#trump the bully

[encounterthepast]

From: Fear and Loathing: Closer to the Edge

https://www.facebook.com/share/15p91Ds86p/

There are moments in history where you can feel the tectonic plates of power shifting under your feet, the precise seconds when empires declare themselves rotten and ready to collapse. February 28, 2025, was one of those moments—a grotesque display of unchecked narcissism, geopolitical idiocy, and the full-throttle transformation of American foreign policy into a goddamn mafia shakedown.

Donald Trump, the world’s loudest and dumbest charlatan, decided to hold a public execution of Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, not with bullets, but with bullying. This was not diplomacy. This was not strategy. This was the kind of goonish humiliation typically reserved for reality television, except now the stakes were measured in millions of lives and the looming specter of World War III.

“YOU’RE GAMBLING WITH WORLD WAR III”

Trump—flanked by his yes-man JD Vance and an eerily silent Marco Rubio—welcomed Zelenskyy to the Oval Office only to berate, belittle, and ultimately dismiss him like a waiter who forgot to refill his Diet Coke. The Ukrainian president had made the grave mistake of advocating for his people, for his country, for his soldiers dying daily on the front lines against Russian invaders. But in Trump’s world, there is no room for dignity or resistance—only total submission to the Don.

"You’re gambling with World War III," Trump barked at Zelenskyy, acting like a discount Tony Soprano shaking down a local shopkeeper. "You either make a deal, or we are out." The message was crystal clear: Surrender to Putin, or America lets you rot.

When Zelenskyy pushed back—trying to explain, like a rational human being, that diplomacy requires more than rolling over and exposing your belly to a psychotic autocrat like Vladimir Putin—Vance chimed in, whining that it was "disrespectful" to discuss such things in front of the American media. Disrespectful! As if the real problem here was the optics, not the grotesque moral betrayal unfolding in real time.

TRUMP’S FIXATION WITH GRATITUDE: A MOB BOSS DEMANDING TRIBUTE

"Have you ever said thank you once?" Vance sneered at Zelenskyy, echoing his master’s worldview that all human interactions are transactional. "You have to be thankful," Trump added, "you don’t have the cards. You’re buried there."

This is what American diplomacy has become: an extortion racket.

Forget alliances, forget history, forget standing up to despots—Trump views everything through the lens of a cheap con artist running a rigged casino. Ukraine, in his mind, is a desperate gambler, and Trump is the pit boss deciding whether to extend another round of credit.

If Zelenskyy had gotten on his knees and kissed Trump’s golden slippers, maybe he’d have left with something. But instead, he left with nothing, because he had the audacity to act like the elected leader of a sovereign nation, rather than a groveling servant.

THE CANCELED PRESS CONFERENCE: WHEN THE HUMILIATION IS TOO MUCH TO SPIN

After the carnage, Trump did what he always does: He took to Truth Social to declare victory.

"I have determined that President Zelenskyy is not ready for Peace," he wrote, as if the real issue is Ukraine’s unwillingness to surrender, rather than Russia’s ongoing campaign of war crimes and territorial theft

The joint press conference was canceled—which in diplomatic terms is the equivalent of overturning the table and storming out of the restaurant. Zelenskyy was seen leaving the White House, no deal signed, no support secured. Just the bitter taste of betrayal in his mouth.

Meanwhile, the Ukrainian ambassador literally facepalmed in the middle of the meeting. She couldn’t even hide her disgust. This was the international equivalent of watching your boss drunkenly scream at a client in a meeting while you rub your temples and quietly plan your resignation.

TRUMP’S ‘PEACE’ PLAN IS A SURRENDER PLAN

This is all part of a deliberate pivot in American foreign policy. Trump has always sided with Russia, whether it’s calling Putin "a very smart guy," ignoring his war crimes, or pretending Ukraine started the war. Now, his administration is pushing a so-called "peace plan" that amounts to a glorified land grab for Moscow.

The Wall Street Journal has already reported that Trump’s advisers are split on how exactly to force Ukraine to submit. Some want a "frozen conflict"—which translates to "Russia keeps what it stole"—while others are pushing for a formal deal that outright cedes Ukrainian land and resources to Putin. Either way, the outcome is the same: Ukraine loses, Russia wins, and Trump gets to preen about his ‘deal-making.’

