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

Ash.J.Williams

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123492513#Comment_123492513

Christ

RickBlaine

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123492513#Comment_123492513

Sarcasm requires a basic level of intelligence to understand - something that is severely lacking among the MAGA zealots.

Wolf359f

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123492575#Comment_123492575

So let me get this straight, working in a factory screwing in screws or sewing fabric is the job of the future?

Just how detached is this administration from reality?

I'd love to see China and Vietnam show and educate the Gen Z crowd, just what it's like to work in a factory in the time of cheap disposable goods.

You either pay the workers peanuts and have cheap goods or pay them a decent wage and have expensive goods. You cannot have both.

eggy81

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123479355#Comment_123479355

Except for vrt. That’s fine.

Baba Yaga

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123492258#Comment_123492258

that was a feckin depressing read…shouldnt the "america first" gang really be calling themselves "me first" ?

have to say tis an awful pity that when the pilgrims rocked up to massachusetts back in the day the local Wampanoag tribe didnt tell them to pish off…dont know if the world would be a better place or not if they had but i doubt donnie vonshitzinpants would be el presidente…

randd1

They voted for this. Twice.

America knew what it was signing up for. They saw the blatant racism, they saw the society of Christian fundamentalism, they saw the open corruption, they saw the hatred of democracy and desire for dictatorship, they saw the removal of law and replacing it with deference to demagogue's thoughts, they saw the removing themselves from the world, they saw the hatred of everything not American (and by American, I mean white and male-dominated 50's America), they saw the deference to Israel as part of the Christian fundamentalists obsession with the rapture and the end of times, they saw the alliance with the openly racist and white Christian Russia.

And they said "yup, that's what we want". This is America as most of Americans wanted and voted for.

And if Trump's incompetence, greed, corruption and paranoid narcissism ends them as an empire, then good riddance if that's what they aspire to be.

The big question is, is the alternative world economic superpower, which in these modern times is China, worse for the world?

Not wanting China to be the world leader because they're an autocratic regime, well that still stands. China is run by a brutal repressive regime with a shocking human rights record. But that's what the US is wanting to become, and under Trumpism is head full steam towards.

So when the world is looking on wondering which brutal repressive regime with a shocking human rights record to do deals with for the rest of the century, they're going to look at China and the US, and they're going to decide that of the two China at the minute is the stable one that wants to trade, builds ports and roads in parts of the world they're looking to exploit and don't engage or fund massively destructive wars, and the US is the one that wants trade wars, real wars, doesn't build anything abroad to further trade or goodwill, and drives conflict in every part of the world due to it's huge military industrial complex.

The world will chose the stable regime capable of small amounts of goodwill who confirms it's power through stability and trade that is China over the mad regime who confirms it's power through funding wars to destabilize and mop up, and does not want trade that it Trumpist America.

That's where the American empire ends. When they become so decadent and corrupt, what was once the the worse evil becomes the clearly better, saner and more stable choice as a world leader.

threeball

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123492198#Comment_123492198

€61 billion to stave off a threat from precisely… no one. Unless the penguins get organised, then we're all fcuked. The tarriffs have set them back decades though apparently.

Baba Yaga

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123492828#Comment_123492828

the penguins are getting it together…last i heard theyve put calls in to the emus,polar bears and the orcas,sh1ts about to get real! 😎

machiavellianme





https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123492892#Comment_123492892

Dont the penguins hate the Orcas?

I do enjoy a penguin bar though.

Detritus70

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123492828#Comment_123492828

This is funny. Star Wars was a pipe dream in the 80s. Ronald Reagan's bluff to goad the USSR into spending it didn't have into technology that wasn't feasible at the time.

Now Trump is doing the same thing to his own country. The technology may be feasible these days, but it's still plowing vast resources into solving a problem that doesn't exist.

And all the while he's draining resources so his billionaire buddies can make a few more bucks.

The savings from cutting social services are insignificant. He's opened two scuttle valves and has one guy with a bucket bailing. How long before we see Soviet Union style collapse?

aloyisious

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123492892#Comment_123492892

Tom.Adelbach - YouTube video clip of: when penguins attack…

thatsdaft

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123492748#Comment_123492748

Don’t worry the far right techbros have a plan

https://www.axios.com/2025/05/28/ai-jobs-white-collar-unemployment-anthropic

Baba Yaga

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123492972#Comment_123492972

not anymore,they made peace…the orcas are the secret submarine fleet!

ancapailldorcha

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123492804#Comment_123492804

I agree with almost all of this. I hate to be semantic but in fairness to the American public, they did vote by a majority of millions for Hilary Clinton, a qualified establishment candidate. Of course, in equal fairness, they did vote for the convicted felon by a clear majority in 2024 so it cuts both ways. It reminds me of the episode of Family Guy where Brian runs to be mayor of Quahog. He says if it's not him, it'll be some career politician and what will they do to which Stewie responds with one word, "govern".

It's funny that "career politician" has become a kind of slur-like insult. I wouldn't want laser eye surgery from someone who wasn't a career eye surgeon doing my LASIK.

The answer to your superpower question is the EU IMO. It has very severe problems, perfectly personified in one Viktor Orban. European citizens need to engage better with it, stop sending grifter MEPs to Brussels and demand stronger, more unifed action. China's morally unfit to lead the world for the reasons you've given above.

I think America's been able to coast since the war because of their powerful economy. Now that that's started spluttering and Asia and Africa are rising in power, the social problems are harder to ignore and are forcing themselves into the public eye, best exemplified by the murder of George Floyd and the rise of BLM. It was fine for them to turn education into a luxury when those factories needed workers but now the work has either been offshored or automated so there are now hordes of angry, disaffected men and that never ends well for any polity.

