What does a TRUMP presidency look like?

[The Minsky Moment]

And he just fucking pardoned Rod Blagojevich. What the fuck? I guess he is a bipartisan asshole.

I don't understand. Does he just do things because it is the wrong thing to do?

Can we expect a Bob Menendez pardon tomorrow?

Normalizing corruption is the point.  The MAGA worldview is that it's OK if Trump breaks the law or is corrupt because "everyone does it." It's OK to destroy the government because the government is inextricably corrupt. Promoting the idea that corruption is inevitable, ubiquitous and normal is thus a key plank in the MAGA strategy.  Destroy people's faith in everything and nothing is left but the Leader.  Even if you don't like him that much, he becomes a necessary evil because only he can reward those who swear fealty and punish those who do not. 

After a decade of having to rely on third and fourth tier law firms, Trump is now being represented by Sullivan & Cromwell, the whitest of white shoe firms, the elite of the elite. Consider why.  Whatever fee S&C earns from the representation (likely zero or little more is history is guide) is clealry not a motivating factor.  But S&C has lots of very rich corporate clients who pay enormous fees to be represented in front of federal agencies like the SEC, FTC, DOJ . . .

Lord Acton got it only partly right; the arrow goes both ways.  Absolute corruption --> absolute power.  The madness of MAGA is its method.

[Jacob]

It's the "everyone is corrupt, so why bother; you're naive if you think anything better is possible" playbook that the likes of Putin, Orban etc have used to build their regimes.

[The Minsky Moment]

Precisely and like them Trump is forming his class of tamed oligarchs who provide him with unquestioning political support in return for "protection" and the ability to access corrupt opportunities in the form of government contracts, stripped down or unenforced regulations, freedom from the threat of civil actions or prosecutions.

[viper37]

AP is barred from the White House until they conform with Trump's renaming of the Gulf of Mexico.

https://thehill.com/homenews/media/5139328-white-house-ap-gulf-mexico/

Fox News will not protest.

[Jacob]

... and now Trump is apparently hinting that he'll renege on "some" US debt?

[Valmy]

AP is barred from the White House until they conform with Trump's renaming of the Gulf of Mexico.

https://thehill.com/homenews/media/5139328-white-house-ap-gulf-mexico/

Fox News will not protest.

Trump just wants to banish all non-right wing media from the White House. If they go along with this he will bar them for something else later.

[crazy canuck]

Musk was in the oval office, giving a speech to reporters saying that the federal bureaucracy is an unelected fourth order of government, which is unconstitutional.

Please tell me Americans realize what is happening. Give me some hope.

[grumbler]

AP is barred from the White House until they conform with Trump's renaming of the Gulf of Mexico.

https://thehill.com/homenews/media/5139328-white-house-ap-gulf-mexico/

Fox News will not protest.

To paraphrase Winston Churchill, "In MAGAworld, Trump's ego is so precious that it is always attended by a bodyguard of stupid."

[Grey Fox]

Musk was in the oval office, giving a speech to reporters saying that the federal bureaucracy is an unelected fourth order of government, which is unconstitutional.

Please tell me Americans realize what is happening. Give me some hope.

There are protests in the street everyday.

The Revolution will not be televised.

[mongers]

Musk was in the oval office, giving a speech to reporters saying that the federal bureaucracy is an unelected fourth order of government, which is unconstitutional.

Please tell me Americans realize what is happening. Give me some hope.

Extraordinary watching him hold forth, not glancing at the useful idiot sitting at the old wooden table.

[The Minsky Moment]

... and now Trump is apparently hinting that he'll renege on "some" US debt?

It's proof he really isn't a Russian or PRC agent.  A real agent would be far more subtle about sabotaging the country, careful to preserve his cover. 

[Zanza]

... and now Trump is apparently hinting that he'll renege on "some" US debt?

I guess that would actually be a step too far. Much easier to print more.