Official Trump / Vance Administration Thread #2

13,568 Views | 208 Replies | Last: 3 hrs ago by cal83dls79
SBGold
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It's a post about how he feels about our media. Just a quote, sorry it bothers you. It's just factual news
BearlySane88
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SBGold said:

It's a post about how he feels about our media. Just a quote, sorry it bothers you. It's just factual news


You're clearly posting it as a troll post. We've been asked to stop that.
Muckieeye
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What is the value of this post? It's just you trolling once again.
Conservatives are not necessarily stupid, but most stupid people are conservatives...
I never meant to say that the Conservatives are generally stupid. I meant to say that stupid people are generally Conservative.
-John Stewart Mill
BearlySane88
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Muckieeye said:

What is the value of this post? It's just you trolling once again.


Nice of you to stop by! Hope you're doing well!

Still waiting for you to explain the points system here. Games are fun.
Muckieeye
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What is the value of this post? It's just you trolling once again.
Conservatives are not necessarily stupid, but most stupid people are conservatives...
I never meant to say that the Conservatives are generally stupid. I meant to say that stupid people are generally Conservative.
-John Stewart Mill
BearlySane88
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Muckieeye said:

What is the value of this post? It's just you trolling once again.


Have a great night buddy!
Muckieeye
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BearlySane88 said:

Muckieeye said:

What is the value of this post? It's just you trolling once again.


Have a great night buddy!

You're clearly posting it as a troll post. We've been asked to stop that.
Conservatives are not necessarily stupid, but most stupid people are conservatives...
I never meant to say that the Conservatives are generally stupid. I meant to say that stupid people are generally Conservative.
-John Stewart Mill
BearlySane88
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Trump is just a man of the people, one of the many reasons he got elected.
SBGold
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I have not I've not been suspended for that before and it's not happening now when I post topical info in a dedicated thread.

VOTE BLUE and Free Wags
SBGold
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LOL

https://abovethelaw.com/2026/07/trump-fails-to-file-promised-birthright-citizenship-rehearing-before-deadline/?utm_campaign=Above%20the%20Law%20Daily&utm_medium=email&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-_yLVeGS0H0Y66HyEQp5X4tGQsGYDXvGYUZsYXiBSue6HBn8afXjfCttjTRWTaXVYMTsGQMpwYkieY-Wyib7pKTbpAfWw&_hsmi=431323861&utm_content=431323861&utm_source=hs_email

It was a big deal, but meh, changed my mind

Lost in court and stay lost bruh

VOTE BLUE and Free Wags
prospeCt
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~ 'A Scandal Too Far', the movie

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/aug/03/trump-administration-authoritarianism

'Are Trump's most blatant authoritarian moves backfiring?'
- by Jan-Werner Mller

- "The pattern is by now all too familiar: with every power grab Trump tries from a fraudulent speech about voter fraud to appeals to his supreme court to let him rig the midterms a debate kicks off about whether these moves are signs of strength or of desperation. Maybe we keep getting caught in this debate because the question is badly posed. So much of what is distinctive about Trump's governance during his second term can serve the consolidation of an autocratic regime and at the same time create particular vulnerabilities for the regime. We have to become better at identifying these weaknesses, as opposed to being shellshocked by Trump's brazenness every single time.

Aspiring autocrats operate differently in the 21st century; in previous eras, they had little hesitation about unleashing violence and committing massive human rights violations. Today, they try to fool both domestic and international audiences into thinking that democracy and the rule of law still exist. The recently deposed Hungarian prime minister, Viktor Orbn, was a master of this technique; he spent many years performing what he called "the peacock dance" to convince the European Commission (and Chancellor Angela Merkel) that he wasn't creating a kleptocratic autocracy.

This contrast between what the social scientists Serguei Guriev and Daniel Treisman have called "fear dictatorships" on the one hand and "spin dictatorships" on the other is empirically proven: there really is less violence, according to Guriev and Treisman, than in the 20th century. But elaborate efforts to fake democracy do not change the fact that violence is always kept in reserve: Putin dropped the mask entirely in 2022 and now has no hesitation to be seen as the violence-prone dictator who in one sense he always was.

It is crucial to understand how Trump differs from these patterns: unlike Orbn, for instance, he was never constrained by international institutions and other powerful capitals (let alone "international public opinion" even mentioning the term in as self-centered a country as the US seems faintly ridiculous). What's more, his own modus operandi, from his early days as a New York real estate investor onwards, has always been to simply do things that everyone can see are illegal the point is to create facts on the ground (think of the demolition of the East Wing) and hope that the other side will settle out of court or just live with a fait accompli.

