Mega-Thread: Trump Focused Discussion

[Zaydin]

P.S. his hand was damn near dipped in makeup.

With how rich he claims to be and all that, you'd think either he could hire a make up artist to do that shit for him or get the White House to find someone who could do a better job trying to blend it in.

So either his narcissism extends to applying his own makeup and the dementia addled fuck thinks he can do it better than professionals or the professionals who do it for him secretly hate him and he's too stupid to realize it.

[Odinfrost]

With how rich he claims to be and all that, you'd think either he could hire a make up artist to do that shit for him or get the White House to find someone who could do a better job trying to blend it in.

So either his narcissism extends to applying his own makeup and the dementia addled fuck thinks he can do it better than professionals or the professionals who do it for him secretly hate him and he's too stupid to realize it.

Or, the makeup process takes a long time, and they had to rush it.

[Mayhem]

Or, the makeup process takes a long time, and they had to rush it.

Probably not easy to match his bluish/reddish decaying looking hands with normal makeup.

[Poopymonster]

You think when he dies, his children will have him remains buried at his golf course so they could use it as tax write off/tourist attraction.

Probably at Mar-A-Lardo.
His cenotaph will be a 18+ foot tall statue of himself, "gold", swole, and svelte.
Of course he'll have that smile. The one that says "I"m not allowed within 100 yards of a school".
And people will flock to it like it's Graceland. But tackier.

[Kathandira]

I know its too much to ask for regular Joe's to boycotts all this stuff, but just keep an eye out for some names and avoid them if possible.
American Eagle Outfitters Inc. (ticker: AEO)
Tesla Inc. (TSLA)
Starbucks Corp. (SBUX)
Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN)
Home Depot Inc. (HD)
Walmart Inc. (WMT)
Palantir Technologies Inc. (PLTR)

Walmart and Amazon are the only ones I would have to go out of my way to boycott. The others...

Tesla: I wouldn't have bought one of their cars before Elon went publically insane.
Starbucks: Horribly over priced coffee. No one who doesn't have a comfy savings and a future plan should be buying that crap any way.
Home Depot: I prefer Lowes anyhow.
Palantir: This one I need to look up. I am not sure what tech I use in my day to day life that is associated with them.

This is the beauty of our capitalistic society. Since there are so many options, it is generally pretty easy to not shop somewhere and chose a more preferential option.

[Elenos]

https://thehill.com/policy/defense/5...st-point-wwii/

President Trump on Monday celebrated the decision by a West Point alumni group to cancel an event to honor the actor Tom Hanks for his support of the military and veterans.

“Our great West Point (getting greater all the time!) has smartly cancelled the Award Ceremony for actor Tom Hanks. Important move!” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social. “We don’t need destructive, WOKE recipients getting our cherished American Awards!!! Hopefully the Academy Awards, and other Fake Award Shows, will review their Standards and Practices in the name of Fairness and Justice.”

All I can think of is: Tom Hanks has done more for America, Americans and veterans than you ever will you little orange shit.

[Kaleredar]

https://thehill.com/policy/defense/5...st-point-wwii/



All I can think of is: Tom Hanks has done more for America, Americans and veterans than you ever will you little orange shit.

If trump is estimating that people like him more than tom hanks he’s going to be majorly disappointed

[Breccia]

Tom Hanks has done more for America, Americans and veterans than you ever will you little orange shit.

There is a reason he was going to get the award in the first place. He's gotten awards for honoring the military before. It was nixed this time because Trump is petty.

"Surely Tom Hanks is disrespecting the military by disrespecting the person who leads it! That counts!"

Interesting theory. Hey, how many awards did Biden cancel?

"Uh...none?"

Obama?

"He canceled the Rank Awards in 2013!"

First, those aren't military. Second, he did so for budgetary reasons. Third, Trump canceled them in 2020 for the same reason so that doesn't apply here anyhow.

Even Trump said the reason was personal. Just before he threatened the "fake" Academy Awards. Which is censorship.

- - - Updated - - -

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent defended the impact of Trump’s tariffs on U.S. manufacturing jobs, as leaders in the industry call for an end to the tariffs, arguing it’s “been a couple of months.”

“It’s been a couple of months. And with the manufacturing sector … we can’t snap our fingers and have factories built,” he said.

He added the U.S. is seeing a “record amount of investment intentions.”