THE DEATH OF AMERICA’S WORD

Meanwhile, Putin is watching. And he’s grinning. Because now he knows that Trump will do his dirty work for him.

The entire world saw this Oval Office debacle. If you’re an ally of the United States, you just learned a very clear lesson: You cannot trust America under Donald Trump. Your security, your sovereignty, and your survival are all secondary to whether Trump personally feels flattered. If you are not groveling at his feet, you’re expendable

Zelenskyy was just the first ally to be fed to the wolves. He won’t be the last.

Welcome to America, 2025. This is what losing looks like.

[moodybluemusings]

My Fourth Substack post

Guess who this is about :D

I was really pissed off when I wrote this and you can probably tell.

[ravenkings]

[my-midlife-crisis]

[socialjusticeinamerica]

Nobody will save us. Either we massively win both houses of congress in the midterms or fight in the streets. Not to protest but rather to depose our Republican oppressors.

The media begs for our donations claiming they are fighting for our democracy but fold like a cheap suit at the slightest resistance from Trump.

[snekdood]

"if we make america worse and more of a dictatorship that will be even harder to unravel and make it the way we want the country to be, maybe then everyone will join our Glorious Revolution!" bb girl you cant even be in the same room with someone who thinks you should vote, how in tf do you think you're gonna unite people to fight in The Revolution with you? it's gonna be you and your 5 friends, i hate to break it to you.

[encounterthepast]

From: The Bitchy Pundit

Someone asked "Why do some British people not like Donald Trump?"

Nate White, an articulate and witty writer from England, wrote this magnificent response:

"A few things spring to mind.

Trump lacks certain qualities which the British traditionally esteem.

For instance, he has no class, no charm, no coolness, no credibility, no compassion, no wit, no warmth, no wisdom, no subtlety, no sensitivity, no self-awareness, no humility, no honour and no grace - all qualities, funnily enough, with which his predecessor Mr. Obama was generously blessed.

So for us, the stark contrast does rather throw Trump’s limitations into embarrassingly sharp relief.

Plus, we like a laugh. And while Trump may be laughable, he has never once said anything wry, witty or even faintly amusing - not once, ever.

I don’t say that rhetorically, I mean it quite literally: not once, not ever. And that fact is particularly disturbing to the British sensibility - for us, to lack humour is almost inhuman.

But with Trump, it’s a fact. He doesn’t even seem to understand what a joke is - his idea of a joke is a crass comment, an illiterate insult, a casual act of cruelty.

Trump is a troll. And like all trolls, he is never funny and he never laughs; he only crows or jeers.

And scarily, he doesn’t just talk in crude, witless insults - he actually thinks in them. His mind is a simple bot-like algorithm of petty prejudices and knee-jerk nastiness.

There is never any under-layer of irony, complexity, nuance or depth. It’s all surface.

Some Americans might see this as refreshingly upfront.

Well, we don’t. We see it as having no inner world, no soul.

And in Britain we traditionally side with David, not Goliath. All our heroes are plucky underdogs: Robin Hood, Dick Whittington, Oliver Twist.

Trump is neither plucky, nor an underdog. He is the exact opposite of that.

He’s not even a spoiled rich-boy, or a greedy fat-cat.

He’s more a fat white slug. A Jabba the Hutt of privilege.

And worse, he is that most unforgivable of all things to the British: a bully.

That is, except when he is among bullies; then he suddenly transforms into a snivelling sidekick instead.

There are unspoken rules to this stuff - the Queensberry rules of basic decency - and he breaks them all. He punches downwards - which a gentleman should, would, could never do - and every blow he aims is below the belt. He particularly likes to kick the vulnerable or voiceless - and he kicks them when they are down.

So the fact that a significant minority - perhaps a third - of Americans look at what he does, listen to what he says, and then think 'Yeah, he seems like my kind of guy’ is a matter of some confusion and no little distress to British people, given that:

* Americans are supposed to be nicer than us, and mostly are.

* You don't need a particularly keen eye for detail to spot a few flaws in the man.

This last point is what especially confuses and dismays British people, and many other people too; his faults seem pretty bloody hard to miss.

After all, it’s impossible to read a single tweet, or hear him speak a sentence or two, without staring deep into the abyss. He turns being artless into an art form; he is a Picasso of pettiness; a Shakespeare of shit. His faults are fractal: even his flaws have flaws, and so on ad infinitum.

