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US Politics the 2025 trump presidency thread

I think that Elon and the tech elite need to cut public expenses, cut taxes to the wealthy, and channel that money into tech/space development - it'll make people really upset unless he can somehow blame it on something (tariffs not working out because CHYNAH) but really it's that he wants to exert more economic control which generally reads as big government which would be a tough sell as a republican. He's playing games in order to get money and latitude to tech so that A) Elon can go to Mars B) AI can replace a lot of labor costs and C) secure some type of power bloc comprised of those he chooses to anoint. It's very machiavellian.
I’m more afraid he’s gonna spend it all on that horrible AI Stargate project 😩
 
I note many executive orders are related to the transport of fentanyl into the US. Now the thing is, far, far more fentanyl is transported from the US to Canada than vice versa - but the thing is, US media ONLY mentions imports.

So executive orders designed to stop China from producing precursors and executive orders to punish both Mexico and Canada for allowing importation. THAT may be one possible explaination.

But as we have noted so many times, there are always new scaffolds. There are always new precursors. Legal control does not and never has affected price or availability. What it means is that opioids that aren't well researched with replace those that for better or worse, at least have a history of human trials. The trush is, if there is a market, there will always be people prepared to supply that market. Education is far more effective.
 
I note many executive orders are related to the transport of fentanyl into the US. Now the thing is, far, far more fentanyl is transported from the US to Canada than vice versa - but the thing is, US media ONLY mentions imports.

So executive orders designed to stop China from producing precursors and executive orders to punish both Mexico and Canada for allowing importation. THAT may be one possible explaination.

But as we have noted so many times, there are always new scaffolds. There are always new precursors. Legal control does not and never has affected price or availability. What it means is that opioids that aren't well researched with replace those that for better or worse, at least have a history of human trials. The trush is, if there is a market, there will always be people prepared to supply that market. Education is far more effective.
Wow, really? I mean it kind of makes sense because the US is so much bigger, but I just have no idea. Where do you get info on this type of stuff and how do you know to trust it?
 
The White House issues press releases - I'm not sure if you would consider that a reliable source. Executive orders 14147 to 14211 are all executive orders made by Donald Trump since he came into power. To put that into perspective, presidents appear to issue around 40-50 per annum so this really is crazyness. Some are very vague and that is not by accident. All governments do it but the overreach that is possible is quite staggering.

Just saying 'I won't use it for X' isn't as good as NOT writing and executive order that allows X.

I hope that makes sense - lots of new powers, lots of rollbacks and what appears to be an isolationist policy. Those never end well, historically speaking.
 
yep :(

"Obama goes around signing executive orders. He can't even get along with the Democrats. He goes around signing all these executive orders. It's a basic disaster. You can't do it." (trump, feb 19 2016)

"We have a president that can't get anything done so he just keeps signing executive orders all over the place." (trump, january 26 2016)

"I hate what Obama does with gun legislation. He doesn't talk to anybody. He goes out and signs executive orders. In theory you're supposed to the old fashioned way, get everybody into a room and get something people agree on." (trump, january 26 2016)

"I don't think [Obama] even tries anymore. I think he just signs executive actions." (trump, december 12 2015)

"Nobody wants to listen to [Obama], including the Democrats, so he just goes around signing executive orders." (trump, november 10 2015)

"Why is @BarackObama constantly issuing executive orders that are major power grabs of authority?" (trump, july 10 2012)

meanwhile...

alasdair
 
They were out in sub zero weather today around me protesting Trump!!! It is just starting.. wait until they reach their stride and find their confidence.
They did that in my downtown on Not My President's Day as well.

