What does a TRUMP presidency look like?

[Norgy]

Some interesting names from a Norwegian perspective in the recent batch of Eps-philes.
Our crown princess, Oswald Spengler-wannabe Asle Toje and Progress Party leader Listhaug. Previous episodes have included former PM Thorbjørn Jagland.

The Norwegian monarchy is having a tough one I'll say. The Crown Prince should not have been allowed to marry that trash.

A very bad weekend, yes.

The monarchy is still largely a popular institution, and will probably survive, but it might be something to consider whether she should be queen consort or remain a princess consort, at the very least.

[Legbiter]

A very bad weekend, yes.

The monarchy is still largely a popular institution, and will probably survive, but it might be something to consider whether she should be queen consort or remain a princess consort, at the very least.

The Crown Prince is solid yeah. The wench and her bastard offspring should be sent on a one-way trip to extort pelts from the natives of Finnmark or something.

Also... 

[Tamas]

Well yeah, hunting accidents are a well-established royal way of resolving family issues.

[Legbiter]

Well yeah, hunting accidents are a well-established royal way of resolving family issues.

The Crown Prince didn't spec into intrigue focus so chances for success would be low. 

[Legbiter]

It just occurred to me that the all of the prestigious charity organizations who have Mette-Marid as their spokesperson have to decide whether to dump her or not. All it takes is one to start a cascade really. 

[viper37]

California will 4 House seats in 2030 while Texas will gain 4.  Don't know where though.

Haven't noticed NY and other blue States but it hit me.

The ICE raids and border harassment discourage new immigration.  Red states reproduce like rabbits.  Even if they starve a little, they still count in the census.

The Dems are fucked.  Their states depend on immigration to survive.  The House will keep leeching their money to bail out Red States.  And they outnumber them in the Senate.

[The Minsky Moment]

NYT reporting that Trump is shutting down Kennedy Center for 2 years for "construction". Brilliant move really.  Dodges having to report the catastrophic collapse of revenue and opens up more opportunity to solicit bribes from his developer pals

Time story includes the following:

In recent months, Mr. Trump had attached his name to the center, installed loyalists to run it, including Richard Grenell, the center's president, and called for changing the programming there to make it more in line with what he said was widespread American tastes and sensibilities: more "Les Miz" and less "Hamilton," as he put it on one visit to the center.

So . . . Trump wants less material about American founding fathers, and more material glorifying radical French social revolutionaries?

[Zanza]

Financial Times article on how America is on a speedrun towards fascism outpacing some other recent examples like Putin, Orban, Chavez or Erdogan.

As I cannot copy the pictures, here is a link. Was accessibile without paywall:
https://www.ft.com/content/b474855e-66b0-4e6e-9b73-7e252bd88938

[Tamas]

Financial Times article on how America is on a speedrun towards fascism outpacing some other recent examples like Putin, Orban, Chavez or Erdogan.

As I cannot copy the pictures, here is a link. Was accessibile without paywall:
https://www.ft.com/content/b474855e-66b0-4e6e-9b73-7e252bd88938

I guess in that case the hope is they end up like their brethren in Poland - they overplay their hand and try to move too quickly.

[viper37]

The monarchy is still largely a popular institution

Everywhere they are, these people remain popular.
Sweden, Norway, Netherlands, Spain, US, UK & Commonwealth, people seem to love them.

Personally, I blame Disney for this idea that having a King or Queen is super cool.

[Valmy]

Red states reproduce like rabbits.

LOL? Every state is below replacement level.

The ICE raids and border harassment discourage new immigration.  Red states reproduce like rabbits.  Even if they starve a little, they still count in the census.

The Dems are fucked.  Their states depend on immigration to survive.  The House will keep leeching their money to bail out Red States.  And they outnumber them in the Senate.

Sure. If everything continues for a few generations exactly like it is, blue state populations will crash faster than red state populations. But if everything stays exactly how it is for a few generations I have a feeling a few things will collapse well before that starts to be an issue.

Also people tend to move to big cities inside countries as well. Just saying.



All those lines going down.

Edit: Wow Utah has crashed in a way I never would have thought possible.

[viper37]

Financial Times article on how America is on a speedrun towards fascism outpacing some other recent examples like Putin, Orban, Chavez or Erdogan.

