Mega-Thread: Trump Focused Discussion

[Breccia]

Probably the same logic that tells them that Trump is fighting the deep state in spite of having control of all branches of government and getting re-elected twice.

That's what it sounds like, yes. Only a literal worshipper can buy the mutually contradictory "Trump is the best and most successful at absolutely everything, and somehow a trodden-upon underdog being held back by The Man".

[fwc577]

He won't ever be anything more than Darth Doofus

Darth Treasonous

[Breccia]

World's worst businessman who thinks $5,000 is enough to bribe a woman to have a child offers $1,000 to migrants to self-deport.

Yep. Trump thinks the American Dream is worth $1,000. Which should feel a bit off, considering how many thousands of dollars his tariffs have cost the average family in the past, and will cost in the future.

I wonder if Trump worshippers think leaving the country is worth $1,000 to them? I wonder if @tehdang would pick up everything and go to El Salvador for $1,000?

"He's not from El Salvador."

I mean, neither are most of the people Trump is sending there. Why would that matter to him?

[Darththeo]

I have to admit, part of me is curious the twisted logic to support "the party that controls all three branches of the government, is mobilizing the army to stop poor people from finding food and jobs, are the Rebels".

The biggest thing is that the Empire was the one using criminals to keep in power. Telling people how dangerous certain planets or species were.
Also, throwing people into prisons with only the barest of "due process."

And that isn't even getting into the real world influences that were in the OT and PT.

[Tech614]

World's worst businessman who thinks $5,000 is enough to bribe a woman to have a child offers $1,000 to migrants to self-deport.

Yep. Trump thinks the American Dream is worth $1,000. Which should feel a bit off, considering how many thousands of dollars his tariffs have cost the average family in the past, and will cost in the future.

I wonder if Trump worshippers think leaving the country is worth $1,000 to them? I wonder if @tehdang would pick up everything and go to El Salvador for $1,000?

"He's not from El Salvador."

I mean, neither are most of the people Trump is sending there. Why would that matter to him?

Some would say its the honiest of all honey pots.

[Belize]

World's worst businessman who thinks $5,000 is enough to bribe a woman to have a child offers $1,000 to migrants to self-deport.

Yep. Trump thinks the American Dream is worth $1,000. Which should feel a bit off, considering how many thousands of dollars his tariffs have cost the average family in the past, and will cost in the future.

I wonder if Trump worshippers think leaving the country is worth $1,000 to them? I wonder if @tehdang would pick up everything and go to El Salvador for $1,000?

"He's not from El Salvador."

I mean, neither are most of the people Trump is sending there. Why would that matter to him?

Wouldn't ICE/the police just Eminent Domain the money and keep it for themselves after picking up anyone that selfs-reports?

They can lie about keeping ICE off their back all they want, but like, we all know how it'll go.

[Edge-]

World's worst businessman who thinks $5,000 is enough to bribe a woman to have a child offers $1,000 to migrants to self-deport.

Yep. Trump thinks the American Dream is worth $1,000. Which should feel a bit off, considering how many thousands of dollars his tariffs have cost the average family in the past, and will cost in the future.

I wonder if Trump worshippers think leaving the country is worth $1,000 to them? I wonder if @tehdang would pick up everything and go to El Salvador for $1,000?

"He's not from El Salvador."

I mean, neither are most of the people Trump is sending there. Why would that matter to him?

honestly this does check out

$5K/1K was a lot more money 40 years ago in the 80's

He still seems pretty stuck in the 80's, cognitively

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https://www.npr.org/2025/05/04/nx-s1...lence-memorial

An exhibit showing victims of gun violence has been taken down at the headquarters of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), the Department of Justice has confirmed.

The exhibit showed the portraits of 120 people killed in gun violence. A digital kiosk with biographies of each person was also part of the exhibit. An online version has also been taken down.

The ATF enforces federal gun laws and is tasked with regulating the firearms industry. It is within the Department of Justice.

One of those portraits taken down was of Robert Godwin Sr., who was shot to death in Cleveland in 2017 while he was out collecting aluminum cans.

