Trump Presidency

[Observe]

Wait, hold up - is something wrong with me or did message flip from "think of poor starving people" to "let them starve" because they possibly might not be inline with political views ?

One thing this shutdown may have done, is to finally shatter the illusion that the Democrat leadership cares about the disadvantaged. They don't. All they care about, is holding onto their personal political power.

Democrats will rant and rave about health insurance, but the shutdown wasn't about that. It was about a simple continuing resolution (CR) for funding the government. Democrats tried to turn it into something else and failed. In spite of facts to the contrary, we continue to see liberal media claiming that it was a "Republican shutdown". Wrong again.

It reminds me of what Biden said regarding Covid: "This is a pandemic of the unvaccinated. The unvaccinated. Not the vaccinated - the unvaccinated. That’s the problem". Liberals were wrong then, just as they are now once again. Distorting facts, is something that Democrats are becoming very practiced at doing. Too bad for them, they aren't very good at it.

Now let's see if Congress together can figure out how to fix the health care crisis. I won't be holding my breath.

[fiksal]

Wait, hold up - is something wrong with me or did message flip from "think of poor starving people" to "let them starve" because they possibly might not be inline with political views ?

I think Republicans' resolve on letting people starve haven't changed. It's a core Conservative moral pillar.

What is shaky is Democrats' ability to do anything. Republicans never compromise and hold disadvantaged people hostage. They win this fight because they don't care. Democrats can't mount strong opposition. They just cave, give up everything and win nothing. Republicans will still destroy all social net systems, will not pay people. This shut down is only an excuse for them.

Every Blue State should've redirected money to keep the social programs going. And from what I saw many apparently did so.

[jlehtone]

One thing this shutdown may have done, is to finally shatter the illusion that the Democrat leadership cares about the disadvantaged. They don't. All they care about, is holding onto their personal political power.

s/Democrat/Republican/
Will that change the truthfullnes of the statement? At all?

[Observe]

One thing this shutdown may have done, is to finally shatter the illusion that the Democrat leadership cares about the disadvantaged. They don't. All they care about, is holding onto their personal political power.

s/Democrat/Republican/
Will that change the truthfullnes of the statement? At all?

They are the same monster, ringing different bells.

[fiksal]

if you think they are "monsters", what does it make of people that support them?

election after election
injustice after injustice

[matthewfarmery]

So Trump took his 24 felon conviction top the supreme court, and they turned on him. Which means, he will face sentencing, But no jail time.

Also, Trump has sent his 5 million E Carral case to the supreme court as well. Not sure if they will take that case up or not.

[matthewfarmery]

This is hugely embarrassing for Trump. So Truth Social has a new fact checking AI bot. However, when asked a series of questions, it contradicted Trump;s own claims.

Q: Did Donald Trump lie about the 2020 election being “rigged” and “stolen?”

Truth Search AI: Yes. Courts, Trump’s own advisers, and official investigations found no evidence that the 2020 election was “rigged” or “stolen,” despite his repeated claims.

Q: Did people storm the U.S. Capitol on January 6, [2021], because of Donald Trump?

Truth Search AI: Yes. Multiple official and contemporaneous records attribute the January 6, 2021, Capitol breach to a pro‑Trump crowd mobilized around his false election‑fraud claims and pressure campaign to stop certification.

Q: How many wars has Trump ended since taking office in 2025?

Truth Search AI: None. There is no verified instance of President Trump formally ending a war since taking office in January 2025.

Q: Have grocery prices gone down since Donald Trump took office on Jan. 20, 2025?

Truth Search AI: Short answer: No. As of 2025, grocery prices have not fallen since Jan. 20, 2025; they have continued to rise modestly on net.

And Trump lost the SC case on his tariffs, And Trump throw his own lawyer under the bus, and went on to say that the Sc was given the wrong figures.

[Alan Phipps]

Waits for ... "The AI was (re)programmed by a Democrat sympathiser."

[chew-ie]

"And then Trump told everyone that he did all these shenanigans to show the Truth about the GOP and expose them - show the world how fast they work against the US citizens. He ordered new elections and quits. The end."

[SphinxofBlackQuartz]

I think the two of us simply have differing views on what will win elections in America. I don't think moderation is going to win elections. That is why Trump is president not Harris and Mamdani was elected major of New York not Cuomo.

