2026 Political Thread

[andyhb]

 

[bjdeming]

Can't help wondering who are all the behind-the-scenes Americans enabling this.

And why are they doing it?

I have heard that troops deployed controversially, say, to Minnesota or Greenland, have a right to file as conscientious objectors. Don't know if it's true but it is worth looking into.

Meanwhile, in Minnesota...

This quote from the linked article is also worth sharing:

For all their military gear and unchecked power, the federal agents flooding this city, like the president ultimately commanding them, seem unprepared for what they are facing here. Like the agent who slipped on ice, they have misjudged the ground beneath their feet: a state full of ordinary people — real estate agents, high school students, solar energy consultants — who’ve decided that watching their neighbors being dragged away is an intolerable sin.

 

[bjdeming]

Sin.

 

[bjdeming]

Sin.




Okay. I'll shut up now. I've done my duty as an American to speak up, and I'm too old and powerless to do anything more at present. What about you?

 

[KoD]

Kidnapping a person because of their accent.

Insane what Obama has done to this country...

Even the reds on this board are radio silent. (I say that knowing good and well most all are great wonderful compassionate caring people)

 

[bjdeming]

Canada is fortunate to have Carney. He deserved that standing ovation.

Some of us Americans perked up our ears, too, although for us it is a matter of REbuilding what we claim to believe in. So much has been lost. Forever.

 

[thundersnow]

I watched/listened to Trump’s address to the press today. I got definite rambling chatty grandpa vibes from it. If you’ve ever tried to have a conversation with a chatty senior who’s not quite… with it… you understand. It’s like listening to a chatty old man with dementia ramble on. And, you let them talk and relive this and that, just to keep ‘em happy.

That’s where we are, and he’s calling all the shots and throwing the world into upheaval.

 

[Mike S]

Insane what Obama has done to this country...

Even the reds on this board are radio silent. (I say that knowing good and well most all are great wonderful compassionate caring people)

I'm not sure there are any diehard Trump supporters left in this forum, at least any that are active in off topic.

 

[TH2002]

Bringing a tiny bit of sanity to this administration - Trump finally said he won't use force to take Greenland - if you trust him, that is.

 

[Mike S]

Bringing a tiny bit of sanity to this administration - Trump finally said he won't use force to take Greenland - if you trust him, that is.

I never thought in a million years that he would. I don't like his dumb rhetoric alienating our allies, but I never took him seriously with the use of force.

 

[Evan]

I never thought in a million years that he would. I don't like his dumb rhetoric alienating our allies, but I never took him seriously with the use of force.

Sure, I agree, but if you're on the other side you can't bet on that. He's full of hubris after Venezuela, Congress essentially doesn't exist (outside of lame ducks occasionally popping up to tell the truth), and Hegseth has purged JAG and a decent number of military leaders. Oh, and did I mention a cabinet and WH admin that slavishly echoes whatever he says or does? Today the press secretary is trying to claim Trump never misspoke and said Iceland instead of Greenland even though there's 4 clearcut examples of it on video from Davos today.

If you're on the other side you simply can't assume he will TACO even though he often does. It would be pretty tough to convince me he wasn't going to continue to escalate had it not been for the stock market and bonds freaking out. Would he have actually sent American troops in harms way against an ally? I'd like to think he isn't totally insane. But, is that a safe bet? We're talking about someone who sat there watching TV as the Capitol was ransacked and people erected gallows to hang his VP. Trump has a pattern of only backing down if his bluff is called. Otherwise, he waits to see what he can get away with.

If he could have gotten away with use of force without a market reaction and Europe taking him seriously then I truly believe he would have strongly considered, and, even actually gone through with it. Flattery gets you favors from Trump but when he's being actively malicious only a punch to his nose gets him to back down.

The bigger issue is the rupture he caused with our allies is global and won't be easily repaired by his sudden TACO. That's not just applicable to out European allies but globally. Europe and our other global allies have their problems, but Trump has made sure that American word no longer matters, we can't be trusted, and he's shown that the American system maybe ain't so special after all.

 

[Mike S]

Sure, I agree, but if you're on the other side you can't bet on that. He's full of hubris after Venezuela, Congress essentially doesn't exist (outside of lame ducks occasionally popping up to tell the truth), and Hegseth has purged JAG and a decent number of military leaders. Oh, and did I mention a cabinet and WH admin that slavishly echoes whatever he says or does? Today the press secretary is trying to claim Trump never misspoke and said Iceland instead of Greenland even though there's 4 clearcut examples of it on video from Davos today.

If you're on the other side you simply can't assume he will TACO even though he often does. It would be pretty tough to convince me he wasn't going to continue to escalate had it not been for the stock market and bonds freaking out. Would he have actually sent American troops in harms way against an ally? I'd like to think he isn't totally insane. But, is that a safe bet? We're talking about someone who sat there watching TV as the Capitol was ransacked and people erected gallows to hang his VP. Trump has a pattern of only backing down if his bluff is called. Otherwise, he waits to see what he can get away with.

If he could have gotten away with use of force without a market reaction and Europe taking him seriously then I truly believe he would have strongly considered, and, even actually gone through with it. Flattery gets you favors from Trump but when he's being actively malicious only a punch to his nose gets him to back down.

The bigger issue is the rupture he caused with our allies is global and won't be easily repaired by his sudden TACO. That's not just applicable to out European allies but globally. Europe and our other global allies have their problems, but Trump has made sure that American word no longer matters, we can't be trusted, and he's shown that the American system maybe ain't so special after all.

