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

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Comments

  • #31382
    Peregrinus
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2, Paid Member Posts: 28,401 ✭✭✭✭Peregrinus


    Oh, I've no doubt that Trump would cheerfully order a boatload of refugees to be machine-gunned, and still maintain a resting heartrate. The man's a complete sociopath. He'd love to launch a no-warning strike on some brown people. Or on anyone, really.

    But that's not necessarily what happened. If we take Rubio seriously, the operation was authorised after legal advice was taken. It's not likely that the legal advisors signed off on a no-warning strike on a civil vessel in international waters, even if it was known to be carrying contraband.



  • #31383
    everlast75
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 22,542 ✭✭✭✭everlast75


    https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123781063#Comment_123781063

    The words "If we take Rubio seriously..." are doing a hell of a lot of heavy lifting there.

    Elect a clown... Expect a circus



  • #31384
    CelticRambler
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 7,617 ✭✭✭CelticRambler


    https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123780795#Comment_123780795

    For highly educated rocket engineers it's a similar situation at Space-X except it's the whole country they've gone through. 

    This was also one of the problems with the Air Force One replacement/upgrade: Boeing were struggling to find enough suitably qualified (and security-cleared) engineers to work on the new aircraft. And somehow they were going to be magicked up out of nowhere to retrofit the unsellable Qatar 747 …



  • #31385
    retalivity
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2, Paid Member Posts: 15,622 ✭✭✭✭retalivity


    You just know Trump is looking at the photos & videos of Xi/Putin/Kim at the military parade with rage/envy.



  • #31386
    Quin_Dub
    Moderators, Politics Moderators, Social & Fun Moderators, Sports Moderators Posts: 17,416 Mod ✭✭✭✭Quin_Dub


    https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123781063#Comment_123781063
    https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123781075#Comment_123781075

    So is "authorised after legal advice" given that they legal advice would be coming from a DOJ led by Pam Bondi.

    They are also an administration that have repeatedly said they they will ignore any legal advice/rulings they don't like, so whilst the words from Rubio make sound like they followed proper process, everything that this administration has done to date makes his statement dubious to say the least.



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  • #31387
    Field east
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2, Paid Member Posts: 4,224 ✭✭✭Field east


    https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123781063#Comment_123781063

    Are we talking about something that Trump said , through HIS social media , happened? I wonder did it happen. Has it been independently verified? He is such a liar and the rest of his team are just as bad. The only question they all ask when they are ‘asked’ to say of do something is The equivalent of of “ How high do you want me to jump , your Lordship”



  • #31388
    EltonJohn69
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 5,251 ✭✭✭EltonJohn69


    https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123781096#Comment_123781096

    He is too frail to attend a military parade. He can’t walk too much and can’t shake hands with his purple claws. Best he can do is sit down but then he is likely to quickly fall asleep.



  • #31389
    Peregrinus
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2, Paid Member Posts: 28,401 ✭✭✭✭Peregrinus


    https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123781114#Comment_123781114

    The White House has its own legal counsel, separate from the DoJ. So, more to the point, does the army. So, even if you assume that the White House legal counsel have been hand-picked for their willingness to give Trump the advice he wants to be given (a sound assumption, I think) they'd be aware that their advice was going to be shared with, and scrutinised by, army lawyers. In this context to be useful to Trump it's desirable that the advice pass muster not only with Trump, but also with the army.

    There are, broadly, three possibilities here:

    1. Trump wants, and gets, advice to the effect that the President of the US can bomb the shît out of whoever he likes, whenever he likes, wherever he likes, without restraint of any kind. Trump would be happy with this advice, but the army would be deeply unhappy about executing orders gven in reliance on this advice, and would push back against them.
    2. Trump gets advice that pushes international law on the use of force, and the law of the sea, about as far as it can be pushed, while still being colorably defensible. This operation is carried out within the boundaries of that advice.
    3. Trump doesn't bother with advice at all; he just issues orders to bomb the shît out of whoever he likes, whenever he likes, wherever he likes. Again, the army would be very unhappy in this situation.

    We don't know which of these is the case, but no. 2 seems to me to be the most likely. It still gets Trump what he wants — a video of an explosion on a boat that can be posted to Truth Social, basically — and it doesn't burn credibility or goodwill with the army needlessly. No authoritarian wants to piss off the army for no good reason; why would Trump?



