Traitor Watch - The 45 & 47 Thread

[Pocket]

Also the picture looks AI generated, but maybe that's just me.

So potential scenarios:
1/ plane falls apart in mid air because Boeing
2/ plane explodes in mid air because Musk
3/ plane explodes in mid air because a foreign power sneaked an agent onto the build team
4/ plane crashes on landing because DOGE fired all the air traffic controllers
5/ plane crashes mid-flight because the pilot lost his job thanks to DOGE and bailed out

6/ plane is purposely nosedived into Tesla HQ because DOGE fired the old pilot along with all their people who do background checks, and accidentally hired an anti-Trump fanatic who's willing to die for his country like a GODDAMN HERO

 

[abates]

That is definitely AI given how mangled that crown looks.

Also odd touch to have his suit streaked with dirt. Why? Is it supposed to be post-apocalyptic?

 

[Anonymous X]

Incidentally, my assumption is that Trump is going to abolish elected state governors and replace them with direct appointees, as Putin did in his third (fourth?) term. I mean, I expected that he would at least attempt that before the end of his current term, but how things are going, he could be trying that before the end of this year. Possibly before the summer has ended, given how things have transpired so far.

 

[Axaday]

Incidentally, my assumption is that Trump is going to abolish elected state governors and replace them with direct appointees, as Putin did in his third (fourth?) term. I mean, I expected that he would at least attempt that before the end of his current term, but how things are going, he could be trying that before the end of this year. Possibly before the summer has ended, given how things have transpired so far.

There is no mechanism by which he can do that.

 

[Axaday]

Trump says Ukraine started the war that's killing its citizens. What are the facts?

Russia’s army crossed the border on Feb. 24, 2022, in an all-out invasion that Putin sought to justify by falsely saying it was needed to protect Russian-speaking civilians in eastern Ukraine and prevent the country from joining NATO.

apnews.com

This is a really important point to make given how Panama, Canada, and Denmark are so hellbent to start a war with us.

 

[Axaday]

It looks bigger when he holds it.

Not sure if that is gross.

 

[Fullstrength Motleypuss]

There is no mechanism by which he can do that.

That hasn't stopped him so far.

 

[Axaday]

That hasn't stopped him so far.

Something has stopped him so far.

I mean, I don't even know sometimes where people get their ideas. The governor of California is going to say, "Oh shoot, he says I have to"? An overwhelming amount of the public are going to say "Yeah, I can see how that will be a lot better"? There would be no effective resistance to this?

 

[Anonymous X]

There is no mechanism by which he can do that.

Oh, I know! It’s the direction of travel that concerns me, as in Trump even more ignoring the rules and norms of the office. I’m a pessimist and even I’ve been shocked at what Trump has attempted in just four weeks. All bets are off now, it looks like basic constitutional rule of law is beginning to unravel. The unthinkable is becoming the possible.

 

[wonko the sane?]

There is no mechanism by which he can do that.

He can't abolish the 14th amendment: he tried anyway.
He can't summarily fire hundreds of thousands of long standing, good standing, government employees without cause: he tried and mostly succeeded.
He can't rename international geography: he tried anyway.
He can't start slapping tariffs on partner nations: he tried anyway and is still threatening to do it.
He can't randomly appoint an unelected individual to start slashing budgets and departments: he did it.
He can't summarily end emergency aid to the states: he has.
He can't abjectly stop funding, or reclaim already dispersed money: he has.

Trump is a criminal: he doesn't need a mechanism, he just needs to get away with it.

 

[Axaday]

Oh, I know! It’s the direction of travel that concerns me, as in Trump even more ignoring the rules and norms of the office. I’m a pessimist and even I’ve been shocked at what Trump has attempted in just four weeks. All bets are off now, it looks like basic constitutional rule of law is beginning to unravel. The unthinkable is becoming the possible.

He has made a huge run out of the gate and it isn't clear yet how much that will be contained. The courts are doing their work. They are slow and he is fast. He's given signs he won't obey, but they have sharper teeth than he acts like they do too.

But when you talk about him replacing the state governors with his own puppets, then you are talking about 50 other people who have their own power and their own mechanisms and their own supporters and the Constitution and the courts on their side.

