The Second Term of Donald J. Trump as President of the United States of America

sear said:
James Earl !


Even if technically true, a misleading representation.
Numerous reports from multiple sources indicate China is building up 3rd millennium military capability including a blue-water navy.

Additional reports describe China's continuing escalating aggressions apparently choreographed to prepare to invade and conquer Taiwan. None the less, China's record is far more peaceful than the U.S.'.


James Earl, a very good man. Not a very good president. But he's nailed the guns / butter debate here.
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There are a couple reasons why China's military is more practical than ours.
One is that ours is foreign deployed, all over the world, which costs over 4 times more than domestic deployment.
China also has about 4 times the population, so the per capita costs are much lower.
China also avoids actual military conflict, which changes the cost of any operation by at least a factor of 4.
China just has to watch the South China Sea, which is right offshore and very inexpensive to patrol.
The US is spread out from Greenland to Yemen.

What is odd is most people think of Carter as being too weak of a president, but I think that the reason the media trashed him was because he was the only president to try to take on corruption like California stealing water from nearby states.
The failed Operation Eagle Claw should never have happened, and Carter should have instead explained to the public what we had done to Iran in 1953.
 
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Rigby5 said:
#3,001
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3,001

A penny short is a deficit. A penny over is a surplus.
There's no more extravagant waste than a 2nd rate military. Gen. Horner
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Problem is, we don't / can't know exactly to the penny how much U.S. military spending is enough. So we overdo it as we have done year after year for a quarter millennium.

The compounding problem is, after we spend $Billions on ostensibly defensive arms,
a mindless sabre-brandisher like Trump takes control, and more blood is shed.

"I hope our wisdom will grow with our power, and teach us, that the less we use our power the greater it will be." Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826), U.S. president. Letter, 12 June 1815
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Oh T.J.,
wouldn't that have been nice !
 
sear said:
3,001

A penny short is a deficit. A penny over is a surplus.

Problem is, we don't / can't know exactly to the penny how much U.S. military spending is enough. So we overdo it as we have done year after year for a quarter millennium.

The compounding problem is, after we spend $Billions on ostensibly defensive arms,
a mindless sabre-brandisher like Trump takes control, and more blood is shed.


Oh T.J.,
wouldn't that have been nice !
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Its too bad military technology with drones, anti-missiles, etc. are so complex these days.
My opinion used to be that we did not even need a military since our population is so well armed that invasion would be impossible.
But these days someone could just take out our utilities from a distance, so I no longer see a way around an expensive military.
However, no one would make any profit from taking out our utilities, so it seems to me that our offensive capability is actually what is going to ensure we do get attacked.
Which is all very confusing, and makes our attacks on Venezuela and Iran even more disturbing.
 
sear said:
President Donald Trump and his family suffered devastating financial losses after investing heavily in bitcoin, an analysis has found.
Forbes detailed the series of unfortunate events that resulted in the president and his two sons, Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr., seeing their crypto investments hemorrhage around $1 billion in the space of a year.
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The only thing I like about things like bitcoin is that they may allow for transactions to be less traceable?
An unsecured currency would otherwise seem like a horrific idea to me?
 
Rigby5 said:
"The only thing I like about things like bitcoin is that they may allow for transactions to be less traceable?" R5 #3,004
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Yeah, I have the impression Uncle Sam has surpassed butt-sniffing levels of intrusion.
In the '50's Mom paid $cash for groceries, occasionally wrote a check, BUT !! personal check at the Grand Union was an ordeal.
The cashier had to obtain a manager's approval, and the manager verified the check-writer's ID (often a driver's license, though back then NY driver's licenses had no photograph.
Credit card purchases for groceries were rare, routinely raising near crisis-level store response.
In 2026 $cash is a neglected stepchild, the penny all but gone.

Rigby5 said:
"An unsecured currency would otherwise seem like a horrific idea to me?" R5 #3,004
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Me too. BUT !
It seems we're both wrong.
My personal experience:
- my credit card isn't much good if I don't have the $money to pay the $bill when it arrives.
- my checking account not much good if I write a check for more than is in the account.

