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

eightieschewbaccy

I think there's a certain level of desperation from Americans in terms of claiming that things are fine. Like if any of the stuff that's happened in the US in the last 6 months had happened here, our government would have collapsed. The US this time round appears to have simply accepted their fate even if it looks likely to ruin them.

looksee

I have an antivaxxer relative. The basis for the antivax stance is quite complicated but essentially comes down to 'feelings' and 'it seems very odd that' - it seems very odd that one family member who is seriously obese and has underlying issues has had pneumonia three times since being vaccinated. With that level of pneumonia susceptibility it could well be that he might not have survived covid without the vaccine. Absolutely hopeless talking about it though. Facebook is the authority.

amacca

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123502091#Comment_123502091

Some people seem impervious to logic when it has to compete with their "feelings"....I think its an inbuilt self preservation mechanism....they might just spontaneously combust if they actually had to consider the evidence for a position that conflicts with their own or horror of horrors accept they might be wrong!

It can be a real struggle for morons to come to a realisation they are morons...maybe that's what makes them morons!

And you can have all kinds of morons, some morons can be surprisingly intelligent and successful in some areas while being unbelievably moronic in others....

ancapailldorcha

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123502091#Comment_123502091

I've gotten friendly with a few elderly neighbours. The topic of vaccines came up and they just kept saying how much there is to it. Pointless when people won't put the tiniest effort into their own health.

Wanderer78

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123502091#Comment_123502091

by any chance do they or have they had mental health issues such as anxiety?

briany

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123502090#Comment_123502090

There has been an undercurrent of this in the US for a very long time. The likes of Rush Limbaugh (conservative US radio host) had been pioneers in demonising their opponents.

A few different things happened in the American right which allowed the current situation to happen. Social media allowed paranoid conspiracy theories to proliferate like never before. Post 2008 austerity and 2020 covid sucked many on the centre part of right into this howling vortex. Maybe even more crucially, the Gamergate thing showed there was a huge untapped market of angry young men out there, and their increasing presence in the American right (or alt-right) has turned the American right from being the main preserve of old white men into a sort of counter-cultural movement. It used to be that the American centre-left had the monopoly on what was perceived to be cool and funny, but that changed once all the 4Chan guys got on the right-wing train.

The difference with Ireland is that we're a small and relatively homogenous country. It's much harder to break the public consensus into pieces where you don't know what's up or down, allowing cynicism to run rampant and hucksters like Trump into power on utterly blatant lies. There are people in Ireland trying their hardest to make this happen, but they have not yet been successful.

Manic Moran

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123502081#Comment_123502081

If you must ask, I am not a fan of his repeating unfounded claims about vaccine safety. However, that topic seems to be well-enough covered here, you won't find a single post of mine approving his statements on the matter. What are your thoughts on attempting to link things which are un-related in posts?

looksee

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123502145#Comment_123502145

Not to an extent that would explain this stance. Its always arguable that someone with an opinion like antivax has mental health issues, but how far can you go with 'someone has a different opinion to me, so they must have mental health issues?. Its just an unreasoned opinion based on ill informed but easy to accept conspiracy theory type stuff. You could say the same thing about Maga people, or religion or anything else that is based on opinion.

I would not mind so much if someone came up with a rational argument with some sort of evidence about vaccinations, but the stubborn 'this is what I have decided/been told/read on facebook and you are not going to change my mind' just annoys me.

ancapailldorcha

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123502090#Comment_123502090

The flaw in the narrative is that, and I hope everyone can agree on this, a vote for Trump was a vote for radical change. A similar thing happened in the UK in 2016. I think the reasons behind both are very, very similar.

From this side of the Atlantic, it looks like anyone in the poorest socioeconomic strata of US society live miserably, purely in material terms of course. Healthcare is the most expensive in the world, the societal safety net is almost non-existent and anyone who might call this out is a tiny minority in a corporate oligarchy that likes things just the way they are.