 

[Axaday]

He can't abolish the 14th amendment: he tried anyway.
He can't summarily fire hundreds of thousands of long standing, good standing, government employees without cause: he tried and mostly succeeded.
He can't rename international geography: he tried anyway.
He can't start slapping tariffs on partner nations: he tried anyway and is still threatening to do it.
He can't randomly appoint an unelected individual to start slashing budgets and departments: he did it.
He can't summarily end emergency aid to the states: he has.
He can't abjectly stop funding, or reclaim already dispersed money: he has.

Trump is a criminal: he doesn't need a mechanism, he just needs to get away with it.

A lot of that stuff he isn't supposed to do, but the victims have limited power to resist. The courts are going to take care of quite a bit of it. I'm ignoring Gulfs and Mountains. It doesn't matter what they are called.

The state governors have a lot of power of their own. They would resist. He'd have to go make them step aside.

 

[wonko the sane?]

A lot of the red state governors would not resist, if they were given the job. No more rigging elections, they'd jump at it.

If he wasn't supposed to do those things: why did he do them? Trump is a criminal, he doesn't need a mechanism: he just needs to get away with it. And largely: he is getting away with it.

 

[Axaday]

A lot of the red state governors would not resist, if they were given the job. No more rigging elections, they'd jump at it.

If he wasn't supposed to do those things: why did he do them? Trump is a criminal, he doesn't need a mechanism: he just needs to get away with it. And largely: he is getting away with it.

A very high percentage of criminals get away with it for a few weeks. A high percentage of them are not even detected for a few weeks. Don't give up on the judicial branch. They are already working. They are always slow. You don't WANT them to be fast. Not really. They are fast some places and it is no fun.

Do you remember a year ago when their net was closing around Trump? They didn't fail. He fell through a VERY RARE loophole. If he lives to be 83, I think they're still going to get him. But in the mean time they can already work on the stuff he is doing now and they are working on it.

 

[wonko the sane?]

A slow judicial branch let trump take the presidency again. A slow enough judicial branch will render itself irrelevant.

 

[Axaday]

A slow judicial branch let trump take the presidency again. A slow enough judicial branch will render itself irrelevant.

A lot of necks get chopped by a fast judicial branch.

 

[The Mighty Mollusk]

The judicial branch had four years to do something about him inciting Jan 6th, and yet he's back in the Oval Office. Anyone else who started a riot in the nation's capitol would've been thrown in a cell as soon as they could be picked up, and he had Secret Service agents glued to him who could've grabbed him, but nothing happened. It is entirely understandable to have no faith in them now.

This is an unprecedented situation, so anything is possible. But I have little hope left for anything but the grim reaper putting a stop to him.

 

[Dekafox]

'It's insane': Trump moves to 'dramatically reduce' Presidio Trust through executive order

The federal agency was established by Congress in 1996 to oversee the 1,500-acre San Francisco park.

sfstandard.com

And Trump continues to try to close congressionally-established agencies. This has to be him just trying to flex power for his ego. He HAS Congressional majorities(if slim) and isn't even trying to go that route to close them, even though there's no reason not to.

Also from this thread, looks like a lot of embassies may be closing in the near future: https://goblin.band/notes/a4g6oxowdusg0uui
tl;dr Trump admin sent demands that US embassies terminate contracts with any providers who have a "DEI program" in their hiring. Those local providers are bound to their local laws which require such. So basically if they follow through, a bunch of embassies are going to possibly lose things such as electricity and water, not to mention in some countries making such demands alone is illegal.

*late edit*
Also another new executive order from yesterday that looks to be an excuse to try to bin any regulations he doesn't like: https://www.whitehouse.gov/presiden...-government-efficiency-regulatory-initiative/
Combined with the one from Tuesday, clearly this is an attempt to force all regulations to be rewritten to favor whatever he wants. Guess a whole bunch of agencies are going to have to start enforcing statutes directly, because with -every- new regulation requiring White House approval and every regulation probably intending to be brought into question, the AG just got signed up for WAY more work than he probably expected. Especially after the courts start throwing out the rewritten regulations and tell them to go rewrite them because they aren't properly implementing the statutes in question. There's a REASON the regulation writing process takes so long that they're about to FAFO with.

 

[Pocket]

A lot of necks get chopped by a fast judicial branch.

I guess you haven't been lurking this subforum for very long; that's exactly what a lot of us want.

 

[Axaday]

I guess you haven't been lurking this subforum for very long; that's exactly what a lot of us want.

You.....guess Axaday hasn't been here very long?

I've been here 22 years.