Wingate

Do the uber rich know something regular folks don’t? No. Do the uber rich have special insight into “what’s going to happen”? No. They have no special insight and do not have access to “intelligence” that suggests bad things coming, because there is no such intelligence. It’s paranoia that erupts when folks have a lot to lose. They simply build up a fear of what could be and take steps to maximize their chance of riding any whirlwind that comes, no matter how unlikely. Just as conspiracy theorists feed each other and turbo charge the most bizarre beliefs, the elite exacerbate the fear each might have that eventually somebody might come and try to take away what they have. “Do you ever think the masses will come after us” sort of thing. Then it becomes a dick-measuring contest…..”I’m building an underground bunker so big I’m installing a train system to get me from one room to another.” “Well, mine has a Trident submarine in a deep underwater dock.” They isolate themselves to be with their peers and then think they’re secure because they have something like former SEALS or SAS to guard them, but that’s a false sense of security. A person might “take a bullet” for a President out of patriotism, but few will risk leaving their children fatherless for some self-important, entitled billionaire. If a confrontation is asymmetrical and in their favor, the security might fight back, but if a true credible threat comes at the protectee, it will be cut and run. Think of it like the “tough guys” who work for ICE. They’re all Rambo-ish when going after aging grandmothers or 45 kg female garment workers, but none of them will ever go after an undocumented Russian Bratva, because they know that would put their families at risk of retribution. So all the uber wealthy are really doing---other than showing off to each other---is recycling some of their wealth back into the economy. That’s the one true benefit.

Are those Elon's kids? His parents and siblings disowned him.

I'd go farther than that. I'd deport people to Uganda or CECOT in El Salvador if, despite being born in the US, the best they could achieve was something like being a truck driver. Every advantage in the world, yet that's the best they could do? Who needs such mediocrity!

The US needs no immigrants, just like the Goebbels/Himmler lookalike says. I mean, immigrants or their mutant spawn (e.g, Steve Jobs, fathered by a Syrian Moslem immigrant Abdulfattah Jandali) "only" started 46% of the Fortune 500 companies. And immigrants "only" founded 55% of US start-ups valued at >$1 billion.

What can we expect? Almost as many "bombshells" as fell in that horrific war between Cambodia and Armenia.

I have a little cognitive dissonance about this. His rapid physical and mental decline makes me think he's not long for this world, not even surviving until the midterms, and instantly making the world a better place with his demise. OTOH, I like the idea of him lasting until the midterms, so that after the Blue Tsunami, where the Dems retake the House and maybe even the Senate, new Speaker Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez leads the third and maybe fourth impeachment of the convicted felon. The Senate would likely convict, even if Republicans still held the majority, because McConnell, Murkowski and Collins would cross over and vote to convict. What awareness of reality still present in Trump's addled brain would go apoplectic, transferring his rage Tweeting away from Jimmy Kimmel, Seth Meyers, Stephen Colbert, the NYT, etc., on to everybody who voted to impeach. He'd be a drooling, Depends-disgracing, frothing at the mouth idiot (the difference between that and what he is today might be too subtle for all but the most observant to notice). He'll be led away by men in white coats to live out the remainder of his miserable life in a padded cell, the attendants making sure there's an endless loop of "The Apprentice" reruns on the institution's TV, and giving him a new red button to call for Diet Coke and Big Macs + Fries with a push (which likely will take both of his tiny hands). Vance will be emasculated by the Dem House and non-MAGA Senate, maybe trying to arrange his post WH life as a spokesperson for Maybelline eye liner. MAGAs will b!tch and moan, but be equally neutered and increasingly Incel-ish, and go back to their pointless lives of onanism with internet porn. In January of 2029, President Newsom and Vice President Jason Crow take over, and a true Golden Age of America begins, the carnage of MAGA fading into the cesspits of history. It will take time, but American decency will be restored, and the US will try to be a force for good in the world, rather than aggression, bullying, selfishness and idiocy.

Said no one ever. You really live in some fantasy nightmare where you see Moslems under every rock. ألله يتيک إلقوة

Maybe, but then if NATO invokes Article 5, the generals would have to attack the White House. I'd be good with that.

Go enlist. Your can be a hero...or a sucker and a loser. Hit the beaches, gun down some Vikings. Be a lean mean fighting machine, carrying the Trump banner to greater glory! Trump needs you (because he's too much of a coward to fight himself).

I guess you'll be the first to volunteer to land on the icy beaches? Such a warrior you must be!

