Mega-Thread: Trump Focused Discussion

[PhaelixWW]

lmao this is pretty regular stuff for search indexing and seo baiting and whatnot, especially for syndicated pages (MSN)

I know, right?

I mean, you'd hope a similar thing wouldn't happen with google trends, which should have an easier time at getting the correct date for actual searches, but we really have no idea what goes on under the hood. They could merge the pure search data with click-through choices as part of their overall ranking algorithm. I can think of several ways it could happen right off the bat.

And when "a google algorithm fuckup" is placed against "a weird conspiracy theory involving someone googling both the victim and shooter days before the event and then successfully pressuring google to cover it up"...

...I know which one Occam's razor would suggest.

[En Sabah Nur]

...I know which one Occam's razor would suggest.

The more this conversation goes on, the more I just think TikTok has a lot to answer for.

[gondrin]

Here is a little fun fact. The United States Department of Education handles all civil rights complaints that come from colleges, universities and any local school that receives federal funding via the Office of Civil Rights. There is no other department that handles this stuff. Not even local level Education departments typically handle this stuff as this is usually when a person has exhausted their local resources by some means.

So, now with that fun fact.

This administration is actively trying to recall hundreds of employees temporarily that it fired months ago to handle a caseload that keeps growing. The same administration that actively stated, and actively is trying to do, shut down the very department that is specifically tasks to do such things. A department whose office has typically 450 employees that is now down to 197.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/ed...afcf4fd8&ei=37

Facing a backlog of school discrimination cases, the U.S. Department of Education has asked hundreds of employees it fired months ago to temporarily return to work.

A Dec. 5 email obtained by USA TODAY shows the agency ordered a significant portion of staffers in the Office for Civil Rights to come back later this month. In the "return to duty" directive, officials acknowledged they're facing a sizable caseload of civil rights complaints, and they underscored a need to utilize every resource at the government’s disposal to work through them.

The agency said the request applies to roughly 250 workers who've been on administrative leave for months amid legal challenges to their March firings. Julie Hartman, the Education Department's press secretary for legal affairs, stressed there still aren't any plans to fully rehire those workers permanently.

"The Department will continue to appeal the persistent and unceasing litigation disputes concerning the Reductions in Force, but in the meantime, it will utilize all employees currently being compensated by American taxpayers," she said in a statement to USA TODAY.

The shift is the latest chapter in a monthslong saga that has upended one of the most important offices in the federal Education Department, which President Donald Trump has vowed to close.

Students, parents and educators across the country have long relied on the agency's Office for Civil Rights, also known as OCR, to enforce antidiscrimination laws, especially for students with disabilities. In particular, OCR has helped provide equal access to educational opportunities to families who don't have the financial means to bring costly lawsuits against their school districts or universities.

Yet as the Trump administration has proceeded to dismantle the Education Department – despite lacking the necessary congressional support to do so – the agency's civil rights office has been reduced to a fraction of what it once was. Hundreds of staffers have been laid off. Its key regional divisions in places like Philadelphia and Boston have been largely shuttered.

Of the roughly 450 people OCR still lists as employees, only about 60 haven't received layoff notices in the past year, according to court documents. Nearly 250 were originally terminated in March, and another 137 were fired in October during the government shutdown (their firings were later reversed as part of a deal to end the funding crisis).

Education Secretary Linda McMahon's decision to tap into her own laid-off workforce provides further evidence her agency is struggling more than she has publicly indicated to meet its legally mandated responsibilities.

Since cutting the department in half earlier this year, many families waiting on resolutions to their civil rights complaints have been stuck in limbo. Colleges have also reported significant issues with the federal financial aid system.

In November, McMahon announced new plans to offload many of the department's key responsibilities to other agencies, setting off fears of further disruptions in important programs. She has argued the change will ultimately help streamline the federal government's limited role in the education system.

Now tell me, would you work for a place knowing full well that it was going to be temporary and hostile to you the whole time?

