Thoughts on the Trump presidency

[nw1]

There have been critical Republicans at other levels of office/former office, but what doesn't help them is they only have one former living US President, and given he's about as popular as a bucket of cold sick, including with MAGA, he's better off keeping quiet.

Mind you the current regime makes even W. look good!

 

[YorkshireBear]

The problem is Obama is so unliked by that crowd, that it will just ensure those with those views dig deeper, the most powerful voice at the moment for me is the NRA, as that isn't running down party lines (yes it shouldn't be a party lines issue, but it is and here we are).

 

[pdeaves]

The problem is Obama is so unliked by that crowd, that it will just ensure those with those views dig deeper, the most powerful voice at the moment for me is the NRA, as that isn't running down party lines (yes it shouldn't be a party lines issue, but it is and here we are).

I suppose the thing there is, is Mr Obama trying to reach 'that crowd' and get them to soften, or is he trying to reach 'everyone else' to increase (political) resistance?

 

[DarloRich]

As with the previous shootings: we can all see what is going on. We can all see and hear the lies

The Party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command,"

The MAGA lot (and their reform chums) seem to be pretty happy to follow this command

 

[nw1]

As with the previous shootings: we can all see what is going on. We can all see and hear the lies

The Party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command,"

The MAGA lot (and their reform chums) seem to be pretty happy to follow this command

It's a good question for any Trump UK candidates who might stand in the May elections and come knocking on doors - ask them their take on the situation over there.

Will probably show them up for who they are. I suspect that they will respond, in order of likeliness:

a) dodge the question with some kind of blustered nonsense about how ICE keep America safe from immigrant terrorists without outright supporting the killings;
b) support the ICE agents and say they were threatened (seemingly the US right's take);
c) "where's Minneapolis?"

a) and especially b) show them up for who they are. c) shows them up as pig-ignorant idiots who know so little about world affairs that they should absolutely not be in politics.

I see Cruella has joined Trump UK. Nice timing, not - mind you it was painfully obvious she was an obnoxious individual three years ago. It's time for a Fareham by-election right now. They voted in a Tory; it's dishonest to the voters to defect in this way. (Same would apply if a Labour MP defected to the Communists, for point of balance).

 

[The exile]

The problem is Obama is so unliked by that crowd, that it will just ensure those with those views dig deeper, the most powerful voice at the moment for me is the NRA, as that isn't running down party lines (yes it shouldn't be a party lines issue, but it is and here we are).

“For the triumph of evil it is only necessary that good men do nothing”. Whether the court of history will judge Obama and Clinton as “good men” time alone will show - but in breaking convention and speaking up they’ve done one of the most powerful things someone in their position can do.

 

[Krokodil]

As with the previous shootings: we can all see what is going on. We can all see and hear the lies

The Party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command,"

The MAGA lot (and their reform chums) seem to be pretty happy to follow this command

Even ultra-MAGA Marjorie Taylor Greene has spoken out against it.

It's time for a Fareham by-election right now. They voted in a Tory; it's dishonest to the voters to defect in this way. (Same would apply if a Labour MP defected to the Communists, for point of balance).

Yes, whether you agree with Douglas Carswell's views, he was a man of democratic principle and had a by-election when he defected.

 

[Strathclyder]

As with the previous shootings: we can all see what is going on. We can all see and hear the lies

The Party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command,"

The MAGA lot (and their reform chums) seem to be pretty happy to follow this command

I see this quote often and it's 100% in line with what's happening (they think we're all as stupid and gullible as their cult), but I also find myself thinking this at the same time: 1984 was a cautionary tale. Not a bloody guidebook.

All the more reason that the frog-faced quisling and his band of nutters cosplaying rather poorly as a political party shouldn't be allowed anywhere near No.10.

 

[Krokodil]

The head of "Republicans Overseas UK" was on Channel 4 News. Always found him to be a contemptible individual when he appeared on Times Radio.

Said that "it's important to arrest the felons, child predators and human traffickers and that has to be done".

ICE haven't really been picking up many people of that description. If they were to visit Mar-a-lago however, they could tick all three boxes in one go.

 

[jon0844]

It will be interesting to see how things play out tonight as I think Trump has been caught on a hot mic admitting he's losing, and now it seems like the narrative is that Trump never said anything bad about the shooting (effectively throwing everyone else under the bus) and that there's going to be a full and detailed investigation. It seems they might be about to say that ICE has done what it needs to do and may withdraw (at least partially).

