The second word you're grasping for is CORRUPTION.
With all the gov't dollars sloshing around, look at who's getting their vig.
"The deals have also invited cronyism. The Pentagon’s Office of Strategic Capital, with as much as $200 billion in lending capacity, is run by a former Cerberus Capital Management executive whose old firm invests in the same industries. One beneficiary, Vulcan Elements, is backed by Donald Trump Jr.’s venture capital firm. Lutnick’s former investment firm is connected to USA Rare Earth, which is now partially state-owned. And the president himself has disclosed myriad stock trades involving Intel and other companies either with government ownership or in the state-backed firms’ close orbit."[1]
Interesting question Steve: Was it God's intervention on the assassin's bullet in PA; or, was trump always a deranged narcissistic psychopath who once he managed to overcome the horrors of J6 simply believed he was invincible?
In the end, it matters not. The only question that really matters is can our country survive two plus more years of his crazy?
I'm not worried about surviving the next two years - I'm more worried about surviving the rest of John Roberts' tenure when it comes time to enact reforms and he leads a bloc of corrupt Justices covering their own asses and complicity in arriving at this state of affairs. (Hi, Thomas and Alito!)
More importantly, he was already on track to replace the competent "adults in the room" at the end of his first term, and would have done so if he had won in 2020 too.
Trump thinks trade is bad, and that if you pay for something you received you've lost money. He's a moron when it comes to economics.
My first thought: THERE. WAS. NO. ASSASSINATION. ATTEMPT.
It becomes more and more obvious that this was a staged event, and in the fashion of those Eastern bloc dictators that Trump adores, the people killed/injured [including Thomas Crook] were merely collateral damage - Ear cartilage does not grow back.
That being said, none of these markers of Herr Trump's authoritarian march should come as a shock. The shock [and outrage] is how flimsy our constitutional guardrails have proven to be.
We will never know since the dead betray no secrets. But I tend to be skeptical of such conspiracy theories. Too many variables to stage it and too many people who’d have to be in on it to make it successful.
I used to scoff at such things, myself. That was back when I thought this nation was too well conceived, too constitutionally sound to fall into the same patterns of corruption as those nations ruled by despots and criminals.
I've since allowed myself to let go of any naive notion that it could never happen here.
Oh it could happen here, I agree. I am skeptical of it remaining secret. Too many living people would have to be complicit and not all of them are reliable. Secrets are very hard to keep especially of this kind of event.
I think the word you're grasping for is SOCIALISM.
The second word you're grasping for is CORRUPTION.
With all the gov't dollars sloshing around, look at who's getting their vig.
"The deals have also invited cronyism. The Pentagon’s Office of Strategic Capital, with as much as $200 billion in lending capacity, is run by a former Cerberus Capital Management executive whose old firm invests in the same industries. One beneficiary, Vulcan Elements, is backed by Donald Trump Jr.’s venture capital firm. Lutnick’s former investment firm is connected to USA Rare Earth, which is now partially state-owned. And the president himself has disclosed myriad stock trades involving Intel and other companies either with government ownership or in the state-backed firms’ close orbit."[1]
And that's before we even look at Jared Kushner.
[1] https://www.cato.org/commentary/governments-intel-bet-was-even-worse-expected
Exactly this.
Interesting question Steve: Was it God's intervention on the assassin's bullet in PA; or, was trump always a deranged narcissistic psychopath who once he managed to overcome the horrors of J6 simply believed he was invincible?
In the end, it matters not. The only question that really matters is can our country survive two plus more years of his crazy?
I'm not worried about surviving the next two years - I'm more worried about surviving the rest of John Roberts' tenure when it comes time to enact reforms and he leads a bloc of corrupt Justices covering their own asses and complicity in arriving at this state of affairs. (Hi, Thomas and Alito!)
More importantly, he was already on track to replace the competent "adults in the room" at the end of his first term, and would have done so if he had won in 2020 too.
Trump thinks trade is bad, and that if you pay for something you received you've lost money. He's a moron when it comes to economics.
And 'moron' is a really gentle term, given the circumstances.
I try to be slightly couth.
You're among friends. No need to censor yourself.
My first thought: THERE. WAS. NO. ASSASSINATION. ATTEMPT.
It becomes more and more obvious that this was a staged event, and in the fashion of those Eastern bloc dictators that Trump adores, the people killed/injured [including Thomas Crook] were merely collateral damage - Ear cartilage does not grow back.
That being said, none of these markers of Herr Trump's authoritarian march should come as a shock. The shock [and outrage] is how flimsy our constitutional guardrails have proven to be.
We will never know since the dead betray no secrets. But I tend to be skeptical of such conspiracy theories. Too many variables to stage it and too many people who’d have to be in on it to make it successful.
Cling to that.
I used to scoff at such things, myself. That was back when I thought this nation was too well conceived, too constitutionally sound to fall into the same patterns of corruption as those nations ruled by despots and criminals.
I've since allowed myself to let go of any naive notion that it could never happen here.
Oh it could happen here, I agree. I am skeptical of it remaining secret. Too many living people would have to be complicit and not all of them are reliable. Secrets are very hard to keep especially of this kind of event.