In a statement to NPR on Sunday, a DOJ spokesperson suggested it will still honor victims in other ways, but not only of gun violence: "The ATF will continue to honor the memory of all victims of violent crime while at the same time preserving the rights of law-abiding Americans."

Faces of Gun Violence honored victims of mass shootings and school shootings, as well as victims of domestic violence, people who died by suicide, and other victims of gun violence. Portraits of law enforcement officers killed by gun violence were also part of the exhibit.

The removal was first reported by The Washington Post.

The Justice Department dedicated the exhibit in April 2024. The Biden administration planned for a new group of 200 victims to be honored by the memorial each year.

Former ATF Director Steven Dettelbach said in a statement at the time of the dedication last year: "The 'Faces of Gun Violence' exhibit is a permanent reminder of what ATF comes to work to do every day — a reminder of why agents risk their lives and why everyone at ATF dedicates their careers to this mission: to honor the fallen and protect the living."

The Biden administration had already chosen the new group of honorees who were supposed to be installed in the next exhibit, replacing the inaugural group, according to Kris Brown, president of Brady: United Against Gun Violence. Brown says her organization and other groups provided input in the selection process and new families were anticipating the installation of their loved ones to the exhibit last month.

"For people who were already traumatized enough by gun violence, just the unceremonious lack of care taken here is deeply, deeply troubling," said Brown in an interview with NPR.

Brown views the DOJ's decision to take down the exhibit as political and an example of the Trump administration's efforts to roll back firearms regulations.

"What they want to do is deny the reality that gun violence exists and that makes me very angry," said Brown. "What we will see over time is absolutely a rise in gun violence; we will see a rise in homicide; we will see a rise in suicide; we will see a rise in unintentional injury of kids with guns in the home."

Fred Guttenberg's daughter Jaime was pictured on the Faces of Gun Violence memorial. She was among the 17 people shot and killed at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., in 2018.

"I worked with the ATF to honor my daughter Jaime and other victims of the Parkland shooting in the creation of the 'Faces of Gun Violence' memorial at headquarters. ... We are here saddened by the reality that her photo has been removed and sits in an ATF trash can, completely disregarded by this heartless Administration who could clearly care less about my child or any child being gunned down in America," Guttenberg said in a statement.

The Justice Department didn't answer a question from NPR asking where the portraits are now located.

Brenda Joiner joined the Brady team after her father's death. She has made ending gun violence her life's work.

"I can't bring my dad back, but I darn well can do some good fighting for other people, and that's what that wall meant for me," she said.

More in "small decisions that highlight how these are all pretty awful people".

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https://www.npr.org/2025/05/05/nx-s1...deral-spending

Frank Davis saw a lot of waste during his decades in the federal government. In November, he voted for Donald Trump to get rid of it. So far, Davis likes a lot of what he's seen.

"I'm probably gonna get shot for this, but he is doing what he said he was going to do," says Davis, who serves as mayor of this town of about 3,000 people in Western Maryland, just south of Gettysburg, Pa.

In March, the Trump administration suddenly cancelled in-person classes at the National Fire Academy here, which trains the country's firefighters. The academy is not only a big part of Emmitsburg's identity, it also helps drive the local economy.

Davis says the administration is reviewing the academy's operations, and he is hopeful it will restore classes. If not, he says, he'll see the administration somewhat differently.

"It will change my outlook to say that they're not being fair," says Davis, who also serves as emergency medical services captain at the local firehouse, known as the Vigilant Hose Company. "They're just going in to cut and not caring what they cut."

Emmitsburg voted for President Trump in November. NPR interviewed about two dozen people here. Almost all of them voted for Trump, and many said his plans to cut federal spending were a key attraction. Now, they say they are puzzled as to why the administration would cancel national training for firefighters.

Denis Onieal is also puzzled. He served for two decades as superintendent of the academy, which he says trained 8,000 to 10,000 firefighters on campus each year. The academy, often referred to as the national war college for firefighting, offers courses in everything from leadership and management for fire chiefs to how to conduct fire, arson and explosion investigations.

"The National Fire Academy takes men and women out of their comfort zone and ... exposes them to real serious tragedies, and forces them to work through ... what kind of decisions they're going to make," says Onieal, who lives over the border in Pennsylvania.

