Emperor Trumptoad's Gloriously Comedic & Tragic Reign over New Autocratic Western Russia

[MajorMitchell]

A Thread for posts discussing the Reign as 47th POTUS of the Flatulent, Obese, and Thoroughly Corruptible Emperor Doald J Trumptoad

[Jamiet99uk]

Do we need another thread for this?

[Octavious]

Well, we've moved rapidly from a position where Western Leaders mostly talked about Ukrainian victory in the distant future to one where they are all talking about achieving peace in the near term, so that's good. NATO members are finally taking defence spending seriously, so that's good. The ceasefire is holding in Gaza and Arab nations are starting to present serious proposals for the future, so that's good. Trump and the UK Prime Minister against all expectations appear to get on quite well, so that's good.

I'm less interested in US domestic policy... don't really know how that's going. Trade policy looks turbulent in the short term, and we'll find out if that turns out to be successful or disastrous long term as we go forward.

As presidencies go, I don't mind it.

[Octavious]

Do we need another thread for this?

No harm in a general Trump thread. If there's no demand it will die off. If there is it will stay. My guess is that it will vanish and get revived again periodically

[MajorMitchell]

The movements in share prices for European arms makers have risen sharply & there is speculation that the EU nations are going to ease debt limits and commit to sustained increased spending on defense

The domestic reaction within USA is interesting, JD Vance's trip to go skiing after the white house fight with zelensky was passionate & vitriolic "go ski in Russia" placards galore

Yet Trumptoad's speech to Congress was worth watching
The Republicans were dutifully subservient to Trumptoad & Elon Muskrat was there

It was spooky, I saw similarities to Hitler's speeches in the German parliament in the "theatrics"

[MajorMitchell]

Perhaps the overt triumphalist Fascism of Elon Musk, Trumptoad and the others around Trumptoad and Elon Musk is inducing the reactions needed, stirring public opponents, moderates and the left , governments in Democracies into action

[MajorMitchell]

There's a lot of buyer's regrets going around for owners of Tesla cars

[MajorMitchell]

One unexpected benefit(?) of Trumptoad's tariff war is for Canadian leader Justin Treadeau & the Canadian Government, facing an election defeat before the tariff war started.
From 26 points behind Treadeau's now 2 points in front of his rivals~a massive swing in his popularity

[Esquire Bertissimmo]

One unexpected benefit(?) of Trumptoad's tariff war is for Canadian leader Justin Treadeau & the Canadian Government, facing an election defeat before the tariff war started.
From 26 points behind Treadeau's now 2 points in front of his rivals~a massive swing in his popularity

I wouldn’t call this a benefit.

Trudeau was widely unpopular for a reason.

Canadians should be having real election debates about major policy choices that are actually within our control - things like housing development, immigration levels, and the size and effectiveness of government.

Instead, the conversation is almost entirely about "which leader/party is better at pushing back against Trump?" The problem is, no one really knows what Trump wants in this trade war, let alone what kind of pushback (if any) would work.

The result is a deranged election dominated by vague, uninformed impressions of who can "stand up to Trump" - something that may not even be possible in the first place.

[Octavious]

Oh, what are the thoughts on old Carney being Prime Minister?

The idea of a Prime Minister being someone who isn't a Minister would cause a world of pain for them in the UK. You could technically do it by putting them in the Lords, but not having won an election would be hugely politically damaging.

Aside from that Carney is has a reputation for being competent and an intellectual heavyweight, but I feel in the UK he'd suffer somewhat from a perception of being a citizen of the world more so than a citizen of his country.

So yeah, in the UK he'd have significant hurdles to overcome. But I have no idea whether or not they'd even be considered hurdles to Canadians

[Esquire Bertissimmo]

I view Carney as a huge improvement over Trudeau. He's pulling the Liberals back towards the centre after nearly a decade of policy incoherence. He's boring in a reassuring way. I think Canadians should view his credentials as an asset, though Conservatives are already pretending that being a central bank governor isn't a meaningful achievement (their leader is a career politician).

Carney may have gone to the WEF too many times for some Canadians' liking — but folks who are fussed about that probably weren't going to vote Liberal anyhow. Canada might be a touch too diverse and spread out for people to really care too much about how *Canadian* their leaders are. His ability to woo decidedly non-Canadian Quebecois probably matter more.