Wanderer78

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123502224#Comment_123502224

links have been made to conspiracy based thinking and pro longed mental health issues, in particular pro longed anxiety issues, i have an anti-vax/conspiracy relative, they more then likely have undiasgnosed adhd, and have self medicated with drugs the majority of their adult life, its now impossible to have a coherent conversation with them without entering the world of conspiracy

uptherebels

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123502216#Comment_123502216

not trump supporters don't usually post approving of statements, they just avoid criticising .

thereiver

70 per cent of Americans rely on Medicare to get medical insurance and medical care working people and retired people army police veterans Trump says he won't cut medicare tte new bill medicare by 800 billion most rural hospitals will have to close down planned Parenthood this bill attacks the working class voters who voted for trump Many people choose their jobs based on does this give my health insurance coverage Many women choose not to have children as they lose medical insurance if they stop.working In 5 to 10 years America will face a crisis as millions of boomers retire. Will thier be hospitals and nurse to take care of millions of older people. Who will pay for the cost of medical care as the no of young workers declines in 2035 Some people are leaving America to retire in Europe where it's cheaper to get general medical care

fullstop

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123502216#Comment_123502216

I’ve no idea where your graph in the previous post is from, so difficult to say if it’s true or not. The CDC’s own website has graphs showing a spike in measles cases and deaths in the US this year compared to the last 2 years.
You can cherry-pick specific data periods to suit any argument, but what can’t be argued is that this clown has said that no vaccine is safe and effective, vaccines cause autism, contain aborted fetus, etc., etc., etc., so they are absolutely not unrelated.
Coming out to say people should take the MMR vaccine after what he previously said is just more flooding the zone with ****.

thereiver

Some one needs to draw a cartoon on one side a falling dollar on the other side a figure or a statue crushed under the heavy weight of debt

At the base the words

Look on his works ye mighty and despair

How do you know rfk Jr is talking rubbish

His lips are moving

Escapees

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123502366#Comment_123502366

As another poster has recently pointed out, your posts are very difficult to read and interpret. While we're all prone to typos and punctuation issues with our posts, it can be helpful to run the text of posts through a spell/grammer checker before posting to fix a lot of the issues, as was already suggested.

Igotadose

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123502195#Comment_123502195

Reagan's fault. Messing with the fairness doctrine and the FCC gave rise to the rabbit-hole media like the Limbot and Glenn Beck. Murdoch found a way to monetize it, he didn't have great inroads into the US until he could shift the narrative in places like the NY Post and Fox.

Igotadose

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123502366#Comment_123502366

Explained this once before that MediCAID is the health insurance for poor and some disabled people. MediCARE is the one you get when you're 65+. The proposed $700bn cut is to MediCAID, with another $300bn cut to SNAP, which is food stamps (tbf, plenty of full time employed get SNAP, which irks the GOP no end, even though they're eligible.) The GOP could care less about poor people and their votes, but both parties are wary of annoying seniors who more than anything vote.

MediCARE isn't under the knife directly, however automatic cuts kick in based on deficit level. That's particularly loathsome. If the deficit reaches $2.3Tn medicare is subject to a cut of around $500bn over 10 years, around $45bn/year

https://democrats-budget.house.gov/news/press-releases/cbo-confirms-gop-budget-bill-triggers-medicare-cuts

thereiver

Ok thanks for the advice I think there were many newspapers and magazines that were conservative leaning before Murdoch started Fox news . I,m not supporting Murdoch but he saw a gap in the market and exploited it .Before Fox news most tv networks were either liberal or middle of the road so as to appeal to the general audience .

20silkcut

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123502195#Comment_123502195

Ireland has a small well educated population . The critical mass of thick people does not exist here in sufficient quantity currently. That is not to say that we have don’t have a significant population of thickos. We most certainly do. But the demographic situation currently favours moderate politics. Ireland is the equivalent of one blue state in America. There are many states in America that are similar to Ireland in education and politics etc that voted against Trump and where politicians like Trump will never gain traction.

aloyisious

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123501921#Comment_123501921

It might help to explain him prancing about on stage with a chainsaw as an legitimate expression of what he intended to do to the federal pay-packet.

briany

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123502603#Comment_123502603

"It wasn't my fault. It was the methamphetamine! If you ask me, that stuff makes you do suspiciously Nazi-like salutes…"

— Elon Musk.

