What does a TRUMP presidency look like?

[Baron von Schtinkenbutt]

Is there a Republican left who isn't a willing participant?

[The Minsky Moment]

https://kstp.com/kstp-news/top-news/local-law-enforcement-heads-share-concerns-about-federal-agents-conduct-in-twin-cities/

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security says it has sent roughly 3,000 agents from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and U.S. Border Patrol to Minnesota . . . Twin Cities officials say federal agents now outnumber local law enforcement and do not give any prior warning about their activities.

During a news conference Tuesday at the Minnesota State Capitol, St. Paul Police Chief Axel Henry, Hennepin County Sheriff Dawanna Witt and Brooklyn Park Police Chief Mark Bruley reported that off-duty officers in their departments are being stopped by ICE and Border Patrol agents and being asked for proof of citizenship. All of those stopped were people of color, something Witt called "concrete examples of profiling."

Bruley described an encounter in which one of his officers was "boxed in" by federal agents, who held her at gunpoint and demanded to see her papers. When the off-duty officer tried to record the stop with her phone, one of the agents knocked the device from her hand. The agents finally left when she identified herself as a Brooklyn Park police officer.

When constitutional government is restored to the United States, ICE will have to be completely dismantled and reconstructed from scratch.  It's rot from the top all they way down.

[HVC]

Man. I had no idea illegals were such a problem in Minnesota. Almost like ICE is using immigration as the flimsiest of pretexts. At least at those numbers people won't do anything untowards like saying mean things to them

[HVC]

Is there a Republican left who isn't a willing participant?

In a just world once the Trumpists fall there would be trials and Justice (maybe some hangings for fun). But that'll never happen.

[Valmy]

Man. I had no idea illegals were such a problem in Minnesota. Almost like ICE is using immigration as the flimsiest of pretexts. At least at those numbers people won't do anything untowards like saying mean things to them

Minnesota is well known for taking lots of refugees. And refugees, legal immigrants mind you, was a huge focus on his re-election campaign.

But it is kind of bizarre to see this as a battleground for immigration and not New Mexico, California, Texas, and Arizona.

[Tonitrus]

When constitutional government is restored to the United States, ICE will have to be completely dismantled and reconstructed from scratch.  It's rot from the top all they way down.

Not just dismantled as an organization, but leadership needs to be charged with abuses of power, but as I expect lots of these and others in ICE will "retire" "just in time"...lots of pensions will need to be revoked and a ban on any other federal employment to those hired starting from 2025. 

And then test/challenge the idea of "pre-emptive" pardons.  I think the only reason Trump hasn't done that with Gen. Milley and others is that he wants to keep that tool in his pocket for himself and his family.

And force another challenge of Presidential immunity.  And keep doing it.

[Admiral Yi]

It's not that bizarre if you think of it as pure political theater. A significant chunk of Trump's political base derive            pleasure from drinking liberul tears.  More liberul tears in Minnesota than in Texas.

[HVC]

But wouldn't California produce the most tears? Or would there be more pushback?

[Admiral Yi]

But wouldn't California produce the most tears? Or would there be more pushback?

Here's where I get a little speculative because I don't have a  lot of data points. Seems to me states like California and NY chose to provide local police buffers for ICE operations. Not as much fun to scream at NYPD, less liberul tears.           In Minnesota I haven't seen much if any local police.

[Tonitrus]

But wouldn't California produce the most tears? Or would there be more pushback?

Here's where I get a little speculative because I don't have a  lot of data points. Seems to me states like California and NY chose to provide local police buffers for ICE operations. Not as much fun to scream at NYPD, less liberul tears.           In Minnesota I haven't seen much if any local police.

That is because local police there is tiny.  ICE has 2-3K on the ground.  Minneapolis PD is ~600 officers.

[Razgovory]

Is there a Republican left who isn't a willing participant?

Mitt Romney.

[grumbler]

Is there a Republican left who isn't a willing participant?

Mitt Romney.

True. He isn't a participant at all.  Too bad.

[DGuller]

When Mitt Romney was in the Senate that had a razor-thin majority for Republicans, he was Republican enough.  I do believe that it's wise to always have a gradient in how you regard the bad actors, as otherwise you remove any incentive for bad actors to be less bad once they breached the threshold.  That said, it's also wise to not be too distracted by eloquent denunciations to see what they actually did.

[viper37]

Trump at Davos in Switzerland: "Without us, right now you'd all be speaking German". 


I suppose the German majority of Switzerland was kept in check by US soft power...

[Norgy]

Unsurprisingly, another ally, the Kurdish forces in Syria, are left behind.

From the NYT:

For more than a decade, they were the United States' closest allies in Syria, fighting against the Islamic State, guarding American bases and running internment camps and prisons that held tens of thousands of jihadists and their relatives.

That alliance is now disintegrating. The United States has turned away from its longtime allies, the Syrian Democratic Forces, or S.D.F., and thrown its support behind the new government of President Ahmed al-Sharaa.

Without U.S. backing, the S.D.F., a Kurdish-led force, has wobbled and beaten a retreat as the government moves troops into northeastern Syria to seize control, ending a standoff that has endured since President al-Sharaa took power in December 2024.


The collapse of the S.D.F. marks a turning point in Syria's political transition after the fall of former President Bashar al-Assad and now paves the way for the government to take over the strategic region, its oil fields and rich agricultural lands.

The pivot by Washington is a huge win for Mr. al-Sharaa, who has struggled to pull the country back together, as well as for Turkey, which vehemently opposed American support for the S.D.F. and backed Mr. al-Sharaa.