Mega-Thread: Trump Focused Discussion

[gondrin]

So what is Donald's administration doing for working Americans this week?

https://www.cleveland.com/news/2025/...food-bank.html



Right, cancelling funding for desperately needed food aid for working, hungry Americans.

But hey, they're making sure billionaires are protected and they're the only people that actually matter!

Another example of this Republican administrations wide ranging, sustained war on working Americans.

Yeah, when I posted this a couple of days ago, this is one of the major things that pissed me off more than anything else and a LOT has upset me. Because food banks absolutely serve a major purpose. They generally don't discriminate against who can get food and outside of people worth 10 digits or more can easily fall on hard times in a really quick way. And that is what food banks are there for.

The company I work for has donated many 100s of tons of product a year. Most of it is slightly outdated packaged goods(at most a week) or slightly damaged packaged goods but we also donate bread that is frozen, about ready to expire meat that has been frozen and pretty much anything we can instead of throwing it away. This stuff can range from canned goods to boxed cereals to even candy and other treats.

The food banks are a lifeline for those struggling and as we seen during any downturn, can easily get overwhelmed.

This one really angers me more than the others(outside of the lack of due process for immigrants getting deported) because this literally is kicking people when they are at their worst off.

[diller]

Could be one of those cases where they weren't trusting their internal numbers and then add onto that the loss of a Republican seat to a Democrat in an R+15 seat has them spooked.

A user here told me there would be a red wave so that can't be true, but he was also somewhat concerned.

[xenogear3]

The company I work for has donated many 100s of tons of product a year.

Did your company really "donated" for free? or you get a tax write off or get some other money from Fed?
Because if you are truly donated, this has nothing to do with Trump and his funding.

[Xath]

Did your company really "donated" for free? or you get a tax write off or get some other money from Fed?
Because if you are truly donated, this has nothing to do with Trump and his funding.

Are you actually defending defunding charities to give more tax cuts to the rich?

[Edge-]

Did your company really "donated" for free? or you get a tax write off or get some other money from Fed?
Because if you are truly donated, this has nothing to do with Trump and his funding.

what a weird post. if the company took a tax writeoff for donating food so what?

this has everything to do with priorities - some people would rather donate food to hungry folks instead of see it go to waste, some people are happy to let folks starve.

[Kaleredar]

Did your company really "donated" for free? or you get a tax write off or get some other money from Fed?
Because if you are truly donated, this has nothing to do with Trump and his funding.

“Trump cuts funding to food banks” very much does have something to do with trump.

[Edge-]

https://calmatters.org/politics/2025...od-banks-cuts/

A total of 330 truckloads bound for food banks across the state has been suspended, according to the California Association of Food Banks, with no indication of when or if they’ll be delivered. The biggest potential hit is to the Los Angeles Regional Food Bank, where 90 expected truckloads are in limbo.

The orders were promised during the Biden administration, which in December announced a bonus round of food orders on top of deliveries the USDA normally makes to food banks.

The freeze of the bonus orders came as food banks brace for other cuts — both from a new Trump administration intent on reducing federal spending and from California’s own state budget deficit after several flush budget years in the pandemic. In Washington, Congress is also considering cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, which sends about $1 billion a month to low-income Californians to buy groceries.

More on Donald and Republicans literally taking away food support that was already ordered and paid for and planned for.

A lot of Americans are going to go hungry and I hope they know it's thanks to Donald and the Republican party.

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“Trump cuts funding to food banks” very much does have something to do with trump.

it seems that maga folks really have to claw and scratch for anything to try to own the libs nowadays. they still seem to be trying to regain their footing after "oops the drunk secretary of defense and russian asset in charge of intelligence got caught using civilian apps and devices to discuss war plans in real time" embarassment they're still trying to present as a nothingberder and not one of the most stunning and significant opsec failures in US history

[Kaleredar]

https://calmatters.org/politics/2025...od-banks-cuts/



More on Donald and Republicans literally taking away food support that was already ordered and paid for and planned for.

A lot of Americans are going to go hungry and I hope they know it's thanks to Donald and the Republican party.

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it seems that maga folks really have to claw and scratch for anything to try to own the libs nowadays. they still seem to be trying to regain their footing after "oops the drunk secretary of defense and russian asset in charge of intelligence got caught using civilian apps and devices to discuss war plans in real time" embarassment they're still trying to present as a nothingberder and not one of the most stunning and significant opsec failures in US history

The one “reassuring” (kind of) things is that it speaks to a deeper profound and utterly unserious incompetence. With no slight sign of it changing.

Would Hitler have allowed such a security breach to have happened? Would Stalin? What would have been done to the people who caused such a profound breach to have happened under those regimes?

I’m not doubting team Trump’s malice, I’m doubting their competence.

[Edge-]

The one “reassuring” (kind of) things is that it speaks to a deeper profound and utterly unserious incompetence. With no slight sign of it changing.

