Changes under Trump 2.0

[Atiba Applebum]

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It’s official: Trump received less than 50% of popular vote.  Fuck a mandate

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Source?

https://www.npr.org/2024/12/03/nx-s1-5213810/2024-presidential-election-popular-vote-trump-kamala-harris

[Unkle Fleak]

Blood is in the mail. I’m going to build a mini ramp for when I get home and I don’t wanna just wash the blood off from a hard day of reaping FAKE ASS POSER conservative Christians.


You fucking dead mofos

[Scarecrow Radio]

I dare anyone on here to try to interpret what Flea even means by this^

[ReTired]

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I expect it’ll be just like Trump’s first term - a lot of talk, a lot of being blocked, not much being done, just like every other president we’ve had in past decades, a million “promises” that won’t be kept and even then, one side will still screech like Hitler is in power despite having lived through his prior impotent term of being shut down on most of his plans, the other will cry about how he didn’t live up to expectations.  The usual rage/disappointment scenario of every president since I started voting in 1992.

I just find it funny that adults over 30 still care about politics and get heated about them and claim “THIS IS LIFE OR DEATH!” when we’ve all seen this same show before, it’s just a tired rerun no matter who is in office since politicians just work for the corporations who line their pockets and give them insider trading tips.  The media exists to keep fools believing nonsense so that nobody talks about how every politician is corrupt, it’s just a distraction to make you think your vote matters when the powers that be win either way.  It’d have been the same if Kamala was elected - prices would go up, promises would be broken, things would still get worse, and people would still cling to politics like team sports jock shit and blame a myriad of things other than that our political system sold out well before we were born and we’re just watching a puppet show at this point.  Everything is about money and power, there are no decent, honest politicians left, we could dump ‘em all in the ocean and watch them drown and we’d be at a net gain afterward.

When we reached a point where congresspeople who make about $140k/year end up worth $25-50 million after a decade or two on their salary and nobody cares, it shows that our political system is long dead, investing emotional concern over it now is just stupid because unless we tear it all down and start new, this is the sham circus we get until we die.  Even AOC is worth 10x what she should be, and her constituents don’t care that she’s just as bad as the rest of them now as long as she puts out an occasional post that they like.  But we’ll still bark about how “our person is better” after being screwed over every time, like it’s ever going to be different.  Precisely why I no longer care about who’s in office, I’m gonna get screwed either way, and I’ve got better things to do than pretend some rich asshole (or, some soon-to-be-rich asshole) actually cares about my struggles, I’m never not amazed by people thinking any politician actually gives a shit about anyone but themselves.  Fuck all of it, I’m gonna hit the park and skate instead, politicians don’t deserve our concern, they all deserve our scorn and ire, nothing more.

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Couldn't have said it better myself.

Work hard, set goals, accomplish goals, repeat, and enjoy your life

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You know you can still do that while also caring about politics, right?

I get the cynicism, but you guys do know that it does make a little bit of a difference who is in office? Ever heard of a party platform? There are policies that are effected by your vote even if they are slow and seem marginal at first.

My thing is, how many times can you fall in love with a lie and tell yourself “Maybe next time the person I voted for will do what they said they’d do”?  Because I fell for it for over 20 years before I came to grips with the hard truth that nobody who goes into politics at this time in this system is worth voting for.  You honestly have to be a sociopath or true psycho power tripper to want the job, I can’t identify a single politician I’ve seen in ages who seems remotely genuine, and I’ve yet to meet one who doesn’t promise the world while delivering jack shit.

My thought is, if we stopped treating politics like jock team sports life-or-death nonsense as we keep doing, maybe we could stop running/electing idiots and perhaps find the rare needle in a haystack.  But our dumbass red/blue system here is just garbage, the same people running the show from behind the curtain are running things either way for whichever person wins, it’s a joke, because by playing into the game and condoning what we’ve got, we’re ensuring we’ll never have anything better.

Now, does this mean I don’t vote ever?  Nope, but now I only vote against whoever annoys me the most and seems to have the worse platform of the two for what affects me and those I care about, not that I believe in the other person, but it’s the only protest option I have as sitting out means having to stfu for failing to bother.  Does this mean I don’t care about issues?  Of course not, just that my sights are at floor level low for expectation that anyone will do the correct thing to help in any regard.

