Political Posts

[Hektor]

On 4/29/2025 at 5:10 PM, John Hjorth said:

You're doing a just great job in this topic.  - Thank you for that.  - Keep them coming!

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/06/us/politics/trump-canada-love.html

 

Trump Surprises Canada With a New Message: We Love You

“Canada is a very special place to me,” President Trump purred at the top of the meeting. “I know so many people that live in Canada. My parents had relatives that lived in Canada, my mother in particular.”

 

“I love Canada,” Mr. Trump added.

 

“Regardless of anything,” Mr. Trump declared at one point, “we’re going to be friends with Canada.”

 

 

 

Edited May 6, 2025 by Hektor

[Spekulatius]

2 hours ago, Sweet said:

 

 

I don’t think it’s anymore complicated than saying it’s ok to move on.  It’s an entirely new generation of Germans, nearly all of which will have precisely zero responsibility for anything that happened in WW2.  Remember sure, but the Germans of today have nothing to be guilty about because they didn’t do it.  Saying this doesn’t make anyone a Nazi or fascist.

 

This has been correct even for my generation from the 70‘s and 80‘s. Most Nazis were already dead in the 80‘s. However, there is a difference between moving on and saying it didn’t happen and Hitler wasn’t all that wrong which is the camp that some of the AFD leaders fall too. I really don’t care how many votes they get, but these guys are total whackos with plans like tearing down all the wind turbines, just because.

I don’t think they can be compared too Meloni either. Meloni is foremost an Italian Nationalist, while the AFD has far more sinister undercurrents that they are not willing to shake off, it seems.

Edited May 6, 2025 by Spekulatius

[Dinar]

1 hour ago, Spekulatius said:

This has been correct even for my generation from the 70‘s and 80‘s. Most Nazis were already dead in the 80‘s. However, there is a difference between moving on and saying it didn’t happen and Hitler wasn’t all that wrong which is the camp that some of the AFD leaders fall too. I really don’t care how many votes they get, but these guys are total whackos with plans like tearing down all the wind turbines, just because.

I don’t think they can be compared too Meloni either. Meloni is foremost an Italian Nationalist, while the AFD has far more sinister undercurrents that they are not willing to shake off, it seems.

The problem is that many Germans have legitimate concerns, whether about energy transition or mass immigration, and the mainstream parties ignore them.   Had France ended immigration thirty years ago, I doubt Le Pen would have been as popular as she is, nor do I think AFD would be getting even 10% of the vote had Germany not welcomed millions of Syrians/Turks in the past three decades and not got crazy about renewables.    When mainstream parties ignore concerns of a large swathe of the electorate, electorate has no choice but vote for extremists.  

[Parsad]

On 5/5/2025 at 7:16 PM, cubsfan said:

LOL - just tell me what "crimes" Don Jr committed or Don Sr

 

I have no problem calling them out or admitting them. So far, it's all projection!

 

I love the part about the "authoritarian takeover" - it's called "we lost the Presidency, House & Senate"

So funny!

 

There are tons...about as difficult to find as cocaine in Don Jr.'s pockets...but I'll give you two that they were actually convicted, lost and paid fines.

 

https://www.npr.org/2022/12/06/1140756394/former-president-donald-trumps-company-found-guilty-criminal-tax-fraud

 

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/trump-fine-fraud-ruling-eric-don-b2497720.html

 

Cheers!

[Parsad]

Cubs, can you tell me why Scott Bessent had such a hard time answering this question?  Who pays the tariff?  And how can anyone defend these types of retarded answers...whether it's someone on the left or right giving them!  Cheers!

 

 

[Sweet]

7 hours ago, Spekulatius said:

This has been correct even for my generation from the 70‘s and 80‘s. Most Nazis were already dead in the 80‘s. However, there is a difference between moving on and saying it didn’t happen and Hitler wasn’t all that wrong which is the camp that some of the AFD leaders fall too. I really don’t care how many votes they get, but these guys are total whackos with plans like tearing down all the wind turbines, just because.

I don’t think they can be compared too Meloni either. Meloni is foremost an Italian Nationalist, while the AFD has far more sinister undercurrents that they are not willing to shake off, it seems.

Perhaps, but as Dinar says, who else can they vote for that platforms issues they are worried about?  It’s the mainstream political parties pushing people to fringes.

