Trump Presidency

[asher2789]

Crazy part is, if WWIII does breakout, we’re more than likely to be part of the Axis powers.

If that were to ever happen, there is a good chance you would not only have WW3, but also Civil War 2.

I don’t think the U.S. would necessarily fall into civil war if its an Axis power. Most Americans value stability and comfort, and historically, large-scale resistance only emerges when people feel their lives or livelihoods are directly threatened. Unless American cities were under attack, I doubt many would take up arms against their own government.

If the war were primarily fought overseas, I imagine most Americans would carry on with daily life—much like many Germans did under the Nazi regime—until it was too late to resist. Even if the homeland were under attack, dissent would likely take the form of underground resistance rather than open rebellion … something like Belgium’s White Brigade maybe.

um guys weve been in a cold civil war since ~2016 or so. WW3 or the incoming great recession (anyone who thinks firing a whole bunch of federal workers illegally at once wont lead to serious economic ramifications is a f*** moron) will provoke it to turn into a hot war. really, as soon as carpetbagging neonazi billionaire president elon musks guts SS its revolution in 3 days. maybe musk should take up skiing and come visit this fine state.

[asher2789]

Funny reading about white house staffers complaining about Zelensky "lecturing" Trump. Having watched the video, it seemed like the other way around, that Trump and Vance were lecturing Zelensky and he was pretty patient with them. It was definitely ballsy of Zelensky to push back about diplomacy with Putin, but I thought he was pretty respectful about it while JD was pretty condescending. Then Trump went way over the top saying Zelensky was risking WWIII as if he had some sort of choice about fighting Russia.

Anyway, the impression it left is that Vance and Trump have fragile egos that are easily rattled when things don't go their way.

i appreciated zelenskyy talking about how the oceans wont protect us. now think about that in the context of the "mysterious" drone nonsense from a few months ago in populated areas.

[easyrider16]

(anyone who thinks firing a whole bunch of federal workers illegally at once wont lead to serious economic ramifications is a f*** moron)

Not to single myself out as a moron, but looking at the numbers, I doubt it will have that serious of an impact. The biggest group being terminated is legal and comprises about 220k workers who haven't worked long enough to achieve civil service protection yet. Then you've got about 75k that have accepted the buyout, which I think is likely to be held up as legal.

A loss of 295k jobs from the economy is not that big, especially when you consider that the buyout folks are being given months of pay to use while they look for a new job. For reference, last month the economy added 143k jobs and the total number of unemployed people stands at 6.8 million. Juxtapose that with something like 7 million job openings and a pretty low 4% unemployment rate. So 295k might move the numbers a little bit in the short term, but isn't likely to have a huge long-term or even medium-term impact.

They will likely try to get rid of more folks but it's going to take time I suspect, and that will also mitigate the impact. Where I think there might be a bigger impact is on services suffering significant delays due to lack of manpower, which is going to piss a lot of people off.

[XtremeJibber2001]

Republicans like to say the US is a Christian nation, but their actions show they're anything but ...

USAID reinstates contracts for Georgia company that helps feed malnourished kids after Elon Musk responds to CNN reporting
https://www.cnn.com/2025/03/03/politics ... index.html

On Wednesday afternoon, Moore got word from USAID that MANA’s contracts with the agency were being canceled. CNN spoke with Moore just minutes after he said he received a series of contract termination letters from USAID. One of his first orders of business was asking his workers mid-production to immediately stop putting labels that say “USAID” on the pouches that the peanut butter paste is squirted into.

He said without contracts with the agency, he would not be allowed to distribute any products bearing the agency’s name.

The back-and-forth is just one of the many aftershocks of the Trump administration’s rapid decimation of USAID, which has suffered more severely than almost any other agency across the government. Thousands of positions at the federal agency have been eliminated and the vast majority of its officials have been placed on leave. Contracts are being canceled left and right, leaving many in the humanitarian aid world reeling.

In normal times, Moore’s plant produces 10 pouches of the lifesaving paste every second. Each small bag contains 500 calories’ worth of the special peanut butter — which does not require refrigeration or additional preparation.

In their warehouse, Moore said last week, there were around 400,000 boxes of USAID-branded RUTF ready to be shipped out. He estimated that if USAID didn’t pay MANA for those boxes, he would have at least $10 million in wasted peanut butter pouches on his hands. And that didn’t include an additional $14 million in reimbursements from the federal government that he was already waiting for.

