Trump says he bombed Iran

[DBCowboy]

I've seen people imply that many here never criticized former administrations, claiming that many are being hypocritical because they only criticize Trump.

But the thing is, Trump did win twice... So the message clearly resonated with a lot of people, to get rid of DC corruption and drain the swamp. That's what a lot of people wanted to see. 

Hillary made massive amounts off of speaking engagements, the Obama's went on to land a whole bunch of deals for books and shows with big players like Netflix. Hundreds of millions of dollars probably. And a lot of people were mad that they were making money off of those kinds of deals. You have to ask yourself, for people who have connections, are they making large amounts not because of the content, but what they offer behind the scenes?

Let's be honest, no corporate event is actually happy that they paid Hillary hundreds of thousands of dollars to speak. Meeting her or hearing her speak isn't going to motivate you or inspire you. So there's got to be something else, pay for play.

We're at war in the Middle East. The president's son in law isn't part of the government but is doing negotiations with some of the very nations he has financial interest with. I remember the criticism of Hunter Biden, who clearly got a nepotism post at a Ukrainian energy company. But he wasn't officially negotiating on behalf of the US foreign policy, at least not to my knowledge.

These are all bad things. No one is acting like Bush/Obama/Biden were some pinnacles of US history. Yet people use their actions to justify actions now, some of which are far more blatant and in orders of magnitude in billions. 

He's no better than them. His presidency is a direct continuation of US status quo elite governance. He's the Obama of the right... Took politics by storm by offering hope and change and delivered the exact same thing as prior admins, often in more extreme ways.

Are you that naive to think that Trump could remove it all on his own?  I mean, he's not a king, right?

[CriticalStinker]

Are you that naive to think that Trump could remove it all on his own?  I mean, he's not a king, right?

I think making an effort towards it with some progress would have been a better move than directly engaging in it.

I believe more people have been pardoned with corruption than charged with it. It's obvious many in the family are making money off of his position, and sometimes with tax payer dollars like the drone contract with one of Jr's companies. 

The money you make from being president isn't chump change, and you get money after you leave too. I'm not even an absolute prude to say you can't make any money aside from that. If you have wealth I think it would be silly to say you can't do anything with it. But putting it in the S&P 500, or other indexes would just be a broader bet on the market, and less prone to conflicts of interest.

But this isn't that, there is foreign money at play from the one region who has received more aid than any other in our nations history. And we have very little formal alliances over there, and to my knowledge none of those nations have fought along side ours at war. While a lot of this aid isn't new, and I won't pretend it all came from one administration, I think foreign money to the family that runs our country is a massive conflict of interest, and one that is even worse than when presidents engage in it domestically, which they have. 

That's a very calm and reasonable take IMO. I'm sure a lot of people would deduce it to TDS, but to me it is just the simple reality. There has been corruption in our politics for many many decades. Doesn't make it any better now.

[govshill2]

The UAE bought 49% of Trump and Witkoff launched WLFI crypto.

Jared has gotten billions from a few several sovereign wealth funds to manage.

How can readers look that up and get opinions?
Sounds neat 

[govshill2]

Just wait for the drone or torpedo attack that will launch the ground invasion

How would any ground invasion be effective (other than a very limited pinpoint area)?

[EXETER]

Don't tell me, tell the Leftists that keep saying he is the worst President ever.

He's no better or worse, but to hear them whine, he's Satan himself.

The idea that Trump is no better or worse that other presidents is nonsense. Specifically, it sounds like an ego defense of the disavowal type known as rationalization.  In other words, if you can convince yourself that "everyone does it" then that makes it OK for you to support your guy, who "also does it".

We have never had another president who was a lifelong, career white collar criminal having been found guilty on multiple occasions of running criminal organizations.  Never had another one who was a convicted felon.  Never had another one who was adjudicated by a jury to have committed sexual assault (rape, in the words of the judge).  Never had another one who attempted to stay in office after losing an election by getting his followers whipped up into marching on the Capitol and interrupting Congress  at the exact moment they were in the process of certifying the election results. Never had another one solicit and receive the gift of a $400 Million gold-plated jumbo jet which he is having the government outfit for his use both while president and afterwards as a private citizen. Never had another one impeached twice. Never had another one mentioned thousands of times in the Epstein files.  

He is in a class by himself, and it's pretty much all a direct result of his Malignant Narcissistic Personality.  What people who have never studied this type of personality in a psychiatric context don't realize is that a highly narcissistic personality is not really capable of conventional moral reasoning.  Moral reasoning in a social setting begins when the individual accepts at some level that other people are equivalent to oneself.  That acceptance then leads to the individual agreeing to some degree or other to sign up for the so-called "social contract", in which the individual agrees to play by society's rules and subsume their more destructive impulses in return for which they get to enjoy the benefits of living in a relatively safe, orderly, and generally benign environment.  Most kids start figuring this out by age 4 or 5.  

