Mega-Thread: Trump Focused Discussion

[Darththeo]

Up until Trump the US was absolutely seen as the leader of the free world, Bush put a giant dent into it with the war in Iraq but Obama managed to claw it back.

Trump buried that idea, maybe for good, but it was very real.

I cannot understate how big of a swing the image of the US in the rest of the world took because of Trump. You went from #1 to dead last in 8 years

But how can that be? I am told by MAGA that Europe loves Trump over any other president and America is finally respected again!

/sarcasm

[Draco-Onis]

Hardly "dead last" and hardly "for good", but it took a big hit.

It does bounce back, however, even if it's a bit tarnished for a while.

The problem isn't necessarily public opinion, it's the fact that the US is basically being contained like a toddler while the rest of the world forms a new world order. There is no going back to being "leader of the free world" for the United States regardless of who comes after Trump. We will still have the big guns but that doesn't get you very far unless you plan to invade the entire world to get your way. After Trump's tenure there won't be anything anyone can do to change the new state of the world which will be multi polar with no regards to the world order the US spent decades constructing post WW2.

It's true what they say it's easier to destroy things than it is to build for example gold is now the world's reserve currency, the dollar holds the title only in name.

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But how can that be? I am told by MAGA that Europe loves Trump over any other president and America is finally respected again!

/sarcasm

I don't see why they don't like us, the Trump administration is only spends every waking moment insulting, demeaning, threatening to invade nations and lecturing to them. Everyone loves that right? right?

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Yeah, the big issue is what Americans (speaking broadly) think of as the "center" is actually pretty far-right. Pulling the ship back to that "center" won't fix the massive systemic problems in the USA, because those problems exist because of the bipartisan right-wing politics. You can't even single it out to individuals like Newsom; the entire Democratic engine is pretty right-wing. They'd be Conservatives, if they were assigned a party here in Canada by politics. They make some vague nods to social justice and people think that makes them lefties, when it just means they aren't directly motivated by ethnic bigotry. Just class bigotry. They're still right-wing hierarchy-driven types, they just focus on benefiting the rich and keeping the poors from rioting too much.

Newsom is just one example of the list of candidates for 2028 most of them are the same centrist morons that got us Trump. Any true left wing candidate has a monumental task they have to overcome the establishment in the democratic party and the corporate powers in the media and every aspect of American life. That's why it's so much easier for fascists because they support corporate power. The reason the progressive movement didn't take hold on the left as it did on the right is because the democratic party and corporate media went defcon5 using every trick in the book to kill it.

[Malkiah]

The problem isn't necessarily public opinion, it's the fact that the US is basically being contained like a toddler while the rest of the world forms a new world order. There is no going back to being "leader of the free world" for the United States regardless of who comes after Trump. We will still have the big guns but that doesn't get you very far unless you plan to invade the entire world to get your way. After Trump's tenure there won't be anything anyone can do to change the new state of the world which will be multi polar with no regards to the world order the US spent decades constructing post WW2

draco i am not posting this to contrast you specifically or put this question to you as if you're arguing for the opposite, i'm just posting a thought i had that was inspired by what you said here so i'm quoting you though it's not directed at you.

considering that prior to WWI the US was the world's backwater inbred early 21st century equivalent of global white trash, and after WWII the US was still that but now obscenely materially wealthy due to circumstances outside anyone's control, and post WWII the US just became donald trump the country and set the the tone for the world for the last 100 years, is there any rational argument for how it could be a bad thing if the US loses its status as geopolitical leader?

sadly it will still probably be a cultural exporter just because of size and influence (the US is the 3rd largest country by population and the other two ahead of us are huge but not really "spreader" variants), but IMO if the US version of predatory capitalist politics loses its prominence on the global stage that would not be a bad thing for humanity.

in fact, i'm gonna go out on a limb here and say that if the trump admin breaks global US hegemony that will be an unqualified good thing that trump did accidentally.
and not just good, but probably one of the best things any single administration has pulled off in the last 100 years.
obviously humanity could fuck up and put another equally problematic figurehead in place of the US, but getting the christofascist death cult away from power is an objectively good thing.

