Civil War: MAGA in Turmoil
- Thread starter Shaquille Oatmeal
- Start date
Trumputin lays bare his contempt for Europe in blistering new national security plan
This is so incoherent.
If Trump wants to no longer prioritize Europe or its security, why not just announce that a) He will pull the US out of NATO and b) Remove all US military bases from around the world?
He keeps the US in these agreements and these pre-existing structures but also says that the US won't be the policeman of the world.
And then what does Europe's "civilizational erasure" aka Great Replacement conspiracy theory have anything at all to do with US national security?
I guess this one was written by Stephen Miller too.
He has no idea what he's doing. This is Miller and the rest of the clowns making assinine decisions.
Few excerpts from the American National Security Strategy aka Stephen Miller and co's mini-"Mein Kampf". lmfao.
Yup, the past where they had slavery and Jim Crow.
Nazi eugenics and family policy ring a bell anyone?
Aka, white nationalism.
Aka obsess over race, gender and sexual orientation and replace minorities with whites.
Aka the great replacement conspiracy theory.
Inside Trump’s day of ego boosting as crises loom over White House
Donald Trump grinned from ear to ear as he took the gold medal that had been offered to him and placed it around his own neck.
He had finally claimed his peace prize.
Not the Nobel Peace Prize, mind you. Trump didn’t win that one this year, despite openly campaigning for it since returning to power ten months ago and embarking on a non-stop series of peace overtures meant to bring about the end to long-running, if obscure, world conflicts.
Instead, he had strode onto the stage at the Kennedy Center Opera House to accept an entirely new honor that had been made up by the head of the world soccer governing body after he was snubbed by the Swedish Nobel Committee in favor of Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado.
It was the FIFA Peace Prize, which the international football association had never awarded in its 121-year history, that Trump was there to accept at the start of a star-studded ceremony to determine the draw for the quadrennial tournament, which the U.S. will jointly host with Canada and Mexico next year.
Donald Trump on stage with Gianni Infantino at the World Cup draw (Getty Images)
Infantino, who has become an inexplicably constant presence in the Oval Office over the last ten months, praised Trump as “a dynamic leader who has engaged in diplomatic efforts that created opportunities for dialogue de-escalation and stability” before awarding him the large gold trophy and the gold medal he now wore proudly as he basked in applause from the crowd of football-related bigwigs.
Trump then participated in an ersatz draw ceremony alongside Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney and Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum, with whom he was later seen laughing and clapping in the presidential box as the draw continued in earnest.
Your correspondent, who was there to witness the goings-on in Washington as The Independent took its’ turn in the White House press pool rotation, packed up and joined colleagues from Agence France-Presse, NPR and other outlets as we made our way down to the first level of the Kennedy Center building to head back to the White House, where the president was set to resume his day, presumably attending to matters of state.
But it was not to be.
Instead, we were informed that Trump was having a good time and wanted to stay longer.
And stay he did.
He returned to the presidential box in the Opera House, where he, Carney and Sheinbaum took in the splendid scene of the FIFA World Cup draw hosted by Kevin Hart and Heidi Klum.
Donald Trump holds a medal as he receives the FIFA Peace Prize (AFP/Getty)
He watched as ex-British footballer Rio Ferdinand, ex-hockey great Wayne Gretzky, basketball icon turned ubiquitous pitchman Shaquille O’Neal and baseball star Aaron Judge — plus former NFL quarterback Tom Brady — drew balls with little pieces of paper in them to set the field for next year’s tournament.
And all eyes were on Trump several hours later as the ceremonies wrapped with a performance by one of his faves, The Village People, whose iconic gay anthem YMCA has been the traditional closing song at Trump events since a series of rallies he held to drum up support for his effort to remain in office after losing the 2020 election.
The leader of the free world, a consummate entertainer, gave the people what they had come to see by engaging in his signature awkward arm-pumping dance.
It was an exciting day out for the 79-year-old chief executive, who has appeared to fall asleep during multiple White House events in recent weeks, after he’d started his day on Friday with an intelligence briefing, no doubt heavy with details on the unauthorized war his administration has been levying against so-called “narcoterrorists” on the high seas over the last three months.
