Mega-Thread: Trump Focused Discussion

[Rasulis]

On a totally unrelated news SNAP and other food aid programs have stopped accepting new applicants and are closing parts of the program. Why would we need to feed poor children and families when the gestapo is doing great work like stalking kindergartens and middle schools?

Guns before children. What can I say. The priorities of the current administration and GOP in general are out of whack.

[Kathandira]

Donny the War Hawk! He and the Clintons can be besties now! (Since he claims THEY are the war hawks)

[Edge-]

Guns before children. What can I say. The priorities of the current administration and GOP in general are out of whack.

"pro-life/family" party ripping families apart and defunding programs that help young mothers and families but they have endless money to spend on guns and racist domestic terror

[Milchshake]

pRESIDENTS SWEARING OUT LOUD by the Resolute Desk? I thought this was America!

If Obama or Biden had sworn like that... Jake Tapper would clench his pearls so hard he'd shit an oyster.

[Edge-]

pRESIDENTS SWEARING OUT LOUD by the Resolute Desk? I thought this was America!

If Obama or Biden had sworn like that... Jake Tapper would clench his pearls so hard he'd shit an oyster.

muh decorum, though

find me some synthetic pearls to clutch

[Rasulis]

What happens if the Supreme Court kill Article 2? Will it put the House out of reach for Democrats for a generation? According to Slate, not necessarily so. It does require Democrats to be as ruthless as GOP.

Democrats Have One Brutal Path to Survival if the Supreme Court Kills the Voting Rights Act

The Supreme Court’s evident commitment to eviscerating what remains of the Voting Rights Act appears certain to hand an electoral bonanza to Republicans. If the Republican-appointed justices end federal protections for minority representation, as they sounded eager to do during Wednesday’s arguments in Callais v. Louisiana, Southern states can quickly gerrymander Black and brown communities into oblivion. The resulting maps will hand white voters almost total control over these states’ congressional maps, producing a net gain of 15 to 19 GOP seats in the House of Representatives. As the New York Times’ Nate Cohn explains, the VRA’s demise could put the House out of reach for Democrats outside of a rare “blue wave” election.

The impact of this decision would be devastating for Democrats in the South: Many left-leaning congressional districts in this region were drawn solely to comply with the VRA; once the law is dismantled, red states could eliminate these districts to create more safe GOP seats. Gov. Ron DeSantis, for instance, has already suggested that Florida will undertake “mid-decade redistricting” if the Supreme Court kneecaps the VRA and speculated that several other states will too. The new maps would ruthlessly dilute the votes of racial minorities to give white Republican voters control over more seats.

But there is a flip side: Red states aren’t the only ones with majority-minority districts; blue states have long drawn them as well, out of good-faith compliance with the VRA. Democratic legislatures typically create these districts to ensure that racial minorities have a fair shot at electing candidates of their choice. That approach prevents lawmakers from drawing more “efficient” gerrymanders—that is, maps that distribute voters in ways that maximally increase Democrats’ electoral advantage. For decades, the Democratic Party has accepted this trade-off: stronger representation for racial minorities, and a more diverse congressional delegation, at the cost of fewer House seats overall.

Consider New York. The state’s 26 House seats are currently split between 19 Democrats and seven Republicans. That includes many majority-minority districts in and around New York City. (Depending on how they’re defined, New York has about 10 such districts.) Currently, to comply with the VRA, the legislature has grouped many minority neighborhoods—so-called communities of interest—in districts together. But since nonwhite voters are disproportionately Democratic, that produces “wasted votes”: ballots cast in excess of what the Democrat needs to win. If the legislature “unpacked” these districts by dispersing minorities into areas now dominated by white Republicans, it could enact a map that gives Democrats 24 House seats and Republicans just two. That’s a five-seat pickup for Democrats.

Similar opportunities await the party in New Jersey, whose House delegation is split between nine Democrats and three Republicans. The state has about five majority-minority districts. If nonwhite voters were redistributed more “efficiently,” Democrats could likely pick up one or two more seats. Illinois currently sends 14 Democrats and three Republicans to the House, but as data scientist Zachary Donnini has shown, unpacking the state’s five majority-minority districts could wipe out its three GOP representatives. Democrats would then hold all 17 seats. In Maryland and Nevada, redrawing multiple VRA-compliant districts could knock off each state’s lone GOP congressman.

Together, these gerrymanders could give Democrats 12 more seats in the House. That doesn’t even include California, which is on the brink of handing Democrats five more seats through a ballot measure called Proposition 50. California Democrats devised this new map to counteract Texas Republicans’ mid-decade redistricting ambush, but it still sacrifices electoral efficiency to preserve VRA-compliant districts. After Callais, California could enact an even more aggressive gerrymander that awards Democrats several more seats.