Would Hitler have allowed such a security breach to have happened? Would Stalin? What would have been done to the people who caused such a profound breach to have happened under those regimes?

I’m not doubting team Trump’s malice, I’m doubting their competence.

yep, the general unseriousness and incompetence/stupdity of this crew, even if they have more competent people than last time, is the only thing really keeping me sane

[Endus]

Are you actually defending defunding charities to give more tax cuts to the rich?

I think it was more noting that the "company donates to charity and gets a tax writeoff so their 'charity' ends up being directly beneficial to the company's books at end-of-year" is essentially another one of the many orphan-crushing machines that make up the capitalist system. It's not that "charity isn't good", it's that a three-party trade between you, the charity, and the government where you come out ahead isn't really "charity" in the first place, and that said cause of that charity getting properly funded to be handled in full would be an improvement.

But I also agree it came out of left field here in this context and doesn't seem terribly relevant. Unless we're talking about dismantling the capitalist economy, let's worry about what's achievable in the near term.

[Breccia]

Putin orders Trump to invade Greenland.

"That's not what he said!"

He said "It is obvious that the United States will continue to systematically promote its geostrategic, military-political and economic interests in the Arctic. As for Greenland, this is a matter that concerns two specific states and has nothing to do with us," to a camera. That means he was telling Trump to do it.

[Edge-]

Putin orders Trump to invade Greenland.

"That's not what he said!"

He said "It is obvious that the United States will continue to systematically promote its geostrategic, military-political and economic interests in the Arctic. As for Greenland, this is a matter that concerns two specific states and has nothing to do with us," to a camera. That means he was telling Trump to do it.

well donald keeps saying we need it for national security reasons

but won't ever say what those national security reasons are

then again he says we need to make canada the 51st state too

so it's quite possible he's just severely brain damaged

[Odinfrost]

Putin orders Trump to invade Greenland.

"That's not what he said!"

He said "It is obvious that the United States will continue to systematically promote its geostrategic, military-political and economic interests in the Arctic. As for Greenland, this is a matter that concerns two specific states and has nothing to do with us," to a camera. That means he was telling Trump to do it.

Actually, it's a concern between 3 states (Greenland, the US and Denmark) and the invasion will drag in 29 other nation states. Get your facts right, Putput.

[Breccia]

Actually, it's a concern between 3 states (Greenland, the US and Denmark)

Like I said, Putin was telling Trump to invade. That means conveniently neglecting to mention something.

Speaking of conveniently neglecting, Elon Musk:

Our goal is to reduce the deficit by a trillion dollars. So from a nominal deficit of $2 trillion to try cut def seven half to $1 trillion — or looked at in total federal spending, to drop the federal spending from $7 trillion to $6 trillion.

At a high level, you should think of this as we want to reduce the spending — by eliminating waste — to reduce the spending by 15%, which seems really quite achievable.

The government is not efficient, and there’s a lot of waste and fraud, so we feel confident that 15% reduction can can be done without affecting any of the critical government services.

"Isn't cutting a trillion, still a trillion, whether it's 1% or 99%?"

Yes. And he's nowhere near that yet. But that's not the lie he's making by convenient neglection.



While that graph is from 2022, it does point out how much of the budget isn't really up for debate.

Mandatory spending covers outlays controlled by laws other than appropriations acts. Almost all such spending is for “entitlements,” for which expenditures depend on individual eligibility and participation; they are funded at whatever level needed to cover the resulting costs. Mandatory spending has grown from about 26 percent of the budget in 1962 to 66 percent in 2022. This growth is largely because of new entitlements, including Medicare and Medicaid (both of which started in 1965), the earned income tax credit (1975), and the child tax credit (1997). In addition, both increases in Social Security benefits during the 1960s and early 1970s and rapid growth of both the elderly and the disabled populations have contributed to increased Social Security and Medicare spending.

Musk doesn't get to cut those just because he feels like it. And while he might yell words like "waste" and "fraud" no arrests have been made (therefore, no fraud) and "waste", besides being subjective, has been nearly nothing. To cut $1 trillion out of discretionary spending would be cutting it in half.

Musk cannot find $700 billion in fraud and waste in Social Security and Medicare. He can only obtain this magical goal by lying.

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Hey, you know who we haven't heard from in a while? Ron DeSantis.

"Okay, but this thread is-"

Florida debates lifting some child labor laws to fill jobs vacated by undocumented immigrants

"...oh. Right."

Florida has been working for years to crack down on employers that hire undocumented immigrants. But that presented a problem for businesses in the state that are desperate for workers to fill low-wage and often undesirable jobs.

Florida’s Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis and the state legislature have a potential solution: children.

The state’s legislature on Tuesday advanced a bill that would loosen child labor laws, allowing children as young as 14 years old to work overnight shifts. If the new law is passed, teenagers would be able to work overnight jobs on school days. They are currently prevented from working earlier than 6:30 am or later than 11 pm per state law.

