up to Trump.

Dudek’s schemes represent the fulfillment of Musk and Trump’s anti-fraud agenda, with the pair falsely claiming Social Security makes bogus payments to millions of nonexistent beneficiaries.

“He’s untethered and Musk wants it to be shut down,” Martin O’Malley, who served as commissioner of Social Security under President Joe Biden, said of Dudek. O’Malley has previously warned that Dudek’s layoffs and other changes could cause the agency to miss benefit payments.

The group Democracy Forward and AFGE filed suit against DOGE earlier this month. A former Social Security official said in an affidavit as part of the suit that DOGE’s disregard for privacy protections “now threatens the security of the data SSA houses about millions of Americans” and that benefits could be at risk.

Nancy Altman, president of Social Security Works, a liberal group that opposes benefit cuts, called Dudek’s short tenure the darkest time in Social Security’s history, saying he’d been promoted ahead of more than 100 better-qualified SSA employees.

“He has sown chaos and destruction. Now, he is threatening to shut down Social Security completely,” Altman said. “Dudek is willing to deny over 70 million Americans the benefits that most of them rely on to survive, rather than stop DOGE from mucking around with our data.”

[Edge-]

Speaking of SS, you want to see a bunch of pissed off people? Well, if this happens, you actually might see riots. Literal riots by the elderly and other Trump supporters.

The current acting chief of the Social Security Administration is threatening to "Turn it off" if DOGE isn't allowed to access private records. Yeah, fuck him. Shut it off and watch people literally start to riot and absolutely turn against everything Republican.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/polit...d=BingNewsVerp

sounds like a good excuse for some civil disorder to declare martial law

this lawless administration is doing everything possible to destroy this nation with the blessing of republicans writ large

even our resident conservatives seem rather unphased and very supportive of all these moves.

[Paranoid Android]

Trump’s commerce secretary Howard Lutnick says if Social Security skipped a check, his mother-in-law wouldn’t complain—and if you would, it indicates you are probably a fraudster. Insane.

Most people live on their SS check. This is a great message to i'm guessing 90% of people who rely on SS. A billionaire saying that it wont hurt his mother-in-law is crazy also. So he doesn't support his motherinlaw? Even if not a billionaire once more saying that don't worry about the check, you will be fine.

Edit: This of course is crazy that he is really, really effin his voter base. Without looking I'm sure the SS recipient age voted 80% for Trump(?). So boomers who watch Fox News and were frightened into the Big Brown people coming to get them are now going to get effed by Trump.

[TACOshake]

Who is Lelend Dudek? Necessary reminder that leland dudek is:

• wildly unqualified for his position as acting SSA commissioner
• would never have been hired for the job on merit
• Is the doge sympathizer they found by accident
• who was promoted for letting doge access shit illegally
• in the brief time in charge he managed to cut off all new cards to Maine newborns for a couple days
• going by his public comments, is a legitimately stupid dipshit

In case anyone is wondering why he's streisanding closing SSA.


Also one of those ceepy dudes that use an extreme-low-angle photo for their LinkedIn profile.

Totl red flag when looking to hire a person. This kind of picture says they have a hard time working with others. Deffinately will not take any kind direction from a superior that happens to be a woman or minority. Probably has micro-dick-syndrome. Drives a RAM MAGADUTY 6500 to get his groceries.

[Edge-]

Trump’s commerce secretary Howard Lutnick says if Social Security skipped a check, his mother-in-law wouldn’t complain—and if you would, it indicates you are probably a fraudster. Insane.

Most people live on their SS check. This is a great message to i'm guessing 90% of people who rely on SS. A billionaire saying that it wont hurt his mother-in-law is crazy also. So he doesn't support his motherinlaw? Even if not a billionaire once more saying that don't worry about the check, you will be fine.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news...lling-n1167341

Remember that time Texas Lt. Governor Dan Patrick offered up Grandma and Grandpa for sacrifice "for the economy"?

They're all out of touch rich assholes, every single one of them.

They view empathy as the enemy and it's obvious.