There are, of course, obstacles to all of these plans. Right now, New York and New Jersey give primary redistricting authority to bipartisan commissions that (in theory) may not favor one party over another. But California does the same, and Gov. Gavin Newsom is attempting to find a way around it. There is plenty of time for both New York and New Jersey to alter their constitutions in time for the 2028 elections, when Callais’ full force will likely be felt. Nevada’s Republican governor would likely reject any new gerrymander, so voters would need to oust him in 2026 or give the Legislature a Democratic supermajority that could override his veto. In short, the barriers to a new gerrymander after Callais aren’t insurmountable in any of these states. Democrats just need to be as resolute and strategic as Republicans have been in their decadeslong assault on the Voting Rights Act.

There is, alas, no way around two unfortunate consequences of this plan: The number of competitive elections will dwindle, and nonwhite representation will almost certainly fall. Majority-minority districts have long driven diversity in the House, as the VRA intended, and their decline would likely deny Black, Hispanic, and Asian Americans the federal representation they deserve. And blue states’ efforts to preserve these seats have, in turn, produced more evenly divided districts elsewhere, giving voters a meaningful choice at a time when competitive races are vanishing.

It will not be blue states’ fault, though, when the Supreme Court guts the Voting Rights Act. The question will be how best to respond to the judicial destruction of a landmark civil rights statute that did more to advance multiracial democracy than any other law in history. They can strive to uphold its spirit by fighting a losing battle for minority representation. Or they can exploit its wreckage to build a new map of power.

Bottom line is that many of the limitations placed on the Democratic parties are self-imposed. It is time to shed those shackles and play for keep.

[Breccia]

Trump fired the person in charge of the jobs reports, then shut down the government so there'd be no reports at all.

Corporate America just shrugs and gets their own job data. As expected, it's bad.

Bank of America’s latest small business hiring data further strengthen the case that the Fed cuts this month. The data point to small businesses tapping the brakes and holding off on adding workers.

“There are further signs of a slowdown in the small business labor market. Our proprietary alternative hiring indicator based on Bank of America small business payments data was down 7% in September,” wrote the analysts.

“This is consistent with the narrative of hiring deceleration presented in the Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey [Jolts] August reading.”

The monthly Jolts survey showed 7.2 million open and unfilled positions in August, down from 7.6 million one year ago and a peak of more than 12 million in 2022.

The data follow another Bank of America jobs report earlier this month, showing that continuing unemployment claims grew in September while payrolls declined.

Furthermore, according to Challenger, Gray and Christmas, layoffs have surged in the U.S. over the past year. In 2025 through September, layoffs had been the highest since the Covid-19 shutdowns of 2020, while hiring had been the lowest since the exit from the Great Recession in 2009.

Trump has caused massive damage to the economy, and damn near all by himself. Trump is a failure.

Speaking of failures, Trump is a failure. Remember when he said India would stop buying Russian oil? India doesn't remember that conversation.

"The Times of India? Really?"

Fine, CNN it is.

Trump on Wednesday said Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi had “assured me today that they (India) will not be buying oil from Russia,” which is subject to US sanctions, describing it as a “big step.”

But on Thursday India’s foreign ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal told reporters he was “not aware of any conversation” between Trump and Modi, or any assurance from the Indian leader that he would stop purchasing Russian oil.

Earlier in the day, India’s foreign ministry said the country was a “significant importer of oil and gas,” without naming Russia nor referencing Modi’s purported assurance.

“Ensuring stable energy prices and secured supplies have been the twin goals of our energy policy. This includes broad-basing our energy sourcing and diversifying as appropriate to meet market conditions,” the statement said.

India has long maintained close ties with the Kremlin and is due to host Russian President Vladimir Putin later this year. It has emerged as one of the top buyers of Russian oil since Moscow’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine. The war sparked massive sanctions against Moscow’s oil industry and sent prices cratering.

For months, New Delhi has resisted Trump’s calls to cease purchasing Russian oil, saying it would not bend over the energy needs of its booming economy and growing population, now at more than 1.4 billion people.

India stopping such a major import overnight seems like it would have significant logistical issues. Don't get me wrong, fuck Russia right in the pipeline, but the distance between New Dehli and Moscow are about 3,000 miles apart overland. A tanker going from Texas to India would go about 10,000 miles. You cannot make that change at the snap of tiny fingers, you cannot do it on a whim, and you certainly don't do it and then mysteriously tell nobody but Trump.

It would be almost impossible for India to suddenly halt purchases of crude from Russia, its largest supplier, said Muyu Xu, a senior oil analyst at trade intelligence firm Kpler.

Russia delivered roughly 1.7–1.8 million barrels per day, according to Xu, who cited figures covering the first nine months of this year.

“I don’t think India can stop buying Russian oil overnight. The volumes are simply too large,” she told CNN. “Replacing that volume from the spot market is no easy task. Beyond the sheer quantity, differences in crude quality and refinery yields make substitution far from a one for one swap.”

Data from Kpler shows state-owned refiners trimmed back Russian purchases in recent months, while some private players increased their intake of Russian barrels.

The state-owned Indian Oil Corporation Limited purchased 10.35 million barrels of Russian oil in January compared to 4.62 million barrels in September, data from Kpler shows. So far in October, Indian Oil Corporation Limited purchased 7.03 million barrels, the data showed.

