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Trump administration 2024-2028

Meanwhile, from the "What Happens to Fellow Travellers" file ....
 
Come on. Even you can see this is a presidential witch hunt to silence his critics.
If there's probable cause to believe someone did something illegal, does it matter?

This is not the first "witch hunt", sanitized by insistent cries of "no-one is above the law". Either the latter is true, or it's not.

Jerry Pournelle used to warn about this. From 2002 : "We trust our neighbors not to use their political power to destroy their opposition, and the dirty tricks of democracy are themselves kept within bounds -- vote fraud, fund raising tricks, lies about the opponents -- and don't extend to breaking up the other guy's meetings with bully boys and castor oil, or sending his leaders to concentration camps."

Sure, the administration is settling scores. Bear in mind much of it is probably not even set in motion by Trump; it's initiated by people with grudges over conduct by politicians and agency appointees and employees going back 10 years or more who also were settling scores. Live by vigorous and creative application of the law; die by it.
 

Attachments

NG in DC to be armed:


I mean, why not. Who in the US isn't?
If they have not to this point been armed, and if, as Trump has said, the deployment has brought “total safety” to DC and “now it’s safe”, then why now are they adding weapons to the Guard deployment? That doesn’t square.
 
The shoe is now on the other foot. I don't recall all this angst when the main target was Trump and anyone in his circle...it was "nobody is above the law"... but now "OMG!"

The FBI must have had oversight on their warrant application. Do you not trust the institutions of justice? You did before...
These agencies weren't run by Trump and his cronies before. Even during the numerous Republican administrations before this the federal law enforcement agencies were relatively fair and balanced. Under your boy they've become tools of retaliation and personal vendettas.

I keep saying that the big problem isn't so much Trump but that over 70 million Americans voted for him considering his lies were totally transparent. It is not hard to understand that there is a vast multitude of Americans at all levels of society who are prepared to carry out his orders and policies no matter how illegal or nefarious they are.

The government in Germany in the 1930s would have been nothing without the millions of brownshirts and blackshirts to carry out their policies and plans and to seize power. America's institutions, right now, are full of people of that ilk.

🍻
 
Booom, booom, boooom - another one bites the dust ....
It must be really inconvenient to try and run a fascists kleptocracy when people keep giving honest answers and assessments.

My kingdom for some bootlicker sycophants I guess, can't have that getting in the way of the Narrative.
 
These agencies weren't run by Trump and his cronies before. Even during the numerous Republican administrations before this the federal law enforcement agencies were relatively fair and balanced. Under your boy they've become tools of retaliation and personal vendettas.

I keep saying that the big problem isn't so much Trump but that over 70 million Americans voted for him considering his lies were totally transparent. It is not hard to understand that there is a vast multitude of Americans at all levels of society who are prepared to carry out his orders and policies no matter how illegal or nefarious they are.

The government in Germany in the 1930s would have been nothing without the millions of brownshirts and blackshirts to carry out their policies and plans and to seize power. America's institutions, right now, are full of people of that ilk.

🍻
I think about 70 million voters got tired of an establishment dictating to the people who the next POTUS would be.
 
I think about 70 million voters got tired of an establishment dictating to the people who the next POTUS would be.
Of course they did.

The establishment. Right . . . . . .


I guess believing that is better than admitting they've all got sucked in to one of the biggest con jobs ever foisted on anyone.

lemmings GIF


:ROFLMAO:
 
Of course they did.

The establishment. Right . . . . . .


I guess believing that is better than admitting they've all got sucked in to one of the biggest con jobs ever foisted on anyone.

lemmings GIF


:ROFLMAO:

Con jobs? I assume you’re referring to the Russia collusion hoax or the 30 other bullshit narratives instigated by corrupt officials furthered by corrupt media entities.

FJAG what you fail to recognize is that 70 million people got real sick of those antics. Many of those 70M may not really prefer Trump, but they damn well don’t want anymore of the Clinton, Biden, and now as demonstrated Obama corruption and manipulation, and they elected a complete outsider to come in with a wrecking ball.

This is a population with the DNA that rebelled in part over a 2% tax on tea. For how long do you think the corrupt establishment could put its finger on the scale for? Trump’s time and legacy are limited, he won’t be able to push too far before his movement is also punished at the polls.
 
The FBI under Kash Patel and Dan Bongino, who I charitably refer to as unqualified hacks, are lowering recruiting standards and reducing the training at Quantico from 18 weeks to 8.

