US US Politics General 2: Hope Edition - Discussion of President Trump and other politicians

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Should be a wild four years.

Helpful links for those who need them:

Current members of the House of Representatives
https://www.house.gov/representatives

Current members of the Senate
https://www.senate.gov/senators/

Current members of the US Supreme Court
https://www.supremecourt.gov/about/biographies.aspx

Members of the Trump Administration
https://www.whitehouse.gov/administration/
 
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John Badman said:
These broad statements require evidence. How is Trump restricting Russia?
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From Grok, “what are the US sanctions against Russia?”
The U.S. sanctions against Russia are a comprehensive set of economic, financial, and diplomatic measures imposed in response to various actions by the Russian government, primarily its annexation of Crimea in 2014, interference in U.S. elections, cyberattacks, human rights abuses, use of chemical weapons, and, most significantly, its invasion of Ukraine starting in 2022. These sanctions have evolved over time, expanding in scope and severity, and are designed to impose costs on Russia’s economy, limit its access to global financial systems and technology, and deter further aggression. Below is an overview of the key components of these sanctions as of April 6, 2025.

### Origins and Legal Basis
The U.S. began imposing sanctions on Russia in 2014 following its annexation of Crimea and support for separatists in eastern Ukraine. These measures were initially authorized through a series of Executive Orders (EOs) issued by President Obama, including EO 13660, EO 13661, EO 13662, and EO 13685. These were later codified into law by the Countering Russian Influence in Europe and Eurasia Act of 2017 (CRIEEA), part of the broader Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA). Additional authorities, such as EO 14024 (2021) and EO 14114 (2023), have since expanded the scope to address Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine and other malign activities.

### Key Types of Sanctions
1. **Financial Sanctions**
- **Targeting Major Banks**: The U.S. has imposed full blocking sanctions on Russia’s largest financial institutions, including Sberbank, VTB Bank, Alfa-Bank, and, as of November 2024, Gazprombank. These banks, which collectively hold a significant portion of Russia’s banking assets, are barred from transactions with U.S. persons and the U.S. financial system.
- **SWIFT Disconnection**: Several Russian banks have been excluded from the SWIFT international payment messaging system, disrupting their ability to conduct global transactions.
- **Asset Freezes**: Over $300 billion in Russian Central Bank foreign exchange reserves held in Western jurisdictions have been frozen since February 2022, severely limiting Russia’s financial flexibility.
- **Secondary Sanctions**: Foreign financial institutions risk U.S. sanctions if they engage in significant transactions with Russia’s military-industrial base or designated entities, a measure expanded in 2024 to cover all persons blocked under EO 14024.

2. **Energy Sector Sanctions**
- **Oil and Gas Restrictions**: The U.S. banned imports of Russian oil, natural gas, and coal in 2022. In coordination with G7 partners, a price cap of $60 per barrel was imposed on Russian seaborne crude oil to reduce Russia’s revenue while maintaining global energy supply stability.
- **Targeting Companies**: Major energy firms like Gazprom Neft, Surgutneftegas, and Rosneft face sanctions, including restrictions on new financing and technology transfers. In January 2025, the Treasury expanded sanctions to over 180 vessels in Russia’s “shadow fleet,” used to evade the oil price cap.
- **Future Revenue Limits**: Measures have been taken to curb Russia’s liquefied natural gas (LNG) projects, such as Arctic LNG 2, to limit long-term energy income.

3. **Export Controls**
- **Technology Restrictions**: The U.S. has restricted exports of high-tech goods, including semiconductors, software, and manufacturing equipment, to Russia. This includes items produced globally using U.S.-origin technology, requiring licenses that are typically denied.
- **Military-Industrial Base**: Sanctions target entities involved in producing drones, missiles, and other military hardware, aiming to degrade Russia’s defense capabilities.

