this post was submitted on 18 Dec 2025
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It will go down in history as the “Bah! Humbug!” address.

But this was not an address by a self-confident man dishing out Christmas presents to the nation. It smacked of desperation from one who can feel the December windchill of opinion polls – a Reuters/ Ipsos poll on Tuesday showed just 33% of US adults approve of how Trump has handled the economy – dissent in his own Republican ranks and the Jeffrey Epstein files looming on Friday.

The speech also revealed Trump’s need for a reliable foil. Over the years Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, Joe Biden and Kamala Harris have been useful nemeses for a man and movement defined less by what they are for than what they are against.

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[–] TheDemonBuer@lemmy.world 169 points 1 week ago (3 children)

“Eleven months ago, I inherited a mess, and I’m fixing it,” Trump said, starting as he meant to go on by telling a lie: he claimed that inflation was the worst in 48 years when he took office, when in fact it had come back down to 3%.

He went on to place blame at the feet of Biden, previous trade deals, immigrants and what he described as a corrupt system.

Fascists can't actually solve problems, even though they will tell you they're the only ones who can. They don't have problem solving skills, that's why they're fascists. They blame, deflect and scapegoat, and do it very aggressively and forcefully. Unfortunately, many people mistake that for strength. But fascists are not strong, they're weak, and they try to compensate for their weakness by acting very strong, in very superficial ways. That's why they are so focused on hyper masculine performance.

REAL strength is not an over inflated ego, it's not threats and cruelty, it's not being ignorant and proud of it, it's not unnecessary aggression and violence. Real strength is accountability. Weak people think it shows strength to never admit when you're wrong, but that's completely false. Real strength is owning up to your mistakes, but not so you can crumble into self loathing, it's so you can learn from them and become better. Real strength is learning, it's knowledge and understanding.

You can't fix a problem that you don't understand, and you can't understand a problem if you are unwilling to look at it honestly and critically, without bias. But that takes humility and weak people think humility is weakness, and they think arrogance is strength. The opposite is true. Humility is STRENGTH. That's why fascists can never lead, because leadership takes real strength and they don't have it.

[–] Today@lemmy.world 28 points 1 week ago (1 children)

He doesn't know the difference between a strongman and a strong man.

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[–] QuarterSwede@lemmy.world 23 points 1 week ago

Freaking bingo! Well said!!

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[–] KnitWit@lemmy.world 71 points 1 week ago (1 children)
[–] 315am@lemmy.world 19 points 1 week ago

This made me LOL IRL so I made you a picture.

[–] WanderWisley@lemmy.world 69 points 1 week ago (6 children)
[–] titanicx@lemmy.zip 38 points 1 week ago (6 children)

God this would be ideal for this dumb fuck. That way he doesn't die, but he lives as an idiotic vegetable for the rest of his life suffering. Also coincidentally did you know that Donald j Trump who is best friends with Jeffrey r Epstein is a child rapist? We've seen pictures and evidence in the releases so far and this is a well-known fact.

[–] WanderWisley@lemmy.world 24 points 1 week ago (4 children)

The best/worst case scenario is he has a massive stroke live on TV but somehow survives but is wheelchair bound and has to use a Stephen Hawking style speaker in order to talk. It would be hilarious to have him wheel out on stage and with his robot voice say “the deep state did this to me!”

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[–] samus12345@sh.itjust.works 16 points 1 week ago

Show him the video of himself mocking the disabled reporter on a loop.

[–] IndridCold@lemmy.ca 14 points 1 week ago (2 children)

My friend had a large stroke. He can barely talk, he's confined to a wheel chair, his hands are mostly useless, and he slumps over and drools on himself. The kicker is his brain it like he was before the stroke. Hes a prisoner in broken skin suit.

That's the life I want for Trump.

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[–] ShellMonkey@piefed.socdojo.com 63 points 1 week ago (4 children)

Trump also announced that he would send a “warrior dividend” of $1,776 to 1.45 million US service members in the coming week. He said it had been made possible by revenue from tariffs, failing to mention those same tariffs have driven prices up.

First, it won't happen because he talks out his ass by default. A more important second though, how insulting is it that he thinks a token payment is going to buy him the loyalty of the military? I'm strikingly reminded of Caligula in the movie promising '10 gold pieces to every man'.