Perhaps you think Trump's post midnight Tweet last night is normal behavior, and the NYT really is a threat to national security, but Trump's increasingly violent rhetoric (execution for Elisa Slotkin, Jason Crow and Sen Kelly, because they reminded servicepeople of the law) is no different from jihadis. Trump is a rabid dog.

Half of the people deported had no criminal record. The lying mouthpiece for Trump, who holds the position of White House Spokesperson, claimed all of the deportees were "rapists, murderers.....etc." After 4 months, the 252 deported Venezuelans were released and sent to Caracas, in exchange for 10 Americans held in Venezuela for trying to engage in US Department of War terrorism. One of the criteria ICE uses to identify gang members is "tattoos". I can help them. There's a crazy guy in the Pentagon---the guy who installed a make-up room---who is covered in ugly tatts. Perhaps one day people who stole boxes of highly classified documents and tried to overthrow a free and fair democratic election will be sent to CECOT and get the same treatment a few college students from Venezuela got. Karma.

It aired on Global TV Canada, which has broadcast rights for 60 Minutes in Canada. It has been posted on YouTube, but CBS keeps trying to pull it down. I fear Trump will now invade Canada, or at least threaten it on a late night rage Tweet. The new CBS programming boss Bari Weiss claimed it wasn't ready because the Trump Admin hadn't responded to CBS' requests for comment. Obviously that's silly, as it would give Trump power to stop EVERY story it doesn't like, just be refusing to comment. Weiss is a traitor to the 1st Amendment, as well as a coward.

Wow, that guy's violent rhetoric reminds me of another guy who speaks like that. “The Failing New York Times, and their lies and purposeful misrepresentations, is a serious threat to the National Security of our Nation. Their Radical Left, Unhinged Behavior, writing FAKE Articles and Opinions in a never ending way, must be dealt with and stopped. THEY ARE A TRUE ENEMY OF THE PEOPLE! Thank you for you [sic] attention to this matter. PRESIDENT DJT.” Both guys are rabid dogs.

Trump certainly is the quintessential snowflake, as whiny as a bagful of 3 year olds told they cannot have ice cream. We can only guess as to why. Two things might have impacted his woeful insecurity and made him so vulnerable to even the most minute slight. One is what his niece Mary has said about Trump's childhood and relationship with his father. The father often used the term "loser" with Don. Be successful, or be a "loser". Years and years of that, according to Mary Trump, had major impact on Trump's sense of self. He clearly is needy. Make that NEEDY. Watch one of the North Korea-style Cabinet meetings and that is abundantly clear. A second possibility is that a guy who tries to champion himself as some macho Alpha type packs very little under his tighty whities, according to Stormy Daniels. His insecurity regarding that was made quite clear in the first Republican debate in 2016, when Marco Rubio commented about Trump's tiny hands. In front of an international audience, Trump was compelled to address that, make mention of his junk, and say "there's no problem there; I guarantee". No statement could have screamed "woeful insecurity" any louder. So in order to try to make all of that go away, Trump spews endless bluster and hyperbole about how great he is, how "only I can do this", how "nobody has ever seen anything like (what I did)", and how he's a "like, really really smart" or "a stable genius". Remember the stable genius said he would sue anyone who released his university transcripts. Had he done well, his transcripts would be required reading in every public school in the US, and he would have framed copies of them in his golf courses and in the White House.

How not-so-surprising that every release, leak, or un-redacted document that mentions Trump, as many do, is immediately called "fake" by Trump's own DoJ. It took more than a month to finally begin their molasses-like release of the files, but somehow they can investigate every allegation and mention of Trump's name and claim "fake"? I guess they asked Trump and he denied. Good enough for MAGAs and cultists, I guess. BTW, Trump spent last night, when he should have been getting his beauty sleep, rage Tweeting about the NYT, which he again and repeatedly is calling the "ENEMY OF THE PEOPLE" (his caps) and screams "they MUST be stopped !". He also used an odd term "fake opinions", which must mean something in his addled brain, but who knows what. Quite clearly the guy hates the 1st Amendment with its speech and press freedom. Kind of fascist, if you ask me.

What the heck are you getting on about? Just because a stray thought pops into your head, in no way does that mean it reflects reality in any way, shape or form. You seem to think anti-Trump or anti-fascist is anti-West. That's the prism---or maybe prison---through which you see the world. In all of these threads on Trump, what comes through my prism is that anti-Trumpers are steeped in democracy, American ideals, and have set a standard or goal of behavior for the US that is infinitely morally superior to Trump and his cult. Part of what the US was supposed to be involves freedom to believe whatever one wants regarding spirituality, including having no belief in any deities. The US has done better than most nations assimilating all of the major belief systems regarding existence, whether Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, as well as the lack of belief which has been given the name atheism. Look at the tech industry...one sees individual people, but look more closely and you see atheists, Christians, Jews, Hindus and Moslems and Buddhists. The only people in the US arguing for any one faith or belief to reign supreme are Evangelical Christians. So you can calm down, fella. There's no elephant in the room.