We could actually make things better if we stopped feeding into this bullshit and allowing ourselves to be divided over personality cult morons who are poor choices to be leading the nation.  Or, we can keep “voting harder” and get the same result, meh, whatever, people gonna people as always because making actual change is too hard and they’d rather suffer in familiarity than take a chance.  We’re all abused spouses of the political system, too afraid to leave it because we don’t know what we’d have.  Except, how could it really be worse than what we have?

[Painted Baby]

I know it's thirsty but I am really loving this left wing media beef that is brewing between The Young Turks and The Majority Report. Part of the reason why I stopped watching TYT was because of their increasing coverage of stories that were straight outta the right wing media toilet so, to me, it's been a long time coming. The fact that I've heard Sam speak on it twice in two days and say there is no beef has me even more convinced that this is gonna streisand. I think the left is better of without dudes like Cenk and Joe Scarborough serving as mouthpieces anyway.

[TheLurper]

I don't vote because
-all politicians are selfish and never care about anyone
-they don't deliver anything
-the build-a-bear group is running things behind a curtain so it doesn't matter who we vote for.
-things would be better if did it differently (not going to say how) and stopped trying to change things through democracy

The idea all politicians are selfish and don't care is absurd. Some are certainly crooks who just want power and attention (Trump and co is the easiest example as the Trump family is going to sell off America to anyone who puts money in their pocket), but there are better and more profitable routes for many of these people. Jared Polis, is a super nepo-baby and was born worth hundreds of millions, he has done a lot of good and I generally like him, but being gov of Colorado is possibly a step down from what he could have done with wealth/power he was born into. The rotating door for the powerful between gov and private business is a problem, but Americans love to think "business people can run the country better" and being a CEO of a Fortune 1000 company probably pays better and offers more power than being gov of most states.

And, yea there are kooks like Mikey Taylor, but a lot of local politicians just want what is best for their community. Few people are getting rich wasting their evenings at city council meetings voting on which pothole to fix.

Yes, democracies that are cynical individualist societies deliver much more slowly than authoritarian communities (China) or strong communal communities that trust the gov to do the right thing (Scandinavia). We have all sorts of individual rights that we exercise to slow down the building of high speed rail and we have regulations that protect individuals that can slow things down as well. A lot to fix here, but your cynicism is part of the problem. And, it takes time for some of the stuff to come online. For example, Biden's admin is investing a ton into America and the money/building is just getting out the door.

The build-a-bear group or illuminutty is not conspiring against you. You live in a capitalist society. We have two votes, one with our actual vote and one with our money. Some people have more votes than you, a lot more. Either start fighting for election finance reform or try to increase your speech through community/group action. special interest groups have power, for example Mothers Against Drunk driving made a huge impact on the country. Individuals with 1 vote and no money aren't super powerful in a democratic capitlst society. BUT that being said, it isn't like we have no power. I've had meetings with the city multiple times to discuss local skateparks. All it took was an email or showing up to a city council meeting. Local influence isn't impossible.

Also, businesses shape a great deal of the world. They have power and will as long as they own the means of production. This is a huge bargaining chip, so of course politicians will listen to the CEOs. In 2011, if we compared Walmart's revenue to the GDP of countries, it would have been in the top 30. 

The democratic capitalist system has lots of flaws. They are all well known and have been said much better elsewhere. But there are things that can be done to alleviate these issues and I'd prefer this system over living under a King/Queen, a dictator, or a full free market where the most powerful business completely runs the show. It can be better and it is better in other places, but I think the problem isn't necessarily that the system isn't responsive, it is that most of us don't do shit. We complain but don't go to city council meetings. We complain but don't do shit to improve things around us. We complain but don't take advantages of our system to get it to do what we want. We complain don't even do the bare minimum to vote.

Opting out and saying, "It's all corrupt" is a bad idea. This will lead to learning what real corruption looks like. I've spent plenty of time in the former-Soviet Union, the corruption in these capitalist dictator states is something most Americans can't imagine. Criticize the government, get beaten and thrown in prison. Get into a car accident with someone powerful, automatically your fault, no matter what. Study hard? Why bother when admission, grades, and degrees can be bought. Shit is hard in America, but we take a lot of power and freedoms for granted. And, being overly cynical will ensure that we lose more and more.

