2024 OT Election Day Thread: Donald Trump elected POTUS, GOP wins Senate and House of Representatives

I don't know. For me, there's some serious irony in flipping nations over to Russia - a country where Putin critics end up in Siberia or dead on the concrete under their balcony - in the name of free speech. In fact, I imagine JD Vance's balls would be retreating up into his pelvis at the thought of pulling that shit in, say, Russia, Turkey or China.

It's not lost on the public that his speech came almost immediately after his public scolding of EU nations for daring to set out their own regulatory safety framework on AI, and right amid US-Russian negotiations on the future of Ukraine and NATO.

It's an economic move and an open threat: Buy our arms and services, entirely on our terms, or else. That's the free market values this US administration looks to be pushing. Transactional authoritarianism - is that what it's called?

Question is, why burn all that global diplomatic cache right now? I mean, it's not something you easily recover from by playing the electoral anomaly card a couple of years down the line. It feels a bit desperate, and I don't fully understand it.

Much like his first administration's infrastructure plan, healthcare plan, border wall, Covid handling, and positive tariffs - this half baked plan will also fail.

All we can hope is the blowback isn't too bad. Same for these insane tariffs and threats to Canada, Denmark, and Greenland.

Does this count towards your values?

White House barring AP from press events violates the First Amendment | The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression

Federal Workers Told to Remove Pronouns From Email Signatures After Trump Order - The New York Times

'Abortion' search results scrubbed on Trump's HHS.gov : Shots - Health News : NPR

Health data, entire pages wiped from federal websites as Trump officials target 'gender ideology' | AP News

Going to guess you're gonna' to sit this one out.

This just gets worse and worse.

For the sake of Ukraine and Europe, hope this is fabricated.

@uninspiredcup: I'm confused as to why Trump has any say in this TBH. Ukraine is the country that matters. You cannot make a deal without them.

America by far has the most power and Europe is reliant on them. Ukraine is dependent on America.

He is, or rather attempting to exploit them marching in dictating terms.

Zelenskyy rejected him regardless. From the jist of it. I think they assumed Ukraine would be in such a dire state, and Zelenskyy puppet like figure they made him out to be that he would simply dribble from the mouth and allow them to take strip Ukraine of whatever potential wealth it still has.

He's now straight up said he will reject any deal made with Russia/US going over his head and not even take it into account.

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/16/us/politics/ukraine-zelensky-trump-russia.html

Stuff has apparently leaked as well.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/revealed-trump-confidential-plan-put-160000461.html

Apparently they gave him an hour to sign the document or he wouldn't get to meet JD Vance. Then altered it when rejected them anyways.

They appear to have backtracked on this as well, along with EU being locked out.

Not too keen on how Starmer is jumping up and down for Trump, he's coming across as a limp dick.

I think Trump and his bell ends are starting to catch on Zelenskyy is much more savvy than they were expecting.

So i've sat and watched this version.

1. The first example being Nazis promoting, glorifying and distribution Nazism imagery which seems to include physical media in a country it specifically sprouted from.

2. Using false quotes to create racial hatred (itself should technically be suable as well)

From the entirety of watching this, "penis" is the only thing that equated to ridiculous.

Wishing social media platforms to curb hate speech, much of it now not even people but troll farms or false accounts is perfectly valid and a huge problem. Twitter, X is factually the largest promoter of misinformation and hate speech on planet earth, and has directly facilitated Russia and far-right groups.

Even here, this forum, or really, any barring the likes of 4chan, if either me or you started posting pictures sharing our genuine (because context is important) love of Nazis, or adopted bots/troll farms to promote far right agendas we would be rightfully booted out the door in 5 seconds.

Would you agree, or disagree with that assessment? Or is it litterally 1984? The answer is very obvious.

JD Vance speech itself was exactly that, as pointed out, misinformation, when fact checked, false. He is a result of this, and wants this type of misinformation and far right agenda to flourish as this is what maga itself is predicated on, and why is it much reviled.

It specifically serves both Elon Musk, Trump and maga, not to mention Russia and China that misinformation and the far right flourishes.