 
Con jobs? I assume you’re referring to the Russia collusion hoax or the 30 other bullshit narratives instigated by corrupt officials furthered by corrupt media entities.
You're assuming wrong. But then you know that.
FJAG what you fail to recognize is that 70 million people got real sick of those antics.
No. They bought into an intensive campaign of lies and half truths
Many of those 70M may not really prefer Trump, but they damn well don’t want anymore of the Clinton, Biden, and now as demonstrated Obama corruption and manipulation,
You see, if you'd said incompetence or social programs that they don't accept then I could understand. But instead you cross over to corruption which is without any proof. And please don't bother citing any bullshit MAGA churn articles as proof. Manipulation? All governments manipulate. Look at the Trump one with clear eyes. It's been continuous since January.
and they elected a complete outsider to come in with a wrecking ball.
And destroying the fundamental tenets of a democracy that have existed and prospered for some two and one half centuries with only one civil war . . . so far.
This is a population with the DNA that rebelled in part over a 2% tax on tea. For how long do you think the corrupt establishment could put its finger on the scale for?
The problem with many governments is that the business of government is perpetual. There is no monopoly in graft. It's been part of the US DNA for centuries vis a vis pork barrelling for their constituents. It's what raises the money in that type of system that facilitates re-election and staying in power. It was dramatic in the 1800s with such examples as Tammany Hall in New York - a Democratic Party power block to be sure. I saw an American Lieutenant-General Corps commander stand on a table in the O Club at Fort Bragg on the night of the election in 1980 say to raucous cheers of his assembled officers "Tomorrow we'll have a new president or you'll have a new corps commander." Are they biased of course they are. Notwithstanding all that for much of the 1900s the American civil service, the military and the courts for the most part played a more or less neutral role. There were certainly some individuals who would pull for one side or the other.

There is no "establishment." There is no homogeneous king-making power block within government that is dedicated to the Democrats. There are a variety of interests spread throughout the administration to be sure. From time to time someone gets out of hand but not in a large or critical way. But generally its a neutral organization.

That has changed. The vilification of the opposition has, over several decades, grown strident. And no. Trump didn't start that. It happened before that, and IMHO had its genesis in the late 1970s when the Christian Right came together and wielded its new-found power by throwing its weight behind the Republican Party and Reagan. MAGA is a Reagan slogan. The Religious Right grew strength through the Tea Party movement. It was a grass roots social conservatism movement not aimed at corruption in government but at social policies it fundamentally disagreed with - abortion, LGBTQ acceptance, church and state separation etc. It gained huge influence in politics to the point where everyone in the Republican Party has to kiss collective religious ass to be nominated. Even Trump does it. Vilification of the opposition grew. If anyone thinks that the hate being spewed at Obama isn't tied to the fact that he was a black . . . well, I've got a bridge to sell them. Obama wasn't the best president, but he was vastly superior to many before him (and the ones that followed him - yup, I'm including Biden)

You want to talk manipulation - take a look at how the Republican congress is being manipulated by social conservatism. Tow the line, kiss the ring or you're out on your ear.

I won't even begin to discuss the whole-hog swallowing of lies that goes on within the MAGA movement. It's been discussed throughout these threads ad nauseum. Most of them are based on dehumanizing your opponent through continuous blatant lies or setting up strawman scapegoats. My favourite is "But Hillary did this . . ." It's entirely irrelevant to the dog-fu**ery that's going on now.
Trump’s time and legacy are limited, he won’t be able to push too far before his movement is also punished at the polls.
I expect that's right although there is a heavy movement underfoot to ensure that as many American citizens (who don't vote Republican) are denied the vote.

But even if the next congressional election puts a Democrat congress in place (and I'm not sure it will) I don't think the movement will die anyway. That's because it's not really Trump's movement, much like it looks like it. He's just renting it. There is an establishment behind MAGA alright, and, like all religious fervors, it will continue to blaze. And Trump isn't that stupid that he doesn't know it. He learned that in 2020 and committed himself to it even more than before on the road to 2024. Why do you think there is such a big push on for religious charter schools in the US. If folks don't believe that this is a movement designed to grow and institutionalize social conservatism through education then, again, I've got a bridge to sell. Look at the vilification of "liberal universities." Hell, its creeping into museums and arts centres not to mention late night television.

The US is changing in a fundamental way, and it's not a good way. The harm that Trump's team of morons is doing will last for many decades. It will make orderly government very difficult indeed. That wouldn't have been a big issue after the fall of the Soviets, but these days a predictable, orderly, and stable American government is quite critical to the world order. The problem with wrecking balls is they can get out of control.

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No-one can state with any certainty why any particular voter who chose Trump did so. Only an utter fool would dismiss any particular reason. Voters are free to act on balance of probability, or less if they choose. "Proof" - which requires investigations, which critics sometimes amusingly demand not be initiated without "proof" - isn't required.

The US isn't the only country with a vocal active unruly dissatisfied minority (if not silent majority) seeking to displace parties and shake up governing establishments that have been around for a while. Why is that?

Paraphrasing what someone (I can't recall) wrote sometime after the 2016 election, "it happened because the governing establishment failed to maintain a liberal polity". The important point of that frame is that the prior governing establishment failed, not the people who rejected it. Fighting large numbers of people by blackguarding them and using extraordinary processes to harass and persecute their leaders and other prominent members is stupid to the bone.

[Add: if the political left could work to take over control of many institutions, the political right can do the same. Bitching about it is senseless. Learn to govern for the majority of people.]
 
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