United States Politics Thread 47

[Raphael]

I really didn't expect them to be that stupid and incompetent.

Unfortunately, the one thing they really want to do - destroying the US federal government - they seem to be pretty competent at.

[malloc]

I don't think WW3 would actually start; but I do agree that they'd lose such a war if one did begin.

Honestly I am rather divided on this one. Based on history, the best hope for getting rid of the MAGA regime and indeed discrediting it for any substantial length of time would involve America losing WWIII and getting its political institutions rebuilt by democracies. One cannot assume that Trump will even allow elections anymore and certainly one should expect that he will take every possible action to rig them, so ousting MAGA democratically is almost certainly impossible. That assumes people haven't been brainwashed into supporting it like Russians overwhelmingly supporting Putin over the next few years.

[rotting bones]

That surprised me, as did the other fuckups. I really didn't expect them to be that stupid and incompetent.

You are seeing democracy at work. This is perfectly representative of their voters and the future of America.

[Travis B.]

The Signal scandal gives me a bit of hope about people waking up about how bad the Trump administration is, even though it is not in the way I expected -- apparently while people don't care about civil liberties, they do care about national security, and through that lens they can see how utterly incompetent the Trump administration really is.

[Travis B.]

And now a lot of servicemembers and veterans are not happy about this one bit, as if this were due to one of them they'd've been stripped of their clearances and've most likely landed themselves in the brig practically immediately. As they say, "different spanks for different ranks"...

[Linguoboy]

Collins called Signalgate "troubling", which is her patented move. I feel like Collins gets way too much credit for occasionally very lightly criticizing her party.

LOL. I think most folks see through the game she's playing. In an online discussion of Signalgate, one of the posters asked "Is Susan Collins 'mildly concerned', 'somewhat concerned', or 'very concerned' about this?"

[Raphael]

Apparently, Trump is pulling Stefanik's UN Ambassador nomination because he's worried about losing her House seat in a special election. Hm.

[rotting bones]

The Signal scandal gives me a bit of hope about people waking up about how bad the Trump administration is, even though it is not in the way I expected -- apparently while people don't care about civil liberties, they do care about national security, and through that lens they can see how utterly incompetent the Trump administration really is.

I haven't looked into it, but from what I understand, a new executive order effectively allows Musk to purge voters he doesn't like. Trump is not allowed to do that, like almost everything else he's already done. Meanwhile, lawyers are refusing to represent Trump's opponents. Meanwhile, Democrats continue to use weaponized civility to hamstring populist opposition. Their rich donors benefit from all this. Besides, a country that cares about national security and not civil liberties has already gone over to the axis of evil.

I have to say though, I still prefer MAGA over Modi's BJP. Instead of saying it's the other party that's the metaphysical source of all incompetence, I have seen BJP supporters start softly weeping over the indignities suffered by the Hindus in a cruel world that's against them. They turn Modi into a martyr because of his incompetence. This could be the future of MAGA. Maybe their untreated psychotic prophets will have dreams of Trump coming to them with tears in his eyes for a change.

[malloc]

I haven't looked into it, but from what I understand, a new executive order effectively allows Musk to purge voters he doesn't like. Trump is not allowed to do that, like almost everything else he's already done. Meanwhile, lawyers are refusing to represent Trump's opponents. Meanwhile, Democrats continue to use weaponized civility to hamstring populist opposition. Their rich donors benefit from all this. Besides, a country that cares about national security and not civil liberties has already gone over to the axis of evil.

Careful there. Zompist will surely brand you a shill for Russia with talk like that.

[rotting bones]

Careful there. Zompist will surely brand you a shill for Russia with talk like that.

I'm hoping to provoke anger instead of despair.

[rotting bones]

People's World is having a funding drive. I just donated. I'm tempted to switch over to it as my primary newspaper while I'm here. I'm worried it carries the pro-Russian agenda that Putin's money has poisoned the international Marxist movement with.

[Linguoboy]

I haven't looked into it, but from what I understand, a new executive order effectively allows Musk to purge voters he doesn't like.

No he's not because elections are organised and administered at the state level, not the Federal level. As someone pointed out on the socials, an EO isn't a law, it's essentially an intraoffice memo for the Executive Branch. Trump can put whatever he wants into one, but it doesn't necessarily change anything about how the government works.

The chilling part is that issuing an EO on voting requirements carries the implicit threat that Trump will cut off Federal funds to states which don't toe the line. However, he's really playing with fire if he takes that route, because if the blue states that primarily fund the Federal government decided to stop remitting their tax receipts, he'd be well and truly screwed.

