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John Chunk-Smith

@chunksmith.bsky.social
39 followers 36 following 126 posts

A British view through clear eyes.

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John Chunk-Smith @chunksmith.bsky.social · 09/06/2025
Kash Patel's comment about the Trump-Elon spat when he was on is noteworthy: "I'm not participating in any of that conversation." A diplomatic statement. But also one in which Patel doesn't come to the defense of Trump. www.independent.co.uk/news/world/a...
independent.co.uk
Kash Patel has ‘WTF’ moment on Joe Rogan as he learns of Trump vs. Musk mid-interview
‘I’m not participating in any of that conversation between Elon and Trump,’ Kash Patel insisted during the interview.
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Paul Waldman @paulwaldman.bsky.social · 15/05/2025
The credulity with which people are greeting these "deals" is absurd. These countries just say "We'll invest eleventy trillion dollars in the US!" to give Trump something he can claim as a victory. If 1/100th of it ever happens it'll be a shock. It's all fake.
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Allison Gill @muellershewrote.com · 11/05/2025
The GOP wanted to impeach Biden for a fake $5M bribe from Ukraine that was made up by a guy sitting in prison for lying about it, but they’re cool with a $400M plane from Qatar. Do I have that right?
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Daniel Drezner @dandrezner.bsky.social · 10/05/2025
Wow who could have foreseen these difficulties oh that’s right every foreign policy expert not affiliated with MAGA. www.wsj.com/politics/tru...
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John Chunk-Smith @chunksmith.bsky.social · 07/05/2025
I can’t help but think that the future of classic American conservatives lies within the Democratic Party. This could be a win-win in that the Democrats could end up with more appeal, more votes, and more seats. Certainly compromises would have to be made by both groups.
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John Chunk-Smith @chunksmith.bsky.social · 05/05/2025
What’s sickening is that people like this are able to convince Americans that Trump is making the US a “nation of laws” despite the fact that he is flouting laws on a regular basis. It’s difficult to have a nation based on the rule of law when the president ignores the ones he doesn’t like.
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George Takei @georgetakei.bsky.social · 05/05/2025
It was always performative outrage.
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John Chunk-Smith @chunksmith.bsky.social · 03/05/2025
We’re getting closer. Any day now he’ll say declare that he should be pope. variety.com/2025/digital... #papacy #trump
variety.com
Trump Posts AI-Generated Image of Himself Dressed as the Pope
Trump posted an image depicting himself as pope, with the Vatican's conclave to select the next leader of the Catholic Church to begin May 7.
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George Takei @georgetakei.bsky.social · 02/05/2025
Two dolls because of one clown.
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John Chunk-Smith @chunksmith.bsky.social · 02/05/2025
So many people make statements like this: they want something to happen a certain way because it “feels right”.
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John Chunk-Smith @chunksmith.bsky.social · 02/05/2025
Last I checked, running a business chaotically is not a good way to run a business. And yet Trump advocates love to proclaim his business savvy as a strength in running government.
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John Chunk-Smith @chunksmith.bsky.social · 02/05/2025
A brief reminder: the Soviets also repeatedly said “you just need to give it more time.” #trumponomics #trumpeconomy
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John Chunk-Smith @chunksmith.bsky.social · 02/05/2025
Following mass shootings, Democrats demand change. Meanwhile, Republicans say that the heart of the issue is mental health. And yet the leader of their party just slashed $1 billion in grants for student mental health. www.nytimes.com/2025/05/01/u... #gunviolence #mentalhealth
nytimes.com
Trump Administration Cancels $1 Billion in Grants for Student Mental Health
Congress authorized the money in a bipartisan breakthrough around addressing gun violence after a shooting at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, killed 19 children and two teachers.
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Mark Cuban @mcuban.bsky.social · 01/05/2025
www.nytimes.com/2025/05/01/b...
nytimes.com
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John Chunk-Smith @chunksmith.bsky.social · 01/05/2025
The Trump administration has declared a war on Christmas. www.nytimes.com/2025/04/29/b... #waronchristmas #trump #tariffs
nytimes.com
Retailers Fear Toy Shortages at Christmas as Tariffs Freeze Supply Chain
Toy makers and stores are freezing holiday orders, predicting shortages and higher prices. Some are consulting bankruptcy lawyers, fearing their firms won’t survive.
