tophernator

Ignoring the main one for a moment, I just heard that Mike Lindell is still disputing the results of the Republican primary for Minnesota Governor which took place two weeks ago.

On election night there were clips of him telling the press that he didn’t care who had called the race for whom, he wasn’t going to conceded until it was mathematically impossible for him to win. Counting continued and he lost by 11 points and 45 thousand votes. But by then he had already started talking about irregularities and votes being flipped etc. all in a Republican primary in a deeply blue state.

Other than reputation, Lindel

US population density is still a small fraction of most other developed nations.

The big existential crisis facing the US is that it’s unlikely to continue being the biggest most important economy in the coming decades. China is almost guaranteed to overtake it, and India is likely to keep jumping up the rankings too. In both cases because they have more scope for easy growth as they catch up to western living standards, and they have about four times the US population.

So surely the easiest and maybe only way for the US to maintai

During his Mt Rushmore speech Trump called for the filibuster to be ended specifically to pass the SAVE America act and promised that Republicans won’t lose another election for 100 years if they do that.

Do you think this should happen?

Do you think this will happen?

Timestamp 6:35

https://youtube/92sUIoon46g?si=jOc3wrZrla4wVyFC

I’m currently rewatching Babylon 5 and mentally comparing it to the Star Trek shows of the 90s. It struck me that while the universes are very different, they both seem to lean fairly leftwing. Are there any shows/films where you see conservative values represented in a positive light?

This video shows a senator questioning four nominees for judicial positions. He asks one of them about the 22nd amendment and whether Trump is eligible to run for a third term in 2028, then opened the question to the other nominees and none of them are willing to say it.

https://youtu.be/M1xgUtXBGoQ?si=2iKn2TOmB0qryENY

So what’s the deal here? Why do you (particularly people who support Trump) think that these nominees can’t state this simple constitutional fact? Do you think they expect him to try for a third term? Do you think they’re just scared of saying there’s anything he can’t do, regardless of whether he’s going to or not?

https://www.pravda.com.ua/eng/news/2026/04/18/8030666/

Thursday the Treasury secretary makes a public statement saying one thing, Saturday the Treasury publishes a memo saying the opposite. I’m not aware of any obvious change that happened in those 48 hours. So do you think the Treasury Secretary doesn’t know what the administration’s policies are on a day to day basis? Or is this deliberate deception/market manipulation?

I think at least the last three elections have been dominated by flaws in the two party system and first past the post voting.

E.g. 2016:

The DNC wanted Clinton over Sanders because Sanders isn’t actually a Dem. Sanders supporters got pissed off and likely some stayed home in protest.

The GOP similarly didn’t really want Trump because he’s not really conservative or Republican. They let the primary play out fairly. The wide field of mainstream candidates split the conservative vote 10 ways, and Trump won the primary on MAGA.

The final vote then had some people voting for candidates they didn’t like because at least they had the right letter next to the name, and others refusing to vote

“Oil traders bet millions minutes before Trump's Iran talks post”

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cg547ljepvzo

The trading volume charts are pretty damning. Some people clearly knew that Trump was about to publicly cancel his attacks on Iranian energy infrastructure, and they bet $150 million on oil contracts minutes before he posted.

I would think this is the sort of leak the administration should be able to track. The chain of people who know what Trump is going to post before it happens seems like it must be pretty small.

I would argue that for any negotiator or deal maker the ability to put yourself in the other person’s shoes and consider how you would respond is pretty crucial.

I think even most of Trump’s fans would agree that he is pretty thin skinned and can be quite vindictive when people have criticised him. He’s also very stubborn, generally refusing to admit to being wrong or making mistakes.

So logically if Trump wants to get something out of another head of state or the opposition party, and he was projecting himself into their position, wouldn’t you expect him to respectfully make them a highly transactional offer. I.e. something that would benefit them personally even if it was at the expense

Economics is neat/messy because you can often argue in both directions, e.g. strong dollar increases US buying power, weak dollar strengthens exports. Low unemployment is good, but too low unemployment stifles business growth. Etc etc

So I’m wondering which metrics you personally think the US needs to improve upon at the moment, and whether you think current policy will achieve that on a politically important timescale?

https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/116094375393499963

THE UNITED STATES TRADE DEFICIT HAS BEEN REDUCED BY 78% BECAUSE OF THE TARIFFS BEING CHARGED TO OTHER COMPANIES AND COUNTRIES. IT WILL GO INTO POSITIVE TERRITORY DURING THIS YEAR, FOR THE FIRST TIME IN MANY DECADES. THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION TO THIS MATTER!

I can’t find any other source for this 78% figure. In fact every other source seems to say the deficit increased. Does anyone know where Trump’s figure is coming from?

Lutnick previously gave a lengthy detailed explanation about how he and his wife only visited their nextdoor neighbour Epstein once. They both thought he was a major creep and agreed to never have anything to do with him again. And that all happened years before his 2008 conviction.

The latest release of files shows that this story was very false. With Lutnick emailing back and forth with Epstein years after his conviction and arranging to bring the whole family to visit the island.

https://www.ctvnews.ca/world/article/commerce-secretary-lutnick-planned-lunch-on-epsteins-island-new-release-shows/

Should a cabinet member (or politicians in general) be allowed to get away with this level of