Thoughts on the Trump presidency

[Cdd89]

it's only recently that I've really noticed "Visit USA" adverts.

My understanding is Visit USA is an initiative/coalition funded by the various cities, states and organisations there that are keen on it (I've noticed that quite often these ads are part-sponsored by an airline). And there are pockets of these, like New York, Chicago, Florida, etc. From a bit of googling, they don't get any US taxpayer revenue.

So it's not like VisitBritain which is directly funded by the government who sees the importance of international tourism, rather it's a minority interest (relative to the size of the country).

 

[nw1]

Seeing as certain ICE agents appear to think they are above the law - to the extent they are killing people who aren't a threat - I wouldn't personally have much confidence that a border control agent would make a rational judgement.

Especially in the US. Even in other countries they can be problematic, as stated above: sometimes, IMX, they misunderstand the rules on length of stay, for example.

 

[martin butler]

Seeing as certain ICE agents appear to think they are above the law - to the extent they are killing people who aren't a threat - I wouldn't personally have much confidence that a border control agent would make a rational judgement.

Ice are more of a Trump private army, than law enforcement, and his lackies are using them as a tool to stamp out dissent, and to intimidate, What they are doing, goes far beyond what their actual remit is, the entire federal set up has been contaminated by the Trump regime to act not as a fair honest part of government but to act on the whims and impulses of the president, and those influencing him, Often in defiance of what the law says is legal.

 

[brad465]

"Free speech":

Trump threatens to sue Trevor Noah over Epstein joke at Grammys

The US president labels Noah a "total loser" over a joke he told on stage during the awards ceremony.

www.bbc.co.uk

US President Donald Trump has threatened to sue comedian Trevor Noah after he joked about Trump and Jeffrey Epstein at the Grammy Awards.
Hosting the event, Noah said: "Song of the Year - that is a Grammy that every artist wants almost as much as Trump wants Greenland, which makes sense because Epstein's island is gone, he needs a new one to hang out with Bill Clinton."
Trump is known to have been an associate of Epstein for years, but says he had no knowledge of his crimes and that they fell out in about 2004. There are no suggestions he ever visited Epstein's private island and he has not been accused of any crime by Epstein's victims. The US justice department has said allegations about him are unfounded and false.
In 2020, a spokesperson for Clinton said the former president had "never been" to Epstein's island, external, Little St James. Clinton has not been accused of any wrongdoing.
Trump responded to Noah's joke by saying he would be "sending my lawyers to sue".
Posting on Truth Social, Trump wrote: "Noah said, INCORRECTLY about me, that Donald Trump and Bill Clinton spent time on Epstein Island. WRONG!!!
"I can't speak for Bill, but I have never been to Epstein Island, nor anywhere close, and until tonight's false and defamatory statement, have never been accused of being there, not even by the Fake News Media.
"Noah, a total loser, better get his facts straight, and get them straight fast."
He added: "Get ready Noah, I'm going to have some fun with you!"
Epstein was found dead in his New York prison cell in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges, more than a decade after he was convicted of soliciting prostitution from a minor.
He had purchased his private island in 1998. Multiple survivors have alleged that they were trafficked there and abused.
Trump has engaged in legal action with multiple media organisations in recent years, including the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal.
In December, he filed a multi-billion dollar lawsuit in a Florida court accusing the BBC of defamation and of violating a trade practices law over the editing of a Panorama programme.
Noah is a South African-born comedian who hosted The Daily Show on Comedy Central in the US for seven years.

 

[najaB]

"Free speech":

Another one I saw today: the MAGA faithful are whining and complaining about businesses in Minneapolis which refuse to serve ICE agents after spending years insisting that business owners have the right not to serve people based on their personal beliefs (e.g. refuse to bake wedding cakes for same-sex couples).

 

[Annetts key]

"Free speech":

Trump threatens to sue Trevor Noah over Epstein joke at Grammys

The US president labels Noah a "total loser" over a joke he told on stage during the awards ceremony.

www.bbc.co.uk

US President Donald Trump has threatened to sue comedian Trevor Noah after he joked about Trump and Jeffrey Epstein at the Grammy Awards.

