120th Congress finally is seated. Dr Lasser called it "cognitive Madisonianism", and it's a fitting term. That is the strong, consistent tendency of the makeup and control of Congress to reverse during midterm elections, from the party of the sitting President, to the opposition party. It is a subliminal check on power that's played back and forth for well over a century. It is a very real thing.
That said, a lot will depend on how bad things get between now and November of 2026 with the midterm elections. We are already in a mess because DOGE illegally fired thousands of governemnt employees, only to be forced to TRY and hire them back. Then you have the illegal tariffs, which has brought in BILLIONS already. What happens with those billions already paid under the illegal tariffs? I honestly think DOGE was a data-mining operation more than anything else. It gave Trump access to lord knows how much information he can keep in his pocket for blackmail purposes later on, like in Early 2027.
So the dems take back Congress in 2026. That's a very solid assumption, and more likely than not. To what extent they gain control we will see. But I can imagine a litany of legislation flowing in January 2027. Tariffs will be a power reclaimed to Congress, that's going to be a bill. But the big bill will be the Articles of Impeachment that are drawn up. Between DOGE, and the tariffs, and the Qatar plane, and whatever else, there's AMPLE evidence of high crimes and misdemeanors. IF Trump is impeached, this is when we will learn all about the DOGE data mining results. Trump will likely bring forward cases against many dems in Congress with evidence of insider trading, he will blackmail them. And at that point you will have a crooked Congress and a crooked President both going at it.
And assuming he doesn't try to stop an election from happening (well, he'll try... just don't know if he'll succeed) and things are the same in 2026 as they are now...
Here's what I hope happens, but am skeptical as nobody can #### it up quite like the Dems can when they have power:
1. Restore all economic damage as best you can. Wipe out all tariffs--and I mean anything Trump did--to teach him and MAGA a lesson. Wipe them clean. Send apologies to our allies, especially Canada. 2. Renegotiate new trade deals and do it without White House involvement as a #### you to them. 3. Restore damage created by DOGE even if it's bloat; set up a bipartisan review process to look at future cuts the right way. The message must be a clear #### you, it's getting undone. 4. Investigate future charges to bring against Musk and DOGE members for data mining. 5. Impeach again, even if it doesn't remove him. The crypto scheme and other financial corruption seems to be the right path. 6. Pass legislation that weakens the power of executive orders. 7. Pass legitimate immigration legislation as well as legislation that forbids putting anyone in a foreign prison. 8. Officially make fascism an illegal political ideology for public officials, any First Amendment claims be ######. Cite the Clear and Present Danger legal application. Set standards of measurement for it with prison time attached. Scare the likes of Stephen Miller into hiding.
Again, that's likely a pipe dream. I'm sure I'll think of others. The biggest thing that Congress has to do is work to teach MAGA a lesson and wipe out all their fascist wet dreams.
but there definitely needs to be a concerted effort to “Trump-proof” the presidency, so no one else from either party can come into power and overreach so much from the office of President.
No POTUS in 240 years before Trump had designs on consolidating power to the Executive to the point of dictatorial influence, by neutering the Judiciary and conveniently enjoying a Congress that neutered itself because of fear of retribution and reelection. And half the country is cheering it on. Strange times.
but have we ever elected such a POS person to the office? None that I can remember. We’ve had bad presidents that made poor decisions, but I can’t think of anyone as mentally crazy and morally bankrupt as the convicted felon that we have now.
Jackson is probably the closest to Trumpian of the old days, but in the end, he was still a patriot and wasn't seeking dictatorial power.
Nixon was a stranger animal who wanted complete loyalty and control, but in the end, probably still wanted what was best for America even if that vision was misguided.
FDR was interesting. He and Trump both have overstepped their powers, and both had a compliant Congress.