Little Donald Trump never did.  He never, ever accepted the idea that other people were in any way equivalent to himself.  Therefore, he never developed the moral reasoning habit of thinking that he should take their interests into account.  They are just objects, to be manipulated in whatever way he wants to and thinks he can get away with. This leads pretty naturally to behavioral habits like delinquency and promiscuity--both of which Trump has displayed in the extreme throughout his life. These behaviors, while being basically antisocial aren't necessarily evil in the conventional understanding of the term.  However when you add behaviors like pedophilia and homicide, you're now talking about moving into the realm of evil.  To the best of my knowledge, lifelong white collar criminal Trump never engaged in homicide before he became POTUS.  But since he became POTUS he has discovered he can order the military to summarily kill people for him.  And he has, and he seems to like it.  He's definitely starting to register on the evil-o-meter. 

Not Satan, exactly, but definitely worse than any other POTUS.

[DBCowboy]

I think making an effort towards it with some progress would have been a better move than directly engaging in it.

I believe more people have been pardoned with corruption than charged with it. It's obvious many in the family are making money off of his position, and sometimes with tax payer dollars like the drone contract with one of Jr's companies. 

The money you make from being president isn't chump change, and you get money after you leave too. I'm not even an absolute prude to say you can't make any money aside from that. If you have wealth I think it would be silly to say you can't do anything with it. But putting it in the S&P 500, or other indexes would just be a broader bet on the market, and less prone to conflicts of interest.

But this isn't that, there is foreign money at play from the one region who has received more aid than any other in our nations history. And we have very little formal alliances over there, and to my knowledge none of those nations have fought along side ours at war. While a lot of this aid isn't new, and I won't pretend it all came from one administration, I think foreign money to the family that runs our country is a massive conflict of interest, and one that is even worse than when presidents engage in it domestically, which they have. 

That's a very calm and reasonable take IMO. I'm sure a lot of people would deduce it to TDS, but to me it is just the simple reality. There has been corruption in our politics for many many decades. Doesn't make it any better now.

Are you for or against the fraud squad that has found billions in taxpayer fraud?

[chr0naut]

I can see where you're confused.
I'm not defending Trump, I'm pointing out the hypocrisy of the Left, who obviously don't have the ability to look in the mirror.

The right also oppose Trump. He is extremely disloyal to everyone. Especially his grassroots and closest associates, and now they are waking up to it.

A List of Trump’s Allies Who Are Turning Against Him

[C_rad001]

King Charles just left the Dias after speaking to the US CONGRESS.
can anyone tell me (us citizen) why I should care?
honest question

[DBCowboy]

The right also oppose Trump. He is extremely disloyal to everyone. Especially his grassroots and closest associates, and now they are waking up to it.

A List of Trump’s Allies Who Are Turning Against Him

Maybe because the right wing is just as corrupt.

Trump is truly the only 3rd party candidate we'll see in our lifetime.

[CriticalStinker]

How can readers look that up and get opinions?
Sounds neat 

https://www.wsj.com/politics/policy/spy-...n-ea4d97e8

Four days before Donald Trump’s inauguration last year, lieutenants to an Abu Dhabi royal secretly signed a deal with the Trump family to purchase a 49% stake in their fledgling cryptocurrency venture for half a billion dollars, according to company documents and people familiar with the matter. The buyers would pay half up front, steering $187 million to Trump family entities.

The deal with World Liberty Financial, which hasn’t previously been reported, was signed by Eric Trump, the president’s son. At least $31 million was also slated to flow to entities affiliated with the family of Steve Witkoff, a World Liberty co-founder who weeks earlier had been named U.S. envoy to the Middle East, the documents said.

Two months after the March meeting, the administration committed to give the tiny Gulf monarchy access to around 500,000 of the most advanced AI chips a year—enough to build one of the world’s biggest AI data center clusters. The framework agreement called for roughly one-fifth of the chips to go to G42, The Wall Street Journal previously reported. 

Weeks before the U.S.-U.A.E. chip deal was announced in May, World Liberty CEO Zach Witkoff announced that MGX, a Tahnoon-led investment firm, would use World Liberty’s stablecoin to complete a $2 billion investment into the cryptocurrency exchange Binance. The G42 executives added to World Liberty’s board were also on the board of MGX, which is co-owned by G42.

Zach Witkoff touted the MGX stablecoin deal as an endorsement of World Liberty’s technology. He didn’t disclose that MGX and World Liberty were being led by some of the same people.

“We made the deal in question because we strongly believe that it was what was best for our company as we continue to grow,” said David Wachsman, a spokesman for World Liberty, of the Aryam investment. “The idea that, when raising capital, a privately held American company should be held to some unique standard that no other similar company would be held is both ridiculous and un-American.”

He said President Trump and Steve Witkoff had no involvement in the deal and haven’t been involved in World Liberty since taking office, and that Witkoff had never played an operational role in the company. He added the deal didn’t grant either party involved any sort of access to government decision-making or influence over policy. “We operate by the same rules and regulations as any other company in our space,” he said.

I'm sure some would question all the claims in the piece, as some of it cites documentation but doesn't show it, or sources without naming.

But speaking broadly on the foreign investments, a spokesman for WLFI defended the Trumps and Witkoffs citing they aren't involved in the decision making. Whether people should just accept that is as you said, forming their own opinions.

It's your right as an American to defend or even support the President being directly linked to foreign money. I can't imagine there is any rules against that kind of speech or ideology. I don't think a majority of Americans would agree with an acting president being involved with foreign money, no matter the president.