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

Its a real post
https://x.com/WhiteHouse/status/1913241658579440126

I'm not denigrating Sen van Hollen's intentions and I'm glad he was able to verify that Kilmar is alive and apparently well. But I have a feeling that the whole meeting was arranged, staged, and 'observed' by El Salvadoran officials. I expect that not much information regarding the conditions of Kilmar's treatment in the prison were discussed between the two at all.

I suppose it was a case of 'needs must when the devil drives'.

https://x.com/WhiteHouse/status/1913241658579440126

Unfortunately it’s very real

@AcrossthePond55 The pictures were taken inside the prison. Yes it was staged, but at least he is alive.

How are we living in a World where the official White House Twitter account is posting that and it’s not in the news?

.

Unfortunately, yes it is. Who the hell thought it was a good idea to post that?!!

After reading this article, I can answer @Spandauer's question.
Yes, I believe that Trump's administration HAS crossed the Rubicon.

https://www.thebulwark.com/p/trump-zeal-to-ruin-immigrant-lives-could-backfire-proposition-187-california-democrats?r=5gya31&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=false

https://bsky.app/profile/harikunzru.bsky.social/post/3ln3yhsklcc2u

This style of deeply trollish posting on previously sober official accounts was pioneered by the UK Russian embassy during the run up to the Brexit vote. It felt shocking at the time. The collapse of a kind of official decorum has been a hallmark of the slide into authoritarianism

I did think it reeks of Medvedev!

Sen. Lisa Murkowski: "We are all afraid. OK? It's quite a statement. But we are in a time place where I don't know, I certainly have not been here before. And I'll tell you, I'm oftentimes very anxious myself about, about using my voice, because retaliation is real. And that's not right."

https://www.adn.com/politics/2025/04/14/we-are-all-afraid-speaking-to-alaska-nonprofit-leaders-murkowski-gets-candid-on-upheaval-in-federal-government/

I've said it before
but
I am so glad my Dad is not alive to see this.
Nor my uncles and aunts
nor my younger cousin
let alone my grandparents

its so sad

I found this pathetic. I watched it this morning. She could do something. She chooses not to.

I'll bring the eggs...

Sen Murkowski is a brave woman, trying to best represent her constituency. I fear for her safety given the MAGAts roaming free in Trump's America.

I don't know anything but surely she knows who would be ' on side' with her, and she could work from the inside. As opposed to the public who can do little

I don't know whether she's working on the inside to form a pushback coalition. TBH, given Trump's need to get even for any perceived slight, any deviation from his lies, and his revanchist mindset, she has put her head above the parapet. Hopefully others will follow.

Anyone watching BBC News? Wondering who the smirking Republican woman is they’re interviewing.

If you buy them now and keep them somewhere warm, they should be just about right for use in September.

Senator van Hollen

"This is a lesson into the lengths that President Bukele will go to deceive people about what's going on. And it also shows the lengths Trump will go to" -- Van Hollen details how the photos appearing to show him and Abrego Garcia with margaritas were staged by the government of El Salvador

https://bsky.app/profile/atrupar.com/post/3ln4i2rpems2u

I did consider letting them mature bit..

The batshittery just keeps coming https://www.whitehouse.gov/lab-leak-true-origins-of-covid-19/ - various news websites confirm this was previously the Covid advice website run by the White House and is legitimate.

This is the level of competence in the Trump administration. I'm starting to get too familiar with the names of lawyers, officials and advisers.
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/18/business/trump-harvard-letter-mistake.html?unlocked_article_code=1.A08.891D.Cvuyu4TDQbOn&smid=nytcore-ios-share

I suppose we should praise them for spelling "Harvard" correctly.

There's a Wall Street Journal article on Musk and his childcare wrangling that's paywalled

https://www.wsj.com/politics/elon-musk-children-mothers-ashley-st-clair-grimes-dc7ba05c

Sourced from popbitch who also had this about 2x ex wife Tallulah Riley (who persuaded him to buy twitter to 'End Woke'.

"If this week’s Wall Street Journal expose on Elon Musk proves anything, it's that he’s really, really weird with women. (Sample quote: "To reach legion-level before the apocalypse we will need to use surrogates").

Should we really be surprised, though?

When Elon divorced ex-wife Talulah Riley the second time around, he spent a while ignoring the fact it was happening by telling everyone he knew that she was dead. Including his kids - the ones she had been helping to raise.

Things were doomed from the start for Elon and Talulah, perhaps. Their first wedding ended up being postponed a number of times – and someone who got sat next to Talulah at a charity event shortly after one such postponement heard the full tear-soaked story of it.

Everything she said about it made him sound like a solid gold shit, but when this observation was made to her, she explained between sobs:

"But you don't understand. He's. A. BILLIONAIRE!" "