Thoughts on the Trump presidency

[Cloud Strife]

There's also the matter of the left-right spectrum seeming to be more about social matters than economic ones when deciding policy. Immigration control is arguably a left wing economic position, as it's state intervention in the labour market. But relaxed immigration is left wing socially and right wing economically.

Yup, exactly this. It's the problem that many left wing parties are finding themselves in: their economics require protectionism and intervention, but their social policies are the polar opposite. The SPD in Germany and many other centre-left parties are struggling to reconcile this internally, although the Social Democrats in Denmark have adopted a policy of working towards 'zero asylum', i.e. making the country completely undesirable for anyone wanting to claim asylum there. As a result, the Frederiksen governments have been broadly popular, while hard right parties are nowhere near making an electoral breakthrough there.

Denmark, however, has the benefit of being attractive for people from elsewhere in the EU and so they have absolutely no need for migrants from outside the EU. They also have a very equal society, so they haven't fallen into the trap that the US and UK have where they rely on migration to carry out badly paid jobs.

Taking it back to Trump, I do think he understands the key issue: local businesses and communities are destroyed in many parts of America, and that America badly needs these communities to rise again. He quite correctly identified the Rust Belt as a major area of concern, and also realised that the Democrats have (and had) no answers for those communities. The problem is that he doesn't have a clue how to solve them, and the people around him have a strong interest in exploiting those communities and keeping them in as much poverty as possible while offloading the social bill to the government.

The ideas that he does have (tariffs, for instance) are simply going to result in even more pain for those communities. Is it intentional? I actually don't think so, it's just that he simply has no understanding of economics and why any attempt to reverse the current status quo is going to simply make things much harder for people. For example, the Ford Bronco Sport is built in Mexico, yet this is quite a popular truck in the US due to the low cost and decent off-road performance. With tariffs, it might no longer be worth building them in Mexico, and so costs will rise quite considerably.

The best description I saw describing Trump's rise to power was something like this: "He's what happens when capitalism screws the working class, but the working class are unable to work out capitalism is responsible for their problems" (usually because certain interests, like in corporate media, go out of their way to ensuring they don't find out).

Honestly, if they don't figure it out now, I don't even know what could be done. Trump is going to hurt a lot of people reliant on various benefits, and this is his electorate.

 

[Annetts key]

This topic has rather wandered somewhat.

My understanding was that Trumps tariffs are more about the tax income. This is his attempt to gain income to reduce the deficit.

 

[DoubleLemon]

I’d suggest he’s just wired differently.

I see lots of similarities with a wider family member who is very successful in business but has very little empathy for the stress they causes others and doesn’t back off at the point where many of us would consider we’re being damned unreasonable.

as someone who looks after a family member with dementia and it being rife on both sides of my family. he's got turf early signs of dementia.

 

[Annetts key]

as someone who looks after a family member with dementia and it being rife on both sides of my family. he's got turf early signs of dementia.

Yes, we have also had dementia in the family. I also see the signs of the first stages of dementia in him.

 

[najaB]

My understanding was that Trumps tariffs are more about the tax income. This is his attempt to gain income to reduce the deficit.

If he really cared about reducing the deficit he wouldn't be trying to push through some five trillion dollars worth of tax cuts for corporations and the mega-rich.

 

[edwin_m]

Taking it back to Trump, I do think he understands the key issue: local businesses and communities are destroyed in many parts of America, and that America badly needs these communities to rise again. He quite correctly identified the Rust Belt as a major area of concern, and also realised that the Democrats have (and had) no answers for those communities.

I think you're right, but it only goes as far as understanding there is something here he can capitalise on, not actually caring about those communities.

 

[brad465]

This topic has rather wandered somewhat.

My understanding was that Trumps tariffs are more about the tax income. This is his attempt to gain income to reduce the deficit.

I think tariffs are more about virtue signalling and distracting from the absence of any credible plan, as opposed to trying to gain income.

 

[Magdalia]

My understanding was that Trumps tariffs are more about the tax income. This is his attempt to gain income to reduce the deficit.

If he really cared about reducing the deficit he wouldn't be trying to push through some five trillion dollars worth of tax cuts for corporations and the mega-rich.

