CDC New Director Will Focusing On Abortion Surveillance

[Lord Mayhem 3,457]

What a disgusting administration this is all the way around...just how tf did we get here? 

[Ilia Malinin 2,978]

8 hours ago, gagzus said:

Anybody who claims that document was fake is clearly an idiot atp. Everything in that document has become true.

this is why i'm terrified of being openly trans and trying hard to quickly change my name and gender marker so i won't be f*cking arrested for existing.

[Roughhouse Dandy 13,705]

4 hours ago, Lord Mayhem said:

What a disgusting administration this is all the way around...just how tf did we get here? 

Step by step. People have been calling it out and warning people at each one of those steps since Trump 1.0 even on here, but got told we were fear mongering and exaggerating. Now here we are and we're stuck hoping the courts (that are hanging on by a thread) hold the line until we either take control of the house and senate or something big happens. 

Edited Sunday at 12:15 AM by Roughhouse Dandy

[Creyk 18,678]

14 hours ago, Lord Mayhem said:

What a disgusting administration this is all the way around...just how tf did we get here? 

this is where online purity tests get you

[Ladle Ghoulash 54,096]

10 hours ago, Creyk said:

this is where online purity tests get you

Bro is literally from Kuwait 😭

Edited Sunday at 08:26 PM by Ladle Ghoulash

[Ladle Ghoulash 54,096]

On 8/8/2026 at 8:59 AM, gagzus said:

The worst is yet to come I’m afraid.

Ngl I truly do not believe that. The admin is more unpopular than ever and Trump is on track to become a lame duck President post-midterms. Not to mention that a lot of what they’re trying to change in terms of federal policy cannot be done unilaterally.

[Bronco 26,033]

14 minutes ago, Ladle Ghoulash said:

Ngl I truly do not believe that. The admin is more unpopular than ever and Trump is on track to become a lame duck President post-midterms. Not to mention that a lot of what they’re trying to change in terms of federal policy cannot be done unilaterally.

Fully agree. Especially as the Iranians are openly saying they're going to drag the conflict on to the midterms to hurt Trump. 

Unless the midterms suddenly switch trajectory, we've got 4 months left of the worst to weather. Followed by 2 years of the Republicans trying to cut trump loosse to save themselves 

[Ladle Ghoulash 54,096]

31 minutes ago, Bronco said:

Fully agree. Especially as the Iranians are openly saying they're going to drag the conflict on to the midterms to hurt Trump. 

Unless the midterms suddenly switch trajectory, we've got 4 months left of the worst to weather. Followed by 2 years of the Republicans trying to cut trump loosse to save themselves 

Yeah, if anything, folks need to prepare for someone like Tucker Carlson trying to take up the mantel of the Lost Cause of MAGA and build a far right populist movement. He just recently dropped a video talking about his economic and social vision for the country that is all but explicitly Neo Nazi (“socially conservative, fiscally liberal”). He’s basically rebuilding the Weimar era Nazi narrative around Trumpism and Zionist influence, framing social progressivism as culture Jewry and Trump being dragged by Israel into war with Iran as a symbol of US decline being caused by Jewish influence (à la the post WWI “stabbed in the back” narrative in Germany). Dems and progressives need to be fighting on that front instead of shadowboxing a lame duck Trump, imo.

[Apec 324]

3 hours ago, Ladle Ghoulash said:

Ngl I truly do not believe that. The admin is more unpopular than ever and Trump is on track to become a lame duck President post-midterms. Not to mention that a lot of what they’re trying to change in terms of federal policy cannot be done unilaterally.

 

3 hours ago, Bronco said:

Fully agree. Especially as the Iranians are openly saying they're going to drag the conflict on to the midterms to hurt Trump. 

