the president of the pathetic united states of america politics january 2026

in the year 2026 we will have multiple pathetic presidents of the pathetic united states of america

the title is a reference to the current official name of this country, the pathetic united states of america

has Google Maps been updated yet?

btw, for the casual passersby, this is currently the January 2026 US Politics thread. thank you for your attention to this matter.

It’s taking everything I have to not post the “America! Fuck Yeah!” video here

America wins: Trump
pulls NG out of three cities (gift link) https://www.nytimes.com/2025/12/31/us/politics/trump-national-guard.html?unlocked_article_code=1.BVA.j8DW.BXYwWRi7AWDx&smid=nytcore-ios-share

Xp I used the full official name in the thread title! The pathetic United States

in the year 2026 we will have multiple pathetic presidents of the pathetic united states of america

Crossing my fingers we have the year of three emperors

sorry for giving this thread a dumb title

do you know the united states “runs” venezuela now? “we” run it. and “we” is marco rubio and hegseth “and a team” of…other people.

how long do we run venezuela? uh, as long as it takes to rebuild the infrastructure…of venezuela. specifically, their oil industry infrastructure. it wasn’t pumping out enough oil, and the oil that was being produced was being sold to china! now we run it, we’ll produce much more oil, so much, in fact, that this entire “operation” is self-funding, it pays for itself with the oil sales

Idiot maga folks proclaiming it a success because takeover done without loss of us life and costs of Iraq.

not just maga but washington post (editorial, i know, no surprise) and many others are not only defending it but praising it as a geopolitical masterstroke

Wasn’t there a Dead Kennedys song about this?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DRkCefHXlSo
“A moderately repressive regime in South America”

In other oil-related news:

Attorney General Pam Bondi posted an unsealed indictment against Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, accusing them of “Narco-Terrorism Conspiracy, Cocaine Importation Conspiracy, Possession of Machineguns” and other charges.

Russians had the Wagner group in Africa, I'm waiting to see if Trump has the guts to follow through. But I guess he chickens out and takes back his words about running anything when someone, somewhere, points out to him that the US can't do that.

the pathetic united states of america clan of war mongering oil stealing paedophiles

I fully support this operation. The Trump administration's trademark incompetence and corruption will basically take Venezuelan oil production off the board for several years. What we need to do next is launch a whole series of similarly cack-handed attacks on other oil supplier countries, until the entire planet's oil infrastructure is totally fucked and out of commission. We'll all be driving solar-powered cars by summer!

Trump doesn't want to run anything. He'll subcontract it all out to Exxon, and say what you will, the global oil corporations are masters at expropriating oil from third world nations and shipping it to market no matter how badly the country is falling apart outside their facilities.

Remember Tulsi “No Regime Change Wars” Gabbard?

My heart is filled with gratitude, aloha and peace 🙏🏽 #2026 pic.twitter.com/Du0iGV2sRb

— Tulsi Gabbard 🌺 (@TulsiGabbard) January 2, 2026

the countries falling apart essentially because of the expropriation is the kicker

My heart is filled with aloha

been dreading all day this, I guess, inevitable aspect

The New York Times has reported that at least 40 people, including civilians and soldiers, were killed in Saturday’s US attack on Venezuela. The estimate comes from a senior Venezuelan official who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

The victims reportedly include a woman called Rosa González, who was killed when her three-story apartment complex was hit by a strike. Another resident was reportedly severely injured.

Democratic members of the US Congress said senior officials of president Donald Trump’s administration had misled them during recent briefings about plans for Venezuela by insisting they were not planning regime change in Caracas.

Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, the Democrats’ leader in the Senate, said he had been told in three classified briefings that the administration was not pursuing regime change or planning to take military action in Venezuela.

“They assured me that they were not pursuing those things,” Schumer said on a call with reporters.

“Clearly they’re not being straight with the American people.”

Schumer said he had not been briefed by Saturday afternoon and called for the administration to fill in all lawmakers by early next week.