I think you're right, but it only goes as far as understanding there is something here he can capitalise on, not actually caring about those communities.

I think tariffs are more about virtue signalling and distracting from the absence of any credible plan, as opposed to trying to gain income.

Tariffs are part of mercantilism, an economic philosophy that was dominant between the renaissance and the early industrial revolution. It treats international trade as a zero sum game (a series of deals) where countries with a trade surplus are winners and countries with a trade deficit are losers.

In the mercantilism economic philosophy, tariffs tilt the playing field towards domestic producers and away from producers in the rest of the world, so that producers are incentivised to relocate to be inside the tariff wall. To take steel as an example, the mercantilists in the USA think that tariffs on steel will result in steel being made in the USA, not made somewhere else and arriving in a boat or on a truck. This is superficially attractive, especially to people who used to make steel in the USA but don't any more. The justification for tariffs does not usually come from a revenue raising perspective.

Free trade is an economic philosophy where both sides gain from international trade, because production takes place where it is most economically efficient, and each country prospers by producing in the parts of the economy where it has a comparative advantage. It gradually became dominant in the 19th century. In the UK the political debate on tariffs versus free trade was the brexit of its day, the most important parliamentary event being the repeal of the corn laws in 1846.

 

[Cloud Strife]

In the latest "He surely is being blackmailed by Putin" news, it's emerged that Trump is shutting down and/of gutting the overseas broadcasting services. By going after things like Radio Liberty / Radio Free Europe, it's just painfully obvious that this is an administration hell bent on supporting various nasty regimes throughout the world.

https://www.npr.org/2025/03/15/nx-s1-5329244/bloody-saturday-voiceofamerica-radio-free-asia-europe-trump-kari-lake

All full-time staffers at the Voice of America and the Office for Cuba Broadcasting, which runs Radio and Television Martí, were affected — more than 1,000 employees. The move followed a late Friday night edict from President Trump that its parent agency, called the U.S. Agency for Global Media, must eliminate all activities that are not required by law.

I'd say that in the grand scheme of things, the BBC and other large overseas broadcasters like Deutsche Welle and Radio France Internationale need to urgently take up the void left behind here.

 

[sor]

In the latest "He surely is being blackmailed by Putin" news, it's emerged that Trump is shutting down and/of gutting the overseas broadcasting services. By going after things like Radio Liberty / Radio Free Europe, it's just painfully obvious that this is an administration hell bent on supporting various nasty regimes throughout the world.

https://www.npr.org/2025/03/15/nx-s1-5329244/bloody-saturday-voiceofamerica-radio-free-asia-europe-trump-kari-lake

I'd say that in the grand scheme of things, the BBC and other large overseas broadcasters like Deutsche Welle and Radio France Internationale need to urgently take up the void left behind here.

I still have a motorised satellite dish at the ancestral home so I thought I'd fire it up. It does seem to have already impacted output. The VOA TV channels are on a promo video loop, most but not all of the RFE/RL radio stations are just on a "this is radio free europe, radio liberty" loop as well.

Of course the UK government, always missing the opportunity, seems to have allowed the BBC WS to be a casualty of the foreign aid cuts

 

[dgl]

And naturally there are less sites now available to do SW broadcats to places like Africa now Rampisham has gone. Yes satellite and the Internet are options but they are not as easily accessible in poorer nations.

 

[Yew]

Yup, generally speaking, the left has been traditionally associated with trade protectionism.

Lots of trade protections in the 1800s were made by governments that are a long way from what we'd call Left Wing. Similarly, Clement Attlee signed the UK up to the GATT in 1948 (The agreement that later became the World Trade Organisation)

 

[DarloRich]

Trump has ignored a court order over deportations. I assume this will be the start of his challenge to the authority of the courts.

On Saturday, the US government put hundreds of Venezuelans on planes which swiftly took off for the alleged gang members' ultimate destination: a mega-prison in El Salvador.

A judge then ordered the planes back, telling the government's lawyers verbally that they should do so "however that's accomplished — whether turning around the plane or not."

But the court order was never heeded, and the planes stayed the course.

"Oopsie…too late," El Salvador's president, Nayib Bukele, posted on X after the deportees landed in his country. He included an emoji crying with laughter. The post was reshared by the White House's director of communications, Steven Cheung.