Maybe Trevor Noah should tell Trump that he will be called to the stand so that Noah's lawyer can cross examine him on if he understands what a joke is. And that Noah's legal team will ask the court to undertake a medical test to determine if Trump has diminished mental capacity (it makes a difference if a witness or accused has dementia or other mental problems for example).

 

[Krokodil]

Maybe Trevor Noah should tell Trump that he will be called to the stand so that Noah's lawyer can cross examine him on if he understands what a joke is. And that Noah's legal team will ask the court to undertake a medical test to determine if Trump has diminished mental capacity (it makes a difference if a witness or accused has dementia or other mental problems for example).

The Discovery stage of a lawsuit ought to be good. This is where the side suing must be completely transparent (because you can't be libelled if it is true).

 

[AndrewE]

The Discovery stage of a lawsuit ought to be good. This is where the side suing must be completely transparent (because you can't be libelled if it is true).

TACO...

 

[DoubleLemon]

"Free speech":

Trump threatens to sue Trevor Noah over Epstein joke at Grammys

The US president labels Noah a "total loser" over a joke he told on stage during the awards ceremony.

www.bbc.co.uk

The MAGA lot are claiming this is slander over on reddit

Einstein and Stephen Hawking fail to actually read the article of the post. One thinks slander includes making a joke, the other admits to not being normal.

https://www.reddit.com/r/TopMindsOfReddit/comments/1qu0pwq/einstein_and_stephen_hawking_fail_to_actually/

They all police the others in the subreddit where if you go off message you get called out.. They also claim to be "free speech", but you have to have show you are a republican and they delete everything they don't like.

In the files, we have a handful of accusations the FBI deemed unreliable, that came during election season. We have a former prosecutor who said Trump was the easiest witness to talk to and get information from. We have Epstein's former lawyer saying that Epstein believed Trump is the guy that turned him in. There's a lot of very compelling evidence that Trump's hands were clean with Epstein, and nothing but hearsay, innuendo, speculation, and overlapping social circles of billionaire socialites in Manhattan and Palm Beach. Suggesting otherwise absent evidence only plays into the left's narrative "fellow conservative."

Winning a defamation suit while the left is trying to convince people he was in the Epstein sex ring would help him with the information war.

It's amazing how they've ruined these award shows. Seriously. Everyone knew Trevor Noah was gonna get up there and be racist and tell a bunch of extreme hyperbole and lies. But they allow it. I worked literally in the depths of the music entertainment industry and I don't watch the Grammys. The only time I do is if I have to go there to work for my artist. And if I'm there, I get the hell out of there and back to my car or hotel as quickly as possible lol.

Original thread:

https://www.reddit.com/r/Conservative/comments/1qtx266/grammys_trump_threatens_to_sue_total_loser_trevor/

 

[nw1]

Another one I saw today: the MAGA faithful are whining and complaining about businesses in Minneapolis which refuse to serve ICE agents after spending years insisting that business owners have the right not to serve people based on their personal beliefs (e.g. refuse to bake wedding cakes for same-sex couples).

One rule for the Right, one rule for the rest.

 

[brad465]

This clip contains an incident that if repeated in a more public and/or prominent situation, will be a full-on character assassination for Trump:

(YouTube video of Trump addressing a press conference about an executive order he just signed)


I'll leave you to work out what it was (don't read the comments in the video till you have the answer)


He soils himself

 

[yorkie]

This clip contains an incident that if repeated in a more public and/or prominent situation, will be a full-on character assassination for Trump:

(YouTube video of Trump addressing a press conference about an executive order he just signed)


I'll leave you to work out what it was (don't read the comments in the video till you have the answer)

Please add a 'spoiler'; we do need to cater for people who are deaf, blind, or unable to access sites such as Youtube (e.g at workplaces, educational establishments, on trains, etc)

Thanks

 

[brad465]

Please add a 'spoiler'; we do need to cater for people who are deaf, blind, or unable to access sites such as Youtube (e.g at workplaces, educational establishments, on trains, etc)

Thanks

I've tried but I can't get it to work for some reason.