History disremembers FDR's confiscation of gold in 1933. It was a bold move designed to boost the dollar, and get us out of the depression, but it is a power few would like to associate with the President. And yet FDR, just like Trump, had a flurry of executive orders over the years. One of those orders required the confiscation of all gold from American citizens. They were only allowed to keep small amounts in jewelry. Bars, coins, were all confiscated. FDR set a purchase price for all of the gold....think it was like $22 an ounce, or something. Failure to sell all of your gold at this price to the US governemnt constituted a crime punishable by jailtime and fines. Oh, and this measure was taken under "emergency" authority.
Now, this EO was totally illegal, unconstitutional, and a massive power grab. HOWEVER, instead of fighting it, Congress codified it in a law passed a month or so later.
AFTER the gold was confiscated, FDR changed the gold price....(this is where Fort Knox came into being).
The United States Gold Reserve Act of January 30, 1934 required that all gold and gold certificates held by the Federal Reserve be surrendered and vested in the sole title of the United States Department of the Treasury. It also prohibited the Treasury and financial institutions from redeeming dollar bills for gold, established the Exchange Stabilization Fund under control of the Treasury to control the dollar's value without the assistance (or approval) of the Federal Reserve, and authorized the president to establish the gold value of the dollar by proclamation.[1][2]
Immediately following passage of the Act, the President, Franklin D. Roosevelt, changed the statutory price of gold from $20.67 per troy ounce to $35. This price change incentivized gold miners globally to expand production and foreigners to export their gold to the United States, while simultaneously devaluing the U.S. dollar by increasing inflation. The increase in gold reserves due to the price change resulted in a large accumulation of gold in the Federal Reserve and U.S. Treasury, much of which was stored in the United States Bullion Depository at Fort Knox and other locations. The increase in gold reserves increased the money supply, lowering real interest rates which in turn increased investment in durable goods.
All of what is above is largely disremembered in US history books. Few people know about this part of our American history, nor can they comprehend it. Proof of this can be seen in gold prices. Just look at bond yields and gold and crypto prices. This is why I say gold IS NOT A HEDGE against the dollar. They can, and will, confiscate it again if necessary. If you want to hold gold as a reserve against the dollar, you better darn well have it stored in a vault NOT IN THE UNITED STATES. Because if the dollar collapses, and/or the governemnt becomes insolvent, they will simply change the money. This may require confiscation of gold to boost the dollar, effectively going BACK to the gold standard, repeating FDR,s measures. Or something else completely, like a US stablecoin (crypto). Point is, all these prepper types who are hoarding gold as a hedge, they're actually setting up the solution to the problem they're trying to hedge against, without even knowing it.
And the GOP in Congress is just as corrupt as the dems and vice versa, when it comes to insider trading. Trump may ask his AG to prosecute dems though, this is my fear.
Trump's "Big Beautiful Bill" that he is forcing through Congress is all the proof most people should need to realize the truth. The DOGE failure is another.
Our system, our governemnt, is not designed to enable someone like Trump to acquire the power and control he desires. Trump knows this, as does his inner circle. As such, the only way he can obtain the power and control he desires is to crash the system, collapse the governemnt, make it insolvent, broke, and ONLY THEN can he acquire the power and control he desires.
I hope I'm wrong on this.......And there are many MAGA types on this very board who are (or would be) fully onboard with this plan. It's the suckers in this world who allow the wolves to feast.
But our Congress is actually our biggest weakness. And it allows someone like Trump to rise. I have little faith they will ever retake their responsibilities. Somewhere north of 80% of Americans, from both parties, want term limits, and a balanced budget. And yet our "House of the People", our legislative branch, will not even entertain the idea. So yeah, you can rail on Trump but he's a symptom of a larger problem, a wolf taking advantage of suckers.
Even if the Dems COULD do all that, I don't believe they have the competency or integrity to do it.
Our system, our governemnt, is not designed to enable someone like Trump to acquire the power and control he desires. Trump knows this, as does his inner circle. As such, the only way he can obtain the power and control he desires is to crash the system, collapse the governemnt, make it insolvent, broke, and ONLY THEN can he acquire the power and control he desires.