I agree 100% that those on the other side should take him at his word and prepare as such, but there's nothing short of actual bombs dropping that would make me think he'd use military force to take Greenland.

I've said it before - Trump is the drunk guy at the bar who mutters the most off the wall stuff immediately after saying "If I was president, I'd........" That's how he talks. Just random, off the wall BS without a single thought before he spews.

People want to invoke the 25th amendment, but I don't know that Vance would be any better outside of the fact that he can string together a few somewhat intelligent sounding sentences together.

 

[bjdeming]

invoke the damn 25th Amendment now

Well, we now know from both Democrats and Republicans that Section 4 of the 25th is just words that apparently were put in just to fill up the page.

Either that or, after six decades of SD&R, America (via the Hall of the People) is incapable of coming together and doing the right and simplest thing for the sake of the nation.

It's probably that last because of the groundless rumors of some Machiavellian plot in which congressional Republicans will go along with impeachment if:

1. The Speaker is replaced first.
2. Trump and Vance are both impeached.

That way, the rumors say, the GOP gets to rewrite their brand before this fall's elections.

Recent history points (with a kazoo and clown hand) to #1 as a VERY weak link in this tidy little chain, even before we even get to considering the many ways that Trump and perhaps Vance, too, could try to fight it, making a really ugly mess.

If we Americans can't do the right thing (by following our Constitution, which offers a straightforward solution), then let's not do anything at all and let the nation follow God into hell...the only path to real redemption.

US redemption of SOME sort is definitely needed, both by current events in the US and by the fact that our American Moment is definitely over.

The world has moved on.

The bigger issue is the rupture he caused with our allies is global and won't be easily repaired by his sudden TACO. That's not just applicable to out European allies but globally. Europe and our other global allies have their problems, but Trump has made sure that American word no longer matters, we can't be trusted, and he's shown that the American system maybe ain't so special after a

It's not just Trump.

Despite the media telling us about the wonderful speeches so many of us made at Davos, this real-life description of the audience paints a different picture:

 

[bjdeming]

Meanwhile, in Minnesota...

 

[bjdeming]

Some warmth from a chill Pope on a day so cold that it probably will affect even Minnesotans.

Not being egotistical -- just didn't know how else to convey something so complex with a minimum of words (actually, I unintentionally read a little more into the lambs' wool color than was there, but the opposing colors are there):

 

[bjdeming]

The vote in the House on the bill that hiked ICE's Noem's goon squad's budget -- we need Immigration Customs Enforcement. Absolutely. We do not need what the Trumpeteers have turned it into, and I don't want to denigrate that otherwise respectable agency's acronym -- the House vote reportedly was 215-215, and Johnson had to delay it until he could get the breaker in from Texas.

It's close, in America. Perhaps that vote would have gone differently if the House (as mentioned in the 2025 thread) was bigger.

Each one of us matters. Yes, with politicians, but also and more importantly at home and at work.

This guy said it better than I ever could:



Oh, and yesterday 11 priests were arrested in MSP for demonstrating (peaceably and in majorly subzero temps) outside Delta, which is apparently running the detainee flights.

That's just what popped up first in my feed. A lot more is going on, of course, and to Chainsaw DOGE Man's credit, he does not appear to be censoring X (that "X" fixation -- is he a Simon Templar fan, I wonder; that was the most mind-bending of all Saint stories).

There is also a lot of BS, misdirection, mental illness, and self-advertising on X, of course. Welcome to the human race.

But it seems to me that the national media (run by supporters of both wings of the Turkey Party) is trying to stay in control and propagandizing by NOT covering many of the really interesting things.

Locally, it's a different story -- that is probably the most reliable media as they MUST represent the local view.

Still, at least for now I always check X first and keep my brain in gear.

And take breaks away from the glowing screen to look out the window more now. You never know what you might see...and, if necessary or inspiring, record.

 

[bjdeming]

It's real easy to go overboard on this (lots of personal experience ), but really -- what would these goons be doing if at least some civil-society members didn't care, weren't watching, and/or weren't protesting?

 

[Central Ohio Wx]

Welp, there you have it, ICE executed a U.S. citizen who was there to protest and just-so-happened to be a gun owner.

 

[bjdeming]

Reportedly:

...
Frey, at a press conference on Saturday morning, said, "I just saw a video of more than six masked agents pummeling one of our constituents and shooting him to death. How many more residents? How many more Americans need to die or get badly hurt for this operation to end?"

Frey called on the ICE operation to end.

"I'm done being told that our community members are responsible for the vitriol in our streets. I'm done being told that our local elected officials are solely responsible for turning down the temperature. Just yesterday, we saw 15,000 people peacefully protesting in the streets, speaking out, standing up for their neighbors. Not a single broken window, not a single injury," Frey said....

(It's not to the point now, but: 15,000 people in MN temperatures yesterday.)

I think we also need to keep in mind now what Trump told senior military leaders about using US cities to train troops.

These goons aren't troops but they're dressed like combat soldiers. Preparing us for the real thing?

What is the end game here?

And is it coincidental that MN was at the Biden focus for militia/white supremacist types? Biden also let the doves into the "shooting gallery."

Immigration enforcement doesn't target children, rushing to beat the clock to ship a toddler to Texas, for example.

But ethnic cleansing does.

Left wing, right wing -- same turkey. And it's a mean one.

What is the end game here in this horror?

 

[bjdeming]

The name is horrible; I don't know who this account is, but Govino apparently takes it seriously. And...