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

How long before we see Islamic terrorism trained on the US after those statements?

I would sometimes take his speeches as bluster but I think this is the real macoy as the butcher of Gaza is standing beside him smirking like a certain photo of a man that was in control of Prague in the 40s.

The latest he's saying is that he wants to turn Gaza into some sort of international holiday resort : "the Riviera of the Middle East".

To be fair to Trump he says the US will take Gaza over. That's not what the Israelis had in mind.

This is all nonsense of course.

He's trolling all sides.

Just in time to stop thev2nd part of the ceasefire negotiations and save the prime minister as his cabinet were going to resign .

It's ok, trump is sending them the bigger bombs which Biden was blocking, the re-settlement of Gazans will be more efficient now.

Awful to see that you learned nothing when so absolutely and utterly wrong again.

More chance of Stevie wonder seeing the light than you, eh 🙄

the irony is lost … displacing Palestine into some Mar a lago type resort so the state setup post ww2 has its ‘own’ land.

weird fire burning in background of White House. Is that new ? A portal to hell and Nethanyahu just stepped out of it

Who will gain control of the oil that is of the coast of Gaza.

For all the talk about Harris only making the co do it worse, and the genocide Joe remarks, just look at what we have now.

This is the brink of war territory now, make no mistake.

Everything about the last couple of weeks has been utterly INSANE the US appears to have no real rule of law and is just a dictatorship now.

It's just arbitrary decision after decision on everything from foreign policy, to trade, to water management. He's purging departments and agencies, appointing random oligarchs to extremely high powered positions granting them access to everything without even a shred of consultation with anyone else or reference to the law - Congress is apparently standing idly by or facilitating it. The Courts are doing nothing. The Democrats are wandering around in circles. His actions are more like something you'd see from Mao Zedong or Stalin, not a US president. He's suddenly an expert on every topic and the various agencies just do exactly what he says without question, without pushback, without challenge.

There appears to be no functioning government, no checks and balances - just Trump and absolute power.

This is the most anti-American b/s I have ever witnessed and it's being sold as patriotic.

If the US system doesn't pushback quickly and hard, they can forget democracy as it'll be gone - replaced with a cult of personality around a dictator.

If this continues for much longer the US as we know it is just going to be gone.

People were laughing this off last year as hyperbole, yet here we are - the dawn of an authoritarian version of the United States.

It'll be interesting to see Ireland's response (or lack thereof) to Trump's comments.

We would be quick out of the traps to condemn if these explicit policy aims came out of the mouth of Netanyahu. Something tells me we're not going to be so unequivocal when it comes to Trump. With good reason of course - but it will make us look like hypocrites that have lost the moral high ground.

Ireland had significant soft power and its arguments carried moral weight, and were being noticed by prominent political figures in the US and elsewhere. We also have outsized voice and access in the US political system and discourse generally as an anglophone country that's generally viewed with warm regard. We also have the rebel history, and that carries weight and a huge diaspora in the US, even if it's not a very organised lobby. In some respects, other than Israel itself, we are the other small country that can potentially hold huge sway in the US.

You can see why Israel's far right flipped out when we criticised them loudly, as our voice carries more weight than most in the places that could have influence - and it was very much the case with Biden, particularly as he so heavily identifies as Irish - but it's beyond that too - Ireland has a lot of access, and not exclusively on the Democratic side of the house either. I would assume they'll now just ignore us, as we're not longer relevant.

With Trump in, that soft power is essentially useless. Our or anyone else's ability to raise issues is just gone. You might as well be talking to a brick wall as talking to Trump. He doesn't have a moral compass, so appealing to his sense of morality is pointless. He doesn't care what people think of him - totally brazen, so he's certainly not going to be swayed by any of that. He just sees money making opportunities. The only thing I can think might influence him is if some wealthy Middle Eastern donors basically put a huge pile of money on the table.

I don't see Trump listening to anyone - he's certainly not going to listen to us anymore than he'll listen to progressive voices in the US.

Gaza's facing a hellish mess and it very much looks like the US might end up directly participating in or even driving ethnic cleansing. If they do, it will tarnish their reputation and haunt them forever. That kind of stain on your history doesn't wash away.

I don't know what the world's going to look like in a couple of years' time but what's ahead does not look like a pretty picture.

If the US constitution, Congress and the Courts don't contain him fairly quickly, this has the potential to turn very, very bad and go into completely uncharted territory. At the moment it looks very much like a quite rapid breakdown of the rule of law and systems of government, at least at the federal level, is already well underway.