Trump's latest deportations test the strength of US courts

Two recent incidents have ignited fears that the White House is willing to defy court orders.

www.bbc.co.uk

I further note the orange one has been quiet about I ran thus far. I wonder if a free hand there is part of the deal in handing over Ukraine to Putin?

 

[dosxuk]

He's also trying to claim that all of Biden's pardons were invalid because they were signed with an autopen. This is despite there being evidence that they weren't all signed by an autopen, and that signing with an autopen is allowed.

But if it allows him to go after people who've slighted him then he's going to try to make it stick. Expect another battle in the courts...

 

[najaB]

He's also trying to claim that all of Biden's pardons were invalid because they were signed with an autopen. This is despite there being evidence that they weren't all signed by an autopen, and that signing with an autopen is allowed.

But if it allows him to go after people who've slighted him then he's going to try to make it stick. Expect another battle in the courts...

Thing is, a challenge to the pardon power is a sword that cuts both ways.

 

[DarloRich]

It is clear that Putin won't agree to a 30-day ceasefire unless the U.S. and Europe cut off aid to Ukraine and Ukraine stops mobilization.

This is therefore a rejection of what Trump and by his bullying Kyiv offered. Will Trump now sell out Ukraine further? I can't imagine EU/UK will stop aid to help such a deal happen

 

[Giugiaro]

I want to bring this one up because I had this in my Trump Bingo Card.
The current US administration does not align with the Statue of Liberty and what it stands for.

This is top-tier buffoonery:

White House slams French MEP’s call to return Statue of Liberty​

By David Mouriquand
Published on 18/03/2025 - 11:23 GMT+1

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt slams ‘low-level’ French politician demanding Statue of Liberty’s return, saying France should be thankful they are “not speaking German right now.”
French politician Raphaël Glucksmann has been making headlines for suggesting that the US should return the Statue of Liberty, as the country under Trump is, in his opinion, no longer worthy of the monument and the values it embodies.
Glucksmann, a member of the European Parliament, asserted in a speech that some Americans “have chosen to switch to the side of the tyrants.”
“Give us back the Statue of Liberty,” Glucksmann said, speaking Sunday to supporters of his Public Place party, who applauded. “We gave it to you as a gift, but apparently you despise it. So it will be just fine here at home.”
With his comments in response to Trump’s immigration policies going viral, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt retaliated on Monday by saying that Donald Trump would “absolutely not” return the statue gifted by France to the US nearly 140 years ago.
She went on to label Glacksmann as “low-level” and made a reference to World War II.
“My advice to that unnamed low-level French politician would be to remind them that it’s only because of the United States of America that the French are not speaking German right now,” Leavitt said.
“So they should be very grateful to our great country.”
Glucksmann was also critical of the Trump administration’s decision to fire government employees as part of Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) cost-cutting efforts.
“The second thing we’re going to say to the Americans is: ‘If you want to fire your best researchers, if you want to fire all the people who, through their freedom and their sense of innovation, their taste for doubt and research, have made your country the world’s leading power, then we’re going to welcome them’,” Glucksmann said.

 

[najaB]

I want to bring this one up because I had this in my Trump Bingo Card.
The current US administration does not align with the Statue of Liberty and what it stands for.

What does it say on the plaque, something about tired, poor, huddled masses I seem to recall... Certainly not the people the current administration is welcoming with open arms.

And, as one commentator pointed out, the who "If it wasn't for the USA France would speak German" thing ignores that the USA owes it's existence to France.

If not for French support in the Revolutionary War, the British would likely have won handily.

 

[Annetts key]

If not for French support in the Revolutionary War, the British would likely have won handily.

Maybe we, the U.K., should nick the BREXIT slogan, and rebrand it: "We want our Colonies back!". Starting with British America...
We could even let France have some of the bits they had before we got our hands on those areas that the French controlled...

(For clarity, I am only joking.)

Maybe we should also remind the Americans that part of the reason they have jet powered aircraft is because during the war we gave them full details of the jet engine that had been designed and developed by Frank Whittle. We also gave them various other technologies as part of the Tizard Mission.