“They’ve kept everyone in the total dark,” he added.

there is no dark vacuum more impressive than the space between yr ears sen chuck dipshit

“They assured me that they were not pursuing those things,” Schumer said

lucy.football.jpg

the criminals broke the law again!

But that’s against the law!

The government is going to call itself and tell itself to arrest itself. Then itself will investigate itself and find no wrongdoing on the part of itself.

https://prospect.org/2025/12/23/narco-terrorist-elite-rubio-south-america-iran-contra/

^ i never knew any of that! jesus christ.

WEIRDOS

https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_fullsize/plain/did:plc:gouysuoxatjdb5bjcqe4sfh7/bafkreigktn77dywtpaoz6rdc4mg2ehv56n6u2nab7zzbhfa5wnincau3la@jpeg

^^^^^ this shit makes my blood boil ^^^^^^

it's Greenland, don't you mean freeze

isnt the standard take that the penultimate grandeur stage of empire is like this- stupid excessive takings and graspings, actually aware it is dying? then it is forced or gulled into an effort/conflict that costs way way too much and gets exhausted and gives away what it can before that shit gets taken or walk away? dying empire’s friends comfort it, but growing powers that were not bankrupted step up, step over, and step into financial and functional domination of the world scene. greenland won’t save usa, but will make some billionaires while we melt it down to boil the ocean.

I guess there is no greater irony than EU members spending their weekend explaining away any international law breach since Maduro was an illegitimate president, followed immediately by Trump promising to plant the American flag on Greenland in the next 20 days / months.

isnt the standard take that the penultimate grandeur stage of empire is like this- stupid excessive takings and graspings, actually aware it is dying?

I think to some extent yes, but I think it's also a recalibrating from a global power to a regional power. The US can become weaker globally while at the same time becoming stronger in its region.

I think this is partly ideological. I don't hold to the idea there are no principles at play, transactionalism, crime, and power ARE principles. It is morally wrong not to steal from those that you can steal from. If they can't defend their stuff then it doesn't belong to them. You only own what you can defend.

I think "what you can defend" is a problem for this particular model, because they seem to have a fantasy that they can run the whole hemisphere by parking some big boats in the Caribbean and sending occasional bombs or sorties in as needed. No occupation or management, just endless shakedowns. I don't think that's a viable model of domination.

Also, the inane triumphalism really does feel like an ersatz replay of the "Mission Accomplished" bubble, when Bush/Cheney were super psyched about taking out Saddam and people in the administration were openly talking about the "next steps" of basically rolling through the entire Middle East and North Africa, taking out insufficiently "anti-terror" leaders and governments. That talk didn't survive too long. Venezuela hardly looks like an actual triumph for American power right now, never mind a month from now.

Good morning!

Walz dropping out of governor's race.

Well, that was interesting.

huh, stung by the fraud issue (at least the one legitimate one that has come to light) or preparing a run in ‘28?

Sorry but there is no way the nation wants a poster boy for the key right-wing talking points of "immigrants are financial parasites" AND "government benefit programs are riddled with fraud"

There is an illusion that being VP makes one a good candidate for president that has not played out very well in reality.

Interesting article and graph:

https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2024/08/01/most-us-vice-presidents-in-recent-decades-have-sought-the-presidency-but-relatively-few-have-won/

So beyond scandals and etc, there’s also the fact that Walz was never VP and also had the stink of loser on him due to the disastrous campaign of which he was a part.

