Donald Trump the Megathread part II - mod warnings in OP, Updated 18/03/25

yagan

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123373785#Comment_123373785

Will MAGA be gone even if the 48th isn't Trump?

I remember being very surprised that Biden upon taking office straight away continued pushing Trump Covid lab conspiracy which is in stark contrast to the science led warnings of Bush Jr about the inevitability of another spanish flu pandemic.

greenfield21

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123373822#Comment_123373822

What a load of nonsense, millions of Americans who voted for Trump are not a cult. How about his policies actually resonate with people. His message has been clear for decades, every speech has basically been about trade and immigration. These two issues are now front and center. This is why people voted for Trump.

yagan

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123374310#Comment_123374310

What policies? Tariffing penguins, cosying up with Putin, getting Mexico to build a wall etc…

Trump is a cult.

Seth Brundle

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123374310#Comment_123374310

He doesn’t have any policies. Even in his election campaign he only had a concept of a plan. He is a massive bluffer and will be quick to do a u-turn when it is not going his way although he will still attempt to claim it as a success.

greenfield21

Border crossings grind to halt.

Since taking office, Trump has delivered on his pledge as encounters have since fallen further to their lowest levels since the 1960s.

Illegal border crossings declined significantly in the final year of the Biden administration, from a period of record highs that at one point saw 250,000 Border Patrol arrests in a single month. That number dropped to around 48,000 in December, the last full month of former President Joe Biden’s term, and to just over 7,000 in March.

experts say the current reversal at the border is startling.

https://www.wsj.com/world/americas/mexico-border-crossing-numbers-6b2ddf34?mod=mhp

yagan

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123374376#Comment_123374376

If that's true then why didn't it happen during his first term?

We know his hotels are entirely dependent on irregular immigrants.

everlast75

MAGA repeating The White House claim that

Is that so?

Okay then...

everlast75

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123374310#Comment_123374310

He ran on building a wall and making Mexico pay for it?

How much do you know about his success with that policy?

Do you know that it didn't happen.

Do you know Mexico told him to **** off when he embarrassing asked the Mexican government to not publicly admit that it wasn't going to happen?

Do you know about Steve Bannon, and how he committed fraud by getting people to donate to build the wall, only for him to later misappropriate the money?

Do you know that he pardoned Steve Bannon for defrauding MAGA supporters?

yagan

Trump supporters are just stupid. They wanted chaos, they don't believe in government and are entirely comfortable with convicted sex offenders crashing their economy.

8mv

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123373535#Comment_123373535

Yeah - sounds very similar to an encounter I had with my cousin last year. It's actually quite disturbing to have someone you grew up with and thought you knew well come out with this nonsense.

Tell me how

Apparently Iran has gained the upper arms in negotiations with the US and the best the US can hope to get out of the talks is possibly the same as the nuclear deal that was in force since 2015 until Trump pulled out of it.

All the things that Trump apparently wanted (destruction of nuclear program and enrichment programs) are off the table.

The great negotiator, emboldening his opponents once again.

yagan

Of course Trump supporters and apologists on this thread will hape this as a beautiful deal, the best, wonderfully etc.…

CelticRambler

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123374376#Comment_123374376

Well … yeah. Even legal border crossings are well down, especially on the northern border, and in absolute terms, by a massively greater number than those illegal entries.

Oscar_Madison

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123374376#Comment_123374376

Whilst I don’t support illegal crossings (but do support a fair system for immigration to USA) - in my own view, it’s not that the border is better protected (albeit it probably is)- it’s because a lot fewer people are willing to experience the wrath of ICE and MAGA combined- something that the democrats could also have achieved when in power if they so wished - you don’t have to stop all immigration - you just need to stop the undesirables - and treat them harshly - Democrats didn’t do that so whilst I despise the current regime I do criticise the previous one on illegal crossings - it was simply bizarre what they allowed.

But- agriculture no less many other industries still need immigrants - it’s that simple- so what’s the MAGA view and when will they implement it? Great no one wants to travel to America in case their pecker gets chopped off by an overzealous border guard- fine, message understood- but what about letting in the people who keep the economy going and doing the jobs Americans don’t want to do, but need to be done in order to keep the wheels going around?

I’ll be listening to the farmers in the coming months - they should be a vocal bunch if they’re not finding the labour they need

PropJoe10

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123374310#Comment_123374310

He doesn't have policies. He preys on people's fears and insecurities, says what people want to hear, and they fall for it. The very definition of a cult. All he's done since he got into office is destroy America's soft power in the world and alienate America's allies, while cosying up to Putin and selling Ukraine off down the river. He's an idiot and so is anyone that defends him.