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local blogger @fergoe.blacksky.app · 01/05/2025
Trump heard "Har-something" and a Black voice so he immediately went into talking about Harlem instead of Harvard lmao
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Cédric Mas @cedricmas.eurosky.social · 30/04/2025
Good Night World
Un immense livre en train d’être brûlé par des petits personnages avec marqué « I hope everyone realizes that scrubbing historical references from web sites is no different than burning books »
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California Dreamin’… 😎 @jerasikehorn.bsky.social · 26/04/2025
Strange, huh?! 👇
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Matt Novak @paleofuture.bsky.social · 23/04/2025
The reason billionaires like McMahon are obsessed with student debt is that creating financial precarity makes people more stressed about losing their job. If you’re worried about your job you’re less likely to quit and find work elsewhere. You’re less likely to ask for a raise. It’s pure class war.
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JJ in DC @jjindc.bsky.social · 22/04/2025
But her emails www.nbcnews.com/politics/nat...
nbcnews.com
Info Pete Hegseth shared with wife, brother came from top general’s secure messages
Hegseth has denied the information he shared was classified, but it was given to him on a system for sensitive and classified information, sources told NBC News.
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John Chunk-Smith @chunksmith.bsky.social · 22/04/2025
How long until Trump declares that the Vatican should consider him for pope?
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Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 17/04/2025
New in PN: White guy DEI "Pretending that Hegseth got nominated on merit is ridiculous, but it’s a fiction conservatives have all agreed to adopt. To admit he’s not qualified would mean acknowledging that straight white maleness does not automatically confer expertise."
publicnotice.co
White guy DEI
Affirmative action, Trumper style.
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The New Republic @newrepublic.com · 17/04/2025
Not only is Trumpworld’s evidence of Abrego Garcia's supposed criminality exceedingly thin; we’ve now learned that the officer who attested to it was later suspended for serious professional misconduct.
newrepublic.com
Trump’s Case Against Man Deported in “Error” Just Took Another Big Hit
Trumpworld claims Kilmar Abrego Garcia was in MS-13. But new information concerning the local cop who attested to that charge at the time raises fresh questions about it.
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Paul Waldman @paulwaldman.bsky.social · 17/04/2025
Trump admin claims: Thursday: Abrego Garcia is a top MS-13 terrorist Friday: Abrego Garcia killed JFK Saturday: Abrego Garcia is the head of ISIS Sunday: Abrego Garcia piloted all 3 planes on 9/11 Monday: Abrego Garcia ran the Fyre Festival Tuesday: Abrego Garcia beat Riley Gaines at a swim meet
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John Chunk-Smith @chunksmith.bsky.social · 17/04/2025
This bodes ill for Americans in general. The Trump administration is showing that it will just fabricate “evidence”. There are enough law enforcement (and law-enforcement adjacent) groups that support him that it’s likely they will provide this “evidence” so as to support Trump’s agenda.
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Vince D. Monroy @vincedmonroy.bsky.social · 15/04/2025
Molly Jong-Fast: “I'm going to respectfully push back on this. This is thought policing 101. This is not okay. They are using anti-antisemitism as a cloak. This is about targeting speech. It has nothing to do with anti-antisemitism and everything to do with authoritarianism.” #HarvardUniversity
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JJ in DC @jjindc.bsky.social · 16/04/2025
🧵 ICE FLIGHTS THREAD - 16 APR 25 Because they want to hide them 😬 Watching 10 aircraft: 8 x GlobalX Airbus 320 2 x Eastern Air Exp Boeing 737 Starting locations: 3 x A320 at La Salle LA 3 x A320 at Harlingen TX 2 x A320 + 1 x B737 at Phoenix 1 x B737 at San Antonio Updates will appear below ⤵️
media.tenor.com
a man in a military uniform is sitting in a classroom with other men and says `` it 's classified . ''
ALT: a man in a military uniform is sitting in a classroom with other men and says `` it 's classified . ''
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John Chunk-Smith @chunksmith.bsky.social · 16/04/2025
Republicans love to champion states rights—that is, until a state does something they don’t like. There’s actually a long history of this among American conservatives. www.reuters.com/world/us/us-...
reuters.com
US to take legal action against Maine over Trump executive order on transgender athletes
U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi on Wednesday was due to unveil legal action against Maine, in an escalation of President Donald Trump's conflict with the state for refusing to ban transgender athletes from participating in women's and girls' sports.
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Evan Bernick, a finite mode with a smol hooman and a lorg floof @evanbernick.bsky.social · 15/04/2025
What Judge Xinis is banking on is that the government does not want to spend two weeks in discovery. Two big things can happen: (1) They just make the call and get him back (2) They spend two weeks creating a public record of their own fuck ups and then get sanctioned
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John Chunk-Smith @chunksmith.bsky.social · 15/04/2025
It beggars belief that JD Vance could have such a poor grasp of power. There are many types of power other than military power: social, economic, and cultural just to name a few.
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John Chunk-Smith @chunksmith.bsky.social · 15/04/2025
The implication of Marco’s statement is that all a president needs to do is claim that an issue relates to foreign policy and then—magically—there is no need to pay attention to any other laws.
