The Official "Damned Trump" Thread: Phase II

[Paraselene]

King Sadim.

[Thumpalumpacus]

The camouflage, crummy as it was, has been yanked off and now it's clear to me that this is not imperialist but corporatist. Not a huge distinction, to be fair -- a smash-and-grab that so far seems to be much cleaner than Ukraine or Iraq.

Time will tell.

[Angrboda]

I mean, I think that, you know, there’s a reason why these—these raids, these operations—have been conducted exclusively in sort of cities and regions that are led by Democrats and that are perceived to be political opponents of the Trump administration.

It’s because the administration itself knows that these are destructive operations, that they are not primarily about public safety. They are an attempt to intimidate and to sort of harm the local populations, right? If this was really about engendering public safety, I would assume that there would be sort of an ICE presence of a similar aggression and size in all sorts of kind of red areas, but there are not. Right.

And so I think that it’s evident that these are not intended to be public safety operations. Primarily, they are intended to carry out Stephen Miller’s broader agenda of sort of ethnic cleansing, of generalized fear.

https://newrepublic.com/article/205049/t...fo-emerges

[Deesse23]

The United States of America is no longer a democratic republic. My country is now an imperial strongman oligarchy.

History repeats. So shameful. Welcome to 1933.

It had some of the worst implementations of "democracy" anyway. You could argue one that each one is even un-democratic. One can only hope that the next republic will take the lessons learned.

#1 presidential system
Inferior to the parliamentary one for reasons that have become quite obvious: Power grab by individuals/small groups

#2 Winner takes all elections
Not promoting the idea of equality, leading to polarisation, lack of diversity

#3 Electoral system
Outdated only decades after it was introduced. Meanwhile 1-2 centuries have passed

#4 System that favors two parties only
Very similar to #2 

#5 Gerrymandering
Per definitionem (or at least per executionem) undemocratic. The fact that this isnt illegal is puzzling.

#6 putting the POTUS above the law
It should be impossible by the SCOTUS to make such an interpretation. The constitution should have been fixed for quite some time with regard to this

[Angrboda]

Meh. It was one of the first drafts.

[Paraselene]

"The people of Greenland do not want to become American," Mia Chemnitz tells the BBC. "We are not for sale."

The 32-year-old business owner in the Greenlandic capital Nuuk reflects the sentiments of many who spoke to the BBC about how they felt about recent rhetoric from the Trump administration.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cvgx8w4pgk0o.amp

[BrianSoddingBoru4]

Fifth Trump-Appointed US Attorney Disqualified

A federal judge in New York disqualified acting U.S. Attorney in the Northern District of New York John Sarcone from handling two investigations into New York Attorney General Letitia James on Thursday, ruling that he was not lawfully serving in his position when subpoenas to James' office were issued. 

In a 24-page opinion issued Thursday, U.S. District Judge Lorna Schofield ruled that Sarcone "is not lawfully serving as Acting U.S. Attorney" and found that "any of his past or future acts taken in that capacity are void or voidable as they would rest on authority Mr. Sarcone does not lawfully have."

The steps Bondi took to keep Sarcone in his job, Schofield wrote, were not legal.

"Instead, on the same day that the judges declined to extend Mr. Sarcone's appointment, the Department took coordinated steps — through personnel moves and shifting titles — to install Mr. Sarcone as Acting U.S. Attorney. Federal law does not permit such a workaround," the judge wrote. 

Boru

[Nanny]

The oligarchs won with Citizens United. They funnel cash to candidates. Pay to play baby. Now they have a hemisphere to carve up.

[Fake Messiah]

Donald Trump 'orders US army chiefs to draw up plan to invade Greenland'

Donald Trump has ordered his special forces commanders to draw up a plan for the invasion of Greenland - but is being resisted by senior military figures, The Mail on Sunday has learned.

Sources say that the policy 'hawks' around the US President, led by political adviser Stephen Miller, have been so emboldened by the success of the operation to capture Venezuela's leader Nicolas Maduro that they want to move quickly to seize the island before Russia or China makes a move.

British diplomats believe that Trump is also motivated by a desire to distract American voters from the performance of the US economy before the mid-term elections later this year, after which he could lose control of Congress to the Democrats.

But such a dramatic move would put him at odds with Sir Keir Starmer and would effectively lead to the collapse of Nato.

According to the sources, the President has asked the Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC) to prepare the invasion plan, but it is being resisted by the joint chiefs of staff on the grounds that it would be illegal - and would not be supported by Congress.

One source said: 'They have tried to distract Trump by talking about less controversial measures, such as intercepting Russian 'ghost' ships - a clandestine network of hundreds of vessels operated by Moscow to evade Western sanctions - or launching a strike on Iran.'

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article...ident.html

[Thumpalumpacus]

We've been in Greenland for decades now, and generally do what we want there anyway. There's an off odor to this push, like someone's a puppet dancing on another's strings. Let's hear from our reporter in Moscow.