Trump+Musk: Folie à Deux - Trump thread #137

[Spandauer]

The clock is already ticking and he's an old man. Mid-terms: November 3, 2026

Thanks to @AcrossThePond55 for the thread title.

Previous thread:
https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/_chat/5206120-the-grown-ups-have-left-the-building-trump-thread-136

I see the US mail service is not accepting parcels/packages from China or Hong Kong now - so maybe a call will happen - again I thought countries mainly attempted fairly peaceable relationships with China, though I know Trump personally has an issue (can't stand how he says the word if I have misfortune to catch him live) - I just can't keep up!

Really. That's going to concentrate some minds

Despite trying to avoid Trump speeches/videos I just had a glimpse of his conference with Netanyahu. It seemed to me Netanyahu was in great agreement (almost smirking) when Trump said it Gazans suffering would happen over and over again - vile. Generally I got impression Netanyahu might think Trump a bit wacky but obviously it's all in his interests so - otoh I wouldn't trust trump a mm to remain acting in my interests if something shinier distracted him. I would say 'dance with the devil' but I'm not sure which of the two are most befitting that description- what is for sure is that no other country should go there.

Trump previously suggested that his first overseas visit would either be Saudi or the U.K. With this shot storm brewing I’m guessing the Saudi’s are going to pull up the drawbridge so we get stuck with him 😤

Trump also stated that he’ll be making an announcement on the US position on the West Bank in the next 4 weeks.

Former US Ambassador to Israel Dennis Ross also said Trump is looking at Gaza as a real estate issue, with Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff saying of Trump’s proposal “This guy knows real estate.” 🙄🙄🙄

You can’t make this shit up!

Netanyahu and Trump are peas in a pod - both desperate to cling on to power to avoid jail.

I think another thing to remember is that Trump absolutely loves the UFC and so much of that is now held in Saudi that it might actually impact his thinking.

The post thing is on the BBC news site - not sure how to link on app. It seems this probably happened around his conference on Gaza - I keep saying this but I literally can't keep up, but also I don't know which is the most important. I guess there is more carp going down that can't get space for a mention. Awful times.

keep saying this but I literally can't keep up, but also I don't know which is the most important

I think that's the point. Flood the Zone as Steve Bannon said.

What's UFC

Meanwhile Musk decimates American lives from within. How long before the food stamps stop, the care homes close, the pain killers and life saving medications are withdrawn?
Who will care enough to rise up?

It does rather make the guff about the second amendment clear though.

I can actually see a future where Trump simply disregards the second amendment and confiscates guns saying "well if you ain't gonna use them to stop me, why do you need them ?"

Again, UK parallels are there if you look. For decades as a republican I was silence by assertions the monarch had an almost supernatural place in preventing a government go rogue. Then Boris Johnson turned up and illegally forced the Queen to prorogue parliament and there was nothing she could do.

In a similar vein, all discussions of the second amendment I have followed have been shut down with a bland assurance that it exists to prevent tyranny.

Well, today may be the day to cash that check. Or return to drawer as (like Brexit) a dud. Because it looks like it's bouncing to me.

"This is Radio Clash on pirate satellite.
Orbiting your living room, cashing in the bill of rights"

RIP Joe Strummer

Yes, agree, that's exactly the point.

UFC is some kind of fighting league or something. I think that's one of the things Zuck got into that remade him into the macho stud he's morphed into

Ultimate Fighting Championship

I'm slightly embarrassed that I know that 😬

Yes sorry I should have spelled it out. Trump is known to attend regularly (along with many wealthy Republican donors, in fact it’s how they celebrated the election victory) and it’s owned by Dana White who is close friends with Trump. But lots of it is now held in Saudi.

Now a buyout for the entire workforce of the CIA

https://edition.cnn.com/2025/02/04/politics/cia-workforce-buyouts/index.html

I think that's the point. Flood the Zone as Steve Bannon said.

Yes exactly.

https://www.aol.com/federal-health-workers-terrified-dei-013522374.html?guccounter=1

This list is mostly Black women. It's clear that the entire anti-DEI project is just neo-segregation. It's the same reason they only targeted Black women at Harvard. They don't believe people of color or women should have any positions of power.

I'd like to see how the US would feel if Saudi Arabia or Jordan announced that Palestine was now in Ohio and everybody had better shift over to allow two million settlers to move in.

Weirdly, there is a town called Palestine in Ohio. My hunch is they would not be friendly to 2 million settlers.

Am I the only one not getting anything productive done this morning?

@user22446688 you could get some crayons and colour in an EO.

that's one for the Bartlet/WW fans

Trump previously suggested that his first overseas visit would either be Saudi or the U.K. With this shot storm brewing I’m guessing the Saudi’s are going to pull up the drawbridge so we get stuck with him
@CaveMum I guess hoping HM King Charles has a rash on his hand is going a little too far?

It's quite telling how much EOs are able to achieve. Looks like the founding fathers weren't so clever after all.

As we saw with out own out of control government, at least the UK still has the rule of law.

E2A: Incidentally, anyone follow "The Rest Is History" ? The recent episode on Caligula is well worth a listen. Especially the part where he basically forced the senate to admit they had become a mere fiction and it was he - Caligula - who had supreme power. If you changed the names, it could almost have been a live report from the US congress, as Trump tells them they're irrelevant.

And like Caligula, I can actually see Trump turning the Whitehouse into a brothel and taking his pleasure with senators wives.

(The podcast is most decidedly not for the faint hearted)

Just following on from my previous post ....

Trumps putting numpties forward for cabinet positions is exactly what Caligula did making his horse a senator. It's demonstrating total and utter contempt for the process.

We should be starting the "eliminating rivals" phase of the process any day now.

The problem with the Founding Fathers is that they assumed anyone seeking the Presidency would be an all-round decent chap and that no megalomaniac man-baby would be allowed within spitting distance of the White House.

It is at this point I tend to quote the late, great Douglas Adams:

“The major problem—one of the major problems, for there are several—one of the many major problems with governing people is that of whom you get to do it; or rather of who manages to get people to let them do it to them.

To summarise: it is a well-known fact that those people who must want to rule people are, ipso facto, those least suited to do it.

To summarise the summary: anyone who is capable of getting themselves made President should on no account be allowed to do the job.”

The thing is that I think both Trump and Musk are actually convenient puppets. I mean, this is Project 2025 in action - I believe we'd be getting the same, although in a quieter, less openly insane, less orange fashion from a JD Vance administration.

Not that I'm sparing any tears for Elon and Don, mind you.

Oh yes, absolutely.

This isn't one insane megalomaniac – or even two.

Ttump didn't get to where he was last time or this time by his own actions. He's the useful showman who'll go out there and hustle the crowds, sit on the golden throne, and bask in the adoration.

It's the people who behind him who have the vision and the organisational skills.

Team effort.

The rest of the team won't go away even if Trump does.