Quite frankly, India has no reason to do this. Trump already put tariffs on, and has already broken tariff deals with multiple countries once considered allies. It is reasonable to look at Trump's intentional public words and actions and say "Trump is claiming he needs tariff money to keep the country from imploding. He will find a reason to tariff us, whether we get oil for heat and cars or not."

Incidentally, we export about $40 billion to India every year. We import over double that. A 25% tariff would therefore be another $20 billion tax hike on taxpaying Americans, per year.

Trump is a liar, a coward, and a failure.

[Edge-]

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/...litary-custody

Have we talked about the expanding WAR ON DRUGS?

The US has seized survivors of a military strike on a suspected drug-carrying vessel in the Caribbean, the first since Donald Trump began launching deadly attacks in the region last month, according to officials in Washington.

Trump later confirmed the attack, telling reporters that the targeted vessel was a narco-submarine.

“We attacked a submarine, and that was a drug-carrying submarine built specifically for the transportation of massive amounts of drugs,” Trump said while hosting the Ukrainian president at the White House.

...

Thursday’s attack is believed to be at least the sixth strike in the waters off Venezuela since early September, and the first to result in survivors who were picked up by the US military. It was not immediately clear what would be done with the survivors, who the officials said were being held on a US navy vessel.

...

This strike on Thursday brings the death toll from the US military action against vessels in the region to at least 28.

NO NEW WARS

But this war is ok.

going into foreign waters to kill suspected drug smugglers extrajudicially

great stuff

nations have gone to war over less and donald and pete are just bullies abusing the fact that venezuela can't do anything to the us in retaliation

republicans suck

these people suck

all these people and everyone who supports them, suck

[Fugus]

Bottom line is that many of the limitations placed on the Democratic parties are self-imposed. It is time to shed those shackles and play for keep.

I wish they would but I honestly see that weakness as the whole point of the party at this point. There will be some push but there will be plenty of fence sitters who didn’t believe what they campaign on and only said it for votes and will gladly allow it to happen if they think their personal seat is safe and they can spend their time just talking about stuff they never liked to begin with.

We know Chuck Schumer and the Bailies will be just fine with it.

God, this shit might get real fucking bloody before it’s all said and done it looks like. And I hate it but Republicans would rather burn this nation down than lose power and Democrats would largely rather let them than listen to their left flank or even their center….

Edit: At this point, I just hope a wave comes that so strong it overwhelms their gerrymandering and backfires. Which may be possible if Trump passes as there is no cult leader at that point.

[PhaelixWW]

In a blatant attempt to normalize lying and fraud in politics...

Trump commutes former Rep. George Santos' prison sentence

Trump: "Good luck George, have a great life!”

[Paranoid Android]

Here we go.

The commute of George Santos is 99% ragebait, troll to get everyone up in arms. The one concerning thing for me was in Trump's post was a quality Always Voted Republican. I can read that this is a political favor, but hey he would not be the first.

[Draco-Onis]

Guns before children. What can I say. The priorities of the current administration and GOP in general are out of whack.

Let's not forget the 40 billion dollars we are giving to Argentina in return for nothing.

[Edge-]

In a blatant attempt to normalize lying and fraud in politics...

Trump commutes former Rep. George Santos' prison sentence

Trump: "Good luck George, have a great life!”

lol literally just a middle finger to all the people he lied to and stole from

republicans have the weirdest humiliation fetish, i swear.

[Bwgmon]

Let's not forget the 40 billion dollars we are giving to Argentina in return for nothing.

Hey now, it's not for nothing.

Trump and his lackeys likely bought a promise for a safe haven there in the event they need to flee the US.

[Captain N]

Everyone: Release The Epstein Files.

Donald Trump: Best I can do is release George Santos.

I hate this timeline.

[Edge-]

i wonder how new york republican house reps feels about this.

i remember them being pretty fucking furious at santos losing them a seat

[Valdhammer]

Everyone: Release The Epstein Files.

Donald Trump: Best I can do is release George Santos.

I hate this timeline.

I hate it too, but I also know that today is the best life will ever be. With imbedded Trumpism, Climate Change, and AI things can only get worse.

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i wonder how new york republican house reps feels about this.

i remember them being pretty fucking furious at santos losing them a seat

Fraud doesn’t matter anymore. The president has a meme coin and is openly accepting bribes. No Republican is upset about this. Winning just got easier for them.

[PhaelixWW]

Trump and his lackeys likely bought a promise for a safe haven there in the event they need to flee the US.

Straight out of the 1945 fascist playbook. Classic.

[Dead Moose Fandango]

Can we start eating the leopards yet?

[Mayhem]

poor or no credit. sub prime.

Oh gee I know that movie...
The big short was 2015, bit early to do a remake already

On the other hand, it's just perfect for out time.

The big short 2 "sleezy car salesman" filmed entirely with AI.

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Trains they'll continuously complain about and I'm here like "Wish I had this back home..."

Tbf with Austria and Switzerland next to them, they have every reason to complain about their trains.