Want to understand what Trump is doing?

Well possibly they may have a chance then. If the opposition in whatever format continue like this I dont see how they will win again. It is early days so I am hoping things calm down and people examine the reasons why he won.

The war on the press is escalating. What is the saying? Control the press, control the people?

newrepublic.com/post/191313/donald-trump-ally-supreme-court-overturn-press-protection

Galaxy

Oh my God. If this is representative of Democrats thinking you will lose every election from here to eternity.

It's funny you think I am a Democrat because I am anti Trump.

I think most people here realise it's far from "normal" *imaround", except those who want to see similar in the UK. I value this thread and similar to keep tabs on whats happening as we might get caught up in it and also as a warning to where far right "Project 25" ideas may go. How sudden ill thought through edicts actuall affect people.

Today have picked up:
CNN
"The federal hiring freeze implemented by President Donald Trump has affected the hiring of a crucial group of federal workers: firefighters.

The freeze comes at a critical time, when fire departments across the country would typically onboard thousands of seasonal federal firefighters in preparation for wildfires in the spring and summer.

“It’s going to be really bad, really quick,” said Ben McLane, a federal hand crew captain and board member with Grassroots Wildland Firefighters.
“We’re going to have a lack of personnel when fire season gets going,” McLane told CNN on Friday. “The precedent that we’ve seen over the last few decades at this point is making us pretty certain that it’s going to be a big fire season again.”

and an attempt to slow Musk down

Federal judge blocks Elon Musk’s DOGE access to critical Treasury payment system
edition.cnn.com/2025/02/08/politics/elon-musk-doge-treasury-payment-system/index.html

"
A federal judge, citing a risk of “irreparable harm,” has temporarily restricted Elon Musk’s government efficiency team from accessing a critical Treasury Department payment system

The judge’s order, issued early Saturday, temporarily halts access to a sensitive payment system that distributes Americans’ tax returns, Social Security benefits, disability payments and federal employees’ salaries

US District Judge Paul Engelmayer ordered the destruction of any downloaded information from the payment system by anyone given access to it since January 20, citing “the risk that the new policy presents of the disclosure of sensitive and confidential information and the heightened risk that the systems in question will be more vulnerable than before to hacking.”

A hearing has been set for Feb 14th.

Oh my God. If this is representative of Democrats thinking you will lose every election from here to eternity.

There are people who believe Musk broke into the voting machines in swing states. Both Trump and Musk alluded to it in speeches.

Anyone looking at this though a lens of "normal" politics is missing the point, IMO. There is nothing about this that is normal and we won't be reversing course in 4 years if something isnt done now. Republicans are already trying to change the constitution to allow him a 3rd term.

He is literally destroying our constitution, violating our civil rights, sending masked and armed agents door to door asking people for papers, trying to force federal employees to snitch on each other, stripping women's and minority accomplishments from everything he can and he is erasing transgender people from society.

Trump claimed “Transition 2025:…a win for an “Unprecedented and Powerful Mandate”.

It wasn't. It was close - A shift of roughly 235,000 votes in the right combination in Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin would have elected Harris

“Indeed, by historical standards Trump’s victory is unimpressive. Consider the following: His margin of victory in the popular vote—which will be at most 1.6 percentage points when all the votes are counted—is the fifth smallest of the thirty-two presidential races held since 1900.

More people in 2024 voted for a candidate not named Trump than did.

And while Trump increased his vote total by 2.7 million in 2024 compared to 2020, he still fell more than four million short of the number that Biden won four years ago".

www.cfr.org/blog/transition-2025-did-trump-win-unprecedented-and-powerful-mandate

worth remembering as Trumps policies continue to bite, just how close it was. It wasn't a glorious sweeping time - look at just how close the numbers are in congress, where the Republicans hold power by very narrow margins, 6 in the case of the Senate.

Galaxy

And yet the electorate looked at a personality like Trump, looked at the Democrats and thought that's the least worse option. Would be useful for someone anyone to think about that.

Would be useful for someone anyone to think about that.

If you listen to those Americans who've been interviewed on the streets, it's not really difficult to understand the appeal of Trump to those who voted for him.