“The ‘One Big Beautiful Bill,’ which has full expensing for factories and equipment, was passed on July 4th,” he continued. “Many companies were holding back then. So, we are going to see construction jobs. And we are going to see manufacturing jobs.”

"Did he name a single one?"

No.

"Didn't you just post that construction jobs were down?"

Yes, but @Rasulis gets the credit for that topic, he started it.

"Where was this patience when Biden was President? They're asking for years and months before any results show up."

It takes a while to cook the books.

Since April, manufacturing jobs have fallen by 12,000 and are now down by 42,000. Businesses have complained for months since Trump announced sweeping tariffs that they are slowing the economy.

Trump personally put tariffs on building materials.

"Did Biden create, or lose, manufacturing jobs?"

Manufacturing jobs grew by about 30,000 per month in 2021-

"Hey, counting 2021 isn't fair!"

-and 32,000 per month in 2022, which is even higher.

"...oh."

They grew about 12,000 per month in 2023. Now to be fair, while 2024 was good for jobs in general, manufacturing did lose 13,000 in 2024.

"So Biden sucks! MAGA!"

Yes, Biden "only" added twelve point nine million manufacturing jobs. And lost 13,000 in one year that Trump lost in one month. Biden added far more jobs than he lost, and Trump cannot say that. Also, Trump's manufacturing job numbers were not all that impressive. 2017 and 2018 were fine, even if Biden did beat both of those. 2019 was flat. And, well, 2020 was 2020.

Of course, it could be worse. W lost manufacturing jobs literally every year.

By contrast, Obama had flat growth in 2016, inherited W's recession in 2009, and had manufacturing job growth in every other year.

If you were to put 2001 through 2024 in order by manufacturing jobs gained, Biden would have #1 and #2, Trump would have #3 and #6, and Obama would round out the top ten. Trump was not as good for jobs as he claimed he would be, and we're seeing it again.

Trump could still see his numbers recover, but bear in mind, his year so far is -42,000. If he saw average growth from here on out, 2025 would still end up negative. And Bessent specifically and directly said that wasn't going to happen.

Everything Trump touches dies.

[Endus]

Just a reminder that the Nazis were infamous for their occult shit and pseudoscience because they were actively hostile to real scientists and academia as a whole. Which also happens to be the reason the USA got a ton of great scientists during and before WW2, scientists rightfully knew they were looked down upon and took themselves somewhere else.

This is only partially true.

The Nazis were ideology-first, and science that conflicted with their ideology was purged. Largely biology and medical science that contradicted their views on humanity. But they fully supported the work of medical scientists like Josef Mengele, whose work was attempting to shore up that ideology (among other terrible things), and the wild success of the Nazi rocketry program not only resulted in the first man-made object to reach space, but post-WWII became the basis of the American space program via Werner Von Braun (who was, insanely, granted full leniency despite being a full-throated Nazi in every way; they should have let him contribute from a prison cell).

A lot of the occultist stuff is also pretty overblown due to things like Indiana Jones. A lot of it came about from a desire to see the rise of Nazism as having an occult origin, as if we could blame "real" demons or whatnot for the horrendous evils of the Reich, when it really was just that people can be utterly evil all by themselves just fine, thanks.

Which actually makes it a closer analogue of the USA. Ideology-first approach to science, and the weird cult shit is a consequence, not the driving engine behind the movement (which is why it still draws people in from outside).

[Edge-]

https://www.npr.org/2025/09/03/nx-s1...nder-dysphoria

Eight years ago — under President Trump's first term — Air Force Master Sgt. Logan Ireland needed a doctor's note diagnosing him with gender dysphoria to continue serving his country.

Now, that same doctor's note is the reason why he's being kicked out of service.

Earlier this year, the Pentagon included gender dysphoria as one of the medical conditions that disqualify people from military service.

This policy goes further than Trump's first term and is now leaving thousands of openly trans service members, including Ireland, with no due process to save their jobs … and in some cases, without the benefits they were promised.

Donald and Republicans war on trans Americans for the crime of "being alive" continues.

This is why "following the rules" with bad faith, dishonesty, awful people like Donald and Republicans is always a losing situation. Because the point is, and has always been, abject cruelty towards marginalized folks because Republicans love punching down more than anything else in the world.

