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Trump's Second Term

Trebuchet said:
As someone said, getting it privatized, so Wall Street can skim off the cream. That's been a Republican wet dream since Bush the Lesser.

Sorry if someone has pointed this out, I'm about three pages behind in the thread since this morning.
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Rather like the Bush era sabotage of the USPS. Speaking of the USPS, though...

US postmaster to step down months after reporting billions in losses
Louis DeJoy, who has headed US Postal Service since 2020, warned in November of potential ‘end of this organization’

**** you, DeJoy.
 
The New York Post used The Daily Telegraph to report, "President Trump has reportedly demanded half of Ukraine’s revenues from natural resources, ports and infrastructure as reparations for the billions of dollars the US contributed to Kyiv’s war effort. The demand — which was included in a draft contract on the “reconstruction of Ukraine” that reached Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s desk last week — has caused “consternation and panic” in Kyiv, according to The Telegraph." My mind cannot get around this.
EDT
The Economist reported, "The president had earlier sent Scott Bessent, his treasury secretary, to Kyiv to demand that Ukraine hand over rights to what the Trump administration says are $500bn of critical minerals as payment for all the aid America has given in the past. A lot of the minerals are in Russian-held territory, though America is thought to have asked Russia to negotiate over access. Ukraine refused those demands, asking for clarity over what the country would get in return. In Munich American officials at first pressed Ukraine to sign a deal, but later agreed to continue to talk."
 
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Chris_Halkides said:
The New York Post used The Daily Telegraph to report, "President Trump has reportedly demanded half of Ukraine’s revenues from natural resources, ports and infrastructure as reparations for the billions of dollars the US contributed to Kyiv’s war effort. The demand — which was included in a draft contract on the “reconstruction of Ukraine” that reached Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s desk last week — has caused “consternation and panic” in Kyiv, according to The Telegraph." My mind cannot get around this.
EDT
The Economist reported, "The president had earlier sent Scott Bessent, his treasury secretary, to Kyiv to demand that Ukraine hand over rights to what the Trump administration says are $500bn of critical minerals as payment for all the aid America has given in the past. A lot of the minerals are in Russian-held territory, though America is thought to have asked Russia to negotiate over access. Ukraine refused those demands, asking for clarity over what the country would get in return. In Munich American officials at first pressed Ukraine to sign a deal, but later agreed to continue to talk."
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Absolutely incredible! Why doesn't Trump demand that Russia pay reparations to the Ukraine for all the damage that Russia did since the start of the war. Of course he won't because that would upset Putin!!

Basically Trump wants reparations from the Ukraine for a war that Putin started! Oh well?!

Since Putin started the war isn't he responsible for the money that the U.S. has spent helping the Ukraine defend itself?

Just wow! This is naked imperialism.
 
Pacal said:
Since Putin started the war isn't he responsible for the money that the U.S. has spent helping the Ukraine defend itself?
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Perhaps. But how exactly do you expect to force him to pay for it? We can think he owes that money all we want to, without a mechanism to get him to pay, it doesn’t matter.
 
It's naked extortion.

The response should be that Trump can have for free all the natural resources he can dig up personally in the Ukraine warzone, no help from anyone else. He's also welcome to all the very expensive plutonium in Chernobyl - just walk in there and take it, pal.
 
The question should be: what does Russia offer?
It's probably not billions in Natural Resources, but it is infinite amounts of natural gas, hurting US gas exporters.
 
Andy_Ross said:
RFK JR: “NOTHING IS OFF LIMITS” IN NEW HEALTH INVESTIGATION

“President Trump signed an executive order to establish the MAHA Commission to study what has caused the precipitous decline in American health over the past two generations.

Some of the possible factors we will investigate were formerly taboo or insufficiently scrutinized: a childhood vaccine schedule, electromagnetic radiation, glyphosate, other pesticides, ultra-processed foods, artificial food additives, SSRIs and other psychiatric drugs, PFAs, PFOAs, microplastics—nothing is going to be off limits.”
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Does "nothing is off limits" include the horrible US health insurance system?
 
As of the close of the day on February 18, my positive/negative score on the Trump administration stands at -150.

18 February 2025
+1: Executive Order: Expanding Access to In Vitro Fertilization
0: Executive Order: Ensuring Accountability for All Agencies
-1: Musk claims without evidence that "tens of millions" of dead people are marked as living by Social Security [37]
-1: Trump claims the United States is "very corrupt" and echoes Musk's claim, again without evidence [38]
-1: RFK Jr on poor American health: "childhood vaccine … electromagnetic radiation, SSRIs, PFAs …" [39]
-1: Trump says "Ukraine shouldn't have started the war." (seen via a post on X)
-1: USA demanded Ukraine hand over rights to $500 billion in minerals in exchange for assistance given in the war [40]
-1: United States and Russia engage in talks to end the war in Ukraine—without Ukraine present

Footnotes:

37. Musk: "Bruh, if I wanted to rummage through random personal ◊◊◊◊, I could have done that at PAYPAL. Hello??? Having tens of millions of people marked in Social Security as “ALIVE” when they are definitely dead is a HUGE problem. Obviously. Some of these people would have been alive before America existed as a country. Think about that for a second … "

38. Trump: "We have a very corrupt country. Very corrupt country. And it's a sad thing to say … if you take all those millions of people off social security, all of sudden we have a very powerful society."