FishOnABike

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123492198#Comment_123492198

@Trump - Can you see this fabulous Golden Dome? Is it in the room with us now?

This would be funny if it was coming from some washed up drunk propping up a bar somewhere - how does this guy pass a cognitive test? If he wasn't surrounded by so many minders I doubt he would be capable of independent living.

FishOnABike

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123492335#Comment_123492335

Someone should play along with the fool and tell him that as Canada is bigger than the USA it might consider a deal if Canada was 51 of the 101 states. 😉

AbusesToilets

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123493134#Comment_123493134

The economy would be fine if insane death cultists weren't in charge of government.

ancapailldorcha

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123493208#Comment_123493208

No, it wouldn't. If that was the case, the convicted felon wouldn't have gotten anywhere near 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. If Clinton won in 2016, Trump would have kept going. The issue is widening inequality, ballooning corporate power and profits, and the fact that most Americans can't afford a minimal standard of living.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/cost-of-living-income-quality-of-life/

threeball

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123493052#Comment_123493052

AI will be the end of humanity. You'll have bots following every single move you make, from what you type, to where you go, down to private conversations at home via smart tech. No one will be able to object to anything or stick their head above the parapet as there will be a trove of info available to blackmail you. Even if you live like a monk, the AI will have the ability to manufacture dirt on you. You'll have a handful of creeps like Zuckerberg who'll have the means to control the population.

AbusesToilets

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123493214#Comment_123493214

Yes, but those issues exist largely due to Republicans being in charge, preventing any legislation to address those issues. Not to give the Dems a pass, but they have at least pushed bills that would tackle those problems

ancapailldorcha

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123493231#Comment_123493231

Sure but my point was that the structural issues in the economy would have been there regardless. It just would have been better to have a sane Democrat try feebly to make change than Trump actively leeching off the taxpayer.

Quin_Dub

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123492198#Comment_123492198

What I love is the fact that he's only just discovered that after he's spent several months slagging them and running them down , without full cooperation from Canada his utterly stupid "Golden Dome" will be even more useless than it is..

Without integration with Canadas radar system any missiles etc. coming "over the pole" won't be detected in time for any potential defence system to have a hope of working..

Ooops….

Podge_irl

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123493214#Comment_123493214

The findings? For the bottom 60% of U.S. households, a "minimal quality of life" is out of reach, according to the group, a research organization focused on improving lower earners' economic well-being. 

Given the median household income in the US is 80k$, I think that report is nonsense.

This mantra of Americans overwhelmingly living paycheck to paycheck is part of what fuelled Trump's campaign and it is just demonstrably not true.

Economics101

This is on a par with Nazi book-burning when it comes to sheer intellectual obscurantism:

https://www.politico.com/news/2025/05/27/rfk-jr-nih-scientists-medical-journals-jama-lancet-nejm-00371349

thereiver

Sales of Tesla cars are down 48 per cent the cybertriucj is a disaster people are getting killed eg if a Tesla car goes on fire theres no simple way to open the door or windowa if the software electrical system is not working due to fire damage trump is destroying the tourist industry it turns out being racist and insulting people from Europe is not a good way of attracting tourists he has reduced the value of the dollar The dollar is no longer the default investment for international traders the new bull adds 4 trillion debt. As the dollar falls interest rates go up America go fall into a doom debt cycle eg as the cost of the debt rises it takes more tax revenue to service the cost of debt Trump and his cronys are ok as they are grifters they are getting rich from public contracts and selling digital currencys

Musk gets most of his money from starlink and public government contracts Even maga supporters are getting screwed if they get caught up in floods hurricanes extreme weather they will find there's no fema federal workers left to help them to rebuild infrastructure or give them basic supplies

Most states in America are vulnerable to extreme weather events hurricanes wildfires due the the effect of climate change

threeball

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123493287#Comment_123493287

They live paycheck to paycheck because they spend like money is going out of fashion. There's a reason they have such deficits with the world. Lots of American houses are overflowing with useless tat, the latest Temu gadget or expensive toys like Jet skis etc. Not being able to buy the latest fad is classed as living paycheck to paycheck by a lot of Americans.

FishOnABike

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123493287#Comment_123493287

$80K doesn't go as far in the USA as it would here.

There's no public health service to speak of so you've got both the high cost of medial insrance and the gap to bridge between what medical insurance covers and what medical care costs - far higher than here.

Cost of higher education and repayment of education loans.

The need to provide more substantially for one's own pension / retirement fund.

A lot of things we take for granted like paid holidays, paid maternity leave, illness etc. are not standard and need to be covered from your own pocket.

At will employment and far fewer workers rights and fewer social supports can mean you can go from coping to being in serious financial difficulties far more quickly than here. Unless you have a reasonable financial buffer you can be just one relatively minor injury away from bankuptcy.

Podge_irl

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123493575#Comment_123493575

$80K doesn't go as far in the USA as it would here.

No argument there. But the argument that a majority of households in the US can not afford to live is demonstrably ridiculous.

Outside of the bottom 20% or so, they are far richer than Europeans.

This is the ultimate travesty of the whole thing. Trump came into power on the back of a story that simply isn't true.

Podge_irl

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123493562#Comment_123493562

You have people in NYC on 500k claiming they live paycheck to paycheck. It has become an utter parody and no one should take any self-reported definitions of it remotely seriously.

amandstu

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123491959#Comment_123491959

I wonder if there will be an outflow of Americans wanting to go to University outside the Fatherland(and a decline of quality in the US universities left with the docile stock of conformers)