Last fun fact. The whole purpose for these types of offices, much like anything else in the federal government, is to be a resource when your state or local level resources aren't capable of handling something or is part of the problem(like refusing to help). Like anything dealing with labor laws, local municipalities do have their own labor departments that someone can turn to. The states have their own when the local ones cannot help or are unwilling to help. However, when the state level refuses to help for whatever reason, your federal resources are there as a last resort type thing.

And the funny thing is, quite a few of the cases that the OCR is dealing with is from the ADL and other groups this administration supports.

- - - Updated - - -

Coming to a town near you, the Trump Affordability Tour. The same affordability that Trump called a "Democrat Hoax"(his words, not mine).

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/polit...0b10ecb8&ei=10

Donald Trump is preparing to launch his new “affordability tour,” heading to Pennsylvania early next week to revive the worn pledge: “I alone can fix it.” It’s the same nostalgia-driven promise that powered his 2016 ascent. But something has shifted for MAGA. Not only is the economy still grinding under the strain of inflation, high housing costs, and rising bills for energy and insurance, the messaging around those issues is starting to crack — even in places that once functioned as Trump’s best bulwarks.

This hurried sales job, notably, follows shortly after the president’s rhetoric turned sharply dismissive on “affordability” concerns, so much so that even his most loyal surrogates have been scrambling to explain it.

Trump called the affordability crisis a “scam” and a Democrat-crafted “con job” during a Cabinet meeting last Tuesday (in between his apparent naps), telling reporters that “affordability … doesn’t mean anything to anybody.” Vice President JD Vance, attempting a clean-up job the next day, insisted that any expectations that the Trump administration could fix all affordability problems within the first year were a hoax. “The hoax is the idea that it’s our fault and not the Democrats’ fault,” he said.

Hmm, I thought he said on day one that the price of energy, eggs and pretty much everything and anything were going to drop by a whole lot.

Republicans on Capitol Hill, however, are waking up to a grim political reality that many of them can no longer afford to ignore: When people cannot pay rent, fill the tank, buy food or keep a roof over their heads, they’re likely to take out their frustrations on the party in power, no amount of rhetoric or red-meat culture-war fodder can paper over the electoral risks.

November’s off-year election blowout has begun to shake up elements within the Republican Party, reinforcing how risky it is to ignore continued inflation and cost-of-living pressures. In a slew of contests — in states and districts that had once reliably swung Republican — Democrats rolled to unexpected wins or strong showings one year after Trump’s election by focusing on so-called kitchen table issues.

In turn, as Media Matters notes, right-wing media figures have begun to acknowledge an affordability crisis they had previously dismissed or ignored. Now Trump’s own supporters are starting to blame him for high prices, according to a new poll that found 37% of those who supported Trump in 2024 reported that the cost of living is “the worst” they “can ever remember it being.” Another 25% of Trump voters polled said they believe the president is either mostly or entirely responsible for higher prices.

Oops. Maybe people shouldn't vote for a conman that will literally tell you what you want to hear but do nothing of the sort. At least when Ed McMahon basically hawked everything and anything, you got what he sold. It may not have been good stuff but you still received it. With Trump, you got lied to AND are getting laughed at by him. Going on....

Despite unified control of the federal government, Republicans have only managed to pass one piece of substantial legislation this year. Since the rushed passage of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act this summer, the chasm between Trump’s campaign promises and reality has grown ever wider. The BBB was sold as part of Trump’s grand plan to stabilize the economy by extending the corporate tax cuts of 2017, this time including tax breaks for overtime, tips for service workers and interest on auto loans. Trump promised those tweaks would somehow boost take-home pay and ease living costs.

In fact, that bill, by design, funnels its major benefits to wealthy individuals and corporations, while cutting or gutting the safety net programs that millions rely on. It slashed federal support for health care and food assistance, curtailed Medicaid and food-aid programs, and undercut decades-old social supports, all in the name of “tax relief.”

Last time I checked, a large amount of Trump supporters relied on those same programs that were cut. Oops. So bad, so sad. You grabbed the hot pan and now are complaining about being burned.

