Trump and Musk, so it continues

Oreo

He’s President in the US not here, and whatever you or I think of him, millions and millions of US citizens preferred him to Kamala Harris.

With all due respect I think you are missing the point.

What happens in the US will have an effect on us and many other countries, especially if Trump and Musk end up “upsetting” another superpower.

Personally I think we should all keep any eye on their actions, especially given the (supposed) relationship between Farage and them!

Whitewavemark2

Oreo

Whitewavemark2

Cossy

Claremont

what makes me even so much more angry, worried and sick- is that so many support them, admire them, want them as leaders. Some right here, on GN.

It’s actually beyond belief and I feel the exactly the same as you! 😢😢

Yes, and I meant the U.K. not USA .

I can remember a time when I simply could not understand how Hitler achieved what he did, because I couldn’t believe that anyone living in a civilised country would give legitimacy to such behaviour.

Now I understand😢😢

What behaviour?
I do wish posters wouldn’t keep bringing Hitler into every debate on forums.
There’s nothing in the UK to compare to Germany in the 30’s even if one of two posters keep trying to make out there is.

I wasn’t talking about the U.K. - what on earth brought you to that conclusion.

I am echoing what is being said by such people as 5 star generals, experienced politicians and academics in the USA .

I’m not convinced that you know better than them.

Err…you state ‘Yes, and I meant the UK not USA’ so naturally I thought you were talking about the UK

nanna8

I didn’t know Trump was running for leadership of the UK. That’s news to me.

😁 you could be forgiven for thinking that.

Of course Cossy as lots of countries are affected by whoever is President and their decisions, remember the Iraq war! The one thing about DT is that he wants to end wars rather than start them.Probably as they affect trade and business generally rather than other reasons, but still.Biden had no love for the UK neither had Obama, not all Presidents have been great for us.
Like a lot of people am aghast at some of the things DT is doing in his own country so far, but that’s there not here and many Americans are behind him there and you have to realise that.These policies can be reversed when the next President is sworn in.

I do wish posters wouldn’t keep bringing Hitler into every debate on forums.

Hitler was a populist leader who went on to do very bad things. We have a populist leader in the USA who is doing bad things which will turn into very bad things. We have a populist leader in the UK who is known to have been an admirer of Hitler in his youth and has the same relationship to the truth as does the US president.

It’s not surprising that we see similarities and name them.

Oreo

Of course Cossy as lots of countries are affected by whoever is President and their decisions, remember the Iraq war! The one thing about DT is that he wants to end wars rather than start them.Probably as they affect trade and business generally rather than other reasons, but still.Biden had no love for the UK neither had Obama, not all Presidents have been great for us.
Like a lot of people am aghast at some of the things DT is doing in his own country so far, but that’s there not here and many Americans are behind him there and you have to realise that.These policies can be reversed when the next President is sworn in.

Yes, I do agree to an extent, but what a waste of time (& I know it happens here too!), all this flipping every 4 or 5 years.

I guess I’ll have to stay on the sidelines and watch.

I have close family and friends in both US and Canada and they are worried and appalled.

”So many different nationalities have made Australia home and the vast majority get on with each other no matter what religious beliefs , or lack of”

Very much like the UK then nanna

When you say Trump wants to end wars rather than start them Oreo, I don’t think that accurately describes his stance. He wants to control the narrative of war, and for American military not to be involved in conflicts. That only works for countries that accept that his narrative is right, so if he carries on as is, there will be more wars, and America will be involved.

These policies can be reversed when the next President is sworn in.

Trump and his backers don’t intend that there shall be another elected POTUS. They are destroying the US constitution.

I don’t think you quite understand the implications of what is happening in the US if you think that a new regime could reverse it with ease.

MaizieD

^I do wish posters wouldn’t keep bringing Hitler into every debate on forums.^

Hitler was a populist leader who went on to do very bad things. We have a populist leader in the USA who is doing bad things which will turn into very bad things. We have a populist leader in the UK who is known to have been an admirer of Hitler in his youth and has the same relationship to the truth as does the US president.

It’s not surprising that we see similarities and name them.

There are very many other populist leaders who did extremely bad things but they never get a mention.On forums generally, maybe not on here, mentions of Hitler brought into debates get groans all round.

MaizieD

^These policies can be reversed when the next President is sworn in.^

Trump and his backers don’t intend that there shall be another elected POTUS. They are destroying the US constitution.

I don’t think you quite understand the implications of what is happening in the US if you think that a new regime could reverse it with ease.

I see, I don’t understand the implications but you do😄
You credit DT with too much power, the US won’t stand for anyone, even the President messing with the Constitution.
A new President in four years could if he chose to undo much.

If reports like these don’t worry us in the UK, then they should!

www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/feb/08/the-observer-view-vengeful-and-reckless-donald-trump-must-not-go-unchallenged

amp.cnn.com/cnn/2025/01/23/politics/maga-rule-government-trump-analysis

news.sky.com/story/trump-latest-gaza-trans-israel-president-tariffs-trade-war-china-live-news-13209921

www.taxresearch.org.uk/Blog/2025/02/08/trump-is-saying-wrong-is-right/

Don’t read them all (or any), but I just wanted to show it’s widespread concern from both the US and other countries, including us.