DEATH PANELS, BROUGHT TO YOU BY THE REPUBLICAN PARTY

- - - Updated - - -

Who is Lelend Dudek? Necessary reminder that leland dudek is:

• wildly unqualified for his position as acting SSA commissioner
• would never have been hired for the job on merit
• Is the doge sympathizer they found by accident
• who was promoted for letting doge access shit illegally
• in the brief time in charge he managed to cut off all new cards to Maine newborns for a couple days
• going by his public comments, is a legitimately stupid dipshit

In case anyone is wondering why he's streisanding closing SSA.


Also one of those ceepy dudes that use an extreme-low-angle photo for their LinkedIn profile.

Totl red flag when looking to hire a person. This kind of picture says they have a hard time working with others. Deffinately will not take any kind direction from a superior that happens to be a woman or minority. Probably has micro-dick-syndrome. Drives a RAM MAGADUTY 6500 to get his groceries.

where's the "anti-dei" crowd to complain about another unqualified white man being handed a position they're wholly unqualified for?

i'm continuing to think that "dei" is just code for the n-word for most of those folks and they're just covering over racist commentary

[Gorsameth]

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news...lling-n1167341

Remember that time Texas Lt. Governor Dan Patrick offered up Grandma and Grandpa for sacrifice "for the economy"?

They're all out of touch rich assholes, every single one of them.

They view empathy as the enemy and it's obvious.

DEATH PANELS, BROUGHT TO YOU BY THE REPUBLICAN PARTY

Democrats would have death panels to discuss killing grandma.
Republicans just shoot her and get it over with.

[Moralgy]

So we gonna kill old people over furher musk. Very American of you republicans. Totally not living upto the past decade of nazi accusations.

[postman1782]

Why can't they just be sent back to their home countries?

Because Trump is getting kickbacks.

[NineSpine]

Speaking of SS, you want to see a bunch of pissed off people? Well, if this happens, you actually might see riots. Literal riots by the elderly and other Trump supporters.

The current acting chief of the Social Security Administration is threatening to "Turn it off" if DOGE isn't allowed to access private records. Yeah, fuck him. Shut it off and watch people literally start to riot and absolutely turn against everything Republican.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/polit...d=BingNewsVerp

Do you really believe that any amount of mismanagement will turn off Trump supporters? I'm the first person to say lots of Trump voters aren't cultists, just ignorant and uninterested in being informed. That said, they have shown overwhelmingly that if one thing won't change their mind, it is mismanagement. The idiot got hundreds of thousands of Americans killed with his pandemic mismanagement and they reelected him.

[Edge-]

Do you really believe that any amount of mismanagement will turn off Trump supporters? I'm the first person to say lots of Trump voters aren't cultists, just ignorant and uninterested in being informed. That said, they have shown overwhelmingly that if one thing won't change their mind, it is mismanagement. The idiot got hundreds of thousands of Americans killed with his pandemic mismanagement and they reelected him.

after that one dudes wife got deported and he stood by his vote and those pro-palestine muslims reacted with outrage over donald's plans for genocide in gaza not regretting their votes it's 100% a cult or people just refusing to ever voluntarily admit they've made a mistake for some reason and i can't figure it out

[Fugus]

Well, I have said that many things won’t be able to be fixed till these MAGA Morons aged out of the voting base and take their racist views with them….

Guess many of them won’t have the option to age their way out as their own bad decisions might put themselves out on the streets first or worse.

I feel bad for those who didn’t wish this on anyone but to the people that knowingly threw this grenade with the intent to hurt and kill innocent people to feel better about yourself only to get caught in your own destruction. I have bad for your family that didn’t do it, but no remorse for them.

[Teriz]

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

When the majority of Americans decided that they're just too confused/lazy/bored/ignorant/principled/etc. to vote, and decided to just stay home and stuff cheetos in their face on November 4th, they're getting the government they deserve.