They ALL know things went too far and the person killed was unarmed at the time, albeit allowed to be armed under the state laws. The fact he also worked with veterans in an ICU and end-of-life care, and seemed anything but a domestic terrorist or an 'assassin' as Stephen Miller so eloquently said.

 

[DarloRich]

Even ultra-MAGA Marjorie Taylor Greene has spoken out against it.

she has broken with Trump though.

 

[Krokodil]

she has broken with Trump though.

Yes, she was a "Qanon" true believer. She believed that there was an elite child-trafficking ring. She was right, but got a bit unstuck when it turned out to be her own side that was doing it.

 

[Spartacus]

I think it's all escalated a lot quicker than he expected, though it was always likely to get out of control because he's at least got to try and appear subtle at this stage. I've thought for a while that he's been planning an escalation to remain in the White House, I think that's at least part of the reason ICE has been expanded so much, so quickly, recruiting from the demographics is had, and (covertly, but not really covertly) instigating widespread civil disorder would be one way to stay in power

 

[Cross City]

I think that the ICE episodes in Minneapolis were an experiment to see how far they could push people and get away with things in a 'nice' city before they tried it out in somewhere like LA or Philly.

I don't think they expected as much pushback and vitriol as they have and are rightly hesitant about expanding the programme. Having spent a decent amount of time in LA, if they tried what they're doing there they'd end up with a lot of dead agents.

The ultimate end goal for Trump was IMO large scale civil unrest and an excuse to impose martial law and suspend the midterm elections. The resistance to ICE has been smart, very targeted rather than widespread, but still effective.

 

[ainsworth74]

I don't think they expected as much pushback and vitriol as they have and are rightly hesitant about expanding the programme.

I reckon the issue they faced with the collision of the real world with their fantasy online bubble world. Online in the bubble they were under the impression that a) they are the silent majority so what they're doing is popular but many people are just afraid to speak the truth and b) that the liberal/lefty/wokey/snowflakes will fade away once real men arrive on the scene to impose the will of the majority. I have no doubt that they full expected after Renee Good was murdered that the resistance would fade away. Instead it doubled down and grew and then they summarily executed Alex Petti and no only did the resistance double down even harder but even members of their own side began to question their methods and lies (particularly once they began to undermine the hallowed Second Amendment).

I think that collision of what many expected (to be met with relief, that the opposition would fade away particularly once people started dying) with what actually happened (they were met as an occupying army, resistance stiffened every time they escalated the violence, and eventually even their own side began to get leery) has caused them some serious issues.

Obviously Trump (or more accurately Miller) wanted violence from the protestors so they could paint them as "Antifa terrorists!" and likely activate the Insurrection Act but they also didn't get that either which made all their other problems even worse. The people of Minnesota deserve just as much credit for failing to meet violence with violence as they do for their tremendous and unflinching bravery.

These are also things which must be playing on the minds of the ICE and CBP officers as well. We signed up to be liberators and heroes against the weak soyboy snowflakes. Instead we're met with derision, hatred and unflinching refusal to backdown even as we kill them. Morale must be in the toilet.

 

[Cross City]

Online in the bubble they were under the impression that a) they are the silent majority so what they're doing is popular but many people are just afraid to speak the truth and b) that the liberal/lefty/wokey/snowflakes will fade away once real men arrive on the scene to impose the will of the majority.

The same is true for Reform types here, they shout loudly online but they're not the silent majority they think they are.

The real silent majority of reasonable people of the mild left, right and centre will ensure that come the GE that a Reform govt will be rejected, I'm convinced of it. The same thing happened in France with Le Pen.
Getting them out to vote will be a challenge, but it can happen, especially when faced with what would pretty obviously be a terrible government.

I'm wondering whether Reform will try any kind of voter intimidation at the local elections to test the waters for the GE. Yeah it's illegal, but how are the police or anybody going to stop them in the moment?

Instead we're met with derision

Obviously much milder but I very much enjoyed the flag putter-uppers being mocked as 'roundabout painters' and the associate memes around it. Was quite funny and is exactly what people should be doing rather than meeting obvious dog whistle intimidation with a physical reaction.

