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US Politics the 2025 trump presidency thread

I read somewhere that the current US government is 'parody neolibereralism'. I'm not certain if it;'s the appropriate term as to me, it seems to be much more authoritarian popularism. One distinguishing feature is that it has no core philosopy but rather focuses on something akin to ancient Rome with a Ceaser with power of imperium, a wealthy elite who form the patrician rank and 'the people' i.e. 99% of the population.
 
4DQSAR said:
I read somewhere that the current US government is 'parody neolibereralism'. I'm not certain if it;'s the appropriate term as to me, it seems to be much more authoritarian popularism. One distinguishing feature is that it has no core philosopy but rather focuses on something akin to ancient Rome with a Ceaser with power of imperium, a wealthy elite who form the patrician rank and 'the people' i.e. 99% of the population.
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For some reason a lot of Americans just *loooove* being peasants
 
someguyontheinternet said:
For some reason a lot of Americans just *loooove* being peasants
Click to expand...

Well the thing is, it all SOUNDS so inviting. It's only when you begin to do just a little bit of research that you begin to realize that it's not been thought through. If it screws the US economy in just a few months, we ALL know Donald Trump will just tell a downright lie and there are a sufficient number of people who in their hearts know it's a lie, but feel the 'truthiness' because it appeals to their prejudices. And anyway, what can anyone do?

But I'm under no illusion that Elon Musk bought Twitter so he would have a social media platform and he and all the tech bros are more than happy to support him because it's not going to be the wealty elite who pay more taxes. Look at who donated to Donald Trump's campaign and I bet you can work out which specific executive order was enacted to increase the doner's profit margins:
  • Elon Musk: $290 million
  • Timothy Mellon: $150 million
  • Adelson Clinic for Drug Abuse Treatment & Research: $106 million
  • Linda McMahon of WWE: $16 million
  • Hendricks Holding Co: $15 million
  • Bigelow Aerospace: $14.1 million
  • Laura & Issac Perlmutter Foundation: 12.4 million
  • ABC Supply: $11 million
  • Cantor Fitzgerald: $11 million
  • Uline: $10 million
  • Pratt Industries: $10 million
  • British American Tabacco: $10 million
  • Southern Waste Systems: $9 million
  • Elliott Management: $7 million
  • Andreesseen Horowitz: $7 million
  • Viotl Inc: $6 million
  • Timothy Dunn of CrownQuest: $5 million
  • Jeff Sprecher of Intercontinental Exchange and Kelly Loeffler: $4.9 million
  • Phil Ruffin, a business partner of Trump's: $3.3 million
  • Jimmy John Liautaud of Jimmy John's: $3.1 million
  • Geoffrey Palmer: $3 million
  • Bernard Marcus, former CEO of Home Depot: $2.7 million
  • Robert Johnson, owner of New York Jets: $2.7 million
  • Winklevoss twins: $2.6 million
  • Kenny Troutt of Excel Communications: $2.2 million
  • George Bishop of GeoSouthern Energy: $2 million
  • J. Joe Ricketts of TD Ameritrade: $2 million
  • Chevron: $2 million
  • Robinhood Markets: $2 million
  • Andrew Beal of Beal Bank: $1.8 million
  • Don Ahern of Xtreme Manufacturing: $1.1 million
  • Roger Penske of Penske Corporation: $1.1 million
  • Steve Wynn: $1.1 million
  • Richard Kurtz of The Kamson Corporation: $1.1 million
  • Antonio Gracias of Valor Equity Partners: $1 million
  • Douglas Leone of Sequoia Capital: $1 million
  • OpenAI $1 million
  • ExxonMobil: $1 million
  • Amazon: $1 million
  • Meta: $1 million
  • Uber $1 million
  • Boeing: $1 million
  • Qualcomm: $1 million
  • Coinbase: $1 million
  • Kraken: $1 million
  • Galaxy Digital Holdings: $1 million
  • Crypto.com: $1 million
  • Paradigm Operations: $1 million
  • Goldman Sachs: $1 million
  • Altria: $1 million
  • Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America: $1 million
  • Bayer: $1 million
  • National Association of Manufacturers: $1 million
  • AT&T: $1 million
  • Comcast: $1 million
  • Verizon: $1 million
  • Carrier: $1 million
  • Intuit: $1 million
  • Coupang: $1 million

    Now I'm sure some of the smaller contrubutors gave to both campaigns but if it's an individual, look at what they own (stocks and shares). It does seem that a few people really don't care much what Donald Trump does as long as their investment shows a profit within 4 years... actually, maybe much longer as some changes would surely take much longer to reverse.

    It's just when my own nation went through something similar, I had sort of thought that others would see the UK as a cautionarry example. After the last election the former chansellor left a note to the person taking on the role that more or less said 'we spent all the money' - it WAS a smash and grab.
 
Quick thought. We all have seen the evidence that there were record corporate profits during our two years of high inflation. Biden was talking about eliminating Trump's tax breaks on the wealthy and corporations. Inflation killed Biden's presidency. I'm not sure how anyone can think conspiracy theories like the moon landing being fake are true but yet poo poo the thought that these things are related.
 
