What comes next after the Trump win?

[thebeave]

Its a joke...obviously. In case you haven't been keeping up, we have a bird flu crisis in California. High egg prices and shortages at the present are not an inflation issue. Its also a play on the meme of always blaming the president for bad economic news. But I'm glad I was able to give you yet more fuel to continue your labeling me as some right wing fanatic. You rarely pass up on opportunity.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

Its a joke...obviously.

No, not obviously. It could be a joke, it might not. Like I said, Poe is dead.

In case you haven't been keeping up, we have a bird flu crisis in California. High egg prices and shortages at the present are not an inflation issue.

Yes, I'm aware of this. I'm also aware that truth, facts, and information are considered not as important as it used to be.

Its also a play on the meme of always blaming the president for bad economic news. But I'm glad I was able to give you yet more fuel to continue your labeling me as some far right wing fanatic. You rarely pass up on opportunity.

FIFY. I also said i had no idea if it were sarcastic or not. Don't blame me for recognizing the right-wing has lost its collective mind.

 

[bilby]

But I'm glad I was able to give you yet more fuel to continue your labeling me as some right wing fanatic.

You lie down with dogs, you will get up with fleas.

If you don't appreciate being associated with fanatics, you probably shouldn't associate yourself with fanatics.

 

[southernhybrid]

But I'm glad I was able to give you yet more fuel to continue your labeling me as some right wing fanatic.

You lie down with dogs, you will get up with fleas.

If you don't appreciate being associated with fanatics, you probably shouldn't associate yourself with fanatics.

Not if the dogs wear good flea collars. Damn. I hate that expression. I was in bed with dogs for over an hour this afternoon and I have no fleas.

MAGA will give you something much worse than fleas, for that matter.

 

[ideologyhunter]

I sure hope so, but he may do a lot of damage in the short term, if Orange Jesus goes quickly.

Far more likely that Trump lives out his term and has another five, ten years after that. His mother lived to be 88, and his father, 93 (in an advanced state of dementia.)
Trump is showing signs of increasing incoherence, but with his history of flamboyant craziness, he has numbed his faithful to his condition. He is surrounded with sycophantic handlers and supported by a right wing noise machine that will brush over his insane statements and, if necessary, hide him from public scrutiny, letting him do only the scripted appearances that he can pull off convincingly.
Look at the demented things he said last year that would killed off most any other politician -- Pennsylvania would be renamed if he lost; little Jimmy goes to school and is surgically turned into a girl; Haitians eating the dogs and cats of Springfield. This year, it's Greenland and Panama, and he won't rule out military strikes on our -- allies. How does a supposedly advanced society select a head case like this as its leader? We have lost all credibility with our 'friends' in Europe and Canada, and Trump could obviously take catastrophically harmful and dangerous actions in both hemispheres, in the next four years. There are no restraints, and he knows that his faithful will never abandon him. Whomever he blames for the devastation he causes, they will blame, too. I can't imagine what we will resemble in January 2029, but it won't be the America you're looking at now.

 

[southernhybrid]

I sure hope so, but he may do a lot of damage in the short term, if Orange Jesus goes quickly.

Far more likely that Trump lives out his term and has another five, ten years after that. His mother lived to be 88, and his father, 93 (in an advanced state of dementia.)
Trump is showing signs of increasing incoherence, but with his history of flamboyant craziness, he has numbed his faithful to his condition. He is surrounded with sycophantic handlers and supported by a right wing noise machine that will brush over his insane statements and, if necessary, hide him from public scrutiny, letting him do only the scripted appearances that he can pull off convincingly.
Look at the demented things he said last year that would killed off most any other politician -- Pennsylvania would be renamed if he lost; little Jimmy goes to school and is surgically turned into a girl; Haitians eating the dogs and cats of Springfield. This year, it's Greenland and Panama, and he won't rule out military strikes on our -- allies. How does a supposedly advanced society select a head case like this as its leader? We have lost all credibility with our 'friends' in Europe and Canada, and Trump could obviously take catastrophically harmful and dangerous actions in both hemispheres, in the next four years. There are no restraints, and he knows that his faithful will never abandon him. Whomever he blames for the devastation he causes, they will blame, too. I can't imagine what we will resemble in January 2029, but it won't be the America you're looking at now.

I am aware and concerned about all of those things, but at the same time, I'm hoping that the ACLU, Americans United for the Separation of Church and State, The Secular Coalition for Freethought, led by Hakeem Jefferys and supported by a fairly good group of Democrats in Congress and the fact that the Republicans have a very small majority in Congress might keep him from doing as much harm as we fear.