4. **Individual and Entity Sanctions**
- **Oligarchs and Elites**: Hundreds of Russian officials, oligarchs, and their families—such as Vladimir Putin, Sergei Lavrov, and their inner circles—face asset freezes and travel bans. These measures aim to punish those benefiting from Kremlin policies.
- **Companies and Networks**: Over 16,500 entities and individuals have been sanctioned since 2022, including firms in third countries (e.g., China, Hong Kong) that help Russia evade sanctions by supplying dual-use goods like microchips.

5. **Sectoral Sanctions**
- **Defense, Energy, and Finance**: Specific entities in these sectors face restrictions on new equity investments and financing from U.S. persons, limiting their growth and operations.
- **IT Services**: As of June 2024, U.S. persons are prohibited from providing certain IT support and cloud-based services to Russia, targeting software critical to its military-industrial base.

6. **Trade and Investment Bans**
- **Crimea Restrictions**: Since 2014, U.S. persons have been barred from new investments or trade with Crimea, expanded in 2022 to cover occupied Ukrainian territories.
- **General Investment Ban**: EO 14071 (April 2022) prohibits new U.S. investment in Russia across multiple sectors.

### Recent Developments (2024-2025)
- **November 2024**: Sanctions on Gazprombank and 50 other banks tightened the financial vise, aligning U.S. measures with allies like the UK and Canada.
- **January 2025**: The Treasury targeted Russia’s energy sector further, sanctioning oil producers, traders, and shadow fleet vessels to disrupt oil revenues.
- **March 2025**: Reports emerged of the Trump administration exploring sanctions relief as part of negotiations to end the Ukraine war, though no formal changes have been implemented as of April 6, 2025.

### Impact and Enforcement
The sanctions have reduced Russia’s oil and gas revenues, complicated its access to technology, and triggered capital flight and brain drain, with over a million people leaving the country. However, Russia has adapted by redirecting trade to countries like China and India, using shadow fleets, and leveraging third-country intermediaries to import sanctioned goods. The U.S. continues to refine its approach, closing loopholes and coordinating with allies like the EU, UK, and G7 nations to maximize pressure.

These sanctions represent one of the most extensive economic campaigns in modern history, reflecting a multilateral effort to hold Russia accountable for its actions while balancing global economic stability.
 
Angelos32 said:
If thats is the case then why the fuck is everyone on this thread happy about the tariffs etc. Like yay manufacturing is back in the US now go work your 12 hour shift and go back to live in your studio size apartment with no prospects of wife and kids
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Because this time, Capitalism and free market enterprise will TOTALLY work differently.
 
Angelos32 said:
If thats is the case then why the fuck is everyone on this thread happy about the tariffs etc. Like yay manufacturing is back in the US now go work your 12 hour shift and go back to live in your studio size apartment with no prospects of wife and kids
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It’s so hard to start over from scratch with someone who doesn’t understand anything. Exhausting.

At our wealthiest, we pay higher prices for everything, but you don’t notice because you’re wealthy.

Like, you can still look at third world countries and say “shit, I could live a year there on what I make in a month here,” and yeah, because you’d be affecting an arbitrage.

You might notice that the advantage is narrowing. A decade ago, a Chinese factory worker earned like $100 a month if you converted yuan to dollars at forex rates. Now it’s like $800-$1000, but it still sucks to be them because their prices go up, too, due to their kleptocracy and profound mismanagement of real estate. But how did the gap narrow?

Because we import from them and money exists our economy and enters theirs.

Why would we want to manufacture domestically? Because it has benefit multipliers. Wages support downstream businesses like retail and provide a tax base. When you import shit, you get the shit and the money leaves. When you manufacture, you create wealth

For maximum profit, you would want to produce so much that you export, but you face declining returns because countries normally charge tariffs so they won’t end up giving their wealth away
 
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Irene and 22 others said:
Did you sell at the first sign of trouble like some kind of retard? You might have lost 35% of the theoretical value of your investments, but that's an utterly stupid way of looking at it unless you also reevaluate all of the theoretical losses you suffered from every time you sold too soon. Unless you can save scum in real life, that way of thinking is futile.
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Calm the fuck down nigga. You're making incorrect assumptions and then getting uppity about them.
It's not a theoretical loss, it is a loss. I traded money for partial ownership in firms. That money became tiny slices of firms. At the point of time of the inauguration, the value of the slices that I owned was high (Value = X) and then dropped significantly recently (Value = X-0.35X). That is a loss.

password1215_12 said:
It is patriotic to work in the wage cage to make IPhones for other countries.
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Yes. Oklahomans need something to do other than gamble and drink.