This method (strategy might be too big of a word) of illegality and hope for impunity now characterizes almost the entire administration. More particularly, the Trumpists have figured out that a scandal per year can spell political death, while 10 scandals a day elicit hardly a shrug, because no one, it seems, can keep up. This "flooding the zone" with scandals is in itself a means of generating power but it also creates vulnerabilities. One never knows whether one scandal even a relatively harmless one like the reflecting pool disaster, combining grift and incompetence might not focus the public's attention after all and become a symbol for the corruption of the regime as a whole, the way that one child abuse scandal an Orbn ally pardoned a man convicted of covering up abuse became the symbol of everything wrong with Orbn's rule.

Every aspiring autocrat faces a trade-off between loyalty and competence. It is no secret where Trumpists have tended to be placed on the spectrum. That total devotion to the leader including the willingness to lie shamelessly, or at least engage in election denial, as a de facto loyalty oath to Trump sworn in public can consolidate power. But it also creates a distinct vulnerability, as, sooner or later, the egregiously incompetent will produce terrible outcomes, plain for all to see (at least if an effective opposition party manages to make them plain to see).

Contrary to the tendency of today's dictators shying away from violence so as not needlessly to invoke memories of 20th-century authoritarianism and provoke resistance Trumpists have made a spectacle of cruelty. Again, this can contribute to consolidating power after all, the glaring impunity apparently enjoyed by the men who killed Renee Good, Alex Pretti and Joan Sebastin Durn Guerrero sends a signal that loyalists can count themselves above the law. The spectacle might also please a Maga audience. But the fact is that, in the end, the ostentatious displays of cruelty have not been popular with the public at large. For now, the administration increases its power by effectively telling people "We can do whatever we want, and you can't do anything!" But making cruelty a priority also creates images that can be turned against it.

And the shameless corruption? Again, the shamelessness might easily generate a sense of hopelessness on the part of Americans watching unprecedented acts of malfeasance. But, unlike with other aspiring autocrats, the Trumpists are not really creating a coherent system of self-enrichment (the way Orbn did with what came to be called his mafia state where tricks with public procurement were disguised well enough for many years). Under Trump, everyone just grabs whatever they can as quickly as they can. That inability to build a system is ultimately a sign of weakness; the Trumpists themselves do not really seem to believe that their rule will last, and what Mike Johnson, in a revealing moment, called the Republicans' "protection program" the majority in Congress might be gone this year. Self-confident creators of autocratic kleptocracy would have stayed silent on the point and been smarter in their approach altogether. To be sure, that is no consolation for victims of cruelty.

Jan-Werner Mller is a Guardian US columnist and a professor of politics at Princeton University"

SBGold
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Trump self-owns himself, admits he's a full on loser:

https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-80-accidentally-roasts-himself-as-a-loser-with-windmill-rant/

LOL, I love it. Why would he do that?

VOTE BLUE AND FREE WAGS
dajo9
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BearlySane88 said:

Trump is just a man of the people, one of the many reasons he got elected.



Same comment would make Kamala a communist and Trump a "man of the people". What a farce.
Censorship has always been a tool of the fascist
cal83dls79
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dajo9 said:

BearlySane88 said:

Trump is just a man of the people, one of the many reasons he got elected.



Same comment would make Kamala a communist and Trump a "man of the people". What a farce.
wiles must have told him to get back to the "midterm stuff" so he picked an easy bogeyman but you never know when he'll veer off into windmills and ponds and arches rants. But the discussion, at least for today, will be gas prices and how Trump is trying to save us from these capitalists …..and it will get his people off his back about midterms so he can get back to building stuff which is his true passion.
Priest of the Patty Hearst Shrine
concordtom
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Public officials aren't supposed to receive gifts like this. We should track this one and make sure Trump doesn't hide it in his shower at Mar a Lago.

SBGold
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https://www.esquire.com/news-politics/news/a47314/melania-trump-illegal-immigrant/?src=socialflowFB&fbclid=IwdGRjcATfEMhwZG9mBWZkaWQWUL0Yj7otJTvJLMQg4GRoVJMDOc-jYWV4dG4DYWVtAjExAHNydGMGYXBwX2lkCjY2Mjg1NjgzNzkAAR51moYgIy082DX43HHFDQSvqy9jHTN1dYYLLBT_P0Ig2vfr-l4XPG6oEuhRgA_aem_WHp2kF_8HX6S8riV1InPMA

I think Melania was an illegal immigrant.

VOTE Blue and Free Wags
concordtom
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2016 article.
Of course she was illegal.
But at least Trump's sex with her was legal, as she consented. Go figure. She wanted the money?
BearlySane88
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One party rule is never the answer.

