Trump's Second Term

[dann]

Looking at that video from the other angle (stage left), notice how much more quickly they got Vance out of there than The POSOTUS?

Because that's the important takeaway from this incident. For us not to think he actually fell.

He finds this one important, too:

Anti-Trump sentiment being examined as motive for White House press dinner shooting (The Guardian, April 27, 2026)
Elsewhere, the presidents described the events of the night in an even tone, saying that he did not feel particularly alarmed as they unfolded.“I wasn’t worried,” Trump said in the interview when asked how worried he was about possible injuries after hearing the gunshots. “I understand life. We live in a crazy world.”

1) He didn't hear the gunshots.
2) He wouldn't worry about other people than himself being injured.

 

[dann]

Part of me is hoping Trump lives long enough to see everything he did undone by his successor. The White House tastefully restored, people he appointed fired, people he fired reappointed, his name removed from everything he slapped it on ...

... the unredacted Epstein files released, the money from various corruption schemes seized, ...
But what is even more important, his location when he sees it.

 

[stanfr]

There comes a point where "Don't blame me, I voted Democrat" is no longer enough.

What is that point? And what does it have to do with Homer Simpson? Should we blame Nelson Mandela for apartheid, or MLK jr for Jim Crowe?

 

[Segnosaur]

Unrelated to current events, if every eligible person can automatically be registered for the draft, why can't every eligible person automatically be registered to vote?

Canada sort of does that. We are actually very aggressive in getting people registered to vote. Not only can you register manually (door-to-door visits by elections officials, or by proactively contacting the registration office, or if you aren't old enough you can get yourself added to a list of "future" voters to get registered automatically when you turn 18), but voter information is also obtained from other government sources:
- From tax databases (our income tax form has a text box for 'register to vote')
- From immigration databases
- From motor vehicle registrations (which are run by the provinces)
I don't know if we quite achieve 100% registration, but its pretty darn close.

Canada's elections are run by an independent non-partisan organization called Elections Canada, which handles registrations (as well as electoral boundaries, which eliminates gerrymandering.)

Of course the reason why it isn't done in the states: Elections are controlled by state level governments, and they sometimes set rules which specifically benefit the party currently in power in the state. A state that is run by a republican party will try to make voting as difficult as possible for potential democratic voters.

 

[Segnosaur]

Part of me is hoping Trump lives long enough to see everything he did undone by his successor. The White House tastefully restored, people he appointed fired, people he fired reappointed, his name removed from everything he slapped it on ...

I would love to see that too.

The problem is, will the democrats be proactive/forceful enough to do so, or will they drag things out (all in the name of "following the rules")

As an example, look at the Biden administration when they appointed Merrick Garland to head up the DoJ. It is seen by many to have been a mistake, because his slow pacing in dealing with various Trump-related cases might have allowed him to avoid prosecution.

I can see a situation where, if Trump finishes his ball room during his term (unlikely but a hypothetical), then some future Democrat, rather than tearing it down right away, tries going through congress to get the proper funding, getting approval from various government departments, etc. And the whole thing gets bogged down with political infighting, red tape, etc.

 

[The Great Zaganza]

Swimming Pool vs Ballroom

 

[dann]

What is that point? And what does it have to do with Homer Simpson? Should we blame Nelson Mandela for apartheid, or MLK jr for Jim Crowe?

'Don't blame me! I voted for the Harris-Walz-Cheney ticket!'
Yeah, that's almost exactly the same as fighting against apartheid, isn't it?!

 

[Segnosaur]

There comes a point where "Don't blame me, I voted Democrat" is no longer enough.

(Clip from the Simpsons, with Homer as a slave saying "Don't blame me, I voted for Kodos")

Ok, while that was a funny clip, I don't quite think it fits here.

Part of the joke in that clip is that whomever Homer voted for (Kang or Kodos) the result would have been the same: Enslavement of the human race. So it didn't really matter who you voted for. But in the 2024 election, there WAS a clear difference in the candidates. One of whom was a fascist, one of whom respected democracy. So voting would have made a difference.

I think a person who voted democrat was doing whatever they reasonably could at the time. (There were other things they could have done... donate to the party, volunteer to canvas for the party, attend rallies, etc. But I think simply voting Democrat would have met the threshold of doing your part to try to stop Trump.)

 

[stanfr]

'Don't blame me! I voted for the Harris-Walz-Cheney ticket!'
Yeah, that's almost exactly the same as fighting against apartheid, isn't it?!

