2025 Political Thread

[bjdeming]

This makes me, not ashamed of a wonderful country, but ashamed of our face presented to the world:

Three months into Donald Trump's second term, foreign leaders should be aware that a coveted trip to the Oval Office comes with the risk of a very public dressing down, often straying into attempts at provocation and humiliation...

-- Source

Amazing how that Qatar jet has vanished from the news cycle (but probably not from its Florida parking space as it awaits its new owner).

 

[bjdeming]

As mentioned, there's a big gap between my politics and this liberal Portlander's. Nevertheless, it continues to be a delight following him for posts like this, which I wanted to share because it is very healing to see anyone in Congress right now saying matter-of-factly that Congress needs to take back its authority.

Backbone! Got more examples of incumbents, anybody? We could have a "roll call of honor," quite timely given next year's elections.

 

[bjdeming]

This is pretty far out there but it's an interesting thought that came to mind just now (apparently after percolating round all day after reading how rudely King Donald treated guests at his most recent crypto dinner: not overtly, but per Wired the food looks to have been just above school-lunch grade and the guy they paid to meet just gave a speech and toodled off in a golf cart).

Why so egregiously stupid, shocking, and bad, so consistently and in so many ways since inauguration?

Probably just an aged mean Scotchman, mad at everybody and everything, BUT...

<Conspiracy mode> At least one of DT's pre-election legal cases -- we've all learned now that show trials are how you get more Trump, right? -- was dismissed without prejudice, which I think means that it can be continued after he leaves office.

Well (and here I'm going out to visit the squirrels), what if DT's end game is to tick off everyone enough to load Congress with Democrats in 2026, who probably will try to impeach him and not for show this time -- and Trump pulls a Nixon so Vance can pull a Ford (and also pardon him for the pre-election charges, too)?

BadaBING, badaBOOM, and a peaceful retirement (until he gets bored and stirs up more trouble for himself and his unfortunate family).

</conspiracy mode>

Just putting it out there. I'm not super attached to the notion, but I can't say it isn't totally impossible.

I hope it's wrong and that not even a self-obsessed billionaire trouble magnate magnet would abuse the US and its institutions and allies so badly.

But I won't be 100% sure I'm wrong until the end of the Trump 2.0 era is reached.

 

[bjdeming]

Back in my day, you wouldn't have had to turn to foreign media sources to find news like this -- you'd have been seeking refuge from the angry headlines.

America is different now, and Trump is only a symptom.

..."The court is right: the Constitution says Musk can't run the federal government unless the Senate confirms him," Oregon's attorney general, Dan Rayfield, said on Tuesday.

The White House and attorneys general for several other states that filed the lawsuit did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Musk did not immediately respond to an email message seeking comment.

The states argued that Musk wields the kind of power that can be exercised only by an officer of the government who has been nominated by the president and confirmed by the Senate, and that DOGE itself has not been authorized by Congress...

-- Source

 

[bjdeming]

This 13-hour-old tweet scares the daylights out of me, as I don't believe the "leak" was accidental, given recent Trump/Putin headlines.

Just how close are we to the brink? And why, really?



Edit, after cool-off period: I just can't take it any more. Just as Helene last year made me back off following severe weather threads/news (and also thankful that our skies, at least, are less frequently disastrous), the thought of getting nuked under Trump and his brain-dead but ruthless sycophants (and the socialists who just stand inert, waiting for their day in Elite Power Central to return) makes me want to let go of politics completely, for the first time since the 1960s-1970s.

God bless America, but politics is no solution at all to the real evils and disappointments of life.

I don't want to die angry, now or any time soon in nuclear fire -- or many years from now of decrepitude and infirmity.

So let it go....

No one gets off the planet alive anyway; why waste each and every precious moment of life, with its opportunities and insights for happiness?

 

[andyhb]

Why are there so many people in this country that think that immigrants/foreigners flat out do not deserve rights? This seems to be pervasive amongst a huge chunk of the MAGA movement on social media. What the hell did any of these people do?

 

[ghost]

Amazing military operation…wonder if the MAGAs are mad about this?

 

[OH-IOan]

Why are there so many people in this country that think that immigrants/foreigners flat out do not deserve rights? This seems to be pervasive amongst a huge chunk of the MAGA movement on social media. What the hell did any of these people do?

