I love politics
20 (imho horrible) executive orders Trump has already made in his 2nd term:
authorized economic sanctions against the international criminal court (ICC) and accused them of improperly targeting the US and Israel - this means he can impose asset freezes and travel bans against ICC staff and their families if they try to investigate or prosecute US citizens or their allies
created a task force to end all forms of "anti-Christian targeting and discrimination" in the government - this goes against the separation of church and state
banned transgender athletes from participating in women's sports
stopped funding the UN agency for Palestinian refugees and withdrew from the UN human rights council
placed tariffs on Mexico, China and Canada
ordered a detention facility at Guantanamo Bay to be built that could hold up to 30,000 deported immigrants
stopped gender transitions for people under 19 and called on the Department of Justice to vigorously pursue litigation and legislation to oppose the practice
reshaped the military by removing diversity, equity and inclusion efforts, and eliminating "gender radicalism"
ordered a review of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) because he claims there is "political bias" in the agency
ended birthright citizenship (this one was blocked as it is protected under the 14th amendment - literally a constitutional right he tried to get rid of)
had the US exit the World Health Organization (WHO)
renamed the Gulf of Mexico to Gulf of America and Alaska's Mount Denali to Mount McKinley
revoked a Biden order aimed at making half of all new vehicles sold in 2030 electric and he's promised to roll back auto pollution standards as well
reclassified thousands of federal employees as political hires in order to make it easier to fire them
declared a national energy emergency to push pro-fossil fuel actions and plans to roll back restrictions in drilling in Alaska
removed "gender ideology guidance" from federal government communication, policies and forms and made it official that there are "only two genders, male and female"
rescinded a dozen (technically 78) Biden-era executive actions that included racial equity and combating discrimination against gay and transgender people
declared a national border emergency at the southern border which allows US troops to be sent to implement hardline immigration policies
issued pardons for all Jan. 6 defendants and dismissed cases currently in progress
withdrew from the Paris climate agreement and referred to Biden's effort to grow the US's clean energy sector as "the green new scam"
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And today he or his cohorts seem to be saying that the judicial branch has no right to tell the executive branch what it can or can not do. ie "Now let them try to enforce it."
We may end up with an impeachment this time if enough Republicans have the balls to stand up to him. Trouble is I think it requires 50% to effect an impeachment in congress but 63% in the senate. Definitely could end up with a constitutional crisis at the least.
J.D.Vance and his comments back in 2021.. Kinda scary that he is the current VP and next in line. scan to the 27 min mark,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PMq1ZEcyztY
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Next executive order may be to rename Lake Ontario to Lake New York.. 
Actually just in case he reads this forum maybe I should delete the above in case he likes the idea.
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I'm up late and willing to take the bait:
Re Tariffs: I don't like them either ... but where the hell was this national anger / unity when our OWN government has been taking more out of our pockets than anyone???? Like seriously, these tariffs are a drop in the bucket compared to how much we have been getting fucked, and it wasn't until the orange man made a headline that anyone paid attention.
Re Trump: You guys have some bias there, which is fine, both sides do it... but allow me to make the case for "taking what the TV tells you with a grain of salt". Trigs, I read through your list of "horrible" executive orders and not only are they not all horrible... most of them are flat out awesome. I would encourage you to at least try to steelman each of them before passing judgement... as there's plenty of nuance in there.
That should stir it up a bit 
I think the suggestion that you all choose me as a write in candidate for the next federal election is gaining steam.... King Jeff for all!
In for King Jeff 2025.
He will Make Canada Great Again
And all our PCs will run smoother than ever.
Damn Bfillmaff! You had to call me out specifically lol. Probably because you knew I'd bite 
> Re Tariffs: I don't like them either ... but where the hell was this national anger / unity when our OWN government has been taking more out of our pockets than anyone???? Like seriously, these tariffs are a drop in the bucket compared to how much we have been getting fucked, and it wasn't until the orange man made a headline that anyone paid attention.
Looks like we agree on tariffs being a bad idea. I know the title of the thread is "I love politics" but I assumed from the original post that this was specifically about Trump and the US. I don't think anyone here is suggesting that our own government is perfect or hasn't made any mistakes. If you (or someone else) wants to start a thread about our government, I'm sure myself and others will chime in with many issues that we have.
