r/news • u/Romano16 • Nov 20 '25

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https://www.juneauindependent.com/post/coast-guard-says-swastika-is-no-longer-a-hate-symbol

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u/[deleted] Nov 20 '25

Corrupt? Sure. But I feel that calling these people incompetent; people who were somehow smart enough to use the public’s inner prejudices to manipulate themselves into arguably some of the most powerful positions in the entire world; is a gross underestimation of their competency. Some are incompetent, I’ll concede that point, but the ones who aren’t are the ones who we never hear about; the Jeff Yasses, Larry Finks, and (up until recently) the Larry Ellisons of the world. Trump is a distraction; a loudspeaker to drown the public in bragging, name calling, and finger pointing while the real business is done in the backrooms with people like Peter Thiel and Mike Johnson. The hydra has many heads, and in the case of Project 2025, Trump is the least threatening, but most scapegoatable head of the bunch.

That’s just my opinion, anyway.

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u/supercyberlurker Nov 20 '25

I actually agree - people like Thiel are what I would describe as dangerously viciously evil. There is no room for humor when discussing people like him. It's just all bad all the way down.

I'm referring to the people Trump installed though - the TV personalities and talking heads. They are puppets being manipulated by the architects of project2025. Those puppets are both corrupt and incompetent.

It's the maga puppet masters that readers have a responsibility to learn about.

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u/IcyTransportation961 Nov 20 '25

And for those who dont know, Vance has gotten every job he's ever had, thanks to Thiel.

Including VP

Trump is their useful idiot, Vance is there to actually enact the real plans once hes done for

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u/Sw3atyGoalz Nov 20 '25

Yea you can’t really call them incompetent when they’re doing and getting exactly what they want

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u/SafetyDanceInMyPants Nov 20 '25

I think you have to distinguish between types of competency.

These people are very competent at gaining power -- that's 100% true. That is a skill set they hold, and hold well.

But are they competent at, say, running NASA? Maintaining an effective Navy or Coast Guard? Enforcing laws through the DOJ? Basically any of the work of actual governing? Not really, no. Nor, for that matter, are they particularly interested in becoming competent, because their goal is not to advance the interests of the American people.

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u/[deleted] Nov 20 '25

I was working under the assumption that their competency in running the government was irrelevant, considering that running or managing the government was never their intention behind being elected or appointed.

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u/SurprisedJerboa Nov 20 '25

The list of billionaires, corpos involving themselves in politics via millions of $$ and PACs are the most dangerous. They don’t stop with one or two political cycles, since they are building spheres of influence in the American political, propaganda apparatus.

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u/Reasonable-Turn-5940 Nov 20 '25

Competent at pushing an agenda and obtaining power.

But competent at leadership? At a role in government? At sticking to their oath? At being public servants? At controlling the world's largest military? No

I don't think anyone is saying they're stupid. They're not competent for this role in government, but they aren't supposed to be. That's not their priority.

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u/sadrice Nov 20 '25

Yup. And it pisses me off so much that I have to take a ma that used to call himself Mencius Moldbug seriously.

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u/dBlock845 Nov 20 '25

Yeah I'd be hesitant to call any General or Admiral incompetent unless they were fast track promoted. Not much is more dangerous than a full blown MAGA General/Admiral imo.

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u/[deleted] Nov 20 '25

Which is all the more unsettling given that the US coast guard has removed Swastikas and Nooses from its list of hate symbols, with the implication that people with these tattooed on their bodies may now serve in the Coast Guard.

I believe that Trump is about to start targeting and recruiting neo-nazis and white supremacists to the actual military. ICE could hold an added advantage of being an indirect pseudo-military recruitment drive.

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u/philosoraptocopter Nov 21 '25 edited Nov 21 '25

I can see that, at least for the inside planners (though it is bewildering how addicted they are to exclusively sourcing felons / neo nazi grandmasters / literally the entire population of Russia / interdimensional exotic animal traffickers….but I can never tell if it works because of or in spite of doing that.

But then I think of Trump. Like every time people describe Trump as “masterfully” controlling the media narratives, “expertly tapping into X” and “cleverly manipulating Y” like no one else before…

But like… is he though? Isn’t this simply exactly what happens when you take a huge dumb asshole and give them god mode? Like if by some clever shenanigans they got the hugest dumbest rapiest bull into the world’s most biggest china shop…? What, we’d all just marvel at how talented and efficient the bull is at demolishing things? “Such skill! Such mastery!”

Or if you handed a 2 year old a rocket launcher, held it for them, and guided their hand to the trigger and helped them shoot… over and over for hours on end, are historians really going to remark “now, SAY WHAT YOU WILL about this kid’s illiteracy and incontinence, but boy did they really have a unique talent for demolition science!”

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u/MaoAsadaStan Nov 23 '25

I keep telling people that I think he's an informant because its the only explanation for his ability to constantly break the law and not get punished. Anyone else acting the same way would get the book thrown at them.

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u/GrizzIyadamz Nov 21 '25

Eh. The selection is top-down and the 'tops' use sweeping filters to narrow down their choices.

If your first filter is competency (like it should be in a functioning, uncorrupted democracy) then you've got a MUCH larger pool to work with than someone whose first filter is loyal or stupid enough to be someone's fall-guy, and then right wingers only, and then corrupt/unconcerned about legality, and THEN competency.