Panda-monium - Trump Thread #170

[Spandauer]

Mid-terms looming, approval falling, prices rising, wars ongoing - Ping Ping and Fu Shuang must be wondering what heinous crime they committed to be banished chosen as envoys of friendship between China and USA. 🐼🐼

Previous thread:
https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/_chat/5572772-it-costs-a-lot-of-money-to-be-this-cheap-trump-thread-169

Trump’s Final Term Ends in: - Countdown Timer

The BBC should counter sue.

Just what any president would do... Not.

I really would like to know how this stuff comes to his attention. As far as we know, he personally doesn't use any tech other than his phone and Nanny Nats - so is he trawling through the Daily Fail while eating his burger or is Nats sending him the links with a smiley face emoji? I guess it could have made it onto Fox News.

Trump's a big ugly troll

The poor family

Yes his family have issued this statement

"William was a bright, warm and engaging young man whom his family dearly loved - and William loved them back,"

some of a BBC article what the family said (as well as that sharing of footage is very distressing. He was an actor

William Chapman 23

In a statement, his family said that he had suffered from "significant mental illness" over a number of years and had been prescribed "strong medication".

…,,,,,
William was a bright, warm and engaging young man whom his family dearly loved - and William loved them back," a statement released on Tuesday evening said.
It said it was for the coroner to decide whether his mental illness played a part in his death.
"The family are utterly devastated by their loss and are struggling to come to terms with what has happened," the statement continued.
"The family are hopeful that the relevant authorities will do their upmost to get to the bottom of why our amazing son did what he did."

She also seems to have blatantly lied about her qualifications. So easy to check.
'Trump’s new White House press secretary, Katie Zacharia, says she is a lawyer. She has claimed to be a lawyer repeatedly on national TV, on podcasts, and on social media. But there is no evidence that Zacharia has ever been licensed to practice law.' https://x.com/JuddLegum/status/2109970781534839033

Grok says: She has a 2011 JD from Pepperdine. LinkedIn lists her as associate on Zhong Lun’s international practice team in Beijing Aug 2011–Jun 2013, where she says she handled international transactional work and outside counsel matters for World Bank/IFC groups. She also did fundraising/comms for a migrant-children nonprofit there. No US bar admission appears in any state or DC records. China bars non-citizens from its exam; foreign lawyers usually need home-country license plus 2+ years practice first. She has said she practiced with “all the appropriate credentials” and answered bar questions by referencing the China move.

Best comment from that thread: 'You mis-heard her. She said "liar" and not "lawyer."'

Quote "Grok says: She has a 2011 JD from Pepperdine. LinkedIn lists her as associate on Zhong Lun’s international practice team in Beijing Aug 2011–Jun 2013, where she says she handled international transactional work and outside counsel matters for World Bank/IFC groups. She also did fundraising/comms for a migrant-children nonprofit there. "

Dates don't work out. 2 years post grad experience needed for a PRC work permit. Although I think that rule came in 2012. I know someone who is an expert on this.... I will ask.

And yeah. Working for a non profit in China. Nah. Not as 2nd job. Breaks the law re her work permit, if she had one. Also very strict rules on non profits. Especially on anything politically sensitive.

Another wee snip re Katie Zacharia. Cos She was asked as she was getting on Marine 1.

"QUESTION 00:02:42-00:03:00 (19 SEC)

What state did she pass the bar exam in? You said she's an attorney, where did she pass the bar exam? Which state? Can she tell us? Where did you pass the bar exam?

KATIE ZACHARIA 00:03:00-00:03:00 ( SEC)

When I moved to China."

This seems very odd. Because why go to another country to do an exam for a US State, and also, would that not mean she was not a qualified lawyer when she got a job in China. That is a double question mark really, because how did she manage to get her 2 years experience as a lawyer, if she was not a lawyer.

Anyhow, a press gaggle it is, let's listen into the billionaire's golden goose.

Press Gaggle: Donald Trump Speaks to Reporters Before Marine One Departure - October 13, 2026 — Trump Archive (trump-archive.com)

Take it away Don, please take yourself away.

"QUESTION 00:00:00-00:00:11 (11 SEC)
Mr. President, after you set up your [Inaudible] yourself, you are the best [Inaudible] ever but there is no ceasefire on Ukraine. Putin isn't listening to you. What do you think?"

Hello there, Mrs Fox News.