Not long ago an American (male) on social media was chiding me - well our country in fact - for its 'class system'. I was informed that only the people from the 'top' class can become "like, a president" and that in America, everyone has the chance to realise their dreams, regardless of their income. I suppose you could say that Kamala Harris' background was relatively middle-of-the-road, her childhood home looks comparatively modest and with her parents, both graduates following successful careers, she certainly wasn't from the $billionaire-class, though her wealth increased considerably when she married Doug Emhoff.

Both nations have a class-system though, they're just structured differently - ours has historical roots dating back to feudal times, theirs emerged from a revolutionary context, highlighting individualism and egalitarianism. And both have their working-class poor - and Trump, who loves the old, the young, the highly educated, the poorly educated (especially the poorly educated - though this comment was taken out of its original context when touted across the 'net), has promised all of them a better life when he makes America great again. That means a lot to those who are struggling on a weekly basis with their 'grocery bills' and at the 'gas-station'. Although overall Americans have a higher-income, they have a higher poverty rate, and that fact can't be overlooked when it comes to the time to vote.

Being the showman that he is - he talks in attractive sound-bites, when he's not stumbling over his phraseology - and that's forgivable when you are promising a whole section of society that their lives are going to be better, economically, and PDQ.

Better still - he's found the enemy - he's found the reason why America is faltering, and why huge swathes of the population are suffering economic decline. It's the cultural Marxists, the 'wokes', undocumented immigrants - and they are all either part of, or protected by, the Dems.

For those who are economically secure, he's promised a new golden age - a return to the 'homestead' values of God and family on which America was built - hard-working and successful. And they will be rewarded economically with lower tax bills as well as a return to the 'old' values.

The $billionaire class knows of course that their wealth will be protected.

He's going to change everyone's life in this new 'American Dream'. The religious, like him, genuinely believe that God saved him in order to save America.

Harris, unfortunately for her, couldn't unshackle herself from the unpopular Biden, and focused on women and women's rights - and she couldn't convince the American public - especially those riddled with apprehension about widespread economic anxiety.

Personally, I don't think America is yet ready for a female POTUS. The dominant hierarchy is largely male, paternalistic, and wedded to hearth-and-home values of 'old' America, and these values have filtered down through the ages.

So I'm not one bit surprised that Trump won - at face value, what the heck is there not to like, whichever strata of society you are from? The reality of course will be somewhat different to what's been promised, but that's not the question you posed.

Illinois Governor (Dem, Pritzker) did s spoof video annoucement

“After Donald Trump’s Department of Justice sued the state of Illinois for allegedly ‘obstructing’ its enforcement of immigration laws, its governor JB Pritzker took aim at the recently inaugurated US President’s foreign and domestic policies with a “special announcement” on Friday (February 7).

This “announcement” was actually a video mocking the Republican, posted on Pritzker’s personal X / Twitter account as opposed to his official governor account, no doubt to avoid any confusion.

you can watch the video in this reference

www.indy100.com/politics/trump-illinois-pritzker-greenland-gulf

“In the “announcement”, Pritzker says: “The world’s finest geographers, experts who study the Earth’s natural environment, have concluded a decades long council and determined that a Great Lake deserves to be named after a great state.

So today I’m issuing a proclamation declaring that hereinafter, Lake Michigan shall be known as Lake Illinois.

The proclamation has been forwarded to Google to ensure the world’s maps reflect this momentous change

(Plus more spoofs)

Galaxy

Because it is happening everywhere.
Actually I would say the one person who could have beaten trump would have been Biden, I mean Biden before he was ill.

I disagree. The margins between the parties is small. Who knows what a different leader may have brought that changed the narrative of the election? It’s so personality led that it could easily have made a difference.

nanna8

I agree, it was anything rather than the weak Democrats. Trump is quite unpleasant in many ways but he does do what he says he will ,with bells on.

I dont think Trump is strong, I think he's deluded and a cult leader.
Musk reminds me of one of those Roman Emperors who rule with crazy, self serving whims.

Because it is happening everywhere.
Actually I would say the one person who could have beaten trump would have been Biden, I mean Biden before he was ill.

