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Trump's Second Term

Blue Mountain said:
As of the close of the day on February 10, my positive/negative score on the Trump administration stands at -102.

10 February 2025
+1: Trump orders the Treasury to stop minting pennies (minimal savings)
0: Executive Order: Eliminating the Federal Executive Institute (impact unknown)
0: Elon Musk claims, without evidence, that FEMA sent $59M to luxury hotels to house illegal migrants. [22]
0: Trump on Ukraine: "We're gonna have all this money in there, and I say I want it back."
-1: Trump fires the Board of Visitors at all 4 US military academies (see note)
-1: Trump fires the director of the Office of Government Ethics (see note)
-1: Executive Order to impose 25% tariffs on all steel and aluminum imported into the United States
-1: Trump repeats his desire to own the Gaza Strip
-1: Trump wants to ethnically cleanse the Gaza strip and deny the Palestinians right of return [23]
-1: Trump threatens to cut off aid to
Jordan and Israel if they don't resettle Palestinians from Gaza
-1: Trump claims that without the US, Canada is not a viable country [24]
-1: Asked about the CPFB, Trump instead insults Elizabeth Warren [25]

I added a -1 line to February 9:
-1: Executive Order: Gulf of America Day, 2025 (-1 for "silly")

Note: I've adopted a policy that any report of Trump firing someone is a negative, since such actions should go through due process and not simply be at the president's whim, even if he has the authority to do so.

I will re-score the Elon Musk claim about $59 million being spent on luxury hotels to house illegal migrants to -1 if his comment is confirmed to be false or exaggerated.

Footnotes:

22. Musk: "The @DOGE team just discovered that FEMA sent $59M LAST WEEK to luxury hotels in New York City to house illegal migrants. Sending this money violated the law and is in gross insubordination to the President’s executive order. That money is meant for American disaster relief and instead is being spent on high end hotels for illegals! A clawback demand will be made today to recoup those funds."

23. BAIER: Would the Palestinians have the right to return to Gaza?
TRUMP: No, they wouldn't.

24. Trump: "We’re making our country larger, we’re making our country stronger. And in the case of Canada—if this should happen—I don’t know how they can do it without us. Because without the U.S., Canada really doesn't have a country. They do almost all of their business with us, and if we say we want our cars to be made in Detroit, with a stroke of a pen, I can make that happen. And other things, in addition to that, would not allow Canada to be a viable country. "

25. Asked about the CFPB, Trump rampages on Liz Warren: "Pocahontas. The fake. The faker … she's a fake. Just like she said she's an Indian … she's a nasty woman. She's a really nasty woman."
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It’s Egypt and Jordan he is threatening to cut off aid to if they don’t accept his plan.

 
stanfr said:
I hadn't seen this before: Trump when asked on Fox whether he saw JD as his successor in 2028: "No..."
He doesn't even think about it, it is a quick no. I wonder how JD is scheming through all of this...he must have nightmares of nooses

Trump on Vance
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Dictators don’t usually pick their successors. They think they will live forever.
 
Trump can ask the EU how much it costs them to pay Turkey to keep refugees instead of letting them move into Europe - it's a lot more than what the US is paying Egypt and Jordan in aid.
 
a_unique_person said:
I'm wondering what tourists are experiencing right now.
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Well, my wife wanted to go to the USA for the summer holidays, but I think we´ll pass for now. Turning into a dictatorship makes one want to stay away.

The Great Zaganza said:
they have - in particular the need to reach your embassy in case of some local cop stealing all your money because of "civil forfeiture".
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Seriously? Is this a thing?
 
Abooga said:
Well, my wife wanted to go to the USA for the summer holidays, but I think we´ll pass for now. Turning into a dictatorship makes one want to stay away.


Seriously? Is this a thing?
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We are obliged to go there in May/June for our nephew's wedding. We had been looking forward to it - not quite so much now

We will be in Wyoming and Colorado. I expect we will be safe (we are white, anglophone and culturally Christian) but I expect we will encounter a lot of unpleasant views
 
Blue Mountain said:
.

I will re-score the Elon Musk claim about $59 million being spent on luxury hotels to house illegal migrants to -1 if his comment is confirmed to be false or exaggerated.
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His full claim is that FEMA is evil and spending money that should have gone to US states on illegal immigrants.
It's a deliberate action by FEMA to further the replacement of Americans with immigrants.
 
Abooga said:
Seriously? Is this a thing?
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yes. A cop can "impound" any large amounts of cash you carry whilst driving through their jurisdiction with the pretext that only drug dealers would carry an significant amounts of cash. You can get it back, minus a ton of fees, after fighting the seizure in Court. Not something you want to be spending your holiday doing.
 
theprestige said:
America demands nothing other than what every sovereign nation demands.

The waving of the missiles - and having the missiles to wave - is a big part of what keeps the worse bullies off your back.

Thanks to Trump, America will be waving less of its money around. Somehow that will also piss you off.

If you'd rather be bullied by China, just say so.
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Trump is declaring he wants to take over sovereign nations. Just like China and Russia.
 
The Great Zaganza said:
yes. A cop can "impound" any large amounts of cash you carry whilst driving through their jurisdiction with the pretext that only drug dealers would carry an significant amounts of cash. You can get it back, minus a ton of fees, after fighting the seizure in Court. Not something you want to be spending your holiday doing.
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They can take your car as well as cash
 
Abooga said:
Well, my wife wanted to go to the USA for the summer holidays, but I think we´ll pass for now. Turning into a dictatorship makes one want to stay away.
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I find it fascinating to watch the dismantling of a democracy and turning it into a dictatorship in real time along the same pattern as Hitler’s seizure of power, and with the same speed. I am not saying that Trump is a Hitler (yet), but the similarities are astounding, right down to demand Anschluss with Canada.

I would visit the US now if I could.
 
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