"DONALD TRUMP 00:00:11-00:00:12 (2 SEC)

They'll listen."

Yeah. Listen to what Don ? The best of ABBA ?

"QUESTION 00:00:12-00:00:23 (11 SEC)
Mr. President, on Kimberly Guilfoyle, she was almost a member of your family. How surprised were you to learn about these allegations? What did you make of them?"

"No, she wasn't a member of my family. She, I guess, dated my son a long time ago, but she wasn't. No, she went to Greece, she was doing a good job, but we didn't like what we were reading. So --"

She was doing a good job but you did not like what you were reading ? I have a Spot the Dog book here. We know you like reading that.

"I didn't speak to her, no, but she will not be there. I didn't like what I read."

Try Spot the Dog Don. It has pictures too. See.. Ach, now he is talking about Ukraine.

"I think Putin wants it, probably -- I think they both want it to end. You know, honestly, they both want it to end, and they don't know how to get to that point. There's a lot of hatred there between the two of them. They both want it to end, they don't know how to get there, we're going to get them there."

Is this Putin or Melania you are talking about. Stormy says it ended pretty fast, you mushroom stud muffin. But we can come back to that. Carry on. This diesel deal thing then...

"Nobody's told me anything."

Oh ?

"That's a diesel deal not for us. That's being released into the world; that's not being released to us. That's a diesel deal that's going to be released into the world for the world market, because the world market suffered with high prices. And when you knock out diesel refineries, that's not a great thing."

Ahh so kind. Talking of kindness, this firing squad

"We're looking at it."

Ahh. Same as the Tiger killing a man vid you posted. Will you post the firing squad vid too ? Is that why you want it livestreamed, for internet clout ?

"QUESTION 00:03:00-00:03:14 (14 SEC)
On the ICE arrest of Oscar Delgado, the criminal illegal alien -- and then I heard you had a phone conversation with Mamdani about it. He asked you to release him. Could you tell us about that conversation?"

Ohh hello again Mrs Fox. That's a loaded question you asked. Ah sorry, you are Mrs OAN.

"We had a very nice conversation, we disagreed. This is a very bad actor, and we have to take care of the bad actors because we don't want our people hurt or killed."

But you love killing your people Don. You even want to live stream it. Right, the Houthis now.

"They're behaving very badly."

"Iran is a failed country. They have no economy, they have 300 percent inflation, they have no money, they're not paying their troops, they're not paying their -- they're not paying anybody. We'll make a decision on Iran very soon. We control the Hormuz Strait, and a lot of oil is coming out of the Hormuz Strait."

Ok. We know, we know. Ilhan Omar. Any thoughts ?

"I don't take a position. I think she's a terrible person. I think she's a terrible Congresswoman. I don't think she loves our country at all, but I don't take a position."

Hang on. You are not taking a position, and you state a position.

"Mr. President, Russia hit energy sites yesterday according to the Ukrainians. What evidence do you have -- Well, Ukraine hit many sites the day before. Ukraine hit many."

Another pivot. You forgot the tears on their eyes but when they called you Mr President. Wait, is this CNN here ?

QUESTION 00:08:43-00:08:48 (6 SEC)
Mr. President, does Russia need a new president?

"Does anybody want to see a great work of art? A great thing of beauty?"

Chorus from all the right wing media "Absolutely. Show us."

"The helipad, right? The helipad has gotten unbelievable architectural reviews, but that's nothing compared to what's being built right there. You see those cranes? They're the most powerful cranes in the world. They're lifting up massive steel beams; there's one on each side, the red and the yellow. They're lifting up massive steel beams, which is the roof of the ballroom."

Ahh yes. I saw a review in "Helipad Architecture Monthly" magazine. I subscribe to that, and the sister publication, "Ballroom weekly".

"To me, it's a thing of great beauty. They've wanted it here for 150 years, and now they're getting it. The ballroom will be the greatest anywhere in the world. And it's a military complex also; but the ballroom will be the greatest anywhere in the world. And I think maybe -- I know at least Peter agrees with me. It's going to be amazing."

I think this is Peter..

"QUESTION 00:10:01-00:10:04 (3 SEC)
It's bright to look at."

"DONALD TRUMP 00:10:04-00:10:11 (7 SEC)

It's pure."

TACO Tuesday?