It’s a weighty matter, in no small part because of the sprawling controversy enveloping his hand-picked Pentagon boss, ex-Fox News weekend presenter Pete Hegseth, who reportedly ordered American forces to fire upon the capsized hulk of what was once a speedboat before a U.S.-made missile exploded upon impact after being fired from a drone operated by the Joint Special Operations Command on September 2.
Donald Trump dances as Village People perform during the FIFA World Cup 2026 draw (Pool via REUTERS)
The second missile hit, which reportedly killed two survivors of the first missile hit who were clinging to their wrecked vessel in hopes of avoiding a grisly death by drowning, appeared to violate prohibitions against firing upon the shipwrecked that date back more than a century, and are explicitly spelled out in Pentagon manuals that instruct service members on how to comport themselves during combat.
Members of Congress are clamoring for Hegseth to testify before the House and Senate armed services committees, and at least one Republican member, a former Air Force general, is calling for his head.
But whatever the content of his highly-classified briefing, Trump didn’t spend his day wrestling with such things. Instead, he boarded his armored limousine for a five-minute ride to the iconic arts center on the banks of the Potomac River, where he had named himself chairman of the center’s board upon his return to the presidency.
Hours later, as the ceremonies approached their end, your correspondent and his colleagues were then ushered back to the lobby and to the bespoke media vans used to ferry the “press pool” about Washington when the president leaves the White House.
It had been expected that Trump would then return to the White House to resume his official duties after a brief trilateral meeting with Carney and Sheinbaum, presumably to discuss plans for their joint hosting effort.
But it was not to be.
Instead, we sat. And waited. And waited some more.
Was Trump attending to one of the many crises enveloping his administration?
Could he be discussing with aides the problem posed by the underfire Secretary of Defense?
Gianni Infantino, President of FIFA, presents the FIFA Peace Prize for U.S. President Donald Trump (Getty Images)
Was he wrestling over how the Republican Speaker of the House is losing support from members of his razor-thin majority, some of whom are predicting that the GOP could have to cede control of the chamber long before next year’s midterm elections?
Or, on the heels of receiving the made-up FIFA Peace Prize, was he huddling with advisors to address indications that Russia has no interest in seeking a peace deal with Ukraine despite his months-long efforts to force Kyiv to accept a one-sided pro-Moscow settlement?
Perhaps he was consulting with his political team to address why his approval ratings — and those of his party — have never been lower as Americans continue to grapple with high prices as a result of the sweeping tariffs he has imposed by fiat on most of the country’s trading partners.
A reasonable observer of American politics might assume that with just ten months gone in his second term, Donald Trump would have spent the next few hours hard at work on addressing the pressing political and geopolitical problems with which voters entrusted him when they returned him to power despite multiple criminal indictments against him — to say nothing of the riot he fomented after losing the 2020 election.
Surprisingly — or not, depending on who you ask — such an assumption would be dead wrong.
After two and a half hours of sitting in a van outside the Kennedy Center, your correspondent inquired with White House officials as to what pressing affairs of state were keeping Donald J. Trump from returning to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.
After a brief interval, the official responded with an answer.
The president, they said, was “looking at Kennedy Center improvements” with Ric Grenell, the former U.S. Ambassador to Germany and acting Director of National Intelligence who serves both as Trump’s “Special Presidential Envoy for Special Missions” and the Kennedy Center’s interim president.
Trump had boasted to the press pool hours earlier about the “really great renovation” that had been done on the iconic building since his hostile takeover of it ten months earlier. He wanted to see more of it.
Approximately 20 minutes later, the motorcade stirred as Trump returned to his armored limousine for the short trip back to the White House.
He went directly to the Oval Office, where your correspondent spotted his personal attorney, Boris Ephsteyn, waiting for him.
After all, there was a single executive order to sign and other matters to discuss.
And just a few hours until Bocelli would sing for him and his guests once more.
For the leader of the free world, the play — with some work squeezed in — never ends.
Donald Trump grinned from ear to ear as he took the gold medal that had been offered to him and placed it around his own neck.
He had finally claimed his peace prize.
Not the Nobel Peace Prize, mind you. Trump didn’t win that one this year, despite openly campaigning for it since returning to power ten months ago and embarking on a non-stop series of peace overtures meant to bring about the end to long-running, if obscure, world conflicts.
