What does Trump really believe? Does he want to run for a third term or is it just a joke? Does he intend to expel Palestinians from Gaza or is that just a suggestion? Is Black History Month a waste of time or worth a White House celebration? www.nytimes.com/2025/03/08/u... - ThreadSky

peterbakernyt.bsky.social • 1 day ago

What does Trump really believe?
Does he want to run for a third term or is it just a joke? Does he intend to expel Palestinians from Gaza or is that just a suggestion? Is Black History Month a waste of time or worth a White House celebration? https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/08/us/politics/trump-third-term-gaza-contradictions.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare&sgrp=c&pvid=1847999F-7DD7-48AA-8103-70947A27EA20

Comments

jimgum.bsky.social•1 day ago

“He (Trump) says so much, you can’t really pin him down,” said Julian E. Zelizer, a Princeton history professor and editor of a book of essays about Mr. Trump’s first term. “The point isn’t to have a contradiction, the point is to have cover.”

paintgarden4.bsky.social•1 day ago

These aren’t the right questions. The essential questions are: how do Americans defend themselves and protect our democracy against such a malevolent, reckless and dangerous man? And how do we foster courage and integrity in our representatives and show the exit to those that don’t demonstrate it?

carps.bsky.social•1 day ago

🤢 same pap for a decade. Fools

pdxnow.bsky.social•1 day ago

#krasnov

maggie1953.bsky.social•1 day ago

He never has to take responsibility when it goes south. He’s a weasel

patfeb55.bsky.social•1 day ago

This character flaw used to be a disqualifier. Now, somehow, it's a superpower.

zirak1.bsky.social•1 day ago

Maybe you and the NYTimes could relentlessly ask them these questions and call him out for his lies. Yet, you won't because access is more important.

prsf04.bsky.social•1 day ago

Nothing he says is a joke. He likes to throw bombs and watch everyone scatter. No way to run a branch if the government.

carljungfranz.bsky.social•1 day ago

*

I’ve for instance, seen that, when Germany went to the devil in Nazism, people fell into it through their personal shadow.

For instance, they didn’t want to lose their job because they were clinging to money.

That was their personal shadow.

*

https://carljungdepthpsychologysite.blog/2020/10/12/shadow/

litzz11.bsky.social•1 day ago

Are you kidding me? Seriously?

It's been, what, 10 years and you're still asking this question? You're still giving him the benefit of the doubt? Still wondering, "gee what could he possibly mean?"

WAKE UP AND SMELL THE FASCIST.

webtrade.bsky.social•1 day ago

Trump is a sociopath with no beliefs. You are wasting your time trying to figure out what he believes. He rarely believe the same thing go more than 15 minutes at a time.

liann3225.bsky.social•1 day ago

Please stop pretending this is interesting or normal. Who cares what he thinks… he’s beyond dangerous and you know that.

curatednews.bsky.social•1 day ago

Exactly.

kelleygroene.bsky.social•1 day ago

We at least know what Peter Baker believes. Pete is anti-anything a Republican thinks. It’s his right to have those opinions. It’s just sad that he has such a loud mouthpiece, that also disguises his opinion pieces as actual journalism.

needmoreram.bsky.social•1 day ago

I think it is time to watch the Governor scene in Best Little Whorehouse in Texas again.

historyrhyme.bsky.social•1 day ago

There is no moral center. The goal? To keep people off balance, to appeal to anger and the worst angels of our nature. To keep everyone on their toes, to create an existential dread across the land. To foster an uneasiness that creates a paralysis of thought & action. To own and then kill the dream.

minyuetnyc.bsky.social•1 day ago

Throwing jello at walls to see what sticks 😖

rbsnst.bsky.social•1 day ago

EVASIVENESS IS CHEATING THE SYSTEM

eawinick.bsky.social•1 day ago

In my 50-something years I haven’t experienced a president who cares so little about the people of this country or the consequences of his actions.

merz.bsky.social•1 day ago

Who the fuck cares what he "believes?" An actual journalist would report on what he *does* and the ensuing consequences.

patmfitz.bsky.social•1 day ago

Every bad thing he has previously said (and others have downplayed), he has at least attempted (to the extent that his utter incompetence allows) - so I believe him when he says something.

onekneedjacks.bsky.social•1 day ago

Can't imagine how many mule kicks to the head I'd need to characterize continual contradictions as "ultimate cover" rather than credibility vaporizer.

spincast-ag300.bsky.social•1 day ago

Credibility is irrelevant when considering the actions of the sock puppet of a carnival barker, Trumplestiltskin, whose primary job is to be a giant distraction and a chaos agent. It’s a bug, not a feature for him and all who emulate his behavior, including those who came before him like Gohmert.

ratherreadabook.bsky.social•1 day ago

JFC. It *doesn't matter* if Trump "wants" to run for a third term - he can't! The Constitution forbids it. But Baker's framing makes it sounds like he could if he wants to. Yet again, the media complicit in Trump's madness.

blaster1618.bsky.social•1 day ago

Goblin Mode

gwaygwee.bsky.social•1 day ago

Rhetorical question, Mr. Baker? Everyone, except his willfully, woefully ignorant MAGA base, knows Trumpty Dumpty doesn't really believe in anything.

timplex.bsky.social•1 day ago

It’s the opposite of leadership

hollygal.bsky.social•1 day ago

You’re a fucking joke and half the reason we’re in this nightmare. None of it is ever a joke to Trump — he means all of that.

prosperij.bsky.social•1 day ago

In his first term, it was smart to ignore what he said and watch what he does, because he never followed through on his bombastic pandering to the fringes.

