The grown-ups have left the building - Trump thread #136

[Spandauer]

As we descend into 4 years of madness...

(thanks @Jaichangecentfoisdenom and* *@AcrossthePond55 for the suggestions)

Previous thread:
https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/_chat/5200273-hands-across-the-water-trump-thread-135

Why invade. Just get the Muskster to buy their government too.

We'd have to attack ourselves? The problem is that Scrotus is stupid enough to do it. Or more likely he'd use it as an excuse for the US to withdraw from NATO, which he wanted to do in his first term.

Do you not need to be called Gilead before you invade?

It seems that all is not well in the GOP MAGA land ... the word internecine springs to mind.

It's slightly warming to think that the super Musketeer has possibly backed the wrong horse here. And there is a delicious irony in discovering that a bunch of self seleceted uber-greedy alpha males are now impossible to corral. Something that a cursory inspection of the UKs Tory party would have provided warning of.

Happy shutdown Christmas

It seems that all is not well in the GOP MAGA land

The same thing happened to the Nazis that Trump and co idolise. As if a bunch of people deliberately selected for their greed and self interest are ever going to band together in some sort of social mission. They're all going to be at each others throats trying to scramble to be top dog all the time.

If it weren’t for the people that aren’t going to get paid I’d be quite enjoying the White House line of ‘you fucked it up. You fix it.’ (Slight paraphrase but not much)

President Musk and his beard Donald are gonna be just fine.
Melania is happy at Bergdorf
Vance can carry on his bromance with Theil

Life in the CaveFamily household has been very busy, so I’ve just been catching up on all the shenanigans with the Budget this week. Seems a few Republicans (38!) still have backbones in voting down the amended Bill.

It’s gobsmacking that Musk is pulling this kind of stunt, presumably with Trump’s blessing. I know they’re thinking they can stick it on Biden seeing as it’s his name on the Bill but will the millions of Federal employees who might not get a pay check this close to Christmas really not at least partially blame Trump?

I think I asked this on a previous thread - how do civil servants cope with not being paid/on forced leave?

I guess if it’s only for a couple of days then it doesn’t have too big an impact (unless of course you are living paycheck to paycheck), but if it runs for more than a week it will have a big impact on a lot of people.

What do we think of Mandy making a comeback as US Ambassador? I thought I’d heard that they were postponing a new appointment as they wanted to keep Dame Karen Pierce on place for a bit longer given her previous good relationship with the Trump team?

I was talking about this earlier with DH. I don’t know much about the usual protocol so I can’t work out if the political appointment of an experienced former Labour MP with close access to Starmer/No 10 is a savvy move for Trump Mk2 or whether Starmer & co have beef with senior civil servants, so it’s signalling a lack of trust or poor relationships. Starmer & co to be putting backs up left, right and centre so DH & I were leaning toward the latter.

One of my siblings works for the state department. She's relatively high up in an embassy, so will be fine, but a long shut down could be utterly devastating for people lower on the ladder. It's also creates havoc with flights and airports and their beloved border (homeland security), veterans hospitals, etc etc. And I know from when it's happened in the past, it's incredibly demoralising to have sprawling ambitious projects all over the world just shut down, sometimes fatally. It's such a massive, fucking irresponsible thing to play games with.

Oh dear.

Peter Mandelson is a ‘moron’, says Trump adviser.

https://www.thetimes.com/article/ae674ce7-2a10-4280-9b2a-c048a932ccac?shareToken=1e2a69bfbf5a170a92d9967d66413810 (Sharetoken should get some of you past the paywall)

My last boss had a Tesla - second he bought. I wonder if he's driving to the office in it these days ?

(I did see a meme saying that buying a Tesla in 2024 was like buying a Mercedes in 1938 ....)

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2024/12/19/tesla-sales-crash-drivers-snub-trump-supporter-elon-musk/

I thought "slimy and manipulative – he'll be perfect for dealing with that crowd"!

Ugh. We have an X that we bought in 2020. I've never had a bumper sticker in my life, but am seriously thinking about getting one of the 'We bought it before we knew' ones.

Hmm, so we have two presidents-elect now it seems. What shall we call this dastardly duo?

Musk + Trump? I've got it!! "President Mumps"!

As much as I like president mumps, I think we only have president elect Musk.

So some commentators are suggesting that Trump has shot his wad (to use a phrase he would doubtless use himself) and shown the world - but more importantly the GOP - that it's possible to say "up yours Donald" and get away with it.

Makes it easier the next time.

Also read (as in watched favoured commentator on YouTube) that because he simply doesn't understand politics and has surrounded himself with similar (the classic mistake of failed despots) he is going to end up expending a lot of resources trying to get his own way. Which means he can't expend them anywhere else.

Who knows. the UK being a damp wet useless island of a continent he couldn't find on a map may prove useful.

Vance

lon Musk and JD Vance publicly supporting the neo-Nazis of Germany's AfD, just as an AfD supporter/Elon Musk fan kills 5 and injures 100+ in a terrorist attack at a Christmas market in Germany. Vance's pro-AfD statement came after the attack. It's bad. Not sure what else to say. Dark times ahead.

To those asking, here's Vance's comments. When news broke that the terrorist in Germany was a Saudi immigrant, Vance implied blame on all immigrants/Muslims. When it came out that the attacker was an Elon Musk fan, AfD supporter, and anti-Islam, Vance defended AfD. He's said nothing else about it.

https://bsky.app/profile/nicholasgrossman.bsky.social/post/3ldtcuhk6f22l

Supporting the party that’s too far right for Marine Le Pen is never a good look.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/matt-gaetz-ethics-report-released/

The Panama Canal??!?!?!

Seriously, people of Manchester, he'll be coming after your ship canal next. What a 🍆

🤯