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

Employee rights are a lot less in the USA, so possibly a mistake to look at it through European eyes. And there'll be no super-strong civil-service union organising a massive protest or all-out strike.

As for legalities it seems the vast majority of those released are on 'work probation' and aren't yet considered permanent employees. Probation seems to be different conceptually than we'd know it - for us after 12 months in the service you are no longer a probationer for the rest of your career. But in America it seems every move to a new department/role resets you to probation and thus lesser rights.

Musk has been given unprecedented power that no unelected official has ever been handed. He will never face an election while Carney is. Musk's decisions are also further adding to the recession that Trump is kicking off.

Noticeably I've yet to see you comment on the fact that Trump is currently sinking the US economy. I'm pretty sure you'd have been much more vocal if Biden had pulled any of this kind of ****.

Sure thing pal, maybe take a look at how many Irish people work at these places before you say something silly like this. Every job or employer needs migrants for roles, that’s nothing new.

You’ve exposed nothing other than your ignorance on the topic.

What ignorance, that MNCs here fill many vital roles with overseas talent because the skillset doesn't exist or there is not enough here? It's absolutely true.

MNCs choose Ireland not because it's labour force is highly skilled. If it did they would need minimal numbers of essential skills visas.

MNCs choose Ireland because it has a stable and well understood legal system along with and especially tax and labour policies that are favourable to business. The timezone helps too.

The highly skilled workforce fib we tell ourselves hasn't been true since we abandoned light manufacturing here.

I don't know whether to wonder if most US Senators and Congress members don't see that Trump is breaking off most of the international friendships the US has garnered since 1941 onwards [even Russia] or if it's that they don't give a damn that Trump is making the US an isolated state with no allies anywhere worldwide, including in the UN in New York, thinking deny, deny deny is the best policy when it comes to Trump, like the three monkeys.

He's going on about annexing other countries territory, while talking about the start of WW3, yet trying [allegedly] to end a war started when Russia entered and annexed Ukraine's territory. What will the Senators and Congress members label his actions as if he does put US boots and armoured vehicles in an annexation-move across international borders like Russia did in Ukraine? Maybe Ice Station Zebra II.

The main difference between the two would be intelligence, education and a proven track record.

Plus the more northerly one having a better perspective of banking and international financing within the usual boundaries. Where the southerly one is concerned, it's like the Monty Python Spanish Inquisition sketch; having to come up with more "ands" to describe what he's done.

I don't know, I doubt it and think Russia would just keep well clear of that mess, and say/do nothing. If it happens, they will be delighted.

IMO, Putin is somewhat uncertain how to react to the US at the moment (beyond the policy he is following of flattering Trump, engagement with this fake Ukraine war peace process, and offering carrots of fortunes to be made in Russia when US sanctions are lifted).

It must be exceeding Russia's wildest hopes + dreams, and they can't believe their luck, which I suppose creates a problem of how best to take advantage of these unique circumstances, and how far exactly to push their luck with the Trump admin.

Luvverly… SCOTUS denied a petition from a friend of Trump, Billionaire property developer Steve Wynn, to revisit the precedent established by 1964’s New York Times v Sullivan case, which determined that public figures must prove “actual malice” from a new organization’s reporting to successfully sue them for defamation. It involved the constitutional 1st amendment rights.

“Sullivan is not equipped to handle the world as it is today — media is no longer controlled by companies that employ legions of factcheckers before publishing an article,” attorneys for Wynn wrote in a recent petition to the court. “Instead, everyone in the world has the ability to publish any statement with a few keystrokes. And in this age of clickbait journalism, even those members of the legacy media have resorted to libellous headlines and false reports to generate views.”

The justices denied his petition Monday.

Wynn brought his case to the Supreme Court after lower courts rejected his 2018 lawsuit against the Associated Press, which published information from police reports detailing allegations of sexual misconduct against him in the 1970s. Wynn has denied the allegations.

Trump and his allies have repeatedly argued that news outlets and journalists should be punished, even criminally, for adversarial reporting. Trump himself has pushed the courts to challenge Sullivan in his lawsuits against media outlets, with his attorneys stating in a failed lawsuit against CNN that the precedent “no longer merely provides ‘breathing space’ for the occasional misstatement, but rather, offers a nearly impenetrable shield to the media, allowing it to publish defamatory statements targeting political enemies, without fear of consequence.”

In his dissent in a similar case in 2022, Justice Clarence Thomas claimed that the Sullivan precedent “and its progeny have allowed media organizations and interest groups ‘to cast false aspersions on public figures with near impunity.’”. That case was not connected to Trump, despite Trump having called for changes to it leading into and during his 1st term as president 2016-2020.

The Sullivan concerned was Alabama's Police commissioner who sued the NYT for libel in 1960 over an Ad it ran for supporters of MLK Jnr. SCOTUS 1964 decision confirmed the 1st amendment limited the right of a public official to sue for defamation. He won the initial case in a local country court [getting a US$ half million award there] affirmed at the Alabama State Supreme court before NYT went to SCOTUS who overturned the Alabama ruling as violating the 1st amendment.

The data shows that we can't fill many high skill vacancies with domestic labour. It's not a case of personal bitterness either, I have no truck with them generally.

What I take issue with is the Irish governments attempt to gaslight everyone with their line, oh no siree, the MNCs aren't here for tax reasons, but actually because we speak English, educated workforce, the great weather etc. It's all nonsense. The MNCs are here primarily for tax purposes, there is no other reason their IP resides here. The workforce doesn't even come into it for a lot of them as I said they just get visas for the people they need because the skills either unavailable or nonexistent here.

I guess we will see what the highly educated workforce counts for when Ireland's tax advantage is eliminated. I suspect it won't save us.

You’re changing your argument here, it’s gone from not having a skilled workforce to we do have one but also the taxes.

I’ve never denied the MNCs benefit from the taxes, of course they do. They also benefit from having access to very skilled graduates from Irish institutions as well, something you don’t seem to believe.

There are loads of other countries in the EU producing far more ICT graduates than Ireland.

Irish colleges are not what they were, courses have been dumbed down massively in the last 20 years.

There is ridiculous grade inflation.

Thats a big factor as to why multinationals in Ireland employ foreign staff, its because the standard of graduate is not as good as it was or should be.

91 of the world’s top 200 universities are in Europe, guess how many of those are Irish, 1, and thats Trinity which isnt an ICT college.

There is a reason Irish colleges are dropping off a cliff in the rankings.

This

The funny part is I had an American colleague proclaim that “we don’t like kings here”

But Trump already has much much more power than monarchs in places like UK and he is shredding the remaining checks and balances

The last time a British king tried grabbing this much power, he lost his head

The thing is Americans won’t defend their own republic and constitution and yes I’m aware of the irony of the “republican” party leading to the death of the US republic

100% one of Trumps kids will run in 2028 now, if not Trump himself again, they are already laying the groundwork for it