Politics

[MicrowavedGerbil]

I'm just enraged.

[Juana]

I'm wondering why Biden didn't mention he was already ordering the deportation flights for the migrants held at the border. Trump is taking credit for something that had already been going on. Typical. But they're really deploying 1500 active duty to the border. I guess NORTHCOM is finally going to get it's time to shine, unfortunately.

[Artemis]

I thought Trudeau's speech was really good. I must confess I got a little teary and I was actually glad Trudeau is still PM for now, rather than our own conservative meany.
I hope this blows over quickly, but I have an uneasy feeling about difficult times ahead.
As with everything related to agent orange, this feels like a bad dream, doesn’t it?

[Larry B.]

I foresee this being magnitudes worse than his previous term.

Latin American presidents are actually planning together, so are European leaders, and we’re not even one month in. Musk and all will be funding far-right parties (or groups) throughout the world, and money (whether his or the American people’s, whether crypto or fiat, whether real or fake) is not an issue. Like an infinite money glitch.

I don’t have any doubts that in the coming years I will be out in the streets either marching or fighting, for fascism-related problems here or abroad.

[Hype]

I think there are two sides of this that are equally concerning, but for different reasons. The one side is the immediate actions, threats, destabilization, etc., and how the rest of the world ought to respond to them. The other side is more worrying, since it seems to go along with the underlying threat of undermining longstanding American dominance/worldwide institutions and stability, but in a more indirect way: pulling funding or participation in international projects is one thing, but if the world pivots hard away from the United States, that's not a 4 year problem. It's potentially the very thing the enemies of the West (and the global order since the end of WWII) actually want: a multipolar world order with China, Russia, India, and their new colonies in the Global South (taken by force and through the undermining of soft Western Power through decades of [technically rightful] anticolonial action) replacing democratic norms and collaboration with authoritarian, autocratic, bullshit.

[Juana]

I just don't get what the tariffs for our closest allies with each other is accomplishing. He's the one who negotiated the last trade deal between the 3 countries so wtf does he not like? Its like he is trying to set fires to the rest of the world too.

[Hype]

I just don't get what the tariffs for our closest allies with each other is accomplishing. He's the one who negotiated the last trade deal between the 3 countries so wtf does he not like? Its like he is trying to set fires to the rest of the world too.

There seem to be a couple of different reasons simultaneously. He's using the tariffs as a negotiating tactic. But with them in place, it's effectively a tax on consumption, across the board, so it increases government revenue without increasing income taxes. And it has clearly confused a significant number of Americans, who don't understand that they bear the cost of the tariffs.

But worse than that, it also seems designed to tank the stock market/create a recession, which is good for ultrawealthy people who can swoop in and buy companies for cheap, and also for Russia, China, India, Brazil, etc., to gain market share, and dominance...

So yeah, it's pretty bad.

[Juana]

I keep saying that the US is due a recession its been about 20 years since the last one and everything is in cycles. But to purposely cause one seems horrible.

[kv]

it's the plan...

[Hype]

I keep saying that the US is due a recession its been about 20 years since the last one and everything is in cycles. But to purposely cause one seems horrible.

Uh... we just had a global pandemic...

[Juana]

I keep saying that the US is due a recession its been about 20 years since the last one and everything is in cycles. But to purposely cause one seems horrible.

Uh... we just had a global pandemic...

Yes and we're dealing with the inflation as a result of the pandemic but overall the US economy is doing fine

[Hype]

I keep saying that the US is due a recession its been about 20 years since the last one and everything is in cycles. But to purposely cause one seems horrible.

Uh... we just had a global pandemic...

Yes and we're dealing with the inflation as a result of the pandemic but overall the US economy is doing fine

Yeah the US economy is doing well (or was...)! That's true. But that's largely because of the measures Biden took during the pandemic to ease the pain. There was, in fact, a recession then: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/COVID-19_recession

[Hokahey]

I keep saying that the US is due a recession its been about 20 years since the last one and everything is in cycles. But to purposely cause one seems horrible.

Uh... we just had a global pandemic...

Yes and we're dealing with the inflation as a result of the pandemic but overall the US economy is doing fine

Yeah the US economy is doing well (or was...)! That's true. But that's largely because of the measures Biden took during the pandemic to ease the pain. There was, in fact, a recession then: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/COVID-19_recession

Curious what you would say Biden did exactly during the pandemic to ease the pain.

[Stickyfingers]

Trump, like every other American president, has very few powers. Almost none.
The founding fathers were fleeing from an English monarch and did not want an emperor to rule the United States. Almost all of Trump's decisions announced in the first 24 hours (birth rights, federal spending) right now are suspended/frozen/halted by federal judges.

Trump has no big powers but his propaganda counts because represents the belly of the greatest superpower in the world. Trump is not Midwest, nor a republican, he is a dem newyorker oligarch, but his rethoric is the angry midwest, represents vision very different than the coasts, Californian rock bands or television series productions.