It is absolutely no coincide the far right across multiple countries in Europe runs at Russia with open arms.

They are a threat. Pure and simple.

Russia wants them in power because they are pliable. You, are pliable. We are seeing the results of this right now.

That is a result of exactly what they are attempting to tackle. And given Trumps victory, and the rise of the far right, Russian and Chinese troll farms, they still if anything, aren't doing enough.

So yea, 13 odd minutes, a man got upset at the word "penis", this is now more of a threat to Europe than Russia. Let's refocus on that.

See, posted exactly today.

https://x.com/I_amMukhtar/status/1891576950088438184

He wants racial incitement. Does this in a loop and doesn't want it challenged.

Attempting to meddle with UK politics to get the far right in power using Twitter as a means to inflame racial hatred.

The agreement Trump attempted to coerce Zelensk into leaked..

They should actually go with China even though they are snakes. What they attempted to propose here was beyond shocking.

https://x.com/clarenafo/status/1891542306009817089

https://x.com/JayinKyiv/status/1891535176167018643

Yeah, but that's a losing game either way unless the rest of Europe gets their act together.

If Zelenskyy rejects Trump's "piece" deal, Trump will cut funding and watch his dear friend Putin continue to rape and murder Ukrainians.

If Zelenskyy accepts the deal, the US will bleed out Ukraine, and frankly a snake like Trump would absolutely pull support on a whim and let Putin murder everyone anyway.

I guess rejecting the deal is the right course of action, but they still need to get Europe to give a show of force and tell Putin and Trump to go screw themselves.

You are of course, correct. Europe put ourselves in this position through complacency.

The leaders can gather in fancy rooms and give grandiose speeches, but the fact is, we (and in them), put themselves in this position.

I've tried reading over that document, but not very intelligent when it comes to legal jargon stuff, perhaps someone less basic bitch checking it can get a better idea.

But from what I understand, Putin gets everything he wants, Ukriane not only pays them back, but basically acts as slavery for them, acting as a free money pit while in a state of complete disaster, and disturbingly on top of that (because America has it's own affairs), we, as in my country, are boots on ground, ready to die, not Americans, to protect Donald F Trumps, rape of a country?

From what they are saying as well, they basically flashed that in front of him and trying to force him to sign it within a few hours.

Nobel Peace Prize? That's the kind of shit people will look back on for generations are America's great shame.

So, putting aside Trump for a moment. Anyone read up on a recent lawsuit Rupert Murdoch had with his other kids over his blatant favortism for Lachlan with his Succession? He lost it. Once he croaks, there's no way his media empire would be the same.

(Hell, I noticed WSJ has had more guts in criticizing Trump than Fox News does).

"Drain the Swamp!"

Allegedly, FDA staff reviewing Neuralink (owned by Elon Musk) were included in the DOGE firings.

https://www.reuters.com/world/us/fda-staff-reviewing-musks-neuralink-were-included-doge-employee-firings-sources-2025-02-17/

Russian media's first reports from the US-Russia negotiations. The TLDR is: it's all the US fault, Russia is blameless, US were hit by sanctions much harder than

Russia. Biden's policy has undermined confidence in the dollar, while sanctions have helped Russia become more independent.

Dialogue with the new US administration allows us to tell the truth – the policy to contain Russia has failed.

Many American companies have lost their position in the Russian market and their future approaches.

Progress in Russia-US negotiations is possible in the next 2-3 months.

Russia and the US need to move to joint projects, including in the Arctic.

Also from your source:

"Both sources said they did not believe the employees were specifically targeted because of their work on Neuralink's applications."

...

"Similar to other government agencies, the cuts affected scientists reviewing medical device applications who were probationary, one of the sources said. Probationary employees typically have less than one year or in some cases less than two years of service and have fewer legal protections."

While I am glad you read it. It doesnt actually refute anything I said.

The last thing you would want for something like this is any form of lowered regulation. Medicine relies on rigorous standards and regulations.

This move will enrich the worst parts of big pharma, lobbyists and other special interests groups, musk himself has faced multiple regulatory challenges. AKA, the Swamp.