If the courses aren't restored, Onieal says Americans will pay.

"We're on a very long, slow path to self-destruction," he says. "Every day that this training is unavailable to the locals is one day closer to a disaster they can't handle or won't know how to handle."

The Federal Emergency Management Agency oversees the academy, which pays for firefighters to come to Emmitsburg. When NPR asked why classes were cancelled, FEMA did not answer directly, but suggested in a statement that it had to do with travel costs.

"The bottom line is we are no longer paying for non-employee travel," the statement read. "We are only authorizing travel for mission critical programs, this isn't one. Some of these classes are still available online."

The fire academy website does show some upcoming in-person courses. They've been left up for now in case the administration changes its mind.

More reporting in the article, but much more on people getting upset that the leopards they voted for who everyone warned would eat their faces are about to have their faces eaten.

John Beck, who serves as fire chief of the Waynesboro Volunteer Fire Department nearby in Pennsylvania, had applied for a weekend leadership and development course at the academy in July. It would be his first one, but he doesn't expect it'll happen now. He also says online courses don't cut it.

Beck, who runs a landscaping company, works for free as fire chief. He voted for Trump and supports cutting waste and making government smaller. But Beck doesn't see how training first responders is wasteful.

"We're only 100-plus days in," Beck says of Trump's current term. "I wish things were going differently."

Beck doesn't regret his vote — yet.

"I'm not 100% there yet, but it may not take much more," he says.

Honestly it's stunning how much Donald's voters have made their vote/support for him part of their core personal identify and it's why it's so hard for these people to change their views no matter what.

A lot of these people need therapy, no joke.

Likely to be many such instances of small rural towns reliant on the federal government, whose populaces voted for Donald, getting turned into ghost towns as Donald yanks the federal funding they relied on and they're left to flap in the breeze.

[david0925]

It's always so funny that the people who gets the most subsidizes and support from federal government wants them to be smaller and then act surprised and complains when they get axes

Literally what you voted for. In fact I'm all for not wasting my tax money on them

[Edge-]

It's always so funny that the people who gets the most subsidizes and support from federal government wants them to be smaller and then act surprised and complains when they get axes

Literally what you voted for. In fact I'm all for not wasting my tax money on them

We haven't even begun to talk about the absolute fuckwave coming for agriculture between foreign markets closing down/buying less and Donald killing billions in various funding that farmers relied on.

Farm bill gonna be a whopper this year as our tax dollars go to save farmers that Donald bankrupted.

[Breccia]

Wouldn't ICE/the police just Eminent Domain the money and keep it for themselves after picking up anyone that selfs-reports?

I mean, you'd have to be either a devout worshipper or brain damaged to trust a contract Trump signed would actually pay what Trump promised.

[Lynarii]

My understanding is that details haven't been announced

e.g., is it just production "locations"? Or, separating the film-making process into broadly pre production, production and post production, is it every discipline within those categories? E.g., script-writers, prop-makers, CGI, editing, music, etc. Nationality of actors?

How about the fact that the streamers don't or only selectively release viewing figures. Financial success is measured in overall subscriber numbers. Will the tariff be imposed on e.g., Netflix subs?

I can't see this ending well for anyone. Least WB / Disney / Netflix etc. who already have $bns of infrastructure outside of the US

The details haven't been released yet because they don't exist. Trump went off his meds again announcing this, and nobody knows how it is meant to actually be done, or if it's even POSSIBLE to do. It's a huge, stupid, mess.

However, if you look at what he's railing against, it's specifically the idea that places use tax incentives to encourage Hollywood movies to be filmed in their countries. He's not calling out some indie French flick shown at a festival (he probably doesn't even know that people make those), he's targeting the big budget films that film internationally.

[Edge-]

https://lbpost.com/news/politics/mil...ect-california

How does one "MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN"? By filling the streets with homeless folks, apparently -

On Friday President Trump released a budget blueprint for the next fiscal year that would take a chainsaw to social, environmental and education programs. Some of the sharpest cuts are directed at housing programs that are meant to serve the poor, housing insecure and unhoused.

In California, millions are served by these funds and state and local governments depend on them to operate affordable housing, rental assistance, homeless service, planning and legal programs.