[james22]

3 hours ago, Sweet said:

It’s the mainstream political parties pushing people to fringes.

 

“Choose the form of the Destructor,” says the demon in Ghostbusters. Bill Murray, et al., got the giant Stay Puft Marshmallow Man. Our political and media elites, on the other hand, got Donald Trump.  . . .

 

People who are unhappy with the things Trump is saying need to understand that he’s only getting so much traction because he’s filling a void. If the responsible people would talk about these issues, and take action, Trump wouldn’t take up so much space.  . . .

 

Calling Trump a fascist is a bit much, but movements like fascism and communism get their start because the mechanisms of liberal democracy seem weak and ineffectual and dishonest. If you don’t want Trump — or, perhaps, some post-Trump figure who really is a fascist — to dominate things, you need to stop being weak and ineffectual and dishonest.  . . .

 

In that sort of environment, where people feel unsafe and where the powers-that-be seem to be, well, weak and ineffectual and dishonest, the appeal of someone who doesn’t seem weak and ineffectual grows stronger.  . . .

 

If you wish to hold fascism, or even just Trumpism, at bay, then we need elites who are trustworthy, who can be counted on to protect the country, and who respect the Constitution even when it gets in the way of doing something they want to do. By failing to live up to these standards, they have chosen their "Destructor."

 

https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2015/12/09/glenn-reynolds-liberals-have-chosen-donald-their-destructor/76996298/

[Spooky]

4 hours ago, Sweet said:

Perhaps, but as Dinar says, who else can they vote for that platforms issues they are worried about?  It’s the mainstream political parties pushing people to fringes.

 

A big part of this is Facebook and their algorithms. Lots of studies showing that people are being driven to the right wing extreme in Germany by Facebook.

 

https://www.niemanlab.org/2025/02/in-germany-social-media-algorithms-are-pumping-out-huge-amounts-of-far-right-pro-afd-content/

[dealraker]

While I do not regularly read the politics thread I have read this morning many of the posts.  What Trump does so successfully is gain followers and believers...and "haters" as we say...while distracting (not necessarily on purpose) people with his impulsive rants and random conflicts.  Along the way he is incredibly good at finding financial survival, crypto is the wildly successful game this go-round.  Often the game he plays isn't much ethical or legal, but that isn't important as it just tends to work well for him.  

 

The problem for us as a country is that while Trump vastly meets and magnifies the needs of those with life-script, even life-defining grievances (over a decade of many posting on COBF is a clear indication of this), he is terrible at basic fundamental business and finance.  Trump loves spending and he has zero discipline as to saving or being efficient.  DOGE is meaningless.

 

My view is that the budget deficit percentage is now heading towards 9% under Trump and it will get worse.   I also believe that while Trump today is still doing his dance of creating events that stir and attract attention, the consequences of his deal-making will control him ever increasingly over his tenure.  Trump is doing what he has always done, there's really nothing new about it...he's just now nearly the entire focus of the world.

 

I don't think anything we'd actually hope to improve is getting improved by Trump.  Of course tons of people (evidenced right here on COBF) think when Trump uses his gravely voice to rant that whatever his topic is the problem is simply solved completely.  Yet you'll be discussing the same issues in the future as in the past, nothing is getting changed.

 

Trump has now financially survived.  I'll give him credit for his unorthodox method of doing that, it something I relate to, something dear to me actually.  Having grown up without parents in a family of multiple suicides and literally changed for the worse (collapsed is a better term) family business settings, I continually can't fathom how I got to where I am now. 

 

What you focus on grows.  For us with Trump that's going to be conflict and impulsive actions that result in chaos and conflict.  Yes as Cubs reminds us endlessly this is absolutely what we voted for.  Let's see how much better off we are whenever Trump is no longer controlling all our lives at all times.  

Edited May 7, 2025 by dealraker

[Spooky]

I would encourage everyone to read the attached article from the FT by Yuval Noah Harari. We have been down this road of right wing nationalism before, if we divide the world into rival fortresses it will not end well.
 

Yuval Noah Harari_ Trump’s world of rival fortresses.pdf

[cubsfan]

38 minutes ago, dealraker said:

While I do not regularly read the politics thread I have read this morning many of the posts.  What Trump does so successfully is gain followers and believers...and "haters" as we say...while distracting (not necessarily on purpose) people with his impulsive rants and random conflicts.  Along the way he is incredibly good at finding financial survival, crypto is the wildly successful game this go-round.  Often the game he plays isn't much ethical or legal, but that isn't important as it just tends to work well for him.  