> Re Trump: You guys have some bias there, which is fine, both sides do it... but allow me to make the case for "taking what the TV tells you with a grain of salt". Trigs, I read through your list of "horrible" executive orders and not only are they not all horrible... most of them are flat out awesome. I would encourage you to at least try to steelman each of them before passing judgement... as there's plenty of nuance in there.
I did state that that list was "in my humble opinion" as I knew not everyone would see all of those as horrible executive orders. You do concede (or at least it seems that you state) that at least some of those orders are horrible, so that still seems pretty bad to me that he's making all these decisions and at least some of them are "horrible" even in your opinion. (Please don't tell me which ones you think are awesome, it'll probably make me cry honestly.)
Also, I never said that every single executive order he's made is horrible. Some I actually do like (for example the push for AI research and development comes to mind, but there are others).
In response to us having bias against Trump, I would disagree. Bias, by definition, means "prejudice in favor of or against one thing, person, or group compared with another, usually in a way considered to be unfair." Considering that Trump has said all of the following (and this is not even close to an exhaustive list), I am judging him on who he is and not a prejudice of him or Republicans or whatever. (The following list is just what came up in a 30 second search about him. Obviously, I'm sure we can find more horrible things he's said and done easily.)
Trump mocked a disabled New York Times reporter in front of a crowd, saying, “Now the poor guy, you ought to see this guy,” before jerking his arms around and holding his right hand at an angle. He imitated the reporter, saying, “‘Ah, I don’t know what I said! I don’t remember!’”
Trump has made plenty of xenophobic and hateful comments about Muslims, Mexicans, Native Americans, African-Americans and Jews, and he pals around with white supremacists and has a white nationalist as a campaign chief.
Trump has made many offensive comments about women over the years. Some examples: In 1992, Trump told New York Magazine, “You have to treat ’em like shit,” and that’s how he’s treated women in his life
On one of the darkest days in American history, when we lost thousands of men, women and children to what is still considered the largest terrorist attack in the world, Trump decided to pick up the phone and call into a television station to point out that, now, his building was the tallest in Manhattan.
The famous "Just grab them by the pussy" comment. Here's the whole transcript which is not great either.
(the following are all from a 2020 New York Times article which literally is just referencing the last month)
When asked "Do you commit to a peaceful transfer of power?" instead of a simple "yes", Trump said, "Well, we're gonna have to see what happens. You know that I've been complaining very strongly about the ballots. And the ballots are a disaster." When pushed further, he said, "We'll want to have - get rid of the ballots and you'll have a very - we'll have a very peaceful...There won't be a transfer, frankly. There'll be a continuation."
He said "it's an amazing thing" that the coronavirus "affects virtually nobody."
He said that US deaths from covid-19 would be "very low" if you just didn't count those who died in the "blue states".
He said that climate change was non-existent and also that it would just "start getting cooler, just you watch." When told that the science does not agree with him, he said "I don't think science knows, actually."
He retweeted a gif calling Joe Biden a pedophile, and then said that Biden is on drugs.
I am not a good enough person to use the steelman argument for the literal things he's said I guess, and again, this isn't even close to all the horrible things he's said and done. This was just literally the first couple websites that came up when I quickly searched.
By the way, hope the baby is doing well! And hope you're getting enough sleep lol. Let me know when you plan on visiting Ontario again!
OK but now we are talking about his character, and infering intent from words out of context. We could get lost in debate over that, so I'll concede that he has said some stupid shit and is not an angel (with the catch being that I've heard plenty worse in locker rooms here in Canada.)
But back to your itemized list of executive orders, and my original point: there's a coordinated effort to paint these orders as "horrible", and they aren't. Its actually a fantastic start. Orders like this are what citizens voted for, and frankly, we need this level of push back here too. Not that I want right wing policies across the board by any means... rather, a correction towards the middle, as a direct result of the left going too far down the roads of overreach, corruption, and woke policies.
