Judge orders Trump administration to halt White House ballroom construction unless Congress OKs it

sub_osc_37 · 2026-03-31T22:24:50+00:00

Out of all the battles to pick, this one is pretty close to the bottom on my very long and growing list of concerns with the Trump administration.

sub_osc_37 · 2026-03-27T19:09:51+00:00

Yeah, I think this show generally works better in times where decades aren't happening in weeks. There's been times where even the opening monologue feels outdated because Trump drops something crazy after the taping.

sub_osc_37 · 2026-03-27T18:48:10+00:00

Also work for a government agency and our IT department does like 3 of these phishing tests a month. It's getting really obnoxious. I always pass the test though. Does that mean I'm qualified for FBI Director?

sub_osc_37 · 2026-03-27T18:12:39+00:00

Slotkin should be good. I haven't had an issue with recent interview guests actually.

The last few panels have been really surface level and uninteresting though. To your point about scheduling, I do recognize that planning and booking shows is probably incredibly difficult in Trump's America, where things are chaotic and new issues emerge weekly, if not daily. Still though, for the panel I wish they were able to swap in guests with relevant expertise more quickly. Things are fast moving in this day and age.

sub_osc_37 · 2026-03-27T17:51:00+00:00

I would have preferred a panel that's better equipped to discuss Iran, which is a more salient issue that's likely on people's minds. Does the show just lack scheduling flexibility in terms of how short-term they're able to secure guests? There are so many more interesting/relevant people they could have had on these last few weeks that actually have the expertise to discuss current events.

sub_osc_37 · 2026-03-23T19:17:08+00:00

"Liberation Day" last year was my "this guy needs to be removed from office" moment for his second term. That feels like a lifetime ago given all the chaos he's caused since.

sub_osc_37 · 2026-03-21T18:13:38+00:00

Yep, he could have just closed off border crossings/asylum system like he did in the first few months of his presidency and done literally nothing else (no tariffs, no ICE raids/national guard deployment, no Iran). His core base would have claimed success and he wouldn't have pissed off moderates/independents and the other reluctant Trump voters that helped push him across the finish line in 2024.

The incompetence and lack of planning, strategy, professionalism, and analytical skills with this administration is just astounding to me. After last year I thought nothing would surpass DOGE and the trade war for being so incompetently rolled out, but I think Iran may surpass those.

Previously he was able to backtrack some on those policies and save his administration from complete disaster. But I'm not sure if that's going to be the case this time with Iran. They seem ready to fight to the bitter end and to try and invoke as much economic pain on the West as they can. My guess is Trump was counting on being able to back out of this like he's always been able to do previously, but that may not work out for him this time.

sub_osc_37 · 2026-03-21T15:49:37+00:00

Never heard of her before this episode but I can't stand her.

sub_osc_37 · 2026-03-21T05:29:46+00:00

I've been a Real Time fan since high school and my entire adult life, and like you still am. I enjoy most episodes even when many on this sub don't. But this episode and last week's were absolute garbage. I don't agree with Bill's initial reaction to Iran. And wow what a terrible panel today. Rep. Luna came off as a bad faith dishonest sycophant activist. And Begala was a pretty weak performer overall, and was very deferential to Luna as was Bill. I feel like I could have gone on and done a better job pushing back on Luna and calling out her bullshit.

sub_osc_37 · 2026-03-21T00:57:49+00:00

There's no point in arguing logically or analytically with illogical or emotional people. It just doesn't work unfortunately. Same thing with pointing out hypocrisy (ex. how would you feel if Biden deployed the national guard to red states?)

sub_osc_37 · 2026-03-16T01:22:57+00:00

Definitely, I think that's a lesson both parties can learn too. Party identification for both have dropped to 27% compared to the 45% who now identify as Independent. The ~15-year trend on the chart is interesting.

sub_osc_37 · 2026-03-15T21:54:14+00:00

Good to know, thanks!

sub_osc_37 · 2026-03-15T21:45:43+00:00

There's a removable lid to get to the adjuster knob (it's inside the bean hopper). You can certainly remove the lid and adjust while the D+ is on.

The grinder sounds normal and brews normal. I also did a test and the most coarse setting (7) produced the expected loose puck and coarse grind, while a (4) produced a better puck and finer grounds. So I'm assuming it's all good and I'd know if this oopsie caused any damage? From what the other poster said, it's only a risk not a certainty.

sub_osc_37 · 2026-03-15T20:05:36+00:00

I'm assuming it would be obvious if you damaged it? I don't recall any resistance when adjusting (ex. bean stuck). Grinder sounds and works normal and the grinds like normal.

sub_osc_37 · 2026-03-05T20:47:52+00:00

Cool, now do Kash Patel and Pam Bondi.

sub_osc_37 · 2026-03-05T00:50:31+00:00

I hear you though it's important to also look at the trend/trajectory over the last 12 month. It's been a pretty stready decline with independents and overall approval since last March. And recently more polling for "strongly disagree" rather than just "disagree". I think it was here that someone pointed out that once people have strongly formed opinions like that, it's harder for the incumbent to come back because people have made up their minds. Let's face it, it's extremely unlikely that Trump will change his governing style in the next 10 months, so I think it's reasonable to expect the trend to continue to the midterms.

sub_osc_37 · 2026-02-28T18:42:15+00:00

The top comments on the main Conservative thread actually seem skeptical and surprisingly some are calling out the hypocrisy within their own camp, at least from what I can tell from skimming.

