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

Michigan Governor Rick Snyder, a Republican, negotiated the Gordie Howe International Bridge deal with Conservative Canadian PM Stephen Harper in 2012. Here are some of his remarks about Trump’s outburst, starting with a personal vignette a fair proportion of the planet’s population can identify with at this stage:

Last night, my wife and I had a quiet evening watching Olympic highlights, including some incredible Michigan skaters. The quiet was quickly shattered by President Donald Trump’s announcement that he might stop the opening of the Gordie Howe International Bridge. 

You may wonder who loses if the GHIB is delayed or stopped:

Obviously, Canada. They have a huge investment in the bridge.

U.S. and Canadian companies. The Ambassador Bridge has hindered commerce for decades and increased costs for manufacturing operations. The GHIB will solve these problems and provide for faster economic growth on both sides.

U.S. and Canadian workers. The GHIB will create new jobs in logistics and other areas on both sides.

U.S. and Canadian consumers. The added costs of suffering due to the Ambassador Bridge issues are added to the cost of our goods and services.

If the GHIB is delayed or stopped, there actually is one big winner: The Moroun family and the Ambassador Bridge Company. Over the decades, they have spent millions trying to stop the GHIB. Why? Every day, they make much more money at our expense. 

In 2012 alone, they spent more than $30 million on a ballot proposal to prevent construction of the GHIB. For years, they have had active lobbyists in Lansing and Washington trying to sabotage this project. They have also made very large political contributions in both places.

"She should have gone on the likes of Joe Rogan and put a coherent argument together instead of reading a premade speech. Made a few bad mistakes like that jab at Christianity. "You're at the wrong rally"."

What you said was she was "useless", and your post is the basis for that statement?

Do you want me to post headlines from Trump's campaign? Blunder after embarrassment after racial slurs.

The fact is that Trump was judged by completely different parameters to everyone else. He has has dozens and dozens of scandals that would have ended anyone else's career and gets away with it.

He has 34 felonies for fraud, was adjudicated liable for sexual assault, was impeached twice, oversaw a disaster reaction to COVID, incited a riot, had to change VP as he tried to have his first killed, and gets re-elected.

By contrast, Harris doesn't go on Rogan and she's useless? She doesn't deserve the job?

It's nonsense. She was the better candidate by a country mile, and just because the electorate was either too stupid, racist, ignorant, selfish or misogynistic to know that wasn't on her.

I've always been confused about working in the US.

In Ireland we cannot work legally/pay taxes unless a bank account with a PPN number is provided. All the jobs I've been in (all of which has had large multi-cultural workforces), has always checked visa/work status and is super strict about it.

Why can someone who's work/visa permit expired continue to be registered/pay taxes? Surely just not allowing them to work would sort the problem out?

That first line is a load of bollocks btw.

Breaking news. The man arrested in the Guthrie case has been released.

But we're being flooded with refugees! In 2024 we had just under 18,600 applications which worked out as an overwhelming 0.35% of the Irish population! And in 2025 the number of applications… dropped by 30%… wait… what?

Newscum. That guy. The woke liberal from the disaster that is California. You think Trump voters would vote for him?

With Trump, it really doesn't matter who they put up against him. Everything and anything that Trump does or doesn't do is excused because at the base of it all, Trump supporters aren't voting because of the other candidate; they are voting because they like what Trump is telling them.

They like that he openly blames immigrants. They like the fact that he is racist. They like the fact that he is corrupt. They like the fact that he 'tells it like it is', which means he doesn't get bogged down in facts or details, he just says how he feels "they are eating the dogs".

Turning up on Rogan isn't going to change that person's mind because Harris wanted to make all children gay, or trans, or have open borders, or turn the US communist, or socialist or something. Trump stood idly by when an insurrection was being attempted, and his VP was being threatened with hanging, and they didn't mind at all.

A nice chat on the Rogan show ain't going to get past that, or indeed that she is a woman, black and a democrat.

But all of that is academic at this point. For whatever reason, the US voters decided that the best path forward for the country was with Trump as POTUS. The only thing to talk about now is how that choice is working out. And in almost every metric, apart from possibly immigration, he has been a complete disaster.

No tax cuts for the middle class, no improvements in education, jobs haven't returned, the cost of living crisis not only hasn't only not been fixed but according to Trump is a hoax and therefore doesn't need fixing. The national debt has ballooned. International relations are in the toilet. He is clearly rapidly going downhill, which, given the fixation on Bidens coindition, seems like something they should all be worried about. He is doing everything to protect the elites through the burying of the Epstein files.

Anyone have an idea or thoughts on what's going on here?

"The restriction has been imposed for "special security reasons" according to a NOTAM (Notice to Airmen) posted on the website of the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).

The notice designates the skies around the airport as an "NTL defense airspace" and says that pilots who do not comply "may be intercepted, detained and interviewed by law enforcement".

It further warns that the US government may use "deadly force" against aircraft deemed to pose an "imminent security threat"

A 2nd airport within 25nm also closed, Santa Maria.
The short notice given is surprising, 2hrs before El Paso flight ops were to begin at 5.30am local time.
I am seeing wild speculation on AVgeek forums but nothing remotely solid or credible as yet.

The one thing that does stand out, is the proximity to White Sands Missile Range. Maybe some test is due that needs additional safety margins?

Agreed. The nuance is important. It's not this lad's fault that he's being detained by ICE as they're more or less the 21st century equivalent of the SA. It is his fault for overstaying his visa. I've always hated the term "undocumented Irish" for illegal immigrants from Ireland. He broke the law but obviously he should have just been deported. The Americans are famous for taking border security and immigration enforcement very, very seriously and have been since 2001. He's partly responsible for the mess he's in.

I made it very clear in my post that I do not think he deserved to be detained by ICE.

Also, he didn't take a risk. He broke the law.