Trump Dictatorship and All Things Politics
- Thread starter LogGrad98
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PJF
Well-Known Member
The madness of King Donald continues, the outrage and offence tour continues.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/mar/21/trump-education-department-order-reactions
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/mar/21/trump-education-department-order-reactions
Red
Well-Known Member
The world divided up among Strongmen. Hard to imagine a greater, more obvious, anti-American position adopted by an American president. Kinda mind boggling to see this view of the world being installed by Donald Trump, while those American people who recognize how wrong this is, sit slack-jawed, doing nothing but watching the movie. Demanding Democrats fight back…
Meanwhile MAGA wants this movie to be the future. MAGA is eager to destroy every ideal the American experiment ever held, ideals reflective of our higher angels and good nature. MAGA wants an American president modeled after the leader of North Korea. One would think this would alarm even them. We should not underestimate their stupidity.
If you are an observer of Washington events, you may have noticed that every White House press briefing and pronouncement by a member of the Trump team is preceded by an effusion of adulation for the President himself. Whatever action has been taken, decision made, or objective (supposedly) achieved, it is directly attributed to the Great Leader whose personal will is apparently the only force that determines the fate of the nation.
This North Korean level of idolatry for the magnificence of the presidential persona is not normal. It is, indeed, out of character with the spirit of the nation’s historical conception of itself as an egalitarian democracy in which anyone – the child of any family – may rise to the highest office in the land while still remaining, at heart, an ordinary American. Being elected president does not make you a god – or even the bearer of a sacred truth.
According to the Constitution, it does not even give you the power to do what you like. You are simply the head of the Executive branch of the federal government whose intentions may (indeed, should) be held in check by Congress and the courts.
I reiterate this point, which I realise that I have made before on these pages, because I still find myself endlessly shocked by the flouting of the basic assumptions of American nationhood which were once ingrained in the consciousness of every schoolchild.
Many presidents have been admired, lauded and even idolised – Franklin Roosevelt, John Kennedy, Ronald Reagan. But they were not given this bizarre superhuman status which implies that any criticism or doubt about presidential policy is a form of sacrilege or subversion. Such treatment would have seemed, to put it bluntly, un-American: a betrayal of the ideals on which the country was founded.
The White House press spokesperson, Karoline Leavitt, who can switch from gushing sycophancy to sinister threats in the blink of an eye, is now banishing established media organisations (like the Associated Press) whose questioning of the Glorious Ruler has proved too persistent. In their place, she is inviting supportive outliers from the wilder shores of social media to White House press conferences.
She makes it clear, in quite unambiguous terms, that any expressed doubt about the logic or efficacy of a Trump policy – such as occurred recently when the Associated Press representative tried to make clear to her the sense in which tariffs become taxes – is a form of disrespect which will not be tolerated.
All of this is completely consistent with what appears to be a larger plan which the Trump White House openly endorses: that power in the world should now be shared by two or three emperor figures who will carve up global territory and resources between them, stepping over (or on) any annoying smaller states whose populations are too inconsequential to matter. The Trump army of sycophants is a mirror image of those thuggish Kremlin spokesmen who retail Putin’s outrageous lies about the “neo-Nazi” regime in Ukraine, in broadcast interviews with the Western media.
World peace is to be enforced by a tiny group of monopolistic super rulers who will seize whatever lands or facilities they require. In return for this annexation and extortion, they will offer security from each other’s predations.
The United States and Russia (and maybe China eventually too?) will run a kind of protection racket in which independent states have to agree to give up ownership of their assets to secure them from marauding attacks by the other side. This was precisely the “deal” that Trump offered to Zelensky last week when he proposed an American takeover of Ukraine’s energy production. Presumably the White House will now take some satisfaction from the knowledge that the Ukrainian president will have to accept responsibility for the consequences of his refusal.
Meanwhile MAGA wants this movie to be the future. MAGA is eager to destroy every ideal the American experiment ever held, ideals reflective of our higher angels and good nature. MAGA wants an American president modeled after the leader of North Korea. One would think this would alarm even them. We should not underestimate their stupidity.
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archive.ph
If you are an observer of Washington events, you may have noticed that every White House press briefing and pronouncement by a member of the Trump team is preceded by an effusion of adulation for the President himself. Whatever action has been taken, decision made, or objective (supposedly) achieved, it is directly attributed to the Great Leader whose personal will is apparently the only force that determines the fate of the nation.
