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

Elon Musk is spreading his tendrils throughout the US government, having whole departments shut down, and most of the chatter here is still about the tarrifs that are being claimed as empty political posturing?!

No offense, but wake up, FFS.

you might listen to post no 8241 where Trudeau briefly outlined a fairly comphrensive strategy to tackle the border issue re illegals and the fentenal problem. All Trump had to do to have his issue addressed was to ring up Thrudeau and ask for a meeting to review what he has in mind and, like negotiating adults, agree maybe some improvements or whatever. Canada was ALREADY ON BOARD re addressing the problem - it probably already had detailed discussions with its American counterpart when working out it’s plan/strategy

Trump effectively brought a sledgehammer, bulldozer, mango hammer and a steamroller to crack a monkey nut.

IMO, Trump does not suffer from anything, he just has certain conditions - they are genetic- that dictate / influence how he behaves eg ADHD - which can break out in various ways; Ego; Psychopathy.

Wake up? MAGA supporters, GOP in general, want smaller federal government. The win is that somebody is taking charge and getting rid of the state.

Its the logical conclusion of a small state, what is left is consolidated in fewer people with more power.

I'm not talking about what MAGA wants. They'd bottle Trump's farts and sell it as perfume. I'm talking about the people here still going on about tarrifs while the US government is being dismantled from within.

Ironically I don't think this will even result in a smaller state at the finish of it. To me, it looks more like the process that a caterpillar undergoes during metamorphosis, where it breaks its body down, before emerging as a butterfly. The US state will be remade in the image of Trump and Musk et al and the state being in every corner of the citizenry's life is very much a cornerstone of the authoritarian model.

WRT to Musk's antics, lots of reporting on how his minions are gaining access to the most sensitive info the Government has, whether or not it's legal for them to do so. Once they're in, even if eventually they're booted back out, you can be sure there are lots of copies of that data elsewhere. Might make good fodder for sales to enemies via the sovereign wealth fund.

Just blatant unrestricted criminality - if it results in any convictions, expect a pardon, if not, expect preemptive pardons in 2028 (or, if Vance or some other GQP wins, pardons from them once assuming office.)

Tariffs came into affect against China today and a measured response has been given in return on just a few items. Probably they have a list of thousands of items which will have been prepared years ago.

1. Imposing a 10-15% tariff on US natural gas and coal.

2. Antitrust investigation against Google.

3. CK & Tommy Hilfiger parent company PVH and gene company Illumina blacklisted.

4.Tungsten, tellurium, bismuth, molybdenum, plutonium exports controlled.

Nothing hurts them you see,, the minerals they have a monopoly on and plenty of their trading partners they have been enhancing trade with this last couple of years will snap them up. No sleep lost banning CK and Tommy, maybe they are not too chuffed about losing a market of 1.4 billion though. Strong trade allies with the worlds largest gas and coal exporters also, doubt they buy much anyway as they have long term contracts for those but could affect global prices

Trumps turn now :)

Indeed.

Disaster capitalism always works out for those who are already very wealthy.

Ordinary Joe is the guy that tends to get screwed.

Remember there were posts after Trump's inauguration about him restoring respect for the US around the world…

Yeah, that aged well.

I include this image from the front page of le Journal de Montreal, the largest newspaper in Quebec, as refutation of that.

And the comment from Republicans against Trump sums it up:

In just a matter of days, Trump has turned the U.S. into a laughingstock on the world stage. It will take years to undo the damage.

Not exactly unusual for journalists to not disclose sources.... Plenty of big stories have involved undisclosed sources.

Over the coming weeks and months there will be what Trump says will happen- and then there’s what will actually happen.

I think a lot of people are concentrating on the literal words Trump is saying - this is just posturing and opening gambit position - it’s clear Trump wants to ruffle a lot of feathers in his first 100 days and to make visible changes- he’s succeeding and got people’s attention and countries attention and that’s good because Biden didn’t do that .

Whether it’s Mexico or Canada or EU/China, there’s going to be change for sure - but hopefully some of those changes will be for the good. America is flexing muscle- it is actually scary considering they have been seen as friends and allies.

The US immigration question has been unaddressed for decades - it’s a nasty business but someone has to grab this thorn - I do feel pity for people who’ve worked for decades undocumented and without as much as a parking ticket, thrown out of the country- but low hanging fruit is there for the picking and ICE are doing that -but hopefully the undocumented gangs and criminals also get kicked out - otherwise this is will be a fruitless exercise and nothing will change - and forcing Mexico to govern their borders is well, bloody obvious thing to do.

I think there will a a lot of unpleasant news and scenes over the next 2 years - but hopefully a new equilibrium will emerge and things will move towards stability.

Except it's all a smokescreen of nonsense to fool the uninformed.

All he is succeeding at is ruffling feathers, doing long term damage to US standing with the countries involved.
There's nothing here that could not have been delivered through regular responsible diplomacy. Any legitimate measures at the border by both countries did not require this charade.

How could anyone acquainted with any of the basic facts about Canada and the US and fentanyl believe this had anything to do with securing the border?
Trump just pardoned someone who was facilitated sale of fentanyl online!

It was Trump who ordered his stooges in Congress to nuke the border bill in last term of Congress.

In January 2021 Mexico also deployed 10,000 troops to the border in 2021, under President Biden - as documented below:

https://www.yahoo.com/news/jd-vance-hit-brutal-fact-212139604.html

You have to be very wary of these things.

A lot of people in North of England voted for Brexit because they believed nothing could be worse and anything which disrupts things as they are would see an improvement.

Trump will likely disrupt things alright, but the chance of anyone who isn't already very wealthy having their life improved is very small.

"I despise the man but..." Yeah, I don't believe you.

Anyway, we have a 12 week old pup that sh1ts and p1sses all over our floor. She could be referred to as a great disrupter too.

Why didn't he achieve any of that in his first term? He spent 4 years promising new and improved healthcare. He ended up twice impeached due to his conduct. He achieved nothing beyond scandals.

Meanwhile we've got the 6 tech bros given access to secure and admin permissions on the Treasury systems etc... So much damage is gonna be done.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/the-doge-musketeers-the-secret-team-elon-wants-to-keep-in-the-shadows/