The Trump Presidency, Season 2

[Dakota Tebaldi]

At first I was originally prepared to say that switching planes in the face of a credible threat was just intelligent, not cowardly - but putting everyone else on the "decoy" plane without telling them they were literally live bait is monstrous and depressingly in-character for the outfit this guy runs.

 

[Innula Zenovka]

At first I was originally prepared to say that switching planes in the face of a credible threat was just intelligent, not cowardly - but putting everyone else on the "decoy" plane without telling them they were literally live bait is monstrous and depressingly in-character for the outfit this guy runs.

More on this

Stop Calling It a “Decoy” Plane. Last Month the President of the United States Premeditatedly Used U.S. Citizens As Live Bait During a Terror Emergency.

When a threat’s hypothetical, decoys get used. It’s happened before—albeit with press knowledge. When a threat is known to exist, leaving civilians to face it uses them as bait. Tell the truth, media.

sethabramson.substack.com

Evernote Link

In Turkey in 2026, White House staffers and members of the media were deliberately left in the dark, deliberately left in harm’s way, and deliberately left without any means to protect themselves—for instance, by seeking alternative transportation out of Turkey, or just waiting until the known “threat” had passed—so it doesn’t seem coincidental that (a) they were left on a plane Trump is known to hate and want to be rid of; (b) Trump made sure to lead a small number of White House staffers he deeply cares about into his airport catering container, while leaving those he cares less about (as well as a media corps he’s been clear about detesting from top to bottom) in mortal danger; and (c) the benefit to Trump of even a failed attack on “Air Force One” (as it can’t actually be designated Air Force One if he’s not aboard) would be enormous from a political standpoint.

 

[Innula Zenovka]

 

[Free]

If it was discovered Obama had snuck off Air Force One and left everyone else on as unknowing decoys. Hoooo boy! There would have been 24/7 news coverage, congressional hearings, impeachment proceedings.

 

[Dakota Tebaldi]

There would 100% be impeachment proceedings.

 

[Katheryne Helendale]

Trump was then smuggled off the plane in a van used to deliver inflight sandwiches

Operation Orange Chicken.

 

[Jopsy Pendragon]

At first I was originally prepared to say that switching planes in the face of a credible threat was just intelligent, not cowardly - but putting everyone else on the "decoy" plane without telling them they were literally live bait is monstrous and depressingly in-character for the outfit this guy runs.

What better way to gin up paranoia than having massive collateral damage "narrowly avoided by last second intel". It wouldn't at all surprise me if they were hoping AF1 was blown up so that he could justify dumping massive amounts of tax dollars into 'His' Qatari sky palace. And use it as momentum to re-open the whole damned ballroom issue again.

 

[Bartholomew Gallacher]

Suffering from TDS? Just ask Dr. Trump...

 

[Jopsy Pendragon]

of course he posted it himself, oblivious to the fact that it makes him look like even more like an incompetent tool.

He very much is the human incarnation of the "Traumatic Diarrhea Situation" caused by the Cyclospora outbreak resulting from his administration's vehemently anti-Health&HumanSafety priorities...

 

[Bartholomew Gallacher]

Trump signed a new executive order, ordering that on a new to be built aircraft carrier USS Doris Miller the launch system must revert back to steam catapults.

Why? “They’re not nearly as good, too complex. And by the way, we had to call the ship in twice because the catapults didn’t work,” Trump said at the Defense and Innovation Summit in July. “When a little water touches the magnets, it doesn’t work anymore. You’re – you’re in the Atlantic Ocean with waves that are 60 feet high, and the Pacific Ocean with waves at 70 feet high, and they’re talking about magnets.”

Naval experts reject that claim from Dumbald. Also if being carried out it would lengthen the construction time of the newest carrier by a long shot.

Or as Senator Mark Kelly puts it, a retired Navy Captain: "“Donald Trump should stick to what he knows best — ballrooms, bankruptcy, and bullshit,” he added. "

https://edition.cnn.com/2026/08/14/politics/trump-steam-catapult-navy

 

[Sid]

Trump signed a new executive order, ordering that on a new to be built aircraft carrier the launch system must revert back to steam catapults.

Why? “They’re not nearly as good, too complex. And by the way, we had to call the ship in twice because the catapults didn’t work,” Trump said at the Defense and Innovation Summit in July. “When a little water touches the magnets, it doesn’t work anymore. You’re – you’re in the Atlantic Ocean with waves that are 60 feet high, and the Pacific Ocean with waves at 70 feet high, and they’re talking about magnets.”

Naval experts reject that claim from Dumbald. Also if being carried out it would lengthen the construction time of the newest carrier by a long shot.

Or as Senator Mark Kelly puts it, a retired Navy Captain: "“Donald Trump should stick to what he knows best — ballrooms, bankruptcy, and bullshit,” he added. "

https://edition.cnn.com/2026/08/14/politics/trump-steam-catapult-navy

The latest addition on the Oval Office desk:

 

[Jopsy Pendragon]

Trump signed a new executive order, ordering that on a new to be built aircraft carrier USS Doris Miller the launch system must revert back to steam catapults.

