For those curious: This was most likely posted because it is gone. I don't think USAID's disappearance is a particularly good HN topic, but it's liable to just confuse people like this.
It gives me absolutely no joy to say it, but I am concerned the top people in Trumpocracy, notably Trump and Musk, might end up shot.
They are pissing off so many people, so quickly, so heavy-handedly, and in a country literally stuffed with guns.
One guy whose business exports are killed by retaliatory tariffs, or another whose medical care gets shut down, or someone with family in a developing country whose life ends up ruined by the US defaulting on its aid commitments. And it's barely two weeks in.
And yes, I know it's mostly the MAGA crowd who has guns, but they are half the country, and Trump doesn't seem to mind shooting with his eyes shut. Well, you're going to hit quite a few of your own people if you do that. Populist sentiment seems to run out when you hit people where it hurts - their wallet.
To be clear, the thought gives me no joy. Already being a US president is one of the most dangerous jobs in the world, and this would only set an awful precedent for whoever follows.
I doubt anything will happen to Trump while in office: the Secret Service will move heaven and earth to prevent another presidential assassination. They've already got enough egg on their face from the near-misses during Trump's campaign, but the resources they dedicate to protecting candidates and former Presidents is a mere fraction of what they devote to the President while in office. A presidential assassination would utterly destroy what remains of the Secret Service's already tarnished credibility, and even seriously risk triggering a second Civil War.
I don't believe Musk has Secret Service protection, but as the richest man in the world, his private security budget is effectively unlimited.
Readit News
If this is a discussion we want to have, maybe a news article about it would be better? E.g. https://www.cnn.com/2025/02/01/politics/usaid-website-offlin... -- which I haven't really read either, but it is probably less confusing.
What happened?
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42905937
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42881367
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Agency_for_Inter...
They are pissing off so many people, so quickly, so heavy-handedly, and in a country literally stuffed with guns.
One guy whose business exports are killed by retaliatory tariffs, or another whose medical care gets shut down, or someone with family in a developing country whose life ends up ruined by the US defaulting on its aid commitments. And it's barely two weeks in.
And yes, I know it's mostly the MAGA crowd who has guns, but they are half the country, and Trump doesn't seem to mind shooting with his eyes shut. Well, you're going to hit quite a few of your own people if you do that. Populist sentiment seems to run out when you hit people where it hurts - their wallet.
To be clear, the thought gives me no joy. Already being a US president is one of the most dangerous jobs in the world, and this would only set an awful precedent for whoever follows.
I don't believe Musk has Secret Service protection, but as the richest man in the world, his private security budget is effectively unlimited.
Also, you only need one bullet to go through, and Trump doesn't strike me like the guy who does everything Secret Service tells him to do.
thought process (hmmm what other gov do I know? oh I'll curl up cisa. oh it uses drupal thats neat.)
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