It’s not just allies. One of the things that makes any ‘empire’ great is infrastructure (roads, postal services, etc) and although these has been on the decline already Trump is now ripping them apart. The failure to embrace the renewable energy/de carbonization movement will be the end of the US and critically endangers its technology dominance
Also the destruction of our world-class medical research and our gold-standard public health infrastructure. The Trump-Kennedy Make America Diseased agenda.
Woke today and read that CVS pharmacy is not offering covid vaccines in 16 states, including mine. Hes’ a madman with a MADD agenda — Make America Dangerously Dumb.
Make America Sick Again appears to be the recurring theme in tRump 2.0, thanks in whole to Rat-fuck, Jr and his CDC re-enactment of the Bataan Death March...what a shitshow, all thanks to Sen. Bill Cassidy, may he rot in a bacterial and viral Hell of his own making.
For now they will. RFK hired quack doctors to “prove” vaccines cause autism. Many parents are concerned that their children will not be able to get vaccines in the USA soon.
Fewer and fewer practitioners aside from pediatricians even offer vaccines. And every insurer in the U.S. is ALWAYS on the lookout for excuses to deny coverage. The only hope is that RFK, jr. doesn't remove the approvals for the vaccines (don't EVER say that the CDC did that!) and insurers decide that paying for vaccines is cheaper for them than paying for the consequences of not covering them.
Even before Trump the public health infrastructure was hardly gold-standard. Not even close. Like a maternal mortality rate of about 20 whereas the best countries achieve just 2, doesn't even make the top 50. It's also much more racially biased than the top countries. And more expensive. And don't get me started on things like abortion rights.
We're not in the Top 50 in longevity, either. Countries like Qatar, Panama, Slovenia & the Maldives are ahead of us. Unlike every other developed nation since last century, not having single payer universal healthcare at half the cost we now pay for our dysfunctional healthcare system has led to such dismal results for us.
You're right. But what I was referring to was our infectious disease prevention, detection, and notification infrastructure. It has been our CDC that has been called in to help with disease outbreaks around the world, like Ebola. That deteriorated somewhat under the first Trump administration, but now it seems almost totally destroyed.
There were programs in place to address our high rate of infant and maternal mortality, but Trump-Kennedy eliminated them as "too woke," or something. Trump-Kennedy don't see our real problems as problems; instead they invent fake problems as an excuse for harming us.
"... our gold-standard public health infrastructure."
Sorry, your WHAT? You can't possibly mean the institutions whose job it would be to keep Americans healthy, with (pars pro toto, really) a maternal mortality rate worse than Tajikistan and Lebanon[1]. Right?
So, what exactly do you refer to as "gold-standard public health infrastructure"?
A sobering column. But your comment on renewables is the camel’s nose under the tent. Industrial growth will rely on cheaper energy and to turn away from wind and solar that provide significant %’s of energy in red states (sometimes higher than the % of votes The Donald received in 2004), will inhibit our growth in technology areas. Not too long before we are the subjects of the new China/ Russia/North Korea empire.
You need to get up to speed. Renewables are rapidly becoming more affordable. Certainly more so than coal, and over time will be on par or better than oil/natural gas. And battery technology is rapidly improving and becoming cheaper. Turning away or discounting renewables is another example of the Trump administration’s leading the country is precisely the wrong direction.
I think that was Michael Sanders point, it just wasn’t as clear as it might have been. “To turn away from wind and solar that provide significant %’s of energy in red states will inhibit our growth in technology areas”
But the Trump regime is doing everything it can to make renewable energy more expensive than fossil fuels by removing incentives for using renewable energy while increasing the already huge, irrational subsidies for the intrinsically more expensive fossil fuels.
In addition to how Americans are going to be paying more for energy the EU is very serious about decarbonizing their economy and the US is going to be locked out of that market because if their pro carbon policies. Canada on the other hand is inking deals with the EU as we are following policies using renewable sources
And there's a limit to how much RE expansion poorer states can do on their own without assistance from the feds to add transmission lines.
For better or for worse, I see the corporate data centers building their own power supplies (e.g., new-generation geothermal in Nevada), and no longer being a force in the quality of the grid as a whole. (Similar to upper income people installing power backup systems and not caring as much about how the power loss affects others.)
It really is like the late Soviet Union. A corrupt upper crust that's cannibalizing its own system for everything it can carry, can't stop itself from doing so no matter how loudly and ominously the structure keeps creaking, and ultimately won't allow any reformer to make meaningful fixes because then they might have to stop looting for like ten fucking seconds.
Of course, the collapse of their society ultimately worked out great for a lot of them, as it just meant they were able to suddenly loot and pillage a lot more even more brazenly. Which kind of explains what we're seeing here. Our oligarchs are champing at the bit to have the kind of feeding frenzy the Russian elites did in the nineties.
Agreed. Trump is demolishing the American economic machine by forcing American companies to bend the knee or suffer the consequences. I wrote about this through his 10% stake takeover of Intel here:
Experiencing the decline of a great compassionate and smart nation formerly known as America is very sad for this 80 plus citizen - an America devoted to allies and to the people of the world plus caring for its own citizens-
"Are there historical precedents for an empire run great alone?" None, I believe. Examples are abundant that a great empire disappeared starting with Babylonians. Nebuchadnezzar was a king like Trump.
Then there's Trump's blinkered view of manufacturing. He's stuck in a 1960s time warp where most manufacturing jobs were low skilled and low waged. He can't imagine an alternative economy where, for example, renewable energy projects offer new jobs. And the core of America's innovation - education and research - is being strangled by funding cuts and authoritarian diktats on what can and can't be read.
Discordo, infra estrutura se reconstrói rapidamente, o que torna um império grandioso - além de aliados - é o conhecimento, a ciência, a pesquisa e a inovação. A destruição do sistema educacional de pesquisa ciência e tecnologia, juntamente com as instituições que promovem os conhecimentos gerados pelas pessoas, vai levar pelo menos uma década para se recuparar dos ataques que Trump está insistentemente realizando. Nós brasileiros sabemos muito bem o custo disso, pois até hoje, 60 anos após a ditadura militar ainda não recuperamos as nossas instituições promotoras de conhecimento. Olhem para seus vizinhos e visualizem o futuro que os espera e LUTEM PELO SEU PAÍS!
Canada, we the people are thrashing on the ground, and the majority don’t even know what is happening to destroy our country. Millions here don’t watch the daily news, but are so busy trying to make ends meet, cover food prices, paying the bills, and are asleep at the wheel, which they gave to someone who promised to bring food and gas prices down on day one. Ending the wars in Israel and Ukraine, well that would be nice. But they cared more for their own families and needs. Most will not awaken until it is way too late. Of course there is an awakened, and growing portion of us here, and we are mostly stagnant in a state of daily shock—impotent— and waiting/hoping for some help—from what may be left of the moral fiber in our government. But two things need to be added: One: Large protests are rising, and at least the world will see there is still a Will to fight and it is growing strong 💪 here. And 2. We who are awake and we who are still asleep— Are deeply sorry to you, Canada! What has happened from Trump to you—Our Friend. Our Good Neighbor! We hold the firm hope of reconciliation—in a time not too distant! Please hold a Vision of the US rising— on our Wings of Democracy…as soon as we can spread them… again!
