EPTUS Politics Mega-thread - Page 5441
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Now that we have a new thread, in order to ensure that this thread continues to meet TL standards and follows the proper guidelines, we will be enforcing the rules in the OP more strictly. Be sure to give them a complete and thorough read before posting! NOTE: When providing a source, please provide a very brief summary on what it's about and what purpose it adds to the discussion. The supporting statement should clearly explain why the subject is relevant and needs to be discussed. Please follow this rule especially for tweets. Your supporting statement should always come BEFORE you provide the source. If you have any questions, comments, concern, or feedback regarding the USPMT, then please use this thread: http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/website-feedback/510156-us-politics-thread | ||
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LightSpectra
United States2575 Posts
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Mohdoo
United States15743 Posts
On January 17 2026 01:21 GreenHorizons wrote: For those that plan on escaping (all the posters left in the US afaict), what are you waiting for? Do you have any concern that you might wait too long? Is there something specific or are you just waiting on your gut to tell you? Yeah, I do have that concern. I am kind of stuck between a rock and a hard place, having a 2 year old and a 4 year old. I need to not be rash. And yet I also need to think of this as a legitimate risk. I wish I had a better answer but I don't. | ||
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Ze'ev
159 Posts
On January 17 2026 04:01 Simberto wrote: Like, I despise tankies: they are basically spiteful creeps and defend an awful world view. But at least they are honest about what they believe. Conservatives on the other hand talk about liberty and constitutional restraint in order to facilitate an oligarchic ethno-religious nationalist project of spite and contempt. Its the liberty to be cruel, and constitutional restraint from ending abuse. In that respect Conservatives are even worse than tankies; they advance just as ridiculous and violent a project, but are too cowardly and self-deceived to even admit it.Some people left. For example, there was a trans girl on this forum who left the US for Belgium during the last Trump period. But yeah, there wasn't a mass exodus. Turns out leaving a country isn't trivial. But i personally am very glad not to be in the US. "Trump didn't manage to cancel the election, he just tried to do a coup but failed, so all your fears were laughable" isn't that strong of an argument either. If anything, it means that the fears were justified, just that the first time around, institutions (that are currently dismantled) were still standing strong. You should be angry at what is happening in the US, too. I thought you guys were all about freedom, don't tread on me, democracy, that kind of stuff. Isn't what is going on right now scary from that perspective? The reason you wont see any sizeable amount of Conservatives criticize trump or defend "their values" against obvious authoritarian encroachment is that Trump is their real self. The rest was just rhetorical cover. There never was a Conservative movement in the United States (the closet to a Conservative party America has, in truth, is the center and right wing of the Democratic party), there was only ever an authoritarian white supremacist movement. | ||
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Acrofales
Spain18291 Posts
This has to be one of the dumbest threats yet. Seems Trump thinks tariffs are a magic incantation that makes people do what he wants, rather than a tax on Americans and a burden on the other country's economy. And... an economic burden is simply irrelevant when it comes down to this kind of decision. Let's say he slaps a 25% tariff on the whole EU and UK because there are now troops from all these nations defending Greenland (from Russia, mind you). What does he think will happen? Denmark will panic and give him Greenland to sell more Wegovy in the US? France will decide they'll drop their close ally Denmark to help their wine producers' exports? It just isn't going to happen. | ||
KwarK
United States43987 Posts
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Simberto
Germany11835 Posts
Predictably, he will now use that lever again and again. Hopefully the EU has learned that you cannot placate bullies. If you give in once, he will come again and again. | ||
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Gorsameth
Netherlands22364 Posts
And it really is actually in the EUs interest to push Trump to do this. The more he fucks up the American economy going into the midterms the bigger the Democrats win is going to be. (You know, assuming there will still be elections) | ||
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r00ty
Germany1070 Posts
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Acrofales
Spain18291 Posts