Edit: Made it more clear what I was referring to by Swamp.

Have to say, I was not expecting that.

That's billion, not million.

If reading this correctly, this far exceeds what America has given of $175 billion. (Trump amplifying the number to exploit Ukraine)

The problem is how is it used, and how quickly. While EU doesn't have a force like America, the money here, far outstrips Russia.

According to Aria, that is 40% of all, Russia GDP.

This could potentially give orange man as well what he craves and really, only cares about, lots of money.

We'll see if the EU is still full of hot air.

The EU may provide Ukraine with a €700 billion aid package The European Union is preparing a massive aid package to fund military equipment for Ukraine. German Foreign Minister

Annalena Baerbock revealed the scale of this initiative, stating that the amount could reach around.

I have a lot of critiques of my current government.

But the right wing coalition ramping up support for Ukraine is one ofthe few things I can praise it for. They also EVENTUALLY joined NATO.

@uninspiredcup: About time.

@bigballs: @uninspiredcup: Do you think JD Vance is going to call out Meloni by name for her repeated "attacks on free speech?" Or maybe Orban?

It would be good to get some clarification, because his recent moves are giving Europeans the impression that his administration is looking to populists over here for answers to this apparent EU crisis of freedom. I mean, they've sure as hell been batting for Trump.

I mean, come on... Does anyone seriously believe Trump cares about freedom of speech?

Context.

@sancho_panzer: Honestly this stuff is misc to me.

If someone is meaningfully implying you're a racist and a Nazi in a public place, should you be persecuted by law? I donno, civil case or something, sue them. *shrug*

Not litterally 1984, someone was abit cringe.

Meanwhile Trump is trying anally fist an already traumatized Ukraine into become a perpetual slave colony which is some of the most actual offensive shit seen a human being attempt to do, and could actually happen.

A country paying WW1 level war reparations for the crime of being invaded.

This is the golden age of America, is it?

Hm... maybe.

There's use of four-letter-words in public places, which I guess could be filed under public indecency or breach of peace laws in some countries - you know, stuff you wouldn't want your kids to hear, and then there's questions over freedom of discussing political alignment, which sounds like something else entirely. Stands to reason you should be able to describe some parties as fascist, or whatever, no?

Yeah, Trump is literally rewarding Putin diplomatically for his invasion of Ukraine. He's declaring this some grand detente by the look of things, while kicking America's long term allies to the curb. What an example to set.

I guess it's all context.

You reminded me of this, which is had me laughing on the floor, it's the most stupid shit.

Even the police officer can see him just pissing himself behind his mask at how dumb this shit is.

Though with context, if it was like kids, yea, you probably would take it as going from misc to something far more offensive and disrespectful, see kids all the time picking up stuff from adults, bad parents normalizing crude speech, least want is some stanger exposing it to them regardless if it's legally allowed.

@uninspiredcup: Any chance of a summary? It's a long video.

I think defamation's treated as a crime, rather than a civil tort, in Italy. Kinda' like that 1871 insult law, in Germany.

To be honest, it's not really the point I'm making. Cultures have their quirks. It's about the silliness of supporting Russian aligned populist parties as some kind of answer to an imaginary ideological divide over free speech.

He said repeatedly they could be Russia, or he could economically rape them.

The number he is using, by default, is massively inflated from the original number.

On top of that, forever. America take half of all it's resources, including any to rebuild Ukraine, take and hold all it's money, under their control, have first rights on all it's resources, and still not offer protection.

So to be clear what you are defending here is -

1. Russia will murder you, rape, kill, torture. You will cease to exist.

Or

2. You will forever be in debt, as our slaves, with endless money, half of your country, forever.

Alongside

3. Russia gets everything

And you are sitting your keyboard here, defending this. With 0 semblance of how you are coming across to me, which I cannot say (my rights!) because it probably would get me banned, needless to say, it is something.

I mean, this isn't surprising that you would defend this. But it stills makes me want to throw up.

Some random guy flips him off, he goes to complain about it thinking it's a police officer.