39: RFK Jr: “Some of the possible factors we will investigate were formerly taboo or insufficiently scrutinized: a childhood vaccine schedule, electromagnetic radiation, glyphosate, other pesticides, ultra-processed foods, artificial food additives, SSRIs and other psychiatric drugs, PFAs, PFOAs, microplastics—nothing is going to be off limits.”

40. The Economist: "The President (i.e. Trump) had earlier sent Scott Bessent, his treasury secretary, to Kyiv to demand that Ukraine hand over rights to what the Trump administration says are $500bn of critical minerals as payment for all the aid America has given in the past. A lot of the minerals are in Russian-held territory, though America is thought to have asked Russia to negotiate over access. Ukraine refused those demands, asking for clarity over what the country would get in return. In Munich American officials at first pressed Ukraine to sign a deal, but later agreed to continue to talk."
 
Cassandra here:

As bad as I thought the second Trump term could be, it's far worse. I thought he'd try to throw Ukraine under the bus, dismantle social security, break the government so as to privatise it, destroy healthcare, settle scores and even undermine democracy but I never thought he'd do it so quickly, so openly and with so little resistance.

I must endeavour to be more pessimistic in future.
 
carlosy said:
It's official now, Trump is a russian asset.
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IMO the big issue is that a majority of the US electorate (those who voted for him and those who couldn't be bothered to turn out), every single GOP Senator and Congressperson and a tiny minority of Democratic Senators and Congresspeople are perfectly fine with this.

As long as they get their bread and circuses, they'll be happy.
 
Aridas said:
And that's their decision to make. Russia's numerous statements that Russia intends to commit genocide against Ukrainians and their demonstrated actions along those lines likely plays a major role in that, of course. Giving up is likely to chew up both their future and their freedoms.



There's another important angle in play, though. Should we focus solely on the now or also pay attention to the future? I'm pretty sure that none of us want Russia's aggression to continue, after all, and the dire costs that it's inflicting on all. If we actually believed that Russia would be completely satisfied and that actual peace would result, that would be one thing. If you actually believe that, I have a bridge to sell you, though. Appeasing Russia is extremely likely to lead to a future with much more and worse war. Ukraine either defeating Russia or even just not giving up and holding them back are both preferable to that. Actual peace can only reasonably be achieved with Ukraine victorious, in this situation, or after a larger and bloodier war later on.



Ukraine's overall strategy has been attrition, not focusing on territorial gains, so demanding territorial gains as a bar is unreasonable from the start. The ample stockpiles that the USSR left Russia have become quite dramatically depleted, though, which is in line with Ukrainian strategy. "Just keep doing what we're doing" or, preferably, increasing support are honestly both valid.
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I do think for Russians (Putin) Ukraine is a different issue from say Poland or Finland. Ukraine was never an independent nation prior to the break up of the USSR, and Crimea which was Russian was transferred to Ukraine administratively by the USSR. Ukraine as part of NATO which Russia perceives as an anti Russian alliance would be a significant threat.

I think Russia got a bloody nose from Ukraine, and won't be in a hurry to militarily act against its western neighbours who are better armed than Ukraine was and will get more support. Any expansion would likely be to the south, regaining what was part of the Russian empire. So I do think the threat to the West from the Russian army is overstated, and perhaps driven by the military-industrial complex who will gain from re-arming.

This isn't an argument for disarming, but I don't think that a massive arms race is justified. It isn't also an argument to justify Russia's actions. Understanding why Russia does something doesn't mean that Russia was right to do so.
 
zooterkin said:
It's a coup when he starts dismantling the checks and balances created by the Founding Fathers to prevent exactly what is happening now, one man having unchecked power. Do you not want to live in a democracy? Do you honestly believe he will stand down at the end of the current term, and hold a free and fair election?
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If you ask me, his plan would be to do exactly what Putin did with Medvedev. Put up a puppet candidate, run the campaign as if he himself is running for president (his addiction to rallies is really an addiction), and instead put himself up as VP or chief of staff, effectively holding the levers of power without holding the office officially.
 
TofuFighter said:
If you ask me, his plan would be to do exactly what Putin did with Medvedev. Put up a puppet candidate, run the campaign as if he himself is running for president (his addiction to rallies is really an addiction), and instead put himself up as VP or chief of staff, effectively holding the levers of power without holding the office officially.
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I'm not sure about that last bit. IMO he doesn't actually want to actively do Presidenting, he wants the perks and the status of the role without actually having to do anything other than issue EOs.

Putin OTOH seems to be a control freak and micromanager who actively revels in his role.
 
After 3 year's of America's proxy war against Russian aggression in Ukraine, is the new POTUS after his deeds and words yesterday, essentially, a proxy defector?
 
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