Donald I, emperor of the world.

[Psamathe]

Interesting aspect to US new world position raised by Rory Stewart - that situations like US in effect holding China from invading Taiwan is about belief that US might do something is China invaded. Nobody considers that US would send in ground troops to drive the Chinese army out, it's just the belief that the US might react. And now it's pretty clear, explicit that the US wont (or at least is much less likely to).

Ian

 

[bobzmyunkle]

???? Has anyone mentioned this yet? Surely it's a scam?
https://news.sky.com/video/donald-t...i-video-on-his-truth-social-platform-13317247

 

[Psamathe]

???? Has anyone mentioned this yet? Surely it's a scam?
https://news.sky.com/video/donald-t...i-video-on-his-truth-social-platform-13317247

Was raised on BBC Today program on Radio 4 this morning (not as a scam). Not bothered to watch it myself.

But to me it reinforces a view I been moving towards that Trump is not a Narcissist but rather has malignant narcissism (a solipsistic variant of narcissism). Where a narcissist seek external approval of others, malignant narcissism doesn't to much, just as long as the individual is the centre of attention even if that's negative; the individual is the centre of everything.

BUT, personal opinion. I'm not a qualified psychologist (though actually did study psychology at University for a bit and focused on perception and on abnormal psychology, many years ago and just an interesting add-on to my main study subject)

Ian

 

[BoldonLad]

Was raised on BBC Today program on Radio 4 this morning (not as a scam). Not bothered to watch it myself.

But to me it reinforces a view I been moving towards that Trump is not a Narcissist but rather has malignant narcissism (a solipsistic variant of narcissism). Where a narcissist seek external approval of others, malignant narcissism doesn't to much, just as long as the individual is the centre of attention even if that's negative; the individual is the centre of everything.

BUT, personal opinion. I'm not a qualified psychologist (though actually did study psychology at University for a bit and focused on perception and on abnormal psychology, many years ago and just an interesting add-on to my main study subject)

Ian

Wouldn’t disagree with that, I think Trump is a variation on the “no such thing as bad publicity” character, in his case it is “no such thing as negative attention”, he is a clickbait king.

 

[icowden]

Wouldn’t disagree with that, I think Trump is a variation on the “no such thing as bad publicity” character, in his case it is “no such thing as negative attention”, he is a clickbait king.

Indeed - although the article a few pages back about Trump essentially being a mobster seemed pretty accurate.

 

[CXRAndy]

Congress pass the budget cut blueprint yesterday.

 

[icowden]

Congress pass the budget cut blueprint yesterday.

By the narrowest of margins. But yes, the Republicans are still supporting Trump for the moment.

 

[Ian H]

???? Has anyone mentioned this yet? Surely it's a scam?
https://news.sky.com/video/donald-t...i-video-on-his-truth-social-platform-13317247

Perhaps megalomania will be his downfall.
One Truth Social user wrote: “I could not be a bigger supporter of President Trump but this particular video is in very poor taste. Very poor taste, indeed!” Another wrote: “I hate this. I love our president, but this is horrible.”

The video might have gone down particularly badly with Trump’s Christian supporters, with several comments referencing the idolatry of the golden statue, and others lamenting a scene showing Trump in a nightclub alone with a woman dressed as a bellydancer as a crowd looks on.

“Only one deserves the glory and the honor, Mr President,” wrote another user. “The statue is a symbol of the antichrist, please humble yourself to God. Jesus is king and only Him.” Other users described the video as “sick” and “filth”.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news...trump-shares-ai-created-video-reimagined-gaza

 

[CXRAndy]

By the narrowest of margins. But yes, the Republicans are still supporting Trump for the moment.

There is only a few seats difference, so there will always be a narrow margin on voting

It's not like Republicans have 100 seat majority.

 

[icowden]

There is only a few seats difference, so there will always be a narrow margin on voting
It's not like Republicans have 100 seat majority.

Oh god. You don't understand how US politics and voting works either.

Quick explainer: If a policy is *good* then you will not only get support from your team but also from the other team.
If it is *bad* you will only get support from your team and even then you need all of them to win.

 

[craigwend]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c5ymvjjqzmeo

 

[Psamathe]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c5ymvjjqzmeo

View attachment 7414

They'be promised to fix it ... in iOS version 29 (scheduled for release late-2047)

Ian

 

[C R]

Freeze peach, innit

https://www.theguardian.com/media/2025/feb/26/jeff-bezos-washington-post-opinion

TL;DR

Don't criticise rich people in the opinion pages of the WaPo.

 

[Psamathe]

Predicatable

Musk’s cost-cutting drive quietly deletes billions in claimed savings from website
...
In the latest embarrassment to befall the site, Doge has stealthily expunged all of the five largest items on the “wall of receipts” after the much-vaunted “savings” were revealed to be so much hot air.

The deletions, first reported by the New York Times, were made on Tuesday without explanation. A White House spokesperson would only say that Musk’s slash-and-burn initiative had “identified billions of dollars in savings”.

Doge is currently claiming it has succeeded in lopping $65bn from federal spending, a sharp rise from its earlier figure of $55bn. Yet the itemized savings listed on the “wall of receipts” have plummeted since the deletions from $16.6bn to $9.6bn.ng drive quietly deletes billions in claimed savings from website
(from https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/feb/26/musk-doge-savings-website)

Ian

 

[CXRAndy]

Oh god. You don't understand how US politics and voting works either.

Quick explainer: If a policy is *good* then you will not only get support from your team but also from the other team.
If it is *bad* you will only get support from your team and even then you need all of them to win.

Get on,

the opposition almost without fail votes against government bills. Same here in the UK as well as many other countries