US politics - the new orange wave (Part 7)

[bigallan]

All USAID serving overseas have been ordered to return within 30 days ( with some hardship exemptions).
Others have been furloughed .
State Department officials have been seconded to set up a system to coordinate the returns and payment to get them home. They will need accomodation on return.
State is calling for volunteers to assist.

[up_up]

@Tezza_the_King

aside from Hitler I can’t think of any other leader since that has showed anything close to the madness of what trump is doing at the moment

General Secretary Pol Pot
Emperor Bokassa I
Chariman Mao Zedong
King Birendra
President Idi Amin, Lord of All the Beasts of the Earth and Fishes of the Seas and Conqueror of the British Empire in Africa in General and Uganda in Particular, Uncrowned King of Scotland

[Sniggles]

Trump’s election win might go down in history as capital’s final victory, not only over labor but over the political system and perhaps even the state itself.

The result so far, of unelected oligarchs wielding significant political influence over the president and institutions, with a clear goal (almost explicitly stated) to shift the tax burden completely away from the wealthy, certainly indicate that is the direction things are headed.

My only hope is that this administration, a hodgepodge collection of the opportunisticly hyperweathly and ideologically hypercrazy alike, ouroborosly consumes itself in conflicting agendas and incompetence before it does any further damage

[Sniggles]

@up_up

President Idi Amin, Lord of All the Beasts of the Earth and Fishes of the Seas and Conqueror of the British Empire in Africa in General and Uganda in Particular, Uncrowned King of Scotland

Hall of fame for extravagant titles.

If it weren’t for Forrest Whitaker, he would fly even further under the radar as far as history’s monstrous dictators go

[Nexta]

Kareem Rifai

@KareemRifai

Feb 3 • 4 tweets • 3 min read • Read on X

JUST-RELEASED: In further written questioning, Sen. Warner asks Tulsi if she was aware that the foundation that paid $20000 for her trip to Italy is chaired by Pierre Louvrier, a Russian oligarch-connected businessman.

Tulsi says she doesn’t recall.

Warner follows up by saying Louvrier’s assets in Russia are literally on his Wikipedia page.

Tulsi says she doesn’t recall.

Sen. Heinrich confronts Tulsi for lying to him in the public hearing that she was unaware that the pro-Assad Grand Mufti in Syria she met in 2017 had threatened to unleash suicide bombers on the US.

Tulsi says she doesn’t recall.

Sen. Gillibrand confronts Tulsi over her comments calling Japan’s efforts to enhance its defense infrastructure “escalatory” (Japan is a key American military and intelligence partner).

Tulsi refuses to answer.

Sen. Young asks a series of eviscerating follow-up questions on Snowden.

Clearly frustrated by Tulsi’s answers in the hearing, in several questions he explicitly states that any answer other than “yes” or “no” will be considered unresponsive.

• • •

[Loflyer]

How did Tulsi get so damn dirty? I’ve never been interested enough but has she just been on the take or is she suspected of actual sympathies with these people?

Not that she’ll be the worst person in this admin, after she gets through the hearing unscathed.

[Loflyer]

Also she has a deliberate evil grey streak in her hair. It’s like they’ve all gone to cartoon villain school for a year to prep for this ■■■■.

[No.10]

All the TV footage is of USAID wheat bags with large American flags on them. When these are replaced with Chinese and Russian flags, MAGA will fume and denounce the communist infiltration.

[Nexta]

I believe that she is a russian asset. No doubt about it.

What’s up with Tulsi Gabbard being connected with Russia? : r/OutOfTheLoop

[G-Unit]

@Tezza_the_King

like I keep saying , he’s utterly insane . aside from Hitler I can’t think of any other leader since that has showed anything close to the madness of what trump is doing at the moment. I hope there are enough good people still there to remove him from power ar some point .

Yes, throughout the history of mankind, it’s basically Hitler and Trump and then a huge gap to the next person.

I can’t even recall any bad people other than Trump and possibly Hitler (but next to Trump is Hitler even that bad?).

