The Official President Trump Thread - Second Term Edition

It is one of the most commonly banned books in the country.

They can only say it in court if a judge allows it. I'm not a law-talking guy, but I expect a judge would not allow a jury to hear that.

Escalators don't break. They just turn into stairs.

 

Hegseth orders rare, urgent meeting of hundreds of generals, admirals

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has ordered hundreds of the U.S. military’s generals and admirals to gather on short notice — and without a stated reason — at a Marine Corps base in Virginia next week, sowing confusion and alarm after the Trump administration’s firing of numerous senior leaders this year.

The highly unusual directive was sent to virtually all of the military’s top commanders worldwide, according to more than a dozen people familiar with the matter. The directive was issued earlier this week, as a government shutdown looms, and months after Hegseth’s team at the Pentagon announced plans to undertake a sweeping consolidation of top military commands.

In a statement Thursday, Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell affirmed that Hegseth “will be addressing his senior military leaders early next week,” but he offered no additional details. Parnell, a senior adviser to the defense secretary, voiced no concerns about The Washington Post reporting on the meeting, scheduled for Tuesday in Quantico, Virginia.

There are about 800 generals and admirals spread across the United States and dozens of other countries and time zones. Hegseth’s order, people familiar with the matter said, applies to all senior officers with the rank of brigadier general or above, or their Navy equivalent, serving in command positions and their top enlisted advisers. Typically, these officers each oversee hundreds or thousands of rank-and-file troops.

Top commanders in conflict zones and senior military leaders stationed throughout Europe, the Middle East and the Asia-Pacific region are among those expected to attend Hegseth’s meeting, said people familiar with the matter, who spoke on the condition of anonymity as they were not authorized to publicly discuss the issue. The order does not apply to top military officers who hold staff positions.

“All general officers in command in grade O-7 through O-10 and their general officer senior enlisted advisers are directed to attend within operational constraints,” the order states, according to one person who saw a copy. O-7 through O-10 refers to the military’s classification for all generals and admirals.

None of the people who spoke with The Post could recall a defense secretary ever ordering so many of the military’s generals and admirals to assemble like this. Several said it raised security concerns.

“People are very concerned. They have no idea what it means,” one person said.

Others expressed frustration that even many commanders stationed overseas will be required to attend Hegseth’s impromptu summit, with some questioning the wisdom in doing so. “It will make the commands just diminished if something pops up,” a defense official said.

The Defense Department possesses highly secure videoconferencing technology that enables military officials, regardless of their location, to discuss sensitive matters with the White House, the Pentagon or both. Another person said ordering hundreds of military leaders to appear in the same location is “not how this is done.”

“You don’t call GOFOs leading their people and the global force into an auditorium outside D.C. and not tell them why/what the topic or agenda is,” this person added, using an abbreviation for general officer or flag officer.

“Are we taking every general and flag officer out of the Pacific right now?” one U.S. official said. “All of it is weird.”

The orders come as Hegseth has unilaterally directed massive recent changes at the Pentagon — including directing that the number of general officers be reduced by 20 percent, firing senior leaders without cause and a high-profile order to rebrand the Defense Department as the Department of War.

Top administration officials also have been preparing a new national defense strategy that is expected to make homeland defense the nation’s top concern, after several years of China being identified as the top national security risk to the United States. Some officials familiar with the order to travel said they thought that may come up.

Hegseth’s directive in May to slash about 100 generals and admirals also has generated concern among top military leaders. He called then for a “minimum” 20 percent cut to the number of four-star officers — the military’s top rank — on active duty and a corresponding number of generals in the National Guard. There also will be another 10 percent reduction, at least, to the total number of generals and admirals across the force.

Last month, Hegseth fired Lt. Gen. Jeffrey Kruse, director of the Defense Intelligence Agency; Vice Adm. Nancy Lacore, the chief of the Navy Reserve; and Rear Adm. Milton Sands, a Navy SEAL officer who oversaw Naval Special Warfare Command. No specific reason was given in those cases.

The firings were the latest in a wider purge of national security agencies’ top ranks. Since entering office, the Trump administration also has fired the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr.; the chief of naval operations, Adm. Lisa Franchetti; the commandant of the Coast Guard, Adm. Linda Fagan; and the Air Force vice chief of staff, Gen. James Slife among others. The list includes a disproportionate number of women.

Gen. David Allvin, the chief of staff of the Air Force, announced last month he will step down in November, after he was asked to retire.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2025/09/25/hegseth-generals-quantico-meeting/

 

No but we can sign you up for the loyalty program.
BOGO on colonoscopies.

 

What gets me is people don't seem to realize is with the current system, they pay more for their own healthcare, while also still paying for everyone else's healthcare. It is the most inefficient system imaginable.

Literally the only real benefit is less waiting for healthcare. Which sounds good, until you realize that lack of waiting is because sicker people than you aren't getting treated at all. But maybe people don't care?

 

Have you seen Donald Trump speak for, say, 30 consecutive seconds at any point in the last 20 years?

Tens of millions of people voted for that guy, most of them did so three times. You think they can wrap their head around healthcare costs in any capacity?

 

Judge rebukes Trump's DOJ for violating fair trial rules in Luigi Mangione case

The incompetence of Pam Bondi and the rest of Trump's DOJ is shocking. Gleefully celebrating the potential for a death penalty conviction online has thrown the case into disarray.

The Federal Judge overseeing purported "healthcare shooter" Luigi Mangione's trial slammed the DOJ for violating fair trial rules. Of late the DOJ and FBI have been incapable to abide by the United States system of justice, and seem to continuously speak out of place, or disclose and invalidate purported evidence.

 

I attended an expat webinar on getting healthcare as an expat in France. American participants were incredulous about how cheap health insurance and healthcare is in France. They thought people must be lying or there was some kind of trick.

 

Biff Tanen was literally modeled off of Trump and the morons still voted for him....I cant even.

 

I want this to be true

 

https://www.theguardian.com/film/20...writer-bad-guy-biff-was-based-on-donald-trump

 

Easy solution, don't allow abuse of emergency rooms. Direct those people to free clinics (or to, as you say, go without).

Actually, it is pretty amazing. It costs a lot, mostly because of free riders and over testing (probably to avoid liability).

People consume healthcare, which is sold in a market. It is exactly a consumer product. It is extremely highly regulated, which pretty much always adds inefficiencies.

 

LA and DC were just practice runs...

He's already purged the military of leaders with moral and ethical loyalty to "the country" leaving sycophants and Buck Turgidson wannabes.

When the government shuts down next week and they fire the staff, guess who is going to step in?

So it begins...

 

That is never going to happen. For both liability and moral reasons. The way we run health clinics would need massive improvement before people would go there before emergency rooms, but family physicians wouldn't want that.

If it is unaffordable, it could be the best and not be good. If anything most Americans are probably undertested. We're terrible at getting those things done.

 

They only incur liability for refusing treatment if they are required to give treatment to anyone who shows up. Without that requirement, they would not have a duty of care.

It is the best for the people who can afford it.

One thing I forgot to mention in the previous post: another cost driver is the artificial limitation on the number of doctors.

 

Don't the ethics of healthcare prevent it from experiencing true elasticity?

 

@Nook isnt this amazing as a sports fan. How are yall not tired of his bs

 

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/t...egal-questions-and-national-security-concerns

Trump commits potential treason with his deal for our countries best AI chips to our enemies and competitors.

DD