The bill passed through the Florida Senate’s Commerce and Tourism committee on Tuesday with five votes in favor of the loosened child labor restrictions and four against them. The bill will pass through two other relevant committees before being put to a vote with the full Florida Senate.

DeSantis is supportive of the law and has been vocal of cracking down on immigration, echoing Trump’s rhetoric. However, economists have warned that could backfire, sparking further inflation and labor shortages.

“Why do we say we need to import foreigners, even import them illegally, when you know, teenagers used to work at these resorts, college students should be able to do this stuff,” DeSantis said last week at a panel discussion with border czar Tom Homan.

"Do college students have full-time jobs?"

Yes, it's called "being a college student". Most full-time students don't have a job, and those who do are less likely to graduate.

"Are college students typically 14 years old?"

No. Most college students aren't Tony Stark or Sheldon Cooper. Saying this is about college students is a lie. This is about child labor.

[Edge-]

Hey, you know who we haven't heard from in a while? Ron DeSantis.

"Okay, but this thread is-"

Florida debates lifting some child labor laws to fill jobs vacated by undocumented immigrants

"...oh. Right."



"Do college students have full-time jobs?"

Yes, it's called "being a college student". Most full-time students don't have a job, and those who do are less likely to graduate.

"Are college students typically 14 years old?"

No. Most college students aren't Tony Stark or Sheldon Cooper. Saying this is about college students is a lie. This is about child labor.

MAKE CHILD LABOR GREAT AGAIN

Republicans are really weird. It's almost like they only care about making sure their comfortable upper class lives aren't interrupted regardless of how many orphans must be tossed into the orphan-crushing machine.

[Milchshake]

Did your company really "donated" for free? or you get a tax write off or get some other money from Fed?
Because if you are truly donated, this has nothing to do with Trump and his funding.

Maybe both?

Not sure if you're an adult thats ever had to pay their own taxes or made donations.
Not sure if you adult has *working experience* that also pays taxes and made donations.

You see as an adult, you learn that tax write offs for donations *have a limit*.
As a business it is still good to "donate" past your limit. There's other financials than tax write offs involed for adults.
"Donating for free" can save money over disposal fees.
"Donating for free" can save money over wharehousing/storage costs.
"Donating for free" can save money over handling costs.


This is one of MMO-Cs wierd thrid rails of discussion. How many posters here are non-working adults. How does this lack of lived experience ,affect what they say?

Im a sicko that likes touching the rail and popping bubbles for the hell of it.

[Edge-]

https://www.thelondoneconomic.com/po...-vance-391306/

Jay Dee Hamel will be going to the US military base in Greenland alone.

Apparently his wife found nobody willing to host her in their home in the entire country so she's not going anymore.

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https://www.peoplefor.org/rightwingw...-hate-our-lord

Rep. Tim Burchett says NPR and PBS must be defunded because "they literally hate this country": "They hate everything it's about. They hate our patriotism. They hate our Lord."

New reason to defund NPR just dropped: Republicans don't think the news outlet is Christian enough.

Not looking to get into religion discussion as that's against the rules, just highlighting the arguments Republicans themselves are making to support this. I'll note the actual lack of any specifics from him on this.

[Tech614]

Gives me hope that the internals aren't looking good for the upcoming WI election. I just saw Fuckface Von Musk is pulling that bullshit $1 million dollar winners here in Wisconsin as it relates to voters for the upcoming SC election here.

I really hope that when we get through Trump and re-take control of things, that we get a DOJ that goes ham on investigations and throws Musk in fucking jail. I'd prefer Guantanamo or that prison in El Salvador, we can throw him and the dog killer in there together.

If Musk is convictable that piece of trash will be out of the country in some sanctuary that won't turn him over before a new DoJ even gets to investigate him.

[fwc577]

If Musk is convictable that piece of trash will be out of the country in some sanctuary that won't turn him over before a new DoJ even gets to investigate him.

Then if he suddenly disappears, we can freeze his funds. Let's see how long he lasts before he tries to come back to sort out his legal messes.

[Tech614]

Did your company really "donated" for free? or you get a tax write off or get some other money from Fed?
Because if you are truly donated, this has nothing to do with Trump and his funding.

Do you not even know how the fuck tax write offs work? So you would rather that money go to the federal government to do w/e the fuck they want with instead of giving back to a cause the company believes in? This is the reason why tax write offs for charities are a thing in the first place, including for individuals not just companies. Did you know that YOU also can donate a portion of your income to a charity you believe in to save on your taxes instead of just blindly giving the federal government a max payment from you?

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Then if he suddenly disappears, we can freeze his funds. Let's see how long he lasts before he tries to come back to sort out his legal messes.

If you think he won't already have all that he needs in off shore accounts before then idk what to tell you.

That piece of trash is never going to get justice for anything he does over the next 4 years unless Trump turns on him and sics his own dogs on him before he can plan an exit. That's just the unfortunate reality of this.