The best way to disarm a bully is to laugh at them.

 

[ainsworth74]

The same is true for Reform types here, they shout loudly online but they're not the silent majority they think they are.

I've thought it ironic for a while that the right wing types seem to have fallen into exactly the same bubble they accused left wing (and, in a UK context the Corbynite types in particular) of falling into. Yet cannot now themselves see that they've done exactly the same thing and, in my view, to an even greater degree.

 

[nlogax]

she has broken with Trump though.

She was broken from the start, but when MTG starts to sound like a moderate you know things are grim at the top.

With Tom Homan being sent to Minnesota by Trump, Greg Bovino is allegedly leaving the state and returning to ICE HQ down near the Mexican border. Certain outlets are calling it a demotion though I'm sure ICE won't frame it that way.

https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/2026/01/greg-bovino-demoted-minneapolis-border-patrol/685770/

Gregory Bovino has been removed from his role as Border Patrol “commander at large” and will return to his former job in El Centro, California, where he is expected to retire soon, according to a DHS official and two people with knowledge of the change.

Bovino’s sudden demotion is the clearest sign yet that the Trump administration is reconsidering its most aggressive tactics after the killing Saturday of 37-year-old Alex Pretti by Border Patrol agents under Bovino’s command.

Earlier today, President Trump appeared to signal in a series of social-media posts a tactical shift in the administration’s mass-deportation campaign. Trump wrote that he spoke with Minnesota Governor Tim Walz—whom the White House has blamed for inciting violence—and the two men are now on “a similar wavelength.” Tom Homan, the former ICE chief whom Trump has designated “border czar,” will head to Minnesota to assume command of the federal mobilization there, Trump said.

 

[nw1]

They ALL know things went too far and the person killed was unarmed at the time, albeit allowed to be armed under the state laws. The fact he also worked with veterans in an ICU and end-of-life care, and seemed anything but a domestic terrorist or an 'assassin' as Stephen Miller so eloquently said.

Miller is, to me, utterly evil: a vile, disgusting excuse for a human being. As his songwriter, producer and general puppet-master, far worse than even Trump.

I suspect that even many Trump fanboys and fangirls would despise Miller. Time people are informed about this and time America turns on Miller. A horrible, horrible, vile person.

 

[ainsworth74]

With Tom Homan being sent to Minnesota by Trump, Greg Bovino is allegedly leaving the state and returning to ICE HQ down near the Mexican border. Certain outlets are calling it a demotion though I'm sure ICE won't frame it that way.

For those who have watched the recent film One Battle After Another perhaps Bovino should be wary of meeting a fate similar to that of Colonel Lockjaw?

 

[Annetts key]

A government causing chaos in any country will harm the economy eventually. Just imagine if due to the actions of ICE, a significant number of people stay at home and reduce shopping to the bare essentials. Plus those people demonstrating will also not be shopping for non-essentials. People afraid of being detained or afraid of losing their jobs will also only buy the essentials. Some may stop going to work.

Ordinary people who otherwise are in theory unaffected may also change their shopping habits. They won't like the chaos and disruption.

Discretionary spending falling will affect the economy.

Other people in other parts of the country will see the chaos or they may well be affected if the economy suffers. Either of these may affect how they vote. And it's the current party in government that will lose support.

These far right idiots haven't thought of all the consequences.

 

[najaB]

These far right idiots haven't thought of all the consequences anything.

Fixed that for you.

 

[nlogax]

For those who have watched the recent film One Battle After Another perhaps Bovino should be wary of meeting a fate similar to that of Colonel Lockjaw?

I really should watch that..

 

[brad465]

I reckon the issue they faced with the collision of the real world with their fantasy online bubble world. Online in the bubble they were under the impression that a) they are the silent majority so what they're doing is popular but many people are just afraid to speak the truth and b) that the liberal/lefty/wokey/snowflakes will fade away once real men arrive on the scene to impose the will of the majority. I have no doubt that they full expected after Renee Good was murdered that the resistance would fade away. Instead it doubled down and grew and then they summarily executed Alex Petti and no only did the resistance double down even harder but even members of their own side began to question their methods and lies (particularly once they began to undermine the hallowed Second Amendment).

