US Erection 12 *AND* 16 *AND* 20 *AND* 22 *AND* 24 *AND* Beyond

[BCExpat]

No more grain. No more potash for Fatty. Fuck Iowa, Nebraska, The Dakotas, Wyoming etc. Starve your stringy cows and sell them for jerky. No wheat for bread.... so sorry. I'd rather give it away to China.

He's destroying a perfectly good relationship. You have Republican senators shaking their head at his tactics.

Its odd so many "Canadians" ...... sure they are. These folks actually back him and 'clap their paws' like seals and the country that they live in is completely wrong and its all Justin's fault. Curious if some of these people have been down to the States in the last decade if ever. "Well I had a pop shoppe bottle of pop one time and I have a silver dollar"

You are right Blob. I'm one of those Canadians that supported Trump during the election. As I have said before, he has done some good things since getting into office, but this whole tariff trade war that he has started, and his siding with Russia in the Ukrainian conflict, are completely unacceptable. I spent 3 1/2 years in the USA, so I get why they all supported Trump. I'm sure a lot of them are second guessing their vote now.

[5thhorseman]

I'm sure a lot of them are second guessing their vote now.

And the big cuts are yet to come. This week's budget will apparently need to cut Medicaid. Should be interesting.

[rikster]

No more grain. No more potash for Fatty. Fuck Iowa, Nebraska, The Dakotas, Wyoming etc. Starve your stringy cows and sell them for jerky. No wheat for bread.... so sorry. I'd rather give it away to China.

He's destroying a perfectly good relationship. You have Republican senators shaking their head at his tactics.

Its odd so many "Canadians" ...... sure they are. These folks actually back him and 'clap their paws' like seals and the country that they live in is completely wrong and its all Justin's fault. Curious if some of these people have been down to the States in the last decade if ever. "Well I had a pop shoppe bottle of pop one time and I have a silver dollar"

You are right Blob. I'm one of those Canadians that supported Trump during the election. As I have said before, he has done some good things since getting into office, but this whole tariff trade war that he has started, and his siding with Russia in the Ukrainian conflict, are completely unacceptable. I spent 3 1/2 years in the USA, so I get why they all supported Trump. I'm sure a lot of them are second guessing their vote now.

I'd be curious what you think are some of the good things he's done are?

As for tariffs and DOGE, the challenge I've always thought any politician has in keeping campaign or opposition party promises to run a fiscally responsible government is that in doing so you are negatively impacting much of the base who got you or will get you elected...

The massive cuts DOGE is attempting to execute is a good example, we all want to eliminate waste and abuse and shrink government until it impacts us or those close to us, then its a betrayal ...

And DOGE hasn't created a parachute for the thousands its taking off payroll and the underlying job numbers in the US were showing cracks before DOGE which has created fear and anxiety which we are starting to see play out at Republican and Democrat town halls...

DOGE promised on the campaign trail to eliminate $2 Trillion in abuse and waste, lowered that number to $1 Trillion after the election and is struggling to get anywhere that promise which might explain why Trump is unwilling to permanently take the tariffs off the table....he is planning on spending as much as $4 Trillion making his tax cuts permanent and new spending and is desperate to find revenues ...

Regretting your vote is one thing, but not having an alternative that you can put your faith in must be overwhelming for many especially for those who didn't vote for Trump as much as they voted against Harris...

[Per]

Laying off federal employees as a cost cutting measure is about as smart as amputating your leg to lose weight.
Sure, it will lower the figure you look at, but it does so by reducing your ability to get shit done.

The US federal payroll is less than five percent of the federal budget, so even if you cut the workforce in half, you have only saved just over 2 percent. And at the same time a lot of the staff may be generating revenue, so you then have to take into account how much revenue you lost by getting rid of them. Not sure if the same applies in the US as in Sweden, but someone investigating tax fraud usually pulls in around ten times more then they are paid, so getting rid of that kind of staff will make the deficit worse.

I'm sure there are programmes that are inefficient or unnecessary, but than cut those programmes.
And make sure you know what they do BEFORE you cut them.
Building a new structure is usually a hell of a lot more expensive than to just keep using what you already have.

[Topper]

In principle, I like DOGE, in execution, in all forms of the word, it is haphazard at best. It should be a scalpel, not a dull broad axe. The goals appears more at generating sensational headlines than cutting waste. Putting the idea out that cost cutting be used to send $5K cheques to everyone instead of simply knocking back the deficit is plain inflation generating populist nonsense.

I get the DEI nonsense programs being cut and lets just get rid of the climate action and DEI statements in grant applications. The science programs and some infrastructure programs need closer examination.

DOGE should be listing questionable programs, with their reasoning for why the program is flagged and submitting to the relevant Secretaries in the Cabinet. The lists can then be reviewed and the programs can be justified or not under the new administration's guidelines. Cuts or further support can then be determined by relevant secretaries and may need to go back to Congress.

Governing by Executive Order is not democracy and removes the checks and balance of the the House and Congress.

