What does a TRUMP presidency look like?

[Crazy_Ivan80]

or his couch (or is that hegseth?)

[The Minsky Moment]

DOJ quietly withdrew all the pending cases against the law firms that defied his executive orders.  The ones that caved look more foolish than ever. There is a lesson here for everyone threatened and targeted by Trump's nonsense and illegality.

[Tonitrus]

I think Vance (and the rest) have their trousers nailed too thoroughly to the mast of Trump's ship to be able to climb down.

But then very few (at microscopic levels in the GOP) care about credibility anymore so...who knows.  ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[The Minsky Moment]

DOJ quietly withdrew all the pending cases against the law firms that defied his executive orders.  The ones that caved look more foolish than ever. There is a lesson here for everyone threatened and targeted by Trump's nonsense and illegality.

New reporting:

On Monday, the administration, in a court filing, asked an appeals court if it could walk away from its appeal of victories the firms had won against the White House. The move was a significant concession by the White House that it could not stand behind its orders.

But on Tuesday morning, the Justice Department abruptly changed its position. In an email to the four firms contesting the executive orders, a department official apologized for the short notice and said it would file a motion to withdraw its voluntary dismissal

...

Nearly two hours later, the Justice Department formally filed a motion to withdraw the motion from the previous day. The firms opposed the motion, according to the filing, calling it an "unexplained request to withdraw yesterday's voluntary dismissal, to which all parties had agreed."

DOJ can't even fuck up properly anymore.  They fuck up their own fuck ups.

[Syt]

[Syt]

Been listening to The Rest Is History (I know, I know, ubt I find them entertaining ) episodes that are not on YouTube. One of the earliest was "Trump - Caesar or Nixon" and trying to draw parallels between him and historic figures in the wake of his 2020 election defeat (the episode was recorded right after the press conference at Four Seasons Landscaping). Of course they conclude that Trump had been utterly disgraced, that he would probably be prosecuted (but not sent to jail) and would sulk in his tower till the end of his days (because surely he wouldn't run again in 2024 because he would be way too old and not have the backing to go at it again).

I think those notions weren't exactly uncommon back then (heck, I would have thought so), but then again here we are.

[bogh]

Yeah, I just finished a pretty decent book on the origins of the American anger (both left and right) which ended on an optimistic note with the election of Biden and hopes that the worst was probably over. Feels quite tragic nowadays.

[garbon]

I think there was a desire for that to be true as it meant the Trump years were an abberation and not a societal issue that still needs to be addressed.

[crazy canuck]

I think there was a desire for that to be true as it meant the Trump years were an abberation and not a societal issue that still needs to be addressed.

This

[Jacob]

Do any of you know what the current situation is in Venezuela?

Trump removed Maduro (presumably to trot him out when he needs a media circus). He also got some oil money somewhere.

Has anything else changed? Is the oil industry aligning to the US? Has there been any change in Venezuelan government actions?

Basically, how have the consequences (if any) of the attack manifested?

[Valmy]

Do any of you know what the current situation is in Venezuela?

Trump removed Maduro (presumably to trot him out when he needs a media circus). He also got some oil money somewhere.

Has anything else changed? Is the oil industry aligning to the US? Has there been any change in Venezuelan government actions?

Basically, how have the consequences (if any) of the attack manifested?

As far as I know we currently have the exact same regime, just one willing to play ball with the US.

[OttoVonBismarck]

Yeah, I don't know of too much that has changed in Venezuela other than Maduro is personally gone and the new leader while being Maduro's ideological fellow traveler is willing to say nice pro-American things and avoid hostile rhetoric.

The oil deal is weird in its function, but "big picture" it isn't crazy different from prior detentes between the U.S. and Venezuela where we have allowed American companies to buy Venezuelan oil.

There's some red flags about the money from these sales going to an American controlled account, but from what I can tell it's primarily being used as a pass through entity and the money from the sales is actually going back to Venezuela. I'm suspicious of the purpose of using such an entity and Trump  has openly said it was so he can control the oil revenue, and the American firms that have won the rights to market the oil seem definitely pro-Trump. That may just be the graft there, is Trump is using it to make sure the marketing side of it goes to friendly firms (something that would be scandalous in relatively recent non-Trump history, but compared to numerous other Trump scandals barely occasions reporting in the media now.)

In terms of "ideological regime change", no evidence of that at all. Venezuela's government had devolved into functioning much like a mafia, with different capos running different parts of the government and a don on the top collecting tribute. That system appears intact, and Trump and his cronies don't seem that interested in pressuring the Venezuelans to reform their government back to a democratic system or push changes to insure their next election isn't stolen like the last one was.

Basically same regime, but we now get a cut of some of the shady graft.

For numerous reasons almost none of these conditions would exist in any U.S.-Iran relationship. It seems highly likely Venezuela, Maduro was simply betrayed by his capos who determined he wasn't worth it anymore and concluded they could continue enjoying their fiefdoms by approving U.S. rendition of Maduro and replace him. Delcy Rodriguez may be more of a figure head with real power being held by the capos now, since she doesn't appear to be as powerful within the regime as Maduro was when he was running it.

[The Minsky Moment]

Leaked email from an associate director at Liberty Law School to law students concerning hiring opportunities for interns at the Department of Labor

The two most important requirements are you MUST be aligned politically with President Trump and his administration and you must be willing to work hard. Don't be scared off by the transcript requirement. GPA is not a strong factor. If you meet those two requirements, you have a shot.

If you are interested, you should ABSOLUTELY apply. The person conducting the interviews is Vittoria D'Addesi, a 2025 graduate of Liberty Law, along with a representative of the White House Liaison Office. The interviews will be a combination of traditional interview questions and political questions (i.e., did you vote for President Trump? Do you disagree with the President on anything? What do you think about XYZ executive order?). If you get selected for an interview, Ms. Smith or I are happy to meet with you to help prepare.

So glad we are safe from DEI . . .