So wouldn't it make sense for the U.S. to maintain the Gold standard? Seems to to me. BUT !
There were 8 economic depressions while the U.S. was on the gold standard, and none after the U.S. went off the gold standard. economist Dr. Stephanie Kelton
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?

Shiftless2 said:
"Since Vance is (supposedly) a devout Catholic you have to ask why the Pope doesn't excommunicate him." S2 #3,005
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Because the pope doesn't want the Vatican to be bombed back to the stone ages?
 
The Independent
Trump promised mass pardons for his top aides before he leaves office: report
Andrew Feinberg Fri, April 10, 2026 at 3:20 PM GMT-5
President Trump is reportedly promising to issue preemptive pardons to his top aides to shield them from potential legal consequences during the remaining years of his administration.
Since returning to office last year, President Donald Trump has used his pardon-issuing power to reward friends and allies, campaign donors, and the thousands of supporters who stormed the Capitol during a violent riot after he lost the 2020 election to Joe Biden.
Now, he is reportedly promising pardons to a broad swath of his aides as a way of shielding them from consequences for any potentially illegal acts committed in his service.
According to The Wall Street Journal, Trump has repeatedly promised pardons to administration officials on multiple occasions, including during one recent meeting at which he reportedly said he’d “pardon everyone who has come within 200 feet of the Oval” before he leaves office in January 2029.
The Journal also reported that he’d had a separate conversation with aides in his private dining room during which he’d mused about holding a news conference to announce the mass pardons in the waning days of his administration.
www.yahoo.com

Trump promised mass pardons for his top aides before he leaves office: report

The White House has characterized his remarks as having been made in jest
www.yahoo.com www.yahoo.com

President Trump is already on record as having pardoned his Jan. 6 insurrection co-conspirators.
Trump's January 6 insurrection is reportedly the most extensively, exhaustively investigated crime in U.S. history.
The pardons Trump granted these dangerous violent anti-American criminals are widely regarded by law-&-order conservatives unwise, wielding presidential power for personal reason.

And now Trump reportedly promising mass pardons for his top aides. What is it President Trump has planned that would warrant this?

And if the 25th Amendment is invoked, and Trump is removed from office before the blanket pardon is issued, what then?
 
sear said:
Yeah, I have the impression Uncle Sam has surpassed butt-sniffing levels of intrusion.
In the '50's Mom paid $cash for groceries, occasionally wrote a check, BUT !! personal check at the Grand Union was an ordeal.
The cashier had to obtain a manager's approval, and the manager verified the check-writer's ID (often a driver's license, though back then NY driver's licenses had no photograph.
Credit card purchases for groceries were rare, routinely raising near crisis-level store response.
In 2026 $cash is a neglected stepchild, the penny all but gone.


Me too. BUT !
It seems we're both wrong.
My personal experience:
- my credit card isn't much good if I don't have the $money to pay the $bill when it arrives.
- my checking account not much good if I write a check for more than is in the account.

So wouldn't it make sense for the U.S. to maintain the Gold standard? Seems to to me. BUT !

?


Because the pope doesn't want the Vatican to be bombed back to the stone ages?
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The gold standard was the original means of securing currency.
But the trouble with that is it's too stable.
You want a slight constant inflation because you want to increase production, increase population, and to make debts easier to repay.
But crypto currency is only backed by speculation, like the stock market, so can wildly vacillate.

Since the Pope historically had such power, it is a strange world we live in now where the Pope is intimidated.
 
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BREAKING: Supreme Court Justice Sotomayor publicly SLAMS her conservative colleagues for turning the Court into Trump’s personal rubber stamp!

In a rare public rebuke, Justice Sonia Sotomayor blasted the 6-3 conservative majority for giving the Trump administration preferential treatment on emergency motions and allowing Trump to bypass normal appeals and get favorable rulings with little commentary.

“We’ve done it to ourselves,” Sotomayor said. “The newspapers are filled with reports about how many emergency motions we are receiving. It’s unprecedented in the court’s history.”

The Trump administration has filed roughly 30 emergency applications in just 15 months – far more than previous presidents – and the conservative justices have sided with Trump over 80% of the time.

