Trump v Musk; popcorn moment!

[fixingmylife]

Musk has just tweeted that Trump is on the Espstein list. Shock horror, not! :-) This is going to roll and roll. USA elected children to run the country and to be the leader of the Western World! Popcorn at the ready......

The person who advised Trump to have tariffs is Peter Navarro. They're his hobby-horse, and he seems to have the same level of understanding of economics that RFK has of health.

https://inews.co.uk/news/world/peter-navarro-behind-trump-tariffs-3620170

They are relatively cheep to lease. That’s why I try not to demonise people who drive them, because they quite possibly didn’t choose them.

Was it an electric? I am considering an electric car with Motability (chronically disabled for years) and so far have only tried two Mazda and difficult to get in and out of.

It sounds as though a Tesla isn't worth making the effort for.

Charisma? Is that what you call it?

My DH subscribes firmly to that POV. Much of what is unfolding now is redressing the balance after America voted for a Black president.

I wouldn't be surprised. An atheist president would be hugely unpopular too, though I'm pretty sure at least one President has been a closet atheist. It's simultaneously overly progressive & horribly regressive.

That's another good point : there has never been a Jewish President, despite the US having the largest Jewish community outside Israel.

Gavin Newsom toasted himself for multiple reasons. Gretchen Whitmer, the MI governor, is term-limited and would be wonderful but again... sexism.

Worth pointing out that there are currently six Jewish governors and two are in swing states: Josh Shapiro (PA) and Josh Stein (NC). I am not so convinced they can't be elected. The issue with Shapiro is not that he's Jewish per se, it's actually the intra-Democratic battles over Israel/Palestine.

Also only 2 Catholics, JFK and Biden, despite Catholicism being the largest single denomination in the USA.

However although the USA does have the largest Jewish community outside Israel, it's still only 2% of the population. There's not that many of us! People don't realise.

But 40% of Americans identitify as Protestant. That's still the overarching religion of the USA. Only 19% Catholic and - that'll be predominantly from Irish, Italian and Spanish/Latin American heritage.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religion_in_the_United_States#:~:text=The%20United%20States%20has%20the,with%201%25%20of%20the%20population.

The UK wasn't not much better on diversity of religious views until relatively recently. Just thinking about it now. Blair had to delay formal Catholic conversion until out of office.

Brown, Cameron, May - all some form of Protestant. May and Brown having actual vicar type fathers (I don't really know the difference between vicars and rectors etc).

Johnson - well. But even he has only spoken about "his Catholicism" 🤔 after he left office, I think. Truss - deffo would have learned into Protestantism.

Sunak is the one who really broke the mould by being openly Hindu. I'm pretty sure Starmer has said he's atheist but the family observe Jewish traditions because of his wife. So they're probably not actually religious.

Fascinating interview with Jonathan Haidt on today’s Leading podcast. He really hits the nail on the head (to me at least) about the way the Left and Right view each other. Hopefully the Democrats are listening!

https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-rest-is-politics-leading/id1665265193?i=1000710874097

Newsom/California suing Trump admin. Apparently little precedent for this. Good man. Fight fight fight, as some utter plonker once said. ✊️
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2025/jun/09/los-angeles-protests-live-tensions-flare-trump-deploys-national-guard-troops

Meanwhile he then spends all his time saving his own arse in court when he should be serving his country.

How did America get here??? And I hope to god those people who see Farage in his pocket are beginning to understand where he also wants to take us.

Remind me again: didn't Trump release from prison those convicted of storming the Senate?

Yes.

What a plonker. Another lapse of memory?

Now I am not saying he isn't right to ensure that all the citizens living in the US are US citizens, but it is the way he handled it. It is what comes of wanting to show the American people and the world publicly what he is doing, and he cannot do that on the QT.

After all, I don't like that the Uk lot are not doing something similar.