SBGold
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https://www.thedailybeast.com/judges-tear-apart-trumps-free-speech-bs-in-dozens-of-rulings/

Judges deal stunning free speech rebukes, Trump lied of course about free speech. He sought to stifle, which some try to do on this board also

https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTccmYrBkbRO0WMJXthd0ZSsAEnVQM7f9JIPIs9bdxJNw&s

Just pointing it out.

VOTE BLUE and FREE WAGS

bearister
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When even the liars won't lie anymore.
“Cancel my subscription to the Resurrection
Send my credentials to the House of Detention
I got some friends inside”
—Jim Morrison

“I love Cal deeply, by the way, what are the directions to The Portal from Sproul Plaza?”
BearlySane88
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What are the democrats numbers like?
DiabloWags
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Dems are +7 in the House.
The widest margin since 2018.



Generic Ballot August 2026: D+7 House Forecast, Pollster Breakdown & Monthly Trend
BearlySane88
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Every midterm sees this happen, not surprising or shocking. What are the democrats approval ratings right now?
DiabloWags
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BearlySane88 said:

Every midterm sees this happen, not surprising or shocking. What are the democrats approval ratings right now?


Search is your friend.

Democrats: 37.8 vs 54.9
Republicans: 38.5 vs 50.1

Dems: - 17.1
GOP: -16.6

Democratic Party Favorability | RealClearPolling
BearlySane88
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DiabloWags said:

BearlySane88 said:

Every midterm sees this happen, not surprising or shocking. What are the democrats approval ratings right now?


Search is your friend.

Democrats: 37.8 vs 54.9
Republicans: 38.5 vs 50.1

Dems: - 17.1
GOP: -16.6

Democratic Party Favorability | RealClearPolling



Thank you for this info but that math doesn't math. GOP would be about -12/-13 with the percentages you provided
DiabloWags
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BearlySane88 said:

DiabloWags said:

BearlySane88 said:

Every midterm sees this happen, not surprising or shocking. What are the democrats approval ratings right now?


Search is your friend.

Democrats: 37.8 vs 54.9
Republicans: 38.5 vs 55.1

Dems: - 17.1
GOP: -16.6

Democratic Party Favorability | RealClearPolling



Thank you for this info but that math doesn't math. GOP would be about -12/-13 with the percentages you provided


FIFY
concordtom
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DiabloWags said:

BearlySane88 said:

Every midterm sees this happen, not surprising or shocking. What are the democrats approval ratings right now?


Search is your friend.

Democrats: 37.8 vs 54.9
Republicans: 38.5 vs 50.1

Dems: - 17.1
GOP: -16.6

Democratic Party Favorability | RealClearPolling


Boy, I certainly hope in a A or B binodal competition that B gets utterly annihilated!
cal83dls79
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bearister said:


When even the liars won't lie anymore.
but hey we are hot and Somalis and Haitians want to move here, all good
Priest of the Patty Hearst Shrine
BearlySane88
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cal83dls79 said:

bearister said:


When even the liars won't lie anymore.
but hey we are hot and Somalis and Haitians want to move here, all good


Yessir! Nobody has it better than us and we are all beyond privileged to live in the greatest country on the planet!
bearister
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“Cancel my subscription to the Resurrection
Send my credentials to the House of Detention
I got some friends inside”
—Jim Morrison

“I love Cal deeply, by the way, what are the directions to The Portal from Sproul Plaza?”
cal83dls79
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Reminds me …..remember when we were blowing up all those boats in the gulf? I miss all of the videos. Seems so long ago.
Priest of the Patty Hearst Shrine
SBGold
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Trump's orders, yes they are moronic

https://abovethelaw.com/2026/08/trump-issues-new-birthright-citizenship-orders-in-direct-defiance-of-supreme-court/?utm_campaign=Above%20the%20Law%20Daily&utm_medium=email&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-9kAJ-L6r6WGQ1IV2-t4VNO2PjQJe_r3if8Wl0cPacXKNu7sTJFoZasqnEZuVopBmgYEkt-WNX8oWm9XfpHg7KHAPSgqg&_hsmi=432182565&utm_content=432182565&utm_source=hs_email

VOTE BLUE AND VOTE GAVIN
cal83dls79
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Neat graphs you can toggle approval ratings of Trump/Biden presidencies

https://www.economist.com/interactive/trump-approval-tracker
Priest of the Patty Hearst Shrine
DiabloWags
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Very cool charting.
Heck of a BEAR MARKET for 47.

dajo9
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Can't wait to hear MAGA explain how they always wanted to hurt our relationship with South Korea to benefit North Korea.
Censorship has always been a tool of the fascist
 
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