Turning On The Giant Faucet Of Bullshit - US Politics February 2025

lolol

Just don't involve guillotines in your Musk murder jokes, it's bad form.

That Musk tweet about FEMA, “gross insubordination to the president’s executive order,” really needed to be followed by “RESPECT MA AUTHORITAH!”

‪Ryan Goodman‬ ✧@rgood✧✧✧.b✧✧✧.soc✧✧✧‬
·
25m
Judges aren't kidding around.

Federal judge not only just blocked Trump administration's attempt to cut NIH's funding of indirect costs (emergency motion for TRO was earlier today).

The judge has also imposed a reporting requirement to ensure compliance.

A bluesky post

https://bsky.app/profile/rgoodlaw.bsky.social/post/3lhu7q4sbac2g

Notable that it blocks the rule change in plaintiff states only — which is how a judge has to rule in that situation. I'm guessing that means it'll still take effect in red states? Basically, Trump-voting places will still be hurt?

Frankly I'm still reeling from the fact that all the Jan 6 guys got pardoned, even the ones who were convicted of assaulting police officers. All of them. Just out. No conditions of release.

Anyone who doubts that President Donald Trump wants to rule like a strongman should pay attention to the chilling pronouncement made by Vice President JD Vance on Sunday: “Judges aren’t allowed to control the executive’s legitimate power.”

Acting in its constitutional role, the federal judiciary has slowed the blitzkrieg launched by Trump and his field marshal, billionaire Elon Musk, against the federal government and the law. One of the latest roadblocks was erected in the early hours of Saturday morning when U.S. District Judge Paul A. Engelmayer ordered that Musk and his U.S. DOGE Service vandals be locked out of the Treasury Department’s vital payment systems, which are full of sensitive data.

Engelmayer’s emergency order is temporary, pending a court hearing on Feb. 14. The volatile Musk, predictably, raged on his social media platform X that Engelmayer was “a corrupt judge protecting corruption” and “needs to be impeached NOW!” But Vance’s post on X, though calmer in tone, was far more menacing — because it fundamentally challenges the Constitution’s system of checks and balances.

I need to quote Vance in full: “If a judge tried to tell a general how to conduct a military operation, that would be illegal. If a judge tried to command the attorney general in how to use her discretion as a prosecutor, that’s also illegal. Judges aren’t allowed to control the executive’s legitimate power.”

There are two possibilities here. Vance might just be blowing off steam. Or he might be presaging an attempt by the administration to take the unthinkable step of defying federal court orders, which would create an existential constitutional crisis.

we'll find out soon, i suppose

Augustus Caesar (nee Octavian) pioneered the trick of ruling by decree, then having a cowed and supine Roman Senate ratify his actions so as to preserve the appearance of the Republic in the form of a hollowed out shell. The Republican Congress seems eager to play this game with Trump, but because they're incapable of reaching enough agreement to pass any kind of legislation at all, they might miss the post-facto declarations of legality stage entirely.

Vance loves moldbug so we know exactly what he means by it

Vance's use of the word "legitimate" there is such bullshit. If courts aren't the arbiters of what constitutes legitimate executive power, then who is? (Never mind, I know the answer.)

i think they will pick their moment to ignore the federal judge, and it won't be this one. this one is about blocking elon musk, who most people hate, and doge, which will hopefully start pissing people off by name alone soon, from creepily accessing payment systems at the treasury department immediately upon trump's inauguration, like a literal invasion of privacy.

i'm not sure what a winning federal court-ordered issue will be for maga people, but it will be something, and then i think it's likely to get bad. i think that because last time around, a good # of republicans (including very prominent ones like cruz, hawley, etc) showed that they were willing to help with a coup, and not only were none of them punished, but most of the most vocal naysayers (not just liz cheney, blech, but also pence and third way people, blech, et al) are now banished from the party.

for all the shit he gets away with he has a notoriously bad record in court, which should continue to be the case even with conservative judges given how blatantly illegal most of this has been. the real showdown is gonna be what happens once he starts defying those orders. you'd think people would start getting arrested but given his firing of all the people who worked on J6 along with the fact that he let them all out of jail you have to wonder if they're really prepared to do the right thing. fun times ahead!

They’re definitely considering defying the court order but they might chicken out

He clearly will immediately pardon anyone working for him who runs into any legal issues at all. That's among the scary things here, is the blatant empowerment of anyone — cops, militia members, freelance vigilantes — who he perceives as doing dirty work on his behalf. As far as federal charges go, they all have get-out-of-jail-free passes.

Fortunately, a lot of the worst things they can do are also illegal under state and local laws, which will just depend on which jurisdiction they happen in.

I kinda wonder when the 'business community' (whatever that is) will start to step in here.. sure, they love deregulation etc but they also crave calm stability and none of this shit is heading in that direction

Maybe they don’t want stability. Shock Doctrine and all that

well I think the tariff shit invites an unwanted instability

It's pretty clear that the people who created Project 2025 were mostly focused on how to reshape the government to suit their radical right agenda. They seem to have no real plan to deal with the political fallout from rapidly imposing that agenda on the nation and world or else simply believed that such political considerations could safely be ignored. This assumption is going to be tested by political reality. I'm hoping for a severe public backlash demanding accountability, especially protests directed to (or at) members of Congress.

especially protests directed to (or at) members of Congress

saw an article today about GOP legislators terrified of Musk-funded primary challenges if they fall out of step

They seem to have no real plan to deal with the political fallout from rapidly imposing that agenda on the nation and world

Oh they have plans. The plans are to wait for widespread public outrage and protest, declare a state of emergency and institute martial law. Not nationwide, you can't feasibly do that and wouldn't need to. They'll focus on big cities in blue states, and especially obviously on D.C.

