All Things Trump: The Return Of The King

[pErvinalia]

[JimC]

From our ABC:

Rajan Menon is the director of strategy at US thinktank Defence Priorities.

He tells ABC's news channel there are "various possibilities" for what could happen next in Venezuela.

The first is that Maduro's Chavista regime "holds strong without him" — but Menon notes this could lead to war between Venezuela and the US.

Another possibility is that the US puts economic pressure on Venezuela with the hope that "the regime will give way".

But he notes that the US lacks the "machinery" to fill the void of the regime's collapse.

"The result of that will be anarchy such as we saw after the withdrawal of Moammar Gaddafi in Libya," Menon says.

"There is an old saying in strategy — do not take the first step until you have thought what the second step is.

"I think we have taken the first step without any plan for the second step."

[Brian Peacock]

What if the Maduro snatch was the second step? Or the third?

The Trump Cartel has already aligned the interests of international tech, fossil, media etc with its own and demonstrated it's willingness and ability to use the nation's military land, water and air forces to secure them - reinforcing the unspoken reality, that despite the US military's famed first duty to The Constitution its primary duty is actually to the president. The Cartel has also shown that it's wholly unconcerned with the niceties of domestic and international law, and that laws or treaties cannot and will not bind or restrict its actions - either at home or abroad - and that its sphere of interest and influence is now the Americas as a whole. They've also made it perfectly clear that if you want to do any kind of Big Business in the US you have to go through the cartel - and that the other Western nations are powerless to resist, that their leaders will eirher line up behind you as impotent sycophants or simply be rendered irrelevant, and that even paying tribute (in both senses) to the cartel is no guarantee of its favour or support. At this point it's not even far fetched to imagine how the cartel could make the results of future US elections irrelevant to its ongoing interests and continuing good health.

One might argue that the US is well down the road towards dictatorial kleptocracy - which, after all, has very much been the norm when one considers the grand sweep of human history (aside from the social-democratic blip of the 20th century of course).

[Tero]

Pirates!
https://www.threads.com/@brittainforsen ... HwC&slof=1
Trump: "They head out to go capture the ship, and the ship doesn't want to fire back because it's very flammable stuff in many cases, the insurance companies don't want anybody firing rockets into the ship. It's called deadly accurate. We head out and then bing, that's the end of the pirate. Ilhan Omar is the leader of it."

[Tero]

Barely 48 hours after toppling the leader of Venezuela and asserting U.S. rights to the country’s oil, President Trump threatened Colombia with a similar fate. He declared that Cuba was not worth invading because “it’s ready to fall,” and he once again claimed that Greenland needed to come under American control. He seems to feel emboldened after the quick capture of Nicolás Maduro, the strongman who was seized on narco-trafficking charges.

“We’re in charge” of Venezuela, Trump claimed, as he described his plans to breathe new life into the Monroe Doctrine, the 1823 foundational statement of U.S. claims over the Western Hemisphere. “The Monroe Doctrine is a big deal,” said Trump, who keeps a pensive portrait of the fifth U.S. president near his desk in the Oval Office. “But we’ve superseded it by a lot, a real lot.”

He called his update, named after himself, the “Donroe doctrine.”

NYT

[Tero]

Ville: AI (i think Claude) predicts 2028:

❞ I'd estimate roughly 40% chance of something resembling a normal competitive election in 2028, 35% chance of a managed/rigged election with predetermined outcome, 20% chance of election being delayed/cancelled/fundamentally altered, and 5% chance of genuine constitutional resolution restoring democratic norms.

I told my Finnish friend not to move out yet:

It's hard to say what the Deep State is up to. But Trump's dictatorship is so poorly managed that it collapsed before the 2026 elections. Those who wanted something from Trump already got it. There's nothing more to come from Trump's own coffers.
Something like that will happen in 2028, that a Democrat wins the election, but not the House or the Senate. An election victory would indicate something else, the Republicans can't come up with a good candidate. Only 10% of the votes can be stolen.

[Tero]

Ville: AI (i think Claude) predicts 2028:

❞ I'd estimate roughly 40% chance of something resembling a normal competitive election in 2028, 35% chance of a managed/rigged election with predetermined outcome, 20% chance of election being delayed/cancelled/fundamentally altered, and 5% chance of genuine constitutional resolution restoring democratic norms.

I told my Finnish friend not to move out yet:

It's hard to say what the Deep State is up to. But Trump's dictatorship is so poorly managed that it collapsed before the 2026 elections. Those who wanted something from Trump already got it. There's nothing more to come for them, only to Trump's own coffers.
Something like this will happen in 2028: a Democrat wins the election, but not the House or the Senate. A presidential election victory would indicate something else. the Republicans can't come up with a good candidate and will not win. Only 10% of the votes can be stolen. Less than that for popular vote.

[Tero]

https://www.threads.com/@alex.nick.jung ... 1Nc&slof=1
Trump:
You know what Denmark did recently to boost up security on Greenland? They added one more dog sled. It’s true.

They thought that was a great move.

Denmark: Ha ha you are so funny. 3 warships await you

[Sean Hayden]

Denmark’s response this weekend looked weak, like they were asking permission to stand their ground: I don’t know Denmark, can you?

[Brian Peacock]

What are they going to do when the Venezuela sugar rush is over?

[aufbahrung]

Really needs to take Disneyland. A state within a state and far more profitable than most. Needs a shakedown.

[Sean Hayden]

Disney ain't ready for democracy.

[Tero]

Trump wants us to explain the "public's mind." Because they are all wrong, he is right. Nato on its last legs. No more Nato money wasted.
https://www.threads.com/@aaronparnas/po ... Cj3&slof=1

[rainbow]

When the public gets bored with the Epstein Files, Trumpy can go back to being an arsehole

[Tero]

Trump publishes his own jan 6th timeline.
https://www.whitehouse.gov/j6/

PEACEFUL MARCH
Patriots March to the Capitol
Following the President's speech, the massive crowd peacefully marches down Constitution Avenue to the Capitol to protest the certification of the fraudulent election. The march is orderly and spirited, with flags, signs, and chants supporting President Trump.