Having or needing allies is only for the weak. I know ay too many Rightwingers who truly believe this. They think that only by casting away all of our alliances, by cutting off all our international trade, can America become great again. It's truly some magical thinking, made especially funny when they're telling me this over their Korean or Chinese smartphones.
There's a deep connection between domestic political attitudes and alliances. Virtually all international organizations have been founded by democratic nations who then roped in authoritarian ones, back to the International Postal Union, Red Cross, etc. Leaders of democracies know how to get along with peers. The authoritarian bent of the Trump administration and its supporters is exactly what makes it difficult for them to get along with democratic allies. Trump's notorious fondness for dictators is another sign of this--and alliances of dictators (like the WW2 Axis) are always a mess because the leaders each want to be on top.
Also, the need for dictators to surround themselves with incompetents, lickspittles, or both tends to undermine whatever greatness it is they want to achieve. Even when they have competent people working for them, they end up overruling them because the competent people tell them things they don't want to hear.
But the many millions of Americans who get their "news" and perspectives from Fox "News" and other right wing propaganda outlets of the GOP will know little of this and understand less. How is it not a story - A Headline Story - when that machine deliberately misinforms their readers and viewers?
From what I can see, the folks who get all their "news" from FOX have no idea what's ahead for us, and what danger we're really in now. That is astounding to me.
I am guessing while while some of that is bigotry and hatred, some is the mental disease of hyper-religiosity, and some is just plain greed, that most of that approval of Trump - perhaps as much as 80% - is just ignorance. They don't know history, know less about science, and because all their "information" is from right wing and anti-social media, they don't see or hear important facts.
If the Covid era didn't wake them up, heck, if the Dubya era didn't wake them up, they're never going to.
The onus is on the flock of idiots who call themselves "centrists," "swing voters," etc, to wake the fuck up and help steer the country in a saner direction. Since those are by far the dumbest people in the country, it's hard to hold up much hope.
I'm not so sure other Americans are that much better served by the corporate billionaire media--the media that focused obsessively on Biden's mental acuity but ignores the flagrant lack of mental acuity in Trump,
There's FOX and worse...but there's also popular culture that studiously ignores politics as too toxic. I'd say over 50% of the public is totally disengaged with anything that smacks of politics. It won't be until things get totally, existentially ugly before people will notice. But 80% of the Iranians hate their government and it still stands.
That is precisely what worries me. It would be logical for GOP politicians to be worried about Trump’s low approval dragging them down. But they are not acting that way. It seems as if they are confident that they can suppress/invalidate so many opposition votes that their unpopular policies don’t matter. Votes may not matter. The laws may not matter. Democracy may not matter.
Agreed. Trump just wants to bully the world as he has bullied everyone in his life and business dealings. The Oligarchs want their taxes cut as low as they can possibly get, and the Christian Nationalists was to turn America in a Christian theocracy. And Trump’s political cronies? They want power. Steven Miller now has the opportunity to kick out all the immigrants he’s hated his entire life. Lutnik and Bessent want those tax cuts. Pam Bondi wants Daddy Trump to need her. And JD Vance wants a theocracy as well as Trump’s job.
NONE of these people care at all about what the American people need or want. NONE.
And all of this is taking place as our allies desert us, new alliances firm that do not include the US, and international commerce and investment goes elsewhere.
America did all the deserting, btw. Europeans are still trying to cope with the pain and shock. Canadians are tougher, but we're closer and thus, less surprised. If it walks like Hitler, talks like Hitler...it's a dictator.
That may not be much longer. One of my wife's friends (who happens to be a retired medical professional) opined that the bruise on Trump's right hand appears to be the result of a recent IV.
Another aspect of squandering allies is in the western hemisphere, and here I don't mean just Canada. South America is being ignored, actually put off. The key is Brazil, which controls most of the largest carbon sink rainforest and is also the economic linchpin to the whole continent. We are disrespecting Brazil because of Trump's wannabee Bolsonaro? Really? At the same time, China understands the strategic import of the continent and makes its moves. And then, there is Africa, which is mostly anathema to Trump, because of his deeply ingrained racism. We are teaching a generation in the global south that the US has nothing they want, nothing they need, and nothing they can trust -- except for weapons.
Canada is considering canceling their tentative order for 73 F-35s and buying Saab Gripen fighters instead. That would be only a partial step away, however, since the engines for the Saab are made by GE. H&K manufactures excellent small arms in a variety of countries (including the US). Nobody is stuck with the US as their weapons source; in many cases, better stuff is made elsewhere.
Yes and we can’t be distracted. These relationships are broken forever. We see now that is not about one man Trump. This is very much America. In its deep values. A society of deep ignorance was cultivated for decades. You reap what you sow.
Dick Cheney and geo W destroyed critical thinking in classrooms with “No Child Left Behind,” had teachers so afraid of scores, that they spent months teaching to the test. Advertisements since the days of TV and Reagan ridding us of the Fairness Doctrine have enabled Americans to listen and believe in lies and false advertising for so long, that it’s become part of America’s psyche. “Buy, buy, buy, and you can be happy.” Too much crafted fakeness has destroyed the American spirit.
A review of Trump‘s history reveals a persistent pattern of rebellion and manipulation to get what he wants. His parents could not control him so they sent him to military school, hoping he would learn some self-control. What he gained there were the skills to transform his manipulation into bullying behavior. Throughout his life, people have rewarded his ability to bully others. A few people see this “success“ as effective leadership. Those of us who study, toxic counterproductive leadership know that these leaders restructure, marginalize, and erode various systems and institutions within organizations and societies to feed their need for power, control, and self aggrandizement. They destroy any guard rails and transform them into systems of self empowerment. This “leadership” process is counterproductive, destructive, and dysfunctional. It’s not normal. He is not normal. And yet, the Republican Party, the Supreme Court, the Main Street media continue to treat him as a normal person and normalize and sane wash his outrageous, destructive behavior. Most of us understand this. The real question is: how do we stop him? From my study of toxic leaders in organizations, there must be a broad-based coalition of his victims that Voice in unison is destructiveness, unethical and immoral behavior, and illegal actions. This voice must be channeled through existing systems and institutions, such as whistleblowing and the legal system. We need to support those organizations that are filing lawsuits against him and the administration. We need to voice that he is not demonstrating what America represents. In all of these actions, we repeatedly rebuff him, just as we would by punching an attacking shark in the nose, fighting for our lives. Much of the traditional leadership of the Democratic Party is passive, adding as though he will self-destruct in time. Research indicates that the self-destruction of a toxic leader is a prolonged process and he causes degradation and the death of livelihoods and lives throughout the process. Passivity is not an effective strategy. He must be confronted with nonviolent resistance as though we are fighting for our lives, for in fact, we are.
Unfortunately, other toxic and pathological individuals are drawn to Trump BECAUSE of his pathology. So in a weird way, he has acquired supporters, if not allies.
I would expect them to turn on each other at some point, of course. Ppl will fall out of windows.