I did hear some curious things about this guy called Assad but it’s probably zionist propoganda designed to distract from the genocide. Then there’s Putin. Kim Jong Un has a funny haircut but atleast he’s not orange. Saddam Hussein was responsible for something ike 500,000 to a million deaths but a bunch of those were Kurds and no one really cares about them anyway. Pol Pot had a cool name so I’m sure the rumours of him starving 1 million Cambodians aren’t to be taken too seriously. Idi Amin, Stalin, Pinochet are no longer alive so they’re not relevant. I think Genghis Khan played cricket for Pakistan but I’m not entirely sure. Oh, and then there are some other dudes like the Ayatollah Khomeini who led some kind of revolution in Iran. Yahya Sinwar bravely threw a stick at a drone but I guess also masterminded October 7. I’m probably missing a bunch of others.

But did you hear how Trump once threatened Canada with tarrifs?

It’s mental.

[Tezza_the_King]

I’m not talking about murderous crazy like some of those , those I’m talking about cooky mad insane . his brain is not normal or rational , he is extremely dumb and through a bizzare set of circumstances is now running the free world . his impact on the world might be far worse because of his position and infleunce in the western world. as mad and bad as those others were, they didn’t have the same ability to impact the entire world since Hitler last did as trump and his ensemble has potential to do right now.
it’s spooky similar to the Nazi Reich in its level of complete synchronised madness. this bunch of kooks have somehow come together at this time in history

[G-Unit]

@Tezza_the_King

I’m not talking about murderous crazy like some of those , those I’m talking about cooky mad insane . his brain is not normal or rational , he is extremely dumb and now running the free world . his impact on the world might be far worse because of his position and infleunce in the western world. as mad and bad as those others were, they didn’t have the same ability to impact the entire world since Hitler last did as trump and his ensemble has potential to do right now.
it’s spooky similar to the Nazi Reich in its level of complete synchronised madness. this bunch of kooks have somehow come together at this time in history

Can you outline the similarities between Trump’s last 2 weeks in office and the 3rd Reich?

[Nexta]

How the Mallen streak became a sign of feminine transgression

[swoodley]

If you’re talking about murderous leaders, you shouldn’t leave out Netanyahu.

But then, I’m sure you’ve got an excuse for the deaths of all the innocent Palestinians that have occurred under his regime.

Let me guess…

…there are no innocent Palestinians???

[Tezza_the_King]

trumps insanity has potential to financially collapse the world economy and this could lead anywhere as far as conflicts go

[Hoffy]

Careful please…or another shutdown is imminent.

[Brewer_s_Droop]

@G-Unit

Can you outline the similarities between Trump’s last 2 weeks in office and the 3rd Reich?

@G-Unit, this goes a bit further back than the last two weeks, but it’s worth reading:

@Brewer_s_Droop

Apologies for the long post, but I think this is required reading at this point. It’s the wiki summary for Hitler’s rise to power:

In 1920, the DAP renamed itself to the Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei – NSDAP (National Socialist German Workers’ Party, commonly known as the Nazi Party). Hitler chose this name to win over left-wing German workers.[1][2] Despite the NSDAP being a right-wing party, it had many anti-capitalist and anti-bourgeois elements. Hitler later initiated a purge of these elements and reaffirmed the Nazi Party’s pro-business stance.[sound familiar? tax cuts/social service cuts?]

By 1922 Hitler’s control over the party was unchallenged, and he attempted a coup, the Beer Hall Putsch, in Bavaria one year later [edit: on 8–9 November 1923, during the period of the Weimar Republic, approximately two thousand Nazis marched on the Feldherrnhalle, in the city centre, but were confronted by a police cordon, which resulted in the deaths of 15 Nazis, four police officers, and one bystander.] [sound familiar?]

After the coup’s failure, Hitler was arrested and put on trial. The trial proved to be a blessing in disguise for Hitler, as it garnered him national fame. Hitler was sentenced to five years in prison, but would only serve nine months.[3] During this time, Hitler wrote Mein Kampf, which became the vade mecum of National Socialism. Once released, Hitler switched tactics, opting to instead seize power through legal and democratic means.