- - - Updated - - -

https://apnews.com/article/supreme-c...052b326c8b7173

The Supreme Court on Monday cleared the way for federal agents to conduct sweeping immigration operations in Los Angeles, the latest victory for President Donald Trump’s administration at the high court.

The conservative majority lifted a restraining order from a judge who found that “roving patrols” were conducting indiscriminate arrests in LA. The order had barred agents from stopping people solely based on their race, language, job or location.

Trump’s Republican administration argued the order wrongly restricted agents carrying out its widespread crackdown on illegal immigration.

U.S. District Judge Maame E. Frimpong in Los Angeles had found a “mountain of evidence” that enforcement tactics were violating the Constitution. The plaintiffs included U.S. citizens swept up in immigration stops. An appeals court had left Frimpong’s ruling in place.

The Supreme Court’s 6-3 decision comes as Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents also step up enforcement in Washington amid Trump’s unprecedented federal takeover of the capital city’s law enforcement and deployment of the National Guard.

another Republican precedent

if Democrats ever get into power again they can harass and terrorize conservatives thanks to this immigration ruling

just a reminder that all the abject cruelty that republicans are visiting upon "libs" can and should be returned tenfold to Republicans

truly awful, despicable, terrible human beings.

the second amendment exists for a reason.

[Breccia]

A lot of the occultist stuff is also pretty overblown due to things like Indiana Jones.

There's a lot of fictional media that goes this way, including DC Comics (Hitler got the Spear of Destiny that stopped him from being one-shot by Wonder Woman) Castle Wolfenstein and, uh, well, Hellboy. Hitler may have been obsessed with the occult, but he never actually raised zombie troopers.

You could make the argument that Trump is also obsessed with the occult, but in the sense that he's trying to create a religion in which he's God. None of his actions match any existing religion, despite his claims.

Nazi Germany did have a lot of strong results in science and especially engineering, not always good results (they invented a tank so heavy it would crush the roads it tried to drive on). However, you could not argue that Trump's trying to make advances in science and engineering. He is demonstrably going backwards, because he literally can't think of or remember anything else.

- - - Updated - - -

Donald and Republicans war on trans Americans for the crime of "being alive" continues.

I hereby allow Trump to remove any homosexual or trans people from the military, as long as I get to nominate a straight white middle-aged male to replace them.

(sits back)

(crosses arms)

(waits)

[Rasulis]

There is a reason he was going to get the award in the first place. He's gotten awards for honoring the military before. It was nixed this time because Trump is petty.

"Surely Tom Hanks is disrespecting the military by disrespecting the person who leads it! That counts!"

Interesting theory. Hey, how many awards did Biden cancel?

"Uh...none?"

Obama?

"He canceled the Rank Awards in 2013!"

First, those aren't military. Second, he did so for budgetary reasons. Third, Trump canceled them in 2020 for the same reason so that doesn't apply here anyhow.

Even Trump said the reason was personal. Just before he threatened the "fake" Academy Awards. Which is censorship.

- - - Updated - - -

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent defended the impact of Trump’s tariffs on U.S. manufacturing jobs, as leaders in the industry call for an end to the tariffs, arguing it’s “been a couple of months.”



"Did he name a single one?"

No.

"Didn't you just post that construction jobs were down?"

Yes, but @Rasulis gets the credit for that topic, he started it.

"Where was this patience when Biden was President? They're asking for years and months before any results show up."

It takes a while to cook the books.



Trump personally put tariffs on building materials.

"Did Biden create, or lose, manufacturing jobs?"

Manufacturing jobs grew by about 30,000 per month in 2021-

"Hey, counting 2021 isn't fair!"

-and 32,000 per month in 2022, which is even higher.

"...oh."

They grew about 12,000 per month in 2023. Now to be fair, while 2024 was good for jobs in general, manufacturing did lose 13,000 in 2024.

"So Biden sucks! MAGA!"

Yes, Biden "only" added twelve point nine million manufacturing jobs. And lost 13,000 in one year that Trump lost in one month. Biden added far more jobs than he lost, and Trump cannot say that. Also, Trump's manufacturing job numbers were not all that impressive. 2017 and 2018 were fine, even if Biden did beat both of those. 2019 was flat. And, well, 2020 was 2020.

Of course, it could be worse. W lost manufacturing jobs literally every year.

