The Orange Man and the State of his Union - Trump thread #139

[Spandauer]

Thanks to @JoshLymanSwagger for the thread title.

Trump, Vance and Musk are building a bigly bridge across the Bering Strait...
...and creating a gaping chasm in the Atlantic.

Kind hearts are more than coronets, and simple faith than Norman blood.
Alfred Lord Tennyson

Previous thread:
https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/chat/5275361-an-unholy-trinity-or-just-a-seedy-threesome-trump-musk-and-putin-trump-thread-138

At least he's dropped the 51st state bollocks.

Funnily enough, I was watching a clip from Fox yesterday where whoever was being interviewed was saying something relative sane, and the chryon underneath was literally something like RADICAL LEFT DEMS LOSE MINDS OVER TRUMP'S ECONOMIC GAINS.

It was hilarious.

Twitter still out from checking those links. Oh dear

At the televised exec order scribbling last week he was saying he LOVED the Irish because Irish Americans all voted for him.

Will the Irish Taoiseach wear a suit tomorrow. That is the question.

Musk was bragging that Ukraine is dependent on Starlink and they'd have to get what they're given.

France has now stepped up

https://bsky.app/profile/mrsbettybowers.bsky.social/post/3lk2nt6r7ck2i

YESTERDAY: "There is no substitute for Starlink." --Elon Musk, bragging about how dependent Ukraine is on his product.

TODAY: "We are shipping 40,000 units to Ukraine to replace Starlink." --Eutelsat, a French satellite company.

Careful. They might puncture the narcissistic delusions of unique irreplaceability in the White House. Or, more likely, nothing will.

But good for them. Maybe with the federal work force decimated, they won't notice if we send an enormous check to Eutelsat instead of to the IRS... I have to say, I'm very tempted.

Curious

https://www.theregister.com/2025/03/11/greenhouse_gases_reduce_satellite_capacity_paper/

Good on them!

At the rate things are going they (Trump et al) going to decimate the Tech and Defence industries in the US. Whilst it won't happen overnight, European companies will start to take up the slack and increase production whilst Governments become more inclined to offer contracts to homegrown companies for the sake of security.

If the UK government had the foresight and balls, we could compete with Silicon Valley - companies like ARM and DeepMind started in the UK so we have the talent, it's the investment to help them grow that we need.

Hundred percent agreement. Plus, it's a good moment to aggressively recruit skilled foreign talent. An influx of innovation and investment would be a great thing for the UK.

Fingers crossed she's right.

When you get to “it’s a PR problem” excuse in tech, you know the startup is cooked https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2025/03/10/doge-musk-rebrand-trump-conflicts/

Trojan horse anyone?
www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-03-11/armor-plates-for-us-army-s-jltv-didn-t-pass-quality-control-tests

Never mind skilled foreign talent (though of course that's also a possibility), it's British returnees I've been thinking about.

I've lost count of how many people I know who emigrated for the commercial opportunities in the US. Granted some went for the weather (California), but for a lot it was about better money and well-funded research departments doing bleeding-edge work – which of course was a self-sustaining situation.

I refer people to my post in another US thread where I pointed out that safety, regulations and standards all cost money. Money that DOGE simply cannot afford not to save ....

I can't recall which Gemini astronaut it was, but one replied when asked about the thrill of space travel replied something like "if I ever get too excited, I remind myself I'm sitting on top of a machine where every component was built by the lowest bidder."

I am sure there is a story about a plan to skimp on quality and pocket the savings predicated on the "there will never be a war" theory which (you should see this coming) descends into chaos when there is a war. May have been a film ??????

(Then of course, you have the priceless "Pentagon Wars"

Two excerpts:

• Major General Partridge: Just because the tests didn't turn out the way Colonel Burton thought they would, was no reason to suspect there was anything devious going on.
• Madame Chairwoman: I ask you General, filling the fuel tanks with water before a test to check the combustibility of those tanks, that wasn't devious?
• Major General Partridge: If the tanks had been filled with fuel, there's a good chance the vehicle would have exploded.
• [Stunned silence]
• Congressman #1: ...Isn't that the point?
• Major General Partridge: If the vehicle had exploded, we wouldn't be able to run additional tests!

and - especially for the last line -

• Major Sayers: The Brits did a study on aluminum.
• Col. J.D. Bock: That would be the same aluminum sheathing used on the Bradley, sir.
• Major Sayers: When hit by a shell, it has a tendency to burn, and when it burns it gives off a toxic gas.
• Major General Partridge: Goddamnit! We fought a revolution so we wouldn't have to pay any attention to the fucking British!

)

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cqjdg4x08ylo

Trump blamed "radical left lunatics" boycotting the firm to "attack and do harm" to Tesla owner Elon Musk.
However, stock analysts said the main reason for the poor performance of the shares was fear about Tesla meeting production targets and a drop in sales over the past year.

"It's not due to a boycott. It's due to people not buying them" says the BBC 😀

The Rest is Money has an interview with Reid Hoffman this week. He’s obviously not wanting to get on the wrong side of anyone, but he does tell a few stories about Elon and how single-minded/utterly convinced of his own brilliance he is.

He also talks about the fact that governments are by their very nature inefficient and that it’s part of the safety net, so (as we all know) you can’t run a government like a company.

https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-rest-is-money/id1703785141?i=1000698513068

I refer people to my post in another US thread where I pointed out that safety, regulations and standards all cost money. Money that DOGE simply cannot afford not to save ....

I honestly don't think there's a single one of them who considers civilian casualties anything but collateral damage.

I hope he wwars the brightest, lariest lurid green suit he can find.

Unfortunately not, he’s out there again today on Truth Social ranting on about removing the “imaginary” border and welcoming the 51st state….

Toys are currently flying all over the place.

Live updates: Trump threatens 50% tariffs Canadian steel and aluminium - BBC News

I sincerely hope Canada has wargamed a scenario in which armed US personnel appear, possibly to protect some US citizens (scrap metal merchants ?.) who have "accidentally" strayed into Canadian territory.

Maybe as a sovereign country, Canada could invite it's allies to use the area near the border for some practice manoeuvres (if anyone picks up the "It's a lot of goodwill" reference, we may be twins 😀)

He is a dangerous nincompoop. We hope to be going to Canada over the summer, with a little side trip into the Pacific North West of the USA, but I’m thinking now that may not be such a good idea.

And I’d hoped he’d calm down till the new potentially temporary pm was in place (a few days) the us votes him in and we get the fool. Argh

Not to try and make a joke about it all but I thought you (especially @JoshLymanSwagger) all might enjoy this.

A secret plan to fight inflation; plans to invade Canada - The West Wing is starting to look pretty prophetic 😜

1

@CaveMum DH and I were talking about the Snowy Honkers episode last night.