[Lynarii]

draco i am not posting this to contrast you specifically or put this question to you as if you're arguing for the opposite, i'm just posting a thought i had that was inspired by what you said here so i'm quoting you though it's not directed at you.

considering that prior to WWI the US was the world's backwater inbred early 21st century equivalent of global white trash, and after WWII the US was still that but now obscenely materially wealthy due to circumstances outside anyone's control, and post WWII the US just became donald trump the country and set the the tone for the world for the last 100 years, is there any rational argument for how it could be a bad thing if the US loses its status as geopolitical leader?

sadly it will still probably be a cultural exporter just because of size and influence (the US is the 3rd largest country by population and the other two ahead of us are huge but not really "spreader" variants), but IMO if the US version of predatory capitalist politics loses its prominence on the global stage that would not be a bad thing for humanity.

in fact, i'm gonna go out on a limb here and say that if the trump admin breaks global US hegemony that will be an unqualified good thing that trump did accidentally.
and not just good, but probably one of the best things any single administration has pulled off in the last 100 years.
obviously humanity could fuck up and put another equally problematic figurehead in place of the US, but getting the christofascist death cult away from power is an objectively good thing.

There are good and bad things to the US losing it's position. The good is that the US has always been deeply flawed and done some terrible things. There's a reason that South America as a whole expects violent coups to start in US embassies. But it also has done a lot to stabilize the world, the most significant of which is that the US Navy has made shipping indescribably safer, and a collapse in world shipping would hurt EVERYONE at this point. Like it or not, no other country has the sheer number of ships to patrol the shipping lanes and do the amount of search and rescue and anti-piracy that the US does. And building up that capacity is a multi-decades long project, even for major economies like China or the EU. The infrastructure to kick out ships of any quality much faster simply doesn't exist right now.

Manner matters. It'd be fine if the US was losing relative power because the EU was stepping up on their own accord and just BEING a legitimate peer. It's less good when it happens because the US is falling, and everyone else is scrambling to fill the void. You don't want to kick out the support pillars of society without something already in place to take the load, no matter how rotted they may be.

[Gorsameth]

draco i am not posting this to contrast you specifically or put this question to you as if you're arguing for the opposite, i'm just posting a thought i had that was inspired by what you said here so i'm quoting you though it's not directed at you.

considering that prior to WWI the US was the world's backwater inbred early 21st century equivalent of global white trash, and after WWII the US was still that but now obscenely materially wealthy due to circumstances outside anyone's control, and post WWII the US just became donald trump the country and set the the tone for the world for the last 100 years, is there any rational argument for how it could be a bad thing if the US loses its status as geopolitical leader?

sadly it will still probably be a cultural exporter just because of size and influence (the US is the 3rd largest country by population and the other two ahead of us are huge but not really "spreader" variants), but IMO if the US version of predatory capitalist politics loses its prominence on the global stage that would not be a bad thing for humanity.

in fact, i'm gonna go out on a limb here and say that if the trump admin breaks global US hegemony that will be an unqualified good thing that trump did accidentally.
and not just good, but probably one of the best things any single administration has pulled off in the last 100 years.
obviously humanity could fuck up and put another equally problematic figurehead in place of the US, but getting the christofascist death cult away from power is an objectively good thing.

Power vacuums tend to get filled, who will fill the hole left by the US?

The world might not be better off if the answer is China.

[Endus]

Power vacuums tend to get filled, who will fill the hole left by the US?

The world might not be better off if the answer is China.

If power vacuums always scaled "up" in terms of size, we'd have hit a one-world government a few centuries ago. Titanic power vacuums sometimes just balkanize into multiple competing smaller interests. For instance; Rome.

[Milchshake]

Tankies romanticizing "spehere's of influence"... please comrades, update Zinn priors to the "internet age". Or atleast the "age of jet travel" for a start.

[Paranoid Android]

Q: Can you say any more about the explosion in Venezuela that you mentioned in a radio interview. Did the military do that?

TRUMP: Well, it doesn't matter. But there was a major explosion in the dock area where they load the boats up with drugs. We hit the area.

https://bsky.app/profile/atrupar.com/post/3mb5hsz3uvu2o

I guess Trump just boasted we bombed, sabotage a port on another country's land.

Moments after seemingly confirming that the US conducted a land strike on Venezuela, Trump refuses to say if the military or CIA was behind the operation

More info

[Milchshake]

Trump: "I don't like Ukraine strike on Putin's house. Putin told me about it, it's no good."