Hitler, armed with his newfound celebrity, began furiously campaigning. During the 1920s, Hitler and the Nazis ran on a platform consisting of anti-communism [sound familiar?], antisemitism, and ultranationalism [sound familiar?]. Nazi party leaders vociferously criticized the ruling democratic government and the Treaty of Versailles, while proselytizing their desire to turn Germany into a world power. [sound familiar?] At this time, most Germans were indifferent to Hitler’s rhetoric as the German economy was beginning to recover in large part due to loans from the United States under the Dawes Plan.[4] [sound familiar?]

The German political landscape was dramatically affected by the 1929 Wall Street crash, which hampered economic aid to Germany. The Great Depression brought the German economy to a halt and further polarized German politics. [sound familiar – COVID/inflation?] Hitler and the Nazis began to exploit the crisis and loudly criticized the ruling government. During this tumultuous time, the German Communist Party also began campaigning and called for a revolution. Business leaders, fearful of a communist takeover, began supporting the Nazi Party. [sound familiar? Bezos, Zuckerberg…]

Hitler ran for the presidency in 1932 but was defeated by the incumbent Paul von Hindenburg; nonetheless, he achieved a strong showing of second place in both rounds. Following this, in July 1932 the Nazis became the largest party in the Reichstag, albeit short of an absolute majority. 1933 was a pivotal year for Hitler and the Nazi Party. Traditionally, the leader of the party who held the most seats in the Reichstag was appointed Chancellor. However, President von Hindenburg was hesitant to appoint Hitler as chancellor. Following several backroom negotiations – which included industrialists, Hindenburg’s son Oskar, the former chancellor Franz von Papen, and Hitler – Hindenburg acquiesced and on 30 January 1933, he formally appointed Adolf Hitler as Germany’s new chancellor. Although he was chancellor, Hitler was not yet an absolute dictator.

The groundwork for the Nazi dictatorship was laid when the Reichstag was set on fire in February 1933. Asserting that the communists were behind the arson, Hitler convinced von Hindenburg to pass the Reichstag Fire Decree, which severely curtailed the liberties and rights of German citizens. Using the decree, Hitler began eliminating his political opponents. [swap decree for executive orders – inspectors/attorneys general etc, not to mention threats to lock up political opponents] Following its passage, Hitler began arguing for more drastic means to curtail political opposition and proposed the Enabling Act of 1933 [coming]. Once enacted this law gave the German government the power to override individual rights prescribed by the constitution [oh – they’re already attempting this], and vested the Chancellor (Hitler) with emergency powers to pass and enforce laws without parliamentary oversight. The law came into force in March and by April, Hitler held de facto dictatorial powers and used them to order the construction of the first Nazi concentration camp at Dachau for communists and other political opponents [could ICE raids/camps develop into this….]. Hitler’s rise to power was completed in August 1934 when, following the death of President von Hindenburg, Hitler merged the chancellery with the presidency and became Führer, the sole leader of Germany.

I’d also argue antisemitism (in addition to anti-left and ultra nationalism) is playing a role in MAGA’s rise - this article gives clear argument how so.

[Tezza_the_King]

I think I’ve watched every documentary on Netflix on Hitler and the rise of the Nazis and what is going on in America is eerily similar . hard to imagine the genocidal stuff repeating but nearly everything else is tracking along similar lines . and the coming together of this bunch of sycophants around him, I never thought that scenario would ever repeat like with the Nazis and Maga and this hand picked around trump could happen in a western democratic power ever again like this has

[chris_64]

So, build it and they will come. Trump Gaza Resort. Has a nice ring to it.
Bibi can look after the rest of the coastal strip after the USA purge and sanitise it.

Why doesnt Donalds latest thought bubble surprise me. Nor should it surprise anyone.

[No.10]

In a ham-fisted way, Trump is offering massive redundancies. In reality, who will take them? People close to retirement, those looking for a new start etc. If 10% took them, would the sky fall in? Probably not. The public service would readjust. Parkinson’s Law is a real thing IMO.
A leaner public service is not a bad thing.

More than 10% - that could be more than problematic.

Forced terminations for ridiculous political motivations would have a far greater impact on the culture of the public service.

USAID. Dumb move.

Happy to wait and see - a lot of this could well be just ■■■■ and wind. What he says and what gets done is far apart.