A lot of it does have to do with race, in my opinion. The white south Afrikaners immigrating to the U.S. are getting treated a lot better over here than many non-white people that are U.S. citizens. If MAGA hated immigration so much, why are white people being let in, but many people who have an ethnicity other than white are getting the boot? It makes no sense. Also, several news outlets, including The Miami Times, The Hill, San Antonio Express-News, and others, all back this. The latter actually puts it really well: it all "depends on who's coming to dinner". I don't know exactly why he's doing this, but it's either just racism or wanting to "white-ify" the US, but regardless I wouldn't doubt there's deeper reprocussions for this in the future, no matter how trivial it is now. Also good to note that there isn't evidence of persecution in South Africa, so he's letting these people in on a false telling.

 

[OH-IOan]

Head of FEMA is apparently unaware that there is a hurricane season in the US.

 

[TH2002]

Whataboutism and false equivalencies are really poor arguments.

Off hand I don’t know much about how Stitt runs Oklahoma, but I guarantee you wouldn’t be saying that calling Democrats and Republicans equally corrupt is a “false equivalency” if you lived in California and experienced first hand how Newsom runs this place.

 

[andyhb]

Newsom sucks, this isn't news.

But to say that the two sides are the same is lazy and part of the reason we're in this mess in the first place. Democrats were not trying to stop grants on f***ing cancer research for the love of god.

 

[Mike S]

Newsom sucks, this isn't news.

But to say that the two sides are the same is lazy and part of the reason we're in this mess in the first place. Democrats were not trying to stop grants on f***ing cancer research for the love of god.

The Republican controlled House sent a stand-alone bill to the Senate last year for funding pediatric cancer research. Schumer sat on it.

 

[TH2002]

Newsom sucks, this isn't news.

But to say that the two sides are the same is lazy and part of the reason we're in this mess in the first place. Democrats were not trying to stop grants on f***ing cancer research for the love of god.

Give me a break…

Not all Democrats and Republicans are the same, true. If you want to say "moderate Democrats have more common sense than our current President", then sure, I could see an argument there.

But behind the scenes, the parties share more in common than you might think:
-Both support unconstitutional and Orwellian mass surveillance, such as the PATRIOT Act and tapping of Americans' phone lines
-Both support using billions and billions of taxpayer dollars to fund foreign wars (seriously, the US has only had 17 years of existence where it was not involved in an armed conflict in one form or another)
-Both are funded by billionaires and giant corporations (Goldman Sachs funds both Republican and Democratic candidates, not to mention independent support from the likes of billionaires such as Musk and Soros, to give a few examples)
-Many federal laws that range from absolute jokes to blatantly unconstitutional (DMCA, REAL ID act, FATCA, etc) have been bipartisan.
-Neither Biden nor Trump have provided any meaningful effort to reduce costs for consumers. Biden's so-called "Inflation Reduction Act" was literally just a climate change bill with a misleading name (support or oppose using federal funds to support anti-climate change efforts, the name of the bill was a blatant and total misnomer). Trump has also been too busy imposing tariffs on our allies to support any meaningful legislation to reduce inflation.
-The Biden administration in four years oversaw $926 billion in improper payments - only four percent less than what Obama oversaw in EIGHT years. Meanwhile, Trump wants to increase defense spending by at least $150 billion - but that's the least of my worries in the so-called "One Big Beautiful Bill Act".

 

[andyhb]

Give me a break…

Not all Democrats and Republicans are the same, true. If you want to say "moderate Democrats have more common sense than our current President", then sure, I could see an argument there.

But behind the scenes, the parties share more in common than you might think:
-Both support unconstitutional and Orwellian mass surveillance, such as the PATRIOT Act and tapping of Americans' phone lines
-Both support using billions and billions of taxpayer dollars to fund foreign wars (seriously, the US has only had 17 years of existence where it was not involved in an armed conflict in one form or another)
-Both are funded by billionaires and giant corporations (Goldman Sachs funds both Republican and Democratic candidates, not to mention independent support from the likes of billionaires such as Musk and Soros, to give a few examples)
-Many federal laws that range from absolute jokes to blatantly unconstitutional (DMCA, REAL ID act, FATCA, etc) have been bipartisan.
-Neither Biden nor Trump have provided any meaningful effort to reduce costs for consumers. Biden's so-called "Inflation Reduction Act" was literally just a climate change bill with a misleading name (support or oppose using federal funds to support anti-climate change efforts, the name of the bill was a blatant and total misnomer). Trump has also been too busy imposing tariffs on our allies to support any meaningful legislation to reduce inflation.
-The Biden administration in four years oversaw $926 billion in improper payments - only four percent less than what Obama oversaw in EIGHT years. Meanwhile, Trump wants to increase defense spending by at least $150 billion - but that's the least of my worries in the so-called "One Big Beautiful Bill Act".

