Trump / Musk (other than DOGE) Omnibus Thread

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foreignpolicy.com

What IR Theory Predicts About Trump 2.0

An academic assessment of the U.S. president’s foreign-policy revolution.
foreignpolicy.com foreignpolicy.com

”… the Trump administration’s bellicose approach to traditionally pro-American countries such as Canada or Denmark is unprecedented. Not only do U.S. partners have to worry that the United States is no longer trustworthy (because Trump thinks rules are meaningless and has no qualms about promising to do something on Tuesday and taking it back on Friday), but they also have to worry that the United States is actively malevolent.

When the president threatens to retake the Panama Canal or conquer Greenland or make Canada the 51st state—no matter what existing treaties require or what Panama, Denmark, or the Greenlanders have to say about it—all countries must worry that they might be next.

As balance-of-threat theory predicts, some leaders in these countries are already advocating concerted efforts to resist Trump’s dangerous agenda. … Such efforts are bound to increase if Trump continues down his current path, and some countries are going to look for help from Beijing, if only to gain more leverage against Washington.

… This is a sea change in U.S. foreign policy, and it will inevitably narrow the perceived differences between the United States and its principal great-power rivals. America’s Asian partners have been eager to cooperate with Washington (and adjust some of their policies to keep U.S. leaders happy) because they are worried about the regional balance of power and wanted the United States to help maintain it.

If the United States starts acting like Russia and China, however, and if it keeps threatening new trade wars, the advantages of being closely tied to Washington will diminish. States accustomed to following the U.S. lead will hedge and explore other strategies to protect themselves from U.S. whims. …”
 
this world would be such a better place if someone could eliminate all the major organized religions that promise an eternal afterlife....starting with islam. religions are nothing but country clubs full of elitists who think they have exclusive rights to an afterlife.....just pure societal conditioned stupidity.
 
“… In short, one of the more enduring and powerful theories of world politics suggests that Trump’s radical approach to foreign policy is going to backfire. He may win a few concessions in the short term, but the long-term results will be greater global resistance and new opportunities for America’s rivals.

Here’s where the theory of collective goods kicks in, however, and it points in the other direction. Taming American power requires coordinated action and a willingness to bear the costs of opposition. Getting other states to line up against Trump will take time, and some governments will be tempted to free-ride and hope that somebody else does the heavy lifting. Under these conditions, the United States can play divide-and-conquer and try to peel some states away by offering individual concessions.

The difficulty of organizing a balancing coalition should not be underestimated—especially for countries whose political systems are themselves under strain—and that’s undoubtedly what Trump is counting on.

But note: Keeping the world “off-balance” requires the selective use of U.S. power and a considerable amount of self-restraint. It means not looking for every opportunity to humiliate weaker countries or their leaders.

Other countries must be convinced Washington will keep its promises and that cutting a deal or making a concession won’t simply invite new demands.

Unfortunately, exercising restraint, keeping promises, and treating others with respect have never been part of Trump’s playbook, and the marginally competent people he’s appointed while he guts the ranks of the civil service make it even less likely that U.S. foreign policy will be conducted with finesse.

Nobody doubts that the United States has a mailed fist, but we are about to discover what happens when the velvet glove is removed.

As realists have warned for decades, and as a parade of past aggressors reminds us, states that use big-stick diplomacy to browbeat and punish others eventually overcome any initial reluctance to balance and the obstacles to collective action and end up with fewer friends, more enemies, and far less influence.

I wouldn’t have thought it possible for the United States to permanently alienate its closest neighbors and many long-standing partners, but that is precisely where we are now headed. …”
 
Callatoroy said:
You think its about a condom thing like that makes any of the bullshit spending justified in the eyes of the voters after the last election? If its not condoms its something else. 20 million on Sesame Street in some 3rd world country. Eliminating wasteful spending is a good thing, supported by voters, and sends a message that trump is serious about remaking the fed g'ment. Something he was elected to do. Where is anything wrong in that?
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Thank you for reinforcing my point.

You care not the flavor of lies you're getting fed, day after day, nor that those lies are specifically designed to make you think "yucky!" and trigger your underlying biases. It's bald-faced manipulation of tribal instincts.

