What does a TRUMP presidency look like?

[Valmy]

So a protest lasting a maximum of three minutes?

I would have been fine with them just not showing up. If the speech is going to be a pep rally/campaign event, then let it be that. Better than sitting there and just taking endless lies and abuse.

In these speeches the President is supposed to be at least trying to portray himself as everybody's President and trying to find common ground with the opposition. Sure there is plenty of "look how great me and my administration are" but Trump just takes it to an absurd level and just spends tons of time shitting on everybody who even slightly disagrees with him on anything.

[Valmy]

Ladies and Gentlemen, the President of the United States.


Idiocracy was a documentary.

He seemed really excited about the tariffs in his speech last night.

[Valmy]

Performative hijinks are pointless in that setting.  They would have been better off boycotting the entire thing.  "Respect for the office" is meaningless when the man occupying the office has no respect for it, and has no respect for the Chamber in which he is speaking.

Yep. The Democrats just shouldn't go. A large empty room would have sent a bigger statement.

[crazy canuck]

So a protest lasting a maximum of three minutes?

I would have been fine with them just not showing up. If the speech is going to be a pep rally/campaign event, then let it be that. Better than sitting there and just taking endless lies and abuse.

In these speeches the President is supposed to be at least trying to portray himself as everybody's President and trying to find common ground with the opposition. Sure there is plenty of "look how great me and my administration are" but Trump just takes it to an absurd level and just spends tons of time shitting on everybody who even slightly disagrees with him on anything.

I like Grumbler's suggestion.  I think it's far more effective to react to the comments as they are made rather than simply assume that comments that are worthy of walking out will be made.


It would've been much more effective to illustrate the Trumpist rhetoric is not acceptable.

Although, I would hate to be one of the members who do the short straw and had to walk out last.  But there was a group that sat through the whole thing.

[Sophie Scholl]

I disagree. The Dems should have had a coordinated walkout, with, say, four people walking out each time Trump lied or used an insulting term. Linking the walkout to the contents of the speech would have focused attention on the content, which is Trump's biggest weak spot.

Also, it seemed to fluster him and enrage him at first. ...then, of course, they stopped doing it. It was the same "winning" strategy they used with "Weird". "Oh, this is working? Let's stop it immediately!" 

[Valmy]

Also, it seemed to fluster him and enrage him at first. ...then, of course, they stopped doing it. It was the same "winning" strategy they used with "Weird". "Oh, this is working? Let's stop it immediately!" 

It might trick people into thinking they stand for something.

[viper37]

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/mar/04/rfk-jr-vitamins-measles-outbreak


After promising to send vaccines to Texas, to the outrage of some of in is cabinet, RFK Jr touts vitamins as a cure to measles.

Meanwhile, what's left of his department and the sensible ones in Texas are warning parents against measles party, reminding them of the dangers.

I'd swear I'm reading news about some African country about witchcraft and stuff.

[fromtia]

There was a lot of culture wars, you know trans hating and DEI hating and so on. The bit that I thought was really telling was a sort of tacit confirmation that the administration is going after Social Security. They've already started in their own way after all. For a couple of creeps who got elected on the back of being somehow the champions of working Americans it does seem like Republican business as usual, sort of Paul Ryan - massive tax cuts for the rich, disable then dismantle social security, oh this insufferable deficit et cetera. the only really vivid difference is all the Forever war foreign policy people have been booted from the Republican Party.

[Jacob]

There was a lot of culture wars, you know trans hating and DEI hating and so on. The bit that I thought was really telling was a sort of tacit confirmation that the administration is going after Social Security. They've already started in their own way after all. For a couple of creeps who got elected on the back of being somehow the champions of working Americans it does seem like Republican business as usual, sort of Paul Ryan - massive tax cuts for the rich, disable then dismantle social security, oh this insufferable deficit et cetera. the only really vivid difference is all the Forever war foreign policy people have been booted from the Republican Party.

Yeah, I think you're right that the "eternal GOP agenda" - enrich the rich and remove support for the poor - is still being implemented.

I'm curious what you mean by the phrase I bolded. Is it primarily that you think Trump's US is less likely to commit troops to places where they may have to fight, or something else?

[Valmy]

the only really vivid difference is all the Forever war foreign policy people have been booted from the Republican Party.

Heh. We'll see.

[mongers]

What do dictator do when they find they've grinded the domestic economy into the dirt?

[Zoupa]

Distract the masses with foreign policy bullshit is the Kremlin playbook. Find an enemy of choice (Canada, the EU), blame everything on them. Control the press.

[Jacob]

Distract the masses with foreign policy bullshit is the Kremlin playbook. Find an enemy of choice (Canada, the EU), blame everything on them. Control the press.

Pretty much the same in China. Throw in some anti-corruption measures to remove threats to the system, and it's the same thing.

[Tamas]

My dad couldn't sleep around the time of Trump's Congress speech so ended up watching it even though he doesn't speak the language. He was shocked, he said he hadn't seen such disgusting displays of reverence and over-enthusiasm since watching Ceaușescu's speeches on TV. A good point he had was that the Hungarian parliament full of Orban's hand-picked sockpuppets doesn't even get close to these ridiculous levels of servitude.

[mongers]

My dad couldn't sleep around the time of Trump's Congress speech so ended up watching it even though he doesn't speak the language. He was shocked, he said he hadn't seen such disgusting displays of reverence and over-enthusiasm since watching Ceaușescu's speeches on TV. A good point he had was that the Hungarian parliament full of Orban's hand-picked sockpuppets doesn't even get close to these ridiculous levels of servitude.

Thanks Tamas for that sobering insight.

I guess it helps to have lived in oppressive one party state, how many of us Languishites have experienced that ? DG and one or two others?