[Draco-Onis]

after that one dudes wife got deported and he stood by his vote and those pro-palestine muslims reacted with outrage over donald's plans for genocide in gaza not regretting their votes it's 100% a cult or people just refusing to ever voluntarily admit they've made a mistake for some reason and i can't figure it out

The hardcore Trump base is 28-33% which is far off from the total he got in terms of votes cannot be turned. Trump could murder their entire family and they would still vote for him, being a Trump supporter is their personality. The rest however are on their way or will violently turn on him, frankly I think republicans are surprised of how many of their voters are pissed and sending them death threats.

If the democratic party was competent in any way they would have huge support right now aside from a few members they are seen as weak and ineffective. I don't know where we go from here we can only hope a charismatic leader arises and give the party an enema because man there is a lot shitty members that need to go.

- - - Updated - - -

When the majority of Americans decided that they're just too confused/lazy/bored/ignorant/principled/etc. to vote, and decided to just stay home and stuff cheetos in their face on November 4th, they're getting the government they deserve.

Nothing like Trump kicking them in the balls every week to wake them up, if only we had a party to take advantage of this.

[Teriz]

after that one dudes wife got deported and he stood by his vote and those pro-palestine muslims reacted with outrage over donald's plans for genocide in gaza not regretting their votes it's 100% a cult or people just refusing to ever voluntarily admit they've made a mistake for some reason and i can't figure it out

I gotta believe that he's still in the honeymoon phase. If he continues down this path and he tanks the economy and rips apart SS and Medicare, by midterms it's going to be a massive blue wave in congress.

- - - Updated - - -

Nothing like Trump kicking them in the balls every week to wake them up, if only we had a party to take advantage of this.

Liberal voters have to change the party. That's what the Tea Party and MAGA did to the Republican Party. Liberal/leftist voters have to start primarying shitty democrats the way AOC primaried Crawley.

[Moralgy]

after that one dudes wife got deported and he stood by his vote and those pro-palestine muslims reacted with outrage over donald's plans for genocide in gaza not regretting their votes it's 100% a cult or people just refusing to ever voluntarily admit they've made a mistake for some reason and i can't figure it out

My grandmas has dementia and is a care place. Her husband relies on her SS check to pay for it... And they announced a rule that new and current recipients are gonna need to apply in person. If that check stops he will never be able to re-up it because physically is unable to do such a thing. Bro voted for trump, hardcore Trumper. I will put money on him blaming Democrats if this happens. Last thing we ever talked about is "how the system is awful for dementia care" and bro said republicans will fix it ROFL.

It's a God damn cult

[Poopymonster]

My grandmas has dementia and is a care place. Her husband relies on her SS check to pay for it... And they announced a rule that new and current recipients are gonna need to apply in person. If that check stops he will never be able to re-up it because physically is unable to do such a thing. Bro voted for trump, hardcore Trumper. I will put money on him blaming Democrats if this happens. Last thing we ever talked about is "how the system is awful for dementia care" and bro said republicans will fix it ROFL.

It's a God damn cult

They are fixing it.
If the people die, there won't be a problem.
Problem solved.

Having done hospice nursing, I'm so glad I'm not in the game anymore.

[Mazza]

I gotta believe that he's still in the honeymoon phase. If he continues down this path and he tanks the economy and rips apart SS and Medicare, by midterms it's going to be a massive blue wave in congress.

If there will be midterms. I was sceptical about them not happening before but the way this governement is going it seems a little less likely they will happen with each passing day. A lot depends on what happens with the defiance Trump and co are showing to the courts. If this can't be meanigfully stopped, you guys are screwed.

[btlcryct]

Well, I have said that many things won’t be able to be fixed till these MAGA Morons aged out of the voting base and take their racist views with them….

Unfortunately that won't work. Men 18-44 saw the biggest jump to Trump over the 2020 election.

https://navigatorresearch.org/2024-p...ction-results/

[Xyonai]

So I guess most of our talk the last couple pages about Trump's authority and ability to deport random South and Central Americans to El Salvador is now even more of a clusterfuck because Trump Claims he never actually signed off on the Alien Enemies Act and had 'someone else' sign off on it for him.