Why? “They’re not nearly as good, too complex. And by the way, we had to call the ship in twice because the catapults didn’t work,” Trump said at the Defense and Innovation Summit in July. “When a little water touches the magnets, it doesn’t work anymore. You’re – you’re in the Atlantic Ocean with waves that are 60 feet high, and the Pacific Ocean with waves at 70 feet high, and they’re talking about magnets.”

Naval experts reject that claim from Dumbald. Also if being carried out it would lengthen the construction time of the newest carrier by a long shot.

Or as Senator Mark Kelly puts it, a retired Navy Captain: "“Donald Trump should stick to what he knows best — ballrooms, bankruptcy, and bullshit,” he added. "

https://edition.cnn.com/2026/08/14/politics/trump-steam-catapult-navy

Wasn't this a thing like years ago, and a rash of "Donald Juggalo Trump" images that went along with it? "Mother Effing Magnets! How do they work!"

Windmills and magnets. I guess he thinks this will help his coal baron buddies or something deraged.

25/47.

 

[Innula Zenovka]

Trump signed a new executive order, ordering that on a new to be built aircraft carrier the launch system must revert back to steam catapults.

Why? “They’re not nearly as good, too complex. And by the way, we had to call the ship in twice because the catapults didn’t work,” Trump said at the Defense and Innovation Summit in July. “When a little water touches the magnets, it doesn’t work anymore. You’re – you’re in the Atlantic Ocean with waves that are 60 feet high, and the Pacific Ocean with waves at 70 feet high, and they’re talking about magnets.”

Naval experts reject that claim from Dumbald. Also if being carried out it would lengthen the construction time of the newest carrier by a long shot.

Or as Senator Mark Kelly puts it, a retired Navy Captain: "“Donald Trump should stick to what he knows best — ballrooms, bankruptcy, and bullshit,” he added. "

https://edition.cnn.com/2026/08/14/politics/trump-steam-catapult-navy

If the carrier is pitching around in 60 or 70 foot waves, it probably doesn't make much difference whether the aircraft are launched by steam, magnets or witchcraft. It's still going to be suicidal.

 

[Free]

His reading comprehension skills are the best. He was tested on it very recently, and got the best grade anyone ever received. I believe the test was administered by a Dr. Vinnie Boombatz (Trump gets no respect, no respect at all).

Trump shows off article on lower drug prices that says Biden deserves credit, not him

The White House flooded social media on Saturday with an image of Donald Trump showing off the recent Washington Post headline “Prescription drug prices record sharpest drop in more than 60 years”, but failed to mention that experts cited in the article actually attributed the price drop to Joe Biden, not Trump.

 

[Casey Pelous]

i

If the carrier is pitching around in 60 or 70 foot waves, it probably doesn't make much difference whether the aircraft are launched by steam, magnets or witchcraft. It's still going to be suicidal.

Look, don't blab this around, okay?

I have in my possession a magnet that works underwater.

As soon as the patent comes through I'll be rich. So ... play your cards right, know what I'm saying?

Completely unrelated: I have a birthday coming up.

 

[Free]

Navy weighs reconfiguring its major warships to meet Trump’s preferred World War II look: report

The U.S. Navy is reportedly evaluating a major, costly redesign for its newest class of aircraft carriers to align with President Donald Trump’s aesthetic preferences.

Seven current and former U.S. officials familiar with the matter told The Washington Post that the service was reviewing whether it could relocate the multistory command center — known as the “island” — farther forward toward the middle of the ship. In modern ships, the island is typically at the rear, however, in World War II it was more in the middle.

Officials cautioned that the assessment remained in its early stages, noting that such a shift would require substantial time and financial resources. A former senior official told The Washington Post that a similar study conducted during Trump’s first term concluded that moving the island would cost billions of dollars and cause major program delays.

“It came back that the cost and time to do so would just be extraordinary,” the former official told the publication.

I'm taking "extraordinary" to mean "an amount so obscenely huge we cannot calculate it."

Trump's autotheism will bankrupt us.

 

[Innula Zenovka]

Samuel Wynn Warde (@samuelwynnwarde614541)

REPORTER: “Trump says Iran tried to assassinate him in Turkey.” IRANIAN FOREIGN MINISTER ABBAS ARAGHCHI: “No. There is absolutely no need for it.” REPORTER: “Why?” ARAGHCHI: “Trump is already destroying the United States. We don’t want to eliminate him.”

substack.com

 

[Innula Zenovka]

i

Look, don't blab this around, okay?

I have in my possession a magnet that works underwater.

As soon as the patent comes through I'll be rich. So ... play your cards right, know what I'm saying?

Completely unrelated: I have a birthday coming up.

As I understand it, there were some initial issues with the Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System (EMALS) system when first it was introduced, but since then the US and French navies have used it for thousands of launches without problems.

https://www.reuters.com/world/trump-orders-navy-tear-out-jet-launch-system-return-steam-catapults-2026-08-13/

 

[Noodles]

Yeah, a reddit discussion I saw said the biggest issue is that if one goes down, they have to shut them all down to do repairs. Which feels like a fixable problem.

 

[detrius]

Navy weighs reconfiguring its major warships to meet Trump’s preferred World War II look: report




I'm taking "extraordinary" to mean "an amount so obscenely huge we cannot calculate it."

Trump's autotheism will bankrupt us.

This sort of thing is also going to continue killing people long after Trump is gone.