A difficulty I'm beginning to encounter is how difficult it is to find some shit that is made in the USA. Stuff you don't even think about, like small parts for consumer electronics. All that is chink shit.
 
Myrtle the Turtle said:
"Muh USAID soft power"

America being able to tell everyone the globalist scam is over is better than any 'soft power' we got by wasting USAID on grifts and brown people.
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How much soft power did we really get by teaching Africans how to be gay or funding trans interpretations of Cambodian farming practices?
Honestly, even if you take this fucking retarded argument seriously, the net influence gained has got to be negative and it's not close.

Breadbassket said:
Harris was born to non-U.S. citizens but became an American citizen due to birthright citizenship
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I want Trump's revocation of so-called birthright citizenship to go through for much more significant reasons, but getting Kamala de-citizened and then eventually deported would make me laugh so hard I might actually die.
 
HOMO FOR LIFE RETURNS said:
Old fake news

Also

Mark Cuban deleted this post lol
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If you sell now, all you are doing is locking in loss. If you hold out, then either A: Things get worse, then eventually better, or B: We enter a new market paradigm unlike anything we've seen in recent history and predicting whether to sell or not would have been a fools game.

Because seriously, either this is a change that can be accomodated by the current market and economic system, or its not. And if its not, the economic model and system really needs to be adjusted because this change really isn't optional. Allowing the capital class to start importing labor in mass, either directly via immigration or indirectly via performing labor in cheaper countries has allowed the capital class to simply cut the labor portion of the people out of the system entirely.
 
Kuritan Deplorable said:
If you sell now, all you are doing is locking in loss. If you hold out, then either A: Things get worse, then eventually better, or B: We enter a new market paradigm unlike anything we've seen in recent history and predicting whether to sell or not would have been a fools game.

Because seriously, either this is a change that can be accomodated by the current market and economic system, or its not. And if its not, the economic model and system really needs to be adjusted because this change really isn't optional. Allowing the capital class to start importing labor in mass, either directly via immigration or indirectly via performing labor in cheaper countries has allowed the capital class to simply cut the labor portion of the people out of the system entirely.
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Imagine that we’re so bad we’re not even importing third world labor to manufacture, we’re importing them to delay mechanizing farming, which would be easier to do with a strong manufacturing base
 
Trump gave an interview about the tariffs on Air Force One:

Source (Archive)

In it, he says that he's not going to make any deals with other countries that don't lower our trade deficit with them.
 
(°▽°) said:
How much soft power did we really get by teaching Africans how to be gay or funding trans interpretations of Cambodian farming practices?
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iirc part of it is that we weren't really putting a half a million dollars into gay muppet comics of Uganda, it was probably five thousand or so and the remaining money went to bribing the local warlords, but "money for local warlords to buy children and drugs so they leave us alone" looks even worse than "gay muppet comic"
 
quaawaa said:
Trump gave an interview about the tariffs on Air Force One:
Rapid Response 47 - WATCH IN FULL： @POTUS speaks to reporters aboard Air Force One [1909039620...mp4
Source (Archive)

In it, he says that he's not going to make any deals with other countries that don't lower our trade deficit with them.
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Isn't his Air Force One being worked on Boeing, who is notable for faulty aircraft??? Also, I still think the tweet I posted is true, I mean think about it...with stocks crashing, Elon might be on the run...If you think about it.
 
