The US has a long history of wartime elections.

The US has a long time history of a lot of things that this administration is just ignoring or overstepping so I’m not sure that matters during this time. This is not a normal time in the U.S.

Zelensky was able to legitimately do what he did because a large portion of his country is occupied by foreign forces and he has a positive rating in the unoccupied area.

Absolutely not arguing that. What Zelensky did / is doing is legitimate, I’m not here to argue against that but what I believe Trump see’s as an opportunity based on his meetings with Zelensky.

I don’t think that matters for what I perceive Trump’s goal to be, just based on his past history. I’m thinking back to Covid when he saw that Chlorox info before a briefing and mentioned maybe injecting (or ingesting?) bleach. I believe that he sees Zelenski extend his power due to wartime and I believe he thinks he will be able to do the same. Now he’s just looking for an enemy to point the U.S. at.

Imagine another 9/11 happening mixed with a media blitz under the DJT administration. While I don’t believe they would be able to pull this off, the thought of the rallying against a specific enemy due to an attack on American soil has a history of rallying the people.

The first step is to remove international dependence on things that we would need for a wartime industry. This is why he’s cutting ties with NAFTA allies. We can’t have them limiting resources we would need for wartime because they certainly won’t agree with what we end up doing. I believe this is why he rallied so hard for Steel workers during his first term too (but failed) to progress this same industry. In the next year or 2 when the factories and industry catches up is when we’re going to start to see the visible sparks of war.

To add onto this one more time - I also think that his interactions with Putin plays a role as well. The people of Russia were not able to stop Putin in his war with Ukraine and I believe that DJT thinks he can pull something similar off. This may as well be possible - he has a cult fanbase and the American people aren’t rallying against a Billionaire buying politicians and running vote lotteries - I’m not sure anything will rally the American people like we’ve seen in the past.

It’s a slow slippery ride into complacency where things progressively get more illegal and illicit and the headlines come and go too quick for the American people to register. It really is going to be a slow, bloodless revolution from The Right. When the time comes and American is at war with a Foreign power (maybe the Mexican Cartel, which would track with Trumps war on drugs and immigration) the American people will mostly accept it, as they have everything else illicit DJT has done so far in his short term in office.

I agree, Ukraine didn’t start the war, but that doesn’t change what happened and what I believe Trump’s view of it regarding extending his power.

Struggling is a bit much… Sure, it’s going to get there, but current levels are not a struggle.

Hard disagree. It’s the 3rd biggest line item in the Budget after Social Security and Medicaid. Even if the Democrats were in office, the debt payments would have been a struggle to get under control - hard choices did need to be made in this regard.

I think people are giving Republicans too much credit. The 3rd term he’s talking about is if the U.S. is in the midst of a war - he’s literally thinking about what Zelenski did in Ukraine to extend his power / term. I don’t see that as a far-fetched idea either. Let’s be real, war is money(YouTube Link), and the U.S. is struggling with debt. They pull back trade agreements with allies to reignite national industries for the coming years. They’re looking to make somebody an enemy to reignite the economy and retain power. I’d like to think that there’s no way to make this work, I’d like to think DJT won’t make it past the first few years, but we won’t know til’ we know.

I hear you - I see plenty of outrage about Republican action though. What can Democrats really do but try to rely on Judges to do their jobs and campaign until midterms. Maybe they can rally enough people to march on Washington, but that may just speed up authoritarian gains.

I think there’s a difference between meme and a completely made up Tweet (or any social media post) where a non-user would not be able to tell if the Tweet is real.

This kind of misinformation (OP) should either be tagged or not allowed at all. Like, most of us understand it’s a joke but still, maybe we should have better standards than other sites.

The Democrats seemed unorganized, nobody is leading them like Trump is leading Republicans. Here’s a gimmick I’d like to see them use next time.: Every time Trump says a blatant lie - call it out - LOUD. One by one, watch how many people get thrown out throughout the speech.

22 Billion cut to HHS is a ton though. Surely that will go toward paying down the deficit? Good on Green for bringing attention to it.

I made a list of all the cuts Trump mentioned:

(List of Cuts Mentioned by Trump)

$485 Million cut funds to international relations, research, spy shit, and whatever else. I guess the question is, what are they going to do with the 485 Million? Presumably the $22 Billion cut in American Human & Health Services (HHS) is going toward paying down the deficit, right?

Did anyone else see this weird interaction? Who is this guy Trump is talking to?

What a wild speech… a lot of fear mongering for sure.

I believe this is regarding the proposed budget by the House Budget Committee.