Donald Trump the Megathread part II - mod warnings in OP, Updated 06/06/25

Columbus day in the US largely functions as a day for celebrating Italian-American heritage, in the way that St. Patrick's Day does for Irish-Americans and Cinco de Mayo does for Mexican-Americans. Whether it's celebrated, and the enthusiasm with which it's celebrated, from state to state, or from town to town, is largely a function of how strong Italian-American identity is in that place.

Its a federal holiday, but that just means that federal government offices and agencies mark it. The federal government has no authority to tell state agencies or private businesses whether to close or not, or to grant their workers a holiday. It's not clear what action Trump intends to take; it's already a federal holiday, and he can't make it any more of a federal holiday than it already is.

It's also not clear whether Italian-Americans will be uniformly thrilled at Trump's attempt to hijack what they regard as their particular holiday.

A few states have cancelled Columbus Day. Apparently he never set foot in the place only made it to the Carribbean where they wiped out half the population with disease and established a slave trade.

I think, in fact, the question MAGA supporters ask themselves is "Is this a lie that I like?"

”however they -Russia- kept the military bases” . Is that correct? My understanding is that the whole of Crimea was handed over and that Ukr allowed the use of some bases to the Russians under some long term agreement which is up about now!

Crimea was part of the Ukrainian SSR since Krushchev handed it over in 1954, having previously been part of the Russian SSR.

Russia conquered it in 1783 under Catherine the Great, in violation of a 1778 peace treaty with the Ottoman Empire.

However after World War 1, it also broke away but was reconquered by the Soviet Union and became part of the Russian SSR. It was originally the homeland of the Crimean Tatars and the heartland of the Khanate of Crimea. Stalin deported the Tatars. They only started returning I think after the breakup of the USSR. The return of Russia has led to a return of persecution.

I've looked at the Census of Tsarist Russia in 1897. Crimea was part of Taurida Governate which included Crimea and Kherson. Ukrainian was the main language at the time. Russification was much more intense under the USSR since Stalin abolished Lenin's policy (known as Korenization) of promoting minority languages in the USSR to gain the minorities' support. Stalin became more concerned with getting ethnic Russian support.

can we stop with the rare earths minerals nonsense and conspiracy theories

Only half a billion a year worth of “rare earths” (they ain’t rare”) are imported into US per year

Trump already cost us economy 7 trillion

Given that the Ukrainian constitution says that Crimea is formerly and legally part of Ukraine and cannot be ceded to another country, he is talking nonsense again. It would be like a Taoiseach offering the UK that they take over Donegal.

OK ta. I wanted to tie down if Trump has any particular interest in supporting Putin's reason for annexing Crimea. From the replies, it seems to revolve around its military potential as a natural defence against encroachment for Russia.

I think Trump is close to walking away from day to day political interest in Ukraine and hand that over to Rubio, while holding unto presidential approval in the final call to call it a day in assisting Zelenskyy.

Commercially, that sounds insane for both countries if tariffs costs were to be thrown in at both ends, let alone for a supposedly strong independent trading nation like the US to have to export the goods to China for refining. Presumably there would have to be some safeguards against either side using the trade as a weapon against the other.

It's mainly dangerous for the judges that judges are getting arrested in Trump's America. You could argue that it's dangerous for Trump that it may spark a popular uprising against him, but if that hasn't happened by now, it's unlikely to happen in the future.

You have your really pro-Trump MAGA people, your really anti-Trump people, and then everyone else in the middle who are just trying to get through the working week. So long as the American public stays basically divided into these three camps, Trump will probably keep intimidating the judiciary and consolidating power.

The main thing that might curtail Trump's agenda is that which has also, ironically, set the stage for Trump's rise in the first place, and that is Big Business. Per that little meeting between Trump and the Walmart guy recently where Trump was told to drop the tariffs lest the shelves run empty, Trump can get smacked down if he messes with too many cash flows.

Thanks. It does point out the dangers to the US that it does not have enough of a capable home refining industry that it has to rely on one of its major trading opponent nations to do what it should be capable of doing for itself. Given the present state of play internationally, one has to wonder what form of payment China is accepting for the refining.

Ref media outlet sources, I have seen a post on MSN from the Daily Wrap to the effect that the Zelenskyy Administration is planning to use seized Russian assets and to place tariffs on Russian imports into Ukraine [when the war ends] to fund reconstruction there. Now, given how things are occurring presently between the two combatants and the US involvement in the war on two fronts, that would seem to be very far forward planning so I have to ask if the Daily Wrap has any credibility on reporting actual genuine news.

I've googled on the Daily Wrap and an outlet [the Wrap] popped up several times as a US left-leaning outlet. Are they separate outlets or one and the same outlet AND does it/they have street cred in the media world? Do I push the ignore button when I see the Daily Wrap on the screen?

Edit: one of the sources quoted [twice] in the D/W story is supposedly Ukraine's PM, Denys Shymal.

I meant more in the case of Donegal being added to the existing 6 counties that already allow the same rights under the existing constitution

But we're off topic, though I do think as I said earlier that Northern Ireland could be the blueprint for what happens with Crimea in order to the the war

This case of the Irish green card holder currently being detained in an ICE centre illustrates that abiding by their laws means nothing to Trump and the witch hunt he's unleashed.

On the Ukraine war front, it's been reported that Putin has declared there will be a 3-day ceasefire next week in Ukraine to coincide with the 80th anniversary of V-E day. Last week, Russia decided not to hold a major military parade in Crimea in connection with the anniversary as it would be too risky for the safety of the participants and on-lookers.

Putin may be hedging his bets by announcing his latest ceasefire way in advance of the date, unlike his recent ceasefire, so that if anything happens to mar the parade, he can point the finger at Ukraine and Zelenskyy.