To be completely honest I get a sinking feeling that trump really is conning everyone. I have no basis for why i feel like that, but it’s like, why would he hurt boomercons etc when he and his administration are literally the boomer cons who are the kind of people to tell gen z to “work harder”. I like the guy but I can’t shake the feeling
 
Angelos32 said:
To be completely honest I get a sinking feeling that trump really is conning everyone. I have no basis for why i feel like that, but it’s like, why would he hurt boomercons etc when he and his administration are literally the boomer cons who are the kind of people to tell gen z to “work harder”. I like the guy but I can’t shake the feeling
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When It comes to politics there is a lot of waiting and see you gotta do.
 
XYZpdq Jr. said:
iirc part of it is that we weren't really putting a half a million dollars into gay muppet comics of Uganda, it was probably five thousand or so and the remaining money went to bribing the local warlords, but "money for local warlords to buy children and drugs so they leave us alone" looks even worse than "gay muppet comic"
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I thought it was actually all going to the friends and family of Democrat politicians. Billions for Hillary, pennies for warlords.
 

Far-left, billionaire-funded NGOs—closely aligned with the rudderless and imploding Democratic Party—have been waging a psychological warfare operation against the American people. Framed as "grassroots," the party of hate and violence—evident in their "Tesla Takedown" color revolution aimed at killing Tesla to pressure Elon Musk on DOGE—has been building momentum in recent weeks to segue into anti-Trump protests this weekend. The goal is to manufacture the illusion that Trump is wildly unpopular, leveraging a vast network of dark money-funded NGOs that supply rent-a-protesters to rallies nationwide.

Ahead of anti-Trump protests, we uncovered the Democratic Party's NGO war machine, totaling 186 NGOs, unions, and other radical leftist groups that supported Saturday's mass mobilization efforts of rent-a-protesters and, of course, a grassroots component of the protests (mainly old white angry liberals).

Late Friday, MSNBC's Rachel Maddow openly boasted about the Democratic Party's color revolution operation, even giving airtime to Ezra Levin of the NGO Indivisible Project, who attempted to convince the audience that the anti-Musk and anti-Trump protests are organic...


…but as data analyst Tony Seruga revealed, the protest in Chicago drew only 7,500 attendees, with "92% having attended five or more Kamala Harris rallies, Antifa/BLM events, or pro-Hamas, pro-Palestinian protests." He noted that CBS News attempted to claim "thousands" were present while organizers inflated the number to 30,000.

Here's more about Seruga's data:

Organizers are claiming 30,000. CBS states a vague 'thousands'.
92% having attended 5 or more Kamala Harris rallies, antifa/blm, pro-Hamas, pro-Palestinian protests.
For more insight into what data we also look at in addition to GPS location data would be demographic and psychographic data using over 6,000 different databases, i.e., like the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), Pew Research Center, market research firms like YouGov, Experian, specialized tools like ESRI's Tapestry Segmentation, consumer surveys, social media platforms like 𝕏, Facebook, Linkedin.
Demographic data includes basic characteristics like age, gender, income, education level, occupation, marital status, family size, ethnicity, and where people live (e.g., city, state).
Psychographic data dives deeper into people's lifestyles, values, attitudes, interests, personality traits, social class, activities, and how they make purchasing decisions. For example, it might show if someone values sustainability, enjoys outdoor activities, participates in community activism.
While demographic data is straightforward, psychographic data can reveal sensitive personal details, like beliefs even life goals.
Additionally, by cross pollinating each device with other devices regularly within close proximity to the target device we are able to build a detailed profile for each target.
We have identified these six groups.
Once again, this is based a very sophisticated algorithm that looks at the behavioral metrics for each device, including the physical 1:1 proximity to leaders and paymasters from these groups in the past.
Disruption Project, Rise & Resist, Indivisible Project, Troublemakers, the Democratic Socialists of America and the Muslim Brotherhood.
  • Disruption Project: Legal status is unclear, likely operating illegally.
  • Rise & Resist: 501c4 non-profit
  • Indivisible Project: 501c4 non-profit
  • Troublemakers: Legal status is for profit.
  • Democratic Socialists of America: 501c4 non-profit
  • Muslim Brotherhood: 501c4 non-profit
We have also identified 11 additional groups paying for protests, demonstrations and riots, many are linked to foreign bad actors in countries funding terrorism.

