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[–] 10 points 2 days ago (2 children)

We saw during Trump's first term how he acted as a baseline. We learned that the only saving grace to him being president was that he didn't actually do his job, and he didn't trust other people to do it, either. So his damage was mostly caused during a relative few major events and in his constantly being an attention seeker. The rest of the time, he was golfing.

His presidency is markedly different in his second term. Did he suddenly learn how not to be super lazy? People don't often change like that. The more likely answer is that he's experienced a substantial mental decline and the people around him are doing most of his job for him because he knows that if he stops them, he'll be exposed.

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  • [–] 7 points 2 days ago

    Relatedly, it's probably just that everyone has refined and conformed their parasitic relationships to give Trump what he wants - attention and the facade of power and deference - which means Trump is fine giving them what they want that he has no interest in - Project 2025 and actual governance.

    Stephen Miller is the archetypical example of this. He publicly and privately fellates Trump, and in return, Trump gives him a blank check to set basically all domestic immigration and law enforcement policy.

    In this scenario, Trump's mental decline isn't leverage, it's just another cost of doing business for the craven opportunists who actually make the decisions.

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  • [–] -2 points 1 day ago

    You didn't pay attention. He was getting a lot of fascist shit done behind the scenes while you were all so inflicted by scandal fatigue that him taking a Sharpie to a weather map was all it took to sweep the Epstein story under the rug.

    He was in fact more dangerous in his first term compared to now where he's lost all tact.

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