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

Trump said he'd be a dictator on day one. That's true, but he's also been a dictator for an additional 60, so far. He's been ruling the country from the resolute desk via executive order, and US Congress has largely bent the knee. It's exactly as bad as I thought it would be, if not worse. By the time the US midterms roll around, it's not going to matter who wins them, such will be Trump's grip on the machinery of power, and US democracy will officially be at an end.

The wider problem of RFK jr. is that his position is emboldening an attitude that had already existed in that part of the States. Its made somewhat worse that the vaccine you usually apply to a child to immunise against Measles is the combined MMR jab for Measles, Mumps and Ruebella. Thats the inoculation that one disgraced Doctor and countless anti-vax conspiracy theorists tried to suggest causes authism.

Despite the Doctor in question being found out in quick order to have been part of a plan to discredit one brand of jab in favor of another, his fraudulent study was enough of an excuse for people who simply didnt want to get injections who now had an excuse to wave about for their attitude. Instead of being framed as the childish contrarians (which they are), they could now claim to be «concern citizens» who did their «Research*». (*Youtube)

A strong State-level health service backed by a competent Federal administration is still needed here. You need States who are willing to run intensive campaigns to counter the MAGA idiocracy that would discourage the use of any vaccines for fear that Bill Gates/Bezos is puting microchips in your blood for…reasons. Or simply counter the attitude that being «in the right» about a position like this is more important to some people than actually keeping their kids healthy.

RFK is by far the worst option on top of all of this. Whats worse, much like Donnie, I don’t think he even believes the vaccine nonsense himself, but is happy to ride that wave to be where he is now.

Religion is poison.

I’m not a fan of Sky News normally but a good summary of where we’re at here. Essentially the Democrats “strategy” is to “Hope” Trump destroys himself - given Trumps approval rating (and his latest stunt to kick out 1000s of legitimate working migrants) will only raise this popularity.

It’s official- America has a king or a dictator or whatever you wish to call it - the fact that he can do whatever he chooses without any repercussions is essentially meeting the definition of those titles.

There’s no “green shoots” - Democrats are more disorganised than ever - their policies and thinking are too far left for the electorate to stomach - I’m not even sure a recession will help them as simply the American public are being primed to expect a recession and to embrace it as a good thing for their long term benefit - a small pain for a large gain if you will - I’m not at all sure that in 4 years time “it’s the economy stupid” will work - the Republicans are doing a great job at brainwashing the public.

I’m not even sure democrats have the will to organise a peaceful silent protest no less mass riots - America is fcked.

“Chuck Schumer, the Senate minority leader, and eight other Democratic senators sided with the Republicans to allow Trump's Budget Resolution to pass.“

“Meanwhile, Schumer protests that it will not be possible to do sensible deals in Congress until Trump's popularity rating drops to 40%.

It could be a long wait. At the moment the president stands at around 48% approval while the Democrats are at a pitiful 27%.”

https://news.sky.com/story/amp/donald-trump-will-soon-mark-100-days-in-power-where-does-his-opposition-stand-13333318

I don't tend to agree that Sanders would have won but in agreement on everything else. The Democrats biggest issue is they're unwilling to have firm messaging at this stage. They're half frightened of being called left wing.

Trump won because people wanted change, hated Clinton and a lot of young people were very pissed off at the way the DNC treated Bernie and his supporters

Doge we are going to cut waste and save money .reality

The IRS is expecting to collect 10 per cent less tax this year because of the chaos and cutbacks in the IRS made by doge.

And the stock market has lost trillions in value so 401k pension funds have lost value as most 401k funds invest in the stock market

But at least rich people will have less tax to pay.

If you work as a nurse or at Walmart there's no tax cuts for you .You ll pay the same tax but infrastructure and public services like parks will see staff layoffs

Maga should be called mama

Make America mediocre again

Bit of light relief…

https://www.google.com/search?q=canada+i+will+survive&oq=canad&gs_lcrp=EgZjaHJvbWUqDggAEEUYJxg7GIAEGIoFMg4IABBFGCcYOxiABBiKBTIKCAEQLhixAxiABDIGCAIQRRhAMgYIAxBFGDkyBggEECMYJzIGCAUQRRg9MgYIBhBFGDwyBggHEEUYPdIBCDMwNzNqMGo0qAIAsAIB&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8#fpstate=ive&vld=cid:fd9ff8ac,vid:8peiLVFsLdw,st:0

(why is Boards stopping some urls from converting to images?) Its a bit long but says it all.

Edit: Sorry, I didn't say what it was, its We will Survive, Canada's response to DT.

The Republicans have embraced communist Russia but the Democrats are seen as the left party? 🤷‍♂️

https://fortune.com/2025/03/17/foreign-tourism-us-forecast-trump-tariffs-trade-war-russia-ukraine-war/

According to a Feb. 27 report from research firm Tourism Economics, visits are expected to fall 5.1%, down from an earlier view for an 8.8% increase. Spending by foreign tourists is expected to tumble 11%, representing a loss of $18 billion this year.

I suspect the figures will drop even more as the year goes on. Trump is looking at destroying all industries (Auto, farming, tourism etc...)

Thr republicans used very simple language eg we,ll reduce inflation and get control of immigrants and reduce crime .Even if you hate trump he,s good at talking to working class voters and he appeals to racist and conservative voters .

The democrats need a leader like bill Clinton that can talk to voters in a simple type of language .Harris is black and female which is a disadvantage if you want millions of voters to vote for you .She appeals to middle class liberal people .

Trump is going to cause a recession increase inflation and put off tourists from coming to America .Reducing staff at national parks is not going to help tourism

There's absolutely nothing "communist" about Putin's Russia.

Perception is absolutely everything in politics - if the perception is that the democrats are left wing, then they’re left wing- it’s that simple.

The reality means nothing - and compared to MAGA, there’s probably an argument to had that they are , even though they’re more left of centre -MAGA have done a fine job of painting them a certain way - and in some respects the democrats were complicit in their own downfall - they allowed themselves to be defined and dominated by issues whilst important, were marginal to the overall governance of a vast country- they should have seen this coming and they didn’t.

I don’t think they can reverse out of this perception either - there’s a distinct possibility that the only way to “redemption” is that Trump and MAGA go too far- even for the American people. But with the tolerance the American people are displaying so far, it seems to me that they will tolerate a hell of a lot more before they start react, no less respond. The Democrats haven’t had a clue on how to respond to appropriately to Trump and MAGA - Europe is learning quickly but I don’t think the Democrats know how.

Yes, Communism ended and Russia went hyper capitalist under Yeltsin.

But he won't even get on the ballot so he isn't close to the Presidency at all.