Idiotam habemus - Trumpum the Bigly XXX - Trump thread #143

[Spandauer]

No grey smoke necessary.

First 100 days have come and gone. Vance has killed the Pope, Musk is melting away and Trump's tariffs are on a slow boat to China.

Coming soon... Bigly's Birthday Parade. What could possibly go wrong?

Previous thread:
https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/_chat/5315681-has-the-us-crossed-the-rubicon-trump-thread-142

Sorry about that.

There was a rather magnificent Lancaster Bomber - although they're smaller than you think when you get close to them.

I should think Vance would want the end of Trump close to the 4 year mark - he'd get the sympathy/remembering Trump vote then and could win his own term. I think Trump is a bit of a cult that won't be replicated by Vance or anyone else around and it will go back somewhat to party voting and finally MAGAts might notice the current policies aren't so great for them.
Unsure if Vance could be worse - the current insanity is destabilising but Vance would be more capable of pursuing a clear, and unwelcome, agenda.
I mean, to clarify, I'd rather Trump had to step down today and Vance was subsequently booted next week, but just thinking of it from Vance viewpoint.

@JoshLymanSwagger

I know Vance is a shit, too, but at least he's not insane.
Are you sure about that? At least you know where you are with Trump (Cloud Golf Land, mostly) but I get the heebee jeebees about JDV.

I'm pretty sure haha.

I think Vance would be more susceptible to influence, hopefully from rational, if right leaning, sources. He certainly spouts Scrotus' nonsense as if it was straight from Mt Sinai. Yes, we'd still have a right-leaning Admin, but we wouldn't have the absolute insanity (51st state, annex Greenland, tariffs up the wazoo) that we have now.

For some reason I think Vance would be more in line with Dubya. Dubya didn't have the level of intelligence to run the show plus he just didn't want to do the heavy lifting so he left it to Cheney. Vance is intelligent but I think deep down he's an insecure little boy with a hillbilly inferiority complex who might be influenced rather than 'show himself up' by doing something that 'might make him look stupid'.

But who the fuck really knows. He could be a real wolf in sheep's clothing.

I told DS to look for the Lancaster. But it turned north before Heathrow. The Arrows turned south. I don't think DS was looking and who knows if someone sitting on the tarmac would have seen anything anyway., He just wants to get home and sleep for 48 hours. He was there for work and I guess it was 'balls to the walls' the whole week.

But what about the likes of Stephen Miller who I read is running the show?
He's evil and if Vance is susceptible to influence, it could be even worse if that were possible. President Miller (although not crowned) bringing in his vile policies by the back door

Now that one really gives me the shivers.

I've trained DH to call him Dr Evil (from Austin Powers).

https://www.alternet.org/ron-desantis-republicans/

So did he ....

I rarely disagree with you, but I do here. I think Vance is incredibly dangerous. He's an utter sociopath and makes no secret of wanting to go further than Project 2025 in advancing the Yarvin/Thiel remaking of society where everyone other than wealthy white men is a disposable cog.

Maybe I'm channeling my inner Pollyanna, but I'm thinking/hoping/praying that the P2025 etc we hear from/about Vance is/was part of him sucking up to Scrotus and those he influences. Not that he isn't conservative, but that he's conservative in the 'usual ways'. We've survived 'normal' conservatism (anti abortion, pro guns) before, hopefully we can again.

But I have to be honest, I don't know how far back Vance's ultra-right ideology goes. He was a 'Never Trumper' until he ran for the Senate in 2021 and wanted his endorsement. So he became an opportunistic kiss ass. So has that developed into true MAGA or is it still opportunistic? If the former, you're right. If the latter, maybe there is still a sliver of hope.

I guess the question is "Can or will he be worse than Trump?". With Scrotus alienating the entire world with tariffs, his antagonism of sovereign nations and territories with threats of 'takeovers', his rabid stands on the environment, the poor, and immigration, and at this point I guess my answer is 'No'.

Well it looks like Trump might get Gold Trump Gaza Riviera sooner than expected.

https://www.theregister.com/2025/05/01/abi_trump_tariffs_datacenter

Is this part of Israel's 'Gaza Conquest' plan I heard about in passing today?

Not explicitly but what else are you going to do with all that prime real estate after they’ve cleared those pesky Palestinians out (please note my sarcasm).

VE day and look at Gaza. No words.

Sarcasm noted.