God knows there have always been stupid people in the world, and plenty of nasty people too. But rarely has stupidity been so nasty, or nastiness so stupid.

He makes Nixon look trustworthy and George W look smart.

In fact, if Frankenstein decided to make a monster assembled entirely from human flaws - he would make a Trump.

And a remorseful Doctor Frankenstein would clutch out big clumpfuls of hair and scream in anguish:

'My God… what… have… I… created?

If being a twat was a TV show, Trump would be the boxed set."

[skull-pun]

You're telling me these are refugees and not just a group of annual passholders on their way to Magic Kingdom???

[tomorrowusa]

It takes just one person standing up to break the authoritarian spell. History is seldom kind to opportunistic lickspittles of bullies.

Courageousness can be contagious, but someone has to be first.

Over 150 US university presidents sign letter decrying Trump administration

[professorratiganshusband]

[my-midlife-crisis]

VS

It's clear whose side Trump is on.

and what about MAGA?

oops

[socialjusticeinamerica]

“At a White House event with a bipartisan group of governors Friday, President Donald Trump briefly sparred with Democratic Maine Gov. Janet Mills after threatening to withhold federal funds from her state over the issue of transgender athletes.

The back-and-forth came as Trump discussed his executive order banning transgender athletes from women's sports.

"Are you not going to comply with that?" Trump asked Mills directly.

She responded that she would comply with state and federal laws.

"Well, I'm -- we are the federal law," Trump said, adding, "Well, you better do it. You better do it because you're not going to get any federal funding at all if you don't."

Mills responded: "See you in court."

"Good," Trump replied. "I'll see you in court. I look forward to that. That should be an easy one. And enjoy your life after governor, because I don't think you'll be in elected politics," Trump said.

After Friday's White House gathering, Mills released a statement about Trump's threat to withhold federal funding.

President Donald Trump speaks at the Governors Working Session at the White House in Washington, Feb. 21, 2025.

"If the President attempts to unilaterally deprive Maine school children of the benefit of Federal funding, my Administration and the Attorney General will take all appropriate and necessary legal action to restore that funding and the academic opportunity it provides. The State of Maine will not be intimidated by the President's threats."

Also on Friday, the Department of Education sent a letter to a Maine education official announcing a "directed investigation" of the Maine Department of Education "amid allegations that it continues to allow male athletes to compete in girls' interscholastic athletics," the department said in a news release.

The department cited a Maine high school which it said is "continuing to allow at least one male student to compete in girls' categories."

Trump signed the "Keeping Men Out of Women's Sports" order earlier this month, which directs federal agencies to interpret federal Title IX rules as prohibiting the participation of transgender girls and women in female sports categories.”

🖕🍊🐷

[expectsomuch]

HOLY. FUCKING. SHIT.

Please watch this. How can you possibly defend these people, or think of them as any kind of statesmen?

"You got be more thankful"!?

This is a mob boss shaking down the leader of Ukraine IN PUBLIC and he' proud of it. JFC.

This is straight up insane. Talk about disrespect. Vance and Trump are unbelievably enormous pieces of shit. I am so angry. This is pathetic.

We re doomed.

I'm so sorry, Ukraine. I'm so sorry, everyone.

America has failed you all.

[donotdestroy]

“Critics see the move as an attempt to cater to the incoming Trump administration and avoid political retaliation, suggesting the consequences of Meta’s new policies could have serious implications for the types of posts, hateful and violent speech, and misinformation that can spread even faster than they already do across Meta’s platforms.”

[tomorrowusa]

« Trump is a classic bully who craves submission and fears conflict. His fervent supporters want him to be Michael Corleone, but he’s more like Biff Tannen. Standing up to Trump does not mean that you win. But giving in guarantees that you lose. »

— Jonathan Chait at The Atlantic. (archived)

China stood up to Trump on tariffs and Trump had to back down. When you stand up to Trump, your chances of winning increase.

Capitol Hill Republicans never stand up to Trump – putting them on full public display as bigtime losers.

[theredandwhitequeen]

She’s suing Twitter plus JK and Elon for everything they said about her during the Olympics plus Trump could be named as well. Inane Khelif, I hope she gets everything she deserves and wants from this.