This North Korean level of idolatry for the magnificence of the presidential persona is not normal. It is, indeed, out of character with the spirit of the nation’s historical conception of itself as an egalitarian democracy in which anyone – the child of any family – may rise to the highest office in the land while still remaining, at heart, an ordinary American. Being elected president does not make you a god – or even the bearer of a sacred truth.
According to the Constitution, it does not even give you the power to do what you like. You are simply the head of the Executive branch of the federal government whose intentions may (indeed, should) be held in check by Congress and the courts.
I reiterate this point, which I realise that I have made before on these pages, because I still find myself endlessly shocked by the flouting of the basic assumptions of American nationhood which were once ingrained in the consciousness of every schoolchild.
Many presidents have been admired, lauded and even idolised – Franklin Roosevelt, John Kennedy, Ronald Reagan. But they were not given this bizarre superhuman status which implies that any criticism or doubt about presidential policy is a form of sacrilege or subversion. Such treatment would have seemed, to put it bluntly, un-American: a betrayal of the ideals on which the country was founded.
The White House press spokesperson, Karoline Leavitt, who can switch from gushing sycophancy to sinister threats in the blink of an eye, is now banishing established media organisations (like the Associated Press) whose questioning of the Glorious Ruler has proved too persistent. In their place, she is inviting supportive outliers from the wilder shores of social media to White House press conferences.
She makes it clear, in quite unambiguous terms, that any expressed doubt about the logic or efficacy of a Trump policy – such as occurred recently when the Associated Press representative tried to make clear to her the sense in which tariffs become taxes – is a form of disrespect which will not be tolerated.
All of this is completely consistent with what appears to be a larger plan which the Trump White House openly endorses: that power in the world should now be shared by two or three emperor figures who will carve up global territory and resources between them, stepping over (or on) any annoying smaller states whose populations are too inconsequential to matter. The Trump army of sycophants is a mirror image of those thuggish Kremlin spokesmen who retail Putin’s outrageous lies about the “neo-Nazi” regime in Ukraine, in broadcast interviews with the Western media.
World peace is to be enforced by a tiny group of monopolistic super rulers who will seize whatever lands or facilities they require. In return for this annexation and extortion, they will offer security from each other’s predations.
The United States and Russia (and maybe China eventually too?) will run a kind of protection racket in which independent states have to agree to give up ownership of their assets to secure them from marauding attacks by the other side. This was precisely the “deal” that Trump offered to Zelensky last week when he proposed an American takeover of Ukraine’s energy production. Presumably the White House will now take some satisfaction from the knowledge that the Ukrainian president will have to accept responsibility for the consequences of his refusal.
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Red
Well-Known Member
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www.axios.com
President Trump has embarked on a systematic effort to unravel Lyndon B. Johnson's civil rights legacy, rolling back protections that have shaped American life for nearly six decades.
Why it matters: Backlash to the racial justice movement of 2020 has overshadowed a more fundamental, long-standing conservative goal: Turning back the clock on the sweeping societal changes of 1965.
- The Trump administration's aggressive push to reverse LBJ's signature achievements could radically alter how communities of color confront discrimination in a diversifying America.
- "This is not as much about dismantling the policies of Bill Clinton or Barack Obama or Joe Biden," Mark K. Updegrove, the LBJ Foundation's president and CEO, tells Axios. "It's dismantling the Great Society."
- Within hours of taking office, Trump revoked LBJ's 1965 executive order mandating "equal opportunity" for people of color and women in the recruitment, hiring and training of federal contractors.
- Trump's new order triggered sweeping changes to anti-discrimination rules — including a little-noticed memo stating that the federal government no longer would unequivocally prohibitcontractors from operating "segregated facilities."
Al-O-Meter
Well-Known Member
Al-O-Meter
Well-Known Member
So much projection. You guys are the side screaming "Fascism, Fascism, Fascism!", then 20 seconds later screaming "Oligarchy, Oligarchy, Oligarchy!" without seeming to understand those are opposite concepts. The former is a system where government controls business interests while the later is a system where business interests controls government. There is zero doubt in my mind that after the next election happens and someone else is voted in that none of you will admit how ridiculous you all were in posting uncountable screeds about dictatorship and the end of democracy.
