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SvennoJ said:

Police break up Pro-Palestinian student protest in Amsterdam



Student protesters hold protest signs showing the covers of books about Palestine at a protest at the University of Amsterdam on Monday. The students had renamed a building ‘Dr Sirin Al-Attar House’, in honour of a Palestinian doctor killed in Gaza.

Yeah..

For one this isn’t exactly “US Politics”, so it’s off-topic, and two, to provide some context, these ‘protestors’ were destroying the interior of this building. Half of these people aren’t even there to protest, they’re just there to riot.



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RolStoppable said:

New polls show Trump's favorability dropping and journalists talk about it as if it still means something. Trump will be president for as long as he is alive.

He is nearly 79 and of below average health for his age, so that might not be too long. Also even dictators (or latent dictators, in this case) need to be popular enough in the early stages of consolidating their power, especially in a country with 500 million guns and millions of wackos with access to them. So far the bullets have missed, but there is no guarantee they'll continue to. The U.S has a very long history of assasination attempts as well as successful assasinations. 

But really who this matters is for the Republicans who don't have his non-stick status. The special elections so far are a hint of what is to come. Virginia's elections in November will be another hint. And then 2026 will tell us if they can consolidate a post-Trump authoritarian state or not based on which margins the Democrats pull off. If Democrats get more than 260 HoR, then the GOP will start to fear they're on track to be a decades-long minority party in the same way the Democrats were after the Civil War until the Great Depression, and the GOP was after the New Deal until the Reagan Revolution. Being in that place right after their president frayed the Separation of Powers and de-legitimized the courts which have been their biggest boon toward their agenda for the last forty years, will be a shock to them.

And if Trump doesn't have his dictatorship consolidated by then, then they'll want to distance themselves from him as the boat sinks. 



sc94597 said:
RolStoppable said:

New polls show Trump's favorability dropping and journalists talk about it as if it still means something. Trump will be president for as long as he is alive.

He is nearly 79 and of below average health for his age, so that might not be too long. Also even dictators (or latent dictators, in this case) need to be popular enough in the early stages of consolidating their power, especially in a country with 500 million guns and millions of wackos with access to them. So far the bullets have missed, but there is no guarantee they'll continue to. The U.S has a very long history of assasination attempts as well as successful assasinations

But really who this matters is for the Republicans who don't have his non-stick status. The special elections so far are a hint of what is to come. Virginia's elections in November will be another hint. And then 2026 will tell us if they can consolidate a post-Trump authoritarian state or not based on which margins the Democrats pull off. If Democrats get more than 260 HoR, then the GOP will start to fear they're on track to be a decades-long minority party in the same way the Democrats were after the Civil War until the Great Depression, and the GOP was after the New Deal until the Reagan Revolution. Being in that place right after their president frayed the Separation of Powers and de-legitimized the courts which have been their biggest boon toward their agenda for the last forty years, will be a shock to them.

And if Trump doesn't have his dictatorship consolidated by then, then they'll want to distance themselves from him as the boat sinks. 

I'm actually somewhat afraid that an assassin might hit Trump. Vance is much younger (so the chances of dying of old age in office are very low), just as bad if not even worse (he seems to loathe Europe with a passion, Trump is more indifferent in that regard) and an assassinated Trump would easily be sold by Republicans as him being a martyr and sweeping the election due to this when it looks increasingly that the opposite will happen.



US openly attacking the UN to please Netanyahu


Francesca Albanese’s tenure is sign of UN ‘bias against Israel’, says US

The US Mission to the United Nations has “strongly denounced” the tenure of Francesca Albanese, the UN’s special rapporteur on human rights in Palestine.

In a statement, the mission said the Human Rights Council’s (UNHRC) support for Albanese was another “example of why President [Donald] Trump ordered the United States to cease all participation in the HRC”.

“Ms. Albanese’s actions also make clear the United Nations tolerates antisemitic hatred, bias against Israel, and the legitimization of terrorism,” the statement added.

Shortly after Trump took office in January, he cut funding to three UN bodies: the UNHRC, UNESCO and the agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA.

An executive order the president signed outlined that the agencies had acted “contrary to the interests of the United States while attacking our allies and propagating antisemitism”.



US sends more bombs and weapons to Israel

The Israeli Broadcasting Authority reports that dozens of flights with military transport planes loaded with ammunition have landed in recent days at the Nevatim Airbase in Israel.

Today, six planes loaded with MK-84 bombs, cluster munitions, and other combat supplies for Gaza landed in Israel.

The ammunition that arrived in Israel comes as part of the preparations for more attacks on Gaza, as well as for potential attacks on Iran if negotiations fail, Israeli media reported.

This comes shortly after the US Department of State approved the sale of engines used on military vehicles to Israel in a deal worth $180m.

The administration of US President Donald Trump has accelerated weapons transfers to Israel despite the mounting toll in Gaza, including a limited number of offensive arms exports halted by Trump’s predecessor, Joe Biden.



Bofferbrauer2 said:
sc94597 said:

He is nearly 79 and of below average health for his age, so that might not be too long. Also even dictators (or latent dictators, in this case) need to be popular enough in the early stages of consolidating their power, especially in a country with 500 million guns and millions of wackos with access to them. So far the bullets have missed, but there is no guarantee they'll continue to. The U.S has a very long history of assasination attempts as well as successful assasinations. 

But really who this matters is for the Republicans who don't have his non-stick status. The special elections so far are a hint of what is to come. Virginia's elections in November will be another hint. And then 2026 will tell us if they can consolidate a post-Trump authoritarian state or not based on which margins the Democrats pull off. If Democrats get more than 260 HoR, then the GOP will start to fear they're on track to be a decades-long minority party in the same way the Democrats were after the Civil War until the Great Depression, and the GOP was after the New Deal until the Reagan Revolution. Being in that place right after their president frayed the Separation of Powers and de-legitimized the courts which have been their biggest boon toward their agenda for the last forty years, will be a shock to them.

