Are We Feeling Liberated Yet? - Trump thread #141

[Spandauer]

King Donald has bigly new tariffs, First Lady Elmo turns out to be ballot box poison and 'Pick Me Girl' Vance is a meanie to the EU.

(But at least the penguins on the Heard and McDonald Islands are wearing suits)

Previous thread:
https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/_chat/5297058-trumpmusk-the-doge-and-pony-show-continues-trump-thread-140

@TomPinch past gov'ts sold off or allowed too much to be sold. I feel that we need to start investigating the cost/benefits of re/nationalisation.

BA - owned by IAG (Qatar has a 25.1% stake).

Most major UK airports have foreign owners, with Gulf states, China, and Western investment funds dominating. Only Manchester and Stansted have significant UK public-sector involvement.

Our port infrastructure is largely foreign-owned, with significant control by Gulf and Chinese state-linked entities. Only a few major ports remain under full British control.

• Middle East (UAE): DP World (London Gateway, Southampton).
• China: COSCO/CIC (Felixstowe, Thamesport).
• Singapore: PSA (Liverpool).
• Canada: Brookfield (Hull).
• Denmark: Maersk (Tilbury).
• Netherlands: Dutch pension funds (Peel Ports).

ARM Holdings - the UK based semiconductor and chip design company is a company of strategic importance that was allowed to be sold to the Japanese in exchange for the committment that it remained HQ'ed in the UK and subject to national security reviews.

Don't get me started on the power companies. Listed in the UK but owned by foreign governments, private equity firms, and multinational corporations.

20/20 Hindsight vision is a wonderful thing.

Last time we spoke of Trump in his last term, she said she loved watching him because he was so funny. 😲

I have a friend who said she voted for Boris because she thought he was funny.. I pointed out that I thought my 8 year old niece was funny but I wouldn't want her running the country.
She regrets that decision now. She now asks me who she should vote for, I point out that it's her decision to make but perhaps she shouldn't base her choice on who's the funniest or looks nicest in a suit.

Although to be fair, Kamala looked a hell of a lot better in a suit than Rump. Come to think of it, so did Hillary and Joe. Maybe it's not such a bad metric...

I'm seeing a lot of parallels with both Nazi Germany and the start of the English Civil War.

Am I correct that a lot of US constitutional lawyers (I bet they wish they'd done corporate law now) study the English Civil War quite closely ? Especially the legal framework that made the King subject to the law and therefore able to be charged with (and convicted of) treason ?

The English Civil War was not some sort of starry-eyed clash of ideologies that it was later repainted as by the winning side. In reality it was a grubby squabble between privileged posh twats who were upset the King was nicking their stuff. (Is one way of looking at it).

Weren't there various bodies threatened with the withdrawal of federal funding if they persisted in equality policies who have basically said fine, we declare independence?

I did think it would be as bad as this although I hadn't considered the specific ways in which it would be bad, if anything I thought it would be so bad that it would just fall over and collapse and he would have to go.
It didn't occur to me that he would be sending US citizens to concentration camps in another country.

It didn't occur to me that he would be sending US citizens to concentration camps in another country.

Out of sight, out of mind. The administration is doing a great job of othering everyone they send. Who needs rights for criminals? This works right up until the point of "criminal = wrongthink."

Trump is a master at shifting the Overton window; I will give him that.

Did Orwell imagine Trump or did Trump base himself on Orwell (rhetorical question for obvious reasons)?
I see only doom, gloom and misery on the world stage until long after I’m dead. This is the only time when I’m even slightly glad there’s a strong possibility I won’t have grandchildren.

Good on Harvard for fighting back.

And MIT for this.
https://bsky.app/profile/eoinhiggins.bsky.social/post/3lmsv6n6eac2m

I read that back and realised that I sounded like Trump. 🤔
Help!

Seriously, it's more nuanced than that. More about supporting the industries that contribute to economic growth etc. and anticipating risks to over-exposure to bad faith agents. I also recognise that some of these companies were operating at a loss at the time ... and the benefits of globalisation.

Manchester Airport is mostly owned my Manchester City Council and the other LAs in Greater Manchester (about 70%) which is interesting, as the 2nd runway is in Cheshire East and they own nothing.
Completely Useless Fact #1 for today.

The US has blocked G7 statement to condemn Russia for its Palm Sunday missile attack on Sumy, which killed at least 35 and injured 100+, including children.

Telling allies it wouldn't sign because it is "working to preserve the space to negotiate peace".

