President Trump: Making America Great Again...

[BlueK]

I enjoyed it. Rubio has been at the top of my candidate list for some time.

The original Rubio would be good. The maga version sucks.

[PaloAltoCougar]

The original Rubio would be good. The maga version sucks.

True, and I'm cautiously optimistic he'll revert to his earlier form (perhaps because of the principles of honesty and integrity he learned in Primary) once we're rid of Trump . I hold no similar optimism for Vance.

[BlueK]

True, and I'm cautiously optimistic he'll revert to his earlier form (perhaps because of the principles of honesty and integrity he learned in Primary) once we're rid of Trump . I hold no similar optimism for Vance.

The Republicans have to be destroyed in 2026 for a chance for that to happen, I think. Then maybe he can get the party to modify that way to try to win back independents and college educated. But Trump as long as he's alive will fight to control the direction of the party.

[USUC]

The Republicans have to be destroyed in 2026 for a chance for that to happen, I think. Then maybe he can get the party to modify that way to try to win back independents and college educated. But Trump as long as he's alive will fight to control the direction of the party.

I am guilty of it myself, but this type of hyperbole is becoming just a justification to reinforce your (not you personally, but partisans generally) own sense of rightness and the lack of humanity in the "other."

Politicians are essentially narcissists who don't have closely held political philosophies other than supporting stuff they think will get them reelected. The MAGA winds blew in like a hurricane and their is a good chance those winds die down when Trump is gone.

Republicans won't be "destroyed" to your desired degree. But they will most certainly lose the House and those who cling to Trump populism will continue seeing losses in 2028 and 2030. If you think the only way that Republicans will break the Trump fever is by a Democratic super majority, I have some good and bad news for you. The fever will break eventually and also if the Democrats get a super majority, it won't turn the Republicans into center left party

[BlueK]

I am guilty of it myself, but this type of hyperbole is becoming just a justification to reinforce your (not you personally, but partisans generally) own sense of rightness and the lack of humanity in the "other."

Politicians are essentially narcissists who don't have closely held political philosophies other than supporting stuff they think will get them reelected. The MAGA winds blew in like a hurricane and their is a good chance those winds die down when Trump is gone.

Republicans won't be "destroyed" to your desired degree. But they will most certainly lose the House and those who cling to Trump populism will continue seeing losses in 2028 and 2030. If you think the only way that Republicans will break the Trump fever is by a Democratic super majority, I have some good and bad news for you. The fever will break eventually and also if the Democrats get a super majority, it won't turn the Republicans into center left party

I really didn't mean to be hyperbolic. I just meant that Rubio's platform won't resemble the earlier versions of himself unless the Republicans suffer a very significant loss in 2026. The reason is that 2016 Rubio's views are radically different than maga. It would have to be bad enough to push out Trump's influence and control from the party. As long as Republican politicians are afraid of him they won't stray far from what he wants.

[Northwestcoug]

The original Rubio would be good. The maga version sucks.

It seems like an eternity ago that Rubio was warning the country of the danger of Trump being the president. That version realized too late that given who votes in the GOP primaries the only shot of unseating Trump was to highlight the absurdity of Trump as a political leader. On the campaign trail he seemed to relish the fight and looked happier. That was a fun couple of weeks to watch. In the end, it still wasn't enough.

That Rubio is gone, a few years older and I guess wiser. He is dour and sees the world in more stark terms. Which maybe is more realistic. But a serious politician who has given up on the world's polite fictions is not going to move the electorate, especially post Trump. Trump has plumbed the depths of acceptable political discourse and governance, and dug right through them. I am very pessimistic that GOP primary voters want anything other than stark demagoguery. And Rubio just cannot hang with Vance. After all we've seen in the last decade, is it really a safe bet to hope the GOP wants anything else other than what Trump and his acolytes have given us?

I think Rubio is a much better man and leader than Trump, but the black hole of Trump's political power has pulled Rubio closer to what used to be his antithesis. He is now enthusiastic about pulling student visas for 'free speech violations'. And I know as SOS he's had to support some of the absolute insanity of Trump's views like taking over Venezuela. But there's always the option of resigning, so I'm assuming he's OK with it. Or at least he's made the calculation that his future in the GOP depends on staying in Trump's good graces until the very end.

At the end of the day we all hold our noses and pick the least terrible choice anyways, and Rubio is better than Vance or other fresh hells that could crop up. But man, the gulf of what he used to represent and what he is currently...

[PaloAltoCougar]

Having just read Dog Company--The Boys of Pointe du Hoc (good, not great), I re-read brief Reagan's Point du Hoc address that was delivered on site on the 40th anniversary of D-Day. The speech is a masterpiece crafted by Peggy Noonan and delivered superbly by RR. Dozens of great lines that uplift, unite, and inspire. Very deferential to our allies while acknowledging the tremendous sacrifices that were made. No condescension or lecturing, and not a single self-reference. It's truly sad how far we've fallen.