EDIT: I've done a makeshift quote box that does it well enough.

 

[Krokodil]

TACO...

Yes, how is that Washington Post lawsuit progressing? The one regarding the seedy birthday card he wrote to Epstein.

 

[najaB]

Spoiler

He soils himself

Allegedly.

 

[Krokodil]

Allegedly.

If anyone else can come up with a convincing reason for the funny sounds, the woman holding her nose, and the press being hurried away I'd love to hear it.

 

[Gloster]

I haven’t watched the video, but I have read the spoiler. My newsfeed contains a lot of stuff about what is going on in Trumpland, including many items that that don’t get mentioned over here. I have not seen even the slightest hint of the spoiler. Never weaken your argument by uncorroborated details, especially when your enemy is damaging themselves in many other ways.

 

[ainsworth74]

If anyone else can come up with a convincing reason for the funny sounds, the woman holding her nose, and the press being hurried away I'd love to hear it.

It's the press being hustled out as if the building is on fire and there's also a gas leak in the room next door at the same time as the fire is ongoing. That's what convinces me that what we all think happened, actually happened. I struggle to work out why else you'd need to get them out at that sort of pace.

 

[najaB]

If anyone else can come up with a convincing reason for the funny sounds, the woman holding her nose, and the press being hurried away I'd love to hear it.

I agree that's almost certainly what happened, and it's been reported that similar events have happened before, but we don't know for certain and it's not like there's a shortage of other [expletive] that he's done.

 

[D6130]

If anyone else can come up with a convincing reason for the funny sounds, the woman holding her nose, and the press being hurried away I'd love to hear it.

Perhaps he's - err - trumped....as they say in Yorkshire!

 

[Peter Mugridge]

Perhaps he's - err - trumped....as they say in Yorkshire!

Well, Donald is the most powerful Trump in the world...

 

[Purple Train]

I would agree that we should refrain from idle speculations without... er... solid evidence.

But surely it's going to get to a point where the endless innuendos about Biden's health come home to roost? And how long before Trump's acolytes turn on him? Et tu?

 

[AlterEgo]

Very unconvincing video. I don't agree it shows his soiling himself.

(What a sentence!)

 

[Krokodil]

But surely it's going to get to a point where the endless innuendos about Biden's health come home to roost? And how long before Trump's acolytes turn on him? Et tu?

For all the "Sleepy Joe Biden" talk, did we ever see him actually asleep?

Because we've certainly seen plenty of "Dozy Don"

 

[brad465]

I shouldn't laugh, but:

Brazilian influencer who defended US immigration crackdown arrested by ICE

Trump supporter Júnior Pena falsely claimed migrants being rounded up, including Brazilians, were ‘all crooks’

www.theguardian.com

A rightwing Brazilian influencer who claimed Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown targeted only “crooks” has been arrested by ICE agents in New Jersey.

Júnior Pena, whose full name is Eustáquio da Silva Pena Júnior, declared his support for the US president in a recent video message to his hundreds of thousands of social media followers.


“I [support] Donald Trump – I like the guy,” announced the South American TikToker and Instagrammer whose account purports to show “the reality of the United States” from a migrant’s perspective.

In a previous video, Pena reportedly urged Brazilians to stay calm and not “despair” after reports that ICE agents were rounding up migrants, including Brazilians. “But they’re all crooks. The lot of them,” he falsely claimed of the migrants being seized.

On Saturday, Pena was himself reportedly detained and sent to the Delaney Hall detention facility in Newark, New Jersey. One friend told the local newspaper the Brazilian Times that Pena had been taken into custody after missing a court hearing. The detainee’s lawyer, Andrew Lattarulo, was reportedly trying to resolve the situation and prevent him being transferred to another state.

The Brazilian influencer has reportedly lived in the US since 2009 and hails from Belo Horizonte, the capital of Minas Gerais, from where a large number of people have emigrated to the US and Europe.