Sotomayor recalled that the Court used to focus on whether regular people would suffer “irreparable harm” from a bad ruling.

Now, the conservatives have flipped the script: they assume the executive branch (i.e. Trump) will be irreparably harmed if any of his policies are blocked, making it much easier for him to win on fast-track emergency orders.

She took an especially sharp swipe at Brett Kavanaugh, saying his claim that immigration stops are “typically brief” shows how out of touch he is with working people who live paycheck to paycheck.

At the same time the court that was bending over backwards to help Trump push his agenda, it was also slow-walking or blocking accountability from the administration, the Justice said.

Sotomayor is absolutely right. The highest court in the land must not be a rubber stamp for one man’s revenge and power grabs.

SOURCE
 
Now we need to get to the bottom of "Why?"

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JUST IN: A federal judge has rejected the Pentagon’s revised press policy, ruling that it violated his earlier order and amounted to an attempt by Pete Hegseth and the Trump administration to control what the American people see and hear.

Judge Paul Friedman did not mince words. He said the Pentagon’s move was an effort to “dictate” coverage and called that what it is: “the mark of an autocracy, not a democracy.”

The judge found that after being ordered to restore reporters’ access, the Pentagon tried to pull an end-run around the ruling by rewriting the policy with slightly different language while keeping the same unconstitutional restrictions in place. He also blasted the Pentagon for shutting down journalists’ meaningful access to the building, making it harder for reporters to do their jobs and keep the public informed.

In his opinion, Friedman made clear that this case is about far more than press credentials. It is about whether the government can punish journalists, limit access, and shape coverage to protect those in power from scrutiny.

His answer was clear: the Constitution does not allow it.