The guy comes back, they start having a verbal battle. People at the window shout down, the police come out.

He shows him THE EVIDENCE! of being flipped off, the police is standing their giggling behind his mask, the old guy starts rambling about his rights and being filmed, the police are dealing with them like little children to sort it out. He walks away.

It's stupid and slightly bizarre.

@bigballs: Here's a historian breaking it down abit better than I ever could to show just what a disgusting piece of crap you lot have aligned yourself with. And what America has become.

https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/trump-ukraine-reparations-minerals-colony-james-holland-b2700205.html

Ukraine cannot afford to let Donald Trump near its precious natural resources

Donald Trump’s demand for $500 billion in Ukrainian rare earth minerals as payback for military support during the war with Russia is unprecedented, says historian James Holland – more egregious even than the deal brokered 80 years ago to punish a defeated Germany

here has been much talk in recent days of the Yalta Conference, 80 years ago this month, when Britain and the United States allowed Stalin to carve up the soon-to-be-defeated Germany and realign post-war borders in his favour.

We’re talking about it again as something similar appears to be happening now in Europe, as the fate of Ukraine rests in the hands of the US and Russia.

It’s at times like this that an understanding of history is vital: it is the compass that helps guide us to the present and also prepare for the future. But it is also important to understand that history does not repeat itself. It cannot, because that was then and this is now, and the world is forever moving.

However, patterns of human behaviour are repeated; it’s a vital distinction. And one such pattern is this: that after extreme economic crises, political upheaval tends to follow.

The Nazis came into being because of the catastrophic end of the First World War and the treaty that followed but, by the late 1920s, were a political insignificance; they came to power in 1933 because of the Wall Street Crash. Thereafter, American loans dried up, Germany fell into depression, and this triggered the collapse of the democratic Weimar Republic. When current politics fails, something more radical fills the void.

Fast-forward to the 21st century, and we in the west have faced the crash of 2008 followed by the economic catastrophe of the pandemic. The consequence – surprise, surprise – is political upheaval, the march of populism, and the second coming of Donald Trump.

If reports are correct, the US president is in the mood to invite Ukraine to pay for the financial and military support it has received, by affording Washington access to its vast rare earth minerals, while also granting greater access to its ports, infrastructure, oil and gas reserves.

What has been dubbed the “$500 billion payback” would turn Ukraine into a de facto US colony. As peace settlements go, it would be unheard of.

One can argue over the morality of such carve-ups. At Yalta, in February 1945, prime minister Winston Churchill accepted that, after the war, there would be post-war Soviet influence in eastern Europe, and that the USSR would keep the eastern third of Poland it had taken in 1939; Poland would be compensated by extending westwards into what had been Prussia.

The Soviet Union went on to break the agreement shortly afterwards, by imposing communist regimes. But, at the time, President Roosevelt was ill and two months from death and Churchill was negotiating from a position of weakness; he was effectively powerless, after six years of bankrupting war, to squeeze any more concessions for Eastern Europe.

President Trump and his acolytes are in no such position. The United States remains the most powerful country in the world, with the overall strongest military. They are not at war, and Ukraine has not been entirely dissolved. Rather, after three years of war, 80 per cent of Ukraine remains free and democratic.

Nor do the Western allies of Nato, including the United States, have their hands tied at the negotiating table. Rather, they have the power and collective military might to crush Russia should they so choose.

Rather, what Trump & Co are doing now is entirely unprecedented and, I would argue, more craven and egregious than either Munich – the 1938 agreement that permitted Nazi Germany’s annexation of the Sudetenland – or Yalta. This move, though, is in keeping with his entirely transactional approach to politics.

Nations, though, are not commercial property deals, and diplomacy requires nuance, intelligence, deep knowledge, delicacy and, for those involved on the side of democracy to have feelings, empathy and compassion for the people they are honour-bound to negotiate for.

Trump has none of these attributes. He has only grift. Like Putin, and like Stalin before him, he cares not a jot for the lives already lost, for the people of Ukraine, or for his allies in Europe.

