The Donald Trump Thread, aka How Stupid IS He?

Let's just put all the idiocy in one thread

Trump demands return of Panama Canal if rates aren't cut​


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A ship passes through the Panama Canal. Photo: Martin Bernetti/AFP via Getty Images

President-elect Trump demanded Panamanian authorities either lower fees for U.S. ships to transit the Panama Canal, or return its control to the United States.
Why it matters: The U.S. ceded one of the world's most crucial pieces of infrastructure in 1999, and China has become increasingly influential in its operations since.

Catch up quick: Trump, in a lengthy series of Saturday evening posts to Truth Social, said American naval and commercial ships were being treated in an "unfair and injudicious way."
  • Trump blasted past administrations for returning the canal to Panama's control, which he called a "token of cooperation."
  • "If the principles, both moral and legal, of this magnanimous gesture of giving are not followed, then we will demand that the Panama Canal be returned to us, in full, and without question," Trump said.
The other side: Panama's president, Jose Raúl Mulino, posted a video on social media Sunday night rejecting Trump's demands.
  • "The sovereignty and independence of our country are not negotiable," Mulino said.
  • "Our canal has the mission to serve humanity and its commerce," Mulino added. "That is one of the greatest values that the Panamanians offer to the world."
The intrigue: Trump quoted Mulino's response on Truth Social and said "We'll see about that!"
  • He subsequently posted a picture of the American flag flying over the canal and the message "Welcome to the United States Canal!"
Context: Panama granted the U.S. the right to build the canal and control the land on either side in 1904.
  • In 1977 President Jimmy Carter signed a treaty that returned the canal to full Panamanian control by the end of 1999 in exchange for its permanent neutrality.
  • The canal has long been viewed as a tool of colonialism and colonial control. Panama sees the canal today as a key factor in its self -determination and national interest amid a changing global economy.
By the numbers: About 10,000 ships a year transit the canal, though in recent times severe drought has limited capacity and helped push transit rates higher.
  • The International Trade Administration estimates more than 70% of all ships transiting the canal are going to or from a U.S. port.
  • About 2.5% of all global maritime trade passes through the canal, per McKinsey.
Zoom out: China has invested heavily in operations in the Canal Zone in recent years, raising concerns about the zone's neutrality.
  • In 2021 the Center for Strategic and International Studies warned a "key decision point" was coming for U.S. interests in the region, given China's expansion.
  • The U.S. ambassador reportedly cautioned last year about the situation not escalating to where Panama has to choose between the U.S. and China.
What they're saying: Panamanian politicians blasted Trump's statement.
  • "This young Panamanian independent deputy will defend his country with his life if necessary," National Assembly member Manuel Alberto Samaniego Rodriguez posted on X, calling Trump's remarks "regrettable."
Trump, speaking Sunday at the Turning Point Action Conference in Phoenix, Arizona, called Panama's fees "ridiculous" and "highly unfair."
  • "The United States has a big and vested interest in the secure, efficient and reliable operation of the Panama Canal," he said.
  • It's falling into the wrong hands — it was not given for the benefit of others," Trump continued. "It was given with provisions, you have to treat us fairly and you are not treating us fairly."
 
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Doesn't Trump have an Ivy League degree? Pretty sure he does. Big difference between someone being stupid and you not liking him personally or his policies. Follow?
 
Of course the HOUSE does, you can't cut off the farmers .. How many more BILLS are they now going to have to RE-PASS because of Trump?
 
Here’s the best part
Trump accuses Zelensky of starting World War III
Trump withholds support and funding from Ukraine
Europe comes together to increase military support and funding for Ukraine
Vladimir Putin sees this combined effort as a threat to Russia and strikes at other European nations..
Through his actions, Trump started World War III

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HipKat said:
Here’s the best part
Trump accuses Zelensky of starting World War III
Trump withholds support and funding from Ukraine
Europe comes together to increase military support and funding for Ukraine
Vladimir Putin sees this combined effort as a threat to Russia and strikes at other European nations..
Through his actions, Trump started World War III

View attachment 4696
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The Russians destabilized the ottoman empire by convincing the Christians that the sultan was not the only emperor and that there were other emperors in the neighborhood.

