he loves his bribes

- It's the ~~elephant~~ horse in the room, and it's braying.

Offered him a tower and a plane. They're trolling the US.
- Next they’ll offer him another very similar tower, perhaps twin-like.
- The UK is offering steel beams.

Well it was US who backed them in the first place.

I hate corruption in all forms, but I love the fact that Israel (edit: Israeli government) is freaking the fuck out right now because the Middle East just realized all they have to do is bribe Trump.
Israeli government is pissed right now, and that’s awesome….
But also, stop pretending like just about every politician in Washington doesn’t also take legalized bribes
- I hate corruption in all forms, but I love the fact that Israel is freaking the fuck out right now because the Middle East just realized all they have to do is bribe Trump.
  Hey, maybe netanyahu being upset will cause democrats to actually oppose something trump is doing.
  
  I don’t have much faith in that he does seem hellbent on being the most bad ass terrorist in the world though?
- This is bad. And these same people the Republicans where trying to find anything on Biden about bribery. But are silent on this stuff that Trump is doing in the open.
  
  We need to protect journalists, but unfortunately I don’t know of any
- israel can have their mountain but they must leave the buffer zone

I find in endlessly funny that we've been screaming at the democrats to leverage Israel more to end hostilities in the ME without any real movement from them, but suddenly Trump is willing to say 'fuck it' just because the right people happen to be bribing him.
If the right people keep trump's palms greased for long enough we might actually end up on the right side of history by accident, and if that's not comedy I don't know what is.
- Someone posted a good picture of the locking mechanism called the "ratchet effect" that democrats/neo-liberals provide for the ruling class.
  Essentially, Republicans get to do whatever they want to enrich our rulers, and democrats are there to stop the workers from reversing any of the gains.
- By siding with al qaeda?
  
  Tell me you don't know who Ahmed al-Sharaa is without telling me you don't know who Ahmed al-Sharaa is.

All of those January 6th people who were freaking out about losing their country... where are they now? Hmmmm.
Fucking hypocrites.
- Yes, I'm sure that the thing that will finally get Jan 6'ers to turn on Trump is checks notes lifting sanctions on Syria.

The crowd that went on about a laptop for 5 years suddenly don't care about The President getting a whole ass jet and tower as a gift. But they aren't a cult. Only decorum and the law matters when Dems are in power.
- BUTTERY MALES!!!!!!!!!

He did quid pro quo with Ukraine his first term and he got away with it so why not keep doing it.

I am not arguing with the obvious corruption, but to provide a counterpoint to the second part of the argument: if we aren't allowed to make peace with former terrorists, then we can never stop fighting each other, and if we keep fighting each other, then we will keep creating the next generation of terrorists.
- My first thoughts of Al-Sharaa was that he was serious about reform from the Assad regime. I realized I haven't followed up much on how things are going though, so if y'all wanna correct me go for it.
- Its the same neocons who wanted Biden to stay in Afghanistan. Anyone who thinks neocons have a popular base is a gigantic moron. The amount of neocon voters is roughly equivalent to Americans with a transatlantic accent.
  
  Excuse you, Tom Lehrer is far from a neocon.
  I may also be biased because I grew up in Seattle so I learned English by watching Frasier. I got bullied a lot.
- Yes but the deal almost certainly has nothing to do with peace.
  
  Maybe they're hoping for a yemen type deal, where syrians will only get murdered by zios and not by zios plus USA.
  https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/3/25/at-least-six-people-killed-in-israeli-attacks-on-southern-syria
  
  Broken clocks…

I ran out of outrage about two months ago.
- That was likely the plan. Gl
  
  you have to find balance. the holocaust survivors who taught me how to resist an authoritarian taught me you absolutely must rest, take time to take care of yourself and your family, and mourn your losses. but that period of rest must never be forever. you can't survive if you simply choose to wait it out. but you also can't survive if you break yourself fighting back early in the fight
  
  It’s like running an engine at redline forever. It’s not sustainable. Something’s gotta give.
- Okay, now that you're past the initial outrage stage and able to think with a clear, focused head about this emergency, what action are you going to take?
  (Unless you're not from the USA in which case my apologies)

Corruption is a hell of a drug!