Flaneur OBrien

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123502548#Comment_123502548

It's one reason we must never allow the education budget to be cut to the American (or British) level.

If you don't keep educating people, you will get despots in power.

thatsdaft

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123502081#Comment_123502081

His excuse before was that “checks and balances” would keep Trump in check

And freedom of speech would always permit dissenting opposition

Both have and are being bulldozed by Trump admin

The list of deplorable Trump carry on is a mile long now

Igotadose

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123502231#Comment_123502231

In the 2016 election, the surprise was he won the nomination despite not being even slightly qualifed. The media adored the clicks he brought, the GOP debates featured him not being there, just a box on a podium, yet the other candidates couldn't make inroads.

So, the GOP voters, voted against 'business as usual' where someone like Christie or Jeb Bush might've been the nominee. A vote for Trump in the general election, however, wasn't for radical change imo. It was an anti-Hilary vote (easy to do given the demonisation that the GOP had subjected her to) and the typical 'vote for anything with an R after it's name.' Plus she was a bad candidate and underestimated Trump. He only got the plurality where it mattered in that election, the swing states.

So, I guess I'm agreeing with the narrative applying in the primaries, but not in the general.

Manic Moran

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123502372#Comment_123502372

Apologies. Here, they are citing CDC data.

https://www.texastribune.org/2025/01/30/texas-measles-vaccinations-schools/

I dispute little of what you say, the point I'm making is that the trend of reducing vaccinations started before his involvement in things, and the current measles outbreak is the natural result of that trend. No reason you can't attack his position, but the reality is that the idiots who won't vaccinate their kids managed to come to that conclusion without him and are the actual cause. They came to that conclusion under Azar and Cochran, and I blame neither of those two secretaries for the idiocy either.

Quin_Dub

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123502234#Comment_123502234

There is also a well documented connection between extreme religiosity and belief in conspiracy theories and acceptance of populist narratives.

Particularly in the US versions of Churches that tend to be tied to single charismatic leaders.

From an early age they are programmed to "believe what they are told" by the leader and their brains actually show evidence of under development in the areas involved in Critical thinking.

eire4

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123501436#Comment_123501436

To say that post is classic projection is to understate things quite a bit.

eire4

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123501643#Comment_123501643

What is so sadly true and grotesque about what you wrote there is that RFK will literally cause the deaths of many Americans who otherwise would not have died as a result of his crackpot nonsense. Not too mention the many who will get sick that otherwise would not have.

Aurelian

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123502910#Comment_123502910

Is it possible to be at once moderate and vicious?

Igotadose

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123502801#Comment_123502801

" the trend of reducing vaccinations started before his involvement in things"

RFKJr has been involved in reducing vaccinations for years; in 2019 he helped make measles worse in Samoa.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/jan/31/samoas-prime-minister-criticises-rfk-jrs-vaccine-views-after-deadly-measles-outbreak

So, no, he's been actively and surreptitiously hindering vaccination for years. He is pals with Andrew Wakefield who cooked up the whole vaccine/autism thing to make money for himself with his 'alternative' MMR vaccine. https://www.vice.com/en/article/heres-robert-f-kennedy-jr-explicitly-voicing-his-support-for-anti-vax-godfather-andrew-wakefield/

All the redution in vaccination is due to the massive evil of RFK jr, the Children's Health Network, Wakefield and now newcomers like Prasad and Markary in place at the controls of the US health department. Gullible fools like the Mennonite parents of the first kid that died in West Texas make good suckers for that mob. As I recall, there was some study showing something lik 7 accounts providing all the anti-vaxx fodder on FB, I wonder if RuZZia helped that along.