There Are Only Two Ways To Handle Trump’s Threats

Yes, Vance will be worse. He is smarter, slyer, slimier and meaner. And he also appears committed to a group of anti-Vatican II Catholic reactionary cultists, as well as supportive of the New Apostolic Reformationaries ( “narzis”) who want to make America into a Gilead Christofascist Theotyranny.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Apostolic_Reformation
(Since Big Silicon wants to turn America into a series of technofeudal fiefdoms ruled over by Silicon Pharaohs, the Christianarzis and Big Silicon will have a big fight over which one rules and which one serves or dies.)

The sooner we can delete Trump one way or another, the sooner we get to “Take a Chance with Vance” and see what that means and feels like.

I too have been impressed with the deceitful cowardice of Big Ivy and Big White Shoe. They thought that appearing to “give in to Trump” would create a credible-looking cover under which to do what they already wanted to do. And they are just now finding out that the Trumpster will always want more. ( And that Vance is hiding behind Trump to achieve the extermination of Big Ivy, Big Land Grant, and Free Academia altogether.)

People will fight due to deeply held principles, or for something they emotionally care about.
The Ivy’s et al didn’t cave to authoritarian demands (supporting genocide, forced injections, censorship, etc) because they’re dumb cowards. They caved because they don’t have principles and don’t care about anyone but themselves.

Likewise with the Democratic establishment. Did they fight for a higher minimum wage, No.
Did they fight for bodily anatomy, No they violated it.
Did they fight for free speech, No, they violated it.
What did they fight for? War, genocide, censorship, and pharma profits.

Anyone ever thinking about negotiating with Trump needs to watch The Sopranos.

This is how Trump thinks. This is how Trump works.

He is Tony Soprano, only not quite so smart, and lacking Tony’s respect for the law, morals, ethics, loyalty, and refinement.

Once you cut a deal with Trump, he knows you are weak, and he will work you until you are bled dry.

Perfect example is in the episode “Bust Out,” when Tony and his crew strip a company of every last penny in assets.

Similarly, and even worse, Tony and his crew essentially put Nuovo Vesuvio, the restaurant owned by Tony’s childhood friend, out of business; their solution to the problems they caused by not paying for their food was to burn down the restaurant so the owner could collect the insurance.

This is how Trump operates. If you ever cut a deal with him, he owns you, and he will extract every last penny from you, even unto your death.

“ Trump’s not all powerful. The Supreme Court just ruled 9-0 that he has to return someone they sent to prison in El-Salvador.”

They’re just going to ignore the supreme court’s ruling, and there’s nothing anyone can do about it. ;(

Ian W: ‘Odds are he’s got his one term, and his health is bad enough that he may not even make that, though I suspect Vance would in many ways be worse.’

You raise some interesting points. I would differ from you on the odds and here’s why —

Granted, the US is vastly decayed. Still this is a country whose elites in living memory oversaw the assassination of the then-POTUS, his brother the attorney general, and Martin Luther King, as well as between one or two hundred assorted Black Panthers and other resistance members seen as impediments to those elites’ aims.

Going forward, therefore, either we’ll see: —

[A] Trump persist in his wealth-destroying maneuvers, till a ‘medical event,’ say, occurs. Nothing would be easier to explain or arrange — most people have no idea of what’s now possible given the technological advances in targeting specificity in designer pathogens — than an obese, choleric 78-year-old man having a stroke after eating one too many big burgers.

While Vance then becomes president and he’s intelligent enough to be worse, he’s also intelligent enough (unlike his boss) to take the point when, post-medical event, he’s given the Lecture.

[B.] Alternatively, Trump endures in office and persists in his behaviors. In that case, this will be a benchmark that tells us how radically incapable and incompetent US elites have become, compared to the imperial US that once was.

And it will mean the US really has entered an era of weakness comparable to the Yeltsin era in the former Soviet Union.