I know worrying about will change nothing, but knowledge is power, so they say.

I wonder if ordinary Americans will have any choice about Trump messing with the Constitution.

Everything we've seen so far is that he doesn't play by any rules. If someone disagrees with him, he sacks them and either takes the job himself, appoints an unelected goon like Musk to do the job or hires 'believers'.

Long established organisations which were set up to keep checks on power (e.g. the International Criminal Court, the World Health Organisation are all rubbished and/or binned.

Look how quickly he's changed the weather in terms of diversity and equality.

He's systematically deconstructing all the stops on his power.

Putin changed the constitution so that he can stay in power until 2036. Surely Trump will want a piece of that?

He believes God saved him from death so he can own America and I can only think he's not going to let any man put that asunder.

Rumors are circulating that Elon Musk is spending $40 million on five Super Bowl commercials aimed at exposing government waste discovered by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) through USAID.

Not sure if this is true. Well it's true that there are rumours about it.

Oreo

MaizieD

These policies can be reversed when the next President is sworn in.

Trump and his backers don’t intend that there shall be another elected POTUS. They are destroying the US constitution.

I don’t think you quite understand the implications of what is happening in the US if you think that a new regime could reverse it with ease.

I see, I don’t understand the implications but you do😄
You credit DT with too much power, the US won’t stand for anyone, even the President messing with the Constitution.
A new President in four years could if he chose to undo much.

Oreo, Musk and his henchmen are messing with enormous, intricate, IT systems which control all US government spending. They hold data on and make payments to, millions of US citizens, businesses, research labs, and many other institutions.

Can you imagine the consequences to the US if the system crashed because the source code has been altered with no understanding of how the whole edifice was built? Or, even if it didn't crash, how long it would take to bring it back to the state that existed before Musk's minions got their hands on it?

How long do you think it would take to restore agencies such as USAID, or to restart the scientific research projects in multiple fields, from cancer to climate change, which withdrawal of funding has killed?

In comparison, Labour faced a far easier task in the UK last year and look what an utter mess they are making of it...

"Musk and his henchmen are messing with enormous, intricate, IT systems which control all US government spending. They hold data on and make payments to, millions of US citizens, businesses, research labs, and many other institutions."

When he holds the purse string he has total control over all those people and institutions.
Any resistance can be quashed by driving people into poverty.

Oreo

Whitewavemark2

Oreo

Whitewavemark2

Cossy

Claremont

what makes me even so much more angry, worried and sick- is that so many support them, admire them, want them as leaders. Some right here, on GN.

It’s actually beyond belief and I feel the exactly the same as you! 😢😢

Yes, and I meant the U.K. not USA .

I can remember a time when I simply could not understand how Hitler achieved what he did, because I couldn’t believe that anyone living in a civilised country would give legitimacy to such behaviour.

Now I understand😢😢

What behaviour?
I do wish posters wouldn’t keep bringing Hitler into every debate on forums.
There’s nothing in the UK to compare to Germany in the 30’s even if one of two posters keep trying to make out there is.

I wasn’t talking about the U.K. - what on earth brought you to that conclusion.

I am echoing what is being said by such people as 5 star generals, experienced politicians and academics in the USA .

I’m not convinced that you know better than them.

Err…you state ‘Yes, and I meant the UK not USA’ so naturally I thought you were talking about the UK

I guess we are all guilty of not reading the entire posts leading up to a comment and jumping to the wrong conclusions😊

Oreo

MaizieD

I do wish posters wouldn’t keep bringing Hitler into every debate on forums.

Hitler was a populist leader who went on to do very bad things. We have a populist leader in the USA who is doing bad things which will turn into very bad things. We have a populist leader in the UK who is known to have been an admirer of Hitler in his youth and has the same relationship to the truth as does the US president.

It’s not surprising that we see similarities and name them.

There are very many other populist leaders who did extremely bad things but they never get a mention.On forums generally, maybe not on here, mentions of Hitler brought into debates get groans all round.

It is understanding that he gets more mention- because it was right on our doorstep, and other European countries either joined him, supported him or closed a blind eye.

Actually, in recent times, the mention of 1930s Germany and Hitler, seem to really strike a chord with many, and the only groans are from the far right.

Churchview says 'He believes God saved him from death so he can own America and I can only think he's not going to let any man put that asunder.'

there were 42 assassination attempts on Hitler- and everytime he said the same! BTW many of those attempts were fully supported by the West, including Churchill and GB- and many were from his own Senior Officers, who knew even better just how diabolically dangerous he was.