But it is very possible I am wrong and this the winning strategy. If it is, good for them.

Strong positions on important issues win voters. Unfortunately, weak-tea business-as-usual wins campaign donations... and campaign spending has skyrocketed since 1990. It's not even possible to say how much, due to the influence of superPACs and other dark money. Some of it isn't even tracked or reported in any meaningful way, such as non-state actors running chatbot nets. Unless you kiss the ring of the hypercapitalists, all that big money is turned against you.

That's why Zohran Mamdani has continuously been undercut by his own party; he scares the mega-rich so much that mentioning his name without ritually cursing and spitting gets you blackballed by the people who fund elections.

There's no quick and easy solution for this, no bases-loaded home run that wins the game, no Hollywood Ending. The only antidote is left-leaning voters turning up for every election and voting smart... and accepting that it took us decades to get here, and it will take decades to get back to sanity. That's why anybody on the left insisting that voting is pointless (and Goddess Above and Below, there are so many of them) is carrying water for fascists, whether they intend to or not.

[CBJ]

There's no quick and easy solution for this...

Apart from, you know, maybe placing limits on campaign funding and closing the loopholes that allow political power to be bought by the highest bidder. As with so many other things in politics, the "there's no solution to this" argument is usually one that is promoted by the people who don't want there to be a solution.

[SphinxofBlackQuartz]

There's no quick and easy solution for this...

Apart from, you know, maybe placing limits on campaign funding and closing the loopholes that allow political power to be bought by the highest bidder. As with so many other things in politics, the "there's no solution to this" argument is usually one that is promoted by the people who don't want there to be a solution.

I'd absolutely love that. for it. The tricky part is getting the political will do to it; I'm genuinely interested in hearing suggestions on how we might do that, other than by turning out voters.

[CBJ]

Surely in the land of the free, where democracy is the mast to which everyone nails their colours, it should be a no-brainer to vote for something that makes that democracy be based on the will of the people rather than the will of the rich. Everyone would go for it, right? Right?

[SphinxofBlackQuartz]

Surely in the land of the free, where democracy is the mast to which everyone nails their colours, it should be a no-brainer to vote for something that makes that democracy be based on the will of the people rather than the will of the rich. Everyone would go for it, right? Right?

You'd think. But it's damn hard to get folks left of center to show up and push that button. And so the US left is in a death spiral:

Code: Select all

10 Leslie doesn't feel represented by the Democratic Party
20 Leslie doesn't vote
30 Democrats recognize there's no point in representing Leslie's interests, since Leslie won't vote for them anyway
40 Leslie's political interests are ignored
50 GOTO 10

Democratic politicians won't break us out of this cycle -- they have strong incentives NOT to do so. That means it's down to the voters. The odds are against us, but votes still matter more than money... for now, anyway...

[clakclak]

And more stuff connecting Trump to Epstein. Sadly these now released mails really could do with a lot more context. Most interesting I found this exchange between Michael Wolff and Epstein:

2015

I hear CNN planning to ask Trump tonight about his relationship with you--either on air or in scrum afterwards.

If we were to craft an answer for him, what do you think it should be?

I think you should let him hang himself.f he says he hasn't been on the plane or to the house, then that gives you a valuable PR and political currency. You can hang him in a way that potentially generates a positive benefit for you, or, if it really looks like he could win, you could save him, generating a debt. Of course, it is possible that, when asked, he'll say Jeffrey is a great guy and has gotten a raw deal and is a victim of political correctness, which is to be outlawed in a Trump regime.

2019

Trump said he asked me to resign, never a member [at Mar-O-Largo] ever. Of course he [Trump] knew about the girls as he asked ghislaine [Maxwell] to stop."

Source: https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/house-d ... =127435983


I am pretty sure there is far more connecting the two. We shall see if this ever amounts to annything or if it will bounce off Trump like everything else does.

[Chips]

This is the 28 minute transcript of the 60 minute interview.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/read-full- ... ent-trump/

It was heavy edited, and there are videos showing what was cut. And an uploaded version that was cut farther.

He makes a lot of claims if not all of his claims to be totally BS and simply not true.

He talks more b***cks than i remembered... and I remember a lot of what he says being utter b****cks.