You can't just equate the moral direction of the two parties though, as incompetent as the Democrat leadership is and as corrupt as the fallout from Citizens United/etc is. Republicans have coalesced around Trump in a way that just won't happen for the Democrats. This is actually one of their problems.

Idk how many times I read before the election both here and elsewhere that "Project 2025 has nothing to do with Trump". That is complete and utter nonsense. Tell me that the hatred that festers in the Republican Party (that we have literally seen posted here) is the same on the other side. Why do Republicans/MAGA hate immigrants, science, and improving people's lives so much? Democrats did not summon an attempted coup based on a lie. Why do the Republicans in congress not hold this administration accountable and why is it always the job of the Democrats to "hold the moral high ground", as distorted as it may be?

 

[TH2002]

You can't just equate the moral direction of the two parties though, as incompetent as the Democrat leadership is and as corrupt as the fallout from Citizens United/etc is. Republicans have coalesced around Trump in a way that just won't happen for the Democrats. This is actually one of their problems.

Idk how many times I read before the election both here and elsewhere that "Project 2025 has nothing to do with Trump". That is complete and utter nonsense. Tell me that the hatred that festers in the Republican Party (that we have literally seen posted here) is the same on the other side. Why do Republicans/MAGA hate immigrants, science, and improving people's lives so much? Democrats did not summon an attempted coup based on a lie. Why do the Republicans in congress not hold this administration accountable and why is it always the job of the Democrats to "hold the moral high ground", as distorted as it may be?

That's a fair and balanced argument.

To answer your questions to the best of my ability...

Republicans hate immigrants because they believe American culture is superior and are scared that immigrants who don't assimilate 'enough' will "ruin" this country. I for one actually support efforts to deport undocumented immigrants with criminal records, but Trump's efforts to go after people who are here legally (for asinine reasons too) are unacceptable at best and unconstitutional at the worst.

Republicans in Congress won't hold Trump accountable for one simple reason: power. Now that Trump is in office, they got it and won't let go, even if it means literal worship for the almighty Donald.

The GOP is against all climate initiatives because the dirty energy producers that bankroll them are too. In the exact same way that neither party will do anything about Big Tech monopolies because Google, Apple, Amazon and Facebook pour millions of dollars into congressional lobbying to stifle antitrust enforcement and bills requiring them to be more thoughtful about handling users' private information.

They are against federal funding for NOAA/NWS and other scientific initiatives, as well as Medicare and other safety nets because they want to redirect that money to further support the military-industrial complex.

Not sure if I'm telling you anything you don't already know, but there you go...

 

[ghost]

Muskie bought himself a $300M appointment on TACOs staff. Looks like now he doesn’t think he got his money’s worth and DT stiffed him like he’s been doing people all his life. Now Muskie is dropping the Trump/Epstein connection which everybody but the MAGAs knew was there all along but the MAGAs have their head buried so deep in you know where, they couldn’t see it

 

[ghost]

When satire becomes reality… this is happening right before our eyes

 

[Evan]

Idiots in Los Angeles desperately trying to salvage the mid-terms for Trump by playing right into his hands. Violence, flags from foreign countries, etc. Morons on both sides entirely incapable of learning.

 

[bjdeming]

Newsom sucks, this isn't news.

Not totally (although I would have agreed totally before this).



He's got his head in the right place just now and might in retrospect prove to be a hero (something I never thought I'd write): one of those courageous Americans who could well be all that we have right now standing between our wonderful civil society and the race war that I really do suspect some powerful bigots in DC want so that they can suspend courts and go all NOT Ex Parte Milligan on us all.

To trigger martial law, the disturbances would have to spread to more states, though. Of note, the AP recently reported that a Latino community somewhere in Wisconsin did push back some.

I can't help wondering if these riots are supposed to be the kindling to a national uproar. The feds in charge must have known what that flood of ICE personnel would trigger in that town, with its hotheads and nuts (apologies to the majority of Californians, but all it takes is a few), and it comes at the right time to initiate a "long hot summer" in the country's cities.

This line of reasoning might be similar to what inspired the governor to tweet "We didn't have a problem until Trump got involved."



Are we great yet? Because it feels right now that we're living on an oil platform controlled by arsonists.

This is a real good time for us all to evaluate and support our state resources in all three branches of government, our state law enforcement people, and other public figures -- and most of all, to give up any tendencies to be "no brainers" for now, even if it is summer and the troubles seem far away.

We very much need to think right now, all across the nation.

 

[andyhb]

Meanwhile we have right wing militias threatening to go in on their own accord and start shooting people.