With all due respect to Peter York and your good self, trump’s malignant narcissism was self evident even before 2017.
It’s also in deadly combination with rank stupidity. So many media outlets analyse all trump’s actions and comments as if he were an actual president, but most don’t realise that he is very dumb.
It’s a lethal combination with his astronomical narcissism, as the USA and the rest of the world are now finding out.
The MSM studiously ignores his remarkable lack of intelligence. It has been known and remarked upon for years. H.L. Mencken and Isaac Asimov both had pithy comments on the streak of stupidity and anti-intellectualism in America. They both have been proved spectacularly correct.
I don't agree that Trump is dumb. He is obdurately ignorant about many things but he has a very shrewd streak in him. It is not possible to screw over so many creditors over so many years to no discernable harm to him if he wasn't canny. He's judged to millimetre accuracy the over-cooked spaghetti spines of the Republican Congress and Senators. Yes, he's been hugely helped by the unprincipled SCOTUS 6, but I think it doesn't do to underestimate him.
He has a certain amount if street smarts. And he is a quintessential con artist - the only thing he is good at. Managed to con half the country. But he doesn’t know where Sweden is, can’t tell an IQ test from a cognition test, thinks it’s ok to inject bleach, doesn’t understand how water flows downhill, can’t read anything, has zero concept of economics, foreign policy or diplomacy. In my book, he’s thick as two short planks.
IMO his cunning and canniness aren’t signs of intelligence. He’s an idiot savant (forgive the political incorrectness), like a nonverbal person who can play Mozart on the piano after one listen. All he’s “good” at is manipulative deception.
Is he really? Yes, he has the luck of the Devil - he’s escaped liability his entire life. And yes, he’s lazy and doesn’t read his briefs (or at all) but just watches TV. And yes, he’s consumed by grievance and revenge. But there’s an evil genius in there too, and I wonder: is he the master manipulator or is he a mere sock-puppet being played by is minders? In a way, the latter conclusion is more scary. And if the Dems covered up Biden’s senility it will be nothing compared to Trump. El Cid would compare!
When you attack every country in the world with tariffs, ensure that NATO unity is too unreliable to be effective, support the genocide of Palestinians and threaten Canada, Greenland and Panama sovereignty, you begin to realise that America is now the most hated country in the world. It no longer has any real allies because no one can trust America to be on its side. Except possibly Russia.
And, don’t forget the biggee: fail to support a democratic country attacked and invaded by its neighbor and that is fighting for all its worth to protect not only itself but all of Europe.
Elections are always suspended in time of war and the Ukraine constitution stipulates for this.
Please spare us the Russian talking points.
Try to bear in mind that Russia hasn't had a free and fair election in 30 years. Most recently Putin imprisoned his one opposing leader - Alexei Navalny - and had him killed.
There is NO PARALLEL between Russia or any other dictatorship and Ukraine.
No, elections are not always suspended in time of war. Ask Abraham Lincoln.
Nor does the constitution of Ukraine say that. It's a common war cheerleader talking point, but also incorrect. You can go read the document yourself. Ukraine has declared that they will not hold elections while martial law is in effect - and has decided to hold martial law indefinitely. The constitution just says they don't have to dissolve parliament during war. It does not forbid it.
And regardless of legality, it's simply not democratic. You might claim it's legal to not hold elections. You might even claim it's a good and just decision. What it simply is not, and this shouldn't have to be said, is democratic. So claiming the country that won't hold elections is "democratic" is just wrong, because words have meanings.
Elections are suspended in parliamentary democracies (Canada & UK for ex).
There is a war in Ukraine right now b/c Ukrainians refused to go along with Russia and demanded access to the EU so they could stay democratic. THAT is why they are fighting and dying. Further, If the ppl wanted an election in Ukraine they'd be protesting, just as they did when Zelensky altered the anti-corruption law but had to walk it back due to protests. That is huge evidence Ukraine is a democracy.
What ISNT a democracy is Russia with its show ‘elections’. Yet cynical Russia is the one pushing this talking point that Ukraine isn't democratic-! They cannot tolerate a free country making its own decisions and charting its own course as Ukraine wants to do - once war is over, of course.
> Elections are suspended in parliamentary democracies (Canada & UK for ex).
The UK is a monarchy.
> That is huge evidence Ukraine is a democracy
No, that's evidence of the right to protest.
I get it, you don't like Russia. I'm not a fan either. That doesn't change what words mean. As for your claims about the causes of the war - simplification to absurdity would be a kind way to say it.
Ann's mistake was saying 'always'. Democracy is sometimes suspended in some countries during times of war, and sometimes restored after war ends. Her statement was as black and white as your attitude about whether Ukraine is a democracy in the opposite direction.
Words have meanings. Countries which indefinitely suspend elections aren't democracies, regardless of if you support that decision or not. Hell, you might not consider them valid, but Russia held elections in this same war.
Why does that matter? Because it's used to fuel the propaganda as above that is used as argument for continued support of Ukraine in the NATO/Russian proxy war.
If you want to argue for that, do so with the actual facts. Making up a false narrative doesn't help that.
In 1991 when Ukraine became an independent country Russia made a commitment to honour their sovereignty. This was negotiated in Budapest. They were asked to give up their nuclear weapons and in exchange they were promised that if Russia broke their promise, the west would provide security. This agreement was known as the Budapest Memorandum signed in 1994
And? At the same time, the US promised that NATO would not move east of Germany. NATO is also an organization that illegally attacked other nations (Yugoslavia in 1999), so it’s not some abstract concern. None of this justifies Russian aggression, but the fact that Ukraine is being used as a proxy war by the US, and to a lesser extent, Germany, means the Ukrainian people suffer more. Claims like the above, however, that Ukraine is “defending Europe,” are simply nonsense.
I have voiced this conspiracy theory before: Trump's a Russian asset whose assignment was to weaken/destroy America and the West, and he's doing a superb job
"Almost all his tariffs are clearly in violation of the GATT," and, as Paul has mentioned before, in violation of federal law, which permits the president to impose tariffs only in emergency situations. But these tariffs are less his than they are those of every Republican senator and representative, because they all allow him to violate the law with impunity. This is true of virtually everything Trump does. Congressional Republicans are responsible for his illegally impounding appropriated funds, for his illegally firing the heads of independent agencies, and for his illegally kidnapping and imprisoning and torturing alleged immigrants. Congressional Republicans will also be responsible for the thousands of Americans who may die because of RFK Jr.'s anti-vaccine mental illness, and for the up to 14 million people around the world who may die because they relied on USAID-funded food and medicine. When these members of Congress run for re-election, the media should ask them how they can have engaged in (not merely supported) these crimes. Of course, the media won't.
There are uncountable Republicans we can blame, including all those on the Supreme Court. I think that the country's demise started in 2000 with Bush v. Gore, when the Republicans on the Court decided to choose the president for us, instead of allowing the vote-counting, by the states, to run its course. When they got away with that, they correctly realized that they could get away with anything.
