Trump Presidency

[fiksal]

I am late to the party. Ironic Hunter Biden is being discussed considering powers to pardon were established 8 years ago as all reaching. So much so that we were told a president can even pardon himself if he wants to. Many bad people were pardoned I recall.

So, when the president says - jump, we now say - how high. Right?

[Vertigo 7]

Ahh yes yes, how too can we forget the telepathic powers bestowed upon the president to declassify documents by thought alone. So many newfound powers have been granted, it's amazing the president isn't wearing a speedo and a cape (or a diaper and a cape as would be needed for the Orange One).

[Observe]

Ironic Hunter Biden is being discussed considering powers to pardon were established 8 years ago as all reaching. So much so that we were told a president can even pardon himself if he wants to. Many bad people were pardoned I recall.

The pardon power is enshrined in the U.S. Constitution (Article II, Section 2), reflecting the framers' belief in the need for executive clemency to temper justice with mercy. In light of perceived abuses, there have been discussions about amending the Constitution to require Senate confirmation, but considering the Gordian Knot involved in changing the Constitution, I expect the ability to pardon will remain as it is. The political furor coming from the 'other side' at the end of every Presidents tenure, will also remain ablaze unabated ad nauseam.

[fiksal]

that outrage is not sincere though. As Trump will take power the outrage will be replaced by jumping.

thus I find myself difficult to be too excited about this. I expect significantly heavier crimes to be pardoned in 4 years.

now can a pardon be unpardoned?

[Vertigo 7]

nope

[clakclak]

that outrage is not sincere though. As Trump will take power the outrage will be replaced by jumping.

thus I find myself difficult to be too excited about this. I expect significantly heavier crimes to be pardoned in 4 years.

now can a pardon be unpardoned?

I know thus will sound incredibly cynical, but does it matter what can and can‘t be done in theory? Honestly I think America is quickly leaving the period in which the rule of law as concept actually mattered. At the end of the day laws are only worth the paper they are written on if people ignore them and there is nobody holding anyone accountable. Most of what any regime has ever done is not technically legal, but if laws are not enforced than they are just books of pointless scribble filling shelves.

[Vertigo 7]

There's a fine line between cynicism and realism. I fully expect the incoming DOJ to start arresting people on bogus charges and due process being thrown out the window. You don't form a private army if you're going to do things legally. I mean, ffs, he said he was going to do it.

[clakclak]

Well I guess at least the British have made their choice of siding with the EX over a potential new fling. Honestly Britains foreign policy is far more confusing than anything I have ever witnessed. At least when the french say weird stuff you know it is their tactic of strategic ambivalence. When the UK does constantly flip flop it also leaves everyone confused, but I assume most confused are British citizens.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/20 ... gainst-eu/

[Vertigo 7]

looks to me like he said in British, "You're not the boss of me". I applaud this

[fiksal]

I know thus will sound incredibly cynical, but does it matter what can and can‘t be done in theory? Honestly I think America is quickly leaving the period in which the rule of law as concept actually mattered. At the end of the day laws are only worth the paper they are written on if people ignore them and there is nobody holding anyone accountable. Most of what any regime has ever done is not technically legal, but if laws are not enforced than they are just books of pointless scribble filling shelves.

you have a point.

US could function like Russia, - when a king wants to do something slowly, first a new law is written, then the king does the thing

[clakclak]

Now for the next interesting part: Let's see if Trump develops imperial ambitions. According to FOX News he allready made remarks that Canada should be economically pressured into annexation, but let's assume he gets Canada for a moment. Will his ambitions stop there? Because I think what is ging on here is that Trump saw his idol Putin take over land and felt left out. So now he is scrambling for some land himself. Apperently his administration may also try to buy Greenland again. Maybe most of us got it wrong and "Make America Great Again" was meant in a far more literal sense than we assumed. After all Trump was never really a guy for metaphors to begin with.

[fiksal]

Stop consuming, that's how you fix trade deficit.

I have a better idea for Trump, what if Northern and liberal States split into its own and better version of US?

On the plus side, he and his clan can be kings of Southern US for life.

