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

Another thing that strikes me - following the example of France - is that with a few Republicans having to vacate their seats in the Senate/Representatives, there is a possibility that having got an idea of what Trump II looks like, there is a possibility of flipping the seats.

I think the state governors choose the replacements to serve until the end of their current term.

Lara Trump is being pushed by MAGAs and Trump arse-lickers (looking at you Lindsey no-backbone Graham) for Rubio's Florida seat. De Santis picks the replacement. Suddenly Ron finds he's more popular than he thought...

I'll be honest, I've just flushed my entire knowledge of the US constitution out of my mind to make space for more useful stuff.

Shame - I used to know it by heart when i was considering moving the US. Came in handy when my brother applied for his citizenship though.

I'm wondering if the Gaetz and Hegseth noms are some sort of Trump 'secret test' of Senate loyalty. Maybe he thinks if he can get these 2 through confirmation, he can (and will) get whatever he wants rubber stamped. I honestly can't see any other reason for such stupid choices. But at least Gaetz has resigned from Congress.

As it is, DH and I are busy trying to 'Trump proof' our lives. We figure there will be no cost of living increases to Social Security nor my pension for the next 4 years so we're reviewing outgoings, considering large expenditures that may need to be tabled, as well as theoretically (at this point) putting off downsizing for a bit. We can't influence the 'big things', all we can do is guard our own 'little things'.

I also think the Musk/Ramaswamy (sp?) 16 months is also a test. If they do Trump's bidding he'll find a way to extend. My big concern is that they'll decide it's 'efficient' to allow drilling in ANWAR and other protected lands.

I think DOGE in a way is a poisoned chalice - any upset at problems caused by the "improvements" (people who voted Trump losing their jobs etc) can be directed towards those two, especially Ramsawamy as being at fault. Not Musk. Obviously there is a huge benefit to Musk in being able to control this (especially re regulation) but Ramaswamy I reckon is there to take the blame and that will remove a possible competitor for power. Musk was saying before the election results that there would be hard times before things got better at one point. So even if he doesn't know what he is doing, he does absolutely know it will hurt.

I also think the Musk/Ramaswamy (sp?) 16 months is also a test.

How are X. SpaceX and Tesla reacting to losing their CEO ? Who is Musk appointing while he's gone ?

Oh, upthread someone mentioned about replacing legislators who have resigned. States have different methods. Some do special elections, some are selected by Governors. Of the ones that are selected by Governors, some must pick a replacement from the same party as the one who resigned, others are free to pick whom they choose. However it's done, the new legislator only serves out the remaining term or until the next midterm.

There will be a special election to replace Gaetz, also to replace a Rep Waltz who is leaving his FLA seat to be a 'special advisor' to Trump. FLA is pretty 'red' so there aren't going to be any changes from red to blue.

But Di Santis will hand pick the Senate replacement if Rubio is confirmed as Secty of State. Rumour has it that Di Santis will either pick himself or that he will resign as governor and his successor will pick him.

Happy Days.

I can't see him ceding power to anyone. Musk won't be required to step down from his businesses like a POTUS is supposed to do.

Investors may not be quite as ... sanguine ... as politicians.

This is good

The Onion, with the help of the Sandy Hook families, has purchased InfoWars.

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/11/14/business/media/alex-jones-infowars-the-onion.html?unlocked_article_code=1.Z04.Wiwi.UMUgUSO1vzUW&smid=url-share

@DuncinToffee

I just saw that. There is a little bit of justice in the world. Not that it's going to stop Alex Jones from babbling his bullshit. But since he built Infowars from the ground up I expect seeing it go to The Onion is rather like a father seeing their first born being removed from their custody and handed over to a hated ex.

God bless the SH families. They not only raised money for the bid, they also agreed to forego some of the money they would have made from the purchase in order to help The Onion put in the winning bid. Those families have suffered and are still suffering, yet they manage to look to the greater good to keep on going.

Very true! But he's still the largest single stockholder by a HUGE margin. Not to say that the institutional investors couldn't band together to oust him, but it would take a lot of them so I doubt that's going to happen unless Tesla absolutely tanks.

I don't know how Tesla sales are doing. I know DS1 was thinking of one but now says he wouldn't have one if they gave it to him. Another friend has had one for probably 8 years and although he says he loves it as a mode of transport, he regrets it 'on political grounds'. But I expect we're going to start seeing Teslas with MAGA stickers. I already saw one with a TrumpVance sticker on it prior to the election.

I don't know how Tesla sales are doing.

Electric cars depend on an infrastructure that the Musks of this would hate investing in. Quite ironic really.

From a personal POV, having almost lived in Ubers since the eye op, electric cars in the UK are a total dud. 20 journeys and only 1 electric car (12 hybrids and 7 ICEs). And the EV owner really regretted getting his.

Reminiscent of the DAB fiasco.

An incredible list of the incompetent, the uninformed, the unsuitable and sometimes all of the above that Trump's gone for.

I pity American intelligence operatives, absolutely none of their info will be safe from Russia under this utterly untrustworthy and compromised bunch. Putin must be laughing his head off at how much money Trump's incompetence and sheer lack of comprehension of national security is going up save Russia's intelligence forces.