“We hopefully learned a lesson that while the ‘One Big, Beautiful Bill [Act]’ doesn’t poll well by that name, if you change it to the ‘Working Family’s Tax Cuts Act,’ it polls much better,” Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, recently admitted. “So we need to go back to Marketing 101, I guess.” Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., told the Hill that the president’s interest in other matters has “left a vacuum.”

So the Trump Marketing Team(otherwise only consisting of Trump himself) made up a name that people found dumb and idiotic. Shocked pikachu face I tell ya. Shocked pikachu face.

Democrats, meanwhile, are reportedly planning to jump on every negative inflation data point “as proof that Trump isn’t focused on Americans who are struggling,” pushing their “Making America Affordable Again” message in next year’s midterm elections.

The White House, for its part, is telling Americans one more time that they should really blame Joe Biden for anything and everything that feels off in American life. Meanwhile, the media ecosystem that once served as Trump’s megaphone is notably less willing — or at least less able — to carry his tune.

“There seems to be an issue with the way Republicans are handling this affordability issue,” Fox News anchor Sandra Smith noted Friday.

Kevin Hassett, the director of Trump’s National Economic Council, couldn’t even catch a break on Fox News, where host Martha MacCallum grilled him this week about polling that places responsibility for the economy squarely at Trump’s feet. “When we have ‘Who is responsible for current economic conditions, President Trump or President Biden?’ We have Trump at 62 percent.… What would you say to people who are answering the survey that way, Kevin?” When Hassett claimed that wage growth was now higher than inflation, MacCallum corrected him, saying, “inflation is at 2.9 percent.”

In another recent Fox News segment, Jesse Watters admitted bluntly: “It’s Trump’s economy now … he owns it now.”

Oops. Fox News is starting to call this administration out on his bullshit. The moment OAN or other extremely Trump friendly networks start to jump ship, all hell will pretty much break loose.

Even when trying to prop up Trump on the economy, Fox accidentally highlighted the strength of Biden’s policy. One recent Fox segment credited Trump’s tariffs for creating 400 factory jobs at an Alabama cabinet manufacturer — even though that factory had announced the new jobs during the previous administration.

Typical Fox though, giving Trump credit for something someone else did.

Of course Trump hasn’t been abandoned by everyone at Fox News. Fox Business analyst Charles Payne tried his hand at some optimistic spin on Friday, arguing that “ironically, the media may be overplaying their hand because all of this affordability stuff, as it fades next year when the economy takes off … they are going to have to find a different story.”

That sounds suspiciously like wishful thinking, especially considering that 71,321 job losses were announced in November, taking the total to 1.17 million in 2025. Put simply: the politics of denial isn’t working anymore. Trumpian smoke and bluster just isn’t enough when a majority of voters feel that inflation, housing costs and food prices are out of control. At least for the moment, right-wing narratives about a whopping “economic recovery” that’s supposedly about to start any day now, are doing nothing to lift Trump’s sinking White House.

And like any other thing that this administration has stated, it has a "concept of a plan".

- - - Updated - - -

So, I take this as a legit bet. I hope Kimmel does too.

Donald J Trump, the President of the United States, has said that if his awards presentation doesn't beat out Kimmel as far as talent goes that he should not be President.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/entertainm...ffa7d0ea&ei=26

Trump added that he had "watched some of the people that host" the gala that follows the presentation of the medals at the Kennedy Center compound in Washington D.C., and singled out his recent adversary Kimmel as "horrible," despite the late-night mainstay never having hosted a Kennedy Center Honors ceremony.

He then addressed his own hosting gig at the event, which takes place Sunday. "If I can't beat out Jimmy Kimmel in terms of talent," he said, "then I don't think I should be president."

[Breccia]

TIME Magazine reports Boat destroyed in double-tap strike was not heading to US

"Well, which country was it going to?"

Irrelevant. It wasn't coming here, therefore, it wasn't a threat that needed to be solved by war crimes or murder.