I hope I'm wrong on this.......And there are many MAGA types on this very board who are (or would be) fully onboard with this plan. It's the suckers in this world who allow the wolves to feast.
Yep, you're right on the first paragraph, and you're also right that there are MAGA types and some here who want that. Keowee, NC_Tiger, Manac, RTD, etc. They want it all to collapse so the dictatorship can happen. They despise democracy.
Fix the primary system for elections. It's what allows the Trumps and Bidens and Hillarys to rise as our candidates. Fix it so legitimate candidates can be on the ballot in November.
the plan. That said - I'm sure if Trump wanted him to hang around, he would just say "He's staying" and at least keep him until the courts said "You can't do that"
Fascists don't voluntarily step down at the end of the pre agreed upon time, moron. Also fascists dont make recommendations to cut fraud and waste and then leave it up to others to actually implement their suggestions. Its almost like you have no idea whatsoever what a fascist actually is. But please rush here to repeat whatever propaganda you obviously lap up like a dog.
You might recall my posts predicting this would happen - not that it really took a genius to predict this one - and it'll be fascinating to see what his popularity rating with the public will be now that Captain Ketamine has officially broken hard with MAGA. I legit think it could drop to less than 10%...and he's about to officially become the poster boy for oligarchy. That screaming sound we were hearing a couple hours back was from the Tesla boardroom, because I think they know exactly what's about to happen to their stock prices.
Tesla will not exist in two years. I think that would have happened with or without help, but it's practically assured now. The only reason Tesla made money last year was because they were selling energy credits to other companies, and the Big Beautiful Bill kills those...which is exactly why Elon is losing his mind right now. The rest of the business is a straight train wreck - massive China exposure, and no new products on offer except for a driverless cyber cab service that is about to be a dumpster fire of truly epic proportions. Probably literally. Tesla's self-driving technology simply doesn't work reliably and likely never will because it doesn't use LIDAR and radar like his competitors do.
I find it very hard to conjure up sympathy. Elon's the guy who spent $300 million of his own money getting Donald elected.
I used the Tesla FSD for 3 months, I was being used as a human guinea pig to help map out my area. It worked fairly well, unless it was rainy, humid, or foggy, at which point the optical sensors were useless. It saved my #### once when a drunk blew by me in the left lane and yanked me back to prevent a collision. But if I entered a traffic circle, I had to take over, it would come to a complete stop as people who did NOT have to right-of-way used the opportunity to cut in line while it sat there confused.. It also had trouble finding curb cuts. If I entered a business into the GPS, more often than not it would miss the driveway, take me to the next street and just sit in the middle of the road. It is also rumored to blow past School buses that have their stop signs extended, and on numerous cases veered into the oncoming lane and caused head on collisions as if that was its intent. And of course there was the Wile-E-Coyote test where a guy took a photo of the road, printed it out, and the Tesla blew right through it.
It was useful, but not something I would bet my life on. It is not likely to hit another vehicle, but more likely to put you in a situation where another car hits you. Also, when it senses a collision is unavoidable, FSD bugs out for liability reasons so it would show that it was off at the time of impact. That is an acknowledgment by the engineers and liability department that they know it is unreliable. My understanding is TESLA lost one of their best engineers when Musk refused to put a steering wheel or break controls into them as a cost-cutting measure.
Anyway, Waymo owns this market; it is night and day better. People will die, and Musk knows this.
It's egregious prognostication to predict a win for the dems in midterms at this point. Even if you are a pure communist, you have to know there is a long time between now and then - just like the last national election. Plenty can and will happen between now and then, but the immigration problem and Biden dementia cover-up are the gifts that keep on giving to the pubs.
Many of the swing voters are now convinced of what the pub base has been convinced of for a long time - that the democratic party is wholly corrupt with numerous grandiose examples on the tips of everyone's brain.
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