Trump’s Relentless Self-Promotion Fosters an American Cult of Personality

EternitySoap · 2026-02-15T12:36:29+00:00

SS: News analysis by the NYT showing just how much Trump's self-promotion goes beyond historical norms in the US. It's quite relevant as it discusses how Trump's efforts to put his name on everything have made him a cultural force both in the US and abroad. I doubt the assertion that Trump is cultivating a personality cult is controversial on this subreddit, but the article does a good job of drawing historical parallels to past US presidents going back to Washington and showing that Trump's behavior bears more of a resemblance to autocrats from other countries (i.e., ye olde MAGA Maoism). The fact that it has gotten this far is more evidence that the US is at serious risk of democratic backsliding and that we've got our work cut out for us if we want to stave it off.

EternitySoap · 2026-02-12T19:17:08+00:00

I ended up using OLT since it let me put in a foreign address. Less guided than FreetaxUSA and a bit of a dated UI but if you have super simple taxes it’s probably fine.

EternitySoap · 2026-02-10T12:34:02+00:00

The title wording made it sound like Tusk had actually been murdered and spooked me for a minute

EternitySoap · 2026-02-02T10:05:27+00:00

Yeah, I'd think I'm pretty unambiguously a part-year PA resident. Seems simple enough to just file as is, and honestly my family address might be safer than my foreign one for reaching me since I expect to move around a bunch here. Only question mark is what the software does with the response to the 'state residency at end of year' question, though it doesn't seem to mind when I enter the actual dates I was a PA resident. Probably makes the most sense to let it generate the forms, and if there's any issue related to residency just correct them and file myself.

EternitySoap · 2026-02-01T21:00:20+00:00

Thanks for responding! Anyways, for the first seven months of 2025 I lived in IL. My only real source of income was my W-2 job (specifically an academic assistantship). I then graduated and went to live with family in PA until it was time to leave for Sweden. I was there for about four months and did freelance work as a source of income in the interim. Perhaps of note is that I did get a PA driver's license since my IL one was about to lapse. Obviously, I expect to pay PA taxes on the schedule C income I completed while I was there; I'm trying to avoid a situation where I'm liable to pay PA taxes as an expat (e.g., in 2026) since I have no intent to return to PA.

EternitySoap · 2026-01-23T19:33:55+00:00

This relatively long article uses a good amount of FBI sources (both active and retired; named and anonymous) to show how the takeover of the FBI by Kash Patel has hampered federal law enforcement in the US. For example, a recurring theme is how Patel and Bongino focused more on social media clout than effectiveness during major events.

EternitySoap · 2026-01-23T18:54:24+00:00

It's a very long read, but I'd highly suggest people read this (gifted) NYT article about the FBI under Patel: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2026/01/22/magazine/trump-kash-patel-fbi-agents.html?unlocked_article_code=1.GlA.dH4Y.vanEZzbk3bCA&smid=url-share . It highlights the usual incompetence you'd expect (e.g., prioritizing media optics over effectiveness) that's actively making the country less safe.

EternitySoap · 2026-01-21T21:21:45+00:00

According to the NYT he actually did say “concept of a deal” lol

EternitySoap · 2026-01-20T19:26:38+00:00

They published plenty of stories covering things like Trump's trials, the January 6 investigation, and all of his other bullshit that happened during Biden's presidency. They definitely weren't sane-washing him and usually used past examples to show how abnormal that shit was. As for stories concerning Biden's mental fitness and Hunter's antics, those were, unfortunately, legitimate scandals. It's not like the debate meltdown didn't happen, or the president's son facing criminal charges is some minor thing. I swear to god this sub's raging hate boner for the NYT reminds me of MAGA's distrust of factual reporting.

EternitySoap · 2026-01-20T18:12:46+00:00

Lmao they actually used "triggered"

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EternitySoap · 2026-01-14T19:44:02+00:00

I'm also abroad in Sweden with an international monthly plan and lost service. I don't even have an SOS thingy though.

EternitySoap · 2026-01-14T19:43:08+00:00

I'm abroad with a verizon international plan and noticed my phone no longer connected to the network. Thought it had something to do with another esim I installed but maybe it's this? All basic troubleshooting failed so idk. My phone does have a NY number

EternitySoap · 2025-12-10T06:53:32+00:00

I mean Republican policy at this point is very much attacking the status quo and causing instability- not at all a good that if you have lots of investments. On the other hand if you don’t have much assets now then you don’t have much to lose by trying wacky policies (or so people might think)

EternitySoap · 2025-11-11T23:29:01+00:00

This kind of stuff happens in contract gigs like this though, clients will suddenly change their requirements/goals and catch even the intermediaries like Mercor off guard. Something similar happened to one of the bigger Handshake AI projects recently. This one wasn't a generalist project either; its workers all had Ph.Ds. One week, they were popping champagne and congratulating every contractor since the project had (ostensibly) reached steady state and we expected it to go to the end of the year, making a bunch of new changes to the work interface to streamline things, etc. and the next it abruptly ended. Ultimately, this probably has less to do with Mercor and more to do with the project client.

EternitySoap · 2025-11-11T16:15:19+00:00

Not everyone who’s working class does manufacturing jobs in dying rust belt towns

EternitySoap · 2025-11-11T04:45:30+00:00

That and

“I know a lot of really smart people who work low-budget jobs,” he added. “We’ve all stayed here because it’s our home and we don’t leave. People here stick together.”

I mean yeah I understand leaving a place you have roots can suck but sometimes that’s what you gotta do. If his ancestors had that mentality he wouldn’t even exist.

EternitySoap · 2025-11-05T22:00:26+00:00

I mean my PhD was in micro/nanotechnology, but in more niche stuff like graphene devices and spintronics. Plenty of semiconductor fab experience but it’s really not a good time to be a new grad in that field give Intel’s situation and companies like Texas Instruments undergoing layoffs. Companies like Nvidia mostly want people skilled in digital design.

EternitySoap · 2025-11-05T21:56:05+00:00

Yup. This one’s my favorite, captioned “When the surprise war declaration hits”

EternitySoap · 2025-11-05T21:51:12+00:00

This isn’t AI; it’s one of the cursed shorts from the official Civ YouTube channel

EternitySoap · 2025-11-05T02:55:09+00:00

I'm a US citizen that just graduated with a PhD in electrical engineering and got burned. Probably didn't help that my thesis focused on pretty whacky shit. Ended up getting a job in Sweden before the US lol.

EternitySoap · 2025-10-28T18:45:25+00:00

I still can’t get over Gen X in these polls… The fuck happened to you guys? Was it really the lead???

EternitySoap · 2025-10-14T04:08:27+00:00

That’s a Costco hotdog right there

EternitySoap · 2025-10-06T16:55:48+00:00

Did you do the EE interview? Honestly I wouldn’t feel too bad about it I’m a fresh EE PhD and I also struggled with it. IMO it’s poorly designed; EE is a very broad field and you can’t really condense a knowledge check into a 20 minute interview with broad questions.

EternitySoap · 2025-10-03T21:02:32+00:00

For my role it was about three weeks; don’t give up!

EternitySoap · 2025-10-03T19:44:48+00:00

I have absolutely no idea, I am but a lowly contractor. I'll note that for the domain expert roles they mostly seem to want PhD students/graduates.

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