The return on investment Putin has received for playing a critical role in Trump getting elected in 2016 must be beyond even his wildest dreams at this point.

[PACOX]

Power vacuums tend to get filled, who will fill the hole left by the US?

The world might not be better off if the answer is China.

The thing about modern China as perspective superpower is that modern China has not backed up its power and influence with military assurances. China has soft power but in theory a superpower must also have hard power. The concept of the superpower might be retired to the history books or redefined.

[Draco-Onis]

Tankies romanticizing "spehere's of influence"... please comrades, update Zinn priors to the "internet age". Or atleast the "age of jet travel" for a start.

I don't think it romanticizing when it's what is actually happening with the absence of the US on the world's stage. There's also this stigma that Trump has put on us, we not only elected him once but twice. Why would any country count on us not to do it again? who wants a partner that can change their mind every 4 years regardless of deals signed? That's the main problem here Trump basically took a giant dump on US trust no one will be able to wash away that stink.

[Breccia]

Trump claims Democrats want to send $2,000 rebate checks to illegals, unless people donate to him.

No, really.

I need YOU to help me hit my end-of-year fundraising goal by midnight tomorrow or EVERYTHING we’ve worked so hard to accomplish could go BYE BYE.

Remember when Biden used the term "go bye bye" with Americans? Or Obama? Or hell, even W? Yeah, you don't, it never happened.

"How much has Trump donated to his own campaign, which is apparently so very important to his agenda?"

I say with evidence the answer is zero dollars and beg anyone to prove me wrong.

[PACOX]

Oh shit! Is his new spin on why we're not getting the tariff rebates is because the Dems want to give money to undocumented people too. His lies no longer phase it. Its amuzing to see what his cult will fall for.

[Dontrike]

Trump claims Democrats want to send $2,000 rebate checks to illegals, unless people donate to him.

No, really.



Remember when Biden used the term "go bye bye" with Americans? Or Obama? Or hell, even W? Yeah, you don't, it never happened.

"How much has Trump donated to his own campaign, which is apparently so very important to his agenda?"

I say with evidence the answer is zero dollars and beg anyone to prove me wrong.

"Let me steal from you before Dems steal from you first! One of me tells only lies and the other me tells only truths that help me get cash!"

[Breccia]

Yet more artists flee the Trump Center in droves. Some are directly citing Trump naming it after himself, making the political separation impossible, as the last straw. Trump is threatening to sue, but contracts like these tend to have escape clauses like hiring athletes and actors. If they rape a child, you don't have to perform for them.

[btlcryct]

Yet more artists flee the Trump Center in droves. Some are directly citing Trump naming it after himself, making the political separation impossible, as the last straw. Trump is threatening to sue, but contracts like these tend to have escape clauses like hiring athletes and actors. If they rape a child, you don't have to perform for them.

Article is behind a paywall, so can't see it. On what grounds is he threatening to sue, to force them to perform for him? I think we had a war about 160 years ago over stuff like that. I swear, every time he threatens to sue because he doesn't get his way, his lawyers are pulling a Carl and telling him to shut up.

[Paranoid Android]

JUST IN: The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is pausing all child care payments to Minnesota, amid a sweeping federal probe into allegations of fraud within the state’s social services programs.

https://bsky.app/profile/tbh72.bsky..../3mbajjpgdgc2p

At the whim of the president, just freezing funds to hurt children.

Edit: All this off a racist attack on the Somali group as a whole. Likely supercharged by some dipshit with a viral video.

[Poopymonster]

https://bsky.app/profile/tbh72.bsky..../3mbajjpgdgc2p

At the whim of the president, just freezing funds to hurt children.

Then they should have voted for him if they didn't want to hurt their own children like that.

[Breccia]

On what grounds is he threatening to sue

On the grounds that Trump threatens to sue everyone all the time. This just isn't an exception.

[postman1782]

https://bsky.app/profile/tbh72.bsky..../3mbajjpgdgc2p

At the whim of the president, just freezing funds to hurt children.

Edit: All this off a racist attack on the Somali group as a whole. Likely supercharged by some dipshit with a viral video.

Based off of lies from a grifting youtuber.