Trump+Musk; the DOGE and Pony show continues -Trump thread #140

[Spandauer]

Trump, as out of control as a faulty Tesla, takes an ICE pick to the Constitution.

Thanks to @AcrossthePond55 and @Jaichangecentfoisdenom for the thread title and sub-title 😊

Photocollage: Cold War Steve
Map illustration: Barry Blitt

Previous thread:
https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/_chat/5286872-the-orange-man-and-the-state-of-his-union-trump-thread-139

Perhaps the surprise is more that people knowingly voted for this.

The main problem with segregation is that resources will always be distributed unfairly. It is a system to keep certain people down artificially. This administration is so obvious and there are still people cheering for it.

@OutsideLookingOut
Very few did.

It is not written for MAGA consumption.
Its written for donor consumption.
The details of it were never highlighted in the pro Trump media.

When anti Trump media raised it 'plausible deniability' was used.

Another horror story

They disappeared a barber who entered the US legally and had committed no crime.

He was immediately tortured in a Salvadoran prison as he cried out for his mother.

It’s the Trump Administration that is not only breaking the law by denying people due process, but committing crimes against humanity.

https://bsky.app/profile/dylanwilliams.bsky.social/post/3ll2hqmlxq22k

I see it as pretty similar to the people who voted for Brexit here. They were mobilised against 'others' and 'unelected bureaucrats' and promised (by those who had things set up for their personal gain, including Russia) 'sovereignty' and sunlit, empty NHS waiting rooms. Those who raised the alarm (and realities) were painted as Project Fear, similar to those who told the truth about Trump being accused of TDS.

And even now that Brexit has shown itself to be a failure, costing Britain dearly, an awful lot of people have found a way to blame anything but Brexit.

I always say, and will repeat, that people don’t vote for things like Brexit and Trump because they’re stupid. These movements are incredibly adept at finding legitimate grievances in the public discourse and exploiting them. Many people both in the US and the UK aren’t really able to spare much mental capacity for “others” because they’re struggling day to day just to get by. Someone like Trump or Farage comes along and tells them that the reason they’re struggling to survive is because of X or Y, they create division and hatred instead of solving very real social issues. It’s classic populism.

I always say, and will repeat, that people don’t vote for things like Brexit and Trump because they’re stupid.

Repeating something doesn't make it right.

Trump and Brexit ultimately appealed a contingent - neither small nor smart - that genuinely believes there is such a thing as a free lunch.

Now I have always been taught, and taught others myself, that there is no such thing as a free lunch. And anyone who is selling one is a crook, and anyone who believes them is in the final analysis, stupid.

If don't vote, you are stupid. If you believe (or can be persuaded to believe) in free lunches you are also stupid. And sadly "stupid+stupid>not-stupid" when it comes to electoral maths.

Uneducated and unengaged politically does not equal stupid. This is part of the reason the democrats/anti-brexit types struggle to engage those predisposed to believing in right wing rhetoric.

Uneducated and unengaged politically does not equal stupid.

I totally agree.

However there are plenty of uneducated and unengaged politically people who don't believe in a free lunch and don't vote for grifters.

We're back to basic rules of philosophy. If A is in some Bs it doesn't follow that all Bs contains A.

As always, humor contains germs of truth.

Worth reminding the MAGAverse that MAGA doesn't do pity. Ever.

I think both the Brexit and Trump voter cohorts are a broad tent. Plenty of room for the stupid, the unengaged, the uneducated, the gullible, the misled, the misiniformed, the cruel, the bigoted, the red-pilled...

I certainly think right wing media ecosystems have a lot to answer for.

I think both the Brexit and Trump voter cohorts are a broad tent. Plenty of room for the stupid, the unengaged, the uneducated, the gullible, the misled, the misiniformed, the cruel, the bigoted, the red-pilled...

The intelligent, the greedy and the venal held the canopy up whilst others filled it, would be one possible analogy.

NYT is reporting that Trump is sending Mike Waltz and Usha Vance to the US airbase in Greenland this week

I find myself wondering if (like al paranoid dictators) we will see Trump almost welded to the Whitehouse (and surely there is a song that needs to be written about that ?).?

There are so many stories in history of leaders who left their country and returned with less to look forward to.

Why on earth would he be sending the Second Lady to Greenland?

Charm offensive apparently..... Donny jr didn't manage it

Canada is getting ready for the Election

Carney

I have just asked the Governor General to dissolve Parliament and call a federal election on April 28.

We need to build the strongest economy in the G7. We need to deal with President Trump’s tariffs. Canadians deserve a choice about who should lead that effort for our country.

Re Usha Vance. Maybe they're planning to start a Trump-branded MAGA Stepford Wife Academy in Greenland?

I found this slightly hopeful

I think a lot of the ignorant assholes people who knowingly voted for P2025 did so from their own narrow personal perspective rather than the plan as a whole. Racists voted for segregation & deportation. Evangelicals voted for 'God as Govt', MRAs and Incels voted for anti-equality for women, anti-choice voted for the abolishing of abortion. None of them stopped to consider P2025 as a whole. Now they're surprised that, goodness gracious me!, the parts they didn't consider are actually negatively affecting their lives.

The rest of them simply believed Scrotus when he said "I don't even know what P2025 is".

I do wonder if the Project 2025 "brains" - who seem to have predicated success upon the world+dog becoming more extreme may have made the schoolboy error of assuming that "US=Rest of world" .?

Unlike the US - who are well and truly stuck with MAGA until 2028 at the earliest (if not forever) - a lot of other countries (UK,France,Germany and Canada) do not have such proscriptive electoral systems and can call an election whenever.

Now the MAGA project is clearer, it's going to be a lot harder to sell it abroad. Just ask "Nigel, from Clacton".

Weirdly I have seen 3 adverts this weekend about renouncing your US citizenship. From outfits that will sort out the tax implications.

Maybe a growth industry worth investing in ?

Those of us with New York as our Birthplace can renounce whatever we like but the truth will always be there in print when we travel

Indeed.

And (as I understand it*) renunciation of US citizenship is by convention, rather than statue. There's nothing in law that defines the process. It's really just a "scouts honor" from the State Department.

British citizenship was similarly hard to get rid of, historically, Ask William Joyce.

I wonder what would happen if the US decided to refuse to recognise previous citizenship renunciations with the tax implications that brings ?

*Happy to be proved wrong.

https://www.usa.gov/renounce-lose-citizenship

https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/legal/travel-legal-considerations/us-citizenship/Relinquishing-US-Nationality-Abroad.html

It can be done, but my understanding is that the Dept of State can refuse to 'allow' you to renounce. And I believe one still has to pay taxes on 'US based earnings/income'. So for retirees, that means any pensions from US based companies and investments still held in the US. And Social Security. And I believe that the Govt levies some sort of 'exit tax'.

Renunciation is considered 'permanent'. But I expect if the Govt wanted you back badly enough, they'd find a way round that.

@AcrossthePond55
Boris Johnson did it
to avoid US tax on the sale of his family home
(and saved a LOT of dosh that then went to his ex wife)

The whole US overseas tax system is predicated on us owing US tax
but in fact the bulk of us are OWED money by the IRS
because where we live has higher taxes.

I have never filed a US Tax return.
They know where I am and I've never tried to hide
BUT
they will owe me money for 27 of the last 35 years
so they leave me alone

One family member actually has a letter from the IRS asking them not to submit returns any more
(the cost of filing balances out the refunds that would be due)

The fact that the president of the US posted this on his social media is absolutely batshit….and don’t get me started on Elon and the spoons!

“I LOVE $TRUMP — SO COOL!!! The Greatest of them all!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”