Instead, he had strode onto the stage at the Kennedy Center Opera House to accept an entirely new honor that had been made up by the head of the world soccer governing body after he was snubbed by the Swedish Nobel Committee in favor of Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado.
It was the FIFA Peace Prize, which the international football association had never awarded in its 121-year history, that Trump was there to accept at the start of a star-studded ceremony to determine the draw for the quadrennial tournament, which the U.S. will jointly host with Canada and Mexico next year.
Donald Trump on stage with Gianni Infantino at the World Cup draw (Getty Images)
Infantino, who has become an inexplicably constant presence in the Oval Office over the last ten months, praised Trump as “a dynamic leader who has engaged in diplomatic efforts that created opportunities for dialogue de-escalation and stability” before awarding him the large gold trophy and the gold medal he now wore proudly as he basked in applause from the crowd of football-related bigwigs.
Trump then participated in an ersatz draw ceremony alongside Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney and Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum, with whom he was later seen laughing and clapping in the presidential box as the draw continued in earnest.
Your correspondent, who was there to witness the goings-on in Washington as The Independent took its’ turn in the White House press pool rotation, packed up and joined colleagues from Agence France-Presse, NPR and other outlets as we made our way down to the first level of the Kennedy Center building to head back to the White House, where the president was set to resume his day, presumably attending to matters of state.
But it was not to be.
Instead, we were informed that Trump was having a good time and wanted to stay longer.
And stay he did.
He returned to the presidential box in the Opera House, where he, Carney and Sheinbaum took in the splendid scene of the FIFA World Cup draw hosted by Kevin Hart and Heidi Klum.
Donald Trump holds a medal as he receives the FIFA Peace Prize (AFP/Getty)
He watched as ex-British footballer Rio Ferdinand, ex-hockey great Wayne Gretzky, basketball icon turned ubiquitous pitchman Shaquille O’Neal and baseball star Aaron Judge — plus former NFL quarterback Tom Brady — drew balls with little pieces of paper in them to set the field for next year’s tournament.
And all eyes were on Trump several hours later as the ceremonies wrapped with a performance by one of his faves, The Village People, whose iconic gay anthem YMCA has been the traditional closing song at Trump events since a series of rallies he held to drum up support for his effort to remain in office after losing the 2020 election.
The leader of the free world, a consummate entertainer, gave the people what they had come to see by engaging in his signature awkward arm-pumping dance.
It was an exciting day out for the 79-year-old chief executive, who has appeared to fall asleep during multiple White House events in recent weeks, after he’d started his day on Friday with an intelligence briefing, no doubt heavy with details on the unauthorized war his administration has been levying against so-called “narcoterrorists” on the high seas over the last three months.
It’s a weighty matter, in no small part because of the sprawling controversy enveloping his hand-picked Pentagon boss, ex-Fox News weekend presenter Pete Hegseth, who reportedly ordered American forces to fire upon the capsized hulk of what was once a speedboat before a U.S.-made missile exploded upon impact after being fired from a drone operated by the Joint Special Operations Command on September 2.
Donald Trump dances as Village People perform during the FIFA World Cup 2026 draw (Pool via REUTERS)
The second missile hit, which reportedly killed two survivors of the first missile hit who were clinging to their wrecked vessel in hopes of avoiding a grisly death by drowning, appeared to violate prohibitions against firing upon the shipwrecked that date back more than a century, and are explicitly spelled out in Pentagon manuals that instruct service members on how to comport themselves during combat.
Members of Congress are clamoring for Hegseth to testify before the House and Senate armed services committees, and at least one Republican member, a former Air Force general, is calling for his head.
But whatever the content of his highly-classified briefing, Trump didn’t spend his day wrestling with such things. Instead, he boarded his armored limousine for a five-minute ride to the iconic arts center on the banks of the Potomac River, where he had named himself chairman of the center’s board upon his return to the presidency.
Hours later, as the ceremonies approached their end, your correspondent and his colleagues were then ushered back to the lobby and to the bespoke media vans used to ferry the “press pool” about Washington when the president leaves the White House.
It had been expected that Trump would then return to the White House to resume his official duties after a brief trilateral meeting with Carney and Sheinbaum, presumably to discuss plans for their joint hosting effort.