  • #31390
    Peregrinus
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2, Paid Member Posts: 28,401 ✭✭✭✭Peregrinus


    https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123781121#Comment_123781121

    We do have a video. Which, yeah, could be staged, or AI-generated, or actually be a video of some other incident entirely. But the cromulent explanation for the existence of the video is that the incident did happen as described, and that this is a video of it; there's no reason for Trump to fake an attack when he can order a real attack.



  • #31391
    RickBlaine
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,043 ✭✭✭RickBlaine


    Headline on RTE: "Trump accuses Xi, Kim and Putin of conspiring against US"

    He's just jealous that he wasn't invited to the dictators' party.



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  • #31392
    Igotadose
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2, Paid Member Posts: 15,529 ✭✭✭✭Igotadose


    https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123779990#Comment_123779990

    Moving it from Lauren Beetlejuice Boebert's district!



  • #31393
    aloyisious
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 14,333 ✭✭✭✭aloyisious


    https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123781012#Comment_123781012

    They were pretty specific on the crew numbers and the cargo on the boat so I presume the boat was watched for some time outside the clip shown, which did not show if it was exiting or returning to land in Venezuela, just mobile on water. The use of the word "alleged" is peculiar given the statements from Trump and Rubio. If the boat and it's crew were involved in drug smuggling, Davy Jones locker is welcome to them.



  • #31394
    Peregrinus
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2, Paid Member Posts: 28,401 ✭✭✭✭Peregrinus


    https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123781486#Comment_123781486

    The use of the word "alleged" is not at all peculiar, if the only reason we have for thinking that it was involved in drug running is an allegation by Trump and/or Rubio that it was involved in drug-running.



  • #31395
    Stanley 1
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,132 ✭✭✭Stanley 1


    https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123781022#Comment_123781022

    He already has a "wilting mushroom" according to Stormy's testimony at the fraud trial.



  • #31396
    aloyisious
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 14,333 ✭✭✭✭aloyisious


    https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123781523#Comment_123781523

    Not wanting to waste our time on niceties, it was this bit… "The United States conducted a deadly military strike against an alleged drug boat tied to the cartel Tren de Aragua, President Donald Trump said Tuesday... that caught my eye. Maybe some one threw in the word "alleged" into the middle of Trump's statement for kicks. It just didn't sit well with Trump's usual enthusiasm for chest-beating.



  • #31397
    2smiggy
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2, Paid Member Posts: 23,248 ✭✭✭✭2smiggy


    https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123781205#Comment_123781205

    the simpleton/US are pushing the likes of China, Russia and North Korea together, and also India with their behavior. Can't see the EU rowing in behind the US when things turn to shite with their behavior in general. The damage trump is doing is huge IMO



  • #31398
    thatsdaft
    Site Banned Posts: 2,753 ✭✭✭thatsdaft


    https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123781760#Comment_123781760

    China is busy waging a proxy war on all of Europe mate

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2025/09/03/how-china-is-secretly-arming-russia/

    I **** hate Trump and what he done to America but enemy of your enemy is not a friend in this case

    It’s a dog eat dog world and we should be wary of US and China and likes of India, never mind imperial neo nazi Russia



  • #31399
    Economics101
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,595 ✭✭✭Economics101


    https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123781770#Comment_123781770

    In the dog eat dog world you describe it becomes more important than ever for all of Europe to really get its act together. One problem is how to deal with doctrinaire Brexiteers and also the likes of Truss. Farage and our own ideological Neutrals.



  • #31400
    yagan
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 7,688 ✭✭✭yagan


    https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123781770#Comment_123781770

    Well out supposed friend has talked about annexing Canada and Greenland, simply because in his mind it makes sense.

    Then on the other side of the world he wants Taiwan to move chip production to the USA which effectively takes away any leverage it has. Nationalising Intel in a Peronist protectionist move also pits the USA against Taiwan in chip production.

    The USA under Trump is no ones friend except Zionism.