4DQSAR said:
Well the thing is, it all SOUNDS so inviting. It's only when you begin to do just a little bit of research that you begin to realize that it's not been thought through. If it screws the US economy in just a few months, we ALL know Donald Trump will just tell a downright lie and there are a sufficient number of people who in their hearts know it's a lie, but feel the 'truthiness' because it appeals to their prejudices. And anyway, what can anyone do?

But I'm under no illusion that Elon Musk bought Twitter so he would have a social media platform and he and all the tech bros are more than happy to support him because it's not going to be the wealty elite who pay more taxes. Look at who donated to Donald Trump's campaign and I bet you can work out which specific executive order was enacted to increase the doner's profit margins:
  • Elon Musk: $290 million
  • Timothy Mellon: $150 million
  • Adelson Clinic for Drug Abuse Treatment & Research: $106 million
  • Linda McMahon of WWE: $16 million
  • Hendricks Holding Co: $15 million
  • Bigelow Aerospace: $14.1 million
  • Laura & Issac Perlmutter Foundation: 12.4 million
  • ABC Supply: $11 million
  • Cantor Fitzgerald: $11 million
  • Uline: $10 million
  • Pratt Industries: $10 million
  • British American Tabacco: $10 million
  • Southern Waste Systems: $9 million
  • Elliott Management: $7 million
  • Andreesseen Horowitz: $7 million
  • Viotl Inc: $6 million
  • Timothy Dunn of CrownQuest: $5 million
  • Jeff Sprecher of Intercontinental Exchange and Kelly Loeffler: $4.9 million
  • Phil Ruffin, a business partner of Trump's: $3.3 million
  • Jimmy John Liautaud of Jimmy John's: $3.1 million
  • Geoffrey Palmer: $3 million
  • Bernard Marcus, former CEO of Home Depot: $2.7 million
  • Robert Johnson, owner of New York Jets: $2.7 million
  • Winklevoss twins: $2.6 million
  • Kenny Troutt of Excel Communications: $2.2 million
  • George Bishop of GeoSouthern Energy: $2 million
  • J. Joe Ricketts of TD Ameritrade: $2 million
  • Chevron: $2 million
  • Robinhood Markets: $2 million
  • Andrew Beal of Beal Bank: $1.8 million
  • Don Ahern of Xtreme Manufacturing: $1.1 million
  • Roger Penske of Penske Corporation: $1.1 million
  • Steve Wynn: $1.1 million
  • Richard Kurtz of The Kamson Corporation: $1.1 million
  • Antonio Gracias of Valor Equity Partners: $1 million
  • Douglas Leone of Sequoia Capital: $1 million
  • OpenAI $1 million
  • ExxonMobil: $1 million
  • Amazon: $1 million
  • Meta: $1 million
  • Uber $1 million
  • Boeing: $1 million
  • Qualcomm: $1 million
  • Coinbase: $1 million
  • Kraken: $1 million
  • Galaxy Digital Holdings: $1 million
  • Crypto.com: $1 million
  • Paradigm Operations: $1 million
  • Goldman Sachs: $1 million
  • Altria: $1 million
  • Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America: $1 million
  • Bayer: $1 million
  • National Association of Manufacturers: $1 million
  • AT&T: $1 million
  • Comcast: $1 million
  • Verizon: $1 million
  • Carrier: $1 million
  • Intuit: $1 million
  • Coupang: $1 million

    Now I'm sure some of the smaller contrubutors gave to both campaigns but if it's an individual, look at what they own (stocks and shares). It does seem that a few people really don't care much what Donald Trump does as long as their investment shows a profit within 4 years... actually, maybe much longer as some changes would surely take much longer to reverse.

    It's just when my own nation went through something similar, I had sort of thought that others would see the UK as a cautionarry example. After the last election the former chansellor left a note to the person taking on the role that more or less said 'we spent all the money' - it WAS a smash and grab.
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How many of these corporations/people donate to both parties?
 
fairnymph said:
How many of these corporations/people donate to both parties?
Click to expand...

Many of those $1 milllon donations WERE given to both paries - the larger ones were not. I think it's more important to look at the individuals an businesses that gave extremely large (as if $1 million is small!) donations. It's also important to look WHEN the donations were provided. The very larrge donations are those which most obviously resulted in an immediate 'pay back' because lets face it, these are successful businness owners who are pragmatic as regards to politcs - they INVESTED money on the basis that they would profit from doing so. Obviously the largest doner is already reaping the benefits, but many others had a specific wish and those have been granted in the form of executive orders.
 