 

The problem for us as a country is that while Trump vastly meets and magnifies the needs of those with life-script, even life-defining grievances (over a decade of many posting on COBF is a clear indication of this), he is terrible at basic fundamental business and finance.  Trump loves spending and he has zero disciple as to saving or being efficient.  DOGE is meaningless.

 

My view is that the budget deficit percentage is now heading towards 9% under Trump and it will get worse.   I also believe that while Trump today is still doing his dance of creating events that stir and attract attention, the consequences of his deal-making will control him ever increasingly over his tenure.  Trump is doing what he has always done, there's really nothing new about it...he's just now nearly the entire focus of the world.

 

I don't think anything we'd actually hope to improve is getting improved by Trump.  Of course tons of people (evidenced right here on COBF) think when Trump uses his gravely voice to rant that whatever his topic is the problem is simply solved completely.  Yet you'll be discussing the same issues in the future as in the past, nothing is getting changed.

 

Trump has now financially survived.  I'll give him credit for his unorthodox method of doing that, it something I relate to, something dear to me actually.  Having grown up without parents in a family of multiple suicides and literally changed for the worse (collapsed is a better term) family business settings, I continually can't fathom how I got to where I am now. 

 

What you focus on grows.  For us with Trump that's going to be conflict and impulsive actions that result in chaos and conflict.  Yes as Cubs reminds us endlessly this is absolutely what we voted for.  Let's see how much better off we are whenever Trump is no longer controlling all our lives at all times.  

 

Yeah, you're right. We really need to go back to the Biden years for an honest government that serves the people. Thanks for the reality check.

[Sweet]

1 hour ago, Spooky said:

 

A big part of this is Facebook and their algorithms. Lots of studies showing that people are being driven to the right wing extreme in Germany by Facebook.

 

https://www.niemanlab.org/2025/02/in-germany-social-media-algorithms-are-pumping-out-huge-amounts-of-far-right-pro-afd-content/

 

I would like to caution against thinking that this is manufactured by social media algorithms.  My recollection of social media, just a few years ago, and prior to Musk taking over Twitter, was that it was dominated by left-wing views.  Views not falling within the liberal consensus on immigration and things like gender were quickly censored.

 

Some of the things in that article are of course genuinely far-right, but I am willing to be that most people supporting afd just want much lower immigration, and want large scale deportations.

 

[Spooky]

24 minutes ago, Sweet said:

 

I would like to caution against thinking that this is manufactured by social media algorithms.  My recollection of social media, just a few years ago, and prior to Musk taking over Twitter, was that it was dominated by left-wing views.  Views not falling within the liberal consensus on immigration and things like gender were quickly censored.

 

Some of the things in that article are of course genuinely far-right, but I am willing to be that most people supporting afd just want much lower immigration, and want large scale deportations.

 

 

This predates the acquisition of Twitter by Elon. https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2021/feb/04/facebook-groups-misinformation

 

Facebook's own internal reporting knew they were driving Germans to interact with far right groups.

 

"Facebook’s own research showed that algorithmic recommendations of groups may have contributed to the rise of violence and extremism.

 

On Sunday, the Wall Street Journal reported that internal documents showed executives were aware of risks posed by groups and were warned repeatedly by researchers to address them. In one presentation in 2020 August, researchers said roughly “70% of the top 100 most active US Civic Groups are considered non-recommendable for issues such as hate, misinfo, bullying and harassment”."

 

 

Edited May 7, 2025 by Spooky

[dealraker]

2 hours ago, cubsfan said:

 

Yeah, you're right. We really need to go back to the Biden years for an honest government that serves the people. Thanks for the reality check.

Biden?  What's the reality check?  What's his role today, what's his relevance?

[Mephistopheles]

19 minutes ago, dealraker said:

Biden?  What's the reality check?  What's his role today, what's his relevance?

[cubsfan]

2 hours ago, dealraker said:

Biden?  What's the reality check?  What's his role today, what's his relevance?

 

Someone has to clean up the huge mess handed to us by President Biden.

So he is no longer relevant, other than the nightmare he created.

