United States Politics Thread 47

[Travis B.]

It should be noted that Zionist weaponization of "anti-Semitism" as defined as opposition to Israel conveniently overlooks the deeply-rooted and very real phenomenon of Zionist anti-Semitism, which is very easy to notice if you look for it (e.g. Trump is a good example of a Zionist anti-Semite).

[äreo]

It should be noted that Zionist weaponization of "anti-Semitism" as defined as opposition to Israel conveniently overlooks the deeply-rooted and very real phenomenon of Zionist anti-Semitism, which is very easy to notice if you look for it (e.g. Trump is a good example of a Zionist anti-Semite).

I think "Zionist but anti-Semitic" is a legitimate way to describe certain people/events, but what puts Trump in this category?

[Travis B.]

It should be noted that Zionist weaponization of "anti-Semitism" as defined as opposition to Israel conveniently overlooks the deeply-rooted and very real phenomenon of Zionist anti-Semitism, which is very easy to notice if you look for it (e.g. Trump is a good example of a Zionist anti-Semite).

I think "Zionist but anti-Semitic" is a legitimate way to describe certain people/events, but what puts Trump in this category?

He traffics in anti-Semitic tropes like 'dual loyalty', but often uses them in a reversed but still anti-Semitic fashion such as claiming that American Jews who don't support Israel aren't proper Jews.

[Raphael]

It should be noted that Zionist weaponization of "anti-Semitism" as defined as opposition to Israel conveniently overlooks the deeply-rooted and very real phenomenon of Zionist anti-Semitism, which is very easy to notice if you look for it (e.g. Trump is a good example of a Zionist anti-Semite).

I think "Zionist but anti-Semitic" is a legitimate way to describe certain people/events, but what puts Trump in this category?

He traffics in anti-Semitic tropes like 'dual loyalty', but often uses them in a reversed but still anti-Semitic fashion such as claiming that American Jews who don't support Israel aren't proper Jews.

And, jokes like saying "you won't support me because I don't want your money" (quoted from memory) in speeches to Jewish Republicans.

[Travis B.]

I think "Zionist but anti-Semitic" is a legitimate way to describe certain people/events, but what puts Trump in this category?

He traffics in anti-Semitic tropes like 'dual loyalty', but often uses them in a reversed but still anti-Semitic fashion such as claiming that American Jews who don't support Israel aren't proper Jews.

And, jokes like saying "you won't support me because I don't want your money" (quoted from memory) in speeches to Jewish Republicans.

Yeah, that too.

[Travis B.]

Oh, and then there was the time that he explicitly stated he would blame American Jews if he lost the 2024 election.

[rotting bones]

Is the stock market crashing or is this a moderate correction? If it crashes, I hope it wipes out Tesla's valuation for good this time. Too bad I don't have such hopes for Bitcoin.

[jcb]

Trump has just signed the bill to release the Epstein files within 30 days. We'll see how much is redacted from it.
- https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/white- ... rcna244793
- https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/epstein ... =127673876

[malloc]

Trump has just signed the bill to release the Epstein files within 30 days. We'll see how much is redacted from it.
- https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/white- ... rcna244793
- https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/epstein ... =127673876

Call me a doomer, but I honestly don't think anything that would negatively impact Trump will appear in what's released.

[bradrn]

Trump has just signed the bill to release the Epstein files within 30 days. We'll see how much is redacted from it.
- https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/white- ... rcna244793
- https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/epstein ... =127673876

Call me a doomer, but I honestly don't think anything that would negatively impact Trump will appear in what's released.

If he deliberately withholds stuff then wouldn’t it be in contravention of the act, meaning people can be prosecuted for it?

[zompist]

If he deliberately withholds stuff then wouldn’t it be in contravention of the act, meaning people can be prosecuted for it?

How would anyone know and who would prosecute it? But in any case the law allows things to be suppressed if there is an ongoing criminal investigation.

But really, the damage has already been done... by Trump to himself. The Republicans built up the Epstein case so much that their base was salivating for it. Then Trump declared that was nothing in it and everyone should just forget it, and the base was pissed. Then the Republicans fought hard to keep from releasing the files, to the point where Trump was pressuring individual House members... who didn't back down. When it became evident that the bill would pass anyway with half his party, Trump caved. None of this made any sense or made him look good.