And I have no idea if your Sesame Street comment is just another lie, or not, frankly, it doesn't matter. For someone that rails on immigration like you do, I would hope you could take a beat to consider how rational, low stakes, and the potentially huge ROI a hypothetical Sesame Street could have on building allies, spreading western hegemony, and planting the seeds of potential future US acculturation. That is, spending 0.00000003% of the annual budget on a children's education and propaganda tool is considerably rational, with minimal downside, and blatantly obvious potential upside. But maybe, just maybe, it isn't actually about spending.

You're clearly no fool. You also strike me as a patient with treatable lung cancer who read an article on NaturalNews.com that told you smoking unfiltereds doesn't cause cancer (so you keep smoking) and "treats" their disease with high-dose vitamin-C (because "cHEmO IS POISON!). You purchase both from RFK and ttump affiliate companies. Fine, your choice, but don't expect others to tolerate your deadly secondhand smoke, nor seeing through the bullshit upon which you're basing your life choices and beliefs.
 
If US policy is now that international borders are malleable - and, clearly, that is our new policy - we need to move all the fabrication plants out of Taiwan like yesterday.

The second and third order effects of this policy shift are going to be breathtaking.
 
HandsonFire said:
What’s so shocking. That’s just run of the mill Republican thought process right there. That is why Trump is President . Half this country thinks that way and I’d say 90% of them would say something more shocking than that. Trump can burn this country down and they will justify it while on fire.
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Agreed. That was a typical angry, unhinged calla screed. He's been vomiting those on this board and the old ZZL-P for a few years now. Best to just ignore.
 

BREAKING: Maryland Judge Blocks Trump Birthright Citizenship Order​


www.law360.com

BREAKING: Maryland Judge Blocks Trump Birthright Citizenship Order - Law360

A Maryland federal judge Wednesday issued a nationwide injunction blocking President Donald Trump's executive order ending birthright citizenship.
www.law360.com www.law360.com

Enforcement of the Inauguration Day executive order, issued just hours after Trump took office, was first halted by a Washington federal judge's 14-day temporary restraining order on Jan. 23, in a challenge brought by state attorneys general from Washington, Arizona, Illinois and Oregon. That restraining order was set to expire this week with another hearing in Seattle scheduled for Thursday.

But in a bench ruling Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Deborah Boardman granted a preliminary injunction that will remain in place through the resolution of the Maryland case, barring reversal by the Fourth Circuit or the U.S. Supreme Court. The injunction was sought by immigrant rights advocates CASA, the Asylum Seeker Advocacy Project, and three pregnant women whose children would have been deprived U.S. citizenship if the executive order had taken effect for children born on or after Feb. 19. She held that the plaintiffs had "easily" met their burden for a preliminary injunction and that the executive order would likely be found unconstitutional.

"The U.S. Supreme Court has resoundingly rejected the president's interpretation of the citizenship clause of the 14th Amendment. In fact, no court in the country has ever endorsed the president's interpretation," Judge Boardman said following an hour of oral argument at the U.S. District Court in Greenbelt, Maryland Wednesday morning. "This court will not be the first."

An attorney for the U.S. Department of Justice had told Judge Boardman that if she were to issue an injunction, it should only apply to the individual plaintiffs in the case in Maryland. But Judge Boardman said that the nationwide concern of citizenship "demands a uniform policy."

"Today, virtually every baby born on U.S. soil is a U.S. citizen upon birth. That is the law and tradition of our country," she said. "That law and tradition are – and will remain – the status quo pending the resolution of this case. The government will not be harmed by a preliminary injunction that prevents it from enforcing the executive order likely to be found unconstitutional. If anything, our system of government is improved by an injunction that prevents unconstitutional executive action."
 
nycfan said:


“… The move to purge people who worked for former special counsel Jack Smith had ostensibly come from the acting attorney general, James McHenry, who sent the formal termination notices that said they could not be trusted to implement Trump’s agenda.

But the genesis for the firings was Trump himself, according to two people directly familiar with the matter …

Trump’s intervention to remove the prosecutors in Smith’s office was seen by some of his advisers as the start of their efforts to make it normal practice to have the attorney general work with the West Wing to enforce and enact its political agenda.

The White House did not respond to a request for comment.

After Trump instructed his advisers that he wanted the prosecutors gone, the White House presidential personnel office, led by longtime Trump ally Sergio Gor, issued a memo that directed the justice department to proceed and gave the move a degree of legal cover. …”

——
Possibly the least surprising scoop ever.
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Honestly, I thought that had been done on Day 2.
 
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