*And because I used a trigger word there (woke) ... I will try to be extra clear: No one is against being Diverse/Equitable/Inclusive, or against any groups of people based on their race or gender. We are angry about the way those goals were used as justification to implement insane policy, obsess over dividing people into race/gender, and to use them as a shield to dismiss all valid criticisms. And we were angry enough that we voted for the guy who promised to change it... pussy grabbing comments aside.
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Bfillmaff OK but now we are talking about his character, and infering intent from words out of context. We could get lost in debate over that, so I'll concede that he has said some stupid shit and is not an angel (with the catch being that I've heard plenty worse in locker rooms here in Canada.)
I don't believe I'm inferring intent from words out of context. Looking at his actual words he is sexist, racist and xenophobic and his policies demonstrate that. Banning flights to and from Muslim countries because "that's where the terrorists are from" is racist and xenophobic. Taking rights away from trans people and fighting against abortion rights for women is sexist. Both his words and actions support these facts about him. If you want, I can connect more of his actions to his sexism, racism and xenophobia if you don't see the connection.
Bfillmaff But back to your itemized list of executive orders, and my original point: there's a coordinated effort to paint these orders as "horrible", and they aren't. Its actually a fantastic start. Orders like this are what citizens voted for, and frankly, we need this level of push back here too. Not that I want right wing policies across the board by any means... rather, a correction towards the middle, as a direct result of the left going too far down the roads of overreach, corruption, and woke policies.
I'm do not disagree that those who voted for him wanted these changes. A lot of what he's doing is exactly what he said he was going to do. However, popular opinion (the ad populum fallacy) suggests that popularity alone does not make something "right" or "true".
And I think we're just going to have to agree to disagree on Trump making "corrections to the middle" of the political spectrum. Republicans and Trump are very far right. Democrats are even slightly right of middle in my crazy leftist bias opinion. So, this is nowhere near a correction to the middle imho.
Bfillmaff *And because I used a trigger word there (woke) ... I will try to be extra clear: No one is against being Diverse/Equitable/Inclusive, or against any groups of people based on their race or gender. We are angry about the way those goals were used as justification to implement insane policy, obsess over dividing people into race/gender, and to use them as a shield to dismiss all valid criticisms. And we were angry enough that we voted for the guy who promised to change it... pussy grabbing comments aside.
I can't speak to what "insane policies" based on DEI were put in place honestly, but stating a helicopter crashed into a plane because of DEI and then attacking all of DEI on the federal level seems pretty absurd to me. I agree that using DEI policies to take advantage of others or using them as a shield to dismiss all valid criticism is not good, but again, I don't see that happening. If you have examples of these policies or where a person or a group used them to take advantage of others or avoid valid criticism, I'd be interested to read about it. I honestly have just not seen or read anything about that. I'm not saying that that has never happened ever (obviously, there is always someone who is going to take advantage of the system), but is it really this big of an issue that we need to get rid of all DEI completely?
And yes, Trudeau is a pussy...
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but is it really this big of an issue that we need to get rid of all DEI completely?
Yes.
10000% yes.
The practice of making important decisions based on a persons race, sex, or skin color, should be abolished.
Completely.
Thoroughly.
And for good.
And even if we are only trying to help.
It is not being suggested anywhere that we eliminate diversity itself.
Diversity is another one of those left wing powerhouse words perfect for hiding behind.
It is the attempt to control diversity through identity politics.
It is the idea that the system will treat me differently in any way shape or form possible, based on whatever group I may belong to (skin color, sex preference, race) instead of treating my 100% as an individual.
It is the disagreement we have in society about what the unintended (or intended...?) consequences of those policies are.
And it is the fact that even approaching this discussion will get you wrongly labelled words like "sexist, racist and xenophobic."
That is the issue here.
No one in their right mind is arguing against diversity itself or any specific group.
Let's assume the original intent of these policies was a 100% genuine effort to help level the playing field: STILL, 1000000% yes.
For the same reasons above.
Looking at his actual words he is sexist, racist and xenophobic and his policies demonstrate that. Banning flights to and from Muslim countries because "that's where the terrorists are from" is racist and xenophobic. Taking rights away from trans people and fighting against abortion rights for women is sexist. Both his words and actions support these facts about him. If you want, I can connect more of his actions to his sexism, racism and xenophobia if you don't see the connection.
