What does a TRUMP presidency look like?

[viper37]

Treasury tells Congress that DOGE has 'Read Only' access to payment systems

No need to worry.  Get back to sleep everyone!

[Zanza]

I still doubt we will see US annexations in the next four years. But Russia annexing Ukraine or China annexing Taiwan becomes more likely with each of Trump's crazy imperialist statements.

[HisMajestyBOB]

Treasury tells Congress that DOGE has 'Read Only' access to payment systems

No need to worry.  Get back to sleep everyone!

Better hope no one tells DOGE about sudo.

[garbon]

Trump - he just keeps coming up with these quarter-baked international diplomacy ideas.  Whether it's the US taking over Greenland, to Canada joining the US, to the US taking over Gaza - in each case there's the kernel of a seed of an idea.

In each case though it would take years of very careful negotiations, needing the buy-in of multiple parties - first and foremost the consent of the people involved.

Like I said yesterday - you could kind-of squint and imagine Gaza becoming a US Territory or protectorate.  It wouldn't be the independent state Palestinians want, but a self-governing US territory, with US aid and development money flowing in would be an interesting idea.  I'm not sure why the US would want to get so much more involved in US politics that way, but whatever.

But Trump can't put in the hard work to do it.  Instead he just floats the idea out there and expects everyone else to just do it somehow.

Same with the 51st state of Canada idea.  If he seriously wanted to pursue that, instead of threatening tariffs he'd be recommending an even closer trade relationship.  Offer free movement - essentially remove the border.  Offer carrots, not sticks.  It would take decades, but I could see it happening.

Instead he has Canadians boing the US anthem at hockey games.  Several years ago in Edmonton, for some reason the US anthem went out.  The entire crowd went on to sign it, with no accompanyment or words being shown.  I can't imagine that happening today.

This normalization of Trump strikes me as bizarre. Sure, Timmay, we can imagine all sorts of rationale for different geopolitical realities. But there's really no reason to do that for a US taking Gaza as such ideas are just repugnant.

[Barrister]

This normalization of Trump strikes me as bizarre. Sure, Timmay, we can imagine all sorts of rationale for different geopolitical realities. But there's really no reason to do that for a US taking Gaza as such ideas are just repugnant.

I called the idea "quarter-baked" (as in not even half baked) but said there was "the kernel of a seed of an idea".

I really am going to push back against the idea that constitutes normalizing him.

[The Minsky Moment]

Trump - he just keeps coming up with these quarter-baked international diplomacy ideas.  Whether it's the US taking over Greenland, to Canada joining the US, to the US taking over Gaza - in each case there's the kernel of a seed of an idea. . . .

Like I said yesterday - you could kind-of squint and imagine Gaza becoming a US Territory or protectorate.

BB I hesitate because you get piled on here for engaging in the quixotic venture of calling balls and strikes on Trump - a venture to my mind akin to an actual baseball umpire trying to call balls and strikes in the middle of the running of the bulls at Pamplona.  But these lines are hardcore sanewashing.

Yesterday, the President of the United States gave a press conference openly proposing ethnic cleansing of a territory belonging to an authority recognized as a sovereign state by the UN and most of its members.  It's been a while and perhaps I've forgotten the details, but I don't recall even Milosevic openly declaring his intent to commit war crimes before the international press. I believe one would have to go back to 30s era fascist regimes for an analogue.  This is something we normalize or minimize at our peril.  The only possible response - outside AND inside the United States, is universal revulsion and the harshest condemnation.

Moreover, even in a bizarro fantasy world where the beleaguered citizenry of Gaza happily embrace American proconsular overlords, the proposal that Gaza become "a US Territory or protectorate" is an absurdity that ignores glaring political, economic and geographic realities.

What I saw yesterday was a man who even by the low standards of Trumpian conduct and mental acuity, is suffering from some severe mental deterioration. I don't think he understands that he is President. Specifically - I think he understands in some formal sense he holds an office of President of the US, but in his muddled mind, his role as President of the Trump Organization and President of the US are hopelessly confused together. His comments at the press conference make zero sense as an American President speaking about the real life Gaza.  But they make perfect sense if interpreted as the President of a large real estate firm talking about acquiring a troubled building site requiring heavy grading and remediation work but with good potential income once built.  I think he literally has no idea what he is talking about anymore.

[Jacob]

Did the author of article explain what pushing back against the take over means in practice?

They did not, no.

[Valmy]

Well Al Green went through the Democratic ritual of trying to impeach Trump over the Gaza statements.

Does that count as pushing back?

[Barrister]

I think he literally has no idea what he is talking about anymore.

I have a different take on Trump.

Back  when he was first elected, there were news stories about how Donald Trump was a big proponent of the self-help book The Power of Positive Thinking.  Here's just one of those stories:

https://www.npr.org/2017/01/19/510628862/how-positive-thinking-helped-propel-trump-to-the-presidency

Looking back at it - he wasn't just a fan, but the author Norman Vincent Peale was Trump's pastor and officiated Trump's first wedding.