But it was not to be.
Instead, we sat. And waited. And waited some more.
Was Trump attending to one of the many crises enveloping his administration?
Could he be discussing with aides the problem posed by the underfire Secretary of Defense?
Gianni Infantino, President of FIFA, presents the FIFA Peace Prize for U.S. President Donald Trump (Getty Images)
Was he wrestling over how the Republican Speaker of the House is losing support from members of his razor-thin majority, some of whom are predicting that the GOP could have to cede control of the chamber long before next year’s midterm elections?
Or, on the heels of receiving the made-up FIFA Peace Prize, was he huddling with advisors to address indications that Russia has no interest in seeking a peace deal with Ukraine despite his months-long efforts to force Kyiv to accept a one-sided pro-Moscow settlement?
Perhaps he was consulting with his political team to address why his approval ratings — and those of his party — have never been lower as Americans continue to grapple with high prices as a result of the sweeping tariffs he has imposed by fiat on most of the country’s trading partners.
A reasonable observer of American politics might assume that with just ten months gone in his second term, Donald Trump would have spent the next few hours hard at work on addressing the pressing political and geopolitical problems with which voters entrusted him when they returned him to power despite multiple criminal indictments against him — to say nothing of the riot he fomented after losing the 2020 election.
Surprisingly — or not, depending on who you ask — such an assumption would be dead wrong.
After two and a half hours of sitting in a van outside the Kennedy Center, your correspondent inquired with White House officials as to what pressing affairs of state were keeping Donald J. Trump from returning to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.
After a brief interval, the official responded with an answer.
The president, they said, was “looking at Kennedy Center improvements” with Ric Grenell, the former U.S. Ambassador to Germany and acting Director of National Intelligence who serves both as Trump’s “Special Presidential Envoy for Special Missions” and the Kennedy Center’s interim president.
Trump had boasted to the press pool hours earlier about the “really great renovation” that had been done on the iconic building since his hostile takeover of it ten months earlier. He wanted to see more of it.
Approximately 20 minutes later, the motorcade stirred as Trump returned to his armored limousine for the short trip back to the White House.
He went directly to the Oval Office, where your correspondent spotted his personal attorney, Boris Ephsteyn, waiting for him.
After all, there was a single executive order to sign and other matters to discuss.
And just a few hours until Bocelli would sing for him and his guests once more.
For the leader of the free world, the play — with some work squeezed in — never ends.
Trump fires architect over ballroom size dispute
After disagreeing over the size of Donald Trump’s prized $300,000,000 ballroom, the architect behind the project has been fired.
The President and architect James McCrery II have parted ways after ‘inability to hit deadlines’ and arguments over the planned project’s size, which would dwarf the White House.
In October, Trump’s decision to demolish the historic East Wing of the White House angered many Americans, as he made way for the new construction.
If his plans for the 90,000 square foot ‘gilded ballroom’ come to fruition with the new architectural firm Shalom Baranes, who has renovated other government buildings, the building would dwarf the White House, which is only 55,000 square feet.
White House spokesman Davis Ingle said of the project: ‘Shalom is an accomplished architect whose work has shaped the architectural identity of our nation’s capital for decades and his experience will be a great asset to the completion of this project.
The ballroom is expected to hold 1,000 guests, but the sheer size of it has made its completion date of January 2029 very ambitious, according to people close to the operation.
What did Trump tear down for his ballroom?
Renderings show the massive ballroom overshadowing the White House (Graphic: The White House)
The East Wing of the White House is now a pile of rubble (Picture: AP)
For more than 100 years, the East Wing served as the traditional base of operations for the first lady.
But in October, work started on demolishing the sector despite a lack of planning approval from the federal agency that oversees such projects.
Dramatic photos of the demolition work showed construction equipment tearing into the East Wing facade with windows and other building parts in tatters on the ground.
In July when Trump first announced the ballroom, he said it would not interfere with the mansion itself.
‘It’ll be near it but not touching it and pays total respect to the existing building, which I’m the biggest fan of,’ he said of the White House.
The East Wing houses several offices, including those of the first lady. It was built in 1902 and has been renovated over the years, with a second storey added in 1942, according to the White House.
How is Trump paying for the ballroom?