If Trump actually followed through and pardoned Derek Chauvin — as Jack Posobiec has promised he will — that might be all the trigger they need.

I'm not saying that will turn out well for them, but I think they do have a plan.

xp - Oh gosh! If I act to save the nation from catastrophe I might lose this cushy job! I am petrified by uncontrollable fear at the very idea.

Chauvin is serving his federal sentence concurrently with his state sentence, so a Trump pardon would have little practical effect fortunately.

Yah, good point.

There is a non-zero chance that Elon Musk will be murdered this year.

I wonder if Elon has stopped venturing above the ground floor? I know DC has height restrictions but there’s plenty of balconies.

(As up to date as this form of wishing ill is, ‘Mr loose balcony railing’ will never make as good a badge as ‘Mr Choppy’)

Maybe they could have a fruitful visit to Gaza …

I wonder if Elon has stopped venturing above the ground floor? I know DC has height restrictions but there’s plenty of balconies.

Musk is far more likely to be Luigi'd than Putin'd.

he probably has a small army of Rhodesian mercenaries surrounding him at any given moment

Doge Boyz double as human shields

The South Africa shit is so fucked up. Collective amnesia is real

Trump said Spain was the S in BRICS and I thought he was a dumbass but I guess he was just being a purposeful dick

Musk is far more likely to be Luigi'd than Putin'd

Poutined

By Canadian assassins

Eh-sassins

Musk is far more likely to be Luigi'd than Putin'd.

Don't forget this is why he's suddenly been carting his poor hid everywhere sitting on his shoulders.

hid = kid typo

Ugh, polls still show some support for Trump (and among Republicans even higher support for him than in 2017)

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/polls-early-days-trump-second-term-politics-desk-rcna191561

I know it’s hardly even worth pointing out at this point, but Jesus this Eric Adams thing is just brazenly corrupt.

this is Vance's plan, not P25

https://i.imgur.com/csIX4g4.jpeg

xps to tipsy

Curtis Yarvin's moment to shine.

We're doomed. Elie Mystal, courts reporter for the Nation article "The Courts Can't Stop the Trump Musk Coup" excerpts

I’m not even sure the people who think the courts will save us have fully considered what “saving” will look like should it come from the Republican-controlled Supreme Court. It’ll be like being dragged out of a fire by a very hungry wolf. As a person who has read these people all of my adult life, please believe me when I tell you that, if the Federalist Society judges strike down some of these Trump executive orders, you’re not going to like how they do it...

I’m not saying that the courts do not matter. As I said, some good decisions will squeak through. Some lives might be spared. I also cover the courts, and I have to believe that such coverage still serves some purposes in our rapidly declining civilization. A ruling against Trump could help to spur public opinion against his actions. A ruling against Trump that Trump ignores could help to break the media out of its Trump-induced stupor. The lawsuits are necessary; the TROs are necessary—literally any shred of resistance against anything Trump is doing is necessary.

But the courts will not save us. Even a friendly court is not designed to save democracy from a democratically elected president, and most courts are not our friends to begin with. The American people gave Trump and Musk the power they now lord over us. (Even though I’m aware that nobody voted for Musk, everybody who voted for Trump knew or should have known that they were handing the keys to all of our data to a billionaire white South African with an apartheid complex). Only the American people can take that power away.

Trump’s approval rating is as high as it’s ever been. Musk’s is worse, but his allowing Musk to run roughshod over the very concept of government does not appear to be negatively affecting the public perception of Trump. As long as this remains the case, Trump’s Republicans will continue to lick his boots. Democrats will continue to react with timidity and fear instead of resolve and determination. As long as the public approves of what Trump is doing, he will keep doing it. He will most likely keep doing it even should the public disapprove, but that will be a different problem.

A court order cannot enforce itself. It cannot change a mind. It cannot make white folks less racist. It cannot recapture things that have been lost, or stolen. The only thing that can save us is us.

https://www.thenation.com/article/politics/courts-cant-stop-the-trump-musk-coup/

When do Americans start rioting in the streets?

They don't they're politely waiting outside

When their team wins the Superbowl

But excepting citizens who are at home reading a book and having lots of sex

where's that black bloc when you need them? they are probably all still plotting their next move against the WTO.

truly remarkable that Trump's approval rating remains the same despite the fact that every single move he's made is massively unpopular and he's ceded total control to one of the most disliked people on the planet. either his voters have no clue what's going on or they straight up don't care. sure feels like the growing sentiment in America is "this country ain't worth saving"

Depending on whom you believe, it's no big deal, a good thing actually, or 1930s Germany.

The not-terminally-online might hear all this conclude that those messages cancel out, and the thing to do is proceed as normal.

And frankly, even for people who are decently well-informed and therefore terrified? There's still no way to know what will happen or what they can do about it.

And it nets to the same thing: they still have to rotate the laundry, empty the litter box, pack the kids' lunches. Focus on what is right in front of them.

I'm not at all surprised about Trump's approval rating: it's followed the usual patterns. IF we get to 2028 it'll be in the 30s again.

Sarahell, I want the rich and powerful to be executed. that is what the guillotine represents in the public imaginary, despite its historical inaccuracy ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

I'm not at all surprised about Trump's approval rating: it's followed the usual patterns. IF we get to 2028 it'll be in the 30s again.

― the talented mr pimply (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, February 11, 2025 8:50 AM (four minutes ago)

yeah people voted for "change" and they're getting it

In the UK people voted for "change" (literally that word was the slogan). All they've gotten is much of the same and that's why the current govt is already tanking in the polls.