  • #31401
    thatsdaft
    Site Banned Posts: 2,753 ✭✭✭thatsdaft


    https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123781903#Comment_123781903

    Completely agree, it’s fascinating how Farage reinvented himself and scary that he has a chance at office, but that’s probably for another topic

    Not just UK, likes of Hungary are destroying EU from within



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  • #31402
    thatsdaft
    Site Banned Posts: 2,753 ✭✭✭thatsdaft


    https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123781907#Comment_123781907

    All true

    I never claimed trump is anyone’s friend but his own

    that much is obvious to anyone who is not a gobshite

    still however does not make China “our friend”



  • #31403
    ancapailldorcha
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 44,373 ✭✭✭✭ancapailldorcha


    https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123781770#Comment_123781770

    That's common knowledge, no?

    https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123781903#Comment_123781903

    It's worse than that. We've actual Nazis in Germany in the form of the AfD, Hungary continuing to be a Putinist block on anything progressive, a French debt crisis along with various other things. This is all on top of the usual bickering that happens in Brussels.

    Europe won't be getting its act together any time soon I'm afraid.

    The foreigner residing among you must be treated as your native-born. Love them as yourself, for you were foreigners in Egypt. I am the LORD your God.

    Leviticus 19:34



  • #31404
    yagan
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 7,688 ✭✭✭yagan


    https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123781925#Comment_123781925

    Does China want to invade Ireland, or Europe?

    Russia's three day war looks more likely to result in China painlessly regaining territory lost to Russian in the past.

    With Trump's economic isolationism the Chinese civil war looks more likely to dissolve into economic regionalism.



  • #31405
    thatsdaft
    Site Banned Posts: 2,753 ✭✭✭thatsdaft


    https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123781961#Comment_123781961

    You have a very simplistic world is black and white binary nothing in between outlook

    China are actively fuelling a war which is costing us in Europe hundreds of billions, that’s money that we can spend on ourselves or even good causes like aid

    China might not want to invade (tho their best buddies Russia very clearly do and say so every day) but weakening Europe helps China, and yes Trump also wants to weaken Europe

    You have fallen for enemy of my enemy must be my friend fallacy which a symptom of a mind that thinks in binary terms and has no nuance



  • #31406
    Manic Moran
    Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 17,701 Mod ✭✭✭✭Manic Moran


    https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123781143#Comment_123781143

    So according to milreddit, the Dutch navy have been sinking drug boats in the area for years, just nobody (Dutch government or otherwise) has been making much of a big deal of it.

    They are invited to surrender first. If they do, they are arrested, drugs confiscated, and the boat scuttled. If they decline, live ammo is used in an attempt to disable, and if they express disinclination by shooting,then the Dutch just shoot back, albeit normally with something more cost effective and less dramatic than a missile.

    I presume eventually we will get a more detailed overview from the Dept of the Navy.



  • #31407
    charlie14
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 16,591 ✭✭✭✭charlie14


    https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123781096#Comment_123781096

    When you see the troops marching in that parade I doubt the shambolic efforts of doing so at his own birthday parade will ease the rage.



  • #31408
    Ash.J.Williams
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2, Paid Member Posts: 23,264 ✭✭✭✭Ash.J.Williams


    China's parade was beautiful



  • #31409
    threeball
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 9,882 ✭✭✭threeball


    https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123781917#Comment_123781917

    Did he reinvent himself? Seems to be spouting the same bollocks he always spouted with just some leads from Trump. Actually, hes never really done anything other than be a Temu Trump, complete with British teeth. He still has the dole class convinced its someone elses fault (first it was the Europeans, now its the immigrants), but thats hardly an achievement. These people are as thick as two short planks. They live for hate and convince themselves that a London trader is the friend of the working class, one of them. Which is no different than what the idiots in America fell for.

    Two former super powers that dumbed down the masses in order to control them like marionettes. Except someone else came in a stole the prize.



  • #31410
    charlie14
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 16,591 ✭✭✭✭charlie14


    https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123781143#Comment_123781143

    You may be right, but if the army is happy to go along with their own lawyers being used as judges in immigration courts without question, then for me at least it would raise the question of how much if any legal challenge the army will give to any of Trump`s diktats. Regardless of what they might be.



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  • #31411
    Apple Dumpling
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 528 ✭✭✭Apple Dumpling


    Trump and his sycophant are warmongers who will lead the world into multiple conflicts.



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