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-04-15/us-derails-g-7-condemnation-of-russian-missile-strike-on-ukraine?embedded-checkout=true

This is what's happening in a bit of a nutshell.

Yes, the Constitution states that the 3 branches of government (Judicial, Legislative, Executive) are co-equal. This has been the way it's been for 250 years. What is happening now is that Trump is saying that they are NOT co-equal, that the Executive Branch, specifically the President, is 'higher' than the other 2 branches. That neither the judicial nor the legislative can overrule the President. This is based on the SCOTUS decision in Trump v. United States, 603 U.S. 593 (2024) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trump_v._United_States. Scrotus has interpreted this as the POTUS having 'all power' instead of the intended narrow interpretation of not being held criminally liable for actions in the direct performance of his duties.

We are now in the 'phase' of him testing his belief by defying court orders and saying to the Judicial Branch (both SCOTUS and many lower courts) "You ain't the boss of me!!" (to use the vernacular). If you look carefully at appeals and PR statements it repeatedly says that 'the courts/this judge/the Judicial Branch does not have the power to overrule the Executive Branch. And he has now defied SCOTUS, albeit they did give him room to purposely misinterpret the order by using the word 'facilitate' in the Garcia Abrego case. Other cases are working their way up using the same rationale and I expect the same thing will happen. He will defy the orders.

What should happen? Well, technically at this point the Legislative Branch, specifically the House of Representatives should institute impeachment proceedings. But since Spkr Johnson & the GOP are so far up Scrotus' arse they could do dental work on him, that's not going to happen. So where does that leave us? In absolute uncharted territory.

This is why the midterms are so crucial. To hopefully flip the House and the Senate so impeachment can be introduced. But we'd have to have a 'supermajority' in the Senate to actually remove him from office.

If the midterms are allowed to even happen, that is.

addendum

But we'd have to have a 'supermajority' in the Senate to actually remove him from office.

That would be 2/3 majority or 67 'aye' votes.

The House only needs a simple majority, or one more 'aye' than 'nay', to impeach.

Have people seen this Bluesky post? Apologies that the preview is that Buchenwald photo.
I am now beyond horrified.

Alt Acadia National Park: "One of these photos is CECOT, El Salvador, present day. The other is Buchenwald, Germany, April 16, 1945." — Bluesky

Link 🔗 to a Vox article on the Incel BELIEVERS who think tariffs will get them manly jobs and lady friends

https://www.vox.com/culture/408578/trum-tariffs-incels-misogyny-email-jobs

... These men read Trump’s economic policy as a project of redistributing money and jobs away from women and back to men, ultimately for men’s sexual gain. DOGE slashed away the email jobs in the government, they argue, while tariffs will force a recession that will ultimately kill the email jobs of the private sector. Meanwhile, tariffs will bring manufacturing jobs, which are understood to be the rightful domain of men, back to the US. By the time the process ends, they believe, men will be gainfully employed and now-destitute women incentivized to sleep with them, and the world will be restored to its proper order.

Jesus,Mary & Joseph, that’s absolutely terrifying.

Gilead, here we come. Guess I’m probably bound for the Colonies.

Those doughy basement dwelling incels will have the Shock OF THEIR LIVES of they try doing factory work

More winning.

The Chinese government has told the country's domestic airlines to stop accepting deliveries of Boeing jets as a trade war between the world's two largest economies escalates, Bloomberg News reports.

China is also instructing its carriers to stop buying airline parts and other components from U.S. companies, according to Bloomberg, which cited people familiar with the situation.

www.cbsnews.com/news/china-boeing-orders-halt-to-jet-deliveries-bloomberg-trump-tariffs/

Do we do a new thread?
(I'm hopeless at titles!)

Can’t believe how quickly it’s moved!

I'll set one up... pithy titles may be difficult at the moment.

We can/must tag team staying positive - I've been flagging lately.

You aren’t alone. It feels so bleak but agree that humour helps.

I expect a reference to Black Mirror is probably a little too negative, then.

"who sponsored your Easter egg"?

Alarming. 'Within minutes after DOGE accessed the NLRB's systems, someone with an IP address in Russia started trying to log in, according to ' disclosure. The attempts were "near real-time," according to the disclosure.'
https://bsky.app/profile/shashj.bsky.social/post/3lmueveoiek2f

www.npr.org/2025/04/15/nx-s1-5355896/doge-nlrb-elon-musk-spacex-security