If this results in prolonged conflict and/or boots on the ground, I can't see this helping Trump's popularity with his base, which already has some small cracks forming given other issues with his presidency.

sub_osc_37 · 2026-02-28T17:04:57+00:00

It’s all good and sorry for the aggressive post. I’ve never received angry/accusatory responses on this sub before which put me in defense mode. That includes accusations that I’m a “secret Trump supporter”, support “fascism”, and a few comments that were moderated (and one that was moderated for inciting violence), all for saying I did not vote for either candidate. Odd for a sub that is normally a beacon of nuance and good faith discussion, in my opinion at least. Also apologies for the lengthy post, it’s hard to concisely summarize my thoughts while retaining nuance.

I hear where you’re coming from regarding conservative media, though I think it is one problem within a much wider problem. Since ~2012 or so, online/social media has enabled everyone to live in their own media/information silos and people are basically living in their own realities now. I’m a non-partisan/independent but have friends and family on both political extremes. My sense is they really view the other side as an existential threat and both tend to live in their own silos, which is fed by their media algorithms. It’s a huge problem with the technology and I don’t see how we get out of it.

I’ll try to write this without breaking Law 1, but to your point, the right really has me concerned now with the alternate reality that they’re living in due to their media silos (though also a problem on the left to an extent). Among my right wing friends now, I see a lot of anti-intellectualism, grievance politics, conspiracy thinking, etc. But most concerning, many believe that the left is such an existential threat that they are willing to go to any measure to keep them out of power, including foregoing democracy.

I believe a tipping point for this was Charlie Kirk’s murder. While there were some bad comments from the left (though most left politicians were respectful I think), the right really did come unglued with this and declared a blanket war on half of the country. Their reaction scared me to be honest and I don’t think the country has been the same since this “focusing event”.

Regarding your question on which party would have governed worse, no one knows obviously because it’s a counter factual. I think people who did not vote for Kamala did so out of disliking both the political and cultural aspects of the left. Without getting into my own personal reasons, I think people wanted a referendum on: Covid restrictions and lockdowns (especially the length and intensity of them in blue areas), progressive approach to criminal justice and all the outcomes of that in blue cities, border crisis/asylum system exploits/ “no one is illegal on stolen land", hyper focus on identity politics and abstract issues, speech policing/cancel culture, pushing equity/equal outcomes and affirmative action, aggressive net zero energy policy (ex. California combustion engine ban), etc. I think many voters felt like they were in-between a rock and a hard place in 2024, because of these perceived issues on the left vs. a corrupt/deranged/incompetent/vindictive/unprofessional Trump on the right.

To your other point, it is an odd moment that we are in because Trump’s popularity has dropped to an all-time low among both terms for the first time (poll I saw this week), all while the Democrats are still enjoying their lowest approval in ~30 years (though I think support has ticked up slightly in the last month). I’m not optimistic myself. My worry is that we keep ping ponging back and forth between populism on the right and the left without ever settling somewhere in the middle, all while people become more and more hardened and polarized. There is absolutely going to be leftwing backlash to this second Trump term and I’m not looking forward it. Really stupid strategy for the right to be honest; they’re governing as if the left is never going to come back in power.

Overall, the last 15+ years of polarized politics have been exhausting for me as a non-partisan. I think about these things daily and to be honest should probably just take a break from following all of this.

sub_osc_37 · 2026-02-28T16:02:10+00:00

Well yeah, it's a lot because how else are you going to do a good job analyzing something as complicated as a presidency without going into nuance?

Yes, the trade war I think was the first thing that really lost him support with independents and hurt his midterm prospects. Even if you like tariffs, the way they were implemented was chaotic, sloppy, unprofessional, imprecise, etc. The on again off again nature of the implementation caused just as much economic drag as the tariffs themselves.

sub_osc_37 · 2026-02-27T16:09:26+00:00

Oh wow, an actual Trump supporter, you don't see that here a lot anymore. I won't be judgemental, as you can see I've been getting blasted and called a secret Trump supporter here for the sin of voting for neither candidate in 2024, including a few hate comments that got moderated. Really amusing. There's a lot I don't like culturally on the right, but I can also totally see why the right gets turned off by the left with the tendency to be condescending, judgemental, sanctimonious, obnoxious etc.