Still the guy I'd go to for advice on replacement lawnmower gaskets.

and for insulting Republicans

Guys who ran for Vice President and lost probably have an even worse record of becoming President.

https://prospect.org/2025/12/23/narco-terrorist-elite-rubio-south-america-iran-contra/

― Lady Sovereign (Citizen) (milo z), Sunday, January 4, 2026 2:39 AM (yesterday)

This should be a book. I'm not sure it tells you anything about Rubio but it's pretty wild

“They assured me that they were not pursuing those things,” Schumer said

lucy.football.jpg

― vague facial gymnastics (sleeve), Saturday, January 3, 2026 6:36 PM (two days ago) bookmarkflaglink

“SHOCKED, shocked I am”, etc

I can't see how this can hold up in court, it'll be interesting to see how this plays out with the SCOTUS 'strict constructionist' wing

I think we’ll find out that was all a facade to do whatever the fuck they wanted

Tucker Carlson: "Saudi Arabia [...] is kind of a weirdly free place.”

Hillary Clinton: "The example that the kingdom is setting for the right kind of development [...] that is a very strong model for other parts of the world"

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/28/world/middleeast/hillary-clinton-tucker-carlson-riyadh.html?unlocked_article_code=1.IFA.zmJY.H7dBAnflwrJR

It was rather hard to parse why Hillary Clinton, the former Democratic presidential candidate, and Tucker Carlson, the contrarian right-wing commentator, had been invited to speak at a real estate conference in Saudi Arabia.

I couldn't make it past the opening line. This is the easiest thing to parse in the entire world.

“One of the things I love so much about coming here is you go to dinner in Riyadh or other cities in the area and you run into people you know from other places,” he said. “It’s like: Yeah, of course, everyone is in Saudi.”

We should poll their quotes.

That's also making it real hard to keep up the illusion that things would be better if Hilary had won in 2016.

Maybe she figured if ya can't beat'em....

Hillary Clinton: "The example that the kingdom is setting for the right kind of development [...] that is a very strong model for other parts of the world"

this is the country thats building a very thin long city in the middle of the desert that seems specifically designed to cook anyone inside it

the kingdom is leading the world in building insane cities that are also ovens --hillary clinton

And using slave labour to do it, we should be doing that here.

there was this incredible article recently about the construction crews in saudi, anybody remember what i’m talking about?

the developers will pay people in a village to move, if they say no they’ll offer a little more, and if they say no again the developers will just tear their houses down anyway. the sites area totally segregated by nationality and class with richies and westerners in the air conditioned tents with coolers of drinks

We should poll their quotes.

― The Luda of Suburbia (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Saturday, January 31, 2026 7:50 AM (one hour ago) bookmarkflaglink

Please do, I really need the laughs

Yeah it is a society that sucks. And many major architects choose to build their magnum opus there

Many major architects are extremely wealthy and wish to become wealthier.

I don't think it means much of anything since he's long since off the reservation, but Thom Tillis put up a post calling Stephen Miller "Wormtongue" and Kristi Noem "Dolores Umbridge."

that leaves Karoline Leavitt as Mouth of Sauron.

For sure.

(apologies for the "off the reservation" phrase btw, one of those things still lodged in my brain)

Meanwhile, look at these "we don't need a warrant" fucks.

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DUKpzuSDuBW/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=NTc4MTIwNjQ2YQ==

how can this be “reformed”?

abolish ICE and prosecute them all should be the bare minimum position

Meanwhile, look at these "we don't need a warrant" fucks.

is this video available publicly anywhere, so that we can?

Shockingly the Nazi cosplay guy has problems working with Jewish people.

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/31/us/bovino-jewish-prosecutor-minnesota.html?unlocked_article_code=1.IlA.-rQj.GZmXBp7DFPL7&smid=url-share

it turns out he wasnt just dressing like a nazi he was also nazing like a nazi

Jesus Christ, will you look at this little twerp.

https://static01.nyt.com/images/2026/01/29/multimedia/29nat-minnesota-bovino-1-tqbk/29nat-minnesota-bovino-1-tqbk-superJumbo.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp

Wearing red lipstick and maintaining a neutral expression.

Also shockingly, they are not actually de-escalating.

https://www.mprnews.org/story/2026/01/30/st-peter-police-chief-intervenes-prevents-federal-agents-from-arresting-resident

Judge orders 5-year-old detained in Minnesota and dad to be released from ICE detention in Texas - CBS News https://share.google/G0QJoU1oKIt1yMaE4

Xpost why is the city of St Peter denying intervention? It seems impossible that they didn't intervene. Trying to avoid retribution?