GPS—7,498 mobile devices.

Organizers are claiming 30,000. CBS states a vague ‘thousands’.

92% having attended 5 or more Kamala Harris rallies, antifa/blm, pro-Hamas, pro-Palestinian protests.

For more insight into what data we also look at in addition to GPS location data… https://t.co/DZIjtO2l2e
— Tony Seruga (@TonySeruga) April 6, 2025
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Seruga's data from the Chicago rally closely mirrors the protest in Denver a few weeks earlier, in which he pointed out: "84% of the devices present had attended 9 or more Kamala Harris rallies, antifa/blm, pro-Hamas, pro-Palestinian protests, 31% had attended over 20."

'Inorganic' - GPS Data Reveals Bernie Sanders, AOC Anti-Oligarchy Rally Was Full Of Serial Protesters https://t.co/TawQtLBvEe
— zerohedge (@zerohedge) March 23, 2025
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Seruga warned the Democratic Party: "GPS—We have geofenced every event. This is not going to end well for the NGOs and non-profits below."

GPS—We have geofenced every event. This is not going to end well for the NGOs and non-profits below.

In the past, each receives money from ActBlue and USAID.

Disruption Project: Legal status is unclear, likely operating illegally.
Rise & Resist: 501c4 non-profit
Indivisible… https://t.co/TSYEcUVWjN
— Tony Seruga (@TonySeruga) April 5, 2025
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The American people need to understand that the Democratic Party has deployed color revolutions—psychological operations disguised as popular uprisings—using rent-a-protesters to manufacture artificial sentiment. It's important to note that U.S. intelligence agencies use these same statecraft operations to topple governments overseas.

The problem here is that the Democratic Party's color revolution operation could gain enough momentum—just like their Color Revolution 1.0: the BLM riots. As Seruga warned: "This summer there 100% will be massive riots, anarchy, looting, burning and violent attacks," adding, "Our nation will soon be under a brutal attack by filthy, communist, scumbag, satanic, evil, traitors. Prepare! They are organizing now!"

🚨 This summer there 💯 will be massive riots, anarchy, looting, burning and violent attacks. 🚨

Our nation will soon be under a brutal attack by filthy, communist, scumbag, satanic, evil, traitors. Prepare! They are organizing now!

They are communicating on Telegram, Discord,… pic.twitter.com/5mhDaHvPxu
— Tony Seruga (@TonySeruga) April 6, 2025
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However, those waging the color revolution with regime change as their end goal—and who are willing to unleash chaos across the nation—now face a significant problem. We've already seen crazed Democrats resort to domestic terrorism by firebombing Tesla vehicles and showroom locations...

Communist Revolutionary Arrested In Connection With Vegas Tesla Firebombing Attack https://t.co/5dTZmqAzhf
— zerohedge (@zerohedge) March 28, 2025
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The days of taxpayer-funded color revolutions—think BLM riots—are over for now, and million-person marches may be more challenging to achieve. Yet leftist billionaires continue pouring money into these dark NGOs.

If these color revolutions aim to sway public perception and manufacture consent for regime change, then the latest polling data from DailyMail.com/J.L. Partners show failure
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sorry if someone's already posted this.
 
John Badman said:
These broad statements require evidence. How is Trump restricting Russia? What his policy has done is create an economic hotspot for Russia causing an inflow of foreign national money to set up shell company exporters.
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There it is, final proof this user(s) is completely ignorant of US trade relations, and is too lazy to look it up.
Obama 2- International sanctions during the Russo-Ukrainian War
Trump 1- Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act
Biden- Nordstream
Trump 2- ?
 
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