Surviving a second Trump admin*

[neoplacebo]

What he said. It's obvious at shit point and those who deny it are fooling themselves. Tragic

[Vrede too]

And so it begins:

Trump cabinet confronted ‘liar’ Elon Musk in White House showdown
Transport secretary Sean Duffy accuses tech billionaire of firing personnel that should not have been laid off

Elon Musk was called a “liar” by members of Donald Trump’s cabinet in a fiery White House showdown, The Telegraph can reveal.

In an extraordinary confrontation on Thursday, which took place in front of the president, two members of Mr Trump’s administration clashed with the world’s richest man over Doge lay-offs.

Sean Duffy, the department of transport secretary, was enraged by Mr Musk’s attempts to cull air traffic controllers despite the national shortage.

He accused Mr Musk, the government efficiency tsar, of firing personnel that should not have been laid off, which Mr Musk denied.

Mr Duffy is understood to have slid a spreadsheet across a desk in front of the president, to allege Mr Musk was not telling the truth about the scale of his cutbacks, The Telegraph understands.

Oooh, he brought receipts.

The exchange ended with the president ordering Mr Duffy to hire staff from MIT as air traffic controllers because the role requires “geniuses”, The New York Times reported.

While the president watched on, Doug Collins, the secretary of veterans affairs, pointedly claimed operations were being cancelled in Veteran Affairs hospitals because of Musk’s Doge cuts.

Marco Rubio privately infuriated with Musk

When Mr Musk denied this, Mr Collins demanded that Doge should be strategic about their cuts and not wield a blunt instrument to cleave off staff in his department, to which the president agreed.

“Trump called the meeting and then he backed his cabinet guys. Collins and Duffy called him (Musk) a liar to his face, in front of the president.”

Marco Rubio, the secretary of state, who has been privately infuriated with Mr Musk for weeks, is also said to have aired his grievances.

Seated diagonally opposite the secretary of state, the tech billionaire accused Mr Rubio of failing to slash his staff, according to the New York Times.

You have fired “nobody,” Mr Musk is said to have told Mr Rubio, scornfully insinuating that the only person he had fired was a staff member from Doge.

Meeeow.

... Top officials, including at the Social Security Administration, abruptly stepped down after refusing to comply with Mr Musk’s team.

Heroes.

... Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, said: “President Trump said this was a great and productive meeting amongst members of his team to discuss cost cutting measures and staffing across the federal government.

“Everyone is working as one team to help President Trump deliver on his promise to make our government more efficient.” ...

Does she kiss her child with that lying mouth?

Who will be the first to not survive this second Trump admin?
Elon?
Little Marco?
Karoline Leavitt?
Doug Collins?
Sean Duffy?

My guess:

Spoiler:

Little Marco goes first and Lyin' Elon will be the last person standing.

Follow the money.

[Jasmine]

I just disagree. Let the market decide.

If Mike McWhitey owns a diner and wants to serve only white peeps, that should be his right. Would his diner survive with that kind of discriminatory policy? I’m going to guess no. Let each private business owner make their own choices - free from government intrusion - and let him succeed or fail on his own merit.

That's an Rx for White supremacy.

As you can see, I never mentioned Jim Crow at all. You did. And after you did, did I respond to you at all? Nope.

A rotting rose by any other name is still a rotting rose. Again, grow up. Your utter ignorance of a decades-long and critical period in relatively recent American history is your problem, not mine. Regardless, child, you would be fine with the vilest form of retail discrimination because of your uber-libertarian views, which you also cower from admitting for post after post. What label we put on your hateful endorsement of White supremacy misses the point. You're being a wimp, not clever at all.

Now you’re evading. You brought up Jim Crow. Not me.

[Jasmine]

I don't think allowing the market to be the ultimate arbitrer in all things is prudent or good. There are reasons anti discrimination laws are a thing. Many people had to suffer for them to become law. We've all got the benefit of living in a time where the suffering of those that experienced such things firsthand are in the distant past. A lot of us are likely part of the "in group" of the majority who wouldn't have experienced such things anyway.