"This article says it was due to drop its drugs off on another boat that could have been coming here."

First of all, "could have" isn't grounds for war crimes or murder. Second of all, if that was true, why not sink the larger boat with its more drugs?

This wasn't a defensive action. This was dictator Trump wanting to murder people.

[Polgara]

TIME Magazine reports Boat destroyed in double-tap strike was not heading to US

"Well, which country was it going to?"

Irrelevant. It wasn't coming here, therefore, it wasn't a threat that needed to be solved by war crimes or murder.

"This article says it was due to drop its drugs off on another boat that could have been coming here."

First of all, "could have" isn't grounds for war crimes or murder. Second of all, if that was true, why not sink the larger boat with its more drugs?

This wasn't a defensive action. This was dictator Trump wanting to murder people.

I'm still not entirely sure the existence of drugs requires murder as a response. I know people are instilled with some hatred of drugs (outside of the good ones they are told are good) but why is murder the correct response? I'm not happy about the concept of completely unmitigated distribution of illicit substances, but that's fixed with... Controlled distribution like painkillers and distribution based on diagnosed, and accepted actionable personal issues that allow functionality. I still can't see a defensible position that doesn't just come across as "Nixon/Reagen make me dick hard" that people are still so anti-illicit substances; and that's being sympathetic that alcohol and similar substances have daddy Uncle Sam's approval.

Fuck grammar, turmp and his cock-sucking sycophants just want murder. There is no depth to their justification. It's just blind, obedient "daddy please spank me" acquiescence. I know this is quite direct and blatant, and I am happy to be convinced otherwise but I can't see any other way to justify this sort of action.

Coming from someone who takes substances to manage ADHD cPTSd and help manage a personality disorder, I don't know why such strong-handed tactics are required for something that can be solved with decent management, oversight and distribution. I'm here to be enlightened though.

[PACOX]

The known knowns and unknown unknowns yadda yadda bullshit. Anyone supporting this administration is alleged drugs.

[Kaleredar]

I'm still not entirely sure the existence of drugs requires murder as a response. I know people are instilled with some hatred of drugs (outside of the good ones they are told are good) but why is murder the correct response? I'm not happy about the concept of completely unmitigated distribution of illicit substances, but that's fixed with... Controlled distribution like painkillers and distribution based on diagnosed, and accepted actionable personal issues that allow functionality. I still can't see a defensible position that doesn't just come across as "Nixon/Reagen make me dick hard" that people are still so anti-illicit substances; and that's being sympathetic that alcohol and similar substances have daddy Uncle Sam's approval.

Fuck grammar, turmp and his cock-sucking sycophants just want murder. There is no depth to their justification. It's just blind, obedient "daddy please spank me" acquiescence. I know this is quite direct and blatant, and I am happy to be convinced otherwise but I can't see any other way to justify this sort of action.

Coming from someone who takes substances to manage ADHD cPTSd and help manage a personality disorder, I don't know why such strong-handed tactics are required for something that can be solved with decent management, oversight and distribution. I'm here to be enlightened though.

They want the appearance of being strong on something.

It doesn’t matter if Scattershot attacks on random boats isn’t a comprehensive anti-drug strategy even if the boats were actually carrying drugs. They want to appear as if they’re tough on drugs.

Just like how it doesn’t matter if random ICE raids or building a wall doesn’t address or even prevent the reasons people enter and remain in the country illegally. It gives the appearance of being tough on immigrants.

Just like how banning abortion clinics and drugs doesn’t remove the need for or indeed even the ability for women to get abortions. But it gives the appearance of being anti-abortion.

To conservatives, it’s not about facts, it’s about feelings.

They don’t want to help people into an ideal society, they want to punish people who don’t conform to their ideas of what an ideal society should be.

[PACOX]

Coming from someone who takes substances to manage ADHD cPTSd and help manage a personality disorder, I don't know why such strong-handed tactics are required for something that can be solved with decent management, oversight and distribution. I'm here to be enlightened though.

