The Trump Presidency, Season 2

[Noodles]

Not just for no pay.

80+ hours a week.

 

[Zaida Gearbox]

Like I said in another thread somewhere, the federal government under Trump is going to be a full-blown three-ring shitshow. My only hope is that it's going to be SO dysfunctional that they can't get anything done, and nothing of consequence happens.

I give it maybe 2 months before Elon and Ramaswami (sp?) are at eachother's throats, and blow up what they're working on. Shortly after that, Elon and Trump will fall out, and I'm going to stockpile popcorn to watch what happens then. Also, requiring a paid Twitter account to apply for a job is bullshit.

 

[Noodles]

. Also, requiring a paid Twitter account to apply for a job (that pays nothing) is bullshit.

Elon: "How can I make slave labor more fucking evil. Oh I know, they have to pay me for the privilege! Duck it daddy, who sucks now?? Your slave mine has nothing on mine, and we mine DOGE! TOTHE MOOON! I mean, is the mic still on? Shit...."

 

[Innula Zenovka]

This, from the Financial Times, suggests that Musk and Ramaswamy will likely find their task extremely frustrating, since there will be multiple sign-off points for all changes, and many will require legislative changes. Historical examples are not on their side.

There are warnings from history here too. In 1982, Ronald Reagan appointed chemicals boss J Peter Grace to oversee a commission that would “root out inefficiency”. The body sought the advice of dozens of senior executives from corporations across the country, made more than 2,500 recommendations, and suggested $424bn in savings over three years — in an era when the entire annual federal budget was only $900bn. “They got very little of that implemented,” says Kamensky, “because most required government legislation”. Although Trump will enjoy a Republican majority in the Senate, the party is set to have a razor-thin majority in the House, with many members representing swing districts that rely heavily on government jobs or subsidies. Trump himself has already been thwarted once by the complexity of the administrative state, during his first presidential term.

 

[Noodles]

https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_entry/muslims-who-voted-for-trump-upset-by-his-pro-israel-cabinet-picks/

“Trump won because of us and we’re not happy with his Secretary of State pick and others,” says Rabiul Chowdhury, a Philadelphia investor who chaired the Abandon Harris campaign in Pennsylvania and co-founded Muslims for Trump. Muslim support for Trump helped him win Michigan and may have factored into other swing state wins, strategists believe.

"Trump isn't supporting the single voter issue I voted for."

Looks like the leopards are already eating faces.

 

[Free]

Apparently every Republican male has this problem.

Trump’s transition team caught off guard by Hegseth allegation

Trump had announced he was tapping Hegseth as his next secretary of defense after only days of considering the veteran-turned-Fox News host and very little internal vetting. Within 48 hours, the heads of Trump’s transition team were brought a complaint about a sexual assault allegation regarding Hegseth.

The campaign was brought information that aligns with what Monterey, California, police described as an investigation into “an alleged sexual assault” involving Hegseth on October 8, 2017.

Hegseth was a speaker at a conference held by the California Federation of Republican Women at a hotel during the timeframe when the alleged assault took place, according to photos of the event posted on Facebook. Hegseth has not been charged in any criminal case or named as a defendant in any civil lawsuit filed in Monterey County since 2017, and his attorney denied any wrongdoing.

 

[Innula Zenovka]

https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_entry/muslims-who-voted-for-trump-upset-by-his-pro-israel-cabinet-picks/

"Trump isn't supporting the single voter issue I voted for."

Looks like the leopards are already eating faces.

What on earth, based on Trump's record last time round, his public statements, and the views of his white Evangelical Christian base, did they expect his policy towards Israel and the Palestinians to look like?

 

[Innula Zenovka]

 

[Soen Eber]

single voter issue? What's that?

 

[Noodles]

single voter issue? What's that?

Single issue voter issues may be more appropriate.

See also abortion, gun control, etc.

Basically the "I like and agree with X candidate on 9/10 things but I could never ever vote for someone pro Y, so I am not voting for X ever, instead I will vote for Z because Z agrees with me on issue Y, even though I disagree with Z and Z is bad on literally everything else," people.