Like to assume they didn't is to assume the husband fabricated his story and ICE decided to bring her to a police station when their usual M.O. is to dump people wherever they feel like when they release them

https://share.google/FyjY9ovvOMX4WVdlB

whoever runs his youtube account must hate him, dude is waaasted

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-lN-884CO2w

Apparently there was a state senate election in Texas tonight in a R +17 district where the Republican candidate outspent the Democrat by something like $2 million... and the Democrat won by 13 points.

Someone described Bovino as looking exactly like how men were drawn on Ren & Stimpy.

xp

This is a very significant win

https://www.tarrantcountytx.gov/content/dam/main/elections/2026/0126/reports/cumulative.pdf

That election was in Tarrant County Senate District 9, which is Fort Worth. Went from +17R for Trump in 2024 to +13D tonight for the Dem in the Senate seat race. Talarico probably gonna sleep soundly tonight.

good news but this shit is so heartbreaking

Joaquin Castro joaquincastrotx.bsky.social‬

Yesterday, five-year-old Liam and his dad Adrian were released from Dilley detention center. I picked them up last night and escorted them back to Minnesota this morning.

Liam is now home. With his hat and his backpack.

https://bsky.app/profile/joaquincastrotx.bsky.social/post/3mdsomzd2lk2d

Liam Ramos and his father are on their way home

https://i.postimg.cc/LXPQgbH7/IMG-8658.jpg

Snap. Great news but should never have happened. That poor family.

https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_fullsize/plain/did:plc:hoj627nc4fjm2bnpxnpj5uj6/bafkreicp27x4swfjm5qcwvumq3gqh5nhw32pvyz5ahguvtknskmgd64lbu@jpeg

L-R: Ilhan Omar, Liam & Adrian Ramos, Joaquin Castro

beautiful photo. glad he is home and with his dad.

Apparently there was a state senate election in Texas tonight in a R +17 district where the Republican candidate outspent the Democrat by something like $2 million... and the Democrat won by 13 points.

I try to stay wary of reading too much into these things, but damn! that swing is so astonishing that it will rivet the attention of Republican politicians in DC and elsewhere.

NB: For those of you who have Republican(s) representing you in congress, this could be a good time to fire off email their way, just to put some more heat on them while they are already in a sweat.

Ghoul In Chief Stephen Miller was feeling frisky on the eve of Black History Month:

Plenty of countries in history have experimented with importing a foreign labor class. The West is the first and only civilization to import a foreign labor class that is granted full political rights, including welfare & the right to vote. All visas are a bridge to citizenship.

curious how big a deal that actually is I mean I assume there's a ton of variance in those elections but a 30 point swing is fuckin crazy, seems to imply that even Trump's absymal polling numbers aren't capturing how terribly he's doing right now

id imagine there a real big enthusiasm gap which then is amplified in a minor election like this

I believe there are also some local school district issues that contributed to the big swing.

ofc there'd be local issues contributing to the outcome, but politics has become so nationalized and partisan that few local elections are purely reflections of unique local concerns. someone must have considered the R candidate electable to attract more than $2M, unless the election was wholly self-financed. I'll look for more details.

curious how big a deal that actually is I mean I assume there's a ton of variance in those elections but a 30 point swing is fuckin crazy, seems to imply that even Trump's absymal polling numbers aren't capturing how terribly he's doing right now

1) There is not "a ton of variance" in these type of elections typically; in fact, the safe bet was that the Democrat was gonna lose by the same percentage he won by

2) This district has been solidly Republican since 1990, which is 36 years (I know, I was shocked too)

New February thread: The Border is Everywhere: American Politics February 2026

I only say 'ton of variance' because there's much fewer voters than in a statewide election, so I'd imagine they're harder to accurately predict