Donald Trump the Megathread part II - mod warnings in OP, Updated 18/03/25

Quin_Dub

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123170929#Comment_123170929

Putin is everything Trump aspires to be.

Leader for life with absolute power and control over his fiefdom and unlimited access to funds and "stuff" from a group of Oligarchs that owe their fortunes to him.

Of course he's in awe of him..

brickster69

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123170492#Comment_123170492

Actually he never said anything of the sort. Maybe it is a good idea to look into things than just parroting what the WSJ say and believe it is true.

A transcript of what he actually said.

https://twitter.com/Surabees/status/1890387169572716984

Field east

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123170405#Comment_123170405

All the more reason why UK should consider ‘reviewing’ its relationship with the EU and why the EU should ‘review the makeup of the current membership Eg Hungary . I am sure that it would be easier for the EU to change rules than it would be for the US to change parts of it’s constitution

Quin_Dub

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123171133#Comment_123171133

What did he "not say" exactly?

When explicitly asked "Are you saying that US troops on the ground in Ukraine is not off the Table" his response was "President Trump has made it clear that nothing is off the table"

johnny_ultimate

LMAO at Vance trying to lecture Europe about 'freedom of speech' and 'defending democracy' when his administration is currently mass deleting any reference to LGBT people, essential public health initiatives and climate change from every single federal website, all while working to make the executive branch completely unaccountable to the congress and courts

'Freedom of speech… but only if the speech falls in line with our Christofascist ideology'.

kyote00

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123169452#Comment_123169452

never understood the ‘statement’ that EU does not import American cars …. Ford, Jeep, Tesla , parts of GM catalog ?

ancapailldorcha

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123171251#Comment_123171251

They may mean that they think the EU is not importing enough American cars. Trump takes a zero sum view of trade. Such a viewpoint involves seeing trade deficits as inherently bad things. Of course, there's no logic that a trade war will fix any of that.

johnny_ultimate

Europe does buy plenty of cars from American - Teslas included - but a lot of the most popular vehicles in the US are big petrol-guzzling pick-up trucks and SUVs. They're not popular as a design in Europe generally, but also there's a massive discrepency in the prices Europe and America pay for petrol in the first place. So gas-guzzlers aren't going to be popular in Europe due to lifestyle, culture and economic differences, and no trade war will change that.

Anyway, most of it is just macho posturing anyway - it's all built on the premise that America is 'the best' and everyone else should bow to their will. Nevermind the lived realities of why these things are the way they are.

ancapailldorcha

The whole thing is just so chaotic though. It's worse than Brexit UK where the Brits fired Article 50 and spent literal years deciding what they wanted. We genuinely haven't a clue what Trump will actually do and there's 46 more months of this insanity to come. At least if he was going to hand Ukraine to Putin, there'd be a process were we just accept it and move on.

Tony EH

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123170492#Comment_123170492

They're trying to make themselves look hard, while at the same time giving Putin everything he's looking for and more.

Putin will "agree" to peace and MAGA twats can claim that they hard balled him.

It's all a load of bollocks.

Quin_Dub

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123171259#Comment_123171259

It's mostly because Trump is a simpleton.

When he looks around in the parking lots of his Golf courses he sees lots of BMWs , Mercedes , Porsches etc. so thinks - Americans buy lots of European cars.

However when he's in Europe he doesn't see cars he recognises as American - Escalades , F150s , Cadillacs etc. so he thinks "Europeans don't buy as many American cars".

The fact that Ford and GM (through the Vauxhall/Opel brands) sell loads of cars in Europe is utterly lost on him , because he is a moron.

Also the fact that the European manufacturers tend to build "global cars" unlike the US and indeed the Japanese/Korean brands that build specific models for the various markets doesn't seem to compute with him either.

Toyota,Nissan and Hyundai etc all make US specific Pickup and SUVs etc. for the US market whereas BMW , VAG etc. generally sell the same models everywhere.

Understanding how global distributed trade and business works really seems like a hurdle he cannot get over.

walshb

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123171366#Comment_123171366

I think folks could live with him being a morn, but he’s a vindictive and devious and hateful moron, and this is why he’s so very dangerous.

aloyisious

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123170492#Comment_123170492

Funny peculiar for the Daily Mail: Its online headlines read as JD Vance departs from Trump with military action threat against Russia. One wonders if Trump is now deploying Vance as part of his baffle the world with B/S to show off his brilliant powers. I'm waiting for some-one in NATO to ask Vance or Hegseth when Trump is going to tell NATO he is withdrawing the US from it and scrapping the obligations it has as a partner in NATO.

Dohnjoe

I like how I check this thread every few days and no one is defending Trump in any meaningful way.

It was a clownshow before, but he had guard-rails, people who were protecting from his worse impulses. Now it's expotentially worse, a free for all, the complete chaos of sycophants and Fox TV hosts and TV producers just playing politics with no plan, no idea what's going on and all just winging it

Populists who have built everything on criticising the "other side" but have no grasp of what to actually do. Except blame, and side with a dictator..

Although considering that's their day job i guess it's unsurprising

Oscar_Madison

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123170343#Comment_123170343

It’s clear Trump and of course Putin are creating a culture of fear and intimidation before the so called “settlement” - it’s a well known tactic- an outdated and not in good faith tactic I might add, but it’s a tactic nevertheless - expect more such attacks - likely designed to scare Europe into encouraging Ukraine to agree to whatever sh1tshow Trump has dreamed up.