 

[Soen Eber]

Yeah, I was confused because it got twisted around, but then I can see how that's possible.

 

[Veritable Quandry]

The problem is that Z does not in fact agree with them either.

 

[Casey Pelous]

The problem is that Z does not in fact agree with them either.

Well, yes, but they "MADE THEIR FEELINGS KNOWN."

Now X and Y will spend the next four years spending millions on research to determine what, exactly, the FEELINGS were that led those 1,297 out of 4,000,000 voters to protest-vote for Z. Then they'll spend millions more analyzing how many didn't vote at all TO MAKE THEIR FEELINGS KNOWN versus how many were too drunk to make it to the polls. :eyeroll:

Folks, if you truly believe your protest vote or protest-non-vote made a milligram of difference in the world, there's a narcissist in the room. Guess who!

 

[Free]

Folks, if you truly believe your protest vote or protest-non-vote made a milligram of difference in the world, there's a narcissist in the room. Guess who!

Oh, wait. Nevermind.

 

[Free]

Oh sure, everyone retweeting this post will solve our problem!

 

[Free]

Hey, Leon and Vivek? I got the first task for your department. You might have to spend all your time on this one.

Pentagon fails 7th audit in a row but says progress made

The Pentagon on Friday failed its seventh audit in a row, with the nation’s largest government agency still unable to fully account for its more than $824 billion budget, though officials stress they ...

www.yahoo.com

 

[Free]

More shit on Pete Hegseth, Trump's nominee for Secretary of Defense.

Could a tattoo derail Trump’s pick for defense secretary?

Hegseth, an Army National Guard veteran, has the words ‘Deus Vult’ tattooed on his bicep, a rallying cry for Christian crusaders in the Middle Ages

www.independent.co.uk

Hegseth, an Army National Guard veteran, has the words “Deus Vult” tattooed on his bicep, which has been associated with white supremacist groups. "Deus Vult" is a Latin phrase meaning "God Wills It," and was a rallying cry for Christian crusaders in the Middle Ages.

The Associated Press reported that the tattoo previously resulted in Hegseth being flagged as a possible "Insider Threat" by a fellow service member. However, the AP report has led to outrage on both sides, including from Vice President-elect JD Vance.

Olivia Troye, former White House Homeland Security and counter-terrorism adviser, said that the mark should disqualify Hegseth from consideration for the position. “Pete Hegseth’s tattoos are the ones that white nationalists get,” she wrote.

“Federal law enforcement know these symbols well. Hegseth was banned from national guard duty at Biden’s inauguration for those tattoos. The Senate should consider this disqualifying for a nominee for Secretary of Defense…”

 

[Veritable Quandry]

Leopards eating OUR faces? Inconceivable.

https://www.npr.org/2024/11/17/nx-s1-5193867/farmers-agriculture-experts-reaction-trump-rfk-jr-tariffs

 

[Beebo Brink]

Leopards eating OUR faces? Inconceivable.

https://www.npr.org/2024/11/17/nx-s1-5193867/farmers-agriculture-experts-reaction-trump-rfk-jr-tariffs

Kennedy is such an odd mix of both insightful and utter whackadoodle ideas.

Kennedy has long condemned industrial food corporations as well as Big Ag trade groups, which he says have driven an obesity epidemic in the U.S. while polluting farmland and bankrupting smaller family farms.

He's not wrong on this topic

 

[Beebo Brink]

Goodbye to all that — once again, and for the last time | Salon.com

Sometime in the last 40 years, between Ronald Reagan's proclamation that greed is good, the rise of hate radio and garbage social media, the vicarious victimhood of 9/11 and the kill-fest of Iraq, the dominoes falling from Wall Street all the way to some empty and forlorn McMansion slum in 2008 and finally Trump shrieking in our ears nonstop, at least half the American people lost whatever shred of rationality they possessed. These people now think Joe Rogan or Alex Jones are philosophers on par with Henry David Thoreau or William James, except that they've never heard of the latter two.