What does a TRUMP presidency look like?

[Savonarola]

No it absolutely cannot be interpreted broadly, because the 1st Amendment forbids that. 

That's not how it works.  As an amateur radio broadcaster I'm not allowed to deliberately spread false information on the air or I'm not allowed to use obscenities.  If I do (and someone complains) I'll lose my licenses, even though my right to use obscenities is protected by the first amendment.

[The Minsky Moment]

As an amateur OR professional broadcaster you can only be subject to objective and enumerated restrictions applied evenly to all broadcasters that satisfy First Amendment criteria.  You cannot be targeted for the political content of your speech. The First Amendment absolutely does protect you against that. The FCC cannot broaden that on the fly through creative and novel "interpretations"  The rule of law still applies, at least as long as the courts can enforce it.

[crazy canuck]

No it absolutely cannot be interpreted broadly, because the 1st Amendment forbids that. 

That's not how it works.  As an amateur radio broadcaster I'm not allowed to deliberately spread false information on the air or I'm not allowed to use obscenities.  If I do (and someone complains) I'll lose my licenses, even though my right to use obscenities is protected by the first amendment.

Those examples are not inconsistent with what JR said. Also, the words "deliberately false" are doing a lot of heavy lifting in that sentence. Comedians say a lot of things that are deliberately false - we call it satire.

What you might have in mind is defamatory statements which are made with malice.  That is speech that is not protected.

[Savonarola]

As an amateur OR professional broadcaster you can only be subject to objective and enumerated restrictions applied evenly to all broadcasters that satisfy First Amendment criteria.  You cannot be targeted for the political content of your speech. The First Amendment absolutely does protect you against that. The FCC cannot broaden that on the fly through creative and novel "interpretations"  The rule of law still applies, at least as long as the courts can enforce it.

I understand what you mean now; I thought you meant that the first amendment rights applied to all broadcast speech.

[Josquius]

I feel kind of smug. I can't find the post now but just after the kimmel sacking I said one of the others should do this fake hail Trump thing.

https://edition.cnn.com/2025/09/19/politics/video/jon-stewart-trump-kimmel-suspension-ldn-digvid

[mongers]

I no longer even remember how to spell Optimissim.

No worries, even I could beat you at spelling. 

Wosh?

[Tonitrus]

Thing is ... let's say the Democrats manage to take back the Senate, House of Representatives and Presidency by 2028 (feels very hypothetical at this point).

How do you even begin to fix the institutional damage that has been done by now?

There will be a lot of work to be done, lots of people to fired (and/or investigated/charged with crimes)...it would probably look a fair bit like what we saw with the start of the current administration.  Lots of court fights as well.   

[Sophie Scholl]

You don't fix it. You can't. I think that world is gone and not only is there no way of restoring it but a restorationist project would fail politically, causing further damage.
[/quote]
I think that was a big part of the failure of Biden's term. He was a restorationist to the pre-Trump status quo and a caretaker President for whomever would succeed him for a second term. The probem with that is that restoring things to how they were with some band-aids and wishful thinking combined with not being willing to let go of the reins of power meant he gave no actual protections to prevent Trump 2 and basically set it up to continue the dismantling of Democracy with an almost assured victory. We need radical change and an overhaul of things, and even that isn't guaranteed to right the ship. There is no going back, and that is terrifying to a lot of Dems and old school Republicans. Alas, they're the ones who still hold onto power and direct the course of things as of now. 

[Syt]

https://apnews.com/article/h1b-visa-trump-immigration-8d39699d0b2de3d90936f8076357254e

Trump signs proclamation adding $100K annual fee for H-1B visa applications

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump on Friday signed a proclamation that will require a $100,000 annual visa fee for highly-skilled foreign workers and rolled out a $1 million "gold card" visa as a pathway to U.S. citizenship for wealthy individuals, moves that face near-certain legal challenges amid widespread criticism he is sidestepping Congress.

If the moves survive legal muster, they will deliver staggering price increases. The visa fee for skilled workers would jump from $215. The fee for investor visas, which are common in many European countries, would climb from $10,000-$20,000 a year.

H-1B visas, which require at least a bachelor's degree, are meant for high-skilled jobs that tech companies find difficult to fill. Critics say the program is a pipeline for overseas workers who are often willing to work for as little as $60,000 annually, well below the $100,000-plus salaries typically paid to U.S. technology workers.

Trump on Friday insisted that the tech industry would not oppose the move. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said "all big companies" are on board.

Representatives for the biggest tech companies, including Amazon, Apple, Google and Meta, did not immediately respond to messages for comment on Friday. Microsoft declined to comment.

Lutnick said the change will likely result in far fewer H-1B visas than the 85,000 annual cap allows because "it's just not economic anymore."