And when Bush got away with starting a war of aggression on false pretenses and got away with (thanks to Obama) torturing people, every subsequent president understood that he was above the law. I don't even think that the Supreme Court's decision making the president above the law made a big difference, except as an official declaration that our democracy was over. Let's not forget that Bush and every subsequent president have kept people imprisoned at Guantanamo without due process for almost a quarter century. That's serious, and all of them, including Obama and Biden, should have been impeached for it. The Magna Carta banned that 800 years ago.
Still, at this point, it is the Republicans in the House and the Senate who could stop our descent, but they refuse to.
I believe it was Winston Churchill who said “the only thing worse than fighting with your allies, is fighting without them.”
“We have learned that we cannot live alone at peace, that our own-wellbeing is dependent on the well being of other nations far away. We have learned to be citizens of the world. We have learned…’The only way to have a friend is to be one.” FDR, January 20, 1945
Trump and his enablers are destroying who we are as a nation and as a positive member of the world community. There is nothing great about MAGA.
…”at having allies”. Lost, irretrievably. They will never trust the US again - how could they? Oh sure, for the present, the existing formal alliances still are in place, but look at what’s happening (& this is the really frightening bit): Japan (Japan!) and South Korea are exploring very quietly their nuclear weapons options. They are already sophisticated nuclear powers (unlike Iran) so they could “go nuclear” in 12 months. This is the consequence of no longer being able to trust the US. Trump has in only six months destroyed 80 years of patient diplomacy. And to think that we all thought W’s invasion of Iraq in 2003 was the worst strategic mistake in 100 years! Trump (& Netanyahu) have committed their own goals.
And there will probably not be a Biden (or Democratic majorities in Congress) in the near future to reverse the tremendous damage that Donald is doing. Donald is personally doing a lot of damage, but damage is also being done by people (such as Russell Vought) who are implementing Project 2025. The people who hate immigrants are ruining millions of lives not only of the immigrants but also the lives of farmers, builders, and other businesspeople.
Donald and republicans are working on gerrymanders and tampering with elections to try to lock in House majorities for the foreseeable future and the Senate will be in republican hands probably for a generation. The Supremes have six votes for Donald and MAGA (and project 2025) so don't expect any honest rulings there. The Senate and the Federalist Society are working on adding reactionaries to the rest of the federal judiciary.
The FOX republican right-wing propaganda machine is going strong. So, we will have Donald and MAGA or J. D. and MAGA for a longtime. If I was a young person just starting out in life, I would seriously consider going to another country.
Unfortunately, this situation did not develop overnight but has been in the works for about 50 years. The Federalist Society has been working to take over the federal courts for about 40 years. The Democrats lost hundreds of seats in state legislatures in 2010, and they were never recovered. So, the decline in political influence for progressives and Democrats has been going on a long time.
I am living in Asia and Trump 1 was better than Biden. Matthis on his own held all alliances in Asia together. He was enormously respected and I think he is one of the best cabinet secretaries the US ever had. From the Biden cabinet, the combination of Blinken and Austin was more like what you would expect from a Trump I cabinet (and their actions and policies were more like Trump than Obama) and caused a lot of bad feelings here. Under Trump II, everyone has given up on the USA. There is no bright spark to be seen.
But Trump 1 had some cabinet members who were highly capable and managed global relations well.
I think a lot of Americans underappreciate just how poorly received the Biden admin's foreign policy was received outside of Western Europe (and even then, they could have actually given Ukraine some real resources).
The Biden administration was a disappointment in several respects. Appointing Merrick Garland as AG proved disappointing. Garland slow walked the case against Donald which helped Donald and his lawyers run out the clock in court.
Biden tried some good things like the Inflation reduction act and building for infrastructure which were good, and which were needed, as well as encouraging green energy. But they did not publicize what they were doing. Republicans in Congress voted against Biden's program then went to their districts and took credit for getting the funding for projects (which they had opposed in Congress).
The Democrats and progressives have forgotten the basic rule of politics -- you are there to win elections. Those people who win elections make policy; those who do not win go home and find other work.
FOX, Sinclair, and other right-wing media pretty much set the agenda and put out the talking points. A lot of people though that the economy was terrible because FOX and the republicans told them that every day. Right-wing media told everyone that the Democrats only cared about transgender people and open borders.
Democrats won't do anything until they put out their own narrative of what they support.
Attempting to plaster over the problems of the US, which is what let a creature like Trump take power to begin with, by blaming them on conspiracy theories, is doing active harm. Not just to the truth in general, but efforts to stop the GOP agenda.
I get that it makes you feel super good to have figured out the BIG SECRET - that's the motivation behind all conspiracy theories, from the mundane to the insane. And it was a convenient scapegoat for Democratic leadership to avoid responsibility for the 2016 debacle. But it's a luxury the US, and opposition to Trump, cannot afford.
Trump is destroying the very things that gave America a competitive edge, including research, education and technology. Without them, the world will increasingly view America as irrelevant.
January 20, 2025 was not just the end of the American Empire, it was the end of the American first republic. We are no longer a democratic republic with a Constitution. We are a pseudo monarchy. Republicans are his courtiers. We fought the British Crown to escape tyranny, but now we are back under tyranny.
It’s not just allies. One of the things that makes any ‘empire’ great is infrastructure (roads, postal services, etc) and although these has been on the decline already Trump is now ripping them apart. The failure to embrace the renewable energy/de carbonization movement will be the end of the US and critically endangers its technology dominance
Also the destruction of our world-class medical research and our gold-standard public health infrastructure. The Trump-Kennedy Make America Diseased agenda.
Woke today and read that CVS pharmacy is not offering covid vaccines in 16 states, including mine. Hes’ a madman with a MADD agenda — Make America Dangerously Dumb.
Make America Sick Again appears to be the recurring theme in tRump 2.0, thanks in whole to Rat-fuck, Jr and his CDC re-enactment of the Bataan Death March...what a shitshow, all thanks to Sen. Bill Cassidy, may he rot in a bacterial and viral Hell of his own making.
Your health care provider will probably offer them, especially if it's an insurer-owned general practitioner.
For now they will. RFK hired quack doctors to “prove” vaccines cause autism. Many parents are concerned that their children will not be able to get vaccines in the USA soon.
Fewer and fewer practitioners aside from pediatricians even offer vaccines. And every insurer in the U.S. is ALWAYS on the lookout for excuses to deny coverage. The only hope is that RFK, jr. doesn't remove the approvals for the vaccines (don't EVER say that the CDC did that!) and insurers decide that paying for vaccines is cheaper for them than paying for the consequences of not covering them.
Even before Trump the public health infrastructure was hardly gold-standard. Not even close. Like a maternal mortality rate of about 20 whereas the best countries achieve just 2, doesn't even make the top 50. It's also much more racially biased than the top countries. And more expensive. And don't get me started on things like abortion rights.
We're not in the Top 50 in longevity, either. Countries like Qatar, Panama, Slovenia & the Maldives are ahead of us. Unlike every other developed nation since last century, not having single payer universal healthcare at half the cost we now pay for our dysfunctional healthcare system has led to such dismal results for us.
You're right. But what I was referring to was our infectious disease prevention, detection, and notification infrastructure. It has been our CDC that has been called in to help with disease outbreaks around the world, like Ebola. That deteriorated somewhat under the first Trump administration, but now it seems almost totally destroyed.