On January 17 2026 18:27 Simberto wrote: This is the result of the earlier caving in when Trump did the "I will hurt both of us if you don't do what i want" play the last time. Predictably, he will now use that lever again and again. Hopefully the EU has learned that you cannot placate bullies. If you give in once, he will come again and again. I agree. The EU parliament needs to mix the deal. Either by just stalling the vote, or better yet (although also more antagonistic and less easy to recover from), voting against it. Tell Trump that the deal was negotiated when the US wasn't threatening military conquest. | ||
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Simberto
Germany11835 Posts
On January 17 2026 19:25 Acrofales wrote: I agree. The EU parliament needs to mix the deal. Either by just stalling the vote, or better yet (although also more antagonistic and less easy to recover from), voting against it. Tell Trump that the deal was negotiated when the US wasn't threatening military conquest. Exactly. Just say "We had this deal. You are breaking the deal. So the deal is off now, lets go back to random stupid tariff wars if that is what you want." Also, this shows that making any deal with Trump is completely pointless, because he doesn't honor deals, and will one-sidedly try to renege them any chance he gets. | ||
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JimmyJRaynor
Canada17509 Posts
starts @0:40. @1:50. "employers are exploiting these undocumented workers ... they are not paying them minimum wage ... they are not observing worker safety laws" Cut to 2026, after Trump goes on a huge one year push against undocumented immigrants .... blue collar worker wages are now rising faster than white collar wages. https://www.aol.com/news/white-house-cheers-surge-blue-162120426.html?guccounter=1 IMO, "W" is the worst Prez in the last 65 years. Obama did a decent job stabilizing things. The "deporter and chief" was handed badly managed mess. Obama's policy of deporting illegal immigrants was the right move then and it is the right move today. Obama dealt with this issue far more diplomatically than Trump though. Notice, Obama refers to the people he wants deported as "undocumented workers" rather than "illegal criminal aliens". Obviously, far less polarizing language by Obama. | ||
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oBlade
United States6123 Posts
On January 17 2026 06:20 LightSpectra wrote: The cheque in the photograph I linked to is Trump paying Epstein, but it might have gone the other direction in other instances. As big as Trump's hands may be it's unlikely that that huge check came from his actual checkbook. It's a novelty check. It's not real. He's not in the photo either. Banks don't take giant novelty checks even if you spell it cheques. Epstein was just obsessed with Trump since the 90s. Your own article said there's nothing to it. Did you get as far as that paragraph? When the less evidence you have, the more you believe something, this is characteristic of a conspiracy theory. The Wall Street Journal reported that the woman was someone whom Epstein and the now two-time US president – whose middle initial is J – “socialized with” in the 1990s. The woman’s lawyer told the newspaper that she cut ties with Epstein around 1997 and had no romantic relationship with either Epstein or Trump, does not know Pashcow, and had no knowledge of the letter, which she called a “disgusting and deeply disturbing hoax”. | ||
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Doublemint
Austria8744 Posts
there is so much already with Trump to pick from and use, don't fall into the fake news trap. he will use it against you and "win". I clearly see the temptation to play the BS conspiracy game as it seems to be the winning formula... in a world where countries are bombed/fake regime changes are initiated mainly to distract from a clear effort to cover for pedophiles at the highest strata of society - using tax dollars and the heavy hand of a willing government operatus no less. it is hard enough to nail him down on the undeniable stuff within the environment we are operating in, giving him ammunition does not help. two wrongs generally don't make a right in the real world. focusing on undeniable issues and hammering it so hard an consistently that Don the Con has to twist himself into a Pretzel might do the trick. he was on the ropes after all with the "LEFTIST EPSTEIN HOAX" that somehow was real but also imagined whenever his name came up repeatedly. | ||
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DarkPlasmaBall
United States45915 Posts
On January 17 2026 22:09 JimmyJRaynor wrote: Obama had it right in 2008 and it remains true today. Illegal immigrants suppress wages because they will work for less than minimum wage. They will also work under poor working conditions with zero workplace safety standards. I feel like you're victim blaming. It's the fault of the employers first and foremost for creating those poor working conditions and only offering poverty-level wages, and it's the lack of oversight / accountability at the local/state/federal levels secondmost. The least amount of fault lies with the worker. Also, which jobs are you referring to, because there are plenty of jobs where only illegal immigrants would be willing to work them. It's not like the average high school graduate is looking to pick vegetables for a living, even if it did pay slightly better than what illegal immigrants are getting paid per hour of back-breaking manual labor. And if an illegal immigrant is somehow more qualified to work a competitive blue/white collar job than a citizen who has a high school or college degree, then that just points to a host of other systemic issues that the United States has. | ||