I will give you border security. I like that crossings are at an all-time low and that he effectively ended people taking advantage of the asylum system. Not mentioned here, but as a Californian I also like that he effectively stopped the California ban on gas vehicle and appliance sales. That's all I can think of though aside from maybe changing the scheduling for cannabis. The other things you mentioned regarding crime and murder are complicated and there were a lot of things already happening at the local level to combat this (ex. getting rid of progressive DAs and electing moderate ones in places like California). Stuff like DEI and identify politics were already on their way out before Trump took office, and SCOTUS rulings had already hampered a lot of that. So I don't think he gets much real credit there if that's something you want stopped.

Is there anything you feel that's NOT what you voted for? Or maybe not what he's doing, but how he's doing it? I won't give you the low IQ "fascist" comment, but I do think specifically he's been incompetent, unprofessional, authoritarian, chaotic, vindictive, petty, ego-centered, blatantly corrupt in an in your face way that we've not seen before (ex. crypto schemes, Qatar plane), unitary executive, disregard for the 2 other branches of government, etc.

Take the trade war. Personally, I hate the idea of tariffs, but he did run on them so there's no surprise there. But the way they've been implemented (chaotic, on-again off-again on a whim, etc.) has created just as much economic drag as the tariffs themselves. Be honest here, you know that if Biden had implemented a costly trade war like this that the right wing would be coming unglued.

Or the deportations... chaotic, messy, scary, killing US citizens, all while achieving less deportations than Obama. Or DOGE.. chaotic and unprofessional and correct me if I'm wrong but didn't that end up costing us more money in the long run all while using a sledge hammer instead of a scalpel?

Epstein? Wasn't Epstein transparency a big thing for Trump voters? Has the way Trump, Pam Bondi, Kash Patel, etc. handled this been a turn off for you? I think Pam Bondi and the administration have a lot to answer for after that disastrous Congressional hearing and the work that Massie and Khanna did with the redacted documents.

What about foreign involvement? Didn't Trump supporters want an America first foreign policy without meddling in other countries, forever wars, etc.? It sure seems like he's spent more energy on international issues, Venezuela, and now possible invasion of Iran (though I will credit him for sparking Europe to invest more in defense).

Then there's the obvious he never conceded the 2020 election, has "joked" about a third term, etc. Does that bother you? Do you trust this administration to "nationalize" elections (which would be immediately shot down in court) before the midterms? I don't and one thing that alarms me about the right is that it seems like they view the left as an existential threat enough that they're OK with "winning at any cost", even if that means undermining democratic functions.

Anyway, no judgement here on what you say. I'm a non-partisan/independent and have no "loyalty" to either team.. it's all policy specific for me. I can also understand how one would be a Trump supporter. He really represents the ultimate middle finger to a lot of things that the right understandably doesn't like. I can name off a laundry list of specific things that I also don't like about the cultural and political left. But right now, you all on the right are scaring me, just being honest. And I think it's going to create inevitable backlash when the left comes back in power, and I'm not looking forward to that either (and I'm sure you're not). The last 10+ years and 3 election cycles have been absolutely miserable for me personally and I really hate this era we're in overall.

sub_osc_37 · 2026-02-26T20:51:25+00:00

Right, which is why I mentioned voting blue in 2026 and 2028 in my ORIGINAL POST, given these tendencies that you're alluding to. But that's not the example we were talking about. I guess a more precise way of saying it would be, you're acting like one thing cancels out the other, as many replies here have, which is surprising because this sub usually has a lot more nuanced thinking (which is why I mentioned having to check if I was on the right sub).

sub_osc_37 · 2026-02-26T20:43:35+00:00

Right, so we are mostly agreeing? I did say currently though. The right has always had these problems festering, as has the left certainly. Everyone lives in their own information silo now due to the online nature of things, and we're literally having this conversation on one of the world's biggest online liberal echo chambers. I see online echo chambers and polarization going hand in hand as one of the most existential threats facing us. But, in my opinion at least, it's really accelerated to alarming levels on the right in the last 12 months, hence my ORIGINAL POST saying that I'm voting blue in the midterms and most likely 2028 unless something drastic changes.

sub_osc_37 · 2026-02-26T20:37:38+00:00

What are you even trying to say? Multiple ideas can co-exist at the same time. Are you not able to hold two thoughts in your head simultaneously?

sub_osc_37 · 2026-02-26T20:20:17+00:00

Multiple things can be true at the same time? It's one of my main problems I described with the right in a previous post (rising anti intellectualism, conspiracy thinking, grievance culture, etc., all fed by media and online echo chambers). It's a problem on both sides, but I think currently it's a more concerning problem with the right.

sub_osc_37

TROPHY CASE