There were programs in place to address our high rate of infant and maternal mortality, but Trump-Kennedy eliminated them as "too woke," or something. Trump-Kennedy don't see our real problems as problems; instead they invent fake problems as an excuse for harming us.
"... our gold-standard public health infrastructure."
Sorry, your WHAT? You can't possibly mean the institutions whose job it would be to keep Americans healthy, with (pars pro toto, really) a maternal mortality rate worse than Tajikistan and Lebanon[1]. Right?
So, what exactly do you refer to as "gold-standard public health infrastructure"?
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_maternal_mortality_ratio
A sobering column. But your comment on renewables is the camel’s nose under the tent. Industrial growth will rely on cheaper energy and to turn away from wind and solar that provide significant %’s of energy in red states (sometimes higher than the % of votes The Donald received in 2004), will inhibit our growth in technology areas. Not too long before we are the subjects of the new China/ Russia/North Korea empire.
You need to get up to speed. Renewables are rapidly becoming more affordable. Certainly more so than coal, and over time will be on par or better than oil/natural gas. And battery technology is rapidly improving and becoming cheaper. Turning away or discounting renewables is another example of the Trump administration’s leading the country is precisely the wrong direction.
I think that was Michael Sanders point, it just wasn’t as clear as it might have been. “To turn away from wind and solar that provide significant %’s of energy in red states will inhibit our growth in technology areas”
But the Trump regime is doing everything it can to make renewable energy more expensive than fossil fuels by removing incentives for using renewable energy while increasing the already huge, irrational subsidies for the intrinsically more expensive fossil fuels.
In addition to how Americans are going to be paying more for energy the EU is very serious about decarbonizing their economy and the US is going to be locked out of that market because if their pro carbon policies. Canada on the other hand is inking deals with the EU as we are following policies using renewable sources
And there's a limit to how much RE expansion poorer states can do on their own without assistance from the feds to add transmission lines.
For better or for worse, I see the corporate data centers building their own power supplies (e.g., new-generation geothermal in Nevada), and no longer being a force in the quality of the grid as a whole. (Similar to upper income people installing power backup systems and not caring as much about how the power loss affects others.)
Urging you not to use his name—like “the Donald” —more disrespect is best! No disrespect intended to you.
How about Benedict Donald? Traitor Trump? Mango Mussolini? Cantaloupe Caligula? Agent Orange? Felonious Punk? Siberian Candidate? Malignant Sadonarcissist? Orange Antichrist? Super Duper Ultra Mega MAGA Megalomaniac?
‘This is the way the world ends, not with a bang but a whimper.’ T.S. Eliot
It really is like the late Soviet Union. A corrupt upper crust that's cannibalizing its own system for everything it can carry, can't stop itself from doing so no matter how loudly and ominously the structure keeps creaking, and ultimately won't allow any reformer to make meaningful fixes because then they might have to stop looting for like ten fucking seconds.
Of course, the collapse of their society ultimately worked out great for a lot of them, as it just meant they were able to suddenly loot and pillage a lot more even more brazenly. Which kind of explains what we're seeing here. Our oligarchs are champing at the bit to have the kind of feeding frenzy the Russian elites did in the nineties.
Agreed. Trump is demolishing the American economic machine by forcing American companies to bend the knee or suffer the consequences. I wrote about this through his 10% stake takeover of Intel here:
https://kainesianmacro.substack.com/p/chipmaking-capitalism-with-american
We aren’t just “failing to embrace” renewables. Trump is actively canceling renewable projects every chance he gets.
Experiencing the decline of a great compassionate and smart nation formerly known as America is very sad for this 80 plus citizen - an America devoted to allies and to the people of the world plus caring for its own citizens-
"Are there historical precedents for an empire run great alone?" None, I believe. Examples are abundant that a great empire disappeared starting with Babylonians. Nebuchadnezzar was a king like Trump.
Then there's Trump's blinkered view of manufacturing. He's stuck in a 1960s time warp where most manufacturing jobs were low skilled and low waged. He can't imagine an alternative economy where, for example, renewable energy projects offer new jobs. And the core of America's innovation - education and research - is being strangled by funding cuts and authoritarian diktats on what can and can't be read.
Discordo, infra estrutura se reconstrói rapidamente, o que torna um império grandioso - além de aliados - é o conhecimento, a ciência, a pesquisa e a inovação. A destruição do sistema educacional de pesquisa ciência e tecnologia, juntamente com as instituições que promovem os conhecimentos gerados pelas pessoas, vai levar pelo menos uma década para se recuparar dos ataques que Trump está insistentemente realizando. Nós brasileiros sabemos muito bem o custo disso, pois até hoje, 60 anos após a ditadura militar ainda não recuperamos as nossas instituições promotoras de conhecimento. Olhem para seus vizinhos e visualizem o futuro que os espera e LUTEM PELO SEU PAÍS!
Very true. Your neighbors in Argentina are another good example.
Tenha uma boa noite.
Sim, mas aqui é a América Latina, repleta de republiquetas governadas por autocratas corruptos, não a Maior Democracia do Mundo !
Canada, we the people are thrashing on the ground, and the majority don’t even know what is happening to destroy our country. Millions here don’t watch the daily news, but are so busy trying to make ends meet, cover food prices, paying the bills, and are asleep at the wheel, which they gave to someone who promised to bring food and gas prices down on day one. Ending the wars in Israel and Ukraine, well that would be nice. But they cared more for their own families and needs. Most will not awaken until it is way too late. Of course there is an awakened, and growing portion of us here, and we are mostly stagnant in a state of daily shock—impotent— and waiting/hoping for some help—from what may be left of the moral fiber in our government. But two things need to be added: One: Large protests are rising, and at least the world will see there is still a Will to fight and it is growing strong 💪 here. And 2. We who are awake and we who are still asleep— Are deeply sorry to you, Canada! What has happened from Trump to you—Our Friend. Our Good Neighbor! We hold the firm hope of reconciliation—in a time not too distant! Please hold a Vision of the US rising— on our Wings of Democracy…as soon as we can spread them… again!
Amen.
Unrelated spam. Reported.
Having or needing allies is only for the weak. I know ay too many Rightwingers who truly believe this. They think that only by casting away all of our alliances, by cutting off all our international trade, can America become great again. It's truly some magical thinking, made especially funny when they're telling me this over their Korean or Chinese smartphones.
There's a deep connection between domestic political attitudes and alliances. Virtually all international organizations have been founded by democratic nations who then roped in authoritarian ones, back to the International Postal Union, Red Cross, etc. Leaders of democracies know how to get along with peers. The authoritarian bent of the Trump administration and its supporters is exactly what makes it difficult for them to get along with democratic allies. Trump's notorious fondness for dictators is another sign of this--and alliances of dictators (like the WW2 Axis) are always a mess because the leaders each want to be on top.
Also, the need for dictators to surround themselves with incompetents, lickspittles, or both tends to undermine whatever greatness it is they want to achieve. Even when they have competent people working for them, they end up overruling them because the competent people tell them things they don't want to hear.