This post reeks of Israeli propaganda. Ahmed al-Sharaa renounced al-Qaeda many years ago and has a lengthy, demonstrated record as a moderate, inclusive leader who fought both the Assad regime and ISIS at the same time. A moderate Arab leader who protects ethnic minorities is a threat to the Israeli narrative about their neighbors.
- It's still corruption tho. Whether or not they misrepresent that dude I know nothing about doesn't take away from the fact that Trump is as easily bribed as a toddler.
  
  No argument here about Trump, but I think the misrepresentation is problematic
- If we are denouncing Guerilla/insurgent/rebel leaders offhand for basically fighting against imperialists and dictators, even if their methods aren't bloodless or ethical, then we would also need to denounce José Mujica, former president of Uruguay who died today, one of the most progressive and honest leftist leaders the world has known.
  
  Are you really going to compare the fight to restore democracy from a military coup as the same as trying to install a theocratic dictatorship
- You totally read my mind. The campaigners against Trump for aligning a little bit with some Arab countries (through bribes of course) totally normalize the infiltration of the Israelis into the western governments. AIPAC literally bribes politicians and boasts about it continuously and of course the politicians return the favor by funneling more taxpayer money to Israel.
  Also, remember how Israel rigged theatrical disputes with Biden administration, only for us to discover later there was zero pressure from the Biden administration on the Israelis whatsoever. The Biden administration literally was in on the genocide as much as the Israelis. The Israelis like to play along and pretend they lack enough support so they can suck even more western resources.
  
  Also, remember how Israel rigged theatrical disputes with Biden administration, only for us to discover later there was zero pressure from the Biden administration on the Israelis whatsoever. The Biden administration literally was in on the genocide as much as the Israelis. The Israelis like to play along and pretend they lack enough support so they can suck even more western resources.
  source please
- Yeah dude is phony AF.
  Ed Krassenstein Faces Backlash Over Racially Insensitive Post Amid FBI Raid and $500,000 Forfeiture
  The Hypocrisy Of Ed Krassenstein
- Tbf the fact that the Israelis are putting out propaganda in this issue is, in my opinion, a tiny bit of a good thing. If a wedge is driven between Trump and Bibi over this it is a good thing.
  It is terrible in every way, shape or form, but if this turns out to make Trump shift policy in the middle east, whatever the reason, might have a sliver of good in it.
- Syrians deserve peace and stability, but that is not at all what is being offered here. Sanctions are cruel, and it's worth celebrating that they've been lifted, but the cost looks like it's going to be an international effort to pillage and exploit Syria.
  These puppets did nothing while israel systematically bombed most of Assad's leftover military infrastructure, stockpiles, and vehicles. Literally hundreds of airstrikes without any meaningful response. They're barely disputing occupied territories, even as they expand. Instead they've gotten into border skirmishes with Lebanon, attacked the Syrian Druze, and killed thousands of Alawites.
  The testimonies of coastal massacre escapees are harrowing. There are more widely publicized stories of door to door executions, but there's another pattern I heard described several times by people that lived in smaller villages.
  Security forces would show up in uniform during the day, ask around about locals and their backgrounds, and disarm the population while assuring them that they would be protected. Then at night, there would be a brutal attack, and what I heard again and again is that the groups doing this are one and the same.
  
  It's ludicrous to describe this demon as protecting ethnic minorities while his forces have systematically killed thousands in an ethnic cleansing campaign. There were a few scattered clashes with Assad loyalist forces, but Alawite civilians were then described as such in order to justify liquidating entire villages.
  Just because this monster puts on a suit, gets some official uniforms for his dogs to wear for the public, it does not change who he is and what he does. Don't be fooled by the hollow condemnation of what he dismisses as the actions of extremist elements. This entire regime change operation has been undertaken not by Syrians seeking liberation, but by foreign powers conspiring to strip the country and its people for parts.
  Thousands of Syrians trusted this new regime, believed it could be a step in the right direction, and were instead brutalized and exterminated. al-Jolani is an implant and a foreign instrument, and he's given himself 4-5 years in power. Syrians did not choose him, other states did.
  
  Afaik there's no evidence that al-Sharaa ordered those attacks on Alawites.
  One thing to understand is that Syria is in an extremely unstable situation at the moment. Al-Sharaa is leader of an already fragile group of militants/terrorists that's barely held together. He can't afford war with Israel, because the resulting counter-attack might shatter his government. He's not fully in control either, leading to these horrible attacks on minorities by certain wings of the armed forces. Militants he has less control over still seek revenge against the Alawites for their support of Assad.
  He basically needs to stabilize the country, centralize control and demonstrate that Syria will rapidly improve under his rule. That is no easy task, and it's imo not surprising that the civil war is not over yet in certain parts of the country.
  IIRC the EU put as precondition of sanction relief that he gets the militants under control and stops the attacks on minorities. I don't know for certain that he will or even wants to (he might be a moderate amongst militant Islamists but that's still fairly extreme), but I also don't have conclusive evidence that he won't.