Unless the midterms suddenly switch trajectory, we've got 4 months left of the worst to weather. Followed by 2 years of the Republicans trying to cut trump loosse to save themselves 

Truly curious, sorry if I sound under informed. Most of what Trump/his administration has done so far also wasn't supposed to be able to be done unilaterally though? Do you really see a blue wave with actual political power after them stacking basically all the circuit courts/Supreme court not to mention all other political appointees, blatant evidence of voter tampering in the past, charging into war without Congress even having a say, and so many more breaches of Presidential power it has to be up to hundreds of counts now... Do you think The Orange One and Vance and co. have riled up the people enough because seen from the outside, the opposition (except for a few outliers) are afraid of even condemning blatantly illegal plans and acts out of fear of "legal" persecution re: sending the National Guard/US soldiers to US states without the Governor's consent, ICE quotas/murders/disappearances and deals with El Salvador, military fusion plans with Israel, the Venezuelan coup, literally smuggling in a massive amount of Moroccan citizens into Spain nearly overnight so Rubio could point at the immense undocumented migrant "crisis" in Europe (Spain is taking steps - even more so than the rest of us - militarily and economically to become more independent from the US so this was revenge), etc. etc.

I'm asking this with a tiny voice, hoping to not hear the worst: Do you really think your systems of (relative) checks and balances still exist at this point, even if his approval rating is abysmal? Because I really, really hope so, but I'm afraid things have already been fundamentally broken. Or is this resolve and/or much more knowledge I'm hearing? Ladle's Weimar parallel horror scenario has also given me food for thought...

Know that while we're angry, we're also angry as hell for you guys (the normal, common sense-possessing US citizens).

And as for abortion, the topic at hand: this is gonna be a long, hard road ahead but again...All strength and solidarity to those embroiled in this travesty! I weep with you and would try to help if that were possible. 😢

Edited Sunday at 06:20 PM by Apec

[Ladle Ghoulash 54,096]

9 minutes ago, Apec said:

Most of what Trump/his administration has done so far also wasn't supposed to be able to be done unilaterally though?

Really depends on what you’re talking about here, but I will say that the overwhelming majority of the worst efforts of Trump 2.0 have been unsuccessful precisely because they’ve been illegal, were challenged in court, Trump admin lost. Either that or they were halted after even modest public backlash. I apologize for the brevity of the reply, but the bulk of the examples you provided have largely fallen into one of those two categories.

I feel that the worst of what will remain post-Trump 2.0 will be the downstream effects of administrative executive decisions that have largely destabilized many federal agencies, like the DOGE cuts and their effects on public health, education, the IRS etc. A lot of the more overtly dictatorial/totalitarian P2025 stuff has struck me less as an immediate power grab and more of a stated aim long term and a lot of Trump 2.0 has been swinging big on those pillars of democracy and separation of powers to see where the fault lines are so that if they fail in leveling them now, they’ll have a better idea of how to do it in the future.

Edited Sunday at 06:21 PM by Ladle Ghoulash

[Bronco 26,033]

8 minutes ago, Apec said:

 

Truly curious, sorry if I sound under informed. Most of what Trump/his administration has done so far also wasn't supposed to be able to be done unilaterally though? Do you really see a blue wave with actual political power after them stacking basically all the circuit courts/Supreme court not to mention all other political appointees, blatant evidence of voter tampering in the past, charging into war without Congress even having a say, and so many more breaches of Presidential power it has to be up to hundreds of counts now... Do you think The Orange One and Vance and co. have riled up the people enough because seen from the outside, the opposition (except for a few outliers) are afraid of even condemning blatantly illegal plans and acts out of fear of "legal" persecution re: sending the National Guard/US soldiers to US states without the Governor's consent, ICE quotas/murders/disappearances and deals with El Salvador, military fusion plans with Israel, the Venezuelan coup, literally smuggling in a massive amount of Moroccan citizens into Spain nearly overnight so Rubio could point at the immense undocumented migrant "crisis" in Europe (Spain is taking steps - even more so than the rest of us - militarily and economically to become more independent from the US so this was revenge), etc. etc.

I'm asking this with a tiny voice, hoping to not hear the worst: Do you really think your systems of (relative) checks and balances still exist at this point, even if his approval rating is abysmal? Because I really, really hope so, but I'm afraid things have already been fundamentally broken. Or is this resolve and/or much more knowledge I'm hearing? Ladle's Weimar parallel horror scenario has also given me food for thought...