[Franksnose76]

I don't vote because
-all politicians are selfish and never care about anyone
-they don't deliver anything
-the build-a-bear group is running things behind a curtain so it doesn't matter who we vote for.
-things would be better if did it differently (not going to say how) and stopped trying to change things through democracy

This has to be the dumbest excuse to waste or not vote in general, I hope you don't have people who have abortions or get deported because you decided not to vote.

[chany penguin]

I dare anyone on here to try to interpret what Flea even means by this^

[Unkle Fleak]

CEOs will drop like flys in 2025. I’m pushing the trend

[tuesday]

Will oligarchs also start falling from windows?

[S.]

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Will oligarchs also start falling from windows?

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how bout hanging in jail cells?

In a sense CEOs are still workers. The real people running the show are capitalists, the people that don’t have to work: the large stock holders, investors, landlords and owners of companies: Basically the Trumps, the Musks, the Thiels, The Bezos‘ and Zuckerbergs of this world. The people that the CEOs have to answer to.

[Sick_McCrank_]

At least capitalism found a way the include part of the mentally ill (sociopaths and psychopaths) into the workforce… as CEOs.

[S.]

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Will oligarchs also start falling from windows?

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how bout hanging in jail cells?

[close]

In a sense CEOs are still workers. The real people running the show are capitalists, the people that don’t have to work: the large stock holders, investors, landlords and owners of companies: Basically the Trumps, the Musks, the Thiels, The Bezos‘ and Zuckerbergs of this world. The people that the CEOs have to answer to.

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what are you going on about? why are you validating the position of CEOs as workers in a response to a statement made about oligarchs being pushed from balconies/windows as in Russia or Epstein hanging in a jail cell for much the same reason oligarchs in Russia end up splattered on the sidewalk? If you're talking about the health insurance insider trading homeboy sleazEO that was gunned down, you're playing semantics around the word "work" that have nothing to do with "workers" or the "working class." They're not even part of the bourgeoisie.

all of those names you dropped are or were CEOs of their money making enterprises.

Dude, I hate CEOs like the next guy. What I meant to say that the real targets (of criticism and protests, I am no killer) should be the owners and investors. If a CEO does not do what the shareholders or owner of the company wants he‘s replaced by another asshole with a million dollar contract and all the same incentives to maximize profits at the expense of regular employees and (in this case) the insured.

Look, I just hate the hypocrisy of the new rightwing, who love to hate the managers and “the liberal establishment“, while being fanboys of some of the people who literally own them.

[Sick_McCrank_]

if i make millions a month as CEO, i turn into an investor very quickly

[Painted Baby]

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Will oligarchs also start falling from windows?

[close]

how bout hanging in jail cells?

[close]

In a sense CEOs are still workers. The real people running the show are capitalists, the people that don’t have to work: the large stock holders, investors, landlords and owners of companies: Basically the Trumps, the Musks, the Thiels, The Bezos‘ and Zuckerbergs of this world. The people that the CEOs have to answer to.

[close]

what are you going on about? why are you validating the position of CEOs as workers in a response to a statement made about oligarchs being pushed from balconies/windows as in Russia or Epstein hanging in a jail cell for much the same reason oligarchs in Russia end up splattered on the sidewalk? If you're talking about the health insurance insider trading homeboy sleazEO that was gunned down, you're playing semantics around the word "work" that have nothing to do with "workers" or the "working class." They're not even part of the bourgeoisie.

all of those names you dropped are or were CEOs of their money making enterprises.

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Dude, I hate CEOs like the next guy. What I meant to say that the real targets (of criticism and protests, I am no killer) should be the owners and investors. If a CEO does not do what the shareholders or owner of the company wants he‘s replaced by another asshole with a million dollar contract and all the same incentives to maximize profits at the expense of regular employees and (in this case) the insured.

Look, I just hate the hypocrisy of the new rightwing, who love to hate the managers and “the liberal establishment“, while being fanboys of some of the people who literally own them.