By contrast, Obama had flat growth in 2016, inherited W's recession in 2009, and had manufacturing job growth in every other year.

If you were to put 2001 through 2024 in order by manufacturing jobs gained, Biden would have #1 and #2, Trump would have #3 and #6, and Obama would round out the top ten. Trump was not as good for jobs as he claimed he would be, and we're seeing it again.

Trump could still see his numbers recover, but bear in mind, his year so far is -42,000. If he saw average growth from here on out, 2025 would still end up negative. And Bessent specifically and directly said that wasn't going to happen.

Everything Trump touches dies.

Somebody needs to tell him that for construction to boom, you need carpenters, bricklayers, electricians, plumbers, etc. There simply aren't enough American born skilled craftsmen. That's what you get for the constant attack on US unions.

[Edge-]

Somebody needs to tell him that for construction to boom, you need carpenters, bricklayers, electricians, plumbers, etc. There simply aren't enough American born skilled craftsmen. That's what you get for the constant attack on US unions.

it's not like racist nazi grandpa with a broken brain could understand that

[Kaleredar]

it's not like racist nazi grandpa with a broken brain could understand that

It’s not that he does or doesn’t understand.

He doesn’t care either way.

I think you all both under and over estimate Trump. He doesn’t have some moral philosophy he’s pushing. He doesn’t necessarily “ want the white race to dominate,” if he did that would mean that, racist as that is, he’d have to still care about other people in some capacity. The only element of that that could be true is that he likes being around other white people more than any other people. But you can bet he wants all of those white people to still be subservient… to him.

He wants to be in charge, he wants to make money for himself, he wants everyone to be made to respect him and he wants to do whatever he wants. He courts nazis and racists because they don’t question him and he can count on their fervor and anger. He breaks things because it’s easy, and he’s insulated himself enough for it to not matter. His goals don’t extend past tomorrow, and certainly not in any way for a world after he’s gone.

In a sense that’s a silver lining. He’s a man with no morals beyond personal enrichment and power. He just doesn’t care how he gets it, and the easiest way is to do so through the dumbest and angriest people as they’re the most easily manipulated. And because of that… he’s not trying to create an empire that will last for a thousand years after his death. He’s not trying to build systems, he’s trying to tear down existing ones and create a free-for-all where he can reign supreme. Dismantling what Trump has actually built (aside from fucking up the Supreme Court that is, voters really shat the bed in 2016 on that one) won’t actually be that hard. It’ll be rebuilding what he’s destroyed that’s going to take the effort.

[Breccia]

Somebody needs to tell him that for construction to boom, you need carpenters, bricklayers, electricians, plumbers, etc. There simply aren't enough American born skilled craftsmen. That's what you get for the constant attack on US unions.

Actually, I'm all in favor of trade schools. Probably need some funding, I doubt their potential employers will risk setting them up on their own dime even if they'd benefit from it. Well, good thing we have a Department of Educohhhhhhhhhhhhh right.

Funny story: even if Trump said, right now, "let's make a thousand taxpayer-funded trade schools to make a literal million workers" the first graduates wouldn't come off the line until 2028. Trump can't fix the problem Trump caused.

[Rasulis]

Actually, I'm all in favor of trade schools. Probably need some funding, I doubt their potential employers will risk setting them up on their own dime even if they'd benefit from it. Well, good thing we have a Department of Educohhhhhhhhhhhhh right.

Funny story: even if Trump said, right now, "let's make a thousand taxpayer-funded trade schools to make a literal million workers" the first graduates wouldn't come off the line until 2028. Trump can't fix the problem Trump caused.

In CA, whenever we do a government job, we are supposed to request for an apprentice from the local union house of appropriate craft (welding, concrete, soil). In over 30 years the local union has yet to send us one. I don't think there is a lot of interest in the bread and butter skills of the construction industry.

[Sunseeker]

In CA, whenever we do a government job, we are supposed to request for an apprentice from the local union house of appropriate craft (welding, concrete, soil). In over 30 years the local union has yet to send us one. I don't think there is a lot of interest in the bread and butter skills of the construction industry.

Because it doesnt pay well, the treatment is shitty, and you bust up your body doing it.

Sure, if you really get your chops you might make a lot of money down the road, you could own your own business, or you could get your leg crushed by an idiot who cant tie down a load and never work in the trades again.

