Trump's Second Term

[dirtywick]

The tariffs are not the plan. The tariffs are just the leverage to strongarm the world to accept the plan. We haven't yet seen what the plan is. Nor has Trump, for that matter but he doesn't care. He's just in it for this part, where other world leaders kiss his arse and beg him for mercy.

i think it’s bold to assume there is a master plan. these guys seem like idiots that like sniffing their own farts

 

[Fast Eddie B]

Hmmmm, are they? Basically “police action” is used where war has not been declared, e.g., from memory, the Korean and Vietnam wars were initially declared by the US to be “police actions” on behalf of the UN.

Not to mention Iraq and Afghanistan.

Edited to add: I see these were covered upthread, along with others.

 

[Andy_Ross]

In his first comments since China announced it will raise its levy on US imports to 84%, US President Donald Trump is encouraging companies to move to the US.

Writing on social media platform Truth Social, the US president says: "This is a GREAT time to move your COMPANY into the United States of America."

"ZERO TARIFFS, and almost immediate Electrical/Energy hook ups and approvals. No Environmental Delays. DON’T WAIT, DO IT NOW!", he adds.

Trump says he is open to talks after hiking China tariffs to 125%

"Xi is a smart guy and we'll end up making a very good deal," Trump told reporters in the Oval Office.

www.bbc.co.uk

 

[TellyKNeasuss]

6 April 2025
0: Treasury Secretary Bessent says the tariffs plan will reindustrialize the US (0 for possibly correct) [130]
-1: Howard Lunick apparently believes iPhones are assembled by hand by humans and not robots [131]
-1: Trump says he wants to send Americans to gulags in El Salvador [132]
-1: Treasury Secretary Bessent says fired federal workers can work in the new factories (which may not get built!) [133]
-1: Trump posts a bunch of lies to social media about the health of the US economy [134]

The 4th item should be about a -10 for being one of the most spectacularly stupid things that any senior American official has ever said.

 

[TellyKNeasuss]

The classic Trump tell. If a story includes people calling him "sir", he's lying.

And if a story doesn't include people calling him "sir", he's lying.

Seriously, I'm having trouble remembering the last time that _____ said something that actually was completely true.

 

[Hercules56]

In his first comments since China announced it will raise its levy on US imports to 84%, US President Donald Trump is encouraging companies to move to the US.

Writing on social media platform Truth Social, the US president says: "This is a GREAT time to move your COMPANY into the United States of America."

"ZERO TARIFFS, and almost immediate Electrical/Energy hook ups and approvals. No Environmental Delays. DON’T WAIT, DO IT NOW!", he adds.

Trump says he is open to talks after hiking China tariffs to 125%

"Xi is a smart guy and we'll end up making a very good deal," Trump told reporters in the Oval Office.

www.bbc.co.uk

trump will be president for less than 4 more years. Once he is gone, the tariff-war will go away, if not sooner.

Makes no sense for American companies to redevelop their entire manufacturing operation into the USA. Better to just sit tight and wait it out, maximize sales to other countries, or move manufacturing out of China to other cheap cost nations like India, Pakistan, Malaysia, etc

 

[Tero]

I have to admit I have a morbid curiosity about just how such an invasion would go.

Trump has installed several boot lickers in key roles. But military members have a duty to resist orders that violate the constitution, and I think invading Canada or Greenland would qualify (since they are not a security threat )

But let's say Trump did get the military to enact orders to invade Canada. The president does have authority to deploy troops, but long term military commitments probably require approval from Congress. (Remember, bush went to Congress to get authority to go into Iraq). He could invade Canada/Greenland, then get stuck after Congress refuses to authorize long term support for the war.

It's Trump, so it would go like the John Candy movie

 

[angrysoba]

Police actions are legal only on US territory. Otherwise the miserable turd would be "police actioning" everywhere already, like in Beijing.

Special military operation.

Congress didn’t declare war in Iraq or Afghanistan or Vietnam or Libya, so really the idea that Congress would suddenly be in hot legal water if it accepted Trump marching troops into Greenland or Canada is fanciful.

 

[angrysoba]

i think it’s bold to assume there is a master plan. these guys seem like idiots that like sniffing their own farts

He has a concept of a plan.

