(01-04-2026 09:11 AM)ballantyneapp Wrote:  

(01-04-2026 08:53 AM)UofMstateU Wrote:  

(01-04-2026 08:35 AM)ballantyneapp Wrote:  

(01-03-2026 10:41 PM)banker Wrote:  

(01-03-2026 09:56 PM)ballantyneapp Wrote:  It’s really a shame JR, you’re almost there. Of course you are weakening your position by building up several straw men that nobody advocates here like Marxism and Maoism. I’ll put it in your parlance: we’re regressing for ~1 billion individuals in our “sphere”

The problem with your worldview is that you’re half correctly diagnosing the problem (corpos) but you’re attributing it to the wrong group. Of course you are going to have to come to grips with the fact that the corporate class owns Trump too and is calling the shots here via a vis Venezuela. Im willing to bet the us pays for some infrastructure projects in Venezuela and then tirns it over to the oil companies, socialize the costs privatize the profits baby! The rest of your post is just typical class warfare bs the looting class parrots out to people so they can continue to loot the country.

The fog of hatred really distorts one’s vision. Explain how Trump’s tariffs have enriched the corporate elite at the expense of the treasury of the country? Explain how his assault on HB-1 visas and cheap illegal labor has benefitted corporations at the expense of American workers. But somehow you view this move as Trump being a puppet for corporations and willing to expend US taxpayer money for corporate profit?

Venezuela stole billions in assets from American companies. We let that go for decades. Trump looks at the most simple answer for a problem. You will construe that comment as yeah, simple is his limit, but it’s really the most direct path. What will happen is he will return the oil company facilities to them. They will pay for necessary infrastructure upgrades. This will increase the oil supply for us, which will reduce prices. A percentage of profits, most likely the same structure that existed before seizure, the framework that provided a great standard of living for Venezuelans, will be reestablished. He will also require the oil companies to give the US first dibs on production, which means he can cut off shipments to China as a negotiating tool. This also is a roadblock to China’s effort to increase South American influence.

What the left hasn’t figured out about Trump is that he is a man that is solely focused on his legacy and redemption at this point. He’s not unlike Carnegie toward the end of his life, trying desperately to redeem himself in the eyes of God. His vision for doing that will drive everything he does and being a puppet to corporate America isn’t part of that.

You can argue the validity of his vision for that, but that really doesn’t matter because you won’t change his thought process. He believes restoring America is the number one job. He believes ending wars and reducing crime is #2. Everything flows through only those two prisms.

Tariffs enrich corporate elite by increasing the tax burden on the lower and middle class to pay for more tax abatements or credits for corporations and VHNW individuals.

H1bs are still necessary per Trump himself and he’s allowing illegal labor in industries as lobbied.

Trumps goals are to enrich himself, family and cronies, get revenge on his political enemies and I suspect to do what he’s told by his handlers

what do you call $3.5million wired from the wife of moscows mayor to hunter biden's firm?

lol you think I’m going to defend hunter Biden and his obvious peddling? I’m not in a cult I’m not obligated to defend him.

Of course this specific claim was never proven, but other claims have been proven true, wouldn’t surprise me if this one was either.

Although Biden was obviously not in the pocket of Putin during his presidency unlike Trump

Right, he just ignored his military build up on Ukraine’s border and said it’s no big deal if it’s just a little invasion. He did everything for Putin except run a personal Uber service to get Russian troops to Kiev.