Architectural renderings show big glass windows and gold fixtures (Picture: White House)
Trump insists that presidents have desired such a ballroom for 150 years and that he is adding the massive 90,000-square-foot, glass-walled space because the East Room was too small.
The ballroom will be the biggest structural change to the executive mansion since the addition in 1948 of the Truman Balcony overlooking the South Lawn, even dwarfing the residence itself.
The White House released a list of private donors it says are funding the ballroom, including Amazon, Google, Meta, and billionaire investors.
Who is funding the White House ballroom?
Altria Group Inc
Apple
After disagreeing over the size of Donald Trump’s prized $300,000,000 ballroom, the architect behind the project has been fired.
The President and architect James McCrery II have parted ways after ‘inability to hit deadlines’ and arguments over the planned project’s size, which would dwarf the White House.
In October, Trump’s decision to demolish the historic East Wing of the White House angered many Americans, as he made way for the new construction.
If his plans for the 90,000 square foot ‘gilded ballroom’ come to fruition with the new architectural firm Shalom Baranes, who has renovated other government buildings, the building would dwarf the White House, which is only 55,000 square feet.
White House spokesman Davis Ingle said of the project: ‘Shalom is an accomplished architect whose work has shaped the architectural identity of our nation’s capital for decades and his experience will be a great asset to the completion of this project.
The ballroom is expected to hold 1,000 guests, but the sheer size of it has made its completion date of January 2029 very ambitious, according to people close to the operation.
What did Trump tear down for his ballroom?
Renderings show the massive ballroom overshadowing the White House (Graphic: The White House)
The East Wing of the White House is now a pile of rubble (Picture: AP)
For more than 100 years, the East Wing served as the traditional base of operations for the first lady.
But in October, work started on demolishing the sector despite a lack of planning approval from the federal agency that oversees such projects.
Dramatic photos of the demolition work showed construction equipment tearing into the East Wing facade with windows and other building parts in tatters on the ground.
In July when Trump first announced the ballroom, he said it would not interfere with the mansion itself.
‘It’ll be near it but not touching it and pays total respect to the existing building, which I’m the biggest fan of,’ he said of the White House.
The East Wing houses several offices, including those of the first lady. It was built in 1902 and has been renovated over the years, with a second storey added in 1942, according to the White House.
How is Trump paying for the ballroom?
Architectural renderings show big glass windows and gold fixtures (Picture: White House)
Trump insists that presidents have desired such a ballroom for 150 years and that he is adding the massive 90,000-square-foot, glass-walled space because the East Room was too small.
The ballroom will be the biggest structural change to the executive mansion since the addition in 1948 of the Truman Balcony overlooking the South Lawn, even dwarfing the residence itself.
The White House released a list of private donors it says are funding the ballroom, including Amazon, Google, Meta, and billionaire investors.
Who is funding the White House ballroom?
Altria Group Inc
Apple
- Booz Allen Hamilton Inc
- Caterpillar Inc
- Comcast Corporation
- J. Pepe and Emilia Fanjul
- Hard Rock International
- HP Inc
- Micron Technology
- NextEra Energy Inc
- Ripple
- Reynolds American
- T-Mobile
- Tether America
- Union Pacific Railroad
- Adelson Family Foundation
- Stefan E Brodie
- Betty Wold Johnson Foundation
- Charles and Marissa Cascarilla
- Harold Hamm
- Benjamin Leon Jr
- The Lutnick Family
- The Laura & Isaac Perlmutter Foundation
- Stephen A. Schwarzmann
- Konstantin Sokolov
- Kelly Loeffler and Jeff Sprecher
- Paolo Tiramani
- Cameron Winklevoss
- Tyler Winklevoss
- Microsoft
- Coinbase
- Palantir
- Lockheed Martin
- Amazon
- Shari and Edward Glazer
So as long as he doesn't "invade", you're fine.
The murder part is what you approve of?
New pipe bomber revelations put Trump in awkward spot: analyst
Revelations surrounding the Washington, D.C. pipe bomb suspect have become humiliating for the Trump administration, a security analyst said Friday.