"If you're going to train people, you're going to train Americans." Lutnick said on a conference call with reporters. "If you have a very sophisticated engineer and you want to bring them in ... then you can pay $100,000 a year for your H-1B visa."

Trump also announced he will start selling a "gold card" visa with a path to U.S. citizenship for $1 million after vetting. For companies, it will cost $2 million to sponsor an employee.

The "Trump Platinum Card" will be available for a $5 million and allow foreigners to spend up to 270 days in the U.S. without being subject to U.S. taxes on non-U.S. income. Trump announced a $5 million gold card in February to replace an existing investor visa — this is now the platinum card.

Lutnick said the gold and platinum cards would replace employment-based visas that offer paths to citizenship, including for professors, scientists, artists and athletes.

Critics of H-1Bs visas who say they are used to replace American workers applauded the move. U.S. Tech Workers, an advocacy group, called it "the next best thing" to abolishing the visas altogether.

Doug Rand, a senior official at U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services during the Biden administration, said the proposed fee increase was "ludicrously lawless."

"This isn't real policy — it's fan service for immigration restrictionists," Rand said. "Trump gets his headlines, and inflicts a jolt of panic, and doesn't care whether this survives first contact with the courts."

Lutnick said the H-1B fees and gold card could be introduced by the president but the platinum card needs congressional approval.

Historically, H-1B visas have been doled out through lottery. This year, Amazon was by far the top recipient of H-1B visas with more than 10,000 awarded, followed by Tata Consultancy, Microsoft, Apple and Google. Geographically, California has the highest number of H-1B workers.

Critics say H-1B spots often go to entry-level jobs, rather than senior positions with unique skill requirements. And while the program isn't supposed to undercut U.S. wages or displace U.S. workers, critics say companies can pay less by classifying jobs at the lowest skill levels, even if the specific workers hired have more experience.

As a result, many U.S. companies find it cheaper to contract out help desks, programming and other basic tasks to consulting companies such as Wipro, Infosys, HCL Technologies and Tata in India and IBM and Cognizant in the U.S. These consulting companies hire foreign workers, often from India, and contract them out to U.S. employers looking to save money.

First lady Melania Trump, the former Melania Knauss, was granted an H-1B work visa in October 1996 to work as a model. She was born in Slovenia.

In 2024, lottery bids for the visas plunged nearly 40%, which authorities said was due to success against people who were "gaming the system" by submitting multiple, sometimes dubious, applications to unfairly increase chances of being selected.

Major technology companies that use H-1B visas sought changes after massive increases in bids left their employees and prospective hires with slimmer chances of winning the random lottery. Facing what it acknowledged was likely fraud and abuse, USCIS this year said each employee had only one shot at the lottery, whether the person had one job offer or 50.

Critics welcomed the change but said more needs to be done. The AFL-CIO wrote last year that while changes to the lottery "included some steps in the right direction," it fell short of needed reforms. The labor group wants visas awarded to companies that pay the highest wages instead of by random lottery, a change that Trump sought during his first term in the White House.

[Oexmelin]

Goodbye, foreign professors in American universities. That's the visa I - and every other foreign academic - had.

[Zanza]

The important part is that the administration will give exemptions. So if you invest into Trump's cyber currency or so, you get H1B visa. Just another mafia shake down.

[Oexmelin]

Sure, though at this point, it's safe to assume everything is for sale, and universities will likely sell out autonomy. I am just really worried for people I know who are just beginning their careers.

The elite American universities worldwide dominance relies on attracting scholars from around the world.

[Tamas]

Speaking of things for sale, seems like Trump is going to sell out Taiwan to China, I assume for some personal stake in Tik Tok

[Savonarola]

Goodbye, foreign professors in American universities. That's the visa I - and every other foreign academic - had.

Yes, I think I had all of two professors born in the United States when I was in graduate school; and it was unusual for me to have a class with more than 25% of native born students.  Everyone I talked to from other engineering disciplines had about the same story.  In addition in industry we rely on foreign born engineers because relatively few of the native born population has advanced degrees in engineering. 

So the administrations master plan is to rebuild the manufacturing base without experienced manufacturing engineers and skilled craftsmen.  We're going to train the next generation of manufacturing engineers without professors of manufacturing engineering; and all those new manufacturing engineers that we will need will be native born.  The foreign born engineers and skilled workers that we can bring in on other visas will be subject to arrest and deportation by ICE if their paperwork isn't 100% correct.

[Josquius]

Sure, though at this point, it's safe to assume everything is for sale, and universities will likely sell out autonomy. I am just really worried for people I know who are just beginning their careers.

The elite American universities worldwide dominance relies on attracting scholars from around the world.

An American academic friend decided she couldn't really stay in the US any more due to the decline of rule of law and reactionary witch hunts.
She accepted a job in Abu Dhabi.