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

There's no "Trump deal" or "Trump peace" on offer here.

The idea of "US contractors" lighting out for the Donbas to dig up metals or something (and play human safari with the Russian military drone operators?) is a pipe dream.

If you believe in it, would you want to go get your hard hard and help man an excavator there to make "Trump's peace" a reality? 🤩

The US is making clear there is no security guarantees behind it, no guarantee even of continued military support to Ukraine from articles I have read.

It's just Ukraine signs it immediately + back pays for what was already provided in aid by the Biden admin. (Trump views that as stolen/conned out of America), and Trump won't cut them off right away and he might support them later, that seemed to be it - correct me if I am wrong...It's a terrible "deal".

In this scenario, the best outcome is for the Republican party to split. The diehards with Trump and the not so easily brainwashed/radical with someone else. Thus not giving either enough to get into power.

Trump berated Zelenskyy in the white house last week for 'holding no cards' so being in no position to negotiate.

Today we wake up to Trump withdrawing all military support from Ukraine and ending the sanctions on Russia.

There are literally no other 'negotiating cards' that the US holds against Russia in this conflict. So Trump wants to negotiate a 'peace deal' by voluntarily conceding to every fantasy the other party would like to achieve, in exchange for absolutely nothing, less than nothing. Continued threats, continued demands from the other sides for even more concessions, failure to accept any responsibility for the cause of the conflict and zero reparations towards rebuilding costs, zero commitment to repatriating of political prisoners and stolen children, no commitments to the rights or protections for occupied peoples in annexed territories…..

What is in this deal for:

Ukraine? Nothing - No territory returned, no peace and security, no economic development, no reparations.

Europe? Nothing. Sanctions on the EU from America while Russian sanctions are lifted

Western political and economic interests? Nothing but instability and increased global tensions - Global realignment away from a EU/US hegemony towards a new more instable world where global giants are being forced to choose sides. Who will China align with, what about India, Pakistan, South Korea, Japan? What will happen in the Middle east as Russia are playing America like a puppet and America are conflicted between supporting Israel, and not supporting Iran who are aligned with Russia?

The American people? Nothing

Russia - Complete total victory

Trump and his oligarch friends - up to a trillion dollars worth of stolen resources from Ukraine, the opportunity to plunder and pillage the remains of the US economy and reshape the US political landscape so that they have totalitarian control over the most powerful military infrastructure in the world.

Someone asked a question a while back, but I did not see any response to it. How is Trump doing everything without Congress? Will there come a reckoning where any of the stuff he is doing will have to be approved? Surely even to his syncophants it must be obvious that much of what he is doing, or the way that he is doing it, is bad for the country.

The business with the tariffs, they are on, they are off, they are on again. How is it no-one else gets to have an opinion on them? Why are the elected representatives allowing their position and authority to be pushed aside, what exactly are they doing at the moment?

He is going to talk to Congress and tell them what he is doing, today. They have not had any say in the upheavals that have been happening, they are going to gather in a public meeting and be told? At the moment there is just Trump and - to a lesser extent - the courts. And the courts can easily be overruled till a decision gets to his Supreme Court. He is the dictator he promised, but the 'day one' thing has gone out of the window. Why is no-one attempting to control him? Why is the opposition not shouting about it?

I really wish the general media would cotton on that the tariffs aren't on Canada and Mexico, but on US imports from these countries. No doubt most Trump supporters probably think it's Canada and Mexico that pay the tariff and not US consumers.

Possibly the most iconic and ubiquitously Murican thing is the Ford F150, yet a quick google tells me that only 32% of the F150 is made in the USA. So Trump voters will be scratching heads wondering why their beloved cornerstone of US freedom has suddenly gotten more expensive.

I don't envy the Ford CEO preparing his explanation knowing the Trump base don't do nuance.

"Our natural inclination is not to get involved in conflicts" - fockin lol. Sure.

I think it is likely. More likely than not.

With the speed at which the Overton window is shifting, it'll appear normal in a few months. Worse than normal even, it'll become expected and will be baked in.

The caution in your analysis used to be valid but belongs in a previous world now.

JD Vance really, really digging a hole for US - NATO relations.

Basically saying only way for Ukraine to be safe, is by giving America a financial reason to be in there - so give us all the minerals and we'll defend them (and by the by the rest of Ukraine)

However it's the throw away comment: 'That is a way better security guarantee than 20,000 troops from some random country that hasn’t fought a war in 30 or 40 years' in reference to the UK and France (as well as other NATO allies), who mostly went into Afghanistan and into Iraq for years to help the Americans, that's gone down like a lead balloon.

Did JD even say thanks to them for the help

Edit: added 1 of many links

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/mar/04/jd-vance-hannity-interview-fox-trump-zelenskyy-ukraine-military-aid

It's probably the best, or, only option for the Democrats right now. Don't be visible for Trump to use them as a punchbag and distraction from the harm he's doing the US, just keep the cameras and notebooks rolling. Let Trump bring the house down around the citizens heads in full view of everyone and bring the US down to the level of Ukraine. The US will then understand that the only one who gained from what Trump has done is Putin.

Re "JD Vance really, really digging a hole for US - NATO relations"

But NATO effectively no longer exists now. The most remarkable thing about all of this is that Russia has lost so many thousands of troops in Ukraine and achieved so little in 3 years. But by manipulating Trump, Putin has managed to tear NATO apart in a couple of weeks without any military effort at all.

5 weeks into the 4 year Term and look at whats happened?

But ultimately, Trump will be 82 at the end of this term, whether he runs again, or he and Putin just pick someone else to be the president and they hold some sham elections.

The constitution can be circumvented by ticking some boxes and crossing some Ts, the electoral process in the US is incredibly vulnerable to being coopted by the absolutely bonkers rules they have around 'provisional ballots' and, the 'electoral college' how elections are certified and when vote counting is stopped etc

Trump couild insert Eric as the next president of America in 4 years time and there is **** all the US consitution will do to stop him.

At this stage I’m wondering do the American people possess such intelligence to make that conclusion 😀

You are telling me to wake up yet at the same time you are insinuating Putin will invade and conquer Ireland ?

Pigs might fly.

Fed revised estimate down again

The GDPNow model estimate for real GDP growth (seasonally adjusted annual rate) in the first quarter of 2025 is  

-2.8 percent

 on March 3, down from -1.5 percent on February 28. 

US economy is heading for a meltdown

Thanks Trump