In some cases it has worked; he does get pushed around. TACO was basically all about that tendency. But because the elites in this country are mostly stupid spineless losers, they capitulate rather than fight back.
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Calling him TACO didn't appear to have any effect on how he handles tariff policy (which was where the term came up), so it's almost like your point about calling him names *doesn't work* to get him to change course.
jul 31, 2025, 2:55 am • 0 0 • view
I mean, tariffs got delayed? He keeps making up lies about what he is doing because he fears blowback? I think that shows pressure can work. I think he can be pushed around but that does not mean he can always be defeated. He could be defeated more, or even permanently, if elites were more effective
jul 31, 2025, 4:42 am • 0 0 • view
Except the game of "are the tariffs on or off" is literally why TACO came to be, so that he's *still* playing that game tells me that the TACO attack isn't as effective as you seem to think. So, now that you've even admitted it's not a great strategy, how are you gonna pressure him away from EC?
jul 31, 2025, 5:28 am • 0 0 • view
Generally, when people talk about political pressure, it's not given that it will have a particular outcome. It could be that the target walks something back, or it could be that they double down, or do something else. We tend to think they feel the pressure if they decide they need to respond
jul 31, 2025, 2:32 pm • 0 0 • view
So, your strategy to get Trump to stop supporting ethnic cleansing in Gaza is to call him mean names in the hope that he stops, but you admit that it could backfire completely and he could double down on it instead?
jul 31, 2025, 4:58 pm • 1 0 • view
I think if international leaders were disciplined and constantly said straight up that Trump is a miserable failure and that his weakness was what allowed ISR to commit genocide in Gaza, and that he was Bibi's stooge, and reporters kept asking Trump about that....there would be a reaction yes
jul 31, 2025, 5:26 pm • 0 0 • view
Ok, I'm done with this dumbfuckery. "There would be a reaction". Well no shit, but if that reaction is to make everything *worse* then your strategy would be worse than doing nothing, wouldn't it? (Rhetorical) If you've got a better idea than mean names, I'm willing to listen. Until then, muting.
jul 31, 2025, 5:32 pm • 0 0 • view
In the real world, results are never guaranteed. But it would be great if people tried and didn't just preemptively give up. What's your actual opinion? That he is super stable and steadfastly immune to pressure?
jul 31, 2025, 5:28 pm • 0 0 • view
My opinion is he doesn't actually give a fuck *what* people are saying about him, as long as they're taking about him. As long as Congress and SCOTUS are giving him a free pass, he's going to continue to do whatever crosses his syphilis-riddled brain at any particular moment.
jul 31, 2025, 5:37 pm • 1 0 • view
That, since he's not worried about losing reelection, he is largely insulated from political pressure to do anything he doesn't want. Congress seems to be dutifully following along, as if they, too, have no reelection worries. Since he is above the law, the solutions will have to be beyond the law.
jul 31, 2025, 5:39 pm • 0 0 • view
A good example from this week is the UK governments response to the Online Safety Act. They haven't given up on it, but it sure looks like they feel the need to loudly defend it. So I would say they feel pressure over it, even though it's not the outcome I desire.
jul 31, 2025, 2:33 pm • 0 0 • view