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Politics: Biden, Brexit and Beyond
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the people who told me I was over-reacting a few years ago as to how bad things could get have been particularly standing out to me.
I’ve been thinking about this too. I am just sad about all those people who refused to believe that Trump would get this bad. People used to tell me I was letting Trump trigger me. I may have been triggered but that did not mean that I was not telling the truth.
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At the same time, it’s just amazing that Trump is the least hypocritical person when it comes to Trump’s behavior as President
Like with Madoff, Enron, the Financial Crisis or even Crack Cocaine, the real criminals aren’t the targets or scapegoats that get the attention. Trump wouldn’t hire any of his MAGA maniacs to park cars at Mar a Lago (or whatever gaudy Goliath he stamps his brand onto). He’s just a salesman in a suit. In the end, we might be lucky Trump was President because there could have been someone who really cared or wanted to be the American Caesar that could have stepped into that position and brought the Republic to an end.
I mean, under “serious” presidents like Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Barack Obama and everyone before Trump, thousands of people died from their direct decisions. Kosovo, Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Syria, and those yet to be revealed.
Even if you put all the deaths from MAGA and Trump’s supporters on Trump, how many people actually died? Five in the Capitol Riots. The drone attacks escalated under Trump, but they began under Bush and were escalated under Obama.
The political irony that the party of Lincoln that shed much blood to defeat slavery and the Democrats that fought assiduously for slavery and then for segregation have traded places without really changing their opinions is often underemphasized. In fact, the democratic party has simply declared victory and then moved back to their much more comfortable position of status quo without accomplishing much of anything. If progressives and minorities would simply agree that they are better off, then we’d all be happy.
The point here isn’t that Trump is a bad president – certainly he is – but maybe America is a bad country. Or that Americans are not very good at being good citizens in the world and Trump is actually the best reflection of that rather than the worst. Because the worst possible expression of what Americans can really inflict upon the world is likely far more horrific than a smiling, orange real estate huckster.
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maybe America is a bad country
There’s no maybe about it.
And bad is such a weird word. Try Shithole.
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Within a few days, Trump will have declared martial law and tried to have his opposition shot. I’m not Qanoning, but I do believe he is crazy enough to do it.
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The point here isn’t that Trump is a bad president – certainly he is – but maybe America is a bad country. Or that Americans are not very good at being good citizens in the world and Trump is actually the best reflection of that rather than the worst. Because the worst possible expression of what Americans can really inflict upon the world is likely far more horrific than a smiling, orange real estate huckster.
Yeah, I still kind of see it that way, sorry Dan – even after the Capitol thing. Trump is the worst imagineable person, and he has brought out the worst in the people of the US, but – I still say: Compare this to Cheney/Trump, who had two terms to remake the country and plunge the world into a forever war.
The best thing about Trump is that he is completely see-through and everybody who looks knows what he’s doing, and that’s why he is gone now. Overall? I think a different Republican president could’ve been way worse for the world.
Admittedly, it’d have been hard for anybody else to blow up American society in the way Trump did. That’s something only a conman reality show TV star can do like that.
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I think Trump and people like Bush and Cheney are bad in different ways. I still think Trump isn’t as bad for world politics as Bush was but I understand why some people think he is worse for the US. Also Trump is a lot more crazy so he could just do something completely unexpected. With Bush you sorta knew what he was about.
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The bottom line with Trump is we were very fortunate he wasn’t competent, whether as a businessman, leader, or just plain mentally. He is his own worst enemy and really sabotaged himself.
If he had been smart, he would have been dangerous.
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I think it may be a feature of populism and its resulting ‘favours to friends’.
The kind of egotism that gets you there is aligned with incompetence. They guys with the great ideological plans don’t tend