[2Fingers]

Was anyone expecting anything different from DT? The closeness to Russia surprised me but not the other stuff.

I can’t believe the Republicans are supporting him on Russia. Why are they not standing up to him?

[Topper]

Why are they not standing up to him?

Fear. The thing Elon is doing that is very suspect is his promise to fund primary challenges for anyone who opposes Trump.

That is where he has bought the government and supports the Executive Order, government by decree system. He is even attacking the judicary with threats to remove judges who oppose their policy. Say hello to Mr Maduro.

It is the same tactic AOC used to expand her squad but with much more money available.

[rikster]

In principle, I like DOGE, in execution, in all forms of the word, it is haphazard at best. It should be a scalpel, not a dull broad axe. The goals appears more at generating sensational headlines than cutting waste. Putting the idea out that cost cutting be used to send $5K cheques to everyone instead of simply knocking back the deficit is plain inflation generating populist nonsense.

I get the DEI nonsense programs being cut and lets just get rid of the climate action and DEI statements in grant applications. The science programs and some infrastructure programs need closer examination.

DOGE should be listing questionable programs, with their reasoning for why the program is flagged and submitting to the relevant Secretaries in the Cabinet. The lists can then be reviewed and the programs can be justified or not under the new administration's guidelines. Cuts or further support can then be determined by relevant secretaries and may need to go back to Congress.

Governing by Executive Order is not democracy and removes the checks and balance of the the House and Congress.

Taking a chain saw to a brain surgery as Musk and DOGE are doing is madness but also identifying waste and abuse is something Trump and the Republicans should have been doing during the Biden Presidency...

They didn't need to wait until they got back into the White House, they have historically approved budgets, mostly under Republican controlled Congresses, to scrutinize and identify line items that need to be addressed and if justified cancelled...

But when you are desperate for $ trillions and can't find more than $millions you either back track or go full steam ahead on a death march and worry about the consequences later...

Maybe they should start focusing on the size of corporate welfare in the US where they can get some real savings....And corporate welfare to companies like Tesla would be a good place to start...

[BCExpat]

No more grain. No more potash for Fatty. Fuck Iowa, Nebraska, The Dakotas, Wyoming etc. Starve your stringy cows and sell them for jerky. No wheat for bread.... so sorry. I'd rather give it away to China.

He's destroying a perfectly good relationship. You have Republican senators shaking their head at his tactics.

Its odd so many "Canadians" ...... sure they are. These folks actually back him and 'clap their paws' like seals and the country that they live in is completely wrong and its all Justin's fault. Curious if some of these people have been down to the States in the last decade if ever. "Well I had a pop shoppe bottle of pop one time and I have a silver dollar"

You are right Blob. I'm one of those Canadians that supported Trump during the election. As I have said before, he has done some good things since getting into office, but this whole tariff trade war that he has started, and his siding with Russia in the Ukrainian conflict, are completely unacceptable. I spent 3 1/2 years in the USA, so I get why they all supported Trump. I'm sure a lot of them are second guessing their vote now.

I'd be curious what you think are some of the good things he's done are?

As for tariffs and DOGE, the challenge I've always thought any politician has in keeping campaign or opposition party promises to run a fiscally responsible government is that in doing so you are negatively impacting much of the base who got you or will get you elected...

The massive cuts DOGE is attempting to execute is a good example, we all want to eliminate waste and abuse and shrink government until it impacts us or those close to us, then its a betrayal ...

And DOGE hasn't created a parachute for the thousands its taking off payroll and the underlying job numbers in the US were showing cracks before DOGE which has created fear and anxiety which we are starting to see play out at Republican and Democrat town halls...

DOGE promised on the campaign trail to eliminate $2 Trillion in abuse and waste, lowered that number to $1 Trillion after the election and is struggling to get anywhere that promise which might explain why Trump is unwilling to permanently take the tariffs off the table....he is planning on spending as much as $4 Trillion making his tax cuts permanent and new spending and is desperate to find revenues ...

Regretting your vote is one thing, but not having an alternative that you can put your faith in must be overwhelming for many especially for those who didn't vote for Trump as much as they voted against Harris...

A few Good things he's done:
- Fixed the border crisis
- Rounding up and deporting illegals immigrants.
- Getting rid of a lot of the woke bullshit.
- DOGE is generally a good thing.
- Getting an LNG deal with Japan and S. Korea

I"m Canadian, so I didn't have a vote in the US election. The choice was between and extremely bad candidate and a fairly bad candidate - not really much of a choice. I don't like Trump, but he was way better than Harris. Both parties have veered away from a centralist position and it seems like the radicals on both sides are running the show. My political position is "right of centre" or small C conservative - there was no candidate with those policies.

Here in Canada, the Conservatives are much more aligned with my politics. After 9 years of liberals, with all their scandals and economic and political mis-management, are people really stupid enough to think that they have suddenly changed? The liberals have basically copied many of the Conservative's policies. I don't trust a party that changes it's stripes and copies the opposition parties platform just before an election, because their former policies are disasterous and unpopular.