Trump has known what's in the files for months. If there was anything he could use against the Democrats he'd have already used it and not fought for months to suppress the files. If there's nothing at all of interest in the files... then it's also inexplicable why he wanted to suppress them.

[Raphael]

But really, the damage has already been done... by Trump to himself. The Republicans built up the Epstein case so much that their base was salivating for it. Then Trump declared that was nothing in it and everyone should just forget it, and the base was pissed. Then the Republicans fought hard to keep from releasing the files, to the point where Trump was pressuring individual House members... who didn't back down. When it became evident that the bill would pass anyway with half his party, Trump caved. None of this made any sense or made him look good.

Not to mention that some propagandists close to him have already floated trial balloons saying things along the lines of, "The whole Epstein thing was really no big deal because all of the girls had already hit puberty". Somehow I don't think that they would have done that if Trump would be squeaky clean.

[malloc]

Not to mention that some propagandists close to him have already floated trial balloons saying things along the lines of, "The whole Epstein thing was really no big deal because all of the girls had already hit puberty". Somehow I don't think that they would have done that if Trump would be squeaky clean.

I worry that they are starting pedophilia on the path to normalization and that we will see serious attempts to repeal age of consent laws in the near future.

[Raphael]

Not to mention that some propagandists close to him have already floated trial balloons saying things along the lines of, "The whole Epstein thing was really no big deal because all of the girls had already hit puberty". Somehow I don't think that they would have done that if Trump would be squeaky clean.

I worry that they are starting pedophilia on the path to normalization and that we will see serious attempts to repeal age of consent laws in the near future.

They are clearly starting to try that, but if so, they'll probably try to take a bigger byte than they can chew.

[Travis B.]

Not to mention that some propagandists close to him have already floated trial balloons saying things along the lines of, "The whole Epstein thing was really no big deal because all of the girls had already hit puberty". Somehow I don't think that they would have done that if Trump would be squeaky clean.

I worry that they are starting pedophilia on the path to normalization and that we will see serious attempts to repeal age of consent laws in the near future.

They are clearly starting to try that, but if so, they'll probably try to take a bigger byte than they can chew.

The thing is that anything that even smells like pedophilia is one gigantic third rail, and I highly doubt that the Trumpists would be able to change that.

[malloc]

The thing is that anything that even smells like pedophilia is one gigantic third rail, and I highly doubt that the Trumpists would be able to change that.

Maybe so, but Trump has repeatedly gotten away with defying one taboo after another. Nazism was once equally taboo and now people like Nick Fuentes are rapidly rising to prominence.

[Travis B.]

The thing is that anything that even smells like pedophilia is one gigantic third rail, and I highly doubt that the Trumpists would be able to change that.

Maybe so, but Trump has repeatedly gotten away with defying one taboo after another. Nazism was once equally taboo and now people like Nick Fuentes are rapidly rising to prominence.

Pedophilia isn't any third rail, but one energized to gigavolt levels. If Trump can't keep the Epstein files from being released, aside from trying to redact what he can get away with, he certainly cannot get around pedophilia if it came to that.

[alice]

The thing is that anything that even smells like pedophilia is one gigantic third rail, and I highly doubt that the Trumpists would be able to change that.

Maybe so, but Trump has repeatedly gotten away with defying one taboo after another. Nazism was once equally taboo and now people like Nick Fuentes are rapidly rising to prominence.

Some taboos are more defiable than others, and abusing underage persons is certainly among the least defiable. Consider the likely fates in jail of a convicted Nazi and a child abuser: the first might get unwelcome attention from fellow inmates, the second definitely will.

How the hell did we get here?

[Raphael]

How the hell did we get here?

Trump did his thing with his then-friend Epstein and, a while later, became leader of a ginormously powerful political movement and President of the USA, thus initiating a chain of events that ended with us discussing these things here.

[Travis B.]

The thing is that anything that even smells like pedophilia is one gigantic third rail, and I highly doubt that the Trumpists would be able to change that.

Maybe so, but Trump has repeatedly gotten away with defying one taboo after another. Nazism was once equally taboo and now people like Nick Fuentes are rapidly rising to prominence.

Some taboos are more defiable than others, and abusing underage persons is certainly among the least defiable. Consider the likely fates in jail of a convicted Nazi and a child abuser: the first might get unwelcome attention from fellow inmates, the second definitely will.

In prison they commonly put pedophiles in solitary confinement not as punishment per se but to protect them from their fellow inmates.