America vs the World VI: Putin In The Effort?

[QualityChimp]

This whole thing with the "flying palace" is ridiculous.
Trump's argument is "why should the US pay for something when we can get it for free?!"

Everyone else is noting:
- nothing is "free"
- Replacing Air Force One with one providided by another nation is a security risk
- He's going to add it to his personal fleet after 6 months
- It's against the Constitution to accept gifts

Article 1, Section 9:
Clause 8 Titles of Nobility and Foreign Emoluments
No Title of Nobility shall be granted by the United States: And no Person holding any Office of Profit or Trust under them, shall, without the Consent of the Congress, accept of any present, Emolument, Office, or Title, of any kind whatever, from any King, Prince, or foreign State.

[Neon Ignition]

It'll just be the first of many, many bribe gifts moving forward now the precedent is once again set. The Democrats will remain silent on it and the others - because let's be honest, they're the Republican Party in name only now - will go with it as long as they can claim goodies as well.

[Neon Ignition]

Gérard Depardieu found guilty of sexually assaulting two women | Gérard Depardieu | The Guardian

[Neon Ignition]

Donald Trump says lifting sanctions on Syria ‘gives them a chance of greatness’ – US politics live

Zelenskyy prepares to travel to Turkey but no confirmation if Putin will attend talks – Russia-Ukraine war live

[Mayhem]

This whole thing with the "flying palace" is ridiculous.
- It's against the Constitution to accept gifts

Which is why he's claiming it's going to the DoD and not himself... yet...

[charlesr]

A thing that Biden introduced is called the "Digital Equity Act" and it basically helps all of Trump's core voters get better access to the Internet, e.g. rural areas.

Trump has ripped into it on Truth Social, presumably because it's about equality

On Thursday, Trump wrote that he and Secretary of Commerce, Howard Lutnick, were in agreement about the Digital Equity Act. He wrote, “No more woke handouts based on race! The Digital Equity Program is a RACIST and ILLEGAL $2.5 BILLION DOLLAR giveaway.” He added that he plans to end it “IMMEDIATELY”.

[wakka]

It's an article of MAGA faith that literally anything instituted by Biden is bad. It's important that they maintain this because it allows the continued excuse that anything incontrovertibly negative that happens is because of something Biden did while in office, rather than something Trump did recently.

Which is why he's claiming it's going to the DoD and not himself... yet...

Trump's behaviour demonstrates how weak the system of checks and balances actually is. You kind of needed premiers to at least approximate playing by the rules. Because it turns out if you don't bother, nothing happens anyway.

[Neon Ignition]

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2025/may/14/donald-trump-syria-middle-east-gulf-latest-us-politics-news-updates-live?page=with%3Ablock-6824a38f8f08b7ab5742ca4d#block-6824a38f8f08b7ab5742ca4d

Sounds like a win till US workers realise Trump has tariffed the nations the parts are sourced from

[Lebowski]

https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/european-governments-scramble-interpret-trumps-new-drug-pricing-order-2025-05-14/

Trumps big push to make Americans pay less for their healthcare has come down to, making the rest of the world pay more for our medicines. any one of the following would have a massive impact in america

• Reducing the blatant profiteering going on in healthcare insurance.

• Tackling pharmaceutical companies price fixing and price gouging medicines.

• Stopping hospitals price gouging on treatments.

Yet again it’s everyone else is wrong, we are right and we are the victim, i’m really hoping someone in American politics put an end to this **** show as it’s getting tiring.

[Dogg Thang]

Reducing the blatant profiteering going on in healthcare insurance.

This. This is the core reason everything in healthcare costs so much in the US and some people are getting insanely rich from it. Also the reason why so many people have barely any healthcare there. Is this nonsense going to eventually lead them to the realisation that they need better public healthcare? Probably not. But the amount of US government interference in the market happening right now doesn't feel all that American.