Strong paragraph. Not one of those fools ever supported programs that would manage or eliminate (i dont believe thats possible but for the sake of political rhetoric) the demand for drugs. Tell Hegseth we can no longer import alcohol and watch him set the sakes at just the idea.

[DarkTZeratul]

So, I take this as a legit bet. I hope Kimmel does too.

Donald J Trump, the President of the United States, has said that if his awards presentation doesn't beat out Kimmel as far as talent goes that he should not be President.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/entertainm...ffa7d0ea&ei=26

My prediction is that Kimmel beats Trump. Objectively, in one form or another. Trump will then call it "rigged", "fake news", "lies"... Whatever he needs to say to convince himself he actually beat out Jimmy Kimmel, even though it didn't happen.

[gondrin]

My prediction is that Kimmel beats Trump. Objectively, in one form or another. Trump will then call it "rigged", "fake news", "lies"... Whatever he needs to say to convince himself he actually beat out Jimmy Kimmel, even though it didn't happen.

Well, remember, Trump is the guy who did this:

https://lawandcrime.com/high-profile...ith-orangutan/

In 2013, on his program "Real Time with Bill Maher,' Maher made a joke about Trump's mom having sex with an orangutan. It got pretty raunchy.

"To determine whether he is in fact the love child of a human woman and an orangatan from the Brooklyn zoo," Maher said. "Look, I'm not saying your mother was repeatedly ****ing an orangutan back in the 1940's, I don't know if that's true I hope it's not true. But given your face, your physique and your intelligence level and of course your hair, the American people deserve some real proof that your mother did not spend most nights in 1945 covering her body in banana oil sneaking into the monkey cage and compulsively humping an orange orangutan."

As you can imagine, Trump wasn't too thrilled by the satire. But Maher continued to tear into the reality star when he appeared on NBC's "The Tonight Show" and proclaimed he would give $5 million to charity if Trump could prove that he is not the son of an orangutan. Trump had previously offered $5 million for Obama to release his college records.

Well, Trump, in what surely was a PR stunt, took Maher up on his offer, and through his attorney sent Maher a copy of his birth certificate that showed that his father was Fred Trump, not an orangutan.

"Attached hereto is a copy of Mr. Trump's birth certificate, demonstrating that he is the son of Fred Trump, not an orangutan," the letter read.

"I made an absolute acceptance, I sent him documentation and he owes me $5 million, " Trump said during an appearance on Extra. Under Trump's theory, Maher made a verbal offer, and when he apparently wouldn't pay up, Trump sued for breach of contract.

So, according to Trump's own logic, if Kimmel wins, Trump has to resign from the Presidency and Kimmel can sue to demand he does.

[DarkTZeratul]

Coming from someone who takes substances to manage ADHD cPTSd and help manage a personality disorder, I don't know why such strong-handed tactics are required for something that can be solved with decent management, oversight and distribution. I'm here to be enlightened though.

Decent management, oversight, and distribution is hard work and takes time. A draconian crackdown is easy and looks like it's getting immediate results, regardless of its actual efficacy.

[gondrin]

I'm still not entirely sure the existence of drugs requires murder as a response. I know people are instilled with some hatred of drugs (outside of the good ones they are told are good) but why is murder the correct response? I'm not happy about the concept of completely unmitigated distribution of illicit substances, but that's fixed with... Controlled distribution like painkillers and distribution based on diagnosed, and accepted actionable personal issues that allow functionality. I still can't see a defensible position that doesn't just come across as "Nixon/Reagen make me dick hard" that people are still so anti-illicit substances; and that's being sympathetic that alcohol and similar substances have daddy Uncle Sam's approval.

Fuck grammar, turmp and his cock-sucking sycophants just want murder. There is no depth to their justification. It's just blind, obedient "daddy please spank me" acquiescence. I know this is quite direct and blatant, and I am happy to be convinced otherwise but I can't see any other way to justify this sort of action.