Know that while we're angry, we're also angry as hell for you guys (the normal, common sense-possessing US citizens).

And as for abortion, the topic at hand: this is gonna be a long, hard road ahead but again...All strength and solidarity to those embroiled in this travesty! I weep with you and would try to help if that were possible. 😥

Everything Trump tried to do unilaterally has been overturned/paused/revoked by Congress/SCOTUS though forcing his admin to try and find alternative ways. 

Yes that took time, but it did get turned over eventually. 

Like the birthright citizen ban, overturned by SCOTUS. 
The fund to repay Trump allies, the new AG was forced to abandon it to get sworn into office by Republicans.
ICE's city occupations, forced to downscale and Trump allies lost their jobs and forced into being the scapegoats. 

The checks & balances are slower than would be ideal. But they are working. And the ultimate check is a lame duck presidency period because that will see the mainstream Republicans drop him and start building a post-Trump 2028 platform (something Marco Rubio is already trying to do so). 

The 2020 election going against Trump has effectively prevented the team around Trump fully entrenching themselves in the position. They came in in 2024 with 2 years to pull off an agenda that required them to already be in position - hence why it's been done so slopily. 
And the ultimate death knell in Trump's ability to get **** done as an admin has been him being suckered into Iran by the Israeli government/military. He's now trapped in a war which fundamentally goes against the demands of his primary voter faction & he's stuck in a position where he can't actually pull a win off which will be his ultimate legacy. 

[Apec 324]

@Ladle Ghoulash and @Bronco: Thank you so much for your replies. We get bombarded with so much national, other international AND US news here that the supposedly less sensational items (SCOTUS blocking something, etc.) won't be front or fourth page, so to speak and it gets too much to read everything from time to time. I said "relative" checks and balances because no democracy has perfect ones, wasn't targeting your system (ours is downright crazy complicated and slow anyways). I was also thinking of the DOGE fallout on the public, didn't mention that because I'm already late. (Doctor's appointment, my dad always wants to bring me early so I do have to go).  

Thanks for filling me in on these important not-so-details. I really support you guys and am crossing my fingers and toes for those midterms (and beyond). Love your resilience! 

Edited Sunday at 06:54 PM by Apec

[MOT 3,616]

5 hours ago, Ladle Ghoulash said:

Ngl I truly do not believe that. The admin is more unpopular than ever and Trump is on track to become a lame duck President post-midterms. Not to mention that a lot of what they’re trying to change in terms of federal policy cannot be done unilaterally.

I am worried about the midterms. Maga may succeed in having them cancelled. If they are not cancelled they may succeed in rigging them. If they don't succeed in rigging them they may refuse to accept the results.

I don't know what chance they have of succeeding with any of the above, but I think we can be certain of one thing. If the Dems take both houses, Trump will not be going on Fox to congratulate them and to say how much he's looking forward to working with them for the next two years. 

 

 

[Bronco 26,033]

2 minutes ago, MOT said:

I am worried about the midterms. Maga may succeed in having them cancelled. If they are not cancelled they may succeed in rigging them. If they don't succeed in rigging them they may refuse to accept the results.

They will in some states absolutely try to refuse the certification (Looking at Texas), but for the most part the Republican establishment want rid of Trump and are almost praying for a bad midterms in the swing seats because it serves them better than winning. They know they need Trump sidelined if they want a chance in 2028, they don't want his shadow being part of the 2028 contest.

[MOT 3,616]

2 hours ago, Bronco said:

They will in some states absolutely try to refuse the certification (Looking at Texas), but for the most part the Republican establishment want rid of Trump and are almost praying for a bad midterms in the swing seats because it serves them better than winning. They know they need Trump sidelined if they want a chance in 2028, they don't want his shadow being part of the 2028 contest.

What you've said there makes sense from a 'normal politics' point of view, but ... my overriding concern is that the GOP have waved goodbye to normal politics. They currently have control of the Presidency, the House, the Senate and the Supreme Court. If the Dems win the House, the Senate or the Presidency in 2026 or 2028, and the GOP refuse to hand over the keys, what can the Dems do about that ?