To be clear, I fully support everyone's continued posting, and voicing of these retarded ideas. Having an outlet is good. Where it goes off the rails is at incitement, like in another thread where @The Thriller was trying to incite "gun nuts" into assassinating the US President, and the vigilantes attacking Teslas to the sound of applause.
The Thriller
Well-Known Member
Good insights here
Have you read this?
‘This Is Worse’: Trump’s Judicial Defiance Veers Beyond the Autocrat Playbook
The president’s escalating conflict with federal courts is even more aggressive than what happened in countries like Hungary and Turkey, experts say.
President Trump’s intensifying conflict with the federal courts is unusually aggressive compared with similar disputes in other countries, according to scholars. Unlike leaders who subverted or restructured the courts, Mr. Trump is acting as if judges were already too weak to constrain his power.
“Honest to god, I’ve never seen anything like it,” said Steven Levitsky, a Harvard political scientist and coauthor of “How Democracies Die” and “Competitive Authoritarianism.”
“We look at these comparative cases in the 21st century, like Hungary and Poland and Turkey. And in a lot of respects, this is worse,” he said. “These first two months have been much more aggressively authoritarian than almost any other comparable case I know of democratic backsliding…”
“The zeal with which these guys are engaging in increasingly open, authoritarian behavior is unlike almost anything I’ve seen. Erdogan, Chavez, Orban — they hid it,” Mr. Levitsky said.
This really is going to be a test in the next months and years. America led by Trump, his billionaire oligarchs, and his clapping like seals cultists, are leading the world in a fascist takeover of our democracy. America on the side of Russia and Hungary against our traditional allies, Canada and Western Europe, is going to be a test. I don’t think we’re headed anywhere good economically, socially, and culturally.
The Thriller
Well-Known Member
Apparently Utah Republican voters aren’t happy.
www.sltrib.com
Over the course of an hour, two members of Utah’s all-Republican congressional delegation fielded boos and calls to “Do your job!” at a town hall on the University of Utah campus Thursday as they answered crowdsourced questions about what Congress is doing amid a flurry of executive orders and federal cuts from President Donald Trump.
Seats to hear from Reps. Celeste Maloy and Mike Kennedy, from the 2nd and 3rd congressional districts, respectively, had to be reserved ahead of time, and the slots available on an Eventbrite web page closed within minutes of it being posted Wednesday. Hundreds flooded into the auditorium toting posters, and dozens more waited outside hoping to get in after scrawling their names on a waitlist, while campus police lined the walls.
“We’ve gotten a lot of advice not to hold town halls because they’re getting rowdy,” Maloy said as she opened the event.
Wonder why Republicans are being advised to not hold town halls? Is it because Donald’s agenda is too popular?
Two Utah GOP representatives hosted a town hall. They were met with shouts of ‘shame’ and ‘do your job.’
Utah GOP Reps. Maloy and Kennedy were booed and told to “Do your job” at a town hall on Thursday evening.
Over the course of an hour, two members of Utah’s all-Republican congressional delegation fielded boos and calls to “Do your job!” at a town hall on the University of Utah campus Thursday as they answered crowdsourced questions about what Congress is doing amid a flurry of executive orders and federal cuts from President Donald Trump.
Seats to hear from Reps. Celeste Maloy and Mike Kennedy, from the 2nd and 3rd congressional districts, respectively, had to be reserved ahead of time, and the slots available on an Eventbrite web page closed within minutes of it being posted Wednesday. Hundreds flooded into the auditorium toting posters, and dozens more waited outside hoping to get in after scrawling their names on a waitlist, while campus police lined the walls.
“We’ve gotten a lot of advice not to hold town halls because they’re getting rowdy,” Maloy said as she opened the event.
Wonder why Republicans are being advised to not hold town halls? Is it because Donald’s agenda is too popular?
The Thriller
Well-Known Member
Recent poll
m.economictimes.com
Feels like we’re reaching a tipping point where Americans are waking up to the terrible economy, the corruption, feeling the effects of tariffs and cuts, and are about to finally turn against Orange god king. I’d definitely expect more demonizing of immigrants, minorities to distract from his flailing dictatorship, and for Trump to stir domestic law enforcement agencies to intimidate resistance. That’s what dictators do. Hopefully we all can do our parts in talking to friends and family members about the damage he’s doing to our livelihoods. Choke out his presidency and support asap.