..... and no one should put all the blame on one man ... he isn't that powerful or persuasive
It's a complicit government that had decided to allow this orange menace to do as he pleases because it benefits some wealthy owners.
It's a lot easier to blame one man because it would remove the complicity of a large organization of people that are driving all this.
- So they just SAY they will build this tower, not they are building it. What's the chances they aren't building shit but told our dumb fuck president this to get this done? I think pretty high. They can strimg him along, because they know he will be gone in four years either by end of presidency or death.
  
  And that is what I don't get. He is so easily wooed by stuff. The UK trade agreement is not great, but he flounts the high tariffs that the importers will have to pay. Someone dangles a picture of something shiny and he jumps. This is so weird
- It's easy to just blame the government. When the reality is there is an entire complicit class of voters voting them in
  
  Agreed. But when critical thinking is systematically being removed from the education system, well, you see what happens.
  
  there is also the rest of us who don't do anything to stop him and his regime.
- Blame lies on the judicial branch for not putting him on the chair for his coup attempt and instead telling before elections he can do whatever he wants, legally.
  
  the blame lies on every one of us. we know exactly what is going on, that the government is broken, and yet we do nothing. we are the last guardrails of this democracy. if we don't do something, this is the people's fault.

The really ugly thing here is, al-Sharaa is the best thing to happen to Syria in decades. Most people have been urging recognition of his government and the relaxation of sanctions because he's about as good we can expect a leader of Syria to be.
And he is still bribing Trump.
This isn't merely corruption. This is the *normalization * of corruption. Even countries that abide by democratic norms and international law are going to need to grease palms to conduct regular diplomatic relations. The EU and UK and Canada might be able to weather his bullshit until he folds like he always does, but developing nations will be stuck trying to bid for American favor.
Welcome to the Chinese century.
- al-Sharaa is the best thing to happen to Syria in decades
  Could we please stop? He's a jihadist saying pleasant things to Europeans and Americans with nobody caring whether they are true.
  
  Everyone in Syria is facing their own personal jihad - best of luck to them.
  
  The louder the west screams about him being a Jihadist, the more I trust him to do the right thing in Syria
  
  He's at least trying to put on a facade of meaning them, which is about as good as Syria has had it in my life time.
- Ok comment until the random sinophobic punchline. Imagine blaming this on chinese people. jfc.
  
  I don't know if that's blame, or just acknowledging that USA's general direction leads to China becoming 'the' world power by USA forfeitting their soft power around the world.
  
  I'm not. I'm saying this will lead to China becoming the premier world power instead of us.
  Imagine having reading comprehension skills. jfc
  
  It's not sinophobic to recognize who will be filling the power vacuum
  
  I believe they meant that China will become the dominant power after the US finishes torpedoing itself.
  
  I'm not sure if this is blaming it on China, but acknowledging that China might be picking up after the downfall of the USA.

My new conspiracy theory: Vance is a made man for the Technate, and the plan has always been to get him into the Presidency. Trump will be enabled to act as corruptly as he wants, until an impeachment succeeds. Vance will step in and fulfill Thiel's program. Trump lands softly, and the Matrix is built.
- until an impeachment succeeds
  I found a flaw in your theory
  
  dammit. I think you're right.

This needs to be posted in every single LOOK WHAT HE DID NOW thread
- we americans are pathetic. it seems like we fall into one of these categories:
  christo fascists who voted for him
  suburban sociopaths who voted for him
  clueless libertarians who either voted for him or absolve themselves of any responsibility
  NPR liberals who are basically useless pacifists
  millennial/gen Z cowards who can't even drive a manual trans, much less start a revolution
  it's fucking hopeless and we deserve this. i'm building a bunker. fuck every one of you.-
  
  If you had all the levers of wealth and power in the world, or if you as an individual had access to just one of them, wouldn't you do your part to build this kind of passive society too? Otherwise you might have to worry about your access to these levers and therefore your power being usurped. There are many ways to manipulate a person to work against their own interests, which are almost entirely concentrated into the hands of the wealthy owning class.
  This is a problem of class antagonism, not the complicity and/or ignorance of the individually powerless. As a class we have to rise beyond these antagonisms; their manipulation of us into a class that passively allows them to profit from our labor and pays no mind to their corruption; by teaching class consciousness to the other members of our class. That is just as much on you and I as it is on anyone else.
  