[Travis B.]

People's World is having a funding drive. I just donated. I'm tempted to switch over to it as my primary newspaper while I'm here. I'm worried it carries the pro-Russian agenda that Putin's money has poisoned the international Marxist movement with.

To me anyone who is pro-Russia is an enemy, and sadly too many people opposed to the US gov't over the past years have blindly adopted the position of "an enemy of my enemy is a friend" even though Putin is no friend of the left.

[Travis B.]

I haven't looked into it, but from what I understand, a new executive order effectively allows Musk to purge voters he doesn't like.

No he's not because elections are organised and administered at the state level, not the Federal level. As someone pointed out on the socials, an EO isn't a law, it's essentially an intraoffice memo for the Executive Branch. Trump can put whatever he wants into one, but it doesn't necessarily change anything about how the government works.

The chilling part is that issuing an EO on voting requirements carries the implicit threat that Trump will cut off Federal funds to states which don't toe the line. However, he's really playing with fire if he takes that route, because if the blue states that primarily fund the Federal government decided to stop remitting their tax receipts, he'd be well and truly screwed.

Also, attempting to interfere with state administration of elections is something that will immediately bring strong legal opposition from the blue states, and there is plenty of precedent that the federal gov't has little control over the actual administration of elections.

[rotting bones]

No he's not because elections are organised and administered at the state level, not the Federal level. As someone pointed out on the socials, an EO isn't a law, it's essentially an intraoffice memo for the Executive Branch. Trump can put whatever he wants into one, but it doesn't necessarily change anything about how the government works.

The chilling part is that issuing an EO on voting requirements carries the implicit threat that Trump will cut off Federal funds to states which don't toe the line.

Yes, that's what I meant: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EUU5PXSTpQY

However, he's really playing with fire if he takes that route, because if the blue states that primarily fund the Federal government decided to stop remitting their tax receipts, he'd be well and truly screwed.

1. Will Democrats condone such ungentlemanly conduct? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ed-rNEkuhBY

2. Does Trump care? Like it says in the first video, Maine is already in his crosshairs. For him to care, he would be betting on a bottom on the gullibility of his cult, and how far it, combined with Elon's purges, will carry him. Since I don't think Trump does any political calculations, I don't believe he is psychologically capable of stopping short of anything. He will plunge himself, America and the world into an abyss. Unlike Hitler, he won't take his life when the hour comes. He will go down making bizarre, unpolitic comments until the last moment.

[rotting bones]

Also, attempting to interfere with state administration of elections is something that will immediately bring strong legal opposition from the blue states, and there is plenty of precedent that the federal gov't has little control over the actual administration of elections.

1. The Trump administration is sending un-uniformed people wearing hoodies to arrest opponents. So far, it's just protesters.

2. Trump already has lawyers afraid to litigate against him: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VxndC96UyrE

...

Actually, you know what? For context, take a look at these headlines: https://www.youtube.com/@SecularTalk/videos You don't have to watch anything.

[Linguoboy]

Since I don't think Trump does any political calculations, I don't believe he is psychologically capable of stopping short of anything. He will plunge himself, America and the world into an abyss.

Have you been following the thread? He's literally just admitted that he's pulling Stefanik's nomination because he's afraid of the results of a special election. https://apnews.com/article/elise-stefan ... 416b647f99

Apparently, Trump is pulling Stefanik's UN Ambassador nomination because he's worried about losing her House seat in a special election. Hm.

This is--it needs to stated--a seat in a district that he won by 21 points in the general election.

[rotting bones]

Have you been following the thread? He's literally just admitted that he's pulling Stefanik's nomination because he's afraid of the results of a special election. https://apnews.com/article/elise-stefan ... 416b647f99

I assumed that's just the "two steps forward, one step back" yellow streak that characterizes everything Don and Elon does, from foreign policy to hiring decisions.

[malloc]

Careful there. Zompist will surely brand you a shill for Russia with talk like that.

I'm hoping to provoke anger instead of despair.

Doesn't sound like you leave much room for hope, though. It sounds like we have the same message, anger without the possibility of fixing anything.

[rotting bones]

Doesn't sound like you leave much room for hope, though. It sounds like we have the same message, anger without the possibility of fixing anything.

Like I said, I doubt this will last 30 years. How long it actually lasts does depend on our actions.