Pena uses his social networks to echo the stories of migrants as well as voices critical of Brazil’s leftwing president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, and those supportive of its recently jailed former far-right president Jair Bolsonaro, who is an ally of Trump.

The US’s estimated 2 million-strong Brazilian community has been badly affected by Trump’s anti-migrant offensive, with the number of deported Brazilians hitting a record high of 2,785 last year, compared with 1,640 in 2024.

In a recent report about the “veritable manhunt” playing out under Trump, the Brazilian magazine Veja warned readers: “There is an atmosphere of fear on the streets where anyone who ‘looks foreign’ can be a target … irrespective of their [immigration] status.”

The magazine said Brazilian migrants in cities such as Boston were adopting drastic “survival tactics” including not speaking Portuguese in public and trying to dress like “average Americans” when leaving their homes.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 6 Feb 2026 ==

Everything that is happening to Mandelson and probably Starmer as well shows how much the US has fallen under Trump; he is mentioned in the Epstein files countless times and is facing far fewer consequences, along with several other prominent US elites likewise not facing punishment. There are suggestions on social media Trump is referred to in the Epstein files more times than Harry Potter is in all the Harry Potter books, but I haven't found any verifiable evidence backing this up specifically.

 

[jon0844]

What's now coming out is possible evidence that it wasn't just about trafficking young girls, but possibly a lot more conspiracies involving bribes, attempts to change Government policies, and even suggestions that people were being murdered.

As more files come out, we can perhaps begin to see why so many people might want the files protected and names redacted.

It isn't just sex crimes.

 

[martin butler]

Power corrupts, and the more you have, so the more corrupting it becomes, without his millions, Trump would have been a failed businessman,

but he was able to through shady networks, no doubt from his father, was able too somehow get into a position of importance, I wonder, was he used by Russian crime bosses to launder money through his empire? and the funding he got, was illegal money, he wouldn't have cared,

Epstein clearly was a dark figure offering services to those he thought useful, things that most decent people would find abhorrent, but to those who were ready to abuse their own power and wealth, for immoral purposes, without the long arm of justice finally catching them, but at what cost? possible blackmail, bribery? people like Steve Bannon, with links to worldwide far right organisations did Epstein fund him?

It seems like a boy's club for the Uber rich and those who seek to influence. Was Epstein a spy, it's possible, but I think it's unlikely,
I don't think he worked for any government, but used his network to his own advantage, and that could have included selling what he had on some people to various intelligence agencies, in return for them ignoring what his clients were doing,

 

[jon0844]

It's seems Epstein had his network that provided 'services' for the rich and famous, but that was just part of the association with the rich and famous. He could also offer other services and influence, and presumably offer protection to people if they remained loyal.

I don't know if we'll ever know about people disappearing, or ever be able to prove anything (if things do come out, they can just blame Epstein anyway). Clearly today there are still lots of people in power that want to downplay the files and hope it all goes away.

Which it might as now there are increasing numbers of people (likely bots and paid influencers) trying to say it's all over now and let's move on.

Even my wife wondered why the files are still a thing after the news has talked about them for so long. She hasn't followed like me and probably the majority of people.

I'd love to know how deep Nigel Farage is in with all of the people named and seemingly more involved than others. Even with Epstein dead, is there still a network doing other bad things continuing today? Farage has been very close to Bannon, for example.

He gets money to go to the USA a lot and is paid by GB News, itself funded by people who want to push narratives and create divide.

 

[najaB]

I'd love to know how deep Nigel Farage is in with all of the people named and seemingly more involved than others. Even with Epstein dead, is there still a network doing other bad things continuing today? Farage has been very close to Bannon, for example.

Because of that I just pictured Nigel Farage and Steve Bannon in an Epstein orgy.

I hope you are proud of yourself, I don't think I'll ever be able to sleep again.

 

[baz962]

Because of that I just pictured Nigel Farage and Steve Bannon in an Epstein orgy.

I hope you are proud of yourself, I don't think I'll ever be able to sleep again.

@najaB . I didn't picture that while reading the post above you . The reply you made has now put it in my mind , so you too should be ashamed