  Hey, I'm driving a manual trans don't be putting that on my whole generation.
  The problem is: nobody wants to die, we all are fed and fat, our education system has been being weakened for 40 years now, did I mention the whole not dying part?
  I'm hopeful that our institutions are strong enough to hold until the midterm elections, Dems will take Congress with a strong majority and we can avoid mass bloodshed and actually impeach the guy and get him convicted. No doubt that may be a long shot and people will suffer but I'm not violent revolution is anywhere in the cards anytime soon.
  Edit: just to be clear, I do wish we were and kind of could do more. This is just my realist take

Here's my most optimistic take for Americans. This guy is not as bad as Hitler. He's out to scam the world, not conquer it militarily. So that's a plus, for now. If his successor is Vance then the invasion of Canada and Mexico might actually happen.
- Yeah, at least he aint sending anyone he doesn't like to labour and death camps, replacing everyone with loyalists and doesn't talk of invading random neighbours
  
  Yeah ok so he's not as bad as late Hitler.
- This guy is not as bad as Hitler.
  The jury is still out on that, but it's not looking good. Hitler took power in 1933, and didn't start his first euthanasia program until 1936, and it didn't really get going until after the establishment of the first death facility in Chelmno in 1941. Between those years, Hitler consolidated his power, reconfigured the government, and began rounding up his enemies.
  HitlerPig took power in 2024, and is already making the exact same moves as Hitler. If he sticks with a similar timeline, he starts murdering his enemies in 2027.
  Hitler's first victims were the mentally and physically handicapped. HitlerPig's henchman RFK, Jr., has already announced that they're starting a database of Autistic people, which they want to pretend doesn't really exist. We've already seen that these scientific Neanderthals think that the best way to improve concerning statistics is to get rid of the statistics (Remember how HitlerPig didn't want a Covid testing program because that would increase the numbers?), and so the most efficient way to win the "war" on autism, is to get rid of all the aughties, and prohibit anyone else to be diagnosed with it. Hurray! MAGA cured autism!
  Hitler ordered the construction of Dachau in his first year in power (1933). HitlerPig has already started building his first American concentration camp in Guantanamo Bay to hold 30,000 people. To provide context, the average maximum security prison in America hold 800-1200 prisoners, with the largest being the prison in Angola, LA, which holds 8300. That means the new concentration camp is almost 4x larger than our largest max security prison, which is already several times larger than the average. They are already sending people to El Salvador, and are negotiating a deal with Rwanda as well. Clearly, they intend to lock up a lot of people.
  It needs to be stressed that HitlerPig's closest advisor, Stephen "PeeWee Himmler" Miller, is an avowed Nazi. In his mind, the only thing the Nazis did wrong is that they weren't decisively harsh enough. He has said that he wants to reduce the population of America from 335 million to 100 million white people. That's 235 million people, about 70% of our current population, far more than the paltry 6 million deaths is assigned to Hitler.
  I think your statement should be amended to read:
  This guy is not as bad as Hitler...
  ...YET
  
  if you've heard about Alfred Hugenberg you would know that this is currently going exactly the same as Nazi Germany, down the exactly how Musk is influencing the media. https://www.iheart.com/podcast/105-behind-the-bastards-29236323/episode/part-one-alfred-hugenberg-the-elon-271993970/
  like it's almost to the letter the nazi playbook. saying this isn't as bad as Hitler is just ignoring history.
  “One of the great ironies of how democracies die is that the very defense of democracy is often used as a pretext for its subversion. Would-be autocrats often use economic crises, natural disasters, and especially security threats—wars, armed insurgencies, or terrorist attacks—to justify antidemocratic measures.”
  “Because there is no single moment—no coup, declaration of martial law, or suspension of the constitution—in which the regime obviously “crosses the line” into dictatorship, nothing may set off society’s alarm bells. Those who denounce government abuse may be dismissed as exaggerating or crying wolf. Democracy’s erosion is, for many, almost imperceptible.” ― Steven Levitsky, How Democracies Die: What History Reveals About Our Future
- But the people manipulating him are as bad as Hitler.
  