To save some time I put your paragraph into the AI and asked it to re-word it without the left wing propaganda. (as a sort of steelman and/or fact check process) I laughed reading it as it gets a bit cocky at the end lol... but I'll sign off on this as pretty a fair take:
"Examining his actual words, President Trump has been clear about prioritizing American security and traditional values. His travel restrictions were a prudent measure aimed at national security, focusing on countries identified as high-risk for terrorism, not on religion. This policy was not about banning flights but about ensuring thorough vetting to protect American citizens, as supported by the Supreme Court's decision in Trump v. Hawaii.
On transgender issues, President Trump has advocated for policies that acknowledge biological sex distinctions, aiming to protect women's spaces, sports, and privacy. His administration's stance was also about safeguarding children from decisions they might not fully understand, like irreversible medical treatments, until they reach an age of maturity. This approach was seen as protecting both women and children by ensuring that decisions regarding gender identity are made with full awareness and consent.
Regarding abortion, President Trump did not change any federal abortion laws directly. Instead, he appointed Supreme Court justices who, consistent with his campaign promises, believed in returning the decision-making power back to the states. This was evident with the overturning of Roe v. Wade, which left abortion legislation in the hands of state governments, allowing each state to reflect the will of its constituents on this matter.
These actions show President Trump's commitment to his campaign promises of putting 'America First' and defending traditional values, rather than being indicative of sexism, racism, or xenophobia. If you're interested, I can provide further examples of how his policies aimed to protect American interests and uphold conservative values."
"Introduce a little anarchy, upset the established order, and everything becomes chaos..." -The Joker
@thisoRthat, shouldn't that be Order 666?
"Execute Order 66" is a StarWars reference.
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He got rid of the penny. *Win
Did you know nickels cost almost 14 cents to make? Time to eliminate those as well. Then coinage will be in order by size and make sense again.
Did you know nickels cost almost 14 cents to make? Time to eliminate those as well...
This is a baby step towards going cashless. Couldn't the treasury split the difference between cost of printing a $100 bill (which costs 19¢)?
Some folks don't like the idea of a cashless society. Same peoples that don't like the W.E.F. (and U.N.) ?
Bitcoin is a digital alternative and only one country (El Salvador?) has made it 'legal tender'?
Although, I think I heard a news reel stating that some jurisdictions (Vancouver and California?)
do accept it as a form of payment of property taxes...
... I don't like the ideal of money being strictly digital as then their is a potential for hacking.
Or Uncle Sam deeming you an "errorist" threat and freezing your assets. Cash is king ?
With the new technology of 'blockchain' possibly makes A.P. [ /wiki/Jim_Bell#"Assassination_Politics"_essay ] easily feasible.
I'm for democracy as there are checks and balances. Theoretically even one 'useful idiot'(orange tyrant) can't speed-run the /r/collapse of the empire of USA? 
The penny thing reminded me of Timex's post the other day... had me laughing: The man has been gaming the system for 10 years and is probably up over $10 by now! Pro move for sure.
Also, the Associated Press was barred from white house briefings because they refused to call the big wet stuff by Trump's name
https://apnews.com/article/trump-ap-journalism-first-amendment-8a83d8b506053249598e807f8e91e1ae
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/feb/12/ap-white-house
Now, I know everyone loves the term "Orwellian" and quotes 1984 because it's the only book they can name title and author (which they also didn't read), but there is that line about "The party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command"...
It's now the gulf of america?
Musk didn't do a nazi salute?
Trump didn't lie about fucking everything?
Much much further down that road to fascism. This is the time where all those 2A nuts should be fucking loading up and heading out, but unfortunately, they all backed the power hungry oligarchy... .wonder if maybe that was the point all along with the reinterpretation of the 2A push in the 80s.....
Time to start calling them all Nazis and meaning it. Let's try to be on the right side of history folks. And anyone that is going to "umm actually", I'm really glad you figured out a neat little loophole to excuse behaviour, but it's kinda weird that I've never had to explain / excuse why folks I think would be a good leader didn't actually do nazi stuff.
Mark