But in short - he just feels like if you keep saying something, if you keep believing it - eventually it will happen.  You can see this in how he dealt with Covid - he just kept asserting it would go away.

And on a certain level it's worked for Trump - he went from a second-rate real estate developer from Queens into a global phenomenon, came back from multiple bankruptcies, even made it to the Presidency even after he was written off numerous times.

But the flip side is - he's never had to put in the hard work.  He just keeps barging ahead with whatever quarter-baked idea comes into his head.

So yes - he knows he's President of the US.  He just figures he can change the world by force of will alone.

[garbon]

This normalization of Trump strikes me as bizarre. Sure, Timmay, we can imagine all sorts of rationale for different geopolitical realities. But there's really no reason to do that for a US taking Gaza as such ideas are just repugnant.

I called the idea "quarter-baked" (as in not even half baked) but said there was "the kernel of a seed of an idea".

I really am going to push back against the idea that constitutes normalizing him.

But why are you taking that position? What's the reason to say this 99% terrible idea has 1% that isn't terrible?

[The Minsky Moment]

Maintaining self-confidence, visualizing success, refusing to be deterred by setbacks - that is positive thinking per Peale.  (As for that matter is putting one's faith in God, and purging hate from one's heart, characteristics not commonly associated with Trump).

Believing you can change reality just by repeating oneself is insanity. 

COVID didn't go away and millions died. The Wall didn't get built. Prices aren't going down.

We aren't dealing with an enthusiastic acolyte of the power of positive thinking.  We are dealing with insanity.

[Valmy]

Believing you can change reality just by repeating oneself is insanity. 

Clearly you haven't read "The Secret"

I liked it better when anti-vaccine and New Age woo were just dumb shit the extreme left would do that I could laugh at. It just shows there is no idea so stupid that both political extremes will not embrace it at some point.

And now this shit is mainstream right wing stuff. So congrats America.

[viper37]

In each case though it would take years of very careful negotiations, needing the buy-in of multiple parties - first and foremost the consent of the people involved.

Has Israel ever asked the Palestinians consent for taking their lands?  I must have been sleeping when it happened.

So, the IDF has the manpower to dislodge the Palestinians, but they can't wage a multi front war.

The US has the hardware to reduce the entire strip to rubble.

In the past, the US used its force to restrain Israel in its actions toward the Palestinians.  This is completely gone.

Unrestricted "sales" (more like gifts) of weapons has resume to Israel.

All we wait for is a reason to officially break the cease-fire in Gaza.  Right now, Israel a little busy in the West Bank.

[viper37]

The real story here is this one:

Following the 2024 presidential election, the Trump transition team asked Driscoll to serve as Deputy Director of the FBI underneath Robert Kissane as acting director. In 2025, following the inauguration of Donald Trump, Driscoll became acting director of the FBI because the White House website "incorrectly listed" him as acting director and Kissane as deputy director. "Instead of fixing the error, the pair swapped their temporary FBI roles," according to the Wall Street Journal...

On January 31, 2025, as part of the ongoing purge of civil servants in the second Trump administration, the FBI under Driscoll was ordered to fire eight senior executives and compile a list of potentially thousands of other employees involved in investigations stemming from the January 6 United States Capitol attack, a group that Driscoll said included himself and acting deputy director Kissane. The order came from Emil Bove, a former criminal defense attorney for Trump who became the Trump administration's acting Deputy Attorney General. Driscoll refused to endorse the effort to purge agents and pushed back "so forcefully that some FBI officials feared he would be dismissed." Driscoll was lauded in a message widely circulated among FBI personnel.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brian_Driscoll


This government is a fucking joke.



'Accidental' F.B.I. Chief Builds a Following as Agency's Defender

Brian Driscoll was accidentally catapulted into the acting director's chair on Jan. 20 and has defended the bureau from the potential of mass firings, inspiring memes and satirical clips. 


Brian Driscoll, the acting director of the F.B.I., has become an improbable symbol of quiet resistance toward the Justice Department's campaign to single out F.B.I. employees who investigated the Jan. 6 riot.
To start, Mr. Driscoll's appointment was an accident. Shortly after President Trump's inauguration, the White House identified the wrong agent as acting director on its website and never corrected the mistake.
Even if he was not meant to be leading the agency, he has defended the rank-and-file. His refusal at the time to furnish the names of employees, as top Justice Department officials desired, and his insistence that a formal review process be put in place, has spurred widespread support for Mr. Driscoll.
Former and current agents have traded memes and satirical clips celebrating him, offering a rare moment of levity as dismay and deep unease set in across the F.B.I. and as Mr. Driscoll navigates the political perils of Washington and a president who is deeply hostile to the agency.