But the many millions of Americans who get their "news" and perspectives from Fox "News" and other right wing propaganda outlets of the GOP will know little of this and understand less. How is it not a story - A Headline Story - when that machine deliberately misinforms their readers and viewers?
From what I can see, the folks who get all their "news" from FOX have no idea what's ahead for us, and what danger we're really in now. That is astounding to me.
But not surprising.
A recent Gallup poll showed that 90-93% of GOP polled still favor Trump's overall performance. That's terrifying.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2025/08/27/trump-approval-rating-poll/85847255007/
I am guessing while while some of that is bigotry and hatred, some is the mental disease of hyper-religiosity, and some is just plain greed, that most of that approval of Trump - perhaps as much as 80% - is just ignorance. They don't know history, know less about science, and because all their "information" is from right wing and anti-social media, they don't see or hear important facts.
If the Covid era didn't wake them up, heck, if the Dubya era didn't wake them up, they're never going to.
The onus is on the flock of idiots who call themselves "centrists," "swing voters," etc, to wake the fuck up and help steer the country in a saner direction. Since those are by far the dumbest people in the country, it's hard to hold up much hope.
Trump is under water on all or almost all issues in most recent polls.
Cult mentality
"Among Democrats, that figure is flipped, with 97% disapproving, and just 1% approving."
I'm not so sure other Americans are that much better served by the corporate billionaire media--the media that focused obsessively on Biden's mental acuity but ignores the flagrant lack of mental acuity in Trump,
There's FOX and worse...but there's also popular culture that studiously ignores politics as too toxic. I'd say over 50% of the public is totally disengaged with anything that smacks of politics. It won't be until things get totally, existentially ugly before people will notice. But 80% of the Iranians hate their government and it still stands.
trump is already underwater on almost everything, it's soaking in.
That is precisely what worries me. It would be logical for GOP politicians to be worried about Trump’s low approval dragging them down. But they are not acting that way. It seems as if they are confident that they can suppress/invalidate so many opposition votes that their unpopular policies don’t matter. Votes may not matter. The laws may not matter. Democracy may not matter.
And please never forget that it is The Republicans, Oligarchs, Corrupt Media, and Christian Nationalists who are propping him up.
Agreed. Trump just wants to bully the world as he has bullied everyone in his life and business dealings. The Oligarchs want their taxes cut as low as they can possibly get, and the Christian Nationalists was to turn America in a Christian theocracy. And Trump’s political cronies? They want power. Steven Miller now has the opportunity to kick out all the immigrants he’s hated his entire life. Lutnik and Bessent want those tax cuts. Pam Bondi wants Daddy Trump to need her. And JD Vance wants a theocracy as well as Trump’s job.
NONE of these people care at all about what the American people need or want. NONE.
And all of this is taking place as our allies desert us, new alliances firm that do not include the US, and international commerce and investment goes elsewhere.
America did all the deserting, btw. Europeans are still trying to cope with the pain and shock. Canadians are tougher, but we're closer and thus, less surprised. If it walks like Hitler, talks like Hitler...it's a dictator.
Trump is just a charismatic figurehead. When he is no longer useful or becomes too wacko for Project 2025 , they'll toss him under the bus.
That may not be much longer. One of my wife's friends (who happens to be a retired medical professional) opined that the bruise on Trump's right hand appears to be the result of a recent IV.
Exactly, and at the end of the day if Democracy survives, all these people need to be held accountable - if not the next time will be worse..
That would’ve been what the previous four years were for.
Another aspect of squandering allies is in the western hemisphere, and here I don't mean just Canada. South America is being ignored, actually put off. The key is Brazil, which controls most of the largest carbon sink rainforest and is also the economic linchpin to the whole continent. We are disrespecting Brazil because of Trump's wannabee Bolsonaro? Really? At the same time, China understands the strategic import of the continent and makes its moves. And then, there is Africa, which is mostly anathema to Trump, because of his deeply ingrained racism. We are teaching a generation in the global south that the US has nothing they want, nothing they need, and nothing they can trust -- except for weapons.
Canada is considering canceling their tentative order for 73 F-35s and buying Saab Gripen fighters instead. That would be only a partial step away, however, since the engines for the Saab are made by GE. H&K manufactures excellent small arms in a variety of countries (including the US). Nobody is stuck with the US as their weapons source; in many cases, better stuff is made elsewhere.
I wish that was true for other countries. Like Germany. Suckers.
Hey, maybe Rolls-Royce can be convinced to start making military engines again!
So much is irretrievably broken and beyond restoration.
The world is rapidly moving on, leaving America alone and, increasingly, behind.
Yes and we can’t be distracted. These relationships are broken forever. We see now that is not about one man Trump. This is very much America. In its deep values. A society of deep ignorance was cultivated for decades. You reap what you sow.
Dick Cheney and geo W destroyed critical thinking in classrooms with “No Child Left Behind,” had teachers so afraid of scores, that they spent months teaching to the test. Advertisements since the days of TV and Reagan ridding us of the Fairness Doctrine have enabled Americans to listen and believe in lies and false advertising for so long, that it’s become part of America’s psyche. “Buy, buy, buy, and you can be happy.” Too much crafted fakeness has destroyed the American spirit.
America is like a monster eating its own tail.
Don’t it always seem to go, you don’t know what you’ve got ‘till it’s gone.
Joni Mitchell...was born in Saskatchewan, Canada in case you didn't know. An amazing talent!
Big Yellow Taxi - Joni Mitchell
A review of Trump‘s history reveals a persistent pattern of rebellion and manipulation to get what he wants. His parents could not control him so they sent him to military school, hoping he would learn some self-control. What he gained there were the skills to transform his manipulation into bullying behavior. Throughout his life, people have rewarded his ability to bully others. A few people see this “success“ as effective leadership. Those of us who study, toxic counterproductive leadership know that these leaders restructure, marginalize, and erode various systems and institutions within organizations and societies to feed their need for power, control, and self aggrandizement. They destroy any guard rails and transform them into systems of self empowerment. This “leadership” process is counterproductive, destructive, and dysfunctional. It’s not normal. He is not normal. And yet, the Republican Party, the Supreme Court, the Main Street media continue to treat him as a normal person and normalize and sane wash his outrageous, destructive behavior. Most of us understand this. The real question is: how do we stop him? From my study of toxic leaders in organizations, there must be a broad-based coalition of his victims that Voice in unison is destructiveness, unethical and immoral behavior, and illegal actions. This voice must be channeled through existing systems and institutions, such as whistleblowing and the legal system. We need to support those organizations that are filing lawsuits against him and the administration. We need to voice that he is not demonstrating what America represents. In all of these actions, we repeatedly rebuff him, just as we would by punching an attacking shark in the nose, fighting for our lives. Much of the traditional leadership of the Democratic Party is passive, adding as though he will self-destruct in time. Research indicates that the self-destruction of a toxic leader is a prolonged process and he causes degradation and the death of livelihoods and lives throughout the process. Passivity is not an effective strategy. He must be confronted with nonviolent resistance as though we are fighting for our lives, for in fact, we are.