As I cannot copy the pictures, here is a link. Was accessibile without paywall:
https://www.ft.com/content/b474855e-66b0-4e6e-9b73-7e252bd88938

No longer accessible without a paywall, so here is a clean link:
https://archive.is/iKdQn

The speed, scale, flagrance and persistence of the Trump administration's deviations from established legal and constitutional norms during his second term have been so dramatic that it bears stepping back and taking stock.
Within hours of his January 2025 inauguration, Donald Trump had pardoned hundreds of people convicted of political violence — a hallmark of aspiring autocratic regimes — and shown tacit support for violent resistance to electoral setbacks. Days later he removed legal protections from civil servants and fired 17 oversight officials charged with tackling fraud and corruption. By March the administration was in open conflict with the courts, summer saw police firing rubber bullets at protesters and the removal of the labour statistics agency chief in the wake of weak jobs numbers, and this month brought the criminal investigation into Fed chair Jay Powell and the shootings of Renée Nicole Good and Alex Pretti by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents.
While US history is hardly free from political violence or maltreatment of disfavoured groups, this blitz on America's citizens, institutions and — by many estimations — the constitution itself ranks as arguably the most rapid episode of democratic and civil erosion in the recent history of the developed world.
Measured using objective criteria spanning 10 domains including the use of state force against civilians, political prosecution and the independence of the judiciary and civil service, I find that the US slide during Trump's second term stands out as the most rapid in contemporary history. It outpaces the early stages of backsliding under Russia's Vladimir Putin, Turkey's Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Hungary's Viktor Orbán, where similar steps unfolded over several years.

The resulting dataset of 139 instances where erstwhile democracies were gradually eroded also allows us to consider a crucial question: is the US under Trump's second term hurtling inevitably towards the same destination as these other cases?
To answer this it is useful to explore how the different backsliding episodes have taken place. Specifically, have they been characterised primarily by one-time unilateral executive actions and shows of force, or durable changes to policy and legislation facilitated by weak or co-opted institutions?
And here, a difference emerges. In the cases of Russia, Turkey, Hungary and Venezuela, erosion came about through both channels. The likes of Putin, Erdoğan, Orbán and Hugo Chávez were able to consolidate power by exerting considerable control over the courts, media and electoral and political systems in addition to direct executive actions, locking in durably favourable conditions for themselves and hostile environments for their opponents. In Trump's second term, by contrast, most of the action has taken the form of shocking acts or events that bypass rather than permanently corrupt institutions.

This is not in any way to downplay the corruption, brutality or casual disregard for the law that has characterised US government during Trump's second term in office, nor to gloss over the abdication by the US Congress of its responsibility to prevent presidential over-reach. Rather, it is to note a glimmer of hope for the US in the fact that many of its institutions and processes appear far more resistant to takeover than those that have crumbled underfoot elsewhere.

Another American strength is its electoral system. Voters in Venezuela and Russia had no opportunity to check the power of aspiring autocrats until it was too late, whereas the US midterms offer an opportunity to at least partially defang a rogue administration. And with a robust and decentralised media landscape rendering the Trump administration's excesses clear for all to see, this is an opportunity the American electorate appears keen to take. Indeed, it is possible that one reason Trump's second term has been so fast and furious is that the administration believes it only has two years to act.
It is deeply troubling that Trump and his outriders have been able to do so much damage in such a short time, and events of the past year have laid bare how much of US democracy, freedom and civil rights relied more on norms than rules. There may be worse to come, but Americans should not lose hope.

[Valmy]

The monarchy is still largely a popular institution

Everywhere they are, these people remain popular.
Sweden, Norway, Netherlands, Spain, US, UK & Commonwealth, people seem to love them.

Personally, I blame Disney for this idea that having a King or Queen is super cool.

Hey! We're not a monarchy yet.

[Legbiter]

Financial Times article on how America is on a speedrun towards fascism outpacing some other recent examples like Putin, Orban, Chavez or Erdogan.

As I cannot copy the pictures, here is a link. Was accessibile without paywall:
https://www.ft.com/content/b474855e-66b0-4e6e-9b73-7e252bd88938

Non-paywall version here if it's an issue.

https://archive.vn/iKdQn

The main problem is the regime is trying to install Putinism without first suborning the courts. That in itself took years in russia.