According to a new filing on the docket, President Trump was scheduled to be deposed by lawyers for the BBC THIS FRIDAY. But then after a period of radio silence, Trump's team told the BBC that he is no longer available on that date "due to other matters of national importance." Trump's team proposed the second or third week of January 2027, a month after discovery for the case closes. The BBC is asking the judge "to compel Plaintiff to confirm a date for his deposition, notify the BBC of a secure location where such deposition is possible and any other logistics required to ensure Plaintiff’s safety, and sit for the deposition, as the core rules of discovery require."
https://x.com/jeremymbarr/status/2110094416031449268

I'm sure Trump could find a time and place for the deposition. What about the 8th putting green at Bedminster? Obviously a secure location and nice and quiet

He really is like the vile old uncle posting gross stuff on social media while the rest of the family desperately tries to avoid a conversation with him

She was asked yesterday when she passed her bar exam and in which state, she answered with 'after I moved to China'

Trump is just running down the clock on the bbc case, costing them time and (our) money. It’s a tactic he uses frequently. He knows there’s no basis of winning, so the goal is to cause as much pain as possible and have a messy ending, where the BBC’s name is forever associated with false reporting and they have no means of seeking clear vindication.

The tiger video is worse. He's run it through AI to show him defeating the tiger. As if.

There's nothing he and his won't stoop to.

Don't knock it. It makes any Trump bootlickers this side of the pond look increasingly sordid.

Mentioning no names, of course.

So down side Trump and his entourage are clearly psychopaths and nobody in government can stop him/them from doing this.

Up side, nobody is hiding this.

Jesus Christ, this is a new low even for him. Just taking the piss out of the horrible death of a mentally unwell young man. Talk about going places that there's no reason for you to even go.

It's hard not to get the impression that Trump is thrashing around like a wounded elephant now. I also wonder what else is happening below the fold .....

It most certainly does.

I've just noticed this clip from a couple of months ago, it is so spot on, but still, people won't do anything about it, which is just horrifying:
https://youtube.com/shorts/eokLsf2x06g?si=vM-bw3ObjDxIvEjz

That link doesn't work @Jaichangecentfoisdenom

It does for me, I don't know what to tell you. It's just a YouTube short from July by HookGlobal showing Rep. Jim McGovern summing up the Republican party quite succinctly. Old but ever apt news.

Today from Heather Cox-Richardson

October 13, 2026 (Tuesday)

This afternoon, the President of the United States posted two videos of lions and tigers attacking humans.

Either he has entirely lost it, or he is desperate for a distraction, or both.

It turns out the attacks on Texas Democratic Senate candidate James Talarico were probably an attempt to get ahead of yet another damaging story about Trump’s hand-picked Republican Texas Senate candidate, Ken Paxton. Yesterday Elizabeth Findell, Mark Maremont, and Josh Dawsey of the Wall Street Journal reported that Paxton spent New Year’s Eve in 2024 in Dubai, partying with a woman who was not his wife, along with two fugitives from U.S. justice.

Although Vice President J.D. Vance and other members of the administration have vowed to remove more than 760,000 enrollees from the Affordable Care Act, citing widespread fraud, the fugitives with whom Paxton was hanging out were wanted on federal healthcare fraud charges. They allegedly embezzled $15 million from a Chicago hospital, and one of them was charged with receiving at least $195 million from the U.S. government for fraudulent Covid-19 tests.

One of the men donated $190,000 to Paxton, $25,000 of it after he was indicted.

Ron Filipkowski of MeidasNews posted: “JD Vance running around the country saying he’s fighting health care fraud while his nominee for the senate in TX who he completely supports is partying in Dubai with a guy [who] stole over $300 million in health care fraud and gave Paxton $190,000. This is the Republican Party.”

Meanwhile, although the administration has boasted that it is cracking down on fraud in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program by cutting benefits, ProPublica reported today that the real fraud comes from criminal syndicates, often from Romania, who last year walked away with $470 million stolen electronically from more than 990,000 households. The theft could be stopped with digital microchips, but Congress has refused to add them to the benefit cards. Now the Trump administration has stripped funds allocated to address the theft.

Diesel prices jumped today as traders appeared to doubt Trump’s abandonment of Russian sanctions will do much for prices in the U.S. Steve Kopack of NBC News noted that U.S. diesel futures were up about 5% by midday. Generally, a jump in futures prices means higher consumer prices are forthcoming. The price of diesel is up 70% since the war on Iran began on February 28.