Unfortunately, other toxic and pathological individuals are drawn to Trump BECAUSE of his pathology. So in a weird way, he has acquired supporters, if not allies.
I would expect them to turn on each other at some point, of course. Ppl will fall out of windows.
His parents didn't want to control him, or more precisely, didn't want to raise him.
Everything we know about his daddy says that he was exactly like Donald, just not quite as dumb.
https://maydaystrong.org/
With all due respect to Peter York and your good self, trump’s malignant narcissism was self evident even before 2017.
It’s also in deadly combination with rank stupidity. So many media outlets analyse all trump’s actions and comments as if he were an actual president, but most don’t realise that he is very dumb.
It’s a lethal combination with his astronomical narcissism, as the USA and the rest of the world are now finding out.
The MSM studiously ignores his remarkable lack of intelligence. It has been known and remarked upon for years. H.L. Mencken and Isaac Asimov both had pithy comments on the streak of stupidity and anti-intellectualism in America. They both have been proved spectacularly correct.
I don't agree that Trump is dumb. He is obdurately ignorant about many things but he has a very shrewd streak in him. It is not possible to screw over so many creditors over so many years to no discernable harm to him if he wasn't canny. He's judged to millimetre accuracy the over-cooked spaghetti spines of the Republican Congress and Senators. Yes, he's been hugely helped by the unprincipled SCOTUS 6, but I think it doesn't do to underestimate him.
He has a certain amount if street smarts. And he is a quintessential con artist - the only thing he is good at. Managed to con half the country. But he doesn’t know where Sweden is, can’t tell an IQ test from a cognition test, thinks it’s ok to inject bleach, doesn’t understand how water flows downhill, can’t read anything, has zero concept of economics, foreign policy or diplomacy. In my book, he’s thick as two short planks.
Water actually flows uphill to money. 😀
IMO his cunning and canniness aren’t signs of intelligence. He’s an idiot savant (forgive the political incorrectness), like a nonverbal person who can play Mozart on the piano after one listen. All he’s “good” at is manipulative deception.
Is he really? Yes, he has the luck of the Devil - he’s escaped liability his entire life. And yes, he’s lazy and doesn’t read his briefs (or at all) but just watches TV. And yes, he’s consumed by grievance and revenge. But there’s an evil genius in there too, and I wonder: is he the master manipulator or is he a mere sock-puppet being played by is minders? In a way, the latter conclusion is more scary. And if the Dems covered up Biden’s senility it will be nothing compared to Trump. El Cid would compare!
He is a superb con artist. That’s all he knows. See my comment above.
Yes, the media is complicit in our country’s ruination!
Gold toilets - ! Obscene.
When you attack every country in the world with tariffs, ensure that NATO unity is too unreliable to be effective, support the genocide of Palestinians and threaten Canada, Greenland and Panama sovereignty, you begin to realise that America is now the most hated country in the world. It no longer has any real allies because no one can trust America to be on its side. Except possibly Russia.
And, don’t forget the biggee: fail to support a democratic country attacked and invaded by its neighbor and that is fighting for all its worth to protect not only itself but all of Europe.
that would be the country that has suspended elections for years now?
Please stop pretending Ukraine is something it is not. French nukes are a bigger protection to Europe than the proxy war the US lost interest in.
Elections are always suspended in time of war and the Ukraine constitution stipulates for this.
Please spare us the Russian talking points.
Try to bear in mind that Russia hasn't had a free and fair election in 30 years. Most recently Putin imprisoned his one opposing leader - Alexei Navalny - and had him killed.
There is NO PARALLEL between Russia or any other dictatorship and Ukraine.
No, elections are not always suspended in time of war. Ask Abraham Lincoln.
Nor does the constitution of Ukraine say that. It's a common war cheerleader talking point, but also incorrect. You can go read the document yourself. Ukraine has declared that they will not hold elections while martial law is in effect - and has decided to hold martial law indefinitely. The constitution just says they don't have to dissolve parliament during war. It does not forbid it.
And regardless of legality, it's simply not democratic. You might claim it's legal to not hold elections. You might even claim it's a good and just decision. What it simply is not, and this shouldn't have to be said, is democratic. So claiming the country that won't hold elections is "democratic" is just wrong, because words have meanings.
Elections are suspended in parliamentary democracies (Canada & UK for ex).
There is a war in Ukraine right now b/c Ukrainians refused to go along with Russia and demanded access to the EU so they could stay democratic. THAT is why they are fighting and dying. Further, If the ppl wanted an election in Ukraine they'd be protesting, just as they did when Zelensky altered the anti-corruption law but had to walk it back due to protests. That is huge evidence Ukraine is a democracy.
What ISNT a democracy is Russia with its show ‘elections’. Yet cynical Russia is the one pushing this talking point that Ukraine isn't democratic-! They cannot tolerate a free country making its own decisions and charting its own course as Ukraine wants to do - once war is over, of course.
> Elections are suspended in parliamentary democracies (Canada & UK for ex).
The UK is a monarchy.
> That is huge evidence Ukraine is a democracy
No, that's evidence of the right to protest.
I get it, you don't like Russia. I'm not a fan either. That doesn't change what words mean. As for your claims about the causes of the war - simplification to absurdity would be a kind way to say it.
Ann's mistake was saying 'always'. Democracy is sometimes suspended in some countries during times of war, and sometimes restored after war ends. Her statement was as black and white as your attitude about whether Ukraine is a democracy in the opposite direction.
Words have meanings. Countries which indefinitely suspend elections aren't democracies, regardless of if you support that decision or not. Hell, you might not consider them valid, but Russia held elections in this same war.
Why does that matter? Because it's used to fuel the propaganda as above that is used as argument for continued support of Ukraine in the NATO/Russian proxy war.
If you want to argue for that, do so with the actual facts. Making up a false narrative doesn't help that.
Matty
In 1991 when Ukraine became an independent country Russia made a commitment to honour their sovereignty. This was negotiated in Budapest. They were asked to give up their nuclear weapons and in exchange they were promised that if Russia broke their promise, the west would provide security. This agreement was known as the Budapest Memorandum signed in 1994
And? At the same time, the US promised that NATO would not move east of Germany. NATO is also an organization that illegally attacked other nations (Yugoslavia in 1999), so it’s not some abstract concern. None of this justifies Russian aggression, but the fact that Ukraine is being used as a proxy war by the US, and to a lesser extent, Germany, means the Ukrainian people suffer more. Claims like the above, however, that Ukraine is “defending Europe,” are simply nonsense.
I have voiced this conspiracy theory before: Trump's a Russian asset whose assignment was to weaken/destroy America and the West, and he's doing a superb job
Russia is not an ally. Putin takes; he doesn't give, he doesn't co-operate.
No genocide! Defensive war from Islamic jihadists who used genocide on Israel.
