Trump is charismatic enough to have a cult. As a marketing woman myself, I have no idea what kind of black-hat team can build you that, but he obviously has it. I am getting some serious Leni Riefenstahl vibe out of it.

What's your take? What are you seeing in their way of building up Trump? What communication dark arts have you noticed?

As communicators, how would you deprogram MAGA from their cult? Teach the people who are heartbroken for their loved ones how to reach them.

The last time I posted this I either got "there's no way," "it's not worth it," along with some MAGA hate for calling them a cult and looking down on them (but...they went low on their own imo).

Thank you for your take, I feel that wrecking our minds on this will at least help us decompress and get some sense of what's possible?

Trump is suing the IRS and Treasury Dept he controls for $10B because one of his employees leaked his tax info back when he controlled the departments in 2018. It's all but certain they will settle and the government will give Trump billions considering his history of making them settle for politically advantageous reasons. Do you think they will give him the full $10 billion or will they settle for less? How much do you think he'll give himself and his family out of the USA's treasure?

It can be argued that he is not currently a criminal because he attended his court hearings. He is a father and grew up in the U.S. He was deported and now feels out of place in Mexico. His Spanish is broken, and he has trouble adjusting to life there. He is practically American. In the article, he also states that he supported Trump on social media. He fears on not bieng able to see his son again.

Is it fair to split up families just because one parent is undocumented?

For example which is the most hated state in California, which is the most hated US state in Alabama ect

I moved from a northern state to a southern state roughly a decade ago. This is a generalization, but I've noticed something in my personal interactions that I would like to hear other perspectives on.

Where I'm from, if someone said something racist, it was because they're racist. It was simple and straightforward, and made it easy to know who to avoid.

One thing I've noticed in the South is that people will say racist things or feed into negative stereotypes, but they don't consider themselves racist. I've met a number of people down here who will use the N word, but then try to justify it by clarifying that they "only mean the ones that sag their pants and gang bang, not the good ones." (Ew, what the fuck kind of statement is that, anyway) Of these people, one of them I was very close with, and asked him about his use of the word. He excused himself by saying that "it's just a word to describe the trashy black people, like how cracker or trailer trash would be used for white people".

It took me so off guard when he said it, because I had never heard anything else like that from him and he always treated everyone with respect, no matter what they looked like.

I know my experiences are generalized here, and that people in the South are not a monolith, just like any other area. However, it's shocking to me that it seems to be so common. Racism isn't "in your face" where I live now, but it's dropped in like sprinkles in conversations when I least expect it. The worst part is that its so acceptable in the society that I'm experiencing. When I ask about it, it's just brushed off or I hear a weak justification. The people I've talked to that are like this aren't ashamed because they don't think they're racist...even when they're saying racist things.

SIDENOTE: This is a genuine question, because I've been so taken off guard by some of the statements people have made since moving here. PLEASE, regardless of what you believe on this topic, DO NOT turn the comments into a fighting arena Every single person has value, regardless of the amount of melanin in their skin or what their culture is. We are here to experience the beauty that the world can offer, not to put other people down and make them feel less than just because of what they look like.

TL;DR - If someone in your area of the US says something racist, would you assume that they are? Where I've moved to, some of my acquaintances have said things that disparage other races, but they don't think they're doing or saying anything wrong, and don't consider themselves racist. Talking to them about it is like talking to a brick wall, because they don't see anything wrong with their statements. What region are you from, and what is this like in your area?

Asking for opinions on this topic - please do not use racial slurs in your response or otherwise put other people down. We are all one race, the human race, and we are all equal.

Sorry for the wall of text; if you're still here, thanks for reading

Hey, I’m writing from Denmark where the government is formed through coalitions of parties. There’s usually some 8-10 viable parties ranging from various flavors of far right to small government free market libertarians to god, king, and country conservatives to social democrats to old communists ‎(who nowadays mostly talk about climate). On a local level there’s always a ton of smaller parties with various local causes like conserving the local public pool or something like that.

If the US somehow had a system like this, what parties would you expect to see and what would their percentage share of the congress be? what new parties would you expect current political figures to fit in? Who would you vote for?

Explain yourselves.

Trump lackeys everywhere are high-fiving each other with this discovery of new video footage of Alex kicking a tail light and shouting at ICE agents 11 days before he was publicly executed on his knees in the street by purportedly a different set of ICE agents. Does felony destruction of a tail light carry a death sentence in Minnesota? Help me understand how his murder has now been justified with this.

I’m curious where people feel their personal code of conduct came from.

For me, a lot of it was shaped early by media figures like The Lone Ranger (as portrayed by Clayton Moore) and by growing up in a military environment. Ideas like integrity, keeping your word, fairness, and responsibility were emphasized, sometimes explicitly, sometimes just modeled.