Erin Boyd, a USAID nutrition adviser who was laid off from the agency in January, told CNN it was not an overstatement to say that children would die as a result of the decimation of USAID and funding for RUTF.

“Even before this happened, there wasn’t enough funding to treat all the children who were presenting wasting.” Boyd said.

Wasting, according to UNICEF, refers to a life-threatening form of malnutrition: “Children with wasting are too thin and their immune systems are weak, leaving them vulnerable to developmental delays, disease and death,” the group says.

[easyrider16]

Never ascribe to malice what can be explained by incompetence... There's a belief among conservatives that has become near dogma, that all government spending is bad and wasteful. I suspect that belief is part of what's driving this sledgehammer approach to cost cutting. The concept of cost cutting isn't bad but the implementation here has been pretty poor. It's going to hurt them politically.

Be patient. The pendulum swings. 2026 is not that far away.

[easyrider16]

So 25% tariffs on Mexico and Canada are set to go into effect tonight, LOL. Wonder how far Trump will actually take this? Could be the beginning of the end of his presidency right here if he tries to follow through.

[XtremeJibber2001]

Never ascribe to malice what can be explained by incompetence... There's a belief among conservatives that has become near dogma, that all government spending is bad and wasteful. I suspect that belief is part of what's driving this sledgehammer approach to cost cutting. The concept of cost cutting isn't bad but the implementation here has been pretty poor. It's going to hurt them politically.

Be patient. The pendulum swings. 2026 is not that far away.

My MAGA friends reaction to the Pentagon stopping offensive cyberoperations against Russia ... "There's so much more to it that we don't see - to say Russia isn't a cyber threat is like saying Biden is a Republican."

So 25% tariffs on Mexico and Canada are set to go into effect tonight, LOL. Wonder how far Trump will actually take this? Could be the beginning of the end of his presidency right here if he tries to follow through.

Trump didn't go through with it last time. I don't see any ending of his presidency w/ 25% tariffs, even if there are retaliatory tariffs, except if Social Security payments are impacted.

[easyrider16]

Well he tanked the market today, so we'll see! But I suspect he doesn't implement them. He's got some big BS speech scheduled for tomorrow night and I doubt he wants the backdrop to be an epic selloff on Wall Street.

As to your MAGA friend, I'm a bit confused. Is he saying it was a bad idea to cease cyber ops against Russia? It's really quite an insane policy, and I don't see a possible justification.

[Bubba]

Never ascribe to malice what can be explained by incompetence... There's a belief among conservatives that has become near dogma, that all government spending is bad and wasteful. I suspect that belief is part of what's driving this sledgehammer approach to cost cutting. The concept of cost cutting isn't bad but the implementation here has been pretty poor. It's going to hurt them politically.

Be patient. The pendulum swings. 2026 is not that far away.

The pendulum could swing sooner. There are special House elections coming up in the not too distant future. Even if Republicans hold the seats in question (likely given that these are generally safe seats) if the votes are unusually close, the message will have been sent to Republicans in "purple" districts and Senators up for reelection next year. Will they have the balls to cross Trump (and Musk's primary threat)? Could be a wild ride coming up.

[XtremeJibber2001]

As to your MAGA friend, I'm a bit confused. Is he saying it was a bad idea to cease cyber ops against Russia? It's really quite an insane policy, and I don't see a possible justification.

I took it as "It's not that simple - there are definitely things happening we're not privy too - Trump knows what he's doing"

[easyrider16]

As Mark Twain said, it is easier to fool someone than to convince someone they have been fooled.

[TheLurker]

So much winning. I love watching my 401k getting decimated by this idiot.

[XtremeJibber2001]

... and just like that, military aid to Ukraine has been paused.

Trump pauses military aid to Ukraine after Oval Office argument with Zelensky, White House official says
https://www.cnn.com/2025/03/03/politics ... index.html

[SlowChick]

So much winning. I love watching my 401k getting decimated by this idiot.

Buying opportunity today. Worse in 2021.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[easyrider16]

... and just like that, military aid to Ukraine has been paused.

Trump pauses military aid to Ukraine after Oval Office argument with Zelensky, White House official says
https://www.cnn.com/2025/03/03/politics ... index.html

Makes me think it even more likely that the oval office sh*t show was preplanned. Gave Trump his pretext to squeeze Ukraine. I feel terrible for all those people who are going to suffer because of this man's pride.

Incidentally, this pretty well demonstrates that there are no guardrails for this second Trump administration. All the people he had around him last time who acted as the adults in the room are gone. All he has left are yes men.