Donald Trump the Megathread part II - Mod Warning updated in OP 12/2/26

Are they not from the same stock? 'Hillbillies' were descended from Ulster-Scots, who were anti-establishment and supporters of King Billy. Likewise, 'Rednecks' were named after the red scarves Ulster-Scots covenanters wore in support of the war against English rule. Both terms carry the obvious connotations of isolated contrariness, impervious to reason, logic and understanding.

That's my point. The scope of presidential emergency powers are huge and easily used against US citizens. Have a quick gander at this:

What the President Could Do If He Declares a State of Emergency | Brennan Center for Justice

'Protests erupt. On Twitter, Trump calls the protesters traitors and suggests (in capital letters) that they could use a good beating. When counterprotesters oblige, Trump blames the original protesters for sparking the violent confrontations and deploys the Insurrection Act to federalize the National Guard in several states. Using the Presidential Alert system first tested in October 2018, the president sends a text message to every American’s cellphone, warning that there is “a risk of violence at polling stations” and that “troops will be deployed as necessary” to keep order. Some members of opposition groups are frightened into staying home on Election Day; other people simply can’t find accurate information online about voting. With turnout at a historical low, a president who was facing impeachment just months earlier handily wins reelection — and marks his victory by renewing the state of emergency.'

The land of the "free"

Wasn't Vance recently claiming the UK was suppressing free speech?

"effective immediately, officers will now consider whether an applicant has 'endorsed, promoted, supported, or otherwise espoused' anti-American, terrorist or antisemitic views"

You mean they won't grant the privilege of moving to their country to people who are actively posting about how much they hate America and everything they stand for? The absolute bastards!

Pretty sure most countries would have similar vetting in place.

Most countries don't screen migrants for being critical of a government... Care to point to some countries that do? (You're gonna find that they tend to be antidemocratic) The reality is if a government/administration is highly controversial, people are gonna be critical of it.

Also you're gonna find that many people will have an issue with the fact that the president of the USA is a rapist and convicted criminal. Should highlighting that be grounds to block a visa? Or being critical of illegal actions by the administration? All of this is generally stuff that free societies should value.

For the record, I view plenty of parts of the US to be good. I equally think Trump and how his administration behaves is abhorrent. That doesn't amount to hating the US... I equally have plenty of US relatives that entirely agree with my sentiments, do they also hate the US?

Pffft. More mindless shilling for a prick that wouldn't piss on you if you were on fire.

The issue here is A. they're screening people's PRIVATE material and B. they're screening for remarks about Donald Trump

None of that is a normal part of any democracy or immigration check.

And I guarantee this, if it were the Democrats in power and they were doing this, you'd be singing a very different song.

Youre talking as if its a certainty that your phone will be screened when its actually extremely unlikely. I'm in the US now, just returned last week. No one demanded access to my phone or anyone else's either during the visa approval process or the immigration check on the way back. Its always been a possibility that they could ask for your phone, trump or no trump. Its never happened to me however in over 10 years of travelling back and forth now. They've been asking for social media accounts on the visa forms for many years now, it's not new.

The hysteria around this from people who aren't in the US and have no intention of even going there is ridiculous.

I've never heard of it happening. Friends of ours returned the week before us and it didn't happen to them, nor any of the multiple sets of visitors we get every year. Work colleagues of my husband regularly come here from the UK and Australia, some are here this week and its never happened. Your colleagues must be very unlucky alright.

Hundreds of people fly from Ireland to America every day. If American officials in Ireland were checking tourists' phones at the airport, and denying them entry for social media posts, it would be a much bigger news story here. People taking a trip to America for work purposes is different because that entails more thorough scrutiny.

Even for an ESTA (VWP) you must fill in all social media details (completely optional if you want to disclose). I've never had an issue and have travelled at least 3 times a year for a while now - partly work partly vacation.

he’s blaming Ukraine for fighting back. He thinks they should not have put up any resistance and just let the Russians in like they did in crimea in 2014. That’s what he means when he says this war would never have happened. Russia is 10 times the size of Ukraine that’s his understanding. Might is right. He would have forced Ukraine to accept the Russian occupation in 2022. Would have given away Kiev and odessa as well and probably just left a rump Ukraine in the far west. No or minimal sanctions against Russia. No weapons sent to aid Ukraine. It would have been business as usual by April 2022. No war. That’s what Trump would have done. Since Trump has started looking like coming to power since mid 2024 everything has been a slow creeping retreat for Ukraine . And a complete loss of the Kursk pocket immediately after his election. That’s what his influence on this war has been. A complete defeatist attitude towards any suggestion of Ukranian victory. Blames Biden for encouraging Ukraine. Biden not without fault either. His slow calibrated drip feeding of aid to Ukraine was ultimately a failed policy and should have foreseen what was coming down the tracks as regards Trump and given the Ukrainians a stronger hand before Trump arrived on the scene. He may stop the war and may get a Nobel peace prize but it will all be obliterated into irrelevance when Putin makes his next move westward into the baltics or makes smithereeens of whatever flimsy peace line ends up being agreed on in the coming weeks. That’s when history will bite Trump on the ass. Cause Russia does not want peace and will never want until they are back to their 1989 borders. Every geopolitical analyst going agrees on that point that getting to the Carpathian Mountains and the Baltic Sea is the ultimate motivation for starting this war