  Exactly.
  I said it for many years. Trump only cares about Trump and no one and nothing else. He doesn't believe in anything other than having his ego stoked and being enriched. The leaders of the world are absolutely laughing at him, but they also want him in power because he is so fucking easy to manipulate.
- What a world we live in, where calling someone not as bad as Hitler is an optimistic take
  
  not as bad as Hitler
- If his successor is Vance then the invasion of Canada and Mexico might actually happen.
  Is Mexico a major furniture manufacturing country?

Lifting sanctions on Syria is not wrong just because Trump does it. Biden/Harris would probably have done it too, and rightly so because this guy as the ruler of Syria is the best the US can get.
- Yeah, to add a different perspective, but largely agreeing.
  The Americans have unnecessarily squeezed this new regime in Syria for months more than they needed to, international aid agencies that could provide some stability in the country haven't been able to enter due to these sanctions, Rest is Politics UK spoke in better detail about this a few months back.
  Biden had a smallish wondow of a chance to give this regime a go, Trump has had ample time. In this case, it seems America's corruption may have circumvented their stubborn prejudice and evangelism.
  Bad action; good result? On balance at least?

Huh?
Not that long ago CNN was writing puff pieces about how he'd "moved on" from his radical past. Around the same time, Biden removed a bounty the US had had on him. He's capitulated a bunch to Israel and done just about everything he can to appease the US.
Some of us flag burning commies are critical of him ~~because we blindly hate anyone on America's side~~ for capitulating to Israel and privatizing the economy, and have been skeptical about the mainstream narrative of him moving past his past. We were also skeptical about this whole project of arming "moderate rebels" like him in Syria, fearing that it would destabilize the region. But even I would say, now that he's in, that trying to replace him would probably just destabilize the region even further.
Idk who this Ed Krassenstein is but his name is red in Shinigami Eyes and his bio describes himself as an "AI and Crypto futurist" so he's not one of ours. So, uh, is this based on a coherent, informed position on Syria, or is this just a knee-jerk reaction to a headline?
If the US shouldn't accept Jolani as the leader of Syria, then what should they do? Find some more moderate rebels to support against the previous moderate rebels it supported? Have Israel and Turkey annex the entire country? Keep sanctioning them forever for no reason no matter how much they capitulate and cooperate? What exactly would that be aiming to accomplish?
- I almost thought that was Klippenstein instead of Krassenstein, and I was going to say he's a legit journalist.
  Yeah, the Krassenstein brothers are hack journalists, so you're not missing much by ignoring him.

The sanctions on Syria should be lifted, but WTF. I mean honestly. It will be interesting to see what Israel does from that as they generally want Syria destabilised. Could further add to the rift between Netanyahu and Trump.
- Yeah, this, the Saudis getting closer to him and the Quatari plane gift sounds like he's slowly realising the Arabs in general have more money while he's perhaps the one politician in the US who is immune to the AIPAC trying to primary him. And I would guess Israel hasn't even said thank you.
- It will be interesting to see what Israel does
  Interesting? I'll predict the future right now: The zios will continue to invade, murder people, and steal land.

MAGA is unjust and stupid.
- That's just the Trump brand.

I really hope for once Congress does its job and MAGA actually fights him on this, since some have already been saying this is too much even for them, starting with the plane.
Let it be on the record yet again that Trump does not have a luxury plane retrofitted with millions in taxpayer money - not because he refused the bribe, but because he was barred from accepting it. Refusing a bribe =/= Having a bribe forcibly taken from your hands.
Let him not gain anything from it or this, but still have that ethic shitstain smeared all across his face as he tries to gaslight the world with his lies. Not that he wouldn't try to claim that since he doesn't have the plane, it means he "refused" it, or "it was a joke all along".
- Qatar offered him a plane. This post is about Syria.
  
  Ok? What does it have to do with the fact that "Trump has opened the Presidency up for business/loves his bribes"? Feel free to narrow context outside of the point of my statement, as if either bribe is completely disconnected from the other, but the plane is still a really important catalyst for the rest - it's what signals "Qatar quid pro quo, then Syria quid pro quo, then somewhere else quid pro quo". I won't even say "quid pro quo with anyone", because that line is already being crossed right here with a terrorist, so that would be moot.
  Way more effective to cut the whole evil right at its root, where its most blatant, in order to stop the rest from spreading.
  