To put it the way, someone who I know who stupidly voted for Trump did: "Trump says a lot of things that he doesn't mean". Hopefully, this low information voter is correct. Trump does say a lot of shit that he doesn't even remember the next day and we do have ways to stop him from doing the worst things on his list. I'm not going to just give up. I'm giving what I can afford to the organizations that are planning on fighting like hell to keep Trump from getting much done.

And, just because his parents were old when they died doesn't mean he won't die before too long. He is in one of the most stressful jobs in the world, he's obese, he has a terrible diet, early signs of dementia, and he never exercises. All of those things are risk factors for an earlier than expected death. What other president rode around in a gulf cart instead of walking a few thousand feet.

I do wonder if all the poor and lower middle class folks like the one I just mentioned who voted for Trump, might just wake up when they start to realize he doesn't give a shit about them. I'm expecting the Dems to win back Congress in 2026, as are most of my peers.

I may not be here in 4 years considering my age, despite being much healthier than Trump and having a mother who lived to be 97, the last several years with moderate to late stage AD. I exercise. I eat healthy. I'm not overweight, but that doesn't mean I will live to see 80. I cared for old people for most of a long nursing career and people like Trump are at much higher risk of becoming unable to function at all, or die. I think a lot of Republicans in office are pretending to support him and when they lose their own support, some will come out against him. Cults don't last forever, at least not political ones.

Our country has a long history of going back and forth, hating the incumbent and voting for change, even if change never comes. It's up to all of us to do what we can to stop the maniac, even if al we can do it contribute to good causes, or be activists for a good cause etc.

I'm going with FDR, a far from perfect president who also did some good things. "We have nothing to fear but fear itself". ( maybe )

Btw, Much of Europe and Canada are also heading to the right, so maybe we need to figure out why that is happening instead of pretending this is just an American problem. What will the world look like in 2029? What will happen if governments continue to avoid doing much about climate change? That's the biggest problem I see confronting us and yet we humans don't like change. That may be something to fear. I have grandkids. What kind of world are we leaving them? Trump won't do a thing to help that, but no government has made much progress when it comes to the environment. Jimmy Carter warned us, but we didn't want to listen. You would think things like the intense storms, floods, scientific evidence regarding the influence of the industrial revolution, and the California fires would open some eyes, but our resident eye rolling emoji lover doesn't seem to get it, and neither does my very wealthy Trump supporting bro in law, who once told me he couldn't believe in climate change because he has grandkids. That's worthy of a good eye roll. That's enough of my rant.

 

[jonatha]

This year week, it's Greenland and Panama, and he won't rule out military strikes on our -- allies.

FTFY

 

[jonatha]

How does a supposedly advanced society select a head case like this as its leader?

IMHO it is a consequence of civilization being sufficiently advanced that consequences of stupid actions are likely to be mitigated sufficiently that they pose no real problem.

Not sure how much longer that can last...

 

[Elixir]

How does a supposedly advanced society select a head case like this as its leader?

IMHO it is a consequence of civilization being sufficiently advanced that consequences of stupid actions are likely to be mitigated sufficiently that they pose no real problem.

Not sure how much longer that can last...

I suspect it’s over.

 

[crazyfingers]

Time to start counting lies again

https://www.cnn.com/2025/01/09/politics/fact-check-trump-california-wildfires-fema/index.html

Washington CNN —
Another natural disaster, another series of false claims from President-elect Donald Trump.

For years, Trump has littered his statements on California wildfires and other disasters with inaccurate assertions. He did it again on Wednesday as wildfires raged in Los Angeles County.

Here is a fact check.

 

[Loren Pechtel]

Why do Republicans hate fact checking? Because lying is their game. Their entire game. For years Republicans have regarded facts as liberal.

https://www.cnn.com/2025/01/07/tech/meta-censorship-moderation/index.html

Joel Kaplan - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Not fact checking is one thing, not a good one, but it is one thing.

Facebook has a tendency of shoving the misinformation into people's feeds. They are promoting it for advertising dollars. Likely not doing it intentionally. But effectively, they are hitting baseballs towards the next door neighbor's home. They aren't purposefully trying to break a window or the siding... but it is going to happen.

Is making gargantuan amounts of money that important?

It's not that making gargantuan amounts of money is that important, but rather that the voice saying "we shouldn't do this" produces lower metrics. Shoot the messenger.