Known as "Drizz" among his friends, Mr. Driscoll, 45, does not possess the typical G-man bearing of his predecessors, with a bushy mustache and his face framed by long curls. It is a demeanor that has become the focal point of artificially generated memes.
In one, he is depicted as a saint grasping the handbook for agents running investigations. In another, he glances upward, encircled by the words "What Would Drizz Do?" One video, a compilation of scenes from the movie "The Dark Knight Rises," portrays Mr. Driscoll as Batman doing battle with the so-called Department of Government Efficiency in Los Angeles.
Former agents jokingly called his appointment a providential mistake.
A heated confrontation on Friday with top Justice Department officials left many wondering at the time whether Mr. Driscoll had been fired. Scrutinizing agents and others involved in the sprawling investigation into the Capitol riot would touch a startling number of people: The F.B.I. opened about 2,400 cases that involved about 6,000 intelligence analysts, agents and other employees.
In a defiant email Friday night, James Dennehy, the top agent in the New York field office, warned his staff that the F.B.I. was "in the middle of a battle of our own." Praising Mr. Driscoll and his deputy, Robert C. Kissane, as "warriors," Mr. Dennehy asserted they were "fighting for this organization."


In fact, Mr. Kissane, the top counterterrorism agent in New York, had been widely believed to be in line to be acting director, several current and former agents said, with Mr. Driscoll as the No. 2 official. But when the White House unveiled its website to reflect its staff under the Trump administration, Mr. Driscoll was identified as the bureau's chief.


Rather than correct the error, the administration left it.
Mr. Driscoll had been in charge of the Newark office for only about a week before he moved to the director's suite on the seventh floor of F.B.I. headquarters in Washington, thrust into the middle of a political firestorm. Rumors of his dismissal continued to swirl on Friday until the bureau released a statement a day later to confirm that he was still in charge.

Friends and colleagues describe Mr. Driscoll as unflappable. He was a special agent with the U.S. Naval Criminal Investigative Service in San Diego before joining the F.B.I. in 2007. His first assignment was in the New York office, the largest outpost in the bureau, where agents form powerful alliances and deep connections.
In 2011, he passed rigorous tryouts and was selected to the F.B.I.'s Hostage Rescue Team, a highly trained unit formed in the years after the massacre at the Munich Olympics in 1972. Many operators were once in the U.S. military and served in the Joint Special Operations Command.
Rescue team operators, including Mr. Driscoll, have repeatedly deployed to Afghanistan and Iraq during the wars there, embedding with Navy SEAL and Delta Force commandos.


Former members of the rescue team said that Mr. Driscoll was dispatched in 2013 to Alabama, where they successfully rescued a 5-year-old boy who had been taken hostage in a bunker. He was a gunfighter on the blue squadron.
He also took part in a dangerous raid with U.S. commandos in May 2015 in Syria in the hopes of finding clues about Kayla Mueller, a young woman from Phoenix who was kidnapped by the Islamic State. (Ms. Mueller died in captivity.)
During the operation, Delta Force commandos killed a top militant leader and captured his wife. Mr. Driscoll later testified in a criminal trial in Northern Virginia about the evidence he collected at the scene, including a red laptop that the Islamic State had used to force Ms. Mueller to watch jihadist videos.
In 2020, Mr. Driscoll returned to New York, where he supervised terrorism cases in Africa, Western Europe and Canada. He then took over the Hostage Rescue Team in 2022, which handles the most dangerous missions inside the United States, like disabling a nuclear weapon or rescuing a hostage held by a terrorist.
Chris O'Leary, a former top counterterrorism agent in New York who worked with Mr. Driscoll, pointed to his experience.


"What the F.B.I. needs most is a principled leader, and we have one right now in Brian Driscoll," Mr. O'Leary said.
He added that Mr. Kissane, a West Point graduate, is of the same mold as Mr. Driscoll.

On Friday, Mr. Driscoll notified staff about the Justice Department's efforts to collect the names of all F.B.I. personnel who worked on the Jan. 6 cases.
"I am one of those employees," he wrote.
Indeed, Mr. Driscoll took part in the arrest of Samuel Fisher, an adherent of the QAnon conspiracy theory, in Manhattan two weeks after Trump supporters stormed the Capitol.
F.B.I. agents found over a thousand rounds of ammunition and several weapons, including an illegally modified AR-15 rifle and machetes, in Mr. Fisher's Upper East Side apartment and car. Among them was a "ghost gun," which is unregistered and thus untraceable.


In 2022, Mr. Fisher was sentenced to three and a half years in prison after he pleaded guilty to a gun possession charge in Manhattan Supreme Court. He also pleaded guilty in federal court to illegally entering the Capitol on Jan. 6.
Mr. Fisher was pardoned by Mr. Trump.

[Legbiter]

I worry about Reddit.  While it is a useful place for discussing obscure interests that you might have because of the wide user base, I've noticed that it tends to be the same kind of poorly-considered rage-bait that fills most social media.  The upvote/downvote structure tends to reward the most over-the-top, insane statements.

Yeah, Reddit seems to attract a very specific personality type no matter the subreddit. A kind of insufferable low-to-midwit type, frequently male and if from North America always kinda shitlib-coded in the most obnoxious way.

If you have a niche question it's very useful but I'd never want to regularly post on any subreddit because of the personality types that the updoot system seems to attract.