Is anyone watching this Trump car crash?

[soundsys]

WTF is happening? It’s like some bizarre performance art piece.

He’s holding up signs and shouting and throwing out hats it’s just 🤯

While it’s uncomfortable, the term ‘sucking up’ is a bit childish. It’s diplomacy. Keeping the door open. As long as Starmer doesn’t cave on anything important I don’t really care about the rest. I think the state visit will be dangled in the same way a trade deal is. No date has been given and I’d bet it won’t be until things calm down (if at all). It’s a meaningless invitation until a date is given.

Hope you re right but now Trump has said the state visit will be a "Fest" and will take place this September....

If thats not the date, then we'll have to tell Trump this....

Bear in mind that we now have exactly the same tariffs as almost everyone else, including much higher ones on Steel and cars, the proposed 'state visit has got us absolutely nothing at all.

Which is bitter sweet imho. He’s alive but he’s still in the wrong country with no access to a legal system that will allow him - fair trial.

Oh Yes! Trump is playing Starmer, DT will get all he wants/do as he wants, constantly dangling a "Trade Deal" in front of us but will give us nothing

I hope I don’t have to eat my words, but Starmer is pragmatic and methodical. I trust him to maintain the best possible position for the country even when I’d also quite like him to tell him to fuck off. That’s one of the (many, many) reasons I’d make an awful PM, I don’t have the diplomacy skills to leverage what this country has to offer, especially when in reality we’re not in a great place by any metric.

Trump makes stuff up all the time…

Form an orderly queue, MAGA's

Yep and think of all the beautiful screws that will need to be screwed into those beautiful iPhones once they're finally fully assembled at home in our shiny new factories. So emotional and beautiful, ahhhhh...

Yeah, I think it's why he keeps floating those bonkers ideas where we pay people to self-deport (losing their labour and the tax they pay), they wait six months and then reapply for the chance to come pick crops.

Bloody well hope Starmer doesn't buckle on UK food standards. If he allows chlorinated hormone filled meats into the UK that will be an absolute disaster. I don't care about "freedom of choice", if people want to eat that crap they can go to the US and eat as much as they like!

why should the UK have to lower our high standards!

hopefully there will be sufficient outcry by the populations for our government to be strongly influenced by the electorate, not DT who clearly doesn't even recognise modern democracy anyway,

And there is an alternative: a customs union with the EU. Which we had before. Why that should be a red line is beyond me.

If he allows in antimicrobial washed chicken, its still not good enough, the yanks use these washes because they have poor animal welfare standards further down the line.

Then there is access to NHS records/patient care/privatisation.

Trump banging on about how none of the worlds intractable problems would never have happened & boasting he has lowered petrol prices.... yeah coming down because the markets believe the world economy is stalling.. because of YOU... he is a total idiot.

There is also Vance's threats regarding so called 'free speech'. They want us to give up any form of regulation across digital media. That's a real problem for our democracy if we accept - especially if we ever end up with a Reform government down the line.

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

It's the politics of cruelty for you.

So agree with this. My adult DCs tend not to be as verbal as me, but they are horrified at what might happen with this.
JDV needs to fuck off to the other side of fuck

The official federal website has changed the Covid advice and prevention page, FFS

This shit show is accelerating

https://www.whitehouse.gov/lab-leak-true-origins-of-covid-19/

I just get sent to Seasalt when I click on that link.

So did I but it’s here https://www.whitehouse.gov/lab-leak-true-origins-of-covid-19/

Sorry, I have no idea what happened there.

Something went wrong with the link, you can clearly read the URL I was trying to send you to

I do apologise

It's unlikely Starmer will allow in US standard food and adapt our standards as this would then exclude our UK food from EU markets. EU food standards are high, US are low. Surely we wouldn't be that stupid? Although experience tells me I should know better.

We wouldn't be exporting chlorinated chicken though. We could agree to allow being brought in, but customers would just refuse to buy?

Some would refuse but if the price was cheap....

The US would demand that it not be labelled in such a way that the consumer could tell. If you think otherwise, you're a starry-eyed naive child.

That would depend on the food labelling clarifying country of origin. It’s more likely it will be used in restaurants and ready meals if it’s cheaper than alternatives. I think it’s unlikely that people will check the ingredients list that carefully - or maybe that’s just me.

I wonder what those that claimed Trump was prioritising manufacturing and working people think now. It’s fairly clear those supposed benefits aren’t coming to the US any time soon although the higher costs will. What a sham.

Most people don’t understand food standards beyond maybe free range. No chance the average stressed out mother in Asda would have the time or inclination to check for chlorinated chicken. I say that from experience 😂

If Starmer gives away our food standards I'm never voting Labour again in my life. That will be irreversible.