The Trump Presidency, Season 2

[Veritable Quandry]

Trump just wants to stay out of jail and get in a few rounds of golf. He will let Vance handle the details.

 

[Casey Pelous]

I think though that many WANT it.

Part of the Dem messaging was "Project 2025, look how awful this is," and a lot of people were like, "This shit sounds amazing, I want this so bad."

We keep thinking "It's a bug." They keep telling us, "No, it's a feature."

 

[Casey Pelous]

Yeah, I'm still scratching my head on why rural voters elected someone who wants to implement tarrifs. A tarif is an instrument which ultimately hurts farmers, with them being low hanging fruit for retaliation.

That was explained perfectly in Blazing Saddles:

"You’ve got to remember that these are just simple farmers. These are people of the land. The common clay of the new West.

You know… morons."

 

[Katheryne Helendale]

I guess it's one of the many differences between the UK and the US, but over here any party that said they wanted to fix economic issues by imposing import tariffs would immediately face a barrage of questions from both their opponents and the media about the impact this would have on both voters and manufacturers, similar to this from the BBC.

Did the Democrats' political advertising focus on critiques of Trump's economic policies?

The Democrats did their best to get the word out, so it wasn't for lack of trying. But the US media, in their quest for the almighty ratings, latched onto the Melon Felon because he is guaranteed to provide ratings. I think that's where the media in the US and UK differ - the UK media actually do their damned jobs. Also, we got our messaging out there, but the majority of Americans were like, "yeah, but zOMG THE PRICE OF EGGS!!!11!"

 

[Katheryne Helendale]

I think though that many WANT it.

Part of the Dem messaging was "Project 2025, look how awful this is," and a lot of people were like, "This shit sounds amazing, I want this so bad."

Leopards Eating People's Faces Party.

 

[Veritable Quandry]

The Democrats did their best to get the word out, so it wasn't for lack of trying. But the US media, in their quest for the almighty ratings, latched onto the Melon Felon because he is guaranteed to provide ratings. I think that's where the media in the US and UK differ - the UK media actually do their damned jobs. Also, we got our messaging out there, but the majority of Americans were like, "yeah, but zOMG THE PRICE OF EGGS!!!11!"

It's not just ratings. Remember how the Washington Post was blocked from endorsing Harris? Bezos intervened. Since Regan, media ownership has become highly concentrated and the owners by and large supported Trump.

 

[Katheryne Helendale]

It's not just ratings. Remember how the Washington Post was blocked from endorsing Harris? Bezos intervened. Since Regan, media ownership has become highly concentrated and the owners by and large supported Trump.

That too.

 

[Rose Karuna]

<snip> latched onto the Melon Felon<snip>"

I am SO adopting that moniker for him! I've kind of worn "the cheeto and the orange shit show" out.

 

[Innula Zenovka]

A running list of what everyday items Trump's tariffs will impact

Show this list to your Trump Luvin' Uncle this Thanksgiving

open.substack.com

 

[Innula Zenovka]

Good thread here

Paul Krugman (@pkrugman.bsky.social)

Good to see the Times picking up on a theme some of us have been hammering for a while: Trump's tariffs, and especially an opaque exemption process, will be an engine of massive crony capitalism 1/ https://www.nytimes.com/2024/11/23/us/politics/trump-tariff-exemptions.html

bsky.app

links to a recent study of Trump 1.0 that found

companies that made substantial investments in political connections to Republicans prior to and during the beginning of the Trump administration were more likely to secure exemptions for products otherwise subject to tariffs.

Conversely, companies that made contributions to Democratic politicians had decreased odds of tariff exemption approval.

“Our findings reveal that politicians not only use exemptions to reward their supporters, but also withhold exemptions to punish supporters of their opponents,” Salas said. “The tariff exemption grant process functioned as a very effective spoils system allowing the administration of the day to reward its political friends and punish its enemies.”

 

[Innula Zenovka]

Joel Budd (@joelbudd.bsky.social)

I love this. American politics has recently produced a dog eater, a man who drove with a dog on top of his car, a (scandalously) dogless president, a dog shooter, and now this. The European mind cannot comprehend, etc. [contains quote post or other embedded content]

bsky.app

Pam Bondi refused to return their dog to a family of Katrina victims after she "adopted" their dog. She fought them in court for 16 months before she gave the dog back. Disqualifying. Character counts

 

[Free]

Pam Bondi refused to return their dog to a family of Katrina victims after she "adopted" their dog. She fought them in court for 16 months before she gave the dog back. Disqualifying. Character counts

At least she didn't go all Kristi Noem on the poor animal.

 

[Casey Pelous]

Disqualifying. Character counts.

No, honey, in this administration that's "meets standards."

 

[Katheryne Helendale]

At least she didn't go all Kristi Noem on the poor animal.

Yet. I can see her doing just that, and sending the video to the dog's rightful family.

 

[Bartholomew Gallacher]

Trump has nominated hedge fondgs manager Scott Bessent as his pick for treasury secretary. He is openly gay and founded Key Square Capital Management.

Trump names hedge fund founder Scott Bessent as pick for Treasury secretary

President-elect Donald Trump announced Friday that he'll nominate billionaire hedge fund manager Scott Bessent, an advocate for deficit reduction, to serve as his next treasury secretary, one of several personnel decisions that he unveiled as he closed out the workweek.

www.pbs.org

 

[WolfEyes]

Nag, nag, nag. All you ever do is nag.

'Nag, nag, nag.' - The Gauntlet

[repeated line] Ben Shockley: Nag, nag, nag.

clip.cafe

 

[WolfEyes]

A running list of what everyday items Trump's tariffs will impact

Show this list to your Trump Luvin' Uncle this Thanksgiving

open.substack.com

Of course. Just when we are about to get to a point where we can actually do some of the repairs and improvements we need to do, they once again jack prices so we can't.
Just fucking shoot me and get it over with ffs.

 

[Cindy Claveau]

 

[Innula Zenovka]

The Guardian (@theguardian.com)

Trump Pentagon pick attacks UN and Nato and urges US to ignore Geneva conventions https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/nov/25/pete-hegseth-book-attacks-nato-alliances?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=bluesky&CMP=bsky_gu

bsky.app

Pete Hegseth, Trump’s nominee for secretary of defense, has attacked several key US alliances such as Nato, allied countries such as Turkey and international institutions such as the United Nations in two recent books, as well as saying US troops should not be bound by the Geneva conventions.

At the same time, the man who would head America’s gigantic military has tied US foreign policy almost entirely to the priority of Israel, a country of which he says: “If you love America, you should love Israel.”

Elsewhere, Hegseth appears to argue that the US military should ignore the Geneva conventions and any international laws governing the conduct of war, and instead “unleash them” to become a “ruthless”, “uncompromising” and “overwhelmingly lethal” force geared to “winning our wars according to our own rules”.

Hegseth’s policy preferences may raise concerns about the future of Nato, the escalation of tensions with Israel’s arch-foe Iran, and impunity for US war criminals, such as those who Hegseth persuaded Trump to pardon in his first term.

This guy seems determined to destroy NATO and all the US's other military alliances with other liberal democracies.

 

[Cindy Claveau]