Donald Trump hits historic low as new poll shows his net approval rating worse than any modern president in decades
Donald Trumps net approval rating has hit a historic low in 2025, worse than any modern U.S. president over the last 70 years. Polls from CNN, FOX, Ipsos, NBC, and Quinnipiac University show a sharp decline from +7 in January 2025 to -2 currently, marking a 9-point drop. Despite performing...
Feels like we’re reaching a tipping point where Americans are waking up to the terrible economy, the corruption, feeling the effects of tariffs and cuts, and are about to finally turn against Orange god king. I’d definitely expect more demonizing of immigrants, minorities to distract from his flailing dictatorship, and for Trump to stir domestic law enforcement agencies to intimidate resistance. That’s what dictators do. Hopefully we all can do our parts in talking to friends and family members about the damage he’s doing to our livelihoods. Choke out his presidency and support asap.
LogGrad98
Well-Known Member
Contributor
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We've passed the point where that matters. All that matters now is how much power he can take and how much we can keep from him. It's a power struggle unlike anything our country has ever seen. This only matters if this disapproval turns into action that limits his power or, better yet, removes him from office. This is his chance to take ultimate power and create the dictatorship he has so desperately craved. So will we allow it, or will enough people wake up to go beyond an answer in a poll and let their disapproval lead to a turnaround at the ballot box?Recent poll
Donald Trump hits historic low as new poll shows his net approval rating worse than any modern president in decades
Donald Trumps net approval rating has hit a historic low in 2025, worse than any modern U.S. president over the last 70 years. Polls from CNN, FOX, Ipsos, NBC, and Quinnipiac University show a sharp decline from +7 in January 2025 to -2 currently, marking a 9-point drop. Despite performing...
Feels like we’re reaching a tipping point where Americans are waking up to the terrible economy, the corruption, feeling the effects of tariffs and cuts, and are about to finally turn against Orange god king. I’d definitely expect more demonizing of immigrants, minorities to distract from his flailing dictatorship, and for Trump to stir domestic law enforcement agencies to intimidate resistance. That’s what dictators do. Hopefully we all can do our parts in talking to friends and family members about the damage he’s doing to our livelihoods. Choke out his presidency and support asap.
View attachment 18363
Red
Well-Known Member
Trump, not exactly a news flash, is in this power grab for the long haul.
On a side note, I notice one of the dedicated Trump promoters often complains about articles posted from Yahoo news, because…Why?? Apparently, that particular troll does not realize Yahoo news publishes pieces from other news organizations. Pretty handy when avoiding paywalls. In this instance, Bloomberg.
www.yahoo.com
On a side note, I notice one of the dedicated Trump promoters often complains about articles posted from Yahoo news, because…Why?? Apparently, that particular troll does not realize Yahoo news publishes pieces from other news organizations. Pretty handy when avoiding paywalls. In this instance, Bloomberg.
Emboldened Trump Signals Long Court Fight to Expand Power
(Bloomberg) -- President Donald Trump has ramped up his fight with the judiciary as he racks up losses in court over his administration’s efforts to reshape the US government and its approach on everything from immigration to federal spending.Most Read from BloombergThey Built a Secret Apartment...
PJF
Well-Known Member
Al-O-Meter
Well-Known Member
That summary of the current situation with the Department of Education is soooo good. It is 2 1/2 minutes of pure truth, and it is sad so many misinformed people won't take that information in for how it would break their egos.
LogGrad98
Well-Known Member
Contributor
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2022 Award Winner
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2024 Award Winner
Former Utah Rep. Mia Love, the first Black Republican woman elected to the US House, has died
Love died at her home in Saratoga Springs, Utah, according to a statement posted by the family. She was 49.
apnews.com
Pretty sad that after everything she fought for, she even gave in and endorsed Trump.
One of her quotes here was:
I wonder what she would say to the current Republican party, and if she would still feel that Trump's policies of divisiveness and tearing down the America her parents taught her about would still be "ok" with her?
Credit where credit is due, she broke through barriers and opened a new door for people outside the white-Christian-nationalist bulwarks of the modern-day Republican party. Here's to hoping they come back to the ideals she espoused in her storied life and political career. RIP Mia.
PJF
Well-Known Member
Zombie
Well-Known Member
View: https://bsky.app/profile/theatlantic.com/post/3ll55xdvpk22e
C’mon man. What are we even doing here.