The real foreign policy and strategy of the United States is always the same and it is called the Monroe Doctrine, and it will always be the same. To prevent, avoid and counter the rise of a rival superpower. Ideology or democracy counts for nothing.
India is the largest English speaking democracy in the world and now is allied with China and Iran. The United States has always been an ally of Saudi Arabia which is not a democracy at all. Kissinger wanted to talk to Mao and open to China, Obama let China join the WTO. Because enemy was Russia and US wanted to separate China from Russia. Now they want talk with Russia to separate it from China because China its considered the biggest enemy now.

[Hype]

I keep saying that the US is due a recession its been about 20 years since the last one and everything is in cycles. But to purposely cause one seems horrible.

Uh... we just had a global pandemic...

Yes and we're dealing with the inflation as a result of the pandemic but overall the US economy is doing fine

Yeah the US economy is doing well (or was...)! That's true. But that's largely because of the measures Biden took during the pandemic to ease the pain. There was, in fact, a recession then: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/COVID-19_recession

Curious what you would say Biden did exactly during the pandemic to ease the pain.

There were a ton of executive actions, and with hindsight we might say that many of them didn't help much--but this is difficult to say with much certainty because the disease itself wasn't well understood right away--we were basically stuck with a lot of old-school/classic pandemic strategies like containment, masking, distancing, etc., while trying to accelerate vaccine development and avoid total shutdowns of the economy and hospitals and whatever (as I'm sure you remember).

But specifically on the economic front, I guess there's this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_ ... ct_of_2021
And then this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inflation_Reduction_Act

It was a very difficult balancing act, as conservatives tended to freak out both about federal overreach in terms of masking and vaccine mandates and also the massive increase in spending. The half truth in the latter point was that there was always going to a be a threat of inflation. Hence the IRA.

[Hype]

Trump, like every other American president, has very few powers. Almost none.
The founding fathers were fleeing from an English monarch and did not want an emperor to rule the United States. Almost all of Trump's decisions announced in the first 24 hours (birth rights, federal spending) right now are suspended/frozen/halted by federal judges.

Trump has no big powers but his propaganda counts because represents the belly of the greatest superpower in the world. Trump is not Midwest, nor a republican, he is a dem newyorker oligarch, but his rethoric is the angry midwest, represents vision very different than the coasts, Californian rock bands or television series productions.

The real foreign policy and strategy of the United States is always the same and it is called the Monroe Doctrine, and it will always be the same. To prevent, avoid and counter the rise of a rival superpower. Ideology or democracy counts for nothing.
India is the largest English speaking democracy in the world and now is allied with China and Iran. The United States has always been an ally of Saudi Arabia which is not a democracy at all. Kissinger wanted to talk to Mao and open to China, Obama let China join the WTO. Because enemy was Russia and US wanted to separate China from Russia. Now they want talk with Russia to separate it from China because China its considered the biggest enemy now.

Appointing Supreme Court justices is arguably the biggest threat to American democracy that Trump succeeded with during his first term. That's a pretty significant power--installing powerful allies in an equally powerful branch of government.

[mockbee]

Appointing Supreme Court justices is arguably the biggest threat to American democracy that Trump succeeded with during his first term. That's a pretty significant power--installing powerful allies in an equally powerful branch of government.

How is the constituitional process of appointing Supreme Court justices a threat to democracy? It is democratic, no?
I will agree that it was slimy to postpone Garlands nomination and jam through Coney Barrett but thats always been American politics.

Anyways, citing most sources Trumps nominations/appointments have been far closer to the median center-right than previous contemporary picks by the Bushes/Regan (Alito, Thomas, Renquist, Scalia)

Thank god we didn't get one of those guys again.....


https://www.axios.com/2019/06/01/suprem ... s-ideology

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ideologic ... t_justices

[mockbee]

And as far as electing the Agent of Chaos for a second term, seems Americans are split, but generally approve (especially Republicans) of Trumps stated platform and follow through.

Democrats understandably don't like it.
What are they going to do about it?
Yell fascist/racist louder seems to be the plan so far.
They need a better plan, this one hasn't worked for 8 years.

COVID saved the dems in 2020. (...or maybe not, we would be done with Trump by now, and there wouldn't have been an opportunity for him to regroup with a far more powerful cabinet, obedient congress and favorable courts and a young heir apparent in Vance..)


https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/30/us/p ... polls.html

A poll by Quinnipiac University taken from Jan. 23 to Jan. 27 found that more Americans approved than disapproved of Mr. Trump’s approach to immigration so far, with 60 percent of voters supporting sending troops to the U.S.-Mexico border. However, just 30 percent of voters supported an end to birthright citizenship, according to the poll, with more than 60 percent of voters supporting it.

The same poll found that 57 percent of voters, including 19 percent of Republicans, disapproved of Mr. Trump’s decision to pardon those involved in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.

In a Reuters/Ipsos poll taken from Jan. 24 to Jan. 26, a slim plurality of Americans supported Mr. Trump’s decision to require government employees to return to the office full time, and 61 percent of Americans supported downsizing the federal government.

[Hype]

How is the constituitional process of appointing Supreme Court justices a threat to democracy? It is democratic, no?