  What are you on about? Are you just reading a word or two in these comments and arguing with the first thing you come up with? Because I don't see how else you could miss their intended point so hard.

always has been.
the al-quaeda turned into what it was because of US money and support.

If the American public doesn't know what corruption is and does, I'm starting to wonder which countries do know.

Americans will just get mad post on Reddit and then go back to watching YouTube, Twitch in the hovel of their choice until ice comes for them and they will say no no not me you said it was the “others”. They are not watching the news. Bills to make furries the bad guys. Bills to make 2SLGBTQIA+ bad guys. Starting to grumble(by grumble I mean “we need to outlaw this stuff” talk) about what should and should not be on Twitch and other platforms. Grumbling about gamers and certain games. The list of buried stuff in the bills that are coming out is staggering.
They Came by Pastor Martin Niemöller
First they came for the Communists
\ And I did not speak out
\ Because I was not a Communist
\ Then they came for the Socialists
\ And I did not speak out
\ Because I was not a Socialist
\ Then they came for the trade unionists
\ And I did not speak out
\ Because I was not a trade unionist
\ Then they came for the Jews
\ And I did not speak out
\ Because I was not a Jew
\ Then they came for me
\ And there was no one left
\ To speak out for me
- What do you propose?
  You're not going to Luigi the guy, security is far tighter and he's had a couple "attempts". Protesting is happening and barely accomplishing anything. The judicial system is doing more than i expected but he's ignoring it in many cases. Congress WILL NOT impeach him unless there's a switch in party majorities but that's a ways off.
  
  I am not an american. All I know is if citizens just keep doing nothing the us will become just like the fascists in Germany did in WWII. It is up to them to do something or nothing. Time will tell.
  
  I mean, his enablers are just as guilty. The entire christofascist movement would have had a hard time getting anywhere if it weren't for a few key corporations providing the services and technological development required to enforce or at least facilitate the enforcement of this ideology. I am being intentionally vague here.
  All I know is that I go out of my way to discriminate against and fuck over people who support things that fuck me over.
  
  I often ask this too non Americans foolishly assume we aren't doing anything. the problem is that, or system is strategically designed to give us the illusion of a voice. same with the right to bear arms, if the state was ever worried about those arms being aimed at them we wouldn't have a service amendment.
  there's nothing really left to do with corruption actually the upper echelon, besides fed posting teir stuff which is unrealistic for many people.
- First they came for the sanctions against a country on the opposite side of the world 😔

Trump's MAGA is a terrorist aligned personality cult, confirmed.
- Don't forget treason and genocide.

This could have been avoided if one dude had better aim.
- That would've been a glorious day.
- Fred Trump?

Quids are the best Pro Quos

Talleyrand, I think, took bribes for shapes of the borders in treaties he affected.

Is this maybe taken out of context. Normalising relations with the new Syrian government is happening and Sharaa could have floated as a sign of more open trade and capital flows.
I think it's more likely to Sharaa trying to tell Trump what he wants to hear very successfully.
Trump is corrupt and a Trump tower is a very low price for normalising relations, Sharaa is playing to Trumps corrupt tendencies.
- My friend, even if this is the way to handle Trump, it's not okay for anyone. Imagine other leaders could be as easily bought. There's a reason we don't want bribery in politics.
  
  We already had bribery in politics, the media just doesn't talk about it like they do with Trump and other particularly egregious 'fall guys' like Clarence Thomas.
  
  I'd argue it's savvy and not corrupt by Sharaa. Just as selling weapons for concessions only he sold land for sanctions lifted. It's the US that has an incredibly self serving president and Syria with a leader that serves Syria.
  
  There's a reason the Supreme Court "normalized relations" with SuperPACs
  
  It’s clearly unethical and terrible, but I am now considering the possibilities.
  For instance, Elon Musk funds his campaign. Next thing you know, Trump is hocking EVs at the White House and MAGA is out buying Tesla.
  Want to support Ukraine? Tell Trump you’ll buy millions of his shitcoin in exchange for pressure on Russia.
  If you want climate action, go bribe Trump. If you can beat the oil companies at it, congrats, we can start to actually battle AGW by taking advantage of one severely corrupt individual who wields more power than he should.
  I fucking hate this state of things, but I see a silver lining.
- I would be surprised if some Trump minion with a backchannel didn't make the initial ask.