I think my plan is better

[chew-ie]

Now for the next interesting part: Let's see if Trump develops imperial ambitions. According to FOX News he allready made remarks that Canada should be economically pressured into annexation, but let's assume he gets Canada for a moment. Will his ambitions stop there? Because I think what is ging on here is that Trump saw his idol Putin take over land and felt left out. So now he is scrambling for some land himself. Apperently his administration may also try to buy Greenland again. Maybe most of us got it wrong and "Make America Great Again" was meant in a far more literal sense than we assumed. After all Trump was never really a guy for metaphors to begin with.

While being yet another awful development on our once cozy planet it would be a fascinating moment watching those "pacifists" voting for Trump because he "WoULd StOP WaRz".

[fiksal]

I like how this nervous article is coming from none other but Fox News. That tickled

[clakclak]

I like how this nervous article is coming from none other but Fox News. That tickled

To be fair Trump's base seems to be rather happy about this move. For example check out the reddit comments on the conservative subreddit. It once shows an interesting disconnect between the political class backing Trump and his average supporters. While Musk and Co. are focused on dismantling regulation to further their wealth, the average Trump voter care mostly about inflicting as much pain on [enemy of the week].

[Vertigo 7]

I like how this nervous article is coming from none other but Fox News. That tickled

To be fair Trump's base seems to be rather happy about this move. For example check out the reddit comments on the conservative subreddit. It once shows an interesting disconnect between the political class backing Trump and his average supporters. While Musk and Co. are focused on dismantling regulation to further their wealth, the average Trump voter care mostly about inflicting as much pain on [enemy of the week].

That's been exactly my point for... years? Theyr'e not good people, and I use the term people loosely. While this country has had its ups and downs since the beginning, it's never been about cruelty for the sake of being cruel. But somehow, the GOP decided that deliberately cruel ideals are needed in place of conservative ideals like small government and so forth and thats how they promote themselves now. My issues with these MAGA freaks are not just policy disputes or simply because they're the opposition. It's because they're damn degenerates and I fear for what they will do to my kids, if given the opportunity, not to mention their massive push to upend and dominate education to enact a neo version of Hitler's youth on this nation, which they've shown a penchant for admiration of Hitler and whitewashing history.

[chew-ie]

I like how this nervous article is coming from none other but Fox News. That tickled

To be fair Trump's base seems to be rather happy about this move. For example check out the reddit comments on the conservative subreddit. It once shows an interesting disconnect between the political class backing Trump and his average supporters. While Musk and Co. are focused on dismantling regulation to further their wealth, the average Trump voter care mostly about inflicting as much pain on [enemy of the week].

That's been exactly my point for... years? Theyr'e not good people, and I use the term people loosely. While this country has had its ups and downs since the beginning, it's never been about cruelty for the sake of being cruel. But somehow, the GOP decided that deliberately cruel ideals are needed in place of conservative ideals like small government and so forth and thats how they promote themselves now. My issues with these MAGA freaks are not just policy disputes or simply because they're the opposition. It's because they're damn degenerates and I fear for what they will do to my kids, if given the opportunity, not to mention their massive push to upend and dominate education to enact a neo version of Hitler's youth on this nation, which they've shown a penchant for admiration of Hitler and whitewashing history.

This is no localized problem. During the covid pandemie, when we had the lockdowns and the cry for freedom from some parts of the society resulted in regular protests yet another subset of those people started radicalising themselves. They started the very same mindset - "the enemy" has to pay for all they "had to endure", politicans have to be hanged, "'Trumpy' will liberate Germany" (that was that situation when those lunatics stormed our congress / Reichtstag - fortunately way fewer and without involving weapons / shots fired). And yes, they really saw in "Trumpy" the messias to free them and help them. (hence the "lunatics"). To me it's a major congnitive malfunction [dormant in all if us] which manifests due to the amplifying effect of asocial media. In a sense we are destroying us by following the false gods. (in this case: asocial media - we just can't handle it)

We indeed live in interesting times - and witnessing this level of irrational behaviour is really astonishing at times. As it stands now I really have to switch over to laughing about it because otherwise I'd go crazy.

[Vertigo 7]

To be fair Trump's base seems to be rather happy about this move. For example check out the reddit comments on the conservative subreddit. It once shows an interesting disconnect between the political class backing Trump and his average supporters. While Musk and Co. are focused on dismantling regulation to further their wealth, the average Trump voter care mostly about inflicting as much pain on [enemy of the week].

