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

Imagine being in college or working and then being told you have to leave the country immediately. That is serious.

US revoking all visas for South Sudan passports and blocking new arrivals - as the African nation is not accepting its nationals expelled from the US. “every country must accept the return of its citizens in a timely manner when another country … seeks to remove them.. will be prepared to review these actions when South Sudan is in full cooperation" https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/apr/06/us-revokes-all-visas-for-south-sudanese-over-countrys-failure-to-repatriate-citizens

Maybe, but it depends.

Triggering a war with Iran appeared to be a goal Donnie wanted in the first term, likely as part of some blockheaded scheme to glean popularity as a «War President». Sort of like what Bush Jr. managed for a short while after 9/11.

However thanks to Donnie’s general fecklessness and total lack of any real follow-though it didn’t happen.

I’m certain he’d love an Iran War was a distraction from his current wave of extra-concentrated stupid, but that idea is not complicated by his buddy Putin having a weapons relationship with Iran. Russia and Iran are allies now, and for the forseeable a useful one to Moscow. So Donnie likely can’t attack Iran in the short term at very least.

Maybe doing serious calculations and deep thought about tariffs - or anything else Trump has come up with - is pointless. Maybe he gave no thought whatever to what he was doing. He had a simplistic calculation to base his numbers on, and applied it, but all he was looking for was submission from world leaders. He expected they would come, cap in hand, begging for negotiation so that he could feel powerful. That is all he needs, the approach; his attempts at negotiation have proved to be laughable but that is not important. He has the weight of the most powerful country in the world behind him, as he sees it, they would have to come begging. Its not even so much a power grab as his ego and vanity trying to overcome his insecurity. His thinking process is so simplistic he felt able to drop his bomb then go golfing while the world struggled - he hoped - to cope with his demands.

He sees it as being within his gift to create wealth for wealthy - and thus in his mind powerful - people, who will then respect him. Submission from world leaders and respect from the wealthy, and wealth for himself, so no grift is too brazen, these are all that matter to him.

He is totally and absolutely superficial, look at the gold ornaments he surrounds himself with, the women who decorate his environment, his concern with how many people flock to see him, his strange appearance, his obsession with everyone's 'ratings'. He is the ultimate vacuous influencer of vacuous people. There is nothing else.

“Hard times create strong men, strong men create good times, good times create weak men, and weak men create hard times.” G. Michael Hopf

The physical copy of the Business Post is quite dramatic today. Front page has a big picture of an angry Trump with "New World Order" as the headline.

Not as dramatic as what is going on in the USA with Trump. The media and politicians here are very muted in their reaction so far. Maybe they thing it will go away?

Very good, wish Irish papers were as creative

Does he mean "zero tariffs" or "zero tariffs, zero standards, zero regulation"?

I think they might be expecting him to revoke the tariffs. And you know something, I think he will revoke them. They got off to a bad start and flawed calcs so he might need to cut his losses. The question is when. Monday will be interesting.

If a Democrat president did this during a stock market crash you can be sure the forum would be flooded with comments from MAGA sneaking regarders castigating them.

And Trump no doubt racking up a huge bill for his golf junket, putting paid to the lie he gives a damn about saving taxpayers money.

A FTA like the USMCA?

How's that working out for Canada and Mexico? That was a trade agreement negotiated and signed by Trump, the best in the world and now he's saying it's the worst in the world.

Are you aware that I am not Elon Musk?

It just shows that he doesn't care about presidential responsibilities while enjoying all its privileges.

Actively abusing it too by billing the US taxpayer when he stays at his own hotels.