If this shit didnt trickle north i would not give a fuck what you guys to each other in America. You guys wanna bring back purge night? Fuckin fine keep it to yourself. Unfortunately though like all toilets America occasionally backs up. Then what happens? You get shit water all over your nice clean Canadian floor
 
^ yep. the steps they're taking to dismantle veteran-related services are brazen.

i read today that the president held his first cabinet meeting today. here's a picture:

trumpmeme17.png


good to see the various attendees giving the president (standing on the left, talking) their full attention.

does anybody know who the kind of lost looking guy on the right (with the red tie) is?

alasdair
 
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brokedownpalace10 said:
Quick thought. We all have seen the evidence that there were record corporate profits during our two years of high inflation. Biden was talking about eliminating Trump's tax breaks on the wealthy and corporations. Inflation killed Biden's presidency. I'm not sure how anyone can think conspiracy theories like the moon landing being fake are true but yet poo poo the thought that these things are related.
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So you support this then, right?

 
I don't know how Harvard is funded but in the UK, 'public schools' are actually the most expensive forms of education but as they are legally charities, they avoid most of their tax burden.
 
If you have a certain family member that keeps denying that all these Nazi salutes remakes republicans are doing, aren’t actually Nazi salutes - this person is totally cooked and closeted Nazi supporter you should probably cut out of your life right?

I can’t beleieve that they are that stupid, so they must be lying to my face. I’d respect them more if they just admitted that it’s a Nazi salute and they like it. This lying to me like I can’t see it with my own eyes is more frustrating
 
4DQSAR said:
I don't know how Harvard is funded but in the UK, 'public schools' are actually the most expensive forms of education but as they are legally charities, they avoid most of their tax burden.
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Harvard isn't a public school. Their financials are operated by a corporation, The Harvard Corporation, who is the fiduciary governing board, while Harvard only pays a 1.4% tax rate instead of the 21% corporate tax rate
 
It's difficult to know if these fascist salutes are made in earnest or simply in the hope of producing a reaction. It's only when we start to see it on the streets when we know others took them to have been recieved in earnest.

It would take someone knowledgable in the field of semiotics to explain it.

I would suggest that the intent was equivocal. To see what the reaction would be.

I've mentioned this previously, but is the man living under the power of Franco and the man living under the power of Satalin likely to experience many differences? In both cases the same three classes are established. The patrican iclass who holds political power, the wealthy elite (from who the patricians are drawn) and the people. In such models the people represents 99% of the popuation. The patrician class provides support to the wealthy elite to ensure loyalty and power moves into the hands of an ever smaller number of people.

Authoritarian popularism doesn't lie on the conventiioal left<--->right metric. It's quite open to any demographic who are prepared to vote on the handful of issues they feel strongly about. That is what history has shown. The problem comes in that once power is concentrated, there will naturally be others who seek that power and one of the telltales is that those in power will tend to disimpower anyone who doesn't align their position with those in power.

Modern Russia is an example. A few oligarchs openly disagreed with Putin. They are now all dead or have had to escape Russia. The few who came from outside the elite who posed a threat were wiped out. It's a gradual process. It's taken Putin decades to achieve but one of the most obvious steps he took was to have the constitution of his nation altered so he could remain in power. I wouldn't be surprised to see Donald Trump attempt to do the same.

But at this point, it's hard to say what if anything the people could do even if they wished to prevent such changes.
 
LucidSDreamr said:
If you have a certain family member that keeps denying that all these Nazi salutes remakes republicans are doing, aren’t actually Nazi salutes - this person is totally cooked and closeted Nazi supporter you should probably cut out of your life right?

I can’t beleieve that they are that stupid, so they must be lying to my face. I’d respect them more if they just admitted that it’s a Nazi salute and they like it. This lying to me like I can’t see it with my own eyes is more frustrating
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I really don’t think they are meant as Nazi salutes. I’d almost prefer that they were. I think it’s possible that there’s some trolling going on, but I think it’s most likely just accidental. Occam’s razor. Plenty of Democrats have made the same motion, and non-political people too.
 
fairnymph said:
I really don’t think they are meant as Nazi salutes. I’d almost prefer that they were. I think it’s possible that there’s some trolling going on, but I think it’s most likely just accidental. Occam’s razor. Plenty of Democrats have made the same motion, and non-political people too.
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It’s trolling if it’s not heartfelt Nazi salutes. And even if it’s just trolling it’s being done on the context of this is a Nazi salute lol.

you sound like my dad that compares a still photo of Tim walz waving at the crowd to a video of Elon pounding his chest, biting his lip and whipping out his arm. My dad is so fucking stupid that a still photo of Tim walz is enough to “both sides” the issue for him. I think it’s that he’s just actually that stupid. Dude believes women were made from ribs and men made from dirt 2000 years ago so it’s maybe it’s just stupidity and not malicious. It’s hard to give him them benefit of the doubt and just say he’s stupid because it’s so obvious
 
I think one thing we CAN state is that assertion that it was a 'Roman' salute is ridiculous. There is no record wharsoever of such a salute ever being used within the Roman empire.

As someone noted, the first time it was used in Rome was in 1919 by Mussolini.

Steve Bannon apparently used exactly the same salute and Elon Musk performed the salute twice. I cannot believe either of them were unfamiliar of where the salute originated.
 
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