Oh and the customer almost always thinks it wasnt very hard and they totally could have gotten someone else to do it cheaper, or they could have done it themselves in an hour.

I swear the "trades" are about as thankless work as retail. Everyone should be conscripted to work in one or the other for at least 2 years.

And a construction boom just isnt going to happen with the skyrocketing cost of materials and a quarter to a third of all homes being owned by investors.

[Rasulis]

Because it doesnt pay well, the treatment is shitty, and you bust up your body doing it.

Sure, if you really get your chops you might make a lot of money down the road, you could own your own business, or you could get your leg crushed by an idiot who cant tie down a load and never work in the trades again.

Oh and the customer almost always thinks it wasnt very hard and they totally could have gotten someone else to do it cheaper, or they could have done it themselves in an hour.

I swear the "trades" are about as thankless work as retail. Everyone should be conscripted to work in one or the other for at least 2 years.

And a construction boom just isnt going to happen with the skyrocketing cost of materials and a quarter to a third of all homes being owned by investors.

Can't speak for non-union construction projects. We are a union shop. I think we pay our guys quite generously (see below). Yes. We don't do private works. No developers will hire us with our rates. Which is fine by me. If there is one thing to be said about working for the government, you always get paid. Not always on time. But you will get paid.

https://www.dir.ca.gov/OPRL/2025-2/P...23-63-3(D).pdf

Here is the apprentice rate.

https://www.dir.ca.gov/OPRL/pwappwag...ageId=25237508

[Endus]

There's a lot of fictional media that goes this way, including DC Comics (Hitler got the Spear of Destiny that stopped him from being one-shot by Wonder Woman) Castle Wolfenstein and, uh, well, Hellboy. Hitler may have been obsessed with the occult, but he never actually raised zombie troopers.

I mean, I'm aware. Obviously. Indiana Jones is just a really obvious and widely-popular example, and it predates most of the others in the public consciousness as a big example. It becomes harder to determine if those later properties are pulling from history, or pulling from prior properties like Indiana Jones.

Nazi Germany did have a lot of strong results in science and especially engineering, not always good results (they invented a tank so heavy it would crush the roads it tried to drive on). However, you could not argue that Trump's trying to make advances in science and engineering. He is demonstrably going backwards, because he literally can't think of or remember anything else.

The other big myth about the Nazis is that they were particularly intelligent/strategic/effective. They weren't. They were mostly weird little freaks. It's a myth that arose because it's easier to tell yourself they were evil but really good at stuff and it's the "really good at stuff" that led to their success, not the "being evil and the general apathy of the average person" of it all.

Goebbels was just an earlier version of Matt Walsh or Charlie Kirk or Ben Shapiro. Weird little freak energy combined with deep unreasoning hatreds. Hitler was not a "great orator"; he's whiny and petulant and shrill, but he was saying stuff the bigots wanted to hear, so they flocked to him on that account. A "good orator" can make you think the phone book is fascinating and interesting. They're convincing. Nobody was convinced of shit by Hitler, or Trump today. They're both shit at oratory. Their message appeals to those who're already in agreement with it. And they applaud having their precious little egos stroked. That's all it is.

It's the same reason "Christian Rock" is a joke. They find success because Christians will support Christians, not because their music is actually good. Which is also why they practically never find success in the broader world. The standards get lowered, significantly, when the person's communicating messaging you agree with.

Sure, Trump's not making advances in those specific areas he might otherwise try to, I'm just pointing out that a post-Trump MAGA might fully support things like eugenics research and bio-weapons research and the like, the sciences that support what they want to achieve, rather than science itself as a methodological framework. Like I've said in multiple other threads, fundamentally, conservatives do not have moral or ethical principles. Not beyond "might makes right", at least, the idea that rules will be used to attack their enemies and protect their own and the specific principles of those rules do not matter beyond that function. Same with science. If they can use it, they'll use it, if it helps their enemies, they'll throw the books in the street and make a bonfire.

[postman1782]

WSJ released the letter Trump wrote to Epstein.



He claimed he didn't draw on the letter, he claimed he didn't write a letter, but we can see the signature.

https://www.wsj.com/us-news/law/epst...hare_permalink


Here is a breakdown of the letter that is in the article.

https://www.wsj.com/us-news/law/trum...hare_permalink