I'm not sure if it's a societal problem or a legislative problem or maybe both but CEOs and investors are functioning exactly as they are allowed to under out current laws. The US has historically had a hands off the biz approach until that posture starts to fuck up our society. That would be the time to change some of the laws around what the Health Care industry can get away with but there has been no appetite. We're all arguing over the scraps that the Affordable Care Act threw us and that's even imperiled again. It's long past time, so much so that we got Punishers running around. Health Care is in the same boat as gun control right now and it's the lobbyists that keep the wheels spinning on the gravel. Until real campaign finance reform catches on, which is like never, or maybe we have some kind of miraculous turnaround in 4 years off the backs of lone gunpersons and there's a real political reset. I don't think we're that lucky.

[S.]

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Will oligarchs also start falling from windows?

[close]

how bout hanging in jail cells?

[close]

In a sense CEOs are still workers. The real people running the show are capitalists, the people that don’t have to work: the large stock holders, investors, landlords and owners of companies: Basically the Trumps, the Musks, the Thiels, The Bezos‘ and Zuckerbergs of this world. The people that the CEOs have to answer to.

[close]

what are you going on about? why are you validating the position of CEOs as workers in a response to a statement made about oligarchs being pushed from balconies/windows as in Russia or Epstein hanging in a jail cell for much the same reason oligarchs in Russia end up splattered on the sidewalk? If you're talking about the health insurance insider trading homeboy sleazEO that was gunned down, you're playing semantics around the word "work" that have nothing to do with "workers" or the "working class." They're not even part of the bourgeoisie.

all of those names you dropped are or were CEOs of their money making enterprises.

[close]

Dude, I hate CEOs like the next guy. What I meant to say that the real targets (of criticism and protests, I am no killer) should be the owners and investors. If a CEO does not do what the shareholders or owner of the company wants he‘s replaced by another asshole with a million dollar contract and all the same incentives to maximize profits at the expense of regular employees and (in this case) the insured.

Look, I just hate the hypocrisy of the new rightwing, who love to hate the managers and “the liberal establishment“, while being fanboys of some of the people who literally own them.

[close]

I'm not sure if it's a societal problem or a legislative problem or maybe both but CEOs and investors are functioning exactly as they are allowed to under out current laws. The US has historically had a hands off the biz approach until that posture starts to fuck up our society. That would be the time to change some of the laws around what the Health Care industry can get away with but there has been no appetite. We're all arguing over the scraps that the Affordable Care Act threw us and that's even imperiled again. It's long past time, so much so that we got Punishers running around. Health Care is in the same boat as gun control right now and it's the lobbyists that keep the wheels spinning on the gravel. Until real campaign finance reform catches on, which is like never, or maybe we have some kind of miraculous turnaround in 4 years off the backs of lone gunpersons and there's a real political reset. I don't think we're that lucky.

Yes. I agree.

[IusedToSkateMore]

Anyone else in the US trying to get their passport renewed sooner than later in the event that agencies close or go to bare bones in the name of d.o.g.e?

[Atiba Applebum]

Anyone else in the US trying to get their passport renewed sooner than later in the event that agencies close or go to bare bones in the name of d.o.g.e?

Didn’t even think about that, but maybe worth considering.  Im still wondering what I should do with my mutual funds if they tank the market like they’ve warned might happen

[Atiba Applebum]

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Anyone else in the US trying to get their passport renewed sooner than later in the event that agencies close or go to bare bones in the name of d.o.g.e?

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Didn’t even think about that, but maybe worth considering.  Im still wondering what I should do with my mutual funds if they tank the market like they’ve warned might happen

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I'm not really trying to go into "they" territory, and still, EM, PT, and their compatriots hold more than a significant amount of capital in crypto and tech assets. Falling USD and markets boost crypto and tech. That people don't see this is beyond me. I mean it's not at all, but it is worth considering. I can't speak to mutual funds because I don't have any, but, if possible, I don't see using that capital as a means to buy something such as a property as a bad move. that shit, especially anywhere remotely close to where you're located, is only going to continue to sky rocket in price as the power of the greenback drops.

Really, who knows what's going to happen? nobody, right? regarding passports, all bureaucracy can be a hassle, but the potential for it to become even more difficult, for myriad reasons including but not limited to surveillance state activity and destruction of the state dept, is, in my mind, very real.