 

[southernhybrid]

This might be worthy of its own thread, but I'll add to this one.


https://wapo.st/40cfVzf

DOGE is dispatching agents across U.S. government​

Federal officials are already dealing with surrogates from Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy’s nongovernmental body before Donald Trump is sworn in again.

Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy are sending representatives to agencies across the federal government, four people familiar with the matter said, to begin preliminary interviews that will shape the tech executives’ enormous ambitions to tame Washington’s sprawling bureaucracy.

In recent days, aides with the nongovernmental “Department of Government Efficiency" tied to President-elect Donald Trump’s transition team have spoken with staffers at more than a dozen federal agencies, said the people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak with the media. The agencies include the Treasury Department, the Internal Revenue Service and the departments of Homeland Security, Veterans Affairs, and Health and Human Services, the people said.

At the same time, Musk and Ramaswamy have significantly stepped up hiring for their new entity, with more than 50 staffers already working out of the offices of SpaceX, Musk’s rocket-building company, in downtown Washington, two of the people said. DOGE aims to have a staff of close to 100 people in place by Trump’s inauguration on Jan. 20, they said.

I think I read a more detailed list somewhere of the harm these two wealthy assholes want to do. if I find it, I'll add it. Meanwhile, anyone can read the entire article if they wish.

 

[Elixir]

Elon and Vivek have no authority to send “representatives” to waste the time of federal (our) employees.
People should tell these “representatives” to go fuck themselves, and come back in two weeks if they are ordered to do so by valid authorities, I.e. NOT MElon Mush.

 

[GenesisNemesis]

Well, let's see. He's going to take over Greenland, and the Panama Canal, make Canada a state and wreak more havoc in the Mideast. Or so he says. Is this why people voted for the cruel, mindless idiot?

Many of them voted for him because they're also cruel mindless idiots, they didn't vote for this specifically, but they're fine with whatever cruelty he displays, especially because they consider compassion for others to be too woke.

 

[southernhybrid]

Elon and Vivek have no authority to send “representatives” to waste the time of federal (our) employees.
People should tell these “representatives” to go fuck themselves, and come back in two weeks if they are ordered to do so by valid authorities, I.e. NOT MElon Mush.

I totally agree but right now Muskrat is the shadow president who at least for now has a lot of influence on Trump. However a lot of the things he wants to destroy would likely need the support of Congress. His belief is that since some of these things haven't been voted on in years, they can automatically be ended.

I found another article, not the one I was looking for but it does give some more information about the idiot's plans. What really gets me is in the article I can't find, Musk wanted to end things like early childhood education for low income kids, decrease Medicaid, and other programs that help poor Americans survive. Talk about an evil, greedy bitch, I doubt there is one worse than Musk and his side kick Vivic.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/lindse...-aim-federal-agencies-where-cuts-can-be-made/

Pentagon: Ramaswamy has suggested the commission could look for cuts to the Defense Department’s budget, saying the agency has “nearly a trillion dollars of budget—they can’t even tell you where it goes,” as Ernst—who is leading a group of Republican senators called the “DOGE caucus”—claimed on X the agency “wastes $125 billion on bloated bureaucracy” (Musk’s SpaceX has a reported $3.6 billion in federal contracts with the Pentagon).


Department of Education: Trump has called for the dismantling of the department for several years, and the commission is doubling down as Ramaswamy said that he expects “mass reductions” and “certain agencies to be deleted outright,” he told Fox News in response to a question about the department.


Corporation for Public Broadcasting: Musk and Ramaswamy wrote an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal this week, in which they said “$535 million a year” spent on the nonprofit overseeing broadcasting networks PBS and NPR was an example of “unauthorized” spending and money used in ways “that Congress never intended,” though the organization was created and authorized by Congress.


Planned Parenthood: They intend to cut “nearly $300 million to progressive groups like Planned Parenthood,” they wrote in the Journal; Planned Parenthood receives about $50 million annually from the federal government.
International organizations: They also plan on taking aim at “$1.5 billion for grants to international organizations,” though it’s unclear which organizations they are referring to.
Internal Revenue Service: Musk is expected to take aim at the IRS, according to a report from the Wall Street Journal citing anonymous sources—he has reportedlybeen in discussions with the agency to create a free tax filing app, posts from both Musk and DOGE’s X accounts suggested simplifying the tax code, and Ernst suggested an audit of the agency.
Federal Trade Commission, Department of Justice and Securities and Exchange Commission: While Musk and Ramaswamy have not directly addressed their plans for these agencies, Musk is reportedly expected to make cuts to them, the Wall Street Journal reported.
NASA: Musk and Ramaswamy have not identified specific cuts from NASA, but Congressional authorization for some funding to the agency are set to expire this year and Ernst has claimed that cuts could be made from the “more than $500 million” spent to give “bureaucrats and contractors unearned bonuses” at the agency. Forbes has reached out to NASA for comment.