Trump and Hitler comparisons. A little refresher from history.

www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2025/02/hitler-oligarchs-hugenberg-nazi/681584/?referral=FB_PAID&utm_id=6590373061077

Stop believing the rumours, purposely sent out to try and upset the apple cart. In the long view, Trump and Farage are the best choice when it comes to free speech, freedom and democracy. It seems some people have yet to wake up to the fact we are in even more decline with the tyrants we have in power here in the UK allowing the unelected quangos to rule and that the Biden administration ruined America, things can only get better in the long run. Everyone has faults but weigh up all the pros and cons and you will find that Trump and Farage are by far the best leaders, they are strong enough to stand up to the global tyrants who want to rule the world. That's all!

As we are talking in generalities I thought a summary of the O/P article on just a couple of hours on 19 days in might be interesting. these aren't "enormous big news" but indicative of how insidious it is.

Seized control of a performing arts institution
last night Donald Trump declared he was to sack trustees of the John F Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and install himself as chairman.
In a post on Truth Social, he wrote: "I have decided to immediately terminate multiple individuals from the Board of Trustees, including the Chairman, who do not share our Vision for a Golden Age in Arts and Culture.
"We will soon announce a new board, with an amazing Chairman, DONALD J. TRUMP

Gave a "heretic" televangelist who speaks in tongues a White House office
Donald Trump launched a "faith office" in the White House - led by a televangelist branded a heretic by mainstream Christians.
Paula White is linked to the "prosperity gospel" - a belief that faith in God makes you rich and healthy.

She has also suggested "Demonic confederacies" were attempting to steal the 2020 election. As opposed to, say, voters.
The same year she was criticised for a sermon in which she prayed for expectant mothers to suffer miscarriages in what she claimed were "satanic pregnancies."

During the sermon, she said the words "we strike at the ground" over and over again, repeatedly claimed Angels were on their way, some of them from Africa - and spoke in rhythmic gibberish for a few seconds.

Tried to fire America's election watchdog. She refused
Ellen Wintraub chairs the Federal Election Commission - which keeps tabs on whether US elections are being held legally and properly.
She tweeted yesterday that she had been sent a letter, signed by Trump, which read: "You are hereby removed as a Member of the Federal Election Commission, effective immediately."
But she's staying put, saying Trump's bid to unseat her is not legal

Meanwhile Musk’s teenage minion was apparently fired from an internship for leaking secrets
Edward Coristine, a teenage college dropout who called himself "Big Balls" on LinkedIn, and who has been terrorising public servants on Elon Musk's behalf for the last week or so, was reportedly fired from an internship at a cybersecurity firm for leaking company secrets.

Now he has access to the most sensitive personal information on American citizens held by the federal government. And he has no apparent security clearance, other than being an acolyte of Musk.
All totally fine.

Elon identified his next target - his own company's regulator
With a tweet, Elon Musk designated the next target for his DOGE bully squad.
"CFPB RIP" he tweeted, prompting a lot of feverish googling to see what on earth he was talking about.

Turns out CFPB is the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which was created in the wake of the 2008/9 financial crisis to regulate non-bank financial companies, protecting consumers and the world against another similar crash.

Reopened the US refugee programme, but only for 'persecuted' white South Africans
Trump issued a statement slamming the government of South Africa for treating the white Afrikaner population terribly poorly.
And he did a partial reverse ferret on the complete shutdown of the US refugee programme, presumably because he thinks they're the most persecuted people on the planet.

LizzieDrip

^”So many different nationalities have made Australia home and the vast majority get on with each other no matter what religious beliefs , or lack of”^

Very much like the UK then nanna

This.

imaround, I feel for you - it must be awful wondering what is going to happen to your country next.

Claremont

Oreo

MaizieD

I do wish posters wouldn’t keep bringing Hitler into every debate on forums.

Hitler was a populist leader who went on to do very bad things. We have a populist leader in the USA who is doing bad things which will turn into very bad things. We have a populist leader in the UK who is known to have been an admirer of Hitler in his youth and has the same relationship to the truth as does the US president.

It’s not surprising that we see similarities and name them.

There are very many other populist leaders who did extremely bad things but they never get a mention.On forums generally, maybe not on here, mentions of Hitler brought into debates get groans all round.

It is understanding that he gets more mention- because it was right on our doorstep, and other European countries either joined him, supported him or closed a blind eye.

Actually, in recent times, the mention of 1930s Germany and Hitler, seem to really strike a chord with many, and the only groans are from the far right.

Not forgetting that 32% of Germans voted for Hitler in 1933. It really would be foolish not to understand why they did that and not to look at the parallels with today. Germany was at the time one of the most educated and cultured countries in the world - and they still voted for something beyond human comprehension.

JudyBloom

Stop believing the rumours, purposely sent out to try and upset the apple cart. In the long view, Trump and Farage are the best choice when it comes to free speech, freedom and democracy. It seems some people have yet to wake up to the fact we are in even more decline with the tyrants we have in power here in the UK allowing the unelected quangos to rule and that the Biden administration ruined America, things can only get better in the long run. Everyone has faults but weigh up all the pros and cons and you will find that Trump and Farage are by far the best leaders, they are strong enough to stand up to the global tyrants who want to rule the world. That's all!

I've weighed up the pros and cons and come to a different conclusion. I won't be voting for Farage - ever! (I don't have the option of voting for Trump.)