I think he'll suffer from missing a certain stage presence that some of my compatriots seem to believe is necessary to deal with Trump (I'm not so sure this matters). His Conservative opponent, Pierre Polievre, is simply better at the showmanship aspect of politics.

North America in general swung hard against expertise in the past decade or so. Trudeau was a left wing instantiation of that. Trump is clearly the right wing version of it. Carney would represent a huge swing back towards learned people in suits telling us what to do. I think the example of Trump is reminding some Canadians of the value of being coherently and expertly governed. That said, Polievre is much more bombastic and, absent Trump, would have won easily by merely bashing the COVID, climate, fiscal and immigration policies of the Liberals under Trudeau.

Of course, the portion of the electorate who will actually decide this election is small. A handful of ridings in the Toronto area + the province of Quebec + occasionally an upset in the Maritimes are what normally determines federal election outcome — those areas are overweighted in our first past the post system and tend to have the most flexible voters. Elsewhere, Canadian politics are deeply regional, with voters knowing which party favours the industries in their province.

One thing greatly helping Carney has been the absolute collapse of our socialist New Democrat Party. They have proven to be useless in Opposition, then they were useless as a coalition partner. Their leader isn't well liked. They haven't kept the left flank happy and all their workable policies were poached by the Liberals.

[MajorMitchell]

Thank you Esquire Bertissimmo for your very helpful post.
I was aware of the incoherent policy failures of Justin Treadeau & it's good to see him be replaced with goodwill and decency.
However you have to view Justin Treadeau as the son of one of Canada's best admired leaders~ the Canadian media & public always saw JT as destined to lead Canada.
The advantage for JT facing a humiliating election defeat in responding to the actions of the moronic Trumptoad in my opinion is that facing humiliating defeat, JT had "little to lose" by vigorously & publicly attacking Trump & his policies that hurt the Canadian economy.

He didn't use the "stay calm, do nothing to antagonise Trump" tactic or try appeasement with Trump.

He attacked Trump and took advantage of the unifying public opposition in Canada to the policies of Trump
Trump is a bully, Elon is a bully JdV is a bully
They want subservience but do not really reward subservience with loyalty
Trump has burnt so many people who chose acquiescence to him

Trump when confronted with a bold and intelligent attack folds, retreats and lies
Trump does not have the intelligence needed to compete with far more Machiavellian minds like Putin & Xi Jinping

At best, imho, Trump's IQ cannot be much above the average intelligence of 100 on the IQ scale~ I'd it is above that level.

My guestimate is about 85 to 95 and given his age & poor health, probably declining towards ~85 not improving towards 100 or above that.

I also believe the stresses on Elon Musk are starting to show in more erratic behaviours and self delusions

The punishment to the values of Elon Musk's businesses have to be putting huge pressure on Elon Musk and he has united a lot of old and new enemies

Look at the value of Starlink.and value of European rival Eutelstat(?)
European rival is getting new contracts from EU nations pulling out of Starlink
It's share price rise has added about $380 billion to it's value

Value of Starlink and Tesla, XTwitter have all declined by large amounts ~30%+

With loans & debts the loss in share prices and valuations can cause businesses to fail
There's a lot of billionaires and multi millionaires eager to surpass Elon Musk, his world is ruthless and like sharks, they will attack each other, particularly ifvthey see a vulnerable more powerful rival, they're after Elon Musk 's wealth

[MajorMitchell]

Eg if Bezos the rival billionaire with the big interest in space sees a chance to buy Elon's SpaceEx business at a bargain price~ do we think he will, bail.out Elon with help...
Or try and drive the price he has to pay to get SpsceX lower and buy it cheaply?

[MajorMitchell]

The ultra wealthy love an economic recession and depression, it gives them the chances to buy cheaply and wait for the economic recovery
The farms at bankruptcy sakes

But best of all...
The assets of their own who go into financial liquidation
The big mansion estates & assets that only come onto the market when a rival crashes
Elon's rivals will relish the opportunity to throw him to the furies of the public and steal his wealth if they have a good opportunity to do that, and Elin Musk knows that...
So his life is becoming more like a criminal.on.the run?