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

https://www.aol.com/elon-musks-doge-isnt-official-105509671.html?guccounter=1

Trump has to feel like King of the world. It's in his make up. He, as a narcissist, has a grandiose sense of self importance, he thinks he is entitled to admiration by everyone. His need for praise is absolutely insatiable. So he needs his adoring courtiers around him continually.

I imagine Musk is also a narcissist. This odd relationship between the two men will result in huge power struggles. President of the US, and richest man in the world. Two unstoppable forces of vanity and ambition and Trump will feel threatened, especially as Musk is tweeting out to the world like he's the president!

Does Donald actually need him any more? That's the question

.

What would happen when SCOTUS crosses the line and starts to try and legislate in state affairs ? At some point I can see a states judiciary refusing to accept SCOTUS interpretation of the constitution.

How long before an anti abortion state tries to pass a law preventing women from leaving the state ? Which would be a fundamental infringement of the concept of the United States.

If the X-odus continues and Twitter really starts to shrink Musk will have reached the end of his usefulness.

Well.... I have to say Twitter is definitely shrinking. There has been a mass exodus (me included) to BlueSky. My Twitter account is still open, but I will close it at some point.

I have so many followers but I am seeing a lot of familiar names on BSky. Starting again is the right thing to do, the toxicity on Twitter now musk is in charge is off the wall. He is now also allowing users you block to see your posts. I am just not getting the useful stuff on my feed I used to, it is now very manipulated with right wing crap.

BlueSky sign up has surged since Trump won, and is over 15M now. I have looked at Threads, Mastodon over months but this is the only place I feel comfortable and useability is really easy and reminds me of Twitter from years ago.

40% discount if you go premium.........

Many accounts mentioning losing followers, probably a combination of blue ticks having done their job and people migrating to other paltforms.

I agree. 500 disappeared from mine for no reason.
Oh hell, that sounds very braggy but it's true!

All I can see is Trump devaluing the US globally.

Who on earth (literally) is going to invest in or take leadership from a country run by cranks ?

Cui bono. ?

If I were a sane American, with children in the military, I would be wondering how safe they are.

China must be pissing themselves seeing Russia doing all the heavy lifting of weakening their opponents with almost zero risk to the middle kingdom. You have to wonder if Putin will be around to realise he's been had.

And I imagine world countries will be very wary of sharing intelligence given Trump's propensity to leak like a sieve to anyone having dinner at MarALardo, and appointing Gabbard as Head of Intel... Russia's girlfriend (stated by them)

The crypto thing is weird. It's great if you happen to have some as it goes up. But America currently benefits in all sorts of ways from the dollar being the dominant world currency. It's odd to pursue a policy which deliberately tries to supplant it.

I wouldnt put much store by what Russian media say about her to be fair. A lot of what they do is just to stir up trouble/confuse.

As I said, degrading the US place in the world.

Surprised that word got through the MN filters !

Despite making a killing from the £20 I "invested" in 2011 (currently worth £2,766 with about £200 spent over the years) I still maintain the c-word is just new tulip mania.

The much more interesting thing about the c-word is the tech that underpins it: the blockchain. That has the power to change quite a few things in any sphere where trust is required.

Going back about 10 years I had a lovely slide pack prepared about the history of trust as it impinges on trade and history. But left field for a IT techie, but it did show that modern techs use of the c-word is merely a continuation of what goes back to Ugg and Ogg shaking hands over beads and beer.

https://www.newsweek.com/donald-trump-how-change-vote-election-day-1984939

Blockchains are not a bad thing.
Blockchain based currencies are not a bad thing.
Proof of work blockchains are an eco crime.

When people try to convert their Bits into bucks they tend to suffer 25% in fees, bringing returns back to parity with reality.

Its all a bit of a mess.

I did knock up a POC with Ethereum and proof of stake back in 2016 when I was advising on strategy.

I found it telling that the techies were outnumbered by the lawyers at the two blockchain events I attended. The last one I got chatting to an Australian state lawyer who was looking into a decentralised land register.

IBM were also looking into an Ethereum based tracking system for cars when I visited their Hursley site. Not sure what happened to that.

@SerendipityJane
Blockchains are being used for land registry - Ethereum based - to excellent effect around the world.
Good land title records an essential precursor to financial stability.
Its not shouted about much but the Economist cover it every few months

https://bsky.app/profile/lewisgoodall.bsky.social/post/3laz3gxn2v226

Republican Speaker of the House Mike Johnson is objecting to the release of a bipartisan investigation into the conduct of former Matt Gaetz, Trump’s highly controversial pick to be Attorney General. Senators had demanded to see it.

Now they may never.

The chairman of the relevant committee has made it clear he’s not minded to release the report.

There is of course the strong chance it leaks.

Objecting to facts coming out huh?

See also
https://x.com/ProjectLincoln/status/1857509827770974471

More potential trouble at th'mill?

Trump Voters in Focus Group Slam Elon Musk’s Growing Influence: ‘I Didn’t Vote for Him’
www.mediaite.com/politics/trump-voters-in-focus-group-slam-elon-musks-growing-influence-i-didnt-vote-for-him/

Trump is a rich immigrant ....

d'oh
Musk

then again Trump is a newcomer
my lot were there 300 years before

Didn’t Musk work illegally when he first arrived too?