Crikey David49 your crystal ball is in overdrive. How can you possibly know what would have happened if the Democrats had chosen a different candidate before the electioneering started?

If Biden had stood down before the campaign another candidate with the same agenda as Harris would have done just as badly. Even very controversial Trump managed to win against a ultra liberal agenda.

A decent Democrat candidate with enough time and preparation would have made a huge difference. The actual voting gave Trump 1.5% of the popular vote over Harris. Biden should never have been a candidate and IMO neither should Trump. Trump didn't get 50% of the vote it was actually very close in terms of the popular vote but the electoral college system tends to distort it rather like our fptp does.

I dont know if it was weakness, well that may have been part of it, they frequently looked crazy ( and people thought their crazy was worse than trumps crazy) and divorced from the concerns of ordinary people.

I agree, it was anything rather than the weak Democrats. Trump is quite unpleasant in many ways but he does do what he says he will ,with bells on.

Very much least worse, a more moderate Republican would have got an even bigger majority.

And yet the electorate looked at a personality like Trump, looked at the Democrats and thought that's the least worse option. Would be useful for someone anyone to think about that.

I don't need to be Californian or a psychoanalyst to know that Trump lacks empathy, tells lies, is highly manipulative and completely untrustworthy without a moral compass or conscience. Totally unsuitable to be leader of the US or any other country. He has the mindset of a mafia boss...... Now there's a thought!

David49

You wouldn't expect a Californian to say anything else.

Possibly not.

But the point is whether his analysis is accurate.

Trump does play the victim. Never more so than in 2020 when he would not accept defeat.

You wouldn't expect a Californian to say anything else.

LizzieDrip

I agree GG.

When these orders, many of which are unworkable, don’t happen, Trump can become ‘the victim’ - a mask he often displays when things don’t go his way.

He knows exactly what he’s doing - it’s just another episode in The Trump Show!

An interesting psychoanalysis of the man...

He is always a victim; this position enables him to be nasty. Since he’s always aggrieved, he feels entitled--entitled to be cruel and bully others without ever having to feel that he’s doing anything wrong. People say that he lacks a conscience or even that he is psychopathic.

In fact, his investment in victimhood explains the underlying dynamics. Since the world owes him some type of indemnity for all the ways he’s been misunderstood and mistreated, his conscience is constantly put on the back burner or xtinguished altogether. Since his basic instincts are to cheat, lie and disparage others, Trump’s psyche needs a cover story. As a result, his residency rests on his claims that he is being persecuted by Democrats, the media, and the deep state. These claims are necessary to enable him to act in cruel and reckless ways without guilt.

This, of course, is why impeachment is so potentially traumatic to him.

The world is pointing a finger of accusation at him which he cannot escape. He’s consumed with retaliatory and sadistic rage. And, thus, as a result of the increased threat of guilt and shame, he has to become more and more of a victim, which permits him to be even more cruel.

Unfortunately, we ain’t seen nothing yet.

(Dr. Michael Bader is a psychologist and psychoanalyst in the San Francisco Bay area.)

Oh, it's an enormous deal to stand against Trumps current desire for the huge budget and the cuts he wants.

But there is also some hesitation about Russell Vought’s, who occupies the usually quiet and uncontroversial position of OMB director Office of Management and Budget director. He he authored one of the Heritage Foundation’s chapters now controversial Project 2025 road map

"“Vought has said he wants to inflict “trauma” on the federal workforce, dismantle an elitist “regime” he believes has long stifled conservatives and shake the very foundations of American government he believes has been captured by an “administrative state.” The administration’s early actions hew closely to the vision of the federal government Vought mapped out in the chapter he authored of the Heritage Foundation’s now controversial Project 2025 road map.”

Ie once congress approves a budget, he hands out the money and works with others to make the cuts in the federal workforce, and social security and medicaid/medicare.

Being a Republican Senator in not just community interest, personal interests also come into play. Party polititians will mostly support the leaders, the rebels that don’t are very likely to have personal pressure put on to support the leader.

Sinking the party policy is a big deal for any rebels and not taken lightly