SOURCE with comments
 
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I owe my Trump-supporting family and friends an apology.
I’ve been critical of the Trump presidency and am still exhausted from the experience. But to be fair, President Trump wasn’t that bad, other than when:
He incited an insurrection against the government
Mismanaged a pandemic that killed nearly half a million Americans ( an extra 300,000 died because he drug his feet 16 months and called it ‘A Democrat Hoax’ )
Separated children from their families, and lost those children in the bureaucracy
Tear-gassed peaceful protesters on Lafayette Square so he could hold a photo op holding a Bible in front of a church
Tried to block all Muslims from entering the country
Got impeached, got impeached again
Had the worst jobs record of any president in modern history
Ppressured Ukraine to dig dirt on Joe Biden
Fired the FBI director for investigating his ties to Russia
Bragged about firing the FBI director on TV
Took Vladimir Putin’s word over the US intelligence community
Diverted military funding to build his wall
Caused the longest government shutdown in US history
Called Black Lives Matter a “symbol of hate"
Lied 30,000 times
Banned transgender people from serving in the military
Ejected reporters from the White House briefing room who asked tough questions
Vetoed the defense funding bill because it renamed military bases named for Confederate soldiers
Refused to release his tax returns
Increased the national debt by nearly $8 trillion
Had three of the highest annual trade deficits in U.S. history
Called veterans and soldiers who died in combat losers and suckers
Coddled the leader of Saudi Arabia after he ordered the execution and dismembering of a US-based journalist
Refused to concede the 2020 election
Hired his unqualified daughter and son-in-law to work in the White House
Walked out of an interview with Lesley Stahl
Called neo-Nazis “very fine people”
Suggested that people should inject bleach into their bodies to fight COVID
Abandoned our allies the Kurds to Turkey
Pushed through massive tax cuts for the wealthiest but balked at helping working Americans
Incited anti-lockdown protestors in several states at the height of the pandemic
Withdrew the US from the Paris climate accords
Withdrew the US from the Iranian nuclear deal
Withdrew the US from the Trans Pacific Partnership which was designed to block China’s advances
Insulted his own Cabinet members on Twitter
Pushed the leader of Montenegro out of the way during a photo op
Failed to reiterate US commitment to defending NATO allies
Called Haiti and African nations “shithole” countries
Called the city of Baltimore the “worst in the nation"
Claimed that he single handedly brought back the phrase “Merry Christmas” even though it hadn’t gone anywhere
Forced his Cabinet members to praise him publicly like some cult leader
Believed he should be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize
Berated and belittled his hand-picked Attorney General when he recused himself from the Russia probe
Suggested the US should buy Greenland
Colluded with Mitch McConnell to push through federal judges and two Supreme Court justices after supporting efforts to prevent his predecessor from appointing judges
Repeatedly called the media “enemies of the people"
Claimed that if we tested fewer people for COVID we’d have fewer cases
Violated the emoluments clause
Thought that Nambia was a country
Told Bob Woodward in private that the coronavirus was a big deal but then downplayed it in public
Called his exceedingly faithful vice president a “p---y” for following the Constitution
Nearly got us into a war with Iran after threatening them by tweet
Nominated a corrupt head of the EPA
Nominated a corrupt head of HHS
Nominated a corrupt head of the Interior Department
Nominated a corrupt head of the USDA
Praised dictators and authoritarians around the world while criticizing allies
Refused to allow the presidential transition to begin
Insulted war hero John McCain – even after his death
Spent an obscene amount of time playing golf after criticizing Barack Obama for playing (far less) golf while president
Falsely claimed that he won the 2016 popular vote
Falsely claimed that he turned down being Time’s Man of the Year
Considered firing special counsel Robert Mueller on several occasions
Mocked wearing face masks to guard against transmitting COVID
Locked Congress out of its constitutional duty to confirm Cabinet officials by hiring acting ones
Used a racist dog whistle by calling COVID the “China virus"
Hired and associated with numerous shady figures that were eventually convicted of federal offenses including his campaign manager and national security adviser
Pardoned several of his shady associates
Gave the Presidential Medal of Freedom to two congressman who amplified his batshit crazy conspiracy theories
Got into telephone fight with the leader of Australia(!)
Had a Secretary of State who called him a moron
Forced his press secretary to claim without merit that his was the largest inauguration crowd in history
Botched the COVID vaccine rollout
Tweeted so much dangerous propaganda that Twitter eventually banned him
Charged the Secret Service jacked-up rates at his properties
Constantly interrupted Joe Biden in their first presidential debate
Claimed that COVID would “magically” disappear
Called a U.S. Senator “Pocahontas"
Used his Twitter account to blast Nordstrom when it stopped selling Ivanka’s merchandise
Opened up millions of pristine federal lands to development and drilling
Got into a losing tariff war with China that forced US taxpayers to bail out farmers
Claimed that his losing tariff war was a win for the US
Ignored or didn’t even take part in daily intelligence briefings
Blew off honoring American war dead in France because it was raining
Redesigned Air Force One to look like the Trump Shuttle
Got played by Kim Jung Un and his “love letters"
Threatened to go after social media companies in clear violation of the Constitution
Botched the response to Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico
Threw paper towels and toilet paper at Puerto Ricans when he finally visited them
Pressured the governor and secretary of state of Georgia to “find” him votes
Thought that the Virgin islands had a President
Drew on a map with a Sharpie to justify his inaccurate tweet that Alabama was threatened by a hurricane
Allowed White House staff to use personal email accounts for official businesses after blasting Hillary Clinton for doing the same thing
Rolled back regulations that protected the public from mercury and asbestos
Pushed regulators to waste time studying snake-oil remedies for COVID
Rolled back regulations that stopped coal companies from dumping waste into rivers
Held blatant campaign rallies at the White House
Tried to take away millions of Americans’ health insurance because the law was named for a Black man
Refused to attend his successors’ inauguration
Nominated the worst Education Secretary in history
Threatened judges who didn’t do what he wanted
Attacked Dr. Anthony Fauci
Ppromised that Mexico would pay for the wall (it didn’t)
Allowed political hacks to overrule government scientists on major reports on climate change and other issues
Struggled navigating a ramp after claiming his opponent was feeble
Called an African-American Congresswoman “low IQ"
Threatened to withhold federal aid from states and cities with Democratic leaders
Went ahead with rallies filled with maskless supporters in the middle of a pandemic
Claimed that legitimate investigations of his wrongdoing were “witch hunts"
Seemed to demonstrate a belief that there were airports during the American Revolution
Demanded “total loyalty” from the FBI director

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