Fully self driving cars is the next big thing for Tesla isn't it? Which is really cool in lots of ways and will have advantages. But apparently being a truck driver is the single biggest occupation for American men. And is a hard job, but one that pays OK and has a certain amount of pride attached to it (and like working in factories/being in the army its a job men seem to take vicarious pride in even if they don't do it themselves). So I don't know what happens to those men/that pride when fully driverless cars do come in. (I do really, I think it will trigger another existential crisis which will somehow be blamed on feminism on a Joe Rogan podcast 7 years from now.)

And yes - there are safety issues still in play that a sceptic might say means genuinely driverless cars are much further from reality than we think because they will need to meet stringent regulations. But Musk is doing away with unnecessary government regulation so that's OK.

Fully self driving cars is the next big thing for Tesla isn't it? Which is really cool in lots of ways and will have advantages.

13 years ago, I wrote a piece that said self driving cars and electric cars are two cheeks of the same arse (I paraphrase myself out of boredom of repetition).

Once you have reliable (that includes all and any problems currently preventing their use) self driving cars, you then have the possibility of eliminating the need for the infrastructure improvements needed for electric cars and battery charge hell.

EV owner gets home with car at 5% charge. Car has a mesh-type pow-wow with all the other EVmobiles and the charging network, and books itself in for a charging slot at the nearest point free during the night. Then it toddles off, charges itself and returns back ready for use the next day.

At the point some company (and if Uber haven't got this on their radar then WTF are they doing ?) will twig that an empty car driving to be charged may as well take some paying passengers on the way there and back.

Which would then lead to a lot of people wondering why in the name of all that is holy are they allowing the second most expensive purchase in their lives sit doing fuck all on their drive for 90% of the time ?

Electric and self driving cars are the precursor to the demise of personally owned vehicles. Which I believe will feature (like smoking) as a brief blip in the long story of human civilisation.

However, never ever discuss that in a company of more than 4 people (unless you are at a strategy conference). The return blast of "it's all about meeeeeeeeeeeeee" will knock you down so hard it could hurt.

Some people would still have cars I think. Because for some people cars are a massive passion - 1970s era porsches are not practical but some people luurve them more than their kids. But it would definately be more of a luxury than now! And those people are unlikely to be going for EV or driverless cars - the whole point is getting covered in oil trying to fix some part that was obsolescent 20 years ago.

I agree that in the long run it is probably going to bring about inevitable changes. I just feel sorry for the people who are going to be hit very hard by these changes in the short term without much of a safety net.

And Uber are definitely waiting until the technology catches up with the regulation and then Uber drivers will be a thing of the past. (I guess you would still make money from having a driverless car signed up to Uber - but they would be taking the bulk of the profits and besides a lot of the drivers don't own the cars themselves)

Some people would still have cars I think.

I'm not sure that the future will allow "manual" cars on public roads. Same reason we don't allow horses on motorways.

You say that, but I did see an AI/ethics expert the other day pointing out that often, exploiting people is cheaper than the technological solution. Uber currently owns no cars and has no responsibility for their upkeep. Paying humans a minimum to drive, insure and maintain their own cars is probably a better business model than owning a self driving fleet

You say that, but I did see an AI/ethics expert the other day pointing out that often, exploiting people is cheaper than the technological solution.

It's generally accepted that the Roman Empire didn't really advance technologically because of slavery. What helped do for them, ultimately.

True, but that's in businesses which own capital. Even in those cases the existence of self driving cars, or the fact that the driving is fully automated will enable them to at least drive down the wages of the people who do the driving. Ubers business model would enable an enterprising person with capital to purchase several self driving cars for example and set up their own business hiring these cars out on the Uber app. Or people with self driving cars for themselves renting them out in their spare time (as Serendipity described. They would be competing with the Uber drivers, and Ubers pricing scheme depends on how many cars are available v customers.

I heard about the "AI" systems that were actually underpaid Indian workers. It would be funny if it wasn't exploitative'.

There may be hope that Gaetz nomination for AG could be scuppered. From BBC:

Illinois Senator Dick Durbin, the sitting chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, has just put out a statement "calling on the House Ethics Committee to preserve and share their report and all relevant documentation" on Matt Gaetz, Donald Trump's pick for attorney general.

Trump announced his nomination on Wednesday and, hours later, the Florida lawmaker resigned with immediate effect from his congressional seat in the House of Representatives.

Gaetz was the subject of an investigation over allegations of sexual misconduct, bribery and illicit drug use. He denies all the allegations.

Citing three sources familiar with the committee's work, CBS, the BBC's US partner, says the committee had planned to hold a vote on whether to make the report public on Friday.

"The sequence and timing of Mr Gaetz’s resignation from the House raises serious questions about the contents of the House Ethics Committee report," Durbin said.

"Make no mistake: this information could be relevant to the question of Mr Gaetz’s confirmation as the next Attorney General of the United States."

I may have to add it to my notifications

Well, Dick Durbin just failed the Trump Loyalty Test spectacularly!

And I think it is time to resurrect my 2016-2020 nickname for Trump. He shall now be referred to again as "SCROTUS" (So Called Ruler of the United States)

In 2028 we shall resurrect "DOOFUS" (Donald's Out of Office, Fuck You SCROTUS).