[5thhorseman]

- Fixed the border crisis
- Rounding up and deporting illegals immigrants.

From what I've read, this isn't actually true. Yes, they are lots of headlines regarding ICE rounding up people and of course the military plane sent unannounced to Columbia, but how many are actually being deported? Indications are that Trump deported 38,000 in his first month whereas Biden was averaging 57,000 per month in 2024. So actually a big dropoff.

The reason Trump cannot increase deportations is because he needs more funding for detention centers, and of course the bipartisan border bill that would have provided this funding was vetoed before he became president. It all comes down to funding.

[UWSaint]

Both parties have veered away from a centralist position and it seems like the radicals on both sides are running the show. My political position is "right of centre" or small C conservative - there was no candidate with those policies..

I think Trump is both radical and centrist. The radicalism is that he eschews incrementalism -- a conservative dispositional hallmark. The centrism is that he is picking mostly 60% issues. Both of these things are entirely consistent with the notion that Trump's politics are populist.

Biden was elected on a promise of a return to normalcy. But that normalcy was in fact radical, illiberal, and disconnected from the people. I've never seen such a concerted effort in the United States to deal with dissent through moralism, gaslighting, and lawfare. Our institutions -- from academia to media to tech to finance -- far from a check against this illiberalism, were either in on the game, useful idiots, or cowards. (Tech has jumped ship -- but I am not convinced it is for anything other than momentary expediency).

There is a lot to admire about small c conservatism, about Edmund Burke, Russell Kirk, GK Chesterton, etc. In many ways, I think there's more to admire about it in the United States than any other place, because the institutions conserved are those already reconciled with the enlightenment and liberalism and which exist on an infrastructure of liberty and equality. One thing small c conservative cannot do well (either theoretically or dispositionally), though, is respond when great change (for the worse) has already taken place.

So when a chainsaw is used instead of a scalpel, its not going to meet the disposition of the conservative. But there are times when institutions are broken enough where the mastectomy is to be preferred to the lumpectomy, and there are multiple reasons why *beyond* getting at the problem. If government institutions no longer have democratic responsiveness, precision is ineffective -- to get to the problem, you need to remove more than the problem. (The people working for you are working against you). But more than that, the chainsaw is visible and loud, and the growing number of people who feel unheard and disconnected see their government working -- maybe not in the way each would like, but responding to the electorate. It is messy, but it is far more messy to have election and election with little to no change -- because that's when you get revolt or servitude.

Whatever is lost but was necessary can be reconstructed. But when rot is not exposed, it corrupts indefinitely.

[UWSaint]

- Fixed the border crisis
- Rounding up and deporting illegals immigrants.

From what I've read, this isn't actually true. Yes, they are lots of headlines regarding ICE rounding up people and of course the military plane sent unannounced to Columbia, but how many are actually being deported? Indications are that Trump deported 38,000 in his first month whereas Biden was averaging 57,000 per month in 2024. So actually a big dropoff.

The reason Trump cannot increase deportations is because he needs more funding for detention centers, and of course the bipartisan border bill that would have provided this funding was vetoed before he became president. It all comes down to funding.

Immigration control is a lot more than deportation.

Border crossings are way down. Maybe that's unverified government propaganda, but border crossings were also considerably down in the first Trump administration.

And immigrant subsidies by the federal government through FEMA and NGOs -- you think that's not going down?

And what about remain in Mexico policy? Or no longer giving out temporary status like candy?

And I don't know where you get the 57K per month figure, 5th. FFY 2024 (from Oct 2023 to Sept 2024) saw 271K deportations -- itself a high water marl -- but what's that, 21.5K a month? Maybe at the very end it was kicked up? I have no doubt, however, that there were large amounts of voluntary deportations after the election (both during Biden's term and today). Deportation carries with it extreme limits on reentry.

Its complicated, I am sure Trump exaggerates the effectiveness of his policies. But when you move from an administration who at a minimum didn't prioritize border control (and in some respects, facilitated it) and move to one that makes it a priority, you are bound to improve results. It is, after all, the same men and women working at ICE, but now with leadership prioritizing that function.

[Strangelove]

From the New York Post.

[rikster]

But when you move from an administration who at a minimum didn't prioritize border control (and in some respects, facilitated it) and move to one that makes it a priority, you are bound to improve results.

I disagree...

My take is that both Parties priortized securing the border, but as with DOGE one is using a chain saw for show while the other was using a scapal...

Migrant encounters began to trend down sharply beginning in 2023 with Trump claiming that the low encounter numbers during 2024 were as a result of migrants being scared of his return to the White House...

But it seems that policy changes on both sides of the border and an executive order Biden signed into law led to these sharp drop in numbers without the need to seperate families and the other inhumane treatment under Trumps first term...

Its hard to get a factual read on the situation because both sides have used it as a major political weapon and aren't afraid to exagerate or lie about the situation...

From the Pew Research Centre...

https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads ... y-in-2024/

[Topper]

Down from a record high as the election looked and the record policies of the previous years of the Biden administration became a ballot box issue.