My name is URL

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123361117#Comment_123361117

https://youtu.be/uPREWIv7Qs4?t=502

https://youtu.be/uPREWIv7Qs4?t=502

yagan

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123374876#Comment_123374876

Looks like they made the right call in not grovelling to Trump like Micheal Martin.

ancapailldorcha

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123375095#Comment_123375095

He might not have policies in the sense of policies being defined goals with roadmaps, plans, funding and staff allocated to achieve a desired end but there are recurring themes running through MAGA which partly explain his behaviour. He's been a racist his entire life so it makes sense that he'd try and make immigrants' lives harder for instance. He subscribes to a zero sum fallacy and much of what he says is explained by this.

Ultimately though, he is simply a deeply unintelligent person who appreciates on some level that he's inferior to just about everyone and that his "success" was something he inherited from his father.

The obsession with bringing back manufacturing is based on both his racism and his inability to comprehend the zero sum fallacy. Manufacturing mostly happens in places like China for a reason. Trump doesn't get this because he is incapable. From Fear: Trump in the White House by Bob Woodward:

I grew up on a farm. I spent my childhood doing hard manual labour. No way would I ever want to go back to that. I'd rather by Ryan from The Office in a closet with a computer than back on a farm.

ilkhanid

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123373822#Comment_123373822

It's not unknown. Nazi Germany is one example and the Taiping rebellion is another. Also arguably the Yellow Turbans, also in China. You could say that the Mormons tried to take over a state. Unusual religious cults had great influence in old Vietnam up until the war against the French. Bizarre religious eruptions troubled much of medieval Europe.

harryharry25

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123374876#Comment_123374876

FF are currently the biggest party in the Dail.

Telling folk lies about housing numbers and lying about other things like scoliosis operations goes a long way

Leg End Reject

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123374876#Comment_123374876

Mod - wrong thread so will be deleted.

Detritus70

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123374310#Comment_123374310

They're not all in a cult. A lot will vote for a mouldy dog turd as long as it has an R beside the name. A lot are not too bright (we're talking two planks territory) and they actually believe what Trump says. Some are in it for the hatred, be that against the LGBTQ community, brown people, wimmin, intelligent and educated people, liberals or anyone who is in any way progressive. Some have a hatred of democracy, government and society itself and some are just deranged conspiracy nuts who believe that Trump was sent by Jesus to do away with all them evil pedophiles.

So, no. Not all are in a cult. But voting Trump is just like buying crack. No matter what your reasons for doing so, it's never a decision borne from sound reasoning and the outcome is never positive in any way, shape or form.

ancapailldorcha

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123375320#Comment_123375320

There's a reason tyrants hate education and try to destroy it as soon as possible.

briany

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123375332#Comment_123375332

You know things aren't great when someone with the nickname of 'mad dog' can be quoted as a sober voice of reason.

rossie1977

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123374310#Comment_123374310

Well they certainly display 'cult like' behaviour....

As for policies,trade wasn't viewed as important in last election, only 33% of registered Republicans said it was important, 16% of Democrats https://news.gallup.com/poll/651719/economy-important-issue-2024-presidential-vote.aspx

Trump won primarily because of inflation and more to the point food prices. He has done zip to lower those same food prices since January

looksee

We keep seeing comments about not wanting US food in Europe. A Netflix documentary 'Poisoned, the dirty truth about your food' will absolutely confirm this concern.

There is still a huge problem with pathogens in the food chain there, there are people trying to improve the situation but the main problem is politics - particularly lobbyists, lack of central control over food safety and both too many and not enough agencies controlling food quality.

Then on top of this Trump has removed or reduced many of the agencies. He keeps saying he will reduce regulation. Its regulation that has made European food safe, but Trump is going to reduce it in the US. There is no wonder Europe will not accept US food. And through it all, the politicians keep repeating the mantra, the USA has the safest food in the world.

Its worth a watch, both as an insight into politics, and general food safety.

aloyisious

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123374215#Comment_123374215

Possibly if the effect of Trump's tariffs, and the link between the effect they have on the dollars in the pockets of the general US public shopper is told often enough over the next three years.

It's time to roll out the quote about the economy again, putting the "stupid" word in a different context, as in "it's the economy due to stupid" [Trump], aiming it directly at all those who voted for Trump and the MAGA Trump supporters elected alongside him.

The blame for Trump getting away unchallenged by the GOP in both parts of Congress, and promoted by them as MAGA, has to be settled firmly unto their faithful shoulders. That also includes his family members who were taken into the White House by him as part of his home team.

If the Democrats don't sink Trump and MAGA next time around, a plague on their house.

aloyisious

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123374376#Comment_123374376

Trumps experts have him thinking otherwise on the illegal border crossings, or why else would he be sending US military to that border?

Strazdas

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123375215#Comment_123375215

Hitler definitely had a huge cult like following - he was portrayed by the propaganda machine as a messiah type figure "sent by Providence" to save Germany.

There are similarities with the MAGA phenomenon for certain. This doesn't mean for a moment that the US will end up with extermination camps or in a world war, but there is a big cult element to Trump's hardcore MAGA supporters (such people were already down the road of conspiracy theories and a belief in a sinister 'deep state' before he even became President).

Tell me how

Hegseth could be done.

The sh*tshow continues!