Depraved, Desperate, Deluded and Dangerous - Trump Thread #160

[Spandauer]

More of the same. 🤬

Previous thread:
https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/_chat/5510944-the-king-of-crazytown-cant-control-the-chaos-trump-thread-159

Some info here:
www.theguardian.com/world/2026/apr/10/islamabad-pakistan-negotiations-iran-us

Vance will be there so presumably he's now hoping to garner brownie points for saving the day/world.

Vance comes across as an arrogant shit, I can’t imagine the Iranians will deal with him either.

Add 'self-serving' and I'll agree 100%

Haha, that 'google it' was funny

...ah here we go.... "but the Tories".

I did not say it could be turned around suddenly or say the state of UK defences is.just down to Labour..

Both Tories and Labour (and to some degree the voters) are to blame when it comes to the state of the UK's armed forces, but as far as the present incumbents go the DIP is their baby and maybe the current HMG ought to get that sorted out PDQ,

If they can't even manage that then promises of increased defence spending are meaningless.

A lot have Catholics have felt for a while that there was too much Jesus in Christianity.

The "End of the Cold War" caused all of us - UK, EU and some US spending to drop massively.

Who could have predicted Putin and Trump (and others) turning up and deciding they were bored and wanted to play with a box of matches while standing over a big bucket of petrol.

TBH, I don't care who did what in the past, I just want a more detailed plan for moving forward. There's no doubt that this and next gov'ts will have to grasp the thorny issue of how to finance the spending needed to balance defence and social security aims. Let's hope interest rates fall to make gov't borrowing less painful.

A thousand words

The Trump effect ?

Yes, "weird" until you realise they're very wealthy and deadly serious; then they become "sinister".

The lies must stop.
Nice to see you suddenly care about lying, Melania. Is your husband planning to stop?

time for the public and media to focus on her incredible achievements
Like all your pals focused on the incredible achievements of... well, any Democrat at all?

Think I missed you giving credit where credit was due to Obama, Biden, anyone... I'm not suggesting you have to agree with them 100%, just credit them where it's due. No? Apparently not...

Yup. Nor do I judge. In fact, I considered doing it myself. I was in a relationship with someone in NY. Got so far as looking for bar work and an apartment. I was a lot younger and a lot dumber. And relationship ended anyway.

But with Melania, it is well known she did do it. And she denies it all. Lots of revision going on. I would rather she was just honest about it. No problem if there are some bits she want's to hide though.

Not just the Tories to blame for the defence spending cuts - Labour under Blair/Brown also underinvested in our Forces.

DH was in the RAF 2000-2020 and said they never saw any real investment in that time, whether that was in replacing old equipment/systems or significantly investing in new ones.

Governments of all types across Europe relied on the post-Cold War “peace dividend” to focus their spending elsewhere.

@CaveMum thanks good to hear from people at the coal face so to speak.👍😁

But the truth is that in those years defence spending was a pretty unpopular expenditure.

I don't think underinvestment can be blamed on any one party. It seems to me like it was a confluence of events that made the west seem like a relatively stable and peaceful place buttressed by what seemed to be strong alliances, and then there was Brexit.

I just don't see where they're supposed to pull the money from. Theresa May's magic money tree? I mean, basically anything they do they're going to be lambasted and constituents are going to feel underserved and unheard. For the average person, if you can't get an ambulance, you can't get an ambulance, whether it's due to spending on defence or spending on immigrant housing, you're still going to blame the incumbent government, and a disingenuous right wing media ecosystem is going to milk it for all it's worth.

I've always thought that coming into government after the shitshow of Brexit and the last lot was going to be political suicide for whatever party it was, and I suspect I'm right.

And Brexit was brought to us by the Tories.

At least Trump is now a positive influence on getting close to the EU/Europe again

Melania was a "birther" I recall. Of the "no smoke without fire" variety.

And HA HA. I wanted to check what the outcome of the story about her demanding all WH toilets seats story was. So I done a web search to fact check myself before posting. And ...... it's "sensitive" where I am. Screen clip below of page 2 of search. The results on page one would not open.

Now, if I was a foil hatter I could wonder why a non US government appears to want to protect Melania. But no. Not that exciting. It's a sort of blanket ban on finding "bad things" about relatives of politicians. For obvious reasons. But I think Don Jr and Eric are "allowed". We are allowed to know about them :-)

I'm wondering whether Usha will end up more hated as a First Lady than Melania

Not defence spending, but I read this a couple months ago and thought it was a really interesting (and depressing) read on something for which Labour is unfairly going to bear the brunt of public dissatisfaction and Reform will likely benefit.

And this was before the Trump-inflicted oil price fiasco.

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2026/jan/28/labour-risks-election-wipeout-unless-it-improves-britain-high-streets-study-finds

Governments of all types across Europe relied on the post-Cold War “peace dividend” to focus their spending elsewhere.

The "elsewhere" being their and their mates nests. PFI tracks the codl war dividend by the month.

We’ve just been watching various talking heads from the US and bemoaning the fact that there is no coherent leadership of the Democrats, no-one whom everyone can get behind to make a concerted effort to oust Trump and the GOP. The Democrats should be doing far more as united party to challenge Trump’s ripping apart and trampling on the Constitution, there should not be this tumbleweed coming from the party as a whole. I would have thought Chuck Schumer should do this, but apparently he doesn’t think it’s in his remit. There doesn’t seem to be a mechanism in the US system for this to happen, outside Presidential elections. It’s strange.

I think most people are educated enough to want to avoid war, the world over.
There was a naivete that 'wars' might be fought through trade and power through capitalism, which appears to have ended up in the need to blow people up again.

Oh believe me, I'm right on board with all of that. I was responding to the comment about not having confidence that voters are going to reject Trump. I do think they're rejecting him at almost every possible opportunity right now, and that's despite the Democratic Party, not because of it.

@Jaichangecentfoisdenom

Adding that I don't have an action plan prepared for the event that a fleet of flying men drills batters a hole in the roof of my house and pours sulphuric acid into it, which I think we're in the political equivalent of right now. So, there isn't a specific mechanism for dealing with a demented, narcissistic, corrupt, fascistic autocrat against whom the media and congress seem incapacitated, that doesn't mean the Dems shouldn't be trying a damn sight harder and more coherently than they are.