 

[brad465]

Maybe we, the U.K., should nick the BREXIT slogan, and rebrand it: "We want our Colonies back!". Starting with British America...
We could even let France have some of the bits they had before we got our hands on those areas that the French controlled...

(For clarity, I am only joking.)

Apparently when the US embassy was in Grosvenor Square, they wanted to buy the freehold off the Duke of Westminster, but the latter said "Yes, if you give the state of Virginia back to my family which you confiscated."

 

[Giugiaro]

What does it say on the plaque, something about tired, poor, huddled masses I seem to recall... Certainly not the people the current administration is welcoming with open arms.

Exactly (and I'm waiting to see how long it takes for the MAGA pundits to rip the plaque off):

Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
With conquering limbs astride from land to land;
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.

"Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she
With silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"

 

[Gloster]

“You Maniacs! You blew it up! Ah, damn you! God damn you all to hell!” (Look it up if you don’t know.)

The full name of the statue is becoming all too ironic and inaccurate: Liberty Enlightening the World.

 

[Springs Branch]

I want to bring this one up because I had this in my Trump Bingo Card.
The current US administration does not align with the Statue of Liberty and what it stands for.

This is top-tier buffoonery:

Maybe the United States could return sell the Statue of Liberty back to France, and use the vacant plinth for a beautiful, beautiful, bigly statue (in fake blingy gold, of course) of Dear Leader Donald extending a middle finger (in place of a torch) to all foreigners approaching the USA*.

* Except those paying for a $5 million "Gold Card" visa, as proposed by Trump.

 

[Giugiaro]

If we go back to 2019 we find the same issue again, this time relating specifically to the poem.

Nothing new then. We still have 1402 days of this madness.

Trump official revises Statue of Liberty poem to defend migrant rule change
14 August 2019

A top US immigration official has revised a quote inscribed on the Statue of Liberty in defence of a new policy that denies food aid to legal migrants.
The head of Citizenship and Immigration Services tweaked the passage: "Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free".
The official added the words "who can stand on their own two feet and who will not become a public charge".
He later said the poem had referred to "people coming from Europe".
Ken Cuccinelli, the Trump administration's acting head of Citizenship and Immigration Services, announced on Monday a new "public charge" requirement that limits legal migrants from seeking certain public benefits such as public housing or food aid, or are considered likely to do so in the future.

What did the official say?
On Tuesday, Mr Cuccinelli was asked by NPR whether the 1883 poem titled The New Colossus at the Statue of Liberty still applied.
"Would you also agree that Emma Lazarus's words etched on the Statue of Liberty, 'Give me your tired, give me your poor,' are also a part of the American ethos?" asked NPR's Rachel Martin.
"They certainly are," Mr Cuccinelli responded. "Give me your tired and your poor - who can stand on their own two feet and who will not become a public charge."
"That plaque was put on the Statue of Liberty at almost the same time as the first public charge [law] was passed - very interesting timing," he added.
The actual passage reads in part: "Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"
In the interview, he added that immigrants are welcome "who can stand on their own two feet, be self-sufficient, pull themselves up by their bootstraps, again, as in the American tradition".
After the host asked if the policy "appears to change the definition of the American dream," he said: "We invite people to come here and join us as a privilege.
"No one has a right to become an American who isn't born here as an American."
Mr Cuccinelli was pressed later on CNN about his comments, and pushed back on claims he was trying to re-write the poem. He insisted he was answering a question and accused people on the left of "twisting" his comments.
Then asked by anchor Erin Burnett about what America stands for, he said: "Of course that poem was referring back to people coming from Europe - where they had class-based societies where people were considering wretched if they weren't in the right class."
The two then discussed their own immigrant ancestry, with Ms Burnett pointing out his rule would have "excluded" her family.
"I'm here because they were allowed in, and I'm an anchor on CNN," she said.
Beto O'Rouke, a Democratic presidential hopeful from Texas, shared a clip from the interview and said the comments show his Trump administration "think the Statue of Liberty only applies to white people".

(...)