I'm reminded of a book I read a while back called Black Like Me by John Howard Griffin. The author explained that black folks had to be sure to carefully plan routes when traveling, even within their own cities. For many, even simply finding a bathroom or drinking fountain or a place to eat or rest was an immense struggle due to segregation and discriminatory practices. Not to mention job prospects and being paid significantly less than white counterparts, or even being completely excluded from certain professions altogether. All of this was lawfully fine.

Don't discount how all of those humiliating things add up. Nothing operates on a vacuum, especially an ideological vacuum like the "free market solving all issues". The psychological toll taken on a community where open discrimination is allowed is another factor that needs to be considered.

Do you really want to live in a world where it's lawfully ok to discriminate?

A very thoughtful and intelligent response. Thank you.

And yes, I think it should be lawfully okay to discriminate. I believe private businesses should have the freedom to set their own agendas and make their own decisions. That means hiring (or not hiring) whomever they want. It means setting their own wage scales. It means serving the customers they choose to serve.

Let the business owner succeed or fail on his own. Let him reap the benefits and suffer the consequences.

If you’re a black business owner and want to exclude whites, you should have the right to do so. If you’re a gay business owner and want to only serve gays, go for it. If you’re a cripple business owner and only want to serve quadriplegics, you should be able to do just that.

Personally, I doubt any of these businesses would last very long.

[Vrede too]

A very thoughtful and intelligent response. Thank you.

And yes, I think it should be lawfully okay to discriminate. I believe private businesses should have the freedom to set their own agendas and make their own decisions. That means hiring (or not hiring) whomever they want. It means setting their own wage scales. It means serving the customers they choose to serve.

Let the business owner succeed or fail on his own. Let him reap the benefits and suffer the consequences.

If you’re a black business owner and want to exclude whites, you should have the right to do so. If you’re a gay business owner and want to only serve gays, go for it. If you’re a cripple business owner and only want to serve quadriplegics, you should be able to do just that.

Personally, I doubt any of these businesses would last very long.

Private Jim Crow, which you endorse with your extreme libertarian dogma, lasted for decades and was only finally eradicated with the passage of the Civil Rights Act, which you would repeal. Go ahead and continue your immature pedantry, but this is the hateful world you favor whatever name we give it. Would you like 'fascism precursor' more? Why not exclude Jews and women, too?

[O Really]

So the civil rights act was 10 years old when you were born. You live in one of the most ethnically diverse places in the world. How in the world do you come to those ideas?

[Jasmine]

So the civil rights act was 10 years old when you were born. You live in one of the most ethnically diverse places in the world. How in the world do you come to those ideas?

Because I was born and raised in a place that is ethnically diverse - no ethnicity has 50% or more of our population - ethnicity has never been a big deal to me. I have friends and family of all ethnicities. I realize that racism exists. I also realize that racism will always exist. People are inherently prone to being hateful. But I also realize that you can’t force people to stop feeling what they feel. Trying to force them will just make them more resentful.

[O Really]

So the civil rights act was 10 years old when you were born. You live in one of the most ethnically diverse places in the world. How in the world do you come to those ideas?

Because I was born and raised in a place that is ethnically diverse - no ethnicity has 50% or more of our population - ethnicity has never been a big deal to me. I have friends and family of all ethnicities. I realize that racism exists. I also realize that racism will always exist. People are inherently prone to being hateful. But I also realize that you can’t force people to stop feeling what they feel. Trying to force them will just make them more resentful.

Yeah, that's what I mean. Ethnicity is not a big deal to you. Nobody has a majority of population. Living in that environment, why would it even occur to you that it's somehow OK to discriminate based on race/ethnicity? Businesses don't operate in a vacuum, or even totally off-grid. They exist as part of the society and community in which they operate. They get public electric power, public streets to get their products delivered, public banks to keep their money, protected by public cops and firefighters, so they can't really say "I'm totally private and can do what I want" unless they really are organized as a private club type thing - and maybe not even then depending on other factors. If a person is racist, nobody is likely to force them not to be, but whether they act on that racism while supposedly open to "the public" is another matter.