@uninspiredcup: Lol. I do like a good "Oh FFS" chuckle, so I'll have a look a bit later.

It's a toss-up in police videos, isn't it. Sometimes you root for the policeman, when the guy's a real twat, sometimes that's flipped - letter of the law be damned. I get the feeling a lot of people feel that way.

We all know this isn't just about this one conflict (and let's call a spade a spade - it's an invasion). Europe, including especially Ukraine, is justified in worrying that any deal reached is going to amount to frozen conflict (a break for Russia to catch its breath and regroup). A meaningful solution, which fosters long-term trust, would need to include European leaders - again, especially Ukraine -with all cards on the table.

What concessions are expected of the invading country? What are the penalties? So far, I've heard none. These negotiations, regardless of what Washington's intentions might be, look an awful lot like lunchtime for two at a posh carvery. You see that.

The part that's really mind-blowing, though, is the chastising, the menaces and the threats towards Ukraine and Europe - like it's only the US which has suffered through this invasion - while Russia is complimented to high hell over the size of its dick and the potential for future cooperation.

WTF are we doing? How did we reach this point? So much squandered for so little gain.

@bigballs: The problem was the response of the rest of the world, yes. You don't invade a sovereign nation unprovoked. We were lazy and more or less shrugged the invasion off for years.

Why should Ukraine have guaranteed it would never join NATO? Clearly because Russia had designs on its land. This wasn't the first annexation attempt. How was (and would now be) Russia under real threat from NATO's proximity? We'd be in exactly the same situation a short while after, under that guarantee, but with an emboldened Russia under the predetermined conclusion that Ukraine definitely wasn't joining NATO.

It gets worse.

He suggests the idea is to replace Zelensky with a pro-Putin puppet.

Completely abandon Nato

Favor Russia, perhaps even a soft alliance.

This is pure theory on his end. And their is slight glimmer in that he mentioned behind the scenes, not everyone, even Republicans share this view. Saying they are furious behind the scenes.

He also suggests it won't be 4 years, but sooner he will attempt to take Ukraine assuming Trump doesn't turn them into his personal forever slaves.

This is disturbing. I hope all this is just fantasy on his end. Worst potential outcomes.

Yes, he has straight up said America is planning to partner with Russia, who just (and is) committed atrocities that could fill a bible.

https://x.com/astraiaintel/status/1891904446441062617

Just checking, how far of the golden age are we in?

@uninspiredcup: Maybe he tried to say "golden shower age"?

So, I just want to point something out here.

Ignoring the fact the first thing Trump did was attempt to turn Ukraine into slaves, give Russia everything, cut everyone out, including Ukraine, and just attempted to make an alliance with a gangster state that has done horrific things... and will likely just use this to rebuild...

You were, roughly, one page ago, complaining about Europe, JD Vance, complaining about Europe being some kind of anti-freedom of speech, 1984 thing (that was made up)...

You are now cheering Russia. Trump favors them, and most likely maga will be cheering for them as the great new ally.

Now, google them.

If that language upsets you, that's because it's exactly what it is. And what he attempted to do.

Also have just completely ignoring what I said, which again doesn't surprise me in the slightest.

And if you think Russia is suddenly your buddy and they've just given up on Ukriane because you had a 2 minute conversion with them to potentially giving them economic relief, you're deluded.

If the United States cuts funding, do you think Europe will cover the difference? Nothing is stopping those nations from dramatically upping what it is giving to Ukraine.

Europe hasn't balled up in decades.

MULTIPLE european nations already pay more of their relative GDP to aid Ukraine than to the US. But I still wish the EU would do more. It would be better to invest in defending ukraine as opposed to random policies to help inefficient farming programs.

https://www.statista.com/statistics/1303450/bilateral-aid-to-ukraine-in-a-percent-of-donor-gdp/

It's crazy how much America has descended in about a month and bit.

Genuinely worried about the future.

More so Trump than Putin at this point

If Trump dies because of old age, do you think the Republicans would lose all their support?

I think Trump is losing them support now. The maga base is very small. They will follow Trump no matter what. But the rest of the country is against his actions now.