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Billyboy
1719 Posts
On January 17 2026 22:12 oBlade wrote: As big as Trump's hands may be it's unlikely that that huge check came from his actual checkbook. It's a novelty check. It's not real. He's not in the photo either. Banks don't take giant novelty checks even if you spell it cheques. Epstein was just obsessed with Trump since the 90s. Your own article said there's nothing to it. Did you get as far as that paragraph? When the less evidence you have, the more you believe something, this is characteristic of a conspiracy theory. Trumps obsessed with his own daughters body, the guy is a creep. When you argue he is not it is clear you are not a serious person. On January 18 2026 01:07 DarkPlasmaBall wrote: I feel like you're victim blaming. It's the fault of the employers first and foremost for creating those poor working conditions and only offering poverty-level wages, and it's the lack of oversight / accountability at the local/state/federal levels secondmost. The least amount of fault lies with the worker. Also, which jobs are you referring to, because there are plenty of jobs where only illegal immigrants would be willing to work them. It's not like the average high school graduate is looking to pick vegetables for a living, even if it did pay slightly better than what illegal immigrants are getting paid per hour of back-breaking manual labor. And if an illegal immigrant is somehow more qualified to work a competitive blue/white collar job than a citizen who has a high school or college degree, then that just points to a host of other systemic issues that the United States has. There is a clear and simple way the Republicans could raise American wages and make the US less attractive to illegal immigrants. They could put in massive fines (personal and corporate) or even criminal charges to owners of businesses who hire illegals. I wonder why they do not... | ||
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DarkPlasmaBall
United States45915 Posts
On January 17 2026 17:53 Acrofales wrote: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/jan/16/trump-greenland-envoy-us-denmark This has to be one of the dumbest threats yet. Seems Trump thinks tariffs are a magic incantation that makes people do what he wants, rather than a tax on Americans and a burden on the other country's economy. And... an economic burden is simply irrelevant when it comes down to this kind of decision. Let's say he slaps a 25% tariff on the whole EU and UK because there are now troops from all these nations defending Greenland (from Russia, mind you). What does he think will happen? Denmark will panic and give him Greenland to sell more Wegovy in the US? France will decide they'll drop their close ally Denmark to help their wine producers' exports? It just isn't going to happen. "If Europe doesn't let me invade Greenland, I'll raise taxes on Americans" is definitely a legendary idea worthy of the Trump brand. | ||
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LightSpectra
United States2575 Posts
On January 17 2026 22:12 oBlade wrote: As big as Trump's hands may be it's unlikely that that huge check came from his actual checkbook. It's a novelty check. It's not real. He's not in the photo either. Banks don't take giant novelty checks even if you spell it cheques. Epstein was just obsessed with Trump since the 90s. Your own article said there's nothing to it. Did you get as far as that paragraph? When the less evidence you have, the more you believe something, this is characteristic of a conspiracy theory. Here's a giant novelty check of me buying cocaine from a notorious cocaine dealer that I've hung out with for 15 years and am on record saying "he loves cocaine as much as I do". After this photo is released, I'm going to say it's fake news and it's actually my enemies that buy cocaine from him. I am very smart. | ||
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Legan
Finland577 Posts
One of the stupidest things about this is that the USA bought icebreakers from us last year, and it was celebrated as the largest foreign ship order in our history. 4 will be built in Finland, and 7 more may be built in the USA with our help. Now, the deal is starting to look a bit questionable. I don't really expect anything to actually happen with our foreign policy or the tone politicians use, as it would easily become quite a divisive issue if anyone asked to analyse how things got here and how everything should reflect on people who have talked about Trump very favourably. | ||
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KwarK
United States43987 Posts
In many ways I think putting the bankruptcy guy in charge of the economy may have been unwise. | ||
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Billyboy
1719 Posts
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