[Vrede too]

O Really beat me to it. I'm composing while watching Lady Gaga on SNL.

So the civil rights act was 10 years old when you were born. You live in one of the most ethnically diverse places in the world. How in the world do you come to those ideas?

Because I was born and raised in a place that is ethnically diverse - no ethnicity has 50% or more of our population - ethnicity has never been a big deal to me. I have friends and family of all ethnicities. I realize that racism exists. I also realize that racism will always exist. People are inherently prone to being hateful. But I also realize that you can’t force people to stop feeling what they feel. Trying to force them will just make them more resentful.

You didn't answer O Really's question. Do you think that it's your experience with diversity that makes you so blase about how oppressive a clear majority with almost all of the wealth can be?

It's hateful behavior that's limited by the CRA, not feelings which are forced to change. You seem confused over the difference.

[1 CAT FAN]

Trying to force them will just make them more resentful.

They want you to bake them a cake to celebrate their union.

[Whack9]

Scenario: Your person belonging to a certain class of people. You've lived in a town all your life. Your family has been there for generations. Political winds change. Suddenly businesses and services bar you from entering. Your town has no other options for you to receive basic services. You've nowhere to shop for groceries, bank, buy basic necessities. Hospitals refuse to service you. Realtors refuse to help you find a house to buy. Landlords refuse to rent to you.

In this scenario you've all but effectively been internally exiled and have no recourse whatsoever. Your only "wrongdoing" is the immutable qualities you were born with.

Let's suppose this happens on a larger, national, scale.

What is a person to even do? Lay down and die?

[1 CAT FAN]

Walmart executives drooling at those thoughts.

Wait, they’re gushing in awe.

[neoplacebo]

Tomorrow is Monday. Maybe trump will be off the golf course by then and sign an executive order directing the earth to stop rotating. The cult gushed in awe. then he went up and rescued the NASA astronauts personally. He was propelled up there due to his executive order stopping the earth form rotating, along with an able assist from Melon Musk and his remarkable rocket shoes which resulted in him (and everything else) being thrust hundreds of thousands of feet in the air. The cult gushed in awe before they died in the abyss.

[Vrede too]

Winning:

Kennedy Center Confirms Cancelation of More Than 20 Shows Since Trump Takeover
Trump appointed himself as the center’s chairman last month

How to destroy a national cultural treasure in a few easy steps


Otoh:

J6 Prison Choir to Perform at Kennedy Center
Trump recently appointed himself as chairman of the performing arts center

[neoplacebo]

Winning:

Kennedy Center Confirms Cancelation of More Than 20 Shows Since Trump Takeover
Trump appointed himself as the center’s chairman last month

How to destroy a national cultural treasure in a few easy steps


Otoh:

J6 Prison Choir to Perform at Kennedy Center
Trump recently appointed himself as chairman of the performing arts center

I read the other day that Laura Ingraham and Maria Bartiromo have been appointed to the Board of Kennedy Center by the raccoon eyed juvenile minded moron and pathological liar trump. The cult gushed in awe.

[Vrede too]

I read the other day that Laura Ingraham and Maria Bartiromo have been appointed to the Board of Kennedy Center by the raccoon eyed juvenile minded moron and pathological liar trump. The cult gushed in awe.

Yup

Donald Trump Appoints Fox News’ Maria Bartiromo And Laura Ingraham To Kennedy Center Board

Board of Trustees

[Vrede too]

3.5.25 | Rep. Doggett Debunks Donald Trump's Social Security Lies

Will SS die before I do? Ut-oh.

[Vrede too]

Voter's Remorse Helpline

[Vrede too]

I don't have the patience to watch a 12 minute video, but I like the title:


Trump slump! MAGA billionaires lose $200B, banks pin crash on 'extreme' Trumpism

The down side is that everyone else is losing money, too, but maybe the oligarchy will demand an immediate reversal.

[GoCubsGo]

Hey,
Trump was right about everything.