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

Funny how none of the dementia-concerned merchants of the Biden Administration are showing their faces anymore.

It would be nice to think Trump has had a change of heart on the use of Nat Gd units to impose his will on U.S cities with the withdrawal of the units from Chicago, L.A and Portland after the SCOTUS decision but I think it's more likely a pause while his team figure out another "legal" route to follow in getting the troops back in those cities again. The troops deployed in DC are staying put.

TACO Man strikes again!

https://us.cnn.com/2026/01/01/business/trump-furniture-tariff-delay-intl-hnk

I am very surprised she has not been rewarded as of yet.

I'll guess Peter Casey.

We think we're immune to thus kind if stuff in Ireland, but looking at the support Casey got just by being harsh in travellers.

Now imagine if he'd a few million in foreign donations, Elon Musk pushing his narrative on twitter, and 3 or 4 years to next election to stir things up rather than a 1 month campaign.

And it doesn't have to be Casey, he was pretty much an unknown before his presidential campaign, but it highlights how a political unknown willing to go against the grain can suddenly gain 23% of national votes.

And in some other ways Ireland is primed for it. Our alternatives in Government fir generations was either FF or FG, who are now so intertwined as to be near unidentifiable. The current main alternative is SF, who still can't make the big break through. There is no real alternative on the right. If suddenly one was to emerge, pumped up with experienced 'dark art' people like Bannon, and massive finances- who's to say what could happen.

I figure its something to be wary of, rather than dismiss as 'Good auld" Ireland will never have that problem

Not immune but what grows in the US will often fail in Ireland. Casey was overwhelmingly rejected by the Irish people. A few million from Elon wouldn't have changed that.

At the end of the day, people are voting for FF and FG because that's what they want. Ireland offers its people a lot more choice than most countries. Here in the UK, we get red or blue and that's it for most of the country.

Angry men on the internet make a lot of noise about culture war nonsense but a lot of people are happy enough with how things are. That's why FF and FG keep winning. In the UK, it's different as we have an unrepresentative voting system that can award absolute power on little over a third of the popular vote.

Starting the year off well, I see.

im not fully convinced of this, but would partly agree also, ffg policies are indeed working just fine for a significant proportion of our society, but theres now a growing number, of primarily younger people, that most certainly are not benefiting from their polices, and irelands alternatives, primarily sf, arent exactly all that great, hence some defaulting back to ffg.

ffg only need to keep this dynamic in play, in order for our election system to keep defaulting back to them, but my own fear is, if an alternative to sf turns up, that could be far worse than them, some extreme movement, which is now very possible, then we could be 'hoping' an sf alternative comes to be!

the pr-stv system has its issues, but its clearly far better, and far fairer than first past the post, we currently do actually have the government we voted for, in regards the system we have, and its currently preventing extreme outcomes, which is good for us all, but is also flawed at the same time

and some rich successful business people are very dysfunctional with serious psychological issues and disorders, the kind, you really dont want in government, making decisions for all, including the vulnerable, that suspicion is sometimes critical in maintaining a functioning society and economy

Thank god for brave,honest and capable public servants.

I know all that, and actually as i was typing out the comment I was thinking "In his case, not that successful".

I suppose what I meant was he has cultivated a persona of success in business which while not actually true, Americans do seem to admire.

My main point though was that the attitude is very different here. I'm trying to think of an Irish billionaire who is in any way popular here and can't think of any. Denis O'Brien? No. Michael O'Leary? No. Dermot Desmond? No.

Yes I miss the days of aer lingus charging £500 to fly to the UK.

How TF did you come to that conclusion from what I posted?