That Trump thread is a joke (IMHO)

All of that was mentioned. The problem with Trump is that so much happens, so fast, that it's impossible to stay on one topic for a long period. It's the "flood the zone with sh1t" strategy in action.

Agreed. Maybe there'd be more discussion of those items if other posters didn't burst in with "Actually, I think you'll find he wasn't found guilty of rape, he was only found liable for sexual assault but also I think the woman who accused him is a liar"

Trump isn't a politician in the traditional sense of the word. He's far more akin to a mob boss who's managed to tap a disturbing vein of ignorance, stupidity, hatred and greed amongst American voters and stumble into the White House (and I use the word "mob" in the general sense rather than that of the Italian Mafia, the Cosa Nostra had higher moral values than Trump: they took a very dim view of the sexual abuse of children).

There really is no good reason to support him. Those that do either stand to financially benefit from his corruption or have been tricked into supporting that corruption through their shared hatred of women and /or minorities (I include the trolling idiots who voted for him to "own the libs" in the latter grouping).

One might argue that a "single issue voter" (i.e. a **** moron) would support him because of his anti-abortion stance or because they believed his "no more wars" lies. To do so, however, involved ignoring the corruption of his last term of office, his dismal economic performance and negligent handling of Covid during it, his many felony convictions, his civil convictions for sexual assault (nevermind the numerous as-yet-unproven allegations of further sexual assault, rape and child abuse in the Epstein files), the fact he tried to kick off an insurrection when he lost the 2020 election, his support for wanted war criminal Vladimir Putin, his clearly declining health etc. etc. etc.

Whether you liked her or her politics or not (I don't, she, and the Democrats are far too right wing economically imho), there is no plane of reality on which Kamala Harris wasn't the better option on the 2024 ballot. Outside of his small inner circle of maybe a couple of thousand or so billionaires and multi-millionaires, those that voted for Trump would literally be financially better off if she'd won. Millions of them would still have health insurance, thousands of them would still have jobs, the women would still have their reproductive rights.

You can't argue that there's validity to both sides. A discussion on Trump's presidency can't be equivocated to "the benefits of laissez faire capitalism versus a centrally planned ecoonomy" or one of the benefits of socialist wealth re-distribution policies versus it's negative impact on the value of the stock market. He has no actual policies. He has soundbites to distract and "flood the zone" while he uses the office of the presidency to attack those he perceives as his enemies, to enrich himself and those he sees as his friends (though he has a long standing habit of turning on said "friends") or to suck up to despots that he admires (Victor Orban, Vladimir Putin etc.)

In short, he's a cancer on American society. And, due to America's outsized influence on the global economy, that matters to everyone on the planet. Given the chance, I'd quite happily go down in history for having killed him and I make no apologies for that: I don't hold to the view that all human life has value. In fact, I'd argue that if we're to place values on individual human lives, some have negative value and the rest of society would be better off without them (Putin, Netanyahu, the likes of Peter Scully, Ian Watkins etc.)

But that doesn't seem to be happening, instead if anyone wanders in with an opinion that isn't part of the echo chamber, I presume they get mass reported, then pick up warnings or bans for things that would go unnoticed if they were part of the clique,

This is exactly the strategy employed.

Low level snark/ personal abuse, baiting, sealioning, piling on posters, these are all the tactics used.

Attack the poster not the post, do this en masse and wait for a reaction or something that can be reported en masse. Pathetic behaviour.

Discussion, "the act of talking about something with other people and telling them your ideas or opinions" is not tolerated.

Only certain ideas or opinions are allowed.

Plus the OP's position is based on their own presumption without any basis to back it up;

anyone wanders in with an opinion that isn't part of the echo chamber, I presume they get mass reported, then pick up warnings or bans for things that would go unnoticed if they were part of the clique

So no real need to change anything unless their claim can actually be backed up.