Coming from someone who takes substances to manage ADHD cPTSd and help manage a personality disorder, I don't know why such strong-handed tactics are required for something that can be solved with decent management, oversight and distribution. I'm here to be enlightened though.

It is because Pete Hegseth literally has said that the rules of war and the Geneva Conventions can and should be outright ignored. He also believes in using torture and other banned techniques.

To him, leaving survivors is bad and it should be a "Give No Quarter" type military.

[Polgara]

They want the appearance of being strong on something.

It doesn’t matter if Scattershot attacks on random boats isn’t a comprehensive anti-drug strategy even if the boats were actually carrying drugs. They want to appear as if they’re tough on drugs.

Just like how it doesn’t matter if random ICE raids or building a wall doesn’t address or even prevent the reasons people enter and remain in the country illegally. It gives the appearance of being tough on immigrants.

Just like how banning abortion clinics and drugs doesn’t remove the need for or indeed even the ability for women to get abortions. But it gives the appearance of being anti-abortion.

To conservatives, it’s not about facts, it’s about feelings.

They don’t want to help people into an ideal society, they want to punish people who don’t conform to their ideas of what an ideal society should be.

Reading this again it makes sense in my head from a "I can see how stupid these people are", but it escaped me in the moment mostly. There's so much potential taxable income to be made from this, and adds so many more functional, capable individuals to society. Access to Dexies, weed and anti-psychs as I need them to function day-to-day allows me to go from a drain to a capable participant who can pay taxes. It's just so painfully narrow-minded from arrogant people.

Strong paragraph. Not one of those fools ever supported programs that would manage or eliminate (i dont believe thats possible but for the sake of political rhetoric) the demand for drugs. Tell Hegseth we can no longer import alcohol and watch him set the sakes at just the idea.

It is because Pete Hegseth literally has said that the rules of war and the Geneva Conventions can and should be outright ignored. He also believes in using torture and other banned techniques.

To him, leaving survivors is bad and it should be a "Give No Quarter" type military.

I knew Hegseth was a piece of shit, but Gondrin's giving me this information on just how absolutely bullshit he is as a person. Thank you for the follow ups here; I didn't realize (specifically in this one piece of shit's case) how obscenely archaic these motherfuckers can be.

Decent management, oversight, and distribution is hard work and takes time. A draconian crackdown is easy and looks like it's getting immediate results, regardless of its actual efficacy.

It took years even in Australia, I don't think it's something expected soon from the white oligarchic morons in charge, but I want to know from a common-parlance front who the FUCK isn't in support of this. I've argued with idiots who bitch these things are available to the common citizenry in AU and I've come to the conclusion most people would eat their shoes proudly if it meant owning the poors.

[Corvus]

Well, the peace deal Trump said he organised between Thailand and Cambodia has broken down with both sides trading fire again.

Another coup attempt happened in west Africa, thus time in Benin, but this one failed. Just another in a string of coups in the region, most of which have russias fingerprints all over them.

And the 2025 strategic review released by the white house removes russia as a hostile nations, and spells out Canada's position is either 51st state or vassal nation.

Just the time you want a senile fascist old racist in charge of the US.

[Edge-]

The known knowns and unknown unknowns yadda yadda bullshit. Anyone supporting this administration is alleged drugs.

[Gorsameth]

So, I take this as a legit bet. I hope Kimmel does too.

Donald J Trump, the President of the United States, has said that if his awards presentation doesn't beat out Kimmel as far as talent goes that he should not be President.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/entertainm...ffa7d0ea&ei=26

Best advertisement Trump could possibly give Kimmel. Kimmel can just quote that 'challenge' at almost any high profile A list celebrity and ask if they want to be on his show. They all utterly despise Trump and everything he stands for.

Easiest mega star lineup a show has ever tried to put together.

[Valdhammer]

Best advertisement Trump could possibly give Kimmel. Kimmel can just quote that 'challenge' at almost any high profile A list celebrity and ask if they want to be on his show. They all utterly despise Trump and everything he stands for.