Bradley Moss, a national security analyst, told CNN that the White House now has to manage the fallout after 30-year-old suspect Brian Cole Jr. told law enforcement that he believed that the 2020 election was “stolen." The claim was one that President Donald Trump had made and led to the Capitol mob attack on Jan. 6, just a few hours after the pipe bombs were placed outside the Republican and Democratic party headquarters.
"We're learning some rather awkward and embarrassing things for the White House and for, honestly, some of the senior members of the Justice Department and the FBI, because this defeated all of the theories, all the conspiracies for the last four years about who this particular pipe bomber could have been," Moss said.
It could become a bigger problem for the Justice Department.
"Assuming, of course, this person is actually proven in a court of law to have been that person. All the theories that the Trump team, that Dan Bongino, that Kash Patel, everybody was saying was this was an inside job, this was somebody at the bureau, this was someone from the Capitol police. They had always made it out to be that this was some kind of insider gig," Moss added. "What is it? It's just a regular guy who believed Donald Trump's conspiracies about 2020 and who allegedly took this action."
Moss argued that the claim made by Trump and his followers appeared to be a motive for the suspect.
"How embarrassing that these are the individuals now who have to bring these charges and prove this case in court," Moss said.
Cole did not enter a plea at his first hearing on Friday morning in federal court. He was expected to have another one in a few weeks. The investigation was ongoing.
Revelations surrounding the Washington, D.C. pipe bomb suspect have become humiliating for the Trump administration, a security analyst said Friday.
Bradley Moss, a national security analyst, told CNN that the White House now has to manage the fallout after 30-year-old suspect Brian Cole Jr. told law enforcement that he believed that the 2020 election was “stolen." The claim was one that President Donald Trump had made and led to the Capitol mob attack on Jan. 6, just a few hours after the pipe bombs were placed outside the Republican and Democratic party headquarters.
"We're learning some rather awkward and embarrassing things for the White House and for, honestly, some of the senior members of the Justice Department and the FBI, because this defeated all of the theories, all the conspiracies for the last four years about who this particular pipe bomber could have been," Moss said.
It could become a bigger problem for the Justice Department.
"Assuming, of course, this person is actually proven in a court of law to have been that person. All the theories that the Trump team, that Dan Bongino, that Kash Patel, everybody was saying was this was an inside job, this was somebody at the bureau, this was someone from the Capitol police. They had always made it out to be that this was some kind of insider gig," Moss added. "What is it? It's just a regular guy who believed Donald Trump's conspiracies about 2020 and who allegedly took this action."
Moss argued that the claim made by Trump and his followers appeared to be a motive for the suspect.
"How embarrassing that these are the individuals now who have to bring these charges and prove this case in court," Moss said.
Cole did not enter a plea at his first hearing on Friday morning in federal court. He was expected to have another one in a few weeks. The investigation was ongoing.
That's the question, right?
MAGA voted for mass deportation, they held up signs.
But not everyone who voted for Trump is MAGA.
The question is whether the general public views what ICE is doing as "tighter immigration" or "government overreach".
I think an argument can be made that people changing their vote on this are not changing their vote based on "immigration" but rather on the enforcement and limits on governmental police power.
I think it is much more likely that the enforcement will be an issue.
Very little of the discussion has been about immigration policy.
It's been about the raids, the enforcement, the lack of due process, and so on.
As far as the bit about focusing on immigrants who committed crimes, that's such a big deal because that is how Trump and the GOP framed it much of the time.
They pitched the whole "immigrant crime wave" narrative and insisted they were deporting "the worst of the worst" and so on.
By centring the focus on crime and criminals, they made the conversation about that very thing.
You need to provide evidence for this.
It seems that many of the complaints about enforcement involve this very issue.
People coming in to court hearings about their immigration status and following the process and being snatched.
I know you think due process is inconvenient, but you can't use "they aren't following the process" at the same time as you support ignoring the process you are asking them to follow.
You seem to be working very hard at this for some reason.
The district was redrawn in 2022, not 2023. You used wikipedia as your source and it is quite clearly stated there.
We can see the two previous elections, held under the current map.
Two 21% victories followed by a 9% one.
I also think you are misinterpreting the Cook PVI. It is a measure of lean, yes, but it isn't a measure of expected victory in a congressional race.
Let's just drink the silliness of this one in.
Meh.
I think fascism isn't so easy to define as you seem to be thinking here.
