Want to understand what Trump is doing? Part 3

It is a coup. He is a dictator. He is ruining the country. There is very little anyone like me can do about it until it is time to raise arms against him. Luckily I have been very busy this week, so I haven't paid much attention. My stress levels were getting high, which is how they want us to feel.

We are trying to stock up on essentials and food supply for just in case and are in wait and see mode.

I do need to see what Trump and China have been up to this week. Something about a trade deal but I haven't looked at it.

Just keep coming in when you can imaround its valuable. There has been quite a bit on the Gaza thread re his visits with this week.

Thank you *foxie48". My tablet didn't seem to want to play it but I easily found "Trump Middle East business deals have tripled since first term" from CNN on YouTube.

Hi, imaround. Taking practical steps will hopefully help. It's good to hear from you whenever you feel able to post.

Imaround from another thread thanks to cossy Bruce Springsteen says it all

www.theguardian.com/music/2025/may/15/bruce-springsteen-trump-manchester-rogue-government-siding-with-dictators

A friend sent this to us. Unbelievable.

Occupy Democrats: BREAKING NEWS:
Republican politician Nikki Haley tears into Donald Trump for accepting a $400 million luxury jet bribe from Qatar and points out that people would have been "furious" if President Biden had done the same thing.

This scandal is spiraling out of control for the administration...
"Accepting gifts from foreign nations is never a good practice. It threatens intelligence and national security.

Especially when that nation supports a terrorist organization and allows those terrorist regimes to live on its soil," Haley wrote on X. "Regardless of how beautiful the plane may be, it opens a door and implies the President and US can be bought. If this were Biden, we would be furious," she added.

Trump intends on upgrading the jet so that he can use it as Air Force One and then take it with him when he leaves office for his presidential library. The fact that doing so would be a blatant violation of the Constitution's Emoluments Clause clearly has no bearing on his thought process.

He believes himself to be above the law at this point.

Haley isn't the only Republican voicing concerns about this jet fiasco either. Ted Cruz has warned that the plane "poses significant espionage and surveillance problems." For once, the Texas senator is right. The jet could have been loaded up with equipment that will allow the Qataris to spy on the president.

Right-wing radio host Erick Erickson has said that Trump should reject the jet, stating that Qatar is a "rogue nation." "Pam Bondi, the Attorney General of the United States, was a lobbyist for Qatar," said Erickson. "She made $119,000 a month. I don’t think that we should agree with Pam Bondi saying, ‘Oh, yes, Qatar can gift this to the Department of Defense on condition it goes to the Trump Presidential Library.’ I think she’s opening Donald Trump up to legal trouble later."

"Qatar spends a lot of money to improve its image while paying terrorists to murder American citizens," he added. "And I do not think the president’s Air Force One substitute should be a plane bought with the same money used to kill American citizens."

Despite what Trump is insisting, it wouldn't be "stupid" of him to reject this gift. It would be the wise and legal course of action. The American people have no way of knowing what Qatar expects from him in return from this bribe, but it's safe to presume that it will be policy that serves their interests rather than ours.

I understand that President Obama refused all gifts when in office, including returning, with a courteous letter, such modest gifts as a copy of a children's book.

Good for Nikki Haley.

Can we imagine the furore in the UK from the right if Starmer had accepted the same?

Wyllow3

Just keep coming in when you can imaround its valuable. There has been quite a bit on the Gaza thread re his visits with this week.

I second this!!

The Supreme Court seems to be side eyeing Trumps decisions right now, which is a good thing.

They just told him no to deporting Venezuelans through the Alien Enemies Act and his Birthright Citizenship case isn't going well.

I expect his tweets tonight to be Epic.

In the meantime, a Texas judge has ruled it is ok to discriminate against LGBTQ people in the workplace.

"On Thursday, Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk—a far-right federal judge in the Northern District of Texas with a record of aligning with the GOP’s most extreme legal positions—issued a ruling declaring that Title VII no longer protects LGBTQ+ people from workplace discrimination. The decision directly contradicts the Supreme Court’s landmark 2020 ruling in Bostock v. Clayton County, which held that discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity is, by definition, sex discrimination. Kacsmaryk’s ruling marks one of the most alarming judicial rollbacks of LGBTQ+ rights in recent memory—and sets up a direct legal challenge to one of the foundational civil rights protections for queer and trans people in the United States."

www.erininthemorning.com/p/far-right-federal-judge-rules-gay?utm_campaign=posts-open-in-app&triedRedirect=true

This Texas case isn't finished. They judge shop (both sides IMO) and Texas judges typically give them what they want. This case was designed to end up back at the Supreme Court in an attempt to overturn the 2020 Bostock decision that says LGBTQ people can't be discriminated against at work.

I'm glad that the Supreme Court seems to be standing firm and look forward to more news and that habeas corpus is protected.

It's alarming the power that local judges have in states. I'm aware that many still believe in conversion therapy for gay people and it looks like a return to homophobia (under the guise of the more contested trans issues)

We should wall off Texas and Florida instead of Mexico. Idaho has gotten really bad too.

Let them live their unhappy lives in the communities they created.They are all extreme examples of fascism rising and they need to be kept in check somehow.

Perhaps - seems likely to me - people will seek to move to more friendly states when they can.

Yes that sounds sensible.

This has to be the sickest idea for a reality TV show that I have ever heard. Please USA, grant people some dignity.
edition.cnn.com/2025/05/16/politics/dhs-vetting-immigrant-reality-tv-show

I saw that. I hope it is a rumor and not true. I would not be surprised if it were though. They would love a Hunger Games style competition. They are monsters.

More and more the handmaid’s tale. Maybe he read it to give him ideas ?

I doubt he has read it, Nanna8. Potus has no interest in reading anything unless his name is liberally included in the text - or so I have heard.

He is hardly able to read and has no interest in learning anything because he thinks he knows it all.

imaround

We should wall off Texas and Florida instead of Mexico. Idaho has gotten really bad too.

Let them live their unhappy lives in the communities they created.They are all extreme examples of fascism rising and they need to be kept in check somehow.

I agree!

nanna8

More and more the handmaid’s tale. Maybe he read it to give him ideas ?

Can he read and would he understand it?

His vocabulary seems particularly poor and limited, I’ve heard my 10 year old grandson using more complex words than POTUS!!

Casdon

This has to be the sickest idea for a reality TV show that I have ever heard. Please USA, grant people some dignity.
edition.cnn.com/2025/05/16/politics/dhs-vetting-immigrant-reality-tv-show

Good grief! There are no words, except, perhaps, Wtaf! (Sorry )

A grim suggestion.

No- talk about plumbing the utter depths. Hope it isn’t allowed, surely,surely not ?