It’s also clear that Trump, and thus America for the next 4 years, don’t give a sh1t about Europe - funny I saw a news clip the other evening where a Democrat senator corrected a UK reporter on something that she referred to as “Americas stance”- he replied no, Trumps stance not America- well sorry to inform you but until the population of America along with its elected representatives rise up and overthrow Trump, it’s very much “America’s stance”

Quin_Dub

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123171405#Comment_123171405

Right now they are utterly shambolic but the "base" are still onboard as they are buying the cutting the "Corrupt Government spending" and obviously they are thrilled with the "Get the brown people and the weirdos" approach as well.

But.. Very soon all those cuts to spending and the budget proposals to give the rich a tax cut will really start to bite that base hard as Schools start losing staff and Medicaid/Medicare gets gutted , all while Eggs are costing $10/$12 a dozen…

That might be the thing that stops Trump rather than any legislative or legal efforts.

Oscar_Madison

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123170717#Comment_123170717

If you enjoy having a conspiracy theory then go for it if it makes you happy - but I think the reality is somewhat less dramatic .

1. I don’t think Trump gives a sh1t over Ukraine or what happens to it and it suits his agenda to make Europe/Nato worried - so he won’t be advocating full withdrawal or encouraging NATO membership - it just isn’t something he cares about and he hates Zelensky anyway or at least has no respect for him (I’d love to see Trump leading Ukraine the last few years- North Korea would probably own them at this stage if he had)
2. Trump is getting a nice payoff from Ukraine in terms of access to minerals and precious metals - approx 1/2 billion At least
3. It’s clear he wants Russia back online for whatever reason- I assume it’s for trade purposes and to make money - it doesn’t suit Trump to have Russia isolated - there's likely other issues that require their agreement be it nuclear arms cuts or whatever - so back in the fold he’s coming.

Let’s see how current negotiations go and then what the next moves are but Russia having Trump over a barrel? I don’t see it

extra gravy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123171133#Comment_123171133

You should probably take your own advice and stop parroting clowns from that cesspit. It's clear what he said.

extra gravy

Swift and firm response from France, Germany, Poland, Italy, Spain & UK.

everlast75

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123171590#Comment_123171590

the grownups have entered the chat

briany

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123171590#Comment_123171590

That's good. However, Europe is on reasonably shaky ground, itself. Marine Le Pen and her National Rally party are always hanging around in France, and the Alternative for Germany are also on the rise. If these two parties got into power, it would fundamentally change the situation. Ukraine will need a lot more arms from these countries in the months ahead, if it is to reject whatever peace plan Trump and Putin offer, in order to grind out a more negotiable position.

extra gravy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123171631#Comment_123171631

Nordic and Baltic countries issue similar statement. FOTUS has managed to unite the entire continent against them in less than a month. Truly impressive statesmanship. His fan club are very quiet.

Hyperbollix

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123170717#Comment_123170717

At this stage I really don't know what they could have on Trump that could have any meaningful affect on his presidency. He's practically at the "shoot someone on 5th Avenue and get away with it" phase of his rule.

IMO, Putin doesn't need any dirt on him. Crooks recognise crooks. Putin is Trump's role model as a president. It's the kind of control and power he wants to have himself. Make a quick phone call and someone goes away, opposition politicians, journalists, uppidy activists etc etc. Trump has the power to make Putin a very happy bunny and Putin has the money to make Trump an oligarch in his own right. That's enough to warrant all the groveling and ass kissing we've seen since 2017.

extra gravy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123171650#Comment_123171650

Indeed and who knows what impact Putin's bot army will have on the German election. Fake news and AI-generated propaganda is rife.

Red Silurian

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123170626#Comment_123170626

You'd be going well to have the phone call in English considering Putins side of it was likely translated from Russian

What I'd like to hear is the phone calls Ursula Von Der Leyen or in fact any of the EU heads of state made to the Kremlin. I'd imagine there's not much of them over the last 3 years to listen back to though

Tell me how

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123171651#Comment_123171651

Nah, his fan club will say this is what wanted. To force the EU to step up. Because no one can hold him to account, he can't really lose. I mean he looks bad, from our perspectives, but he doesn't give a sh*t about our perspectives

Here's something he ordinarily would have cared about. The previous record wholesale price fir a dozen eggs was in Dec 2022. The price was $8.56. Today, the wholesale price is $11.00. Fox News were talking about it, that's how bad that is. But he's not going to be running again so he doesn't really care about Fox any more. I can't describe how frustrated I am with how much he won by defeating Kamala.

Patrick2010

I’d love to see a transcript of the meeting between Trump and Putin in Helsinki, the one where Trump came out looking like a beaten man and Putin couldn’t stop smirking

eightieschewbaccy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123171716#Comment_123171716

You and the Trump fan base appear to be missing the global horror at his atrocious approach to negotiations. Nobody is impressed by how Trump is handling this and for good reason.

MisterAnarchy

Some nice moments in the White House the last few days, Musk and his son and the Indian Prime Minister Modi's visit yesterday.

Modi said he hopes to Make India Great Again or "MIGA."

Trump has started his term at a tremendous pace, its all action.

fullstop

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123170135#Comment_123170135

He’s a Russian asset, and has been for years. The man is rotten to the core (hopefully literally so he might kick the bucket soon).