[–] falseWhite@lemmy.world 51 points 1 week ago (4 children)

Weren't tariff dividends meant to be sent to every American below certain income? So now he's just trying to bribe the military, because fuck those civilians protesting against him.

[–] ramble81@lemmy.zip 40 points 1 week ago

So now we’re up to:

  • $5,000 from DOGE
  • $2,000 from Tariffs
  • $1,776 from Tariffs to service members

And of course the true amount of the $8,776 people will see…. $0

[–] ryper@lemmy.ca 18 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (2 children)

Maybe someone explained to him that there wasn't enough money for the previous plan. Or maybe he doesn't remember there was a previous plan.

[–] Zahille7@lemmy.world 17 points 1 week ago

Or it's even more simple than that, and he was just straight lying about the previous plan.

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[–] WindyRebel@lemmy.world 11 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Keep the ones happy who will enforce national gestapo and an at-home war on dissenters. That’s what this is. A bribe.

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[–] Lemmyoutofhere@lemmy.ca 13 points 1 week ago

Sadly a token payment works on an alarming percentage of people.

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[–] Lemmyoutofhere@lemmy.ca 37 points 1 week ago (1 children)

That was some strange deranged rant. WTF even was that?

[–] MutantTailThing@lemmy.world 33 points 1 week ago

Tantrum. This is called a tantrum.

[–] SanctimoniousApe@lemmings.world 36 points 1 week ago (6 children)

Blows my mind that even a third of people still support this putz - I knew the human race had plenty of assholes, but that's absurd. Wonder just how many die-hards will be left at the peak of the massive recession Trump has set up to happen next year.

[–] Randomgal@lemmy.ca 9 points 1 week ago

Crazy that people think that 1/3 supporting a fascist pedophile is 'nort that bad'.

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[–] setsubyou@lemmy.world 36 points 1 week ago (8 children)

apparently this was a sugar high: just before the remarks started, according to a White House pool report, an usher brought in three Diet Cokes and ice.

But… that’s the sugar free one… he must have been on something else.

[–] Sludge@sh.itjust.works 15 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (3 children)

I mean, 3 diet cokes is a lot of caffeine.

Edit: I've been corrected that 3 diet cokes is, in fact, not a lot of caffeine. Guess he's micro-dosing amphetamines. My bad, y'all.

[–] aramis87@fedia.io 19 points 1 week ago (1 children)

A 12oz Diet Coke is 46mg caffeine. A cup of coffee is about 150mg.

[–] tal@lemmy.today 10 points 1 week ago

Yeah, came here to say this. Soda generally doesn't have a lot of caffeine compared to coffee.

[–] Triumph@fedia.io 18 points 1 week ago

From someone who has been on the caffeine pony - caffeine withdrawal is no joke. If he's been deprived of his diet cokes for medical reasons, it makes total sense that they'd give him some right before a televised address read from a teleprompter that he wasn't supposed to deviate from.

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[–] Peruvian_Skies@sh.itjust.works 11 points 1 week ago

They must have meant diet cocaine. As in not cut with sugar.

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[–] Bonifratz@piefed.zip 35 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

100% of all jobs created since I took office have been in the private sector.

Even Trump has forgotten all about DOGE.

[–] DagwoodIII@piefed.social 30 points 1 week ago (3 children)

MTG is smarter than we've given her credit for.

She was the first rat off the ship, and she'll be playing off her 'independent' stance up until 2028.

"MAGA listened to Trump, and we paid the price for supporting the wrong man! He wasn't true to the cause but I am!"

[–] glimse@lemmy.world 17 points 1 week ago (6 children)

Don't give her that credit. She stopped getting what she wanted so she bailed. She was not the first rat off the ship either. She didn't come to her senses or anything.

That said, I support her efforts to splinter the party. Not because I agree with her but because it benefits me

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[–] gAlienLifeform@lemmy.world 17 points 1 week ago (4 children)

Still stupid enough to have gotten on to the ship in the first place

[–] snooggums@piefed.world 19 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (1 children)

Pretty sure she perspnally benefitted from being on the ship and hasn't had any negative repercussions.

