Summary

Russian state TV hosts are celebrating Donald Trump’s Cabinet picks, claiming they could “dismantle America.”

Figures like Vladimir Solovyov praised the nominees, including Kash Patel for FBI director and Tulsi Gabbard for intelligence, as a “radical dream team” likely to undermine U.S. institutions.

Critics in the U.S. warn that Trump’s selections, including conspiracy theorists and controversial figures like Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Pete Hegseth, signal plans to weaken federal agencies.

  • Ragdoll X@lemmy.world
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    1 month ago

    Well, he ain’t wrong.

    I feel bad for Americans, but a selfish part of me kind of hopes that the dollar crashes so that electronics become cheaper here in Brazil.

    • neidu3@sh.itjust.works
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      1 month ago

      As a gringo who had to buy electronics in Brazil a few times, I’m afraid that dollar exchange rate isn’t the main problem - Brazilian import taxes and tariffs are.

      I spent the better part of 2009 through 2011 trying to get spare parts into the country, and customs was always the biggest hurdle. And sourcing things locally was ridiculously expensive.

      So to anyone still not convinced that tariffs are a bad idea: Try buying consumer electronics in Brazil.

      • Ragdoll X@lemmy.world
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        1 month ago

        Really it’s going to depend on the specific product and where/how it’s produced, but of course as with anywhere else a lot of our stuff is imported from other countries, so since the Brazilian Real lost a lot of its value relative to other currencies in the past few years things have gotten a lot more expensive.

        This is obviously not an exact or thorough comparison, but just to give you an idea: The minimum and median wages are, respectively (assuming the usual 40h/week of work):

        U.S. - $1.160 | $4.949

        Brazil - R$1.412 ($231,86) | R$3.123 ($512,82)

        I could be completely wrong but the cheapest USB-3 phone charger I saw on Amazon was $5, so 0.43% of the minimum wage and 0.1% of the median wage, while in Brazil’s main online shop (Mercado Livre) the cheapest one I saw was R$32, or 2.3% of the minimum wage and 1% of the median wage, which seems about right considering the dollar is about R$6 right now.

        A new Nintendo Switch Lite costs $200, while here in Brazil the cheapest one I could find was R$1400, so almost the entirety of our minimum wage.

        Point is, most things, and especially electronics, are expensive as heck nowadays.

    • Scubus@sh.itjust.works
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      1 month ago

      Nah, dont feel bad for us. He won the popular vote. Regaurdless of what people in this thread say, we as a country chose this. The democrats who arent stopping this, the mentally disabled(sorry, thats disrespectful to the mentally disabled) centrists, and the republicans are all equally responsible.

      • CharlesDarwin@lemmy.world
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        1 month ago

        It was a difference of 1.6%. A lot of people didn’t vote. It’s not like everyone voted for this, only the magabrained did.

    • blazeknave@lemmy.world
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      1 month ago

      That’s fair man. My founder is on a green card. He has said his (asian) color brown isn’t the same problem as the folks to our south have, and he selfishly knows it’s better for him, so he’s keeping his nose down, not upstanding. I get it. He’s got a lot to lose. You gotta do you and get the oxygen mask on.

        • blazeknave@lemmy.world
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          1 month ago

          Sorry, dude at work. Mentioned title to point out he’s running a company (and employing other people, and paying US wages in less industrialized places), so stakes are high in his life in general, exacerbating the challenges of processing one’s feelings about this all.

  • cabron_offsets@lemmy.world
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    1 month ago

    I actually think we’ll endure. These guys are dumber than dogshit and will stumble over themselves trying to do crazy stuff. They’ll mostly fail. They’ll piss off a lot of people and lose their political capital in a matter of months. When then inbred cretins start making threats against their congresscritters, the gears will grind and ain’t shit getting done.

    • RememberTheApollo_@lemmy.world
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      1 month ago

      Even stupid can do a lot of damage. My main concern, other than trump’s shortsighted destruction of everything his ego can reach, is the ruling wealthy class he’s inserting everywhere that will wedge the door further open for the oligarchy to control the country for their exclusive pillaging. Yeah, trump might fuck up NATO, give putin Ukraine, let the Israel wipe out Palestinians…but it’s the courtiers that have his ear that will commit the lasting destruction to the US itself. Destroy unions, the CFPB, environmental regs, tariffs sending prices and inflation through the roof, who knows what they’ll do to the ACA, the CDC, or other agencies that directly benefit the people, shoving religion into schools and giving public money to religious schools. There is so much damage to be done.

      • Scubus@sh.itjust.works
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        1 month ago

        Not to mention governmental deadlock can be just as damaging as no government, because theyre effectively the same. I wouldnt be surprised if we see the govt shut down for a couple months because they try to ram through federally outlawing trans rights and they wont give on it, so eventually democrats will cave to get shit like school funding and ss flowing again.

      • Gammelfisch@lemmy.world
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        1 month ago

        You are describing 1979 Iran. The GOP will slap together a massive shit sandwich and everyone is going to take a bite.

      • Corkyskog@sh.itjust.works
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        1 month ago

        We need to believe that this is right… otherwise everyone stops caring and they can really get away with all sorts of shit. The more you toss out laws, the more important that public opinion becomes.

    • microphone900@lemmy.ml
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      1 month ago

      I’m right there with you, but I am preparing for the worst case by moving to a blue state and near the border with Mexico. If things go south, I can go south and stay with relatives for a while.

    • rayyy@lemmy.world
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      1 month ago

      When then inbred cretins start making threats against their congresscritters

      You mean, the “HEAVILY ARMED and violent, inbred cretins”.
      Get the popcorn and sit back. It’s going to be wild.

  • DarkCloud@lemmy.world
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    1 month ago

    Putin is the one who coached 73 to do this, he’s following Putins 's instructions on how to create an Oligarchy, which is what they both want.

  • CharlesDarwin@lemmy.world
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    1 month ago

    Yeah, no shit. And the tribe that rubs shit in their hair are too coddled by not only the unhinged nutjob media, but also the “liberal media” to know this. Try talking to any of them about any of this in the past nine years and they squawk out, like good little parrots: “Rawk! Russian hoax! Russian hoax! Rawwwwwk!”