This is a common misunderstanding. A thing's being done according to, or within, a democratic institution or framework or process, does not prevent it from being a threat to democracy. In fact, it doesn't even prevent it from straight-up being undemocratic.

It is painfully simplistic to claim that the mere fact of people having voted for a person and their being elected implies that whatever that person does in that official capacity is therefore democratic, or the will of the people, or whatever.

Hitler did what he did within a democratic system (until it wasn't anymore). That didn't make Hitler's actions democratic.

The recent history of American democracy is replete with failures to recognize or acknowledge that norms and conventions have been flouted without recourse, and worse, rules have been broken without repercussion. The fact that Trump was elected doesn't make this any less dangerous to American democratic institutions or the future of the country.

[mockbee]

How is the constituitional process of appointing Supreme Court justices a threat to democracy? It is democratic, no?

This is a common misunderstanding. A thing's being done according to, or within, a democratic institution or framework or process, does not prevent it from being a threat to democracy. In fact, it doesn't even prevent it from straight-up being undemocratic.

Yes, that's why I addressed your original point about the appointed justices. They are regarded as being right of center, not extreme (like Scalia, Renquist, Thomas, Alito) and have ruled against many of Trump's challenges in court. Even the big one of Presidential Immunity wasn't an unconditional immunity for whatever the president wants to do. You can argue that sitting, or former, presidents should be able to be challenged in court for "carrying out official acts", but that raises a whole new set of potentially undemocratic dilemmas.

https://www.scotusblog.com/2024/07/just ... osecution/
Justices rule Trump has some immunity from prosecution
In a historic decision, a divided Supreme Court on Monday ruled that former presidents can never be prosecuted for actions relating to the core powers of their office, and that there is at least a presumption that they have immunity for their official acts more broadly.

The decision left open the possibility that the charges brought against former President Donald Trump by Special Counsel Jack Smith – alleging that Trump conspired to overturn the results of the 2020 election – can still go forward to the extent that the charges are based on his private conduct, rather than his official acts.

The case now returns to the lower courts for them to determine whether the conduct at the center of the charges against Trump was official or unofficial

The recent history of American democracy is replete with failures to recognize or acknowledge that norms and conventions have been flouted without recourse, and worse, rules have been broken without repercussion. The fact that Trump was elected doesn't make this any less dangerous to American democratic institutions or the future of the country.

No doubt. All true with Trump, Biden, Obama, W (bigtime), Bush I, Regan and well before that.

The question becomes; What are democrats, or whatever opposition, going to do to convince the American public that conventions, norms and the bureaucratic process that comprises a high functioning democratic nation actually works for them?

[Stickyfingers]

Appointing Supreme Court justices is arguably the biggest threat to American democracy that Trump succeeded with during his first term. That's a pretty significant power--installing powerful allies in an equally powerful branch of government.

Yeah "American democracy"... That's George Bush I & II 's most used expression.
I understand that American soft power is fascinating and sophisticated that sometimes you can really believe it. But US is hardly a democracy, never meant to be.
Political parties do not exist, are pure fiction. The secretary of the Democrats is Jaime Harrison. Anyone knows him or heard of him? I don't think so. Trump is not a Republican at all. The US voting system is complicated, it'is on Tuesday, done on purpose on working day because the founding fathers did not want their citizens to get interested too much in politics. Then after all this, there is system of lobbying and financing campaign, illegal in other democratic nations. Millions of dollars on table that weighs more than a Mr Joe "free" vote.

US is not some normal average country, where only economics matters. Power and global sphere of influence come first.

[Hype]

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/202 ... -democracy

[Stickyfingers]

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/202 ... -democracy

Don't worry. Trump is not an emperor. He has limited powers. If some act is illegal, he will be blocked. It is already happening.
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald ... rcna191081
He will be impeached as has already happened twice. Now to set the tariffs he using a laws from the 70s and will be contested. Biden used same laws for sanctions on Russia but with gave justifications (Putin bad, we are good).

Trump's main mistake is the lack of soft power. The lack of (false) justifications. No more fiction, no more soft power. No hypocrisy. If Russia wants Crimea and China wants Taiwan, we want Greenland and Panama Canal. Who cares what other nation think, we'll take them. This is a huge mistake. Because US since John Ford has exported the biggest propaganda soft power of the world and this is needed. US have a mission (city upon a hill). Us is the good, the freedom and the justice vs the bad enemies.
Now if they lost this propaganda, that's dangerous signal. This mean that the rural deep America that Trump rappresents, it feels attacked in its own garden. This part of America feel betrayed, hurt, now is angry and no longer want to create fiction of justifications for other nation eyes.

[Hype]

I think this is way more dangerous and destructive than you think. But I do hope the institutional protections can withstand this attack. They're absolutely trashing education right now, so it's going to be a lot worse for a lot of people for a lot longer than 4 years already.

[Juana]

So far the courts have been busy which is what I expected much of this presidency to be. Him testing the limits of becoming a dictator or a wanna be one I should say.