And if Trump doesn't have his dictatorship consolidated by then, then they'll want to distance themselves from him as the boat sinks. 

I'm actually somewhat afraid that an assassin might hit Trump. Vance is much younger (so the chances of dying of old age in office are very low), just as bad if not even worse (he seems to loathe Europe with a passion, Trump is more indifferent in that regard) and an assassinated Trump would easily be sold by Republicans as him being a martyr and sweeping the election due to this when it looks increasingly that the opposite will happen.

Right, but Vance's problem is that he isn't a cult-leader. Nobody can substitute Trump. All of the state-wide elections where MAGA candidates have ran and failed have shown us this. 

Again, dictatorships need popular support (or at least not that much opposition) to get off the ground. They sell themselves as "fixing" or "rectifying" things and really need to make it look like things are going that way. Causing a global depression, is not that.  

I don't think Trump works as a martyr. Trump voters want Trump. Their movement isn't ideological enough for a martyr to work. Cults rarely last without the cult leader around. 

When Lincoln was assassinated the political movement pivoted against a more radical reconstruction (which seemed inevitable until his assassination.) When McKinley was assassinated we got a far more business oppositional president in Theodore Roosevelt. Presidential assassinations have changed the political trajectory considerably in American history. 

Last edited by sc94597 - on 15 April 2025

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Bofferbrauer2 said:
sc94597 said:

He is nearly 79 and of below average health for his age, so that might not be too long. Also even dictators (or latent dictators, in this case) need to be popular enough in the early stages of consolidating their power, especially in a country with 500 million guns and millions of wackos with access to them. So far the bullets have missed, but there is no guarantee they'll continue to. The U.S has a very long history of assasination attempts as well as successful assasinations. 

But really who this matters is for the Republicans who don't have his non-stick status. The special elections so far are a hint of what is to come. Virginia's elections in November will be another hint. And then 2026 will tell us if they can consolidate a post-Trump authoritarian state or not based on which margins the Democrats pull off. If Democrats get more than 260 HoR, then the GOP will start to fear they're on track to be a decades-long minority party in the same way the Democrats were after the Civil War until the Great Depression, and the GOP was after the New Deal until the Reagan Revolution. Being in that place right after their president frayed the Separation of Powers and de-legitimized the courts which have been their biggest boon toward their agenda for the last forty years, will be a shock to them.

And if Trump doesn't have his dictatorship consolidated by then, then they'll want to distance themselves from him as the boat sinks. 

I'm actually somewhat afraid that an assassin might hit Trump. Vance is much younger (so the chances of dying of old age in office are very low), just as bad if not even worse (he seems to loathe Europe with a passion, Trump is more indifferent in that regard) and an assassinated Trump would easily be sold by Republicans as him being a martyr and sweeping the election due to this when it looks increasingly that the opposite will happen.

Does impeachment also mean Vance gets in power? Yeah it does and impeachment would also make a martyr out of him to his base.

Is there no way to trigger early elections in the US? (Can't find any info on that)


So it's 4 more years of Trump/Vance wrecking the world or armed insurrection, monumental fuck up. No working checks and balances in the US.



sc94597 said:
RolStoppable said:

New polls show Trump's favorability dropping and journalists talk about it as if it still means something. Trump will be president for as long as he is alive.

He is nearly 79 and of below average health for his age, so that might not be too long. Also even dictators (or latent dictators, in this case) need to be popular enough in the early stages of consolidating their power, especially in a country with 500 million guns and millions of wackos with access to them. So far the bullets have missed, but there is no guarantee they'll continue to. The U.S has a very long history of assasination attempts as well as successful assasinations. 

But really who this matters is for the Republicans who don't have his non-stick status. The special elections so far are a hint of what is to come. Virginia's elections in November will be another hint. And then 2026 will tell us if they can consolidate a post-Trump authoritarian state or not based on which margins the Democrats pull off. If Democrats get more than 260 HoR, then the GOP will start to fear they're on track to be a decades-long minority party in the same way the Democrats were after the Civil War until the Great Depression, and the GOP was after the New Deal until the Reagan Revolution. Being in that place right after their president frayed the Separation of Powers and de-legitimized the courts which have been their biggest boon toward their agenda for the last forty years, will be a shock to them.

And if Trump doesn't have his dictatorship consolidated by then, then they'll want to distance themselves from him as the boat sinks. 

He also has access to better healthcare than Joe Blow, and his handlers will Weekend at Bernie's him as long as they can. Some of these authoritarians have terrifyingly long lives. Robert Mugabe lived to be 95 years old. Castro lived to 90, after smoking cigars daily for 44 years. 

And even once he's gone, the same voter base in the South and Midwest that put him in office based on their grievances against everything outside of their 0.8 percent share of the world's population will still be there.



SanAndreasX said:

He also has access to better healthcare than Joe Blow, and his handlers will Weekend at Bernie's him as long as they can. Some of these authoritarians have terrifyingly long lives. Robert Mugabe lived to be 95 years old. Castro lived to 90, after smoking cigars daily for 44 years. 

Healthcare isn't magic. You're not going to magically cure dementia by being rich. And while we do now have a cure for most weight issues, Trump likely won't take it. 





You can pretty much forget about Trump/Lance leaving the white house early. We already seen how hard that is to do so the chances are slim. The best case scenario is that Trump economic plan really bombs and in 2 years there is a reset in the house and senate. That is pretty much your best abet. Until then, it's 4 years of Trump.