It has struck me that Trump may be putting America on a war footing? He has increased tariffs to lower imports and encourage home industries, and that is usually because in times of conflict a country can be held to ransom by refusing to send goods.

It is particularly interesting because of his increased interest in iron and steel, and getting his hands on Ukraine's rare metals. Add to that the EU and UK stepping up to put Europe on a war footing, it makes you wonder. If he does have that in mind, it makes sense his wanting control over Canada, because at the moment Canada will go with Britain rather than the States, and access to Alaska, so close to Russian territory might be a problem.

What I don't understand is Trump's attitude to Ukraine, unless he is doing deals with Putin that neither one will have conflict with the other: a pact between US and Russia?

He has withdrawn US military from conflict abroad, except for bombing the Yemen, which he has stopped. It occurred to me that maybe he is sending in the National Guard and the military to LA for practice?

Should the American people be looking at other areas where there are large populations of immigrants.

Yes and now the Proud Boys are suing the government for $100million.🙈

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cr4z7zyl0gwo

God help us all - both sides of the pond.

Ofc, I hadn't connected the dots. Anti Semitism plays a part in that, but it's obvs a mammoth issue. I do still think electing a Jewish person per se could be a problem due to prejudice, though maybe also due to antipathy to any non-Christian President,

Newsom is an idiot over trans, I wouldn't want him.

I've been reading a fascinating book on Biden 's decline & the cover up, Original Sin. People there mention the anger by some that Harris had been picked rather than Whitmer. Harris' pick was so infuriating.. She was clearly not up to it & picking her for idpol reasons just increases racism & misogyny.

Good point. And JFK's Catholicism was v controversial. Ironic that Trump is reaching to evangelicals but his inner circle are v influenced by Catholics, largely due to Vance, who worryingly has many ties to the ultraconservative & cult like sect Opus Dei.

Jonathan Haidt is great, everyone should read his stuff.

Funnily enough I ordered his “The Righteous Mind” after I posted on here, it arrived today so I’m looking forward to diving in once the kids are in bed.

@knitnerd90 Yeah, I think people will say, "Oh, it's fine, no problem electing a Jewish president," but when they are in the voting booth, they will vote against the religion. Especially today.
@AliasGrace47 I thought Harris was an inspired choice, but I live in California and we knew her--she was elected as Attorney General and then Senator before being elected VP. She would have been a great president. I have been watching Whitmer, but I think Harris was a better choice.
I have cousins in LA. They say do not believe what you are being shown. There are no riots. Lots of protests but the police and National Guard are provocative.

I think Harris was up to the job. Passing over the sitting vice-president, especially when she's a Black woman, would have created a storm. The real issue is that Biden didn't pull out in time to have a primary. Harris did all she could during that campaign given the constraints and how she had to go from 0 to 60 in no time.

TBH the left might be the problem with electing a Jewish person right now. The online antisemitism is really off the charts and I am quite left on Israel. (am Jewish)

My friends in LA say that it's all in one tiny bit of downtown and that Fox News is running the same burning car 50x in a row so people think it's actually 1992.

Sadly I suspect that is true about a Jewish President. I just remembered that Bernie Sanders is Jewish - I wonder if this might have also lost him votes?

On Harris : I may have judged her too quickly. She didn't seem v good on the campaign trail, but I remember thinking Liz Truss was quite efficient before, and then she went to pieces as PM. Maybe Harris went through a similar thing? I thought her Brat TikTok antics were a bit insensitive & wasn't enthused w her policies,(esp on trans) But otoh I do get it was an extremely difficult situation given that she hadn't been going to run until the last moment.

I know the anti Semitism online is awful. I think a lot of people my age don't understand why talking about intifadas is vile & don't seem to realise they are being manipulated by Hamas propaganda. I don't support all Netanyahu's actions but the counter reaction is v scary. I've read that some Islamic countries, possibly Qatar, are funding uni programs & influencing the material which might explain a lot. . This is ofc another thing that cost Harris votes.