You don't understand hyperbole apparently. I was asking what the 'point' was. @Segnosaur more politely explained my position.
If you vocally opposed Trump, voted against him, what more are you expected to do? Or is everyone simply to blame, which is why I made my hyperbolic statement. And that is a stupid position.

 

[dann]

(...) But in the 2024 election, there WAS a clear difference in the candidates. One of whom was a fascist, one of whom respected democracy. So voting would have made a difference.

A difference, definitely. Much like the difference Biden-Harris made (i.e. what made Trump so popular in 2024).

I think a person who voted democrat was doing whatever they reasonably could at the time. (There were other things they could have done... donate to the party, volunteer to canvas for the party, attend rallies, etc. But I think simply voting Democrat would have met the threshold of doing your part to try to stop Trump.)

Because voting Democrat (and maybe contributing to the Harris-Walz-Cheney campaign) now = Antifa?!
Anything beyond that would be unreasonable.

We didn't know at all
We didn't see a thing
You can't hold us to blame What could we do? It was a terrible shame But we can't bear the blame Oh no, not usWe didn't know

'Well, we did know and we did everything we could reasonably do to stop it. And Cheney in the administration would also have respected democracy. And we're still doing it, i.e. we're waiting for the midterms and 2028.'

 

[dann]

You don't understand hyperbole apparently. I was asking what the 'point' was. @Segnosaur more politely explained my position.
If you vocally opposed Trump, voted against him, what more are you expected to do? Or is everyone simply to blame, which is why I made my hyperbolic statement. And that is a stupid position.

To blame for what, exactly?!
For not releasing the Epstein files? I don't seen why Biden-Harris couldn't have done that.
For the U.S. contribution to global warming? Yes, definitely!
For wars against other countries? It's not exactly a new thing. I don't know which war plans Cheney had in case she had been appointed for your ministry of defense. She might have chosen other targets than Iran, maybe, possibly.
Biden more or less promised a return to Obama's Cuba policies. He did something half-heartedly immediately before he left office.
It's not as if Biden-Harrris didn't deport 'illegal aliens'. Obama did, too. And it's not as if they seriously criticized Trump's racism. They were never a serious opposition to Trump's ideas. Instead, they tried not to offend people who cherished those ideas. In other words, they paved the way for Trump.
A major difference is that Democrats wouldn't radicalize ICE for its deportations. For people who don't want to acknowledge the brutality of the U.S., i.e. Democrats, things like that seem to make all the difference.
Demorcrats just aren't very good at criticizing fascism. They seem to think that it is unreasonable to do so and that doing so lowers their chances of getting elected. Besides, their donors wouldn't approve of it, so it's out of the question.


ETA, killing civilians in countries the USA is not at war with isn't something Trump invented.
From Google:

During the presidency of Barack Obama (2009–2017), the U.S. government significantly expanded its use of armed drones for counterterrorism, particularly in countries like Pakistan, Yemen, and Somalia. While the administration maintained that drone strikes were a "precise and surgical" alternative to traditional warfare, they resulted in significant civilian casualties and sparked intense debate regarding transparency and international law.
Council on Foreign Relations +3

ETA2: Cheney might not have threatened to annex Greenland. Or, if she did, she would have been much more polite, so there's that, I guess.

 

[psionl0]

I think a person who voted democrat was doing whatever they reasonably could at the time. (There were other things they could have done... donate to the party, volunteer to canvas for the party, attend rallies, etc. But I think simply voting Democrat would have met the threshold of doing your part to try to stop Trump.)

Maybe that point hadn't been reached yet at the last election. After all, nobody expected Trump to ace it - especially given his antics.

Maybe in the upcoming election you might have to do a little more than just vote Democrat. Eg encourage others you know (especially those who aren't inclined to vote) to go to the polling booth and vote Democrat as well.

 

[stanfr]

To blame for what, exactly?!
For not releasing the Epstein files? I don't seen why Biden-Harris couldn't have done that.
For the U.S. contribution to global warming? Yes, definitely!
For wars against other countries? It's not exactly a new thing. I don't know which war plans Cheney had in case she had been appointed for your ministry of defense. She might have chosen other targets than Iran, maybe, possibly.
Biden more or less promised a return to Obama's Cuba policies. He did something half-heartedly immediately before he left office.
It's not as if Biden-Harrris didn't deport 'illegal aliens'. Obama did, too. And it's not as if they seriously criticized Trump's racism. They were never a serious opposition to Trump's ideas. Instead, they tried not to offend people who cherished those ideas. In other words, they paved the way for Trump.
A major difference is that Democrats wouldn't radicalize ICE for its deportations. For people who don't want to acknowledge the brutality of the U.S., i.e. Democrats, things like that seem to make all the difference.
Demorcrats just aren't very good at criticizing fascism. They seem to think that it is unreasonable to do so and that doing so lowers their chances of getting elected. Besides, their donors wouldn't approve of it, so it's out of the question.