[Bo Diddley]

I am very pessimistic that GOP primary voters want anything other than stark demagoguery. And Rubio just cannot hang with Vance. After all we've seen in the last decade, is it really a safe bet to hope the GOP wants anything else other than what Trump and his acolytes have given us?

I was thinking about this just yesterday and this is the same conclusion I came to. So you're probably wrong.

[myboynoah]

Having just read Dog Company--The Boys of Pointe du Hoc (good, not great), I re-read brief Reagan's Point du Hoc address that was delivered on site on the 40th anniversary of D-Day. The speech is a masterpiece crafted by Peggy Noonan and delivered superbly by RR. Dozens of great lines that uplift, unite, and inspire. Very deferential to our allies while acknowledging the tremendous sacrifices that were made. No condescension or lecturing, and not a single self-reference. It's truly sad how far we've fallen.

Well, when one shits on a place nonstop, stuff happens. Nice speech by Rubio, but its all just words and a late-night Trump tweet can, and likely will, make it all go way overnight.

Europe Trump.jpg

[Pelado]

Having just read Dog Company--The Boys of Pointe du Hoc (good, not great), I re-read brief Reagan's Point du Hoc address that was delivered on site on the 40th anniversary of D-Day. The speech is a masterpiece crafted by Peggy Noonan and delivered superbly by RR. Dozens of great lines that uplift, unite, and inspire. Very deferential to our allies while acknowledging the tremendous sacrifices that were made. No condescension or lecturing, and not a single self-reference. It's truly sad how far we've fallen.

Thanks for posting that.

[PaloAltoCougar]

One other note about the Pointe du Hoc's speech. Seated in the front row were several Dog Company veterans who had scaled the cliffs on D-Day, and Reagan spoke directly to them. One of them, Herman Stein, by then in his 60s, successfully scaled the same cliffs that morning along with a team of Rangers. Stein told them they'd get better with a little more practice.

[Jeff Lebowski]

I join our European brethren in my deep loathing of Donald J. Trump.

[BlueK]

I am guilty of it myself, but this type of hyperbole is becoming just a justification to reinforce your (not you personally, but partisans generally) own sense of rightness and the lack of humanity in the "other."

Politicians are essentially narcissists who don't have closely held political philosophies other than supporting stuff they think will get them reelected. The MAGA winds blew in like a hurricane and their is a good chance those winds die down when Trump is gone.

Republicans won't be "destroyed" to your desired degree. But they will most certainly lose the House and those who cling to Trump populism will continue seeing losses in 2028 and 2030. If you think the only way that Republicans will break the Trump fever is by a Democratic super majority, I have some good and bad news for you. The fever will break eventually and also if the Democrats get a super majority, it won't turn the Republicans into center left party

By the way, by be destroyed I meant lose the election by a lot, that's it. Not totally sure what you thought I meant.

[dabrockster]

Data starting to come in and as many of us thought.. These tariff's are killing U.S. companies...


Tariffs paid by midsize US companies tripled last year, a JPMorganChase Institute study shows

WASHINGTON (AP) — Tariffs paid by midsize U.S. businesses tripled over the course of past year, new research tied to one of America’s leading banks showed on Thursday — more evidence that President Donald Trump ‘s push to charge higher taxes on imports is causing economic disruption.

The additional taxes have meant that companies that employ a combined 48 million people in the U.S. — the kinds of businesses that Trump had promised to revive — have had to find ways to absorb the new expense, by passing it along to customers in the form of higher prices, employing fewer workers or accepting lower profits.

“That’s a big change in their cost of doing business,” said Chi Mac, business research director of the JPMorganChase Institute, which published the analysis Thursday. “We also see some indications that they may be shifting away from transacting with China and maybe toward some other regions in Asia.”

The analysis suggests that the Trump administration’s goal of becoming less directly reliant on Chinese manufacturers has been occurring. Payments to China by these companies were 20% below their October 2024 levels, but it’s unclear whether that means China is simply routing its goods through other countries or if supply chains have moved.

The authors of the analysis emphasized in an interview that companies are still adjusting to the tariffs and said they plan to continue studying the issue.

https://apnews.com/article/trump-tar...2d909a8ec64f25

[PaloAltoCougar]

The Supremes have struck down Trump's tariffs. Barrett, Gorsuch, and Roberts (who wrote the opinion) were joined by the three liberal justices. This will be another Lawyers Relief Act as there will almost certainly be an avalanche of litigation over the tariffs already collected. it will also be fun to watch how Trump tries to work around this.