It’s the left hand not knowing what the right is doing.   Trump wants to cut down on EV cars and remove tax incentives on them (not sure how that effects Tesla) and has also threatened countries that try and reduce their dependency on the dollar which exactly is a benefit/appeal of blockchain currency

[TheLurper]

Trump attack on EVs is likely to suck. 
https://www.wired.com/story/trump-to-block-the-government-and-military-from-buying-evs/

This was known before the election, but there was hope that horrible menace Musk would convince Trump otherwise. Nope, the only pillow talk Trump likes from Musk is about laying off-workers and stories about apartheid S. Africa.

[TastyBurrito]

Trump attack on EVs is likely to suck. 
https://www.wired.com/story/trump-to-block-the-government-and-military-from-buying-evs/

This was known before the election, but there was hope that horrible menace Musk would convince Trump otherwise. Nope, the only pillow talk Trump likes from Musk is about laying off-workers and stories about apartheid S. Africa.

I have a good feeling he’ll make an exception for Teslas.

[Jehoshaphat Augustus]

It's going to be interesting to witness the new garbage we produce. While we can glean a lot of the components (copper, aluminum, nickel, cobalt) from them, true disposal of EV batteries is highly difficult and truly unrealistic. EV batteries aren't standardized, most of them require different practices to "recycle." The demand for new EV battery components will far outpace the net gain from "recycling." I also worry about the continued, accelerated proliferation of resources from "Shithole Countries" which will require further raping to enable our cross addiction from gas to electric.

[Unkle Fleak]

If I was doing terrible things to the human race with my inherent power through ceo ism. Plz stop me. I beg you. It’s hard for me to live with the me I got already yo

[radcunt]

Not voting is like standing in front of a moving train and not getting out of the way because you don’t like how fast it’s going or what it’s carrying.

[augustmoon]

Should change the title to “changes under President Musk” at this point

[chany penguin]

probably a lot more of this madness
http://www.newsweek.com/white-nationalist-nick-fuentes-assassination-attempt-chicago-home-2003882

[alien porkchop]

corporate tax rate: 21%
source: https://www.irs.gov/publications/p542

defense budget: $842 billion.
source: https://comptroller.defense.gov/Portals/45/Documents/defbudget/FY2024/FY2024_Budget_Request_Overview_Book.pdf

number of a-holes who would rather have a beer with a demagogue than vote for a sensible candidate: too many
source: the reason for this thread

also, if you are worried about elections, we could all spend less energy focusing on the circus genocidal maniacs at the top of the ticket every cycle and do more to support groups like climate cabinet who prioritize spending on low cost but highly critical local elections that are too often overlooked by everyone except the right wing advocacy class millennialist doomsday cult of christo-fascist nationalists in the us.

https://climatecabinet.org/

[Plan9Customs]

Speak out about Musks illegal activities and you may just ‘commit suicide.’
https://www.cbsnews.com/amp/news/suchir-balaji-openai-whistleblower-dead-california/
 

[TastyBurrito]

Seeing Trump's Truth Social posts about the LA fires is sickening.

I know if this catastrophe happened after the 25th of this month, Orange Mussolini wouldn't be sending in help for a state of emergency. At least, he wouldn't send in help until some sort of quid pro quo was met -- like Newsom stepping down first, etc.

[TheLurper]

Can the west coast have a referendum to join Canada?

Hell, if we are going to start redrawing borders, let's have the entire West Coast (minus Alaska), New England, and all of the East Coast down to Virginia (upstate Penn can go to America same with parts of central NY). Canada will keep the Northern territories but America can have Alberta and Manitoba. Minnesota and Michigan can be with Canada and we'll flip a coin for Wisconsin.

Fuck everyone who voted for this asshole. Fuck everyone who tried to undo the non-partisan support Biden gave the East Coast with their latest hurricane by saying he controlled the weather (can you imagine citizens of a first world country saying a human controls the weather, we are one bad month away from sacrificing virgins and praying the sun will magically show up the next day). Fuck Trump for making up a non-existent bill to blame California so Exxon can keep polluting and fuck Musk who made is fortune off of Federal and California state subsidies.
https://calmatters.org/environment/wildfires/2025/01/la-fires-donald-trump-fact-check/