Has the US crossed the Rubicon? - Trump thread #142

[Spandauer]

Here be dragons.

Previous thread:
www.mumsnet.com/talk/_chat/5307874-are-we-feeling-liberated-yet-trump-thread-141

The video of Witkoff and Putin greeting one another like old friends is really quite sickening. This in the same week as a Ukrainian journalist Viktoriia Roshchyna’s body was returned to her family so badly tortured that it took multiple tests to identify her and as Putin buried children under the rubble in Kyiv.

Eswatini, previously Swaziland, is an absolute monarchy.

I'm sure Trump would be keen to swap notes with his neighbour from Eswatini
www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c1wndygyqgpo

Let's hope 🍊 doesn't get any (more) ideas.

He’ll probably spend the time negotiating tariffs with them. Art of the deal.

Ha ha ha Zelensky just got a round of applause as he came out to take his seat. Trump is probably fuming.

Trump seems to be sat at the front. This is going to mean more views of him than I would like.

"I could get you a good price for this place, Pope, Vlad would be interested. It reminds me of my place in Florida. Let's talk about it later. I'll bring the Easter Bunny, he's my current international ambassador and in charge of defence"

He’s already bored and the cardinals haven’t even finished processing out yet.

I'd watch this.

Sounds good to me. 🔥 Like the last scene of Jerry Springer The Opera but with more cheers and applause.

Some of us will remember the "Yes Prime Minister" episode that revolved around a funeral with it's attendant seating woes ... .

From Lord Hackers diary:

"Seating arrangements are surprisingly problematic. Sir Humphrey pointed out that if we sat delegates alphabetically, Iran and Iraq would be together. I said the solution was to Ireland in between, but Sir Humphrey remarked that involving Ireland never simplified things ..."

Trump sitting next to Estonia, France and Finland is top shithousery 😅

100%

https://bsky.app/profile/lewisgoodall.com/post/3lnpiyrfn5k2d

Remarkable pictures of Trump and Zelensky meeting before the Pope’s funeral in Rome, inside St Peter’s.

Zelensky’s office has called the meeting “constructive”- it’s been briefed they’ll meet again later today.

Sir Ivor Roberts former UK diplomat, speculates in The Telegraph.

On Trump bumping into Zelensky at the Pope's funeral.
“Because Trump is only interested in self-promotion and self-publicity, absolutely anything could happen depending on who he chooses to bump into.”

On a possible meeting bet Starmer and Trump.
“I’d advise [Sir Keir] to say to Trump: ‘Don’t walk away from Ukraine. I understand that you said you wanted to get it done in 24 hours and then 100 days. But just because you’re fed up with it, don’t abandon it.’ That should be the message, but I doubt it will work, because Trump has the attention span of a gnat."

Trump demonstrated that amply during the Time interview.

There used to be a "game" for IT nerds to load programs into windows such that the abbreviate letter in the taskbar spelled a rude word.

🎮 The "Taskbar Words" Game
Idea:

• Open different programs.
• Each program puts a small window title/button on the Windows taskbar.
• Only the first few letters show up (because the buttons are small).
• Nerds would intentionally launch programs — or rename shortcut properties — to make the taskbar buttons spell rude, funny, or weird words.

🔥 How They Did It:

• Use programs that showed short names in the taskbar (like Notepad, Paint, Calculator).
• Rename shortcuts to custom names — Windows would then display that name in the taskbar button.
• Arrange window order carefully to spell a word left-to-right.

Example: Program Abbreviation Seen Notepad renamed "Fart" Fart Calculator renamed "Up" Up Paint renamed "You" You Taskbar would show: [ Fart ] [ Up ] [ You ] 😆 🧠 Why It Worked:

• Windows XP/7 didn't "lock" the displayed window title.
• The first word of the window's title bar was shown directly in the taskbar.
• Renaming the shortcut (or sometimes the window title itself) affected how it appeared.

⚡ Nerd Fact: Some even coded little EXE files with custom window titles just for this game — like tiny "Hello World" apps but titled "Poo", "LOL", or much worse! 😂 It's a piece of glorious IT culture. Nowadays with Windows 11 taskbar being more dynamic and icon-focused... it's harder (but still possible in hacky ways).

@SerendipityJane I used to do that. but it was purely out of boredom...I still have a tower pc running xp.

Is it veering into wild optimism to wonder if his crashing poll numbers are having some effect?

Probably.
Not sure he reads or is told about anything in the real world.

Cloud Cuckoo Trump 🍊

Anderson Cooper pointed out that no one knows what was going on when that pic was taken. They could have been talking about their shoes. Or peace in Ukraine. Frankly, it looked to me like a 'staged' shot. CNN also reported after the service that Trump was 'on his way back to DC', so who knows if/when a meeting took place.

I noticed that Scrotus was the only one wearing a blue suit. Not navy blue so dark you can't really tell, but just, blue. I mean, even Melania knew to wear black. He is just incapable of the smallest bit of appropriateness, isn't he? I wonder if he did it on purpose to stand out?

I also felt this (during the homily) was somewhat 'pointed'; “His gestures and exhortations in favour of refugees and displaced persons are countless. His insistence on working on behalf of the poor was constant.”

https://www.vaticannews.va/en/pope/news/2025-04/pope-francis-requiem-mass-cardinal-re-homily.html#:~:text=In%20his%20homily%20at%20the,the%20Church%20open%20to%20everyone.&text=Over%20two%20hundred%20and%20fifty,he%20wanted%20open%20to%20everyone.

Caveat; It was 1 am here for the funeral and I fell back asleep when it was over, so my 'recollections may vary' from those of you watching at a 'normal' time.

There was a “real time” thread following the funeral on here, @AcrossthePond55, if you’re interested. Blue suits or otherwise were much mentioned, amongst many other things. https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/_chat/5322924-funeral-of-pope-francis?page=4&reply=143844825

.

i’d like to think the penny is slowly dropping. But it won’t be.

I do wonder if taking Trump out of his Washington bubble of hate changes his perspective. Of course as soon as he’s back on Vance etc’s orbit he’ll revert.