Gulf Oil adviser Tom Kloza posted: “Absolutely stunning price spikes in wholesale diesel today…. Market clearly not believing that Russian oil is on the way.” He added: “US retail diesel price record of $6.53/gal could be topped by the midterms.”

As Barbara Sprunt reported at NPR, a bipartisan group of senators is pushing back on Trump’s lifting of sanctions, calling it a “betrayal of the people of Ukraine.” Democratic senators Richard Blumenthal (CT), Chris Coons (DE), Dick Durbin (IL), Jack Reed (RI), Jeanne Shaheen (NH), and Sheldon Whitehouse (RI) joined Republicans Alan Armstrong (OK), Susan Collins (ME), John Cornyn (TX), Mitch McConnell (KY), Lisa Murkowski (AK), and Thom Tillis (NC) in asking Trump to rescind the deal.

“The deal you struck with President Vladimir Putin on October 9th will not achieve just ends, nor will it benefit Americans,” they wrote. It “only provides Putin with more fuel to finance his war machine and enables Russia to continue its brutal attacks on Ukrainian civilians. Granting Moscow the ability to sell Russian diesel freely in global markets damages American security interests and is a betrayal of the people of Ukraine, who continue to defend themselves from Putin’s murderous, illegal war. This deal is a gift to our adversary and a betrayal of our Allies; it should be rescinded.”

The senators emphasized that with last month’s Lindsey O. Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act of 2026, Congress had tasked Trump with applying economic pressure on Russia, not with easing that pressure.

When asked about the letter, Trump told reporters: “Nobody’s telling me anything. That’s a diesel deal. Not for us. That’s being released into the world. That’s not being released to us. That’s a diesel deal that’s going to be released into the world for the world market, because the world market suffered with high prices.”

Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelensky said Ukraine got no warning from its Western partners about Russia’s overnight strikes on the capital, raising concerns that Trump is making good on his threat to stop sharing intelligence with Ukraine unless it stops striking Russian oil refineries. Trump today told reporters that the U.S. is still sharing intelligence.

Trump’s new White House press secretary held her first press conference today. Observers called it “brutally bad” and compared it to a Saturday Night Live cold open. Katie Zacharia revealed that she is fiercely loyal to Trump, and that she is neither a competent reader nor comfortable answering questions. News broke today that Trump overrode his chief of staff, Susie Wiles, to give the position to Zacharia, a leak that Jen Rubin of The Contrarian speculated had come from either Wiles or an ally “to prove she was right! OUCH”

Judd Legum of Popular Information, who uncovered Zacharia’s history of pushing conspiracy theories, today noted that while Trump calls her “an attorney” and she describes herself that way, there is no record that she ever passed a bar exam or has been admitted to practice law in any state. When reporters asked her about where she had passed the bar exam, she answered: “I moved to China.”

Zacharia did say in today’s press conference that “we have asked Ambassador Guilfoyle to resign.” Kimberly Guilfoyle has been embroiled in a story about shaking down a donor to pay off $100,000 of her credit card debt, and she did, in fact, resign her post as the U.S. ambassador to Greece today. In a social media post, she defended her tenure in Greece and promised to “vigorously defend my name, my reputation, and my integrity.”

“While my time as Ambassador may be coming to an end, my commitment to President Trump, the America First movement, and the country I love will never end,” she posted. Trump later told reporters that Guilfoyle, who dated his son Don Jr. for six years and was engaged to him for four, “wasn’t a member of my family. She, I guess, dated my son a long time ago.”

A new poll conducted by the Associated Press–NORC Center for Public Affairs Research found that almost six in ten Americans say they believe Trump is either illegally profiting from the presidency or doing something unethical but not illegal.

Jordain Carney and Mia McCarthy of Politico reported today that Republicans are worried not only about how much work Congress needs to get through after the midterms, but also about whether Republicans will even bother to come back to vote after the election. “Attendance is an issue right now,” Representative Austin Scott (R-GA) told Carney and McCarthy.

Not in the news

https://euperspectives.eu/2026/10/forging-its-own-path-to-orbit-can-europes-private-rockets-take-on-spacex/

Midterms are now only 3 weeks away.
It won't make any difference to the horrors 🍊💩 has already inflicted on the world but Dems taking back the house and just maybe a senate win or two in states like Texas, Ohio and NC (!) would be worth a happy dance, surely?