Easiest mega star lineup a show has ever tried to put together.

But if Kimmel can’t get Kevin Sorbo, then it doesn’t count.

[Poopymonster]

Well, the peace deal Trump said he organised between Thailand and Cambodia has broken down with both sides trading fire again.

Another coup attempt happened in west Africa, thus time in Benin, but this one failed. Just another in a string of coups in the region, most of which have russias fingerprints all over them.

And the 2025 strategic review released by the white house removes russia as a hostile nations, and spells out Canada's position is either 51st state or vassal nation.

Just the time you want a senile fascist old racist in charge of the US.

But they'll stop shooting, and Trump will have stopped YET ANOTHER war.
After a time, which is approximately how long it takes to reload, they start shooting again.

- - - Updated - - -

Best advertisement Trump could possibly give Kimmel. Kimmel can just quote that 'challenge' at almost any high profile A list celebrity and ask if they want to be on his show. They all utterly despise Trump and everything he stands for.

Easiest mega star lineup a show has ever tried to put together.

This could easily reach "I'm Fucking Ben Affleck" levels of star power.

[Breccia]

I'm still not entirely sure the existence of drugs requires murder as a response.

I'm still sure it doesn't. The United States does not currently have the death penalty purely for narcotics in any state or federally.

Trump just wanted to murder someone and get away with it. He was having issue trapping children in dog cages until they died. He was having trouble urging people to pack into COVID-filled churches without immunizations or masks. He was having trouble ordering his own VP Mike Pence's public execution, or Comey's, or (insert the name of anyone honestly). So, he's trying blowing up accused drug dealers in international waters.

It's a matter of days before drug dealers start putting pregnant women on these boats, by the way.

- - - Updated - - -

My prediction is that Kimmel beats Trump. Objectively, in one form or another. Trump will then call it "rigged", "fake news", "lies"... Whatever he needs to say to convince himself he actually beat out Jimmy Kimmel, even though it didn't happen.

Trump said "in talent". He picked something so vague he can declare himself the winner of the bet whose rules he made up. Kimmel should treat this with the lack of respect it deservers and, of course, refuse to honor a sham of a bet he never agreed to, instead mocking Trump publicly on his highly-rated show.

[Edge-]

anyone remember tehdang crying about the "twitter files" and pretending that normal, professional communications between FBI agents and moderation staff at Twitter were government coercion?

https://www.npr.org/2025/12/08/nx-s1...it-trump-bondi

The developer of ICEBlock, an iPhone app that anonymously tracks the presence of Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, has sued the Trump administration for free speech violations after Apple removed the service from its app store under demands from the White House.

The suit, filed on Monday in federal court in Washington, asks a judge to declare that the administration violated the First Amendment when it threatened to criminally prosecute the app's developer and pressured Apple to make the app unavailable for download, which the tech company did in October.

Following Apple ejecting ICEBlock, Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a statement that "we reached out to Apple today demanding they remove the ICEBlock app from their App Store — and Apple did so."

Lawyer Noam Biale, who filed the suit against the administration, said Bondi's remarks show the government illegally pressuring a private company to suppress free speech.

"We view that as an admission that she engaged in coercion in her official role as a government official to get Apple to remove this app," Biale said in an interview with NPR.

Would you look at that...it seems that the thing tehdang spent months dishonestly saying happened and crying about, actually happened under a republican administration.

don't take my word for it, though -

To First Amendment advocates, the White House's pressure campaign targeting ICEBlock is the latest example of what's known as "jawboning," when government officials wield state power to suppress speech. The Cato Institute calls the practice "censorship by proxy."

...

Genevieve Lakier, a First Amendment scholar at the University of Chicago Law School, said the White House's campaign against ICEBlock shows the administration using what has become a familiar playbook: "To use threats of adverse legal and financial consequences, sometimes vague sometimes not so vague, to pressure universities, media companies, law firms, you name it, into not speaking in the ways they like," she said.