While I've always thought we spend too much money on defense, I'm not sure this is a good time to cut that, and conservatives usually want more money spent on defense.

There have been other articles that claim they want to cut Medicare and SS too, despite the liar in chief saying he won't do that.

 

[Spacetime Inhabitant]

So, is DOGE going to look at the tax free situation of churches? If not, why?
Is DOGE going to look at all the subsidies for businesses* and the safety nets that banks are given (massive amounts).?
Are they going to look at what the Oklahoma education State superintendent Ryan Walters is doing, buying Trump bibles, and violating First Amendment with his wanting Bible taught in schools and Ten Commandment displays, or will that be ignored as a state matter?

* This is not a dig at legitimate subsidies, but at the broad strokes that DOGE seems to be advocating of cutting indiscriminately.

 

[ZiprHead]

SURPRISE! SURPRISE!

Trump says meeting with Putin being arranged

The US president-elect has said previously that he wants to negotiate an end to the war in Ukraine.

www.bbc.com

 

[Swammerdami]

Am I correct that no cause has been identified for the L.A. fires? Oh sure, very dry vegetation and very strong winds caused the fires to spread, but as one influential American points out "You can't start a fire without a spark."

No lightning, no electrical malfunctions, but there HAVE been arrests for arson. I hate to start fake rumors, but could it be that some MAGA disciple listened to the insane defecations from his Orange Messiah's mouth badmouthing the Great Golden State, and decided to do the Lord's Work? Insurance companies are already guesstimating the cost as $100 billion and counting. (Is this the 2nd most expensive tragedy in American history? The 1906 earthquake/fire in San Francisco cost only $12 billion in 2023 dollars; the Johnstown Flood only half a billion. Katrina devastation exceeded $100 billion.)

Even if the fires weren't deliberately set by QOPAnon terrorists, there are hundreds of thousands of Trumpists insane enough to follow this example and think they are following the religious dicta erupting from the Orange Turd's pie-hole.

People want to understand what form the impending Civil War will take. Perhaps these fires are a harbinger.

 

[Elixir]

Insurance companies are already guesstimating the cost as $100 billion and counting. (Is this the most expensive tragedy in American history? The 1906 earthquake/fire in San Francisco cost only $12 billion in 2023 dollars; the Johnstown Flood only half a billion.)

Those tragedies didn’t involve losses in the billions per victim. The handwringing in this case is about inconveniencing the rich and famous. The SF fire cost 3000 lives (that’s about 20,000 in today’s lives) and the Johnstown flood killed over 2000 people.
The LA fires have killed around 60 (so far).
The difference that makes the LA fires so much more tragic is that - let’s admit it; you probably can’t name anyone off the top of your head who lost their home but survived Johnstown.

If only they had spent the money intended to provide state-wide rapid transit to tens of millions, on making life better for LA County, Paris Hilton and Mel Gibson might not have been displaced!

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

Am I correct that no cause has been identified for the L.A. fires? Oh sure, very dry vegetation and very strong winds caused the fires to spread, but as one influential American points out "You can't start a fire without a spark."

No lightning, no electrical malfunctions, but there HAVE been arrests for arson. I hate to start fake rumors, but could it be that some MAGA disciple listened to the insane defecations from his Orange Messiah's mouth badmouthing the Great Golden State, and decided to do the Lord's Work? Insurance companies are already guesstimating the cost as $100 billion and counting. (Is this the 2nd most expensive tragedy in American history? The 1906 earthquake/fire in San Francisco cost only $12 billion in 2023 dollars; the Johnstown Flood only half a billion. Katrina devastation exceeded $100 billion.)

Let's not make this partisan. Any number of things could have started the blaze, from a dumbass with no poor intentions to a dumbass with poor intentions to something that didn't involve direct human involvement.

Even if the fires weren't deliberately set by QOPAnon terrorists, there are hundreds of thousands of Trumpists insane enough to follow this example and think they are following the religious dicta erupting from the Orange Turd's pie-hole.

Has Trump even suggested burning California?

People want to understand what form the impending Civil War will take. Perhaps these fires are a harbinger.

I think you are getting a little out there with the Trump fan fiction.