Russia is repeating history and no one understands that.
 
herodotus said:
Lets see piss off Canada, piss off the Danes (though I could have sworn I read that Greenland was a sovereign nation state), piss off the Panamanians, get in a dick measuring contest with Chi-eye-na (how the fuck do you get three syllables out of China?) and lose, give Ukraine even more weapons and then probably boots on the ground when his peace plan has absolutely nothing Putin or Zelensky want (boots on the ground become targets, Russia hits those targets, we demand action for the loss of our boys, we hit Russian military bases, they hit our bases, we hit their cities, they hit ours, we send nukes they do too), fuck we're not gonna make it as a species are we? Well, its been a good 300,000 years. . . .
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Politics aside, I’m shocked homosapiens survived in the wild long enough to invent tools and become apex predators.

All I see from humanity now are people who can’t take their face away from their phones less than a few minutes a day. Can’t drive a car because their face is in a phone. Can’t hold a conversation because their face is in their phone. Can’t enjoy a date night at a restaurant because couples sit silently scrolling on their phones without speaking to each other. We’ve become a deeply antisocial people with no ability to focus or simply be present in our daily lives.

Maybe that meteor that’s supposed to hit in a few years will just put our pathetically stupid species out of our misery.

Idiocracy is real and we’re living it in real time.
 
JoeMama said:
Politics aside, I’m shocked homosapiens survived in the wild long enough to invent tools and become apex predators.

All I see from humanity now are people who can’t take their face away from their phones less than a few minutes a day. Can’t drive a car because their face is in a phone. Can’t hold a conversation because their face is in their phone. Can’t enjoy a date night at a restaurant because couples sit silently scrolling on their phones without speaking to each other. We’ve become a deeply antisocial people with no ability to focus or simply be present in our daily lives.

Maybe that meteor that’s supposed to hit in a few years will just put our pathetically stupid species out of our misery.

Idiocracy is real and we’re living it in real time.
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Yep. Phones are the path and Social Media is the Devil
 
JoeMama said:
Politics aside, I’m shocked homosapiens survived in the wild long enough to invent tools and become apex predators.

All I see from humanity now are people who can’t take their face away from their phones less than a few minutes a day. Can’t drive a car because their face is in a phone. Can’t hold a conversation because their face is in their phone. Can’t enjoy a date night at a restaurant because couples sit silently scrolling on their phones without speaking to each other. We’ve become a deeply antisocial people with no ability to focus or simply be present in our daily lives.

Maybe that meteor that’s supposed to hit in a few years will just put our pathetically stupid species out of our misery.

Idiocracy is real and we’re living it in real time.
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Honestly, killing social media and a lot of communicative/entertainment technology would probably be a very good thing. Social media, although a net neutral, has been used to dumb people down and spread bullshit. I don't mean honest ignorance, hey it happens. I mean people post stuff they know damn well is bullshit and it gains traction. Now with AI technology its even more dangerous

In the past few weeks I don't know how many times I have seen "Pope Francis has died." I don't know how many times I have read this ref crew or that has been fired or suspended. Its clearly bullshit but people buy into it. A smart person would start saying this doesn't seem right and look around to see if a story like this is carried by the news media and featured prominently on google and other search engines. An idiot, like POSUS, will repeat the bullshit that a 360 year old person is getting social security checks.

While I fundamentally disagree with Obama's claim that there needs to be a common narrative because lets face it that was a call for censorship, there does need to be more fact checking. People shouldn't get mad if a fact checker calls bullshit when they post an article that says Obama is a Muslim, he adopted his daughters, and Michelle is Michael. They should get a more honest source. I am all for independent media, but simultaneously we should not live in a post truth world.

We can have differences of opinion, but with common facts. You are entitled to your own opinion, but you are not entitled to your own reality.

I say this because the internet and social media spreads lies like crazy and people will eat it up and the stupidity goes viral. It used to be that you could localize and quarantine the stupidity. Rush and Liddy and Chuck Harder, he was the gateway to talk rageo in the early 1990s, and Alex Jones used to say batshit crazy things, but you could turn them off. Now their words are repeated over and over until people are indoctrinated with deception.
 
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