They were protesting in front of a local Tesla dealership a few days ahead of that. Hope to see lots more of that.
 
yep :(

"Obama goes around signing executive orders. He can't even get along with the Democrats. He goes around signing all these executive orders. It's a basic disaster. You can't do it." (trump, feb 19 2016)

"We have a president that can't get anything done so he just keeps signing executive orders all over the place." (trump, january 26 2016)

"I hate what Obama does with gun legislation. He doesn't talk to anybody. He goes out and signs executive orders. In theory you're supposed to the old fashioned way, get everybody into a room and get something people agree on." (trump, january 26 2016)

"I don't think [Obama] even tries anymore. I think he just signs executive actions." (trump, december 12 2015)

"Nobody wants to listen to [Obama], including the Democrats, so he just goes around signing executive orders." (trump, november 10 2015)

"Why is @BarackObama constantly issuing executive orders that are major power grabs of authority?" (trump, july 10 2012)

meanwhile...

alasdair
Executive orders have been a thing that trace back further than Obama to Bush, Clinton, HW Bush, and Reagan. It was a slow but steady increase that both sides were complicit in as neoconservatism and neoliberalism began to take over both sides of the American monoparty. It's been a steady march towards oligarchy and autocracy that has been thinly veiled by the illusion of 'progressives' and 'conservatives'.

Just as we are upset with Trump doing this, I rarely saw protests against Obama doing the same (albeit less extreme than trump, but more extreme than Bush) things.
 
I think @alasdairm was merely pointing out that Donald Trump is the only candidate (to my knowledge) who bitterly complained of another president using executive orders only to issue more per week than previous presidents did in a year.

OT I'm fascinated that so many people bitterly complained that the US was forever handing money to Israel and yet it seems to have gone quiet when the president who has shown the most support for Israel comes to power.


I am in no way asserting the right or wrongs of the claims, merely noting that it always seemed to be a stick to bash presidents with and now all is silent. I don't know why.
 
I think @alasdairm was merely pointing out that Donald Trump is the only candidate (to my knowledge) who bitterly complained of another president using executive orders only to issue more per week than previous presidents did in a year.

OT I'm fascinated that so many people bitterly complained that the US was forever handing money to Israel and yet it seems to have gone quiet when the president who has shown the most support for Israel comes to power.


I am in no way asserting the right or wrongs of the claims, merely noting that it always seemed to be a stick to bash presidents with and now all is silent. I don't know why.
Yeah, that drives me crazy. His support for Israel is so freaking blatant.
 
If you think for one moment that the US supports Israel due to some manner of semitic-cabal, it's not. It's simpy the fact that the US doesn't have any other firm allies in the Middle East.


Now Donald Trump mistakenly believes that the US is fully capable of producing all of it's own oil needs. What he evidently fails to grasp is that not all crude oil is created equally. The US has a lot of light crude but very little heavy crude. So it makes economic sense for the US to simply trade it's light crude for heavy crude. But that is at odds with what appears to be an isolationist policy.

The US is already producing record amounts of oil but at the end of the day, OPEC can ALWAYS produce for less (due to geological and geographic reasons) so a price war isn;'t going to produce the result he imagines. There is a point at which it becomes uneconomical to extract crude and that price is lower for OPEC.

I don't fully understand it but this isn't the result of my reading information for a couple of months. I've been watching this data for decades. Geopolitics is complex and the US is not the largest trading bloc in the world, it's not even the second largest trading bloc, so while 'drill, drill, drill' is likely related to the MAGA vision, it IS entirely possible for the rest of the world to function without US involvement - which won't MAGA.
 
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Just as we are upset with Trump doing this, I rarely saw protests against Obama doing the same (albeit less extreme than trump, but more extreme than Bush) things.

right. but obama never went on and on and on about how presidents shouldn't use executive orders, did he?

my issue is not his doing it. it's his criticizing others for doing it. then doing it.

alasdair
 
BTW the average price of oil production in the US is around $33.20. per barrel but is likely to increase as off-shore becomes a larger proportion. In contrast OPEC nations vary but it's between $10-$20 per barrel.

So if the US seeks a price war, it's going to lose. It's one of those things that sounds great until you recognize that the USA ≠ The World.