Here's a partial list, going back in time..... Young Jessica Alba, Palestinian journalist Rula Jebreal, sprinter Masai Russell, Jayne Mansfield, young Sophie Marceau, Indian actress Deepika Padukone, sprinter Allyson Felix, the woman in the Backstreet Boys’ “Everybody”, Ava Gardner, young Bipasha Basu

I guess if you like ladyboys, but she doesn't do anything for real men.

Perhaps you've forgotten what a professional DoJ is like. There were several ongoing investigations and sentencings, such as Maxwell and an investigation into the death of Epstein. There was also an investigation into Epstein's original conviction and sweetheart deal, a deal orchestrated by a guy later nominated as a Trump Cabinet member. The files, as well as victims' statements, were parsed to see if any additional investigations and charges should be brought against others. That takes time. All of that is now done. You might want to ask why Trump had Maxwell moved from a real prison befitting a child trafficker to a country club prison, and why he has stated he is mulling over a pardon. You might want to ask why Trump was against release of the files, until it became clear the House was going to vote to release, as even (R) Reps like Massie and MTG demanded full release. You may also ask why the DoJ held back so many files, redacted many more, despite a Congressional LAW demanding they release all of the documents. As for the convicted felon, no way he lasts 3 years above ground. I'd like to see him last at least until the midterms, when the Dems will retake the House and Speaker Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez leads yet another impeachment of the felonious criminal.

Let's play a little parlor game..... You and Zeus are sitting up on My Olympus. You are going to materialize into existence on Earth, and Zeus is giving you a choice as to the time, place, ethnicity and gender. What will you choose? Within a time frame of Oldavai Gorge to Christmas 2025, how would you like to arrive? I'm thinking "white male in a Western nation somewhere between maybe 1955 to 1990" is the sweet spot for the entire span of humanity so far. After 1990, one would come of age at the time of the Financial Crisis. Not good. Before 1955 (or 1954?), one would have been susceptible to the draft and sent off to Vietnam (if born in the US). I materialized during that time span. I might like to say my success in life, my education, and my wealth is a function of my hard work and ambition, but if I'm honest, it wasn't so difficult. I was a goof off in school, but still graduated top of the class. I was a USD millionaire before age 30. Had I been born, say, female in rural Bangladesh, a male in Rwanda, or even a female born in Buriram (except for Lisa Blackpink), there is zero chance I would have enjoyed the comfort I have, nor the opportunities, nor the wealth. That doesn't oblige me to apologize to anyone, but it should tell me that I'm not more special or deserving than the other manifestations I noted. Just luckier. As time passes, I'm willing to accept a greater percentage of life is dumb luck. When I chat with my father, we often discuss this, and I keep upping the percentage attributable to dumb luck. I'm now thinking 95%. Brains, ethnicity, appearance, athleticism, place of birth.....all have significantly greater impact on one's life success than hard work. Again, I'm not apologizing---and nobody ever asked me to do so, so Vance's words mean nothing to me---but I accept I have had it as good as any human who ever materialized on this planet. Let's be honest...if you're reading this on this Forum, you were born lucky. You don't owe any apologies, but you had it easier than most. (Cue the 'walked barefoot in the snow uphill both ways to school' crowd.)

You are not a good judge of people. Musk doesn't like him. Neither do Bezos, Zuckerberg or other billionaires angling for tax cuts, government contracts, or to stay out of jail for once banning his Facebook account. When Dems win, all those guys will be fawning over President Newsom and Speaker Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.

I think it's like his drug price drops..."500%...600%". So his mental faculties have likely declined by 600%. Odd that they keep giving him so many cognitive tests. One should be enough, unless even the doctors suspect a decline. His claims about stopping the 1994 Rwandan Genocide, as well as the war between Cambodia and Armenia give rational people cause to suspect an accelerating decline. MAGAs simply believe him. The over/under on Trump 'heading FAR South' is the Spring Equinox. Place your bets.

Trump said earlier this year: "Smart people don't like me." If the MAGA hat fits, wear it with pride.

I guess it is for those who like slower growth, higher unemployment and higher inflation, plus a total loss of respect internationally, save perhaps for Kim Jong-un, Putin and the typical miscreant. (*And maybe those fooled by online IQ tests that salve fragile egos, but are intended as marketing ploys)