The Official "Damned Trump" Thread: Phase II

[Angrboda]

Conservative backlash was supposed to put an end to the diversity, inclusion and equity (DEI) movement as companies were warned “go woke, go broke”.

In January 2025, Donald Trump delivered a death knell, ending DEI within the federal government with executive orders and threatening to target companies that still supported it. Companies including Google, Goldman Sachs, McDonald’s and Walmart that had embraced DEI years earlier fell into line and announced an end to their policies.

But new research published on Friday and shared exclusively with the Guardian found that companies that resisted the pressure and kept their DEI practices, including Costco, Apple and Delta Air Lines, performed just as well as their competitors who pulled back.

For the research, Jacob Grumbach, an associate professor at at the University of California at Berkeley’s Goldman School of Public Policy, analyzed how S&P 500 companies fared after Trump’s January executive order. He used what economists define as “abnormal returns” – the difference between how a stock was expected to perform versus how it actually performed – to isolate the impact of a company’s DEI decision.

What he found was the firms that kept their DEI policies or voted down anti-DEI shareholder resolutions did just as well financially, even after Trump’s executive order, as firms that didn’t. In the days after the executive orders were signed, companies that kept their DEI policies actually performed better on the stock market than those that didn’t.

US firms that kept DEI policies despite ‘go woke, go broke’ threats thrived

[BrianSoddingBoru4]

Another Thing Trump Thinks He Can Do That He Can't


Boru

I think that people living there would actually welcome that decision to turn Strait of Hormuz into US territory because then babies born there would be Americans and could make their home in Texas or Alabama or Florida or whatever state they want.

It certainly would make that whole terrorism thing easier, but I’m not sure if enough people would be born in the Strait to make that a viable option.

Boru

[Angrboda]

Middle-aged Americans are souring on President Donald Trump, according to the latest polls by The Economist/YouGov, as these voters grow more concerned about the future of Social Security and Medicare and the rising cost of living, experts say.

The most recent poll, conducted between August 7 and 10 among 1,589 U.S. adults, shows that Trump's net approval rating among Americans aged 45 to 64—a combination of Gen Xers and younger baby boomers—has plummeted to -25, with 60 percent disapproving of the way he is handling the job and 35 percent approving.

That is a significant drop from earlier this summer. A survey conducted between June 5 and 8 among 1,568 U.S. adults found that the president's net approval rating was -10 among that age group, with 43 percent approving of his job performance and 53 percent disapproving.

A month later, a survey conducted between July 10 and 13 found that Trump's net approval rating had fallen to -12, as 43 percent of Americans aged 45-64 approved of his handling of the presidency, while 55 percent disapproved.

Trump's net approval rating has not only declined twofold among middle-aged Americans but also fallen at a faster rate than any other demographic group this summer, though it remained significantly higher than among Gen Zers and millennials.

As of the latest poll, Trump's net approval rating was -41 percent among Americans aged 18 to 29 and -35 among those aged 30 to 44. Among older Americans, those over 65, the president's net approval rating was -18.

https://www.newsweek.com/donald-trump-ap...s-12321772

[Deesse23]

Utmost incompetence and utter insanity..... And 40% of voters are aok with it.

[BrianSoddingBoru4]

Utmost incompetence and utter insanity..... And 40% of voters are aok with it.

Unsurprising - people follow leaders they see as a better version of themselves. Incompetent, insane voters are impressed by Trump's levels of  incompetence and insanity.

Boru

[Angrboda]

Thursday’s national security memorandum would, among other changes, revert the Ford class’s advanced electromagnetic catapult system to steam power. The document emphasizes the administration’s preference for “proven, reliable and affordable technologies and ship designs.”

Such a change, multiple officials said, also could run into the billions of dollars and exacerbate chronic delays in the U.S. shipbuilding industry.

The lead Ford-class carrier, the USS Gerald R. Ford, required 17 years to construct. Its design incorporated new technology that led to delays — including the electromagnetic catapult, a feature the Navy has since credited as being highly effective.

The Ford class of carriers will phase out its predecessor, the Nimitz class, which dates back to the late 1960s.

Relocating the island to the back of the newer vessels was done for efficiency and safety, three U.S. current and former officials familiar with the program told The Post. It not only creates more parking space for aircraft close to the carriers’ catapults, allowing crews to reduce the amount of time it takes to launch jets, it also improves landing safety by reducing the chance for turbulence when planes come back to land, the officials said.

Navy weighs major warship redesign to match Trump’s preferences

[Angrboda]

The White House flooded social media on Saturday with an image of Donald Trump showing off the recent Washington Post headline “Prescription drug prices record sharpest drop in more than 60 years”, but failed to mention that experts cited in the article actually attributed the price drop to Joe Biden, not Trump.

---

Steven Cheung, the White House communications director, posted a screenshot of the Post’s headline on his X account on Thursday with no link to the article. “All thanks to President Trump!” Cheung wrote.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...rug-prices