If the US wishes to MAGA, it's education that's going to be a key driver. Skilled jobs are going to be the important thing because as previously noted, even with tarriffs, China can still make simple things for vastly less. If OPEC makes oil plentiful - China will have a boon as it's a key input they lacked. Put simply - China wins indirectly from Donald Trump's policies.

I've never met Donald Trump and so my knowledge is based purely on watching speeches and other publically available sources. But he doesn't appear to understand geopolitics and let's face it, he's unlikely to live for long enough to see what the long-term outcomes are. I don't wish him or anyone else harm, but I do not see the outcomes professed aligning with the executive orderes enacted.
 
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BTW the average price of oil production in the US is around $33.20. per barrel but is likely to increase as off-shore becomes a larger proportion. In contrast OPEC nations vary but it's between $10-$20 per barrel.

So if the US seeks a price war, it's going to lose. It's one of those things that sounds great until you recognize that the USA ≠ The World.

If the US wishes to MAGA, it's education that's going to be a key driver. Skilled jobs are going to be the important thing because as previously noted, even with tarriffs, China can still make simple things for vastly less. If OPEC makes oil plentiful - China will have a boon as it's a key input they lacked. Put simply - China wins indirectly from Donald Trump's policies.

I've never met Donald Trump and so my knowledge is based purely on watching speeches and other publically available sources. But he doesn't appear to understand geopolitics and let's face it, he's unlikely to live for long enough to see what the long-term outcomes are. I don't wish him or anyone else harm, but I do not see the outcomes professed aligning with the executive orderes enacted.
He's a conduit to installing a technocratic oligarchy to take the reins once he's done, in exchange for funding and guaranteeing both his victory in the election, and freedom from incarceration.

Based on statements made by Trump to Johnson (We're going to win, especially with our little secret!) - bomb threats called in to specific purple state voting sites which shut down operation while external agents entered to 'secure the facility' - Elon Musk's real time monitoring of voting which allowed them to declare victory hours before - irregular voting patterns between pro-trump ballots with either no other votes cast down ticket, or on votes that voted democrat on every ballot choice but voted for trump for president... these are patterns that only occured in purple states - and finally, Elon's ketamania infused declaration on his propaganda platform in the days leading up to the election that "Anything can be hacked" - based on all of these things I have grave concerns about the legitimacy of Trump's victory, as well as in the capacity for any type of review to be performed to determine if there was hacking of results, fraud, or manipulation.

Trump owes Elon for funding his campaign and using his technology platforms to both spread propaganda and also directly hack the results of voting machines that were internet enabled and susceptible to code changes in ways that allow changes to reported votes under predetermined conditions.

JD Vance is Thiel's conduit, and all of them are beholden to Curtis Yarvin whose book "The Butterfly Revolution" explains exactly how to hollow out the government and transform it into a technocratic monarchy/oligarchy from the inside out.
 

Well, you have to admire someone who is prepared to take advantage of a situation.

But while you do that, consider that Donald Trump OBVIOUSLY considered the US in terms of a 'wealthy elite' and 'the people' i.e. an oligarchy. Take a look at nations that are oligarchies and ask if the people or the elite profit from such a system.

Because a quick search does sort of hint that the people do not do very well out of such an arrangement.
 

Well, you have to admire someone who is prepared to take advantage of a situation.

But while you do that, consider that Donald Trump OBVIOUSLY considered the US in terms of a 'wealthy elite' and 'the people' i.e. an oligarchy. Take a look at nations that are oligarchies and ask if the people or the elite profit from such a system.

Because a quick search does sort of hint that the people do not do very well out of such an arrangement.
It's a model which conforms to a multipolar hegemony between oligarchs in US, Russia, China - supports surveillance societies, and fosters endemic corruption.

Putin never stopped his tradecraft from his KGB days after the USSR broke up. I firmly believe that there are Russian assets that grew up in the US and have been part of this process of becoming what is happening today, for decades.

Russia is a very old empire and we were very young and naive as a society. We won a battle and thought that this meant the war was over. The game stays the game, it just gets fiercer.
 
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