 

[Thermal]

He has a concept of a plan.

He's only got a general direction on a moral compass. Not the one I'd pick, but he is consistent.

 

[Darat]

Special military operation.

Congress didn’t declare war in Iraq or Afghanistan or Vietnam or Libya, so really the idea that Congress would suddenly be in hot legal water if it accepted Trump marching troops into Greenland or Canada is fanciful.

And as I've repeatedly said - who would enforce any decision against Trump?

For over eight years we've been hearing "checks and balances" and "Trump can't do that because it wouldn't be legal/not in his power" and yet time and time again the check and balances haven't existed, and he's done whatever he's wanted to do.

If the houses or SCOTTS (Supreme Court of the Trump States) act against him it's now a case of "and whose army", he has secured the military, he has secured the justice department, the homeland offices and so on.

 

[Jack by the hedge]

i think it’s bold to assume there is a master plan. these guys seem like idiots that like sniffing their own farts

Yes, these guys seem like idiots. It's clearly not going to be a plan Trump has any hand in devising.

 

[P.J. Denyer]

The classic Trump tell. If a story includes people calling him "sir", he's lying.

He's a legend in his own imagination.

 

[Regnad Kcin]

Does the Civil War count?


-

 

[Norman Alexander]

Oh the GOP definitely would. But they might need enough votes in the senate to overcome the filibuster, and I can't see enough democrats getting on side.

Ummm... our air force is currently flying F18 hornets. (well the CF-188.) Not the latest 'super hornet', but the older, 1980s era original hornets. They probably wouldn't last more than a few hours when up against F-22s and F-35s. And without air support, I don't think we can really do much to 'strike back hard'.

We might be able to rely on our NATO allies. but apart from that I think our resistance will be more of a guerilla-war. (Nasty for the US, since unlike Afghanistan things will be more up-close and personal for the Americans.)

Just the White House and as much of the Pentagon as possible should do. But other targets could include all Washington power stations, Fox studios in LA, and all the Nazis in Idaho.

Personally, I would rather Mar-a-Lago was untouched as it was a national icon of a building before Trump seized it. Just turf the occupants and their glitzy trash out into the street.

 

[Segnosaur]

If the houses or SCOTTS (Supreme Court of the Trump States) act against him it's now a case of "and whose army", he has secured the military, he has secured the justice department, the homeland offices and so on.

One of the questions some of us have is whether he has really "secured the military". Yes, he has toadies installed in top positions (such as Hegseth for secretary of defense.) But the U.S. military has plenty of dedicated career officers who might resist implementing plans that they consider illegal.

They probably won't "rise up" against Trump and engage in a military coup, but they might keep him from doing things excessively foolish (like invading Canada/Greenland.)

 

[Darat]

One of the questions some of us have is whether he has really "secured the military". Yes, he has toadies installed in top positions (such as Hegseth for secretary of defense.) But the U.S. military has plenty of dedicated career officers who might resist implementing plans that they consider illegal.

They probably won't "rise up" against Trump and engage in a military coup, but they might keep him from doing things excessively foolish (like invading Canada/Greenland.)

But the SCOTTS has already said what he does as president is legal, hard to see now when he is acting as president i.e. Commander in Chief how his orders are not "legal".

 

[Georg]

But the SCOTTS has already said what he does as president is legal, hard to see now when he is acting as president i.e. Commander in Chief how his orders are not "legal".

I may misrember, but I thought they ''only'' said he is immune from prosecution for what he does as president.
That doesn't mean everything he does is legal.

 

[Darat]

I may misrember, but I thought they ''only'' said he is immune from prosecution for what he does as president.
That doesn't mean everything he does is legal.

Do you think Trump is capable of understanding that nuance? We've heard it in his ramblings that he thinks he can do what he likes, and since his father died that has been his reality, and that is regardless of him being president or not.

 

[Random]

I may misrember, but I thought they ''only'' said he is immune from prosecution for what he does as president.
That doesn't mean everything he does is legal.

Yeah, but de jure immunity from prosecution for a President is de facto permission for the President to shoot people who annoy him.