Hands Across The Water - Trump thread #135

[Spandauer]

There's only one floating pile of garbage in this story and it lives in Mar a Lago.

To Kamala Harris and all the other Democratic candidates on the ballot - May your courage, determination and hard work bring you the success you deserve. ❤️
To Donald (Jessica) Trump - May you get everything you deserve... and then some.

Community Notice
This won't be the last thread in this bigly nightmare and these threads may fly by over the next week so anyone who is up for continuing them please feel free to do so as I may not be awake all the time!

Previous thread:
https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/_chat/5164974-whats-true-pussycat-trump-thread-134?page=10

These Trump threads started back in 2015 primarily to discuss Trump the man, as the 2016 presidential candidate, as the 45th president, the 2020 presidential candidate and then as the Former Guy, a convicted felon and sex offender. When he became the GOP candidate for a 3rd time it was clear the threads would be continuing...

They were/are a safe place to discuss (and in my case, hate) Trump and his enablers. An echo chamber without a doubt but one, nevertheless, that most of us want to be in. With that in mind, a warm welcome to posters who have found us relatively recently and if you've got any Trump jokes, all the better.

The Dems have a lot to sort out and they've got the next 2-4 years to do it. I hope they address the issues that many posters here are clearly very concerned about (myself included), that the party can reset themselves as necessary and find a way forward that will reassure any lost or potential voters that they have the answers in 2028.

Annnnd... back to the Orange 💩...

@Spandauer
Under my old account I was on those very early "WTF" threads
And I am still absolutely gutted that the USA got itself into the situation where he was AGAIN the winning candidate.
Even more gutting that he won the popular vote this time.

Trump has promised everything to everybody
and his core supporters will never realise that its impossible to do what he "promises".

I read Heather Cox Richardson every day (I love the history days)
and hope that by the mid terms in 2026 life will be more 'interesting' for Trump
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2026_United_States_elections
(the whole House AND 34 Senators AND 39 Governors)

Shapiro was shunned because he was more centrist than Harris, which would have put off the far left, and because he's Jewish, which would have put off the pro-Palestinian faction of the party.

And he probably would have out shined her a bit, too.

An echo chamber without a doubt but one, nevertheless, that most of us want to be in.

I remember these threads actually drawing on a very diverse range of material in the run up to the 2016 election and Trump’s first term. I mostly lurked then but following the links posted was always fascinating. Even Breitbart got mentioned when posters were keen to see how the right wing media were interpreting the 45th president’s fever dream-style new reality and actions.

Yes they did! I don't know if any of you are Lionheart (?) under a different name now - but I remember them being great at finding interesting information and also keeping the threads going during the quieter times. (I've name changed a few times since 2016)

I was a lurker as well and learned so much from all the links provided.

I remember a poster who had moved to the US and embraced the shooting hunting life style and was very pro gun.

Oh kursk? The one who had moved to the backwoods to live the life of the free?

She was all about how people should stand on their own two feet and pay their own way and there should be no welfare state.

Except IIRC she also mentioned that in the UK she and her husband had been receiving benefits, and maybe some education funding(?), and that they'd timed their move to the US for the moment these ran out and they were expected to start giving back to the society which had helped raise them up.

I was never sure whether she was a real poster, it was all so ... unselfaware.

(I remember her name because I'd assumed she was named after the submarine, but at some point she said she'd taken the name directly from the Russian town.)

Gosh yes, that rings a bell.

I am still in real life contact with BigChocFrenzy who gave us the German perspective on many things.

Oh that's lovely to hear. I remember her, too.

I know I’ve been absent from these threads for a long time, but was here originally (hence the references to CaveBaby who was incubating away when Trump was first elected and is now 7.5 years old!).

I’d suspect a lot of people (particularly any ploppers) will fall away from these threads again over the next few weeks. People are looking for Trump threads right now as it’s current news, but it should calm down at least until Inauguration 🤞🏻

I mostly used to lurk during the first Trump years, then drifted away, only checking in periodically.