I think that collision of what many expected (to be met with relief, that the opposition would fade away particularly once people started dying) with what actually happened (they were met as an occupying army, resistance stiffened every time they escalated the violence, and eventually even their own side began to get leery) has caused them some serious issues.

Obviously Trump (or more accurately Miller) wanted violence from the protestors so they could paint them as "Antifa terrorists!" and likely activate the Insurrection Act but they also didn't get that either which made all their other problems even worse. The people of Minnesota deserve just as much credit for failing to meet violence with violence as they do for their tremendous and unflinching bravery.

These are also things which must be playing on the minds of the ICE and CBP officers as well. We signed up to be liberators and heroes against the weak soyboy snowflakes. Instead we're met with derision, hatred and unflinching refusal to backdown even as we kill them. Morale must be in the toilet.

If they tried this in the UK, I think they'd get away with it as we seem to be too tolerant. But the US, while seemingly happy with erosion of democracy through oligarchy, are very resistant to anything that's naked oppression.

A government causing chaos in any country will harm the economy eventually. Just imagine if due to the actions of ICE, a significant number of people stay at home and reduce shopping to the bare essentials. Plus those people demonstrating will also not be shopping for non-essentials. People afraid of being detained or afraid of losing their jobs will also only buy the essentials. Some may stop going to work.

Ordinary people who otherwise are in theory unaffected may also change their shopping habits. They won't like the chaos and disruption.

Discretionary spending falling will affect the economy.

Other people in other parts of the country will see the chaos or they may well be affected if the economy suffers. Either of these may affect how they vote. And it's the current party in government that will lose support.

These far right idiots haven't thought of all the consequences.

I don't have much love for Wall St and the tech firms, but they really need to get their act together and realise what this administration is doing, as these companies are going to be trashed if they allow Trump to trash the dollar's reserve currency status among other things.

 

[najaB]

If they tried this in the UK, I think they'd get away with it as we seem to be too tolerant.

It would be significantly more difficult though, given that we don't have a separate executive branch - power comes through the legislature and it's been a long time since a government enjoyed an absolute majority in Parliament. Our judiciary isn't nearly as partisan as in the USA either and judges haven't been afraid to step in at times when the PM or government go too far.

 

[martin butler]

Ice can move the murdering scumbags anywhere, but justice will catch up with them one day, either lawful, or unlawful, it won't be long before their names are found out, then they will be the hunted, not the hunters.

A future administration is going to have a very hard job on its hands, to heal what Trump, and his sycophant administration has done,. Ice especially will need to be purged, and people who broke the law brought to justice, I am half expecting that many will be found out to be KKK/ Proud boys' thugs, or extreme right wingers in general.

 

[najaB]

I am half expecting that many will be found out to be KKK/ Proud boys' thugs, or extreme right wingers in general

This is already known to be the case. Several Capitol Insurrectionists are also employed by ICE.

 

[Killingworth]

Greg Bovino is a man carried away with this 'crusade' and seems to have been enjoying it before arriving in Minneapolis. He needs cutting down to size.

Unfortunately a lot of his storm troops are too ignorant to look beyond the rhetoric and bull**** they're fed. But they're not all totally brain dead.

In that group surrounding Pretti one man stood back - the one who seems to have removed the gun. He may have accidentally discharged it. He may have called out 'gun' before walking away.

It may be standard law enforcement procedure to call out 'gun' if one is discovered. In this case it had already been recovered and that wasn't clear to those piling in. It didn't justify loosing off one shot let alone a whole magazine into a guy already over powered on the ground. I can imagine some of those men are feeling very guilty, one or two wracked with real fear that one of the others will rat on them. Those who only wrestled must want to establish their distance from the man/men who pulled the trigger.

All is now confused in the fog of war and needs calm and detailed independent investigation.

Some awkward cross currents on legal gun carrying will muddy the waters!

 

[Spartacus]

many will be found out to be KKK/ Proud boys' thugs, or extreme right wingers in general.

They've been specifically targeting their recruitment at the right, at least one advert alluding to Proud Boys, 'proud guys' or something similar was the wording; hardly subtle.

 

[AlterEgo]

I think that the ICE episodes in Minneapolis were an experiment to see how far they could push people and get away with things in a 'nice' city before they tried it out in somewhere like LA or Philly.

"Nice" is serving as a euphemism for "not black" here. (I think you're right btw, not in any way calling you out!)