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[–] theneverfox@pawb.social 16 points 1 week ago (5 children)

MTG got approached by a group of consultants promising her the presidency

Have you listened to her lately? She sounds like Kamala during the second half of her mini-campaign

[–] GaryGhost@lemmy.world 12 points 1 week ago (1 children)

I hope she runs for president, the only thing this country hates more than people of color is women, insta win for the Dems, or hopefully a different party altogether

[–] theneverfox@pawb.social 9 points 1 week ago

Before you get too excited, there's a non-zero chance its her vs Kamala...

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[–] melsaskca@lemmy.ca 20 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Trump desperately hoping the mindset in the military is like "I would never follow illegal orders for only $1,775 dollars! Show me the money!". Trump mistakenly believing he can buy and sell honour because he does not have any and cannot recognize it. He doesn't understand how standing up for a principle doesn't make you an automatic sucker or loser.

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[–] Treczoks@lemmy.world 19 points 1 week ago (1 children)

So, 33% of Americans are terminally stupid.

[–] ameancow@lemmy.world 14 points 1 week ago

The sad thing is I'm fine with the 33% who are slack-jawed morons. It's inevitable that any segment of a population is going to fall somewhere on the bell-curve.

We can fix stupid. That's where the term comes from "I rather be lucky than smart." You can actually correct stupidity in yourself or in your population with effort and management. Or at least keep them directed at the right targets.

Our real ire here, the people we need to be making their lives absolute hell night and day are the grifters, the pundits, the streamers and youtube influencers and right-wing radio hosts, the science-deniers and "just asking questions" nazis and of course, the tens of thousands of paid propaganda-spreaders on twitter, people who live in other countries and have no stake in our future and just work every day at getting their talking points shared and clipped for a few dollars. Enough to live on in places like India.

If it wasn't for those people, that 33% would still be stupid, but they would be less afraid, less reactionary, less focused on new, invented targets.

We'll never fix it entirely, we're a primitive and unevolved species broadly, but we could do a LOT better at managing our own living space if we unified and targeted the right problems.

[–] snekerpimp@lemmy.world 19 points 1 week ago (2 children)

More like “Why don’t you like me?” rant. What an absolute baby

[–] Lushed_Lungfish@lemmy.ca 18 points 1 week ago

Oh if only he'd feel the chill of the grave.

[–] Zagam@piefed.social 18 points 1 week ago (1 children)

I didn't watch it but I was hoping for a Budd Dwyer moment.

[–] BrundleFly2077@sh.itjust.works 17 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

Hey, man. Nice shot. Good shot, man.

[–] Rhoeri@lemmy.world 16 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (2 children)

He’s not feeling shit. He’s just successfully distracting idiots with short attention spans.

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[–] DarkFuture@lemmy.world 15 points 1 week ago (2 children)

I mean it's his 2nd term, he's almost dead, and it's not like the treasonous Republican party is going to oust him.

So all we're going to get out of this is maybe some raised blood pressure because he's a narcissist and narcissists don't like knowing how many people don't like them. Doesn't really help us though.

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[–] Halcyon@discuss.tchncs.de 15 points 1 week ago

Excellent analysis by Jim Stewartson here:

Trump’s Colonized Mind: The Cognitive Dysfunction Destabilizing the Planet

The neurological, psychological, and political breakdown of the American president—and the people taking full advantage of it.


"Trump is experiencing a rapid decline in cognitive function. – He is alone and angry on a deserted mental island. – It’s impossible to watch him at this point and ignore his dysfunction. – It’s as if his shrinking mind has been colonized by his advisors and donors. – Donald Trump is less the leader of a nation and more of a glitchy, reprogrammable weapon of mass destruction—being wielded by a constellation of America’s enemies, foreign and domestic."

https://www.mind-war.com/p/trumps-colonized-mind-the-cognitive

[–] HobbitFoot@thelemmy.club 14 points 1 week ago (1 children)

A speech like that killed Carter's presidency. What are the odds that will happen to Trump?

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[–] aceshigh@lemmy.world 9 points 1 week ago (4 children)

33% approval rating is more than the amount of votes he received. It looks like a win to me.

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