The scary part in this second term is that he is actually doing some of the things he says he will do. That's why it feels more troubling now.

spincast-ag300.bsky.social•1 day ago

He’s doing what his Christian Nationalist/Project 2025 handlers tell him to, a thing only made possible by him installing looters, sycophants & other incompetent ideologs in cabinet & agency leadership positions.

spincast-ag300.bsky.social•1 day ago

During his first infestation of office he didn’t have such aid, he had people who tried to limit the damage.

jshoverp.bsky.social•1 day ago

Trump offers this word salad appetizer on deal with Russia, Bon Apetit:
Trump said that he believed they would make a deal because "in a certain different way - a different way that only I know, only I know — they have no choice." No doubt top secret “way” is secure in Mar-a-lago

annhuebner.bsky.social•1 day ago

A psychiatric/neurological evaluation is needed in order to properly explore these issues.

jimpharo.bsky.social•1 day ago

Didn’t this piece first get written in 2016?

isayft.com•21 hours ago

#FT

mom6.bsky.social•1 day ago

Flip flop many times so you can claim that you stuck to your word if asked by the press.

Because, at least once, you said what you said.

nashvilleresist.bsky.social•1 day ago

Your paper has been normalizing and sanewashing his behavior for a decade.

Why anyone on the left still pays you, we have no clue.

spaceprez.bsky.social•1 day ago

He's a liar and an idiot.

onebluecat.bsky.social•1 day ago

We already know these answers.

The question is, why don't you?

You are an idiot.

onebluecat.bsky.social•1 day ago

You are no longer a journalist.

Call him a Dictator.

Tell the truth.

livingwillie.bsky.social•1 day ago

LOL. It’s almost like the @nytimes.com doesn’t have a clue how to cover Trump. There’s a reason independent journalists are now the go to for the truth.

builtstrong.bsky.social•1 day ago

You can only cry wolf so many times, though.

erikberg.bsky.social•1 day ago

Raving lunatic

that-cat-guy.bsky.social•1 day ago

His only vision was keeping DJT out of prison. That is ALL that mattered to him. The rest is all pesky nonsense, and as far as he is concerned, the world can burn.

merrypat.bsky.social•1 day ago

That and revenge for every past slight or perceived wrong against him

ellenlg.bsky.social•1 day ago

Trump is how Tom Lehrer describes Wernher von Brain. He is expedient. Apolitical. He wants capitulation to him. He understands the dark side of human nature and can exploit it. He wants validation and he wants humiliation for others.

ellenlg.bsky.social•1 day ago

“Gather 'round while I sing you of Wernher von Braun,
A man whose allegiance
Is ruled by expedience.
Call him a Nazi, he won't even frown,
"Ha, Nazi, Schmazi, " says Wernher von Braun.
Don't say that he's hypocritical,
Say rather that he's apolitical.” — Tom Lehrer

cdrjames.bsky.social•1 day ago

I can’t see anyway he makes it through this term. I think he’ll resign and move to his dacha in Moscow or he’ll be impeached

tachimine.bsky.social•1 day ago

You're looking at this the wrong way. Instead of questioning whether he means what he's saying, approach everything he says with the knowledge that he's a compulsive liar. A racist. A bigot. A narcissist. A highly vindictive person. A criminal. And is probably senile.

tachimine.bsky.social•1 day ago

That makes everything he says suspect, but also means we cannot ignore what he says. We cannot ignore anything so must look at the whole, as in HIM, and condemn that because those are the things about him we do know and can trust.

pganong.bsky.social•1 day ago

Yes, because he is a man without qualities. He believes in nothing and values nothing but ego gratification.

generalmonkey.bsky.social•1 day ago

It's awesome to see such a prominent journalist take this first tentative step toward being a little less credulous about the genuinely-held beliefs of politicians. May the aim of your newborn skepticism spread to the rest of the politicians, and may it find broad adoption across the industry.

camroc.bsky.social•1 day ago

He is a liar and flip flops more than the wind changes direction.

journeyhomeburke.bsky.social•1 day ago

He’s a wannabe mafia crime lord who wants desperately to have the USA replicate the failed mafia state of the Russian Federation - that model of civilization is good for about a dozen people the rest are living miserable lives.

He doesn’t care

rmat46.bsky.social•1 day ago

"does he want to run for a third term"

Keep repeating that unconstitutional crap until you make that "normal" too.

motorthing68.bsky.social•1 day ago

He believes in himself as the single most important thing in all of creation and NOTHING else.

lindiemoungu.bsky.social•1 day ago

Exactly this. It’s really not hard math. And yet the journalists working for the paper of record are scratching their heads.

sandraeb.bsky.social•1 day ago

Well it is Trump and his brain is not quite working at the moment unless you mention Putin and he is all in

iliketo.bsky.social•1 day ago

Chaos is his brand. He must have really liked the 'Get Smart" TV show. He is unfit to lead & the corrupt GOP put party over country. The die is cast.

cabbageridge.bsky.social•1 day ago

Sorry that’s a journalists job isnt it? To get to the truth. You keep asking questions you point out contradictions and call him out on changes. You had no problem doing that with Obama or Biden or Harris as a candidate