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

Yep. He's trying to straddle two horses now.

Should also be grateful Melania has refused him "mining rights" for a long time now.

When understanding the US Constitution you have to compare it to the system they were coming out of.

Since the 1688 Revolution, Parliament had been Supreme. George I and II were absolute monarchs in Hanover but limited ones in Britain. Those 2 spent much of their time in Germany and appointed Prime Ministers to exercise executive power in their absence.

The US Founding Fathers criticised the way the executive power had been separated between the king and the Prime Minister. They decided not to introduce that in the US. There had been no mention of a "Prime Minister" in the 1688 Revolution or in William III's reign. What happened before the Hanoverian dynasty were unstable coalitions with no one person dominating them.

The founding fathers were also opposed to the way the executive was becoming part of the parliament in Britain. So one is not allowed to be part of the other in the USA.

George III was born in Britain and spent more time there. Unlike his predecessors, he was very involved in government. At the time, constituencies were not based on population, and with the exception of Cromwell's rule (his laws were reversed during the Restoration of the monarchy except the Navigation Acts), the electoral system had not changed since the 1290s.

Edmund Burke said in "Thoughts on the Present Discontents (1770)":

The power of the Crown, almost dead and rotten as Prerogative, has grown up anew, with much more strength, and far less odium, under the name of Influence.  An influence which operated without noise and without violence; an influence which converted the very antagonist into the instrument of power; which contained in itself a perpetual principle of growth and renovation; and which the distresses and the prosperity of the country equally tended to augment, was an admirable substitute for a prerogative that, being only the offspring of antiquated prejudices, had moulded in its original stamina irresistible principles of decay and dissolution.  The ignorance of the people is a bottom but for a temporary system; the interest of active men in the State is a foundation perpetual and infallible.  However, some circumstances, arising, it must be confessed, in a great degree from accident, prevented the effects of this influence for a long time from breaking out in a manner capable of exciting any serious apprehensions.  Although Government was strong and flourished exceedingly, the Court had drawn far less advantage than one would imagine from this great source of power.

There were two types of constituency. There were Chartered Corporations that had corporations that elected MP's e.g. City of London. There were also County Boroughs that returned up to 4 "Knights of the Shire" (the old name for an MP). There was no secret ballot until the Ballot Act 1872. Votes had to be declared publicly, which gave the landlord a lot of power as he could evict someone if they didn't vote as he wished. Perhaps 2% of men had the vote. There were some constituencies with a handful living there. Old Sarum was the most notorious example. It was the original location of Salisbury in the Middle Ages, but the last dwellings had been torne down under Henry VIII. There was an "Electoral Oak" where results were announced. In such constituencies, the landlords effectively decided who was the MP. George III used patronage to get them to elect MP's that saw things his way. There was also pressure on Opposition candidates to stand aside. The Whig Opposition accused the court of using the Civil List to bribe members of Parliament. The Royal family themselves were major landowners and could pressure tenants to vote for Court candidates. On the other hand, there were also Whig landlords who could pressure tenants to support their candidates. The Whig party in George III's reign was divided into factions like the Pittite/Chatamites, Bedfordites, and the Foxites (who favoured Catholic Emancipation and the French Revolution). Lord North's faction was Tory leaning but the term "Tory" was still politically toxic because some members had Jacobite sympathies before George III. George III, unlike his predecessors, appointed Tories so they now embraced the Hanoverian dynasty.

On the other hand, no monarch has vetoed laws in Britain since 1709 (a Scottish militia bill as the government feared the militia would support the Jacobites). In that situation, the Scottish Parliament threatened to withhold funds and recall Scottish troops from the War of the Spanish Succession, so she eventually signed the bill.

But in the colonies, the veto was still used aggressively. The American Declaration of Independence complains:

• “He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.”

• “He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance…”

• “…unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.”

So in the American system, a veto can be overturned by a two thirds vote in both the House and Senate in the case of the President. The rules on overturning a governor's veto vary state by state.

I caught a little bit of it earlier. The Republicans are less interested in actually asking questions and more interested in using it as an opportunity to spout their usual nonsense. They aren't giving Smith any time for his responses.

Imagine what would've happened if Biden had said Iceland 3 times in the same sentence instead of Greenland. Actually, we don't need to imagine. Every single mis-step that Biden made was screamed about in the media, about him being too old, etc etc. He was too old for the office, but so is Trump. The media is absolutely culpable for the Trump era. One standard for Trump and one standard for everyone else. Ridiculous.

No I am quoting from the Declaration of Independence. The non quotes are me typing from memorising my research.

The support for Independents has increased (I don't know from what base) over the past few years apparently and is at a high point now.

So it remains to be seen if their support will remain as solid when it comes to the crunch.

The logic of choosing a "least best" may continue to prevail but who knows ?

Quick ,someone lay a curse.

I suspect someone will, sadly.

The New York times also reporting along with many others on the deal discussed between Trump and Rutte where areas of Greenland will be recognised as US sovereign military bases. This mirrors the ceding of the Akrotiri and Dhekelia regions of Cyprus in 1974 after the invasion of the island by Turkiye and which are now recognised as British overseas territories.

https://archive.is/yKoPS

It would not surprise me in the slightest that he increases from 8 to 9 claiming he has prevented a war breaking out between NATO allies.

No smoke without fire. I thought it was strange that Trump included Kosovo in his board of peace today, makes sense now.