You know there are other threads for this, so you might wanna take your whattaboutism and lesser of two evils nonsense there. Many of us including myself are not big fans of the two party system and end-stage capitalism. I am a long time independent who voted third party for years, until Bush-Gore began the current cycle of clear existential threats by the ever-growing-insane GOP. Even then I voted for the candidates who were against money in politics and for progressive reform--ie, not Biden. If you have some constructive suggestions, feel free to offer them, but this trope is getting old and it doesn't belong here.
I'm sick of the bigoted all Americans are all bad ◊◊◊◊◊◊◊◊ being spouted by certain members here. Give it a rest.

 

[stanfr]

Maybe that point hadn't been reached yet at the last election. After all, nobody expected Trump to ace it - especially given his antics.

Maybe in the upcoming election you might have to do a little more than just vote Democrat. Eg encourage others you know (especially those who aren't inclined to vote) to go to the polling booth and vote Democrat as well.

I would agree with that.

 

[Helen]

Let's have a look at the US presidents who have been assassinated and see if a "big beautiful ballroom at the White House" would have saved them.

Lincoln: shot in the head at close range while attending a public theatre.

Garfield: shot at point blank range in a public railway station.

McKinley: shot at close range in a public exhibition.

JFK: shot at a distance while riding in a motorcade in public.


Hmm... Nope! No ballrooms would have helped!

Seems the best anti-assassination solution would be for Donny to have his big beautiful ballroom converted into a sealed, bulletproof, padded cell, and lock him in there 24/7 until he dies (or gets voted out, an increasingly less likely prospect).

You know what would solve the problem? Mobile ballrooms! (Preferably in the guise of a squeaky tank!)

 

[Gulliver Foyle]

All the MAGAts are repeating this.
How exactly would the Ballroom have helped last night?
Is the idea that every event the President is invited to will have to be moved to the Ballroom?

Gunther Eagleman™
@GuntherEagleman
Time to build the Ballroom!

Keep Trump safe
View attachment 70750

Gunther Americahater, I'll tell you what the White House needs.

It needs an oubliette to store TACO and his traitorous cabal in once sanity is restored.

 

[Mojo]

Obama did spend that money on the reflecting pool, and it was to keep the whole damn thing from sinking. It wasn't perfect as the Park service has to drain the pool and clean it annually because of tourist trash and goose poop.

The only reference I could find about Biden expenditure claims were solely from Trump.

There is absolutely no proof that Trump's pool coating will work on any of the issues the pools have as pool coatings do not solve the issues with aging granite.

It only needs to patch it up until 2028.

 

[Norman Alexander]

There is absolutely no proof that Trump's pool coating will work on any of the issues the pools have as pool coatings do not solve the issues with aging granite.

It's simple. They aren't going to put water in the pool. That's been the problem all along. It won't matter that it will look like a giant empty childrens' wading pool at a water park from now on. It will just look blue from the White House. That's all that matters.

 

[Safe-Keeper]

Let's just say that MAGA/Trump have an extremely loose relationship with mathematical facts.

If karma was real he'd have died a long and painful death from Covid in 2020.

 

[dann]

You know there are other threads for this, so you might wanna take your whattaboutism and lesser of two evils nonsense there. Many of us including myself are not big fans of the two party system and end-stage capitalism. I am a long time independent who voted third party for years, until Bush-Gore began the current cycle of clear existential threats by the ever-growing-insane GOP. Even then I voted for the candidates who were against money in politics and for progressive reform--ie, not Biden. If you have some constructive suggestions, feel free to offer them, but this trope is getting old and it doesn't belong here.
I'm sick of the bigoted all Americans are all bad ◊◊◊◊◊◊◊◊ being spouted by certain members here. Give it a rest.

I'm not saying or implying that "all Americans are bad."
I am saying that, based on this forum and this thread, an awful lot of Americans resort to a euphemistic mindset whenever they are thinking of their ("great!") nation. One of their ways of coping with cognitive dissonance is to blame whatever the USA does on the other party. If it weren't for them, the USA would be Paradise on Earth! But they always ruin everthing in spite of our good intentions, so let's forget all about what our party does and did.