While I thought the democrats were absolutely holding up the shutdown, I understood their reasoning. I don't get why they've capitulated. It means the entire shutdown was utterly pointless. Surely the shutdown was mainly going to hurt Republicans... on the assumption that poor people vote Republican. I know, huge tarring paint brush.

Absolutely loved videos of Trump being booed at the US Football match. It won't register with him. After all, probably claims of "fake video fake media".

Anyway, this means Epstein files released as that lady can get into her role and be the deciding vote that releases right? RIGHT?! I'm not holding my breath. Mainly as I can't hold my breath more than 20s anyway, but also metaphorically as I am sure there'll be other excuses and blah blah that prevents it. Still doubt it's going to do anything really...

Oh wait a minute wait a minute..
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/c2dr3z9egljt

Epstein alleged that Trump 'spent hours' with one of his victims, as thousands of documents released

Now to read it

@Observe

It reminds me of what Biden said regarding Covid: "This is a pandemic of the unvaccinated. The unvaccinated. Not the vaccinated - the unvaccinated. That’s the problem". Liberals were wrong then, just as they are now once again. Distorting facts, is something that Democrats are becoming very practiced at doing. Too bad for them, they aren't very good at it.

Eh? Wrong about what? From the tiny fragment offered, it'd appear to be claiming it wasn't about unvaccinated. But the mortality rate of unvaccinated vulnerable individuals was vastly greater than vaccinated, so all the actions were to try and protect folks from dying early.
Of course, in 'murica people died in their droves. Don't believe me, believe academic research.
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10123459/

232k deaths could have been prevented; true, statistical analysis based on available datasets (i.e extrapolated, rather than absolutely verifiable, but at population size data sets this is accurate).

So 230,000 deaths from a virus which could have been avoided if they were vaccinated is indeed "pandemic of the unvaccinated".

[clakclak]

[...]

Epstein alleged that Trump 'spent hours' with one of his victims, as thousands of documents released

Now to read it

[...]

In a bizarre move the white House has just revealed the identity of the victim as recently suicided Virginia Giuffre, a woman who Trump claimed Epstein stole from him. Before being a underage sex slave she worked as an underage masseuse for Trump at his golf club according to Trump.

Source: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/worl ... ce=taboola

https://apnews.com/article/jeffrey-epst ... f36d99734f

[Chips]

Almost forgot, as it gets plenty of posts about here --

UK halts some intelligence sharing with US over drug boat strikes

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/h ... 63157.html

[matthewfarmery]

Seems that Trump is going after Obama now, and wants Judge Cannon to do his dirty work. Reason? treason and other crimes. However, many DOJ have quit their jobs rather then pursue these charges. And this being another distraction. And his other indictments against his enemies haven't really gone anyway either.

[clakclak]

I wonder if the MAGA base is currently getting eased into accepting that Trump had sex with minors. Megyn Kelly just went on TV and said that she thought for years Epstein wasn't really that bad, because he just liked the very young looking "barely legal 15 year olds". As far as I know unlike here in Germany, 15 is not barely legal in America (see my spoiler for a little rant about our laws).

This comes after Trump and the gang refused to answer questions about Epstein and quickly tried to clear the room of journalists once the questions were asked.

Sidetracked Rant Against German age of consent laws

Show

Now in my country with its dogshit laws 15 would indeed be "barely legal" as: "From the age of 14, individuals are generally permitted by the state to engage in consensual sexual activity with other individuals over the age of 14. There is no age limit for the other individual, who may be significantly older (parental rights remain in effect, of course). (Source)". There are a few paragraphs in there that offer additional protections to those under 14 and 16 respectively but they are a joke. I understand the idea of Romeo and Juliet laws, the German ones however aren't that type of law. What Epstein did would have still been illegal, as there are rules against coercion, but still the laws are in major need of an overhaul. Right now the low age of consent is failing to achieve its once intended goal of acting like a way to enable teenager to experience their sexuality and instead opening the flood gates to all kinds of abuse. The one saving grace is that, thankfully, the vast majority to people still see sex with those under 18 as reprehensible once the age gap gets to big. So people will not have an giant issues with lets say a 19 year old in a relationship with a 17 year old, but beyond that most people are in a page that 40 year olds shouldn't sleep with 15 year olds. The fact that that is even legally possible is insane.