Bibi and Scrotus hand in hand. Imagine the graft and kickbacks.

For my UK friends, that's 'graft' according to the US definition:

"Graft, as understood in American English, is a form of political corruption defined as the unscrupulous use of a politician's authority for personal gain. Political graft occurs when funds intended for public projects are intentionally misdirected in order to maximize the benefits to private interests."

France is wooing US scientists. I think we need to do the same, along with film makers and producers. Anyone with sanity, skills and money will be thinking about an exit plan in the US right now, even if its just for 4 years. Trump's administration is ordering investigations into government officials and hauling people off the street without due process. At what point do you say; "the system is not working any more? It won't protect me."

Everyone has a different alarm point, but mine is flashing red right now, from the UK. I reckon we'll see a lot more people looking for the exit door when the tariffs bite home and social security breaks.

So follow this...

President Donald Trump said Monday that he has “no idea” where the AI image of himself as the pope came from, even though he posted on his Truth Social account.
“Somebody made up a picture of me dressed like the pope, and they put it out on the internet. That’s not me that did it. I have no idea where it came from. Maybe it was AI, but I know nothing about it. I just saw it last evening,” the president said in the Oval Office Monday.

“Actually, my wife thought it was cute. She said: ‘Isn’t that nice?’” the president added.
Trump, who days prior joked that he would “like to be pope,” posted the digitally doctored image of himself wearing a white cassock and papal headdress, with his forefinger raised, to his Truth Social platform late Friday. It was then reshared by the White House on its official X account.

Asked why it was posted to the official White House account even though it was artificially created, the president responded: “Give me a break.”
“Somebody did it in fun,” he added.

A few days ago we flew via Houston to Belize and had to go through security there. I realised how insular the USis when I saw the prominent signs in security saying "guns not allowed". I didn't seething in Addis Ababa and Ethiopia had a civil war going on.

"Somebody made up a picture of me dressed like the pope, and they put it out on the internet. That’s not me that did it. I have no idea where it came from. Maybe it was AI, but I know nothing about it. I just saw it last evening,” the president said in the Oval Office Monday.

Wasn't me! That big boy did it!

It's hard to know how much is genuine with any of these people, other than zealots like Stephen Miller and Steve Bannon and how much is opportunism. And I don't know anything more about Vance than most people, so this is strictly opinion based on stuff I've read and a few podcasts - not necessarily any more truth or perception to it than any other take.

But my overall sense is that he was essentially created as a politician by Peter Thiel, who bought him that senate seat, as a useful tool for advancing the anti-democratic totalitarian state that he and Curtis Yarvin espouse. These people are for the most part are not necessarily Trump acolytes, but see him as a useful tool also. He's certainly stepping up for them with the dismantling of democratic norms. I'd see Vance as less chaotic and more systematic, and in some ways, more idealistically driven than Trump, and very focused on fracturing western alliances in any way possible.

Sadly since Brexit we don't have the money to woo American scientists.

Somebody made up a picture of me dressed like the pope, and they put it out on the internet. That’s not me that did it. I have no idea where it came from. Maybe it was AI, but I know nothing about it.

Maybe it was AI? You'd think he would remember if he'd really dressed like the pope!

The way things are going, money may not be the main reason a scientist accepts a foreign job. It may be more about scientific freedom and the ability to conduct research without someone breathing down your neck to be sure you come out with the 'correct' conclusions. And if you aren't a native-born US citizen, it may be worth a hefty reduction in pay just to get the hell out of Dodge.

Are we seeing "Pence 2028" poking its head a teeny bit above the parapet?

www.cnn.com/2025/05/05/politics/january-6-pence-trump-tariffs-russia?utm_source=cnn_Evening+Newsletter+-+Monday%2C+May+5%2C+2025&utm_medium=email&bt_ee=62bhd8d4n3QRTGMhEhGu9DEgFrWlJQu4%2BuAb1OQ%2FvSi%2BdRaE6zsj9buQrgx62X73&bt_ts=1746481118452

Pence over Vance any day for me. As revealed in the Signal chat, Vance hasn't drunk all the Kool Aid, but his opportunistic use of Trump to advance his own political ambitions, plus his hatred of Europe and that almost religious belief that he is right, make him very dangerous man.

I think he would be worse than Trump if he became 48. Instead of his rise from poverty giving him empathy, it's given him hatred. One to watch with suspicion.