In a letter to the U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee, the president’s budget director, Russel Vought, laid out $163 billion in annual spending cuts coupled with “unprecedented increases” in military and border security spending. The cuts, Vought wrote, are directed at areas of spending that the administration found to be “contrary to the needs of ordinary working Americans and tilted toward funding niche non-governmental organizations and institutions of higher education committed to radical gender and climate ideologies antithetical to the American way of life.”

That includes $33.5 billion in proposed cuts to the Housing and Urban Development department, a 44% reduction from current levels.

Presidential budget requests rarely reflect what Congress ultimately passes into law but are instead often viewed as something between an opening negotiating bid and a political vision board.

Even so, the budget document makes for quite a vision — one that, if realized, would upend decades of federal housing policy and affect millions of lives.

The sheer breadth of the cuts provides an odd kind of solace to some affordable housing advocates.

“By following through on such a huge level with so many proposals that are going to gut assistance to low-income people across the country, including his own party’s states, he’s putting his own members of Congress in a very difficult place,” said Matt Schwartz, president of the California Housing Partnership, a nonprofit that advocates for more affordable housing. “The level of carnage that would be involved in doing these things is probably going to send some Republican senators running for the exits.”

A handful of powerful GOP senators have, indeed, already pushed back on the president’s proposal, though much of their ire was directed at what they saw as a lack of sufficient military spending.

The largest single cut in federal housing policy would target the Housing Choice Voucher program. Better known as Section 8, it’s currently administered by the federal government and helps low-income tenants with their rental payments. The White House is proposing shifting responsibility for the administration of that program, which it calls “dysfunctional,” to states, while cutting its funding in half.

It also proposes a two-year limit on how long a single person can receive help. That change is “completely out of touch with what people are facing in the housing market,” said Alex Visotzky, senior California policy fellow at the National Alliance to End Homelessness. With soaring rents outpacing people’s incomes, low-income tenants aren’t going to be able to magically earn enough money to start paying rent in two years, he said.

Additional cuts to four other housing voucher programs are meant to save $27 billion annually.

“You’d be looking at millions of people out on the street virtually overnight,” said Schwartz. “There’s no way states could maintain the same level of assistance.”

The administration proposes to save nearly $5 billion more by eliminating funds for local economic development grants, affordable housing developments and local initiatives to reduce regulatory barriers to new housing.

That latter program, a Biden-era initiative known as Pathways to Removing Obstacle Housing, was denounced in the administration’s budget write-up as a “woke” program that has pursued “radical racial, gender, and climate goals.”

The White House pointed specifically to a $6.7 million grant made to Los Angeles County to fund infrastructure planning, public transit-oriented housing and, as described in the county’s funding proposal, rezoning that would reverse the region’s “legacy of past systemic racism.”

Also, enjoy your slums -

The White House also proposes zeroing out a grant program that funds nonprofit legal aid organizations that enforce national fair housing laws. According to the explanatory summary of the cuts published by the administration, these organizations advocate “against single family neighborhoods and promote radical equity policies.”

That characterization is strongly disputed by Caroline Peattie, executive director of the Fair Housing Advocates of Northern California. Federally recognized nonprofit fair housing groups processed 74% of all fair housing complaints submitted across the country in 2023, according to data compiled by the National Fair Housing Alliance. The remainder go to federal and state housing regulators.

A recent example: In 2022, Peattie’s organization received a complaint that a Nevada-based appraisal company was systematically undervaluing homes owned by Black and Latino Californians. The nonprofit investigated and submitted a complaint to the state. The California Civil Rights Department reached a settlement with the appraisal company in mid-April.

If all the cuts go into effect as proposed, Fair Housing Advocates of Northern California would lose roughly 75% of its funding, said Peattie.

“It’s just appalling,” she said. “When the fair housing organizations go away, then what?”

Donald and Republicans do not want a government that does anything for or helps you, a regular American who works every day. They want to bend you over and fuck you.

[Belize]

https://lbpost.com/news/politics/mil...ect-california

How does one "MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN"? By filling the streets with homeless folks, apparently -



Also, enjoy your slums -



Donald and Republicans do not want a government that does anything for or helps you, a regular American who works every day. They want to bend you over and fuck you.