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Philip Bump @pbump.com · 14/04/2025
When it comes to targeting immigrants, the administration wants as many numbers as it can get and for those numbers to be as big as possible. They don’t care if the numbers are inflated, quite the opposite. They don’t care about potential value; they care about the immediate value of The Numbers.
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Kyle Cheney @kyledcheney.bsky.social · 12/04/2025
UPDATE: Trump seems to say for the first time that U.S. lacks ability to recover those sent to El Salvador if government deports someone erroneously. Says it’s totally up to Bukele. Seems to leave out that he could … ask Bukele to help fix an error. www.politico.com/news/2025/04...
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The New York Times @nytimes.com · 11/04/2025
Adolf Hitler's “Mein Kampf” is still on U.S. Naval Academy shelves. “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings” and “Memorializing the Holocaust” are not. An order by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s office led to a purge of books that are critical of racism — but preserved volumes defending white power.
nytimes.com
Who’s In and Who’s Out at the Naval Academy’s Library?
An order by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s office resulted in a purge of books critical of racism but preserved volumes defending white power.
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John Chunk-Smith @chunksmith.bsky.social · 11/04/2025
This is an important point. So many small business rely on goods from China and they cannot simply pass on the cost of the tariffs to their customers because the cost increase is so high.
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John Chunk-Smith @chunksmith.bsky.social · 11/04/2025
In the meantime, I'll share my own thoughts with a thread. To start, let me just say that the interview began with a red flag: Rufo speaks in broad, highly amorphous, jargon-y terms. This was the first of many red flags. 1/x
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John Chunk-Smith @chunksmith.bsky.social · 11/04/2025
I would love to hear @davidpakman.bsky.social's take on all that Chris Rufo has to say in this interview with The Daily. I expect David will have some excellent critiques. www.nytimes.com/2025/04/11/p...
nytimes.com
The Conservative Activist Pushing Trump to Attack U.S. Colleges
Christopher Rufo has helped inspire Republican messaging and bills on hot-button issues.
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John Chunk-Smith @chunksmith.bsky.social · 11/04/2025
There’s an irony in what Pirro is saying. Imagine how up in arms Republicans would be if someone paid into social security and then their next if kin didn’t receive the money paid in. Republicans would howl, ”the government is stealing your money!”
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jamelle @jamellebouie.net · 11/04/2025
yeah man, please make my 85 year old great aunt prove her citizenship to vote in rural georgia, this definitely isn’t reminiscent of anything in the american past
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John Chunk-Smith @chunksmith.bsky.social · 11/04/2025
Too often, pesky little facts get in the way of Republican arguments.
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The New York Times @nytimes.com · 11/04/2025
Breaking News: The Supreme Court instructed the government to take steps to return a Salvadoran migrant it had wrongly deported to a prison in El Salvador.
nytimes.com
Supreme Court Sides With Wrongly Deported Migrant
A trial judge had ordered the Trump administration to take steps to return the migrant, Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia, from a notorious prison in El Salvador.
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John Chunk-Smith @chunksmith.bsky.social · 10/04/2025
It's chilling that people living in the United States are being stripped of their rights.
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Republicans Against Trumpism @rpsagainsttrump.bsky.social · 10/04/2025
Trump: “He made $2 and a half billion today and he made ‘900 million.’” On Wednesday morning, as the stock market opened, Trump tweeted urging people to buy stocks, knowing full well he was about to pause the tariffs. We need an immediate investigation
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Kyle Griffin @kylegriffin1.bsky.social · 10/04/2025
Sens. Adam Schiff and Ruben Gallego are pressing the White House for answers on whether anyone engaged in insider trading before Trump announced his reversal on tariffs. Specifically, whether White House employees or Trump family members were made aware of his plans to reverse policy.
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John Chunk-Smith @chunksmith.bsky.social · 10/04/2025
Trump has an ad on YouTube that goes something like this: Donald Trump is working hard for Americans; Americans should thank Donald Trump for his hard work. Is it me, or is he asking for a participation award? #trump #participationaward
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John Chunk-Smith @chunksmith.bsky.social · 10/04/2025
Although it is a good thing that Trump rescinded most of the tariffs, this action comes with a cost: chaos and unpredictability. For businesses trying to plan for the future, they still don’t know what to expect in 90 days.
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JoJoFromJerz @jojofromjerz.bsky.social · 09/04/2025
Weird how the MAGA bros just stopped asking how my 401k was doing…
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Sherrilyn Ifill @sifill.bsky.social · 09/04/2025
This man has no regard for human beings. Can’t people see it? Anyway, read the comments.
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