That's been exactly my point for... years? Theyr'e not good people, and I use the term people loosely. While this country has had its ups and downs since the beginning, it's never been about cruelty for the sake of being cruel. But somehow, the GOP decided that deliberately cruel ideals are needed in place of conservative ideals like small government and so forth and thats how they promote themselves now. My issues with these MAGA freaks are not just policy disputes or simply because they're the opposition. It's because they're damn degenerates and I fear for what they will do to my kids, if given the opportunity, not to mention their massive push to upend and dominate education to enact a neo version of Hitler's youth on this nation, which they've shown a penchant for admiration of Hitler and whitewashing history.

This is no localized problem. During the covid pandemie, when we had the lockdowns and the cry for freedom from some parts of the society resulted in regular protests yet another subset of those people started radicalising themselves. They started the very same mindset - "the enemy" has to pay for all they "had to endure", politicans have to be hanged, "'Trumpy' will liberate Germany" (that was that situation when those lunatics stormed our congress / Reichtstag - fortunately way fewer and without involving weapons / shots fired). And yes, they really saw in "Trumpy" the messias to free them and help them. (hence the "lunatics"). To me it's a major congnitive malfunction [dormant in all if us] which manifests due to the amplifying effect of asocial media. In a sense we are destroying us by following the false gods. (in this case: asocial media - we just can't handle it)

We indeed live in interesting times - and witnessing this level of irrational behaviour is really astonishing at times. As it stands now I really have to switch over to laughing about it because otherwise I'd go crazy.

I was blown away when the story broke about the militia group in Michigan that was busted for plotting to kidnap Governor Whitmer. I thought surely this is going to be recognized as a line too far, the GOP would condemn that in no uncertain terms, but it wasn't. Instead, we had sitting congresspeople taking to shitter to threaten civil war and the jan 6 insanity happened and on and on. Fast forward to today, we have an incoming president that's going to form a private army to go after the people he doesn't like, we have a state that's empowered its citizenry to collect bounties on people that they suspect were involved in an abortion, and that same state has been hiding its mortality rate of mothers/infants since their abortion ban, republican held states are ready to upend any semblance of education the children of their residents receive, with many wanting to get rid of public schools all together which means forcing parents to pay for private school tuitions (BUT THE ECONOMY ), don't get me started on the absolutely insane cabinet picks that are just going to destroy every facet of everyday life for the average citizen.

I would laugh, but this is just absolutely insane.

I have to ask, all of this shit, when was this part of our history? How is this "Making American Great Again" when this is sounding more and more like 1940's Germany and not part of US history?

[chew-ie]

I have to ask, all of this shit, when was this part of our history? How is this "Making American Great Again" when this is sounding more and more like 1940's Germany and not part of US history?

My guess is that while people would nowadays recognize a new Hitler if he has the same uniform, the same accent, the same beard
- they are unable to detect the creeping in [of the devil]. The Germans back in 1920 weren't able to do that - in fact they welcomed the change [in ~1930]. I wasn't there when the first ones realized what they got - but it must be a very unpleasant moment. Especially as there was no way out (the militant organisation and the SA made sure of it that it wasn't easy to speak out loud without the prospect of getting some physical answer). TBH before the pandemic I'd never thought of that being possible again because I held the "level" our societies had gained way too high. Boy was I wrong - we as individuals aren't resilient against slow changes (be it positive or negative) and our societies are sure as hell aren't. As we see it now, unfolding in a lot of countries in parallel.

Just to be sure - to me this is all no joke. Me laughing is mere helplessness. I've no idea how to fix that as I'm used to work with software. And the way "we" solved it last time frightens me.

[Vertigo 7]

Just to be sure - to me this is all no joke. Me laughing is mere helplessness. I've no idea how to fix that as I'm used to work with software. And the way "we" solved it last time frightens me.

See thats the thing, I'm not so sure we have a different solution as an option. These people over here have held onto the confederacy as part of their "heritage". We're talking about a failed nation that lasted all of 5 years and lost a war it started because they didn't wanna give up their slaves. Ever since the end of the civil war, the same forces behind it did everything they could to deny black people a place in society, fueled further hatred and resentment of their "enemies" by birthing groups like the KKK, Daughters of the Confederacy, and so forth. "The south will rise again" has been a phrase I've heard repeated time and time again - I foolishly dismissed that as just the ramblings of these inbred hicks. No, they found their deliverance in that Orange turd. I'm honestly not so sure we will get out of this one without a lot of blood being spilled.