Wait, were we not loving Al-Sharaa months ago when he took the reins of the transitional gov't?
- Al-Sharaa is great, this post is not.
- The post is criticizing Trump...
  
  Really, calling someone “a known terrorist” is not a criticism?

Don's your uncle!

Calling the interim president of Syria a 'former terrorist' is... Well, it's something. I notice that not too many people are talking about how a large number of people that are in high-level Israeli positions were also terrorists that killed British diplomat families when Israel was trying to become independent. But when it's a brown dude...

None of this is for the United States. It's all for him. The greedy little piggy.
- This all reminds me of a conversation in Star Trek Deep Space 9. Season 5 episode 20
  For context Quark is talking with his mother Ishka about the qualities that the leader, the Nagus, of their hyper capitalist society should have.
  Quark: Of course not. He was willing to throw our entire economy into chaos just so he could grab power.
  Ishka: Sounds like a true Ferengi to me.
  Quark: A Ferengi, maybe, but not a Nagus. A Nagus has to be better than that. His personal greed has to reflect the public’s greed.

Yes, and?! What will americans do about it?!

literally it is what's had been. we have no spine

So, are mods here still going to delete comments that openly wish the PA sniper had just been 2 inches to the side?
- Honestly hasn't seemed to be a problem yet in my experience
  
  Oh, I've had several posts deleted related to trump, the PA sniper, and Luigi.
  I'm openly pro-Luigi, hope he gets off. I'm pro-PA sniper. And obviously anti-trump.
  My posts were mostly praising Luigi, and PA sniper. Not directly calling for further action, but praising past action.
  I've had posts deleted, but not banned.

Thank you

Lol Trump is becoming a bitch to every country that the FBI and CIA have spent a decade to show as the main baddies. I wonder how the red necks that have "Russia and Muslims are bad" engraved into their spinal cords are taking this?
- the FBI and CIA
  Who do you think helped put this dude in power? It's been decades of pumping these people with weapons, etc.
- Said rednecks have a soft spot for whatever Trump does. It won’t matter.
- I wonder how the red necks that have “Russia and Muslims are bad” engraved into their spinal cords are taking this?
  If he takes money from Russia, I'll confidently proclaim this world is done.

Doing Business with LITERAL TERRORISTS is a BIG BRAIN BUSINESS MOVE that will HELP the US!
-Patriotic Republicans!

The US invaded the Middle East though, so resistance was to be expected

- Seriously? You want us to engage in political violence because the administration dropped sanctions on a country whose violent, repressive dictator was just overthrown? Of all the things to go 2A over, you pick this?

He forgor 😔

Solve it like the French
- That's illegal!

Elect a corrupt businessman, get a corrupt official. In a way, I'm glad his grifts are so obvious; I prefer 'buy me a painfully obvious x and get y ' rather than the constant, covert insider trading. We know what business he's doing. I'm going to admit that I prefer that to vote-buying, lobbying, and Senate committee corruption.

If only there were some sort of remedy for this. There seems to be none.
- There is! It's a special, high velocity lead treatment

Umm the burden is on the one making the claim. It's also customary on the net to site the source so... No I didn't.

It only counts if they gave him an itemized receipt, with the word "bribe" at the top, followed by two columns...one labeled "quid" and the other labeled "quo". And it needs to be notarized.

MAGA supports this.
Republicans support this.

Maybe trump just wants to fly a plane into it for revenge?

Kill all the Americans you want as long as you bribe the toddler-in-chief...
Open corruption. Absolutely WTF.

Imagine Obama or Biden, or Harris, doing this!
Everything about this is like we have all been force-fed industrial strength hallucinogens. That YMCA played by the murderous Saudi prince after that fawning display... WTAF world are we living in any more?
If this was the Matrix I'd be demanding to be unplugged right now, and promptly throw up on the floor

The former dictator was closely aligned with Russia\Putin so now that he has been dethroned and fled to Russia the USA is trying to get a foothold in the country. Everything else is just noise and BS.
- Gaining a foothold by building a trump tower over there? Yeah, that makes sense
  
  Yes, the former dictator was aligned with Russia. Now that they are dethroned the new leaders are trying to form positive relations with Russia's enemy ,the most powerful country in the world, the USA by openly offering opportunity and financial linkage to the USA's leader. The USA is always looking for new opportunities. So yeah it makes sense.