I’ll second numerous commenters, Trump is just speeding US decline with his Mafia Don games. But there is a bigger context which is the final decline of the US blood-&-soil Universal Imperial project. Thanatos can’t just be forced onto the “Other”, it comes home to roost, like Malcolm X’s chickens, in 1963.

Somebody at Moon of Alabama shared this link, & Mr. Vighi has great insight about EUrope’s suicidal self-destruction urges reflecting fears of the “freedom” from the US, having to act like grown adults (which the subservient European majority is completely incapable following 8 decades of cultural Infantilazation under the Empire’s wings.)

https://thephilosophicalsalon.com/rearmament-the-charade-and-the-game-of-chicken/

A fine excerpt here– “In Hegelian terms, evil is in the eye that perceives evil everywhere around it: we may well descend into barbarism without grasping its underlying causes. After all, the collapse of a civilization is most apparent in its reluctance to engage in self-reflection. And the incompetence of those in power is not an anomaly but the correct image of our historical moment, where Homo economicus falters under the weight of its own rationale. In other words, the structural breakdown of the social contract between labour and capital, which underpins the modern liberal order, can only lead to a rise in institutional cynicism. But, again, there is nothing more ideological today than confusing this cynicism with the root cause of all our troubles. If we merely react with horror to the actions of a psychopathic political elite, we likely do so to distract ourselves from the paralyzing fear of confronting the reasons for the collapse of an entire civilization.”

Indeed, “Honi soit qui mal y pense” goes back to the 14th century, those who cannot psychologically confront (or even acknowledge) their own Shadow (or Other) enter a psychologically free-flowing violent, even homicidal consciousness– something the US Elites have openly and proudly brandished since we “defeated” (sic– they did it to themselves) the USSR.

Do the local ShitLibs oppose endless war and the destruction of the social safety net? I think the majority of us on this site know the answer– here’s a great paragraph from my local ShitLib paper– ”

“Now we throw our Canadian friends and neighbors under the bus. We threaten to abandon the Ukrainians and Europeans and claim we can do business with a career KGB agent and authoritarian who plays Payosa Loco like a harmonica.”

This is from a pro-Mr. Rogers piece,
https://duluthreader.com/articles/2025/04/03/131010-calling-mr-rogers-we-need-you-now

Yeah, I don’t think Fred Rogers would be allying with Banderite Nazis or demanding that the grown “children” from his neighborhood be thrown into WW III. But the Libs can only respond to the raging Id that is Trump with their own equally violent and racist Superego, which they build on a false foundation of “propriety” and “procedure.”

There is a modern equivalent to Fred R. who recently made the news– “Ms. Rachel”. She runs programming for children 1-4 and has 14 million followers on YouTube. So the professional Anti-Semitism Boys who Cry Wolf are whinging that because she deplored the deaths of Palestinian Babies at the hands of the IDF, while also deploring the death of Israeli children, though not at as much link since far fewer Israeli children are targeted and murdered, she is being labelled a “Hamas Supporter” and there are demands that the TrumpCo DoJ “investigate” and censor, possibly jail or deport her. Of course, the likes of “Forrest Johnson” (Fred Rogers’ fan-boy) has never heard of her and wouldn’t defend her in any case.

To Forrest J. the deaths of Russians, like the deaths of Palestinians, are entirely acceptable. It’s only the “blonde and blue-eyed” Ukrainians (including the openly N@zi ones) whose lives have value. The big Dem. rolled-out “Resistance” day last week deliberately refused to mention Palestine (though some Code Pink people snuck in and passed out pro-Palestine flyers) but did demand “Hands Off Nato”, the Endless Wars need to be fought even if they can’t be won, because . . . our investments in Raytheon, Northrup-Grumman, etc. are at least worth saving, & are valued above human life.

The End of Empire is indeed here!! Dig the hole deeper, shovel more lives into it!! We are the good guys, and we prove it by killing constantly and indiscriminately.