"Almost all his tariffs are clearly in violation of the GATT," and, as Paul has mentioned before, in violation of federal law, which permits the president to impose tariffs only in emergency situations. But these tariffs are less his than they are those of every Republican senator and representative, because they all allow him to violate the law with impunity. This is true of virtually everything Trump does. Congressional Republicans are responsible for his illegally impounding appropriated funds, for his illegally firing the heads of independent agencies, and for his illegally kidnapping and imprisoning and torturing alleged immigrants. Congressional Republicans will also be responsible for the thousands of Americans who may die because of RFK Jr.'s anti-vaccine mental illness, and for the up to 14 million people around the world who may die because they relied on USAID-funded food and medicine. When these members of Congress run for re-election, the media should ask them how they can have engaged in (not merely supported) these crimes. Of course, the media won't.
Let’s not forget to point to Bill Barr and Mitch McConnell who assisted in our country’s demise!
There are uncountable Republicans we can blame, including all those on the Supreme Court. I think that the country's demise started in 2000 with Bush v. Gore, when the Republicans on the Court decided to choose the president for us, instead of allowing the vote-counting, by the states, to run its course. When they got away with that, they correctly realized that they could get away with anything.
And when Bush got away with starting a war of aggression on false pretenses and got away with (thanks to Obama) torturing people, every subsequent president understood that he was above the law. I don't even think that the Supreme Court's decision making the president above the law made a big difference, except as an official declaration that our democracy was over. Let's not forget that Bush and every subsequent president have kept people imprisoned at Guantanamo without due process for almost a quarter century. That's serious, and all of them, including Obama and Biden, should have been impeached for it. The Magna Carta banned that 800 years ago.
Still, at this point, it is the Republicans in the House and the Senate who could stop our descent, but they refuse to.
🎯🎯🎯🎯
I believe it was Winston Churchill who said “the only thing worse than fighting with your allies, is fighting without them.”
“We have learned that we cannot live alone at peace, that our own-wellbeing is dependent on the well being of other nations far away. We have learned to be citizens of the world. We have learned…’The only way to have a friend is to be one.” FDR, January 20, 1945
Trump and his enablers are destroying who we are as a nation and as a positive member of the world community. There is nothing great about MAGA.
Yes.
…”at having allies”. Lost, irretrievably. They will never trust the US again - how could they? Oh sure, for the present, the existing formal alliances still are in place, but look at what’s happening (& this is the really frightening bit): Japan (Japan!) and South Korea are exploring very quietly their nuclear weapons options. They are already sophisticated nuclear powers (unlike Iran) so they could “go nuclear” in 12 months. This is the consequence of no longer being able to trust the US. Trump has in only six months destroyed 80 years of patient diplomacy. And to think that we all thought W’s invasion of Iraq in 2003 was the worst strategic mistake in 100 years! Trump (& Netanyahu) have committed their own goals.
Biden was able to reverse a lot of the damage Trump did in his first term; this time the damage is far greater.
And there will probably not be a Biden (or Democratic majorities in Congress) in the near future to reverse the tremendous damage that Donald is doing. Donald is personally doing a lot of damage, but damage is also being done by people (such as Russell Vought) who are implementing Project 2025. The people who hate immigrants are ruining millions of lives not only of the immigrants but also the lives of farmers, builders, and other businesspeople.
Donald and republicans are working on gerrymanders and tampering with elections to try to lock in House majorities for the foreseeable future and the Senate will be in republican hands probably for a generation. The Supremes have six votes for Donald and MAGA (and project 2025) so don't expect any honest rulings there. The Senate and the Federalist Society are working on adding reactionaries to the rest of the federal judiciary.
The FOX republican right-wing propaganda machine is going strong. So, we will have Donald and MAGA or J. D. and MAGA for a longtime. If I was a young person just starting out in life, I would seriously consider going to another country.
Unfortunately, this situation did not develop overnight but has been in the works for about 50 years. The Federalist Society has been working to take over the federal courts for about 40 years. The Democrats lost hundreds of seats in state legislatures in 2010, and they were never recovered. So, the decline in political influence for progressives and Democrats has been going on a long time.
I am living in Asia and Trump 1 was better than Biden. Matthis on his own held all alliances in Asia together. He was enormously respected and I think he is one of the best cabinet secretaries the US ever had. From the Biden cabinet, the combination of Blinken and Austin was more like what you would expect from a Trump I cabinet (and their actions and policies were more like Trump than Obama) and caused a lot of bad feelings here. Under Trump II, everyone has given up on the USA. There is no bright spark to be seen.
But Trump 1 had some cabinet members who were highly capable and managed global relations well.
I think a lot of Americans underappreciate just how poorly received the Biden admin's foreign policy was received outside of Western Europe (and even then, they could have actually given Ukraine some real resources).
The Biden administration was a disappointment in several respects. Appointing Merrick Garland as AG proved disappointing. Garland slow walked the case against Donald which helped Donald and his lawyers run out the clock in court.
Biden tried some good things like the Inflation reduction act and building for infrastructure which were good, and which were needed, as well as encouraging green energy. But they did not publicize what they were doing. Republicans in Congress voted against Biden's program then went to their districts and took credit for getting the funding for projects (which they had opposed in Congress).
The Democrats and progressives have forgotten the basic rule of politics -- you are there to win elections. Those people who win elections make policy; those who do not win go home and find other work.
FOX, Sinclair, and other right-wing media pretty much set the agenda and put out the talking points. A lot of people though that the economy was terrible because FOX and the republicans told them that every day. Right-wing media told everyone that the Democrats only cared about transgender people and open borders.
Democrats won't do anything until they put out their own narrative of what they support.
Trump is compromised. He is only doing what Putin tells him to do. Everything he does in the area of foreign policy benefits Russia.
Not so. He bows to Putin a lot but not on “everything”. Keep perspective.
Putin is not controlling the destruction of the Rose Garden and new flag poles.
LOL
Are you sure?
Yes. It takes on a conspiracy theory-like look to believe Putin is effectively running our country.
Try to maintain some perspective so you don’t fall into acting like Trump.
Being honest is the keystone to success. We know Putin is directing Trump in many cases. Expose those.
RC specified foreign policy. White House landscaping is hardly that, IMV.
If he isn’t compromised by Russia/Putin, I can’t see any difference in how he behaves now than if he is compromised.
Your conspiracy theories help nobody
It’s not a conspiracy theory. He consistently bows to Putin and everything he does in foreign policy benefits Putin.
Your blindness is helping no one.
Attempting to plaster over the problems of the US, which is what let a creature like Trump take power to begin with, by blaming them on conspiracy theories, is doing active harm. Not just to the truth in general, but efforts to stop the GOP agenda.
I get that it makes you feel super good to have figured out the BIG SECRET - that's the motivation behind all conspiracy theories, from the mundane to the insane. And it was a convenient scapegoat for Democratic leadership to avoid responsibility for the 2016 debacle. But it's a luxury the US, and opposition to Trump, cannot afford.
You do realize that that is just a conspiracy theory
Actually, you get nothing about me. You’re just another idiot trying to feel superior.
Trump is destroying the very things that gave America a competitive edge, including research, education and technology. Without them, the world will increasingly view America as irrelevant.
January 20, 2025 was not just the end of the American Empire, it was the end of the American first republic. We are no longer a democratic republic with a Constitution. We are a pseudo monarchy. Republicans are his courtiers. We fought the British Crown to escape tyranny, but now we are back under tyranny.