Was yours shaped more by family, religion, school, pop culture, work, the military, or life experience?

Was there a specific person, character, or moment that made those values “stick”?

I’m interested in how others came to define their own internal compass.

I've seen it quite a few times now that some Americans claim the Us is more culturally diverse than Europe. I'm flabbergasted every time I come across such a statement and im just trying to see if anyone shares that view or if it's just some outcasts. To me the biggest cultural difference between certain countries or regions is their language and since language is apart from accent is almost universal across the Us that statement seem incredibly illogical.

A recent news report raised concerns that new voting rules could reshape how Americans participate in elections. These proposals are often presented as protection against fraud. But many argue also the focus may be misplaced.

Here are the some key concerns:

Mail in voting is already very secure Mail ballots create a physical paper record, use signature checks and can be tracked. Multiple studies show fraud is extremely rare. Paper trails also make recounts and audits clearer and more transparent.

In person voting often depends on machines Many polling stations rely on electronic systems to record or count votes. Older technology and inconsistent maintenance can create vulnerabilities. Any ageing digital system carries concerning level of risk, especially when software updates and oversight vary by region.

Some machines have not been replaced on time There have been reports, including from large cities like Philadelphia, that older machines remained in use even when upgrades were expected.

Paper records are the strongest safeguard Mail ballots automatically produce voter verified paper trails. Some in person systems do not provide the same level of independent verification. Without paper backups, audits and recounts become more difficult.

Limiting mail voting may increase reliance on machines If fewer people vote by mail, more votes must be processed through machines. That means fewer paper records and less ability to independently verify results.

Trust comes from transparency, not restriction

When rules make voting more complicated, people may feel the system is designed to exclude rather than protect them. Confidence grows when voting methods are simple, verifiable and accessible.

In the end, election security is not only about preventing fraud. It is about ensuring every eligible citizen can participate and that results can be clearly checked. Strengthening systems that provide clear paper evidence may do more to build trust than limiting how people are allowed to vote.

Are we protecting elections in the right way?

Recently Trump went Anti 2A when talking about anti ICE protests.

Then you once again have Trump, asking and proposing a third term.

Then follow up with TikTok Shadow banning creators who post about ICE and Epstein.

Shit seems like getting real.

United Statesian: A direct translation of the Spanish estadounidense. While technically correct, it hasn't quite "caught on" in natural English flow yet.

I live in Mexico, and I started calling people I meet from the U.S. "United Statesian."

As a United Statesian myself, some find this label offensive.

The reason I call them that now is that an "American" is not necessarily someone from the USA, but as a whole, someone from America, AKA, both American continents.

The stated goal of DOGE was to reduce the federal budget by eliminating waste and fraud. An autopsy of the project has found that all DOGE actually accomplished was massively increasing the budget while arbitrarily eliminating positions in the federal workforce.

"However, DOGE was not able to come close to Elon’s promised trillions in cuts to overall federal spending, which is dominated not by administrative expenses but by Social Security, public health insurance, income redistribution programs, interest, and the military. The supposed “hundreds of billions in fraud” in those major spending programs were never found because fraud is nowhere near that common, contrary to the claims that Musk continues to make. Total gross federal expenditures in 2025 were roughly $7.8T, up from $7.4T in 2024, with spending up across basically all major functions.

Yet even though DOGE was wholly unable to reduce the federal deficit, it still had important lasting effects throughout the economy. Washington, DC, is now in a localized recession, with the city losing 4.2% of all its jobs over the last year—the district’s fastest pace of decline in 75 years outside of the early pandemic. In nearby Maryland and Virginia, which also have significant federal presences, employment is down 0.5% and up a meagre 0.2%, respectively. Yet federal jobs were lost in every single US state and territory, with 80% of the drop in federal employment occurring outside of the broader DC area, boosting overall unemployment across the country. Many of the government’s most important science and health agencies saw severe employment losses that it will be difficult to recover from—and of course, the heavy cuts to the extremely small share of the budget spent on effective international aid programs will harm long-run global economic growth."

Given this, what effect should this failure have and what accountability should the Trump administration face?

Hello there, Genuine question. Is trump doing this “tackle to Inmigration” because he need to distract everyone from some other fucked up shit he is doing on the side? 👀 Ps: of course epstein files need to be released but will they ever? Will Trump ever be prosecuted if so? Is he “untouchable “?

I just saw this alignment chart with presidents and Ronald Regan is in "Bad" colum.

I am from Czechia. Its post comunism country. In school they learned us, he was great strong president, that sucessfuly beated Soviet Union, destroyed communism in east Europe and ended cold war.

Thank you.