Alternative take: make homelessness illegal and increase the prison labor, while claiming to make the streets safer and decreasing unemployment.

I bet Stephen Miller would squeal like child at the idea.

[Felfaadaern Darkterror]

How about we just restore media standards so that places like Newsmax and Fox News have to follow the law? the only reason things have gotten this bad is due to deregulation in the name of profit. It will affect both sides since now there would be standards if violated will lead to expensive lawsuits and / or losing your license.

"How about we just..."
Oh, that would be simple, wouldn't it? Let's do that today.

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Why wean? Just make violation of journalistic ethics the kind of thing you get fined tens to hundreds of millions for, per lie. Or make it a felony, even.

Once Newsmax and Fox News are bankrupt or everyone there is now in prison, they're no longer sources anyone is able to watch. Their echo chambers no longer exist.

That's how you get rid of disinformation. By getting rid of disinformation.

Edit: Before anyone says "they'll just go to Youtube/AM radio/whatever instead"; same rules would apply, just scale the fines by the size of the audience. Joe Rogan pushing some bullshit should get fines into the hundred million plus range, too. Let's just say a nice round $100 per audience member.

Fox was already sued and lost $787,000,000 for spreading disinformation.
They wrote it off as a business expense.

[Xath]

MAGA are the same people running the States that have child marriage laws that permit kids as young as 12 in some cases to be married, with parental permission.

MAGA loves pedophiles. They're core constituents and they've been endorsing pedophilia for far longer than MAGA or even the Tea Party have been a thing.

Yes but they don't like admitting that out loud so if he actually straight up fessed up on live TV there would have to be some push back rigth?

- - - Updated - - -

Alternative take: make homelessness illegal and increase the prison labor, while claiming to make the streets safer and decreasing unemployment.

I bet Stephen Miller would squeal like child at the idea.

The idea of that ghoul being the national security advisor is absolutely terrifying.

[Endus]

Fox was already sued and lost $787,000,000 for spreading disinformation.
They wrote it off as a business expense.

This just means the fine was not nearly high enough.

Any such fine should put the organization's survival as an entity at serious risk. Multiple fines should essentially guarantee bankruptcy and the collapse of the organization as an entity.

[SAY HER NAME]

California has been setting money on fire in an attempt to solve their homelessness issue and theyve barely made a dent of progress on it. Most of that money is lost in paying NGOs and stuff. Like how much more money do they intend to burn? What they are doing isnt working, they need to change that approach.

This being said a lot of the stuff they are cutting is actually good.

That latter program, a Biden-era initiative known as Pathways to Removing Obstacle Housing, was denounced in the administration’s budget write-up as a “woke” program that has pursued “radical racial, gender, and climate goals.”

This was a good program. It got new housing built and zoned for more housing.

The largest single cut in federal housing policy would target the Housing Choice Voucher program. Better known as Section 8, it’s currently administered by the federal government and helps low-income tenants with their rental payments. The White House is proposing shifting responsibility for the administration of that program, which it calls “dysfunctional,” to states, while cutting its funding in half.

This is the big ticket one. And its actually insane??!!

But lets see. Progressive have failed spectacularly on getting homelessness under control. I dont have faith in the current GOP at all tho.

[Endus]

Yes but they don't like admitting that out loud so if he actually straight up fessed up on live TV there would have to be some push back rigth?

Before his first term, he bragged about "grabbing women by the pussy", and it only seemed to improve his numbers. Don't underestimate the depths of amoralitry that Republicans are willing to stoop to; their positions are not based on ethical principles, just blind allegiance to the regime.

[Edge-]

Before his first term, he bragged about "grabbing women by the pussy", and it only seemed to improve his numbers. Don't underestimate the depths of amoralitry that Republicans are willing to stoop to; their positions are not based on ethical principles, just blind allegiance to the regime.

decades of priming an audience to be cult members is finally paying off, baby. critical thinking is the enemy.

[Draco-Onis]

"How about we just..."
Oh, that would be simple, wouldn't it? Let's do that today.

Are you confused about what it is we do on this forum? or are you simply niffed with the word "how about"? let me know if you need clarification on the nature of discussions.