What has reaction been?
The Democratic led House Homeland Security Committee condemned Mr Cuccinelli's revision in a tweet, calling the words "vile and un-American".
"It's clear the Trump Administration just wants to keep certain people out," the committee wrote, calling Mr Cuccinelli "a xenophobic, anti-immigrant fringe figure who has no business being in government".
Others pointed to his background as the attorney general of Virginia, in which he led a conservative campaign against immigration and homosexuality.
Asked about Mr Cuccinelli's remarks on Tuesday, President Trump did not directly respond to the Statue of Liberty quote, but said: "I don't think it's fair to have the American taxpayer pay for people to come into the United States."
"I'm tired of seeing our taxpayer paying for people to come into the country and immediately go onto welfare and various other things.
"So I think we're doing it right."

 

[nlogax]

Worth noting the subtle tweak to US travel advice by UK FCDO in the last few days.

Did read: (archive.org)

The authorities in the US set and enforce entry rules. If you’re not sure how these requirements apply to you, contact the US Embassy or a consulate in the UK.

Now reads: (gov.uk)

You should comply with all entry, visa and other conditions of entry. The authorities in the US set and enforce entry rules strictly. You may be liable to arrest or detention if you break the rules. If you’re not sure how these requirements apply to you, contact the US Embassy or a consulate in the UK.

Derogatory statements re. the current US leadership were found on a French scientist's phone which resulted him being refused entry to the US. Earlier this week there were also reports of German citizens being detained at the US border, including one being sent to a detention facility. Notably the German government has also made similar amendments to its own US travel advice.

These are developments anyone travelling to the States in the near future should bear in mind.

 

[Strathclyder]

If we go back to 2019 we find the same issue again, this time relating specifically to the poem.

Nothing new then. We still have 1402 days of this madness.

Not surprised they pulled this the first time round. Only surprising thing is that it wasn't done on January 21st 2017.

Worth noting the subtle tweak to US travel advice by UK FCDO in the last few days.

Did read: (archive.org)


Now reads: (gov.uk)


Derogatory statements re. the current US leadership were found on a French scientist's phone which resulted him being refused entry to the US. Earlier this week there were also reports of German citizens being detained at the US border, including one being sent to a detention facility. Notably the German government has also made similar amendments to its own US travel advice.

These are developments anyone travelling to the States in the near future should bear in mind.

Or, if you don't have to, don't travel there period.

 

[brad465]

There goes the Department for Education:

Trump signs executive order in first step to shut down Department of Education - live updates

The White House says an executive order dismantling the agency will improve education for US students and save money.

www.bbc.co.uk

US President Donald Trump is expected to sign an executive order this afternoon that would close the federal Department of Education - a long-time goal of many Republicans that they say will improve student outcomes and save government money.

But critics warn that closing the cabinet-level agency could have wide-reaching consequences, including for low-income students, students with disabilities and colleges and universities around the country.

Unlike in many other countries, schools in the US are mostly run by state and local authorities, both for funding and curriculum. Federal education officials are instead tasked with overseeing some of these local functions and tracking education outcomes across the country.

It's not totally clear yet what exactly this move could mean for American students, parents and teachers, but we'll be exploring this topic from every angle as we wait to hear more from Trump.

We'll bring you all the latest updates and analysis to go with it, so stick with us.

 

[Cloud Strife]

These are developments anyone travelling to the States in the near future should bear in mind.

It's insane to think that we're now at the point where the same advice applies to the USA as applies to China and Russia, i.e. don't go there with anything more than a clean phone.

 

[zero]

Derogatory statements re. the current US leadership were found on a French scientist's phone which resulted him being refused entry to the US. Earlier this week there were also reports of German citizens being detained at the US border, including one being sent to a detention facility. Notably the German government has also made similar amendments to its own US travel advice.

These are developments anyone travelling to the States in the near future should bear in mind.

This may or may not be the case, according to https://edition.cnn.com/2025/03/20/europe/french-researcher-expelled-trump-intl-latam/index.html the scientist was also found with confidential information on his device.

It's nothing new for the US to detain people being denied entry. Unlike other countries, the US refuses to let you just pay for next flight back to your origin.

It's insane to think that we're now at the point where the same advice applies to the USA as applies to China and Russia, i.e. don't go there with anything more than a clean phone.

The same advice would apply to the UK.

 

[The Ham]

The same advice would apply to the UK.

Why?