I suspect I'll be reading them a lot more from now, if this term is anything like the first.He behaved like a washed up wannabe desperate for publicity, and doesn't appear to have changed.

If anyone wants a bit of light relief, or maybe not that light but still maintaining an interest in American politics and history, TRIH are doing a series at the moment on 1968 and why it was such a pivotal year in US history. It’s been fascinating and horrifying in equal measure - I’d never realised that LBJ was such a grotesque figure of a man.

The most recent episode of American History HIT is about the private lives of US Presidents. Not allowed to talk about anyone still alive (😜) they talk about Jefferson and his “relationship” (rape) with a slave who had 7 of his children; Buchanan (the only known gay President), and of course JFK (repulsive man) amongst others.

I’ve put links below for those who are interested:

TRIH 1968, pt 1 - https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-rest-is-history/id1537788786?i=1000674457841

US History HIT - https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/american-history-hit/id1638918169?i=1000675884506

I might give that a listen.
Rory and Ali are too annoying.
HCR is wonderful but so partisan on recent stuff

and yes, I'm here for the long term.

Best explanation (for me) from a satirist.

parents in a Minnesota school district received this message

https://x.com/atrupar/status/1854919748452040992

I’ve been on these threads since they started. I remember the arrival of CaveBaby 💕.

Trump was as bad enough the first time around but now…
I hoped that Harris/Walz would make it, but felt the campaign wasn’t doing enough to hit Trump where it mattered. Whatever the reason, it didn’t work.

A bit off topic, perhaps, but an Iranian plot to assassinate Trump has been stopped by the FBI.

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/justice-department/justice-department-brings-charges-thwarted-iranian-plot-assassinate-tr-rcna179342

They also tried this in 2021, if I recall correctly.

Iran love the Donald

Some of you will say this is untrue but I was also on these threads in 2016. I was also appalled that Trump could have possibly won. I remember those years very well. We in our personal nuclear family had our own issues but what I believed was that Trump could not win. Yet he did. And he has again. I want to be on these threads for the same reasons as the rest of you but I have a daughter who is autistic and not only that she aspires to be an athlete and it causes conflict on an entirely personal level. I want the world to engage behind the 'right side' I really do. I don' t want to be a fighter or an activist or whatever I've been called on these thread this time round. I think, largely speaking all of us want a better situation than having Trump as President. But please consider that entirely reasonable people have no way forward in a world where ideology trumps our daughters rights. If you want me to fuck off I will. But by the same token I'm your strongest ally. Because I want the good people to support my daughter.

I'm still in shock and disbelief at the results, but I found this Guardian piece very illuminating - it's focused on why the Democrats lost young male voters, but it's a very thorough breakdown of how and where the messaging went awry.

I still can't personally accept the premise that you can vote for Trump and not be an actual Trump supporter - for me there's too much moral baggage. But I do feel slightly calmed by this piece which makes me think that are in fact lots of people who voted for Trump but only because they felt the Dems were a worse option.

@lifeturnsonadime

Please don't fuck off.

There's more I want to say but it takes me a while to gather my thoughts to write something coherent.

The TL;DR would be: I hear you.

@lifeturnsonadime

No, no, of course I'm not saying you should leave this thread. I also have a DD who is a fairly high level college athlete but have different thoughts on. this - I don't have time right now, but will come back later. It would be nice to have a productive, non-angry conversation. Emotions are very high right now.

On another note, this was in my twitter feed and I think it's a really important message that the Democrats, with all the hand-wringing and finger-pointing are just not getting. Short video, worth watching

https://x.com/smalls2672/status/1854919017753923977

Really troubling @Wallaw and this is borne out in this piece too

I spent hours trying to persuade US voters to choose Harris not Trump. I know why she lost

As a phone bank volunteer, I hoped to counter the Republican attacks and half-truths, but people really believed them

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/nov/09/us-voters-kamala-harris-donald-trump-republican

That video was spot on @Wallaw

https://x.com/ByDonkeys/status/1855167804808331477

How Musk broke Twitter and helped elect Trump
(Location: Tesla European HQ, Amsterdam)

The comments underneath are quite eye opening too