 

You now have someone, who is unpopular with many by having to employ mass deportations, for no other reason than putting a stop to crime, child sex trafficking, human trafficking and all the assorted terrible crimes associated with his incredible stupidity.  Biden's legacy will be a the near destruction of a border and citizenship and our culture.

 

But you go ahead and make it all about money.

[changegonnacome]

1 hour ago, cubsfan said:

Someone has to clean up the huge mess handed to us by President Biden.

 

With the exception of illegal immigration - I'm not seeing Captain Chaos tidy up much..........immigration being the simplest of the so called problems facing the US.....and even there his solution is rooted in unlaterism & executive orders and so by its nature its a temporary fix to a permanent problem....when a woke populist leader of the left comes to power the floodgates will open again. This is why you need Congress and a root and branch reform of how immigration (legal and illegal) is structured.

 

On the most important issue facing this Presidency - getting the fiscal house in order - it appears to me that its more of the same which is to say preach fiscal prudence and spend like a drunken sailor....in this respect Trump is a genius, using Elon Musk as a useful idiot to create alot of noise with DOGE around cutting costs while in reality most of it gets given back in the budget bill soon to be signed in D.C........6%+ fiscal deficit for 2025 is guaranteed now.....same or larger projected for 2026......expect to hear alot about dynamic scoring of the budget once a copy starts circulating. It's the same trick they used for the TCJA which absolutely factually did not end up paying for itself*.....rather it contributed to a growing fiscal deficit......that COVID and then Biden blew out.

 

As I've said cubs - we've got numbers to measure this President his reality distortion field can't hit facts (though it wouldn't surprise me if we started to see an assault on the very statical apparatuses that measure things like inflation/GDP growth it would be kind of predictable banana republic populist behaviour stuff....to call into question the fundamental measures of the economy if they started to move against him blaming a conspiracy of  "deep state" statistician "liberal loonies" that do up the GDP figures.

 

Its going to be very interesting to see 2026,2027 across the major measures one can use to measure the health of the economy and the health of the fiscal.

 

*GPT:

 

Did the TCJA pay for itself via dynamic scoring?

No. While there was a modest, temporary GDP growth bump in 2018, the tax cuts significantly reduced revenue, and deficits rose sharply even before the pandemic hit. In 2019 growth dropped back to its 2010-2017 average. The promised “self-financing” via enhanced growth never materialized.

Edited May 7, 2025 by changegonnacome

[Gregmal]

I mean look, we will see if all the predictions pan out. And if not, the perpetrators of the bombastic and often completely fabricated distortions of reality can completely fuck off…I think that’s fair enough. 

[dwy000]

13 minutes ago, Gregmal said:

I mean look, we will see if all the predictions pan out. And if not, the perpetrators of the bombastic and often completely fabricated distortions of reality can completely fuck off…I think that’s fair enough. 

Unless the predictions dont pan out because common sense and control re-exert themselves. Just because people stop the worst from happening doesnt mean it wasnt a moronic and unnecessary chaos in the first place. 

[dealraker]

1 hour ago, cubsfan said:

 

Someone has to clean up the huge mess handed to us by President Biden.

So he is no longer relevant, other than the nightmare he created.

 

You now have someone, who is unpopular with many by having to employ mass deportations, for no other reason than putting a stop to crime, child sex trafficking, human trafficking and all the assorted terrible crimes associated with his incredible stupidity.  Biden's legacy will be a the near destruction of a border and citizenship and our culture.

 

But you go ahead and make it all about money.

Trump is now empowered far more than any other in my lifetime, by a huge margin.  It is 100% his game and his score, no one else's.  You are obviously almost every day slamming clearly the absolute massive literally incredible successes this  man has achieved so let's not do the chicken-little and cry to mamma that something is pathetic little sleepy Joe's fault.

 

Trump is doubling his net worth about every few months, the guy is damn good at deals - deals that deal the good cards to him.  Let's celebrate this too, we all know that you especially want Trump to get fabulously wealthy.  

 

Yes Cubs I assure you, it is 100% about money.  I'm looking after mine, I hope you are doing the same.

 

 

 

 

[Sweet]

6 hours ago, Spooky said:

 

This predates the acquisition of Twitter by Elon. https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2021/feb/04/facebook-groups-misinformation

 

Facebook's own internal reporting knew they were driving Germans to interact with far right groups.

 

"Facebook’s own research showed that algorithmic recommendations of groups may have contributed to the rise of violence and extremism.

 

On Sunday, the Wall Street Journal reported that internal documents showed executives were aware of risks posed by groups and were warned repeatedly by researchers to address them. In one presentation in 2020 August, researchers said roughly “70% of the top 100 most active US Civic Groups are considered non-recommendable for issues such as hate, misinfo, bullying and harassment”."

 

 

Spooky, you are posting the Guardian which is quite far left on the political spectrum.  To the guardian, anything right of the UK Labour Party is considered fascist.

 

One of the organisations quoted is the ‘Global Project Against Hate and Extremism’.  I went to their website and it lists the Celtic cross and ‘LGB’ as being symbols of extremism in the UK - no they aren’t.  That’s truly moronic.
 

The founder of that site,  Heidi Beirich, is quoted in the article.  She is apparently an expert on the far-right.  Included in one of the forms of extremism is ‘anti-immigrant’ - which is a weird way of saying anti-immigration.  That’s not an extremist view by any stretch for all sorts of reasons.

 

Zuckerberg has overhauled the content moderation on Facebook, not because of it was too far right, but because the fact checkers which were moderating the site were too liberal or politically biased to the left.

 

Edited May 7, 2025 by Sweet

[Gregmal]

24 minutes ago, dwy000 said:

Unless the predictions dont pan out because common sense and control re-exert themselves. Just because people stop the worst from happening doesnt mean it wasnt a moronic and unnecessary chaos in the first place. 

I just wish we still had the old cobf Trump/Russia thread or the old Covid thread. So many people, including current members just made total retards of themselves. Today it’s like it never happened…#accountability 

[dwy000]

8 minutes ago, Gregmal said:

I just wish we still had the old cobf Trump/Russia thread or the old Covid thread. So many people, including current members just made total retards of themselves. Today it’s like it never happened…#accountability 

I'm not sure the 1m Americans who died of covid or their loved ones would classify it as "like it never happened".  But that was also not a completely self initiated chaos like we face now. 

 

Just because the markets recovered from WW2 doesnt mean it didnt change the world or was a giant nothing burger. 

Edited May 7, 2025 by dwy000

[Gregmal]

6 minutes ago, dwy000 said:

I'm not sure the 1m Americans who died of covid or their loved ones would classify it as "like it never happened".  But that was also not a completely self initiated chaos like we face now. 

 

Just because the markets recovered from WW2 doesnt mean it didnt change the world or was a giant nothing burger. 

This is irrelevant to some of the "predictions" and "forecasts" from the concerned citizens...not to mention the "course of actions" taken regarding capital allocation. Scoreboard matters. 

[cubsfan]

26 minutes ago, dealraker said:

Trump is now empowered far more than any other in my lifetime, by a huge margin.  It is 100% his game and his score, no one else's.  You are obviously almost every day slamming clearly the absolute massive literally incredible successes this  man has achieved so let's not do the chicken-little and cry to mamma that something is pathetic little sleepy Joe's fault.

 

Trump is doubling his net worth about every few months, the guy is damn good at deals - deals that deal the good cards to him.  Let's celebrate this too, we all know that you especially want Trump to get fabulously wealthy.  

 

Yes Cubs I assure you, it is 100% about money.  I'm looking after mine, I hope you are doing the same.

 

No argument: this is on Trump. He wanted the job, and he got it.

 

And in 100 days, the man has changed a lot of things for the positive.

Unfortunately, since Congress is AWOL as usual - it's up to Executive Orders, which is the only way to set things right - although it's only temporary. Not at all optimal.

 

I'm mystified that you think Biden wasn't a train wreck - no matter. You're entitled to that.

 

Oh, yeah - and I'm all about wanting Trump to get rich - right...

 

Like @changegonnacome said - we'll have a measuring stick after 4 years or a little earlier.

Feel free to call me out on it - I have no problem with that.  I heard all the bullshit before about Trump and his Russian collusion, etc - all the lies about being Putin's puppet getting rich, etc...

 

You guys just kill me about how cock-sure you are that this administration is a disaster.

 

Personally, I'm not sure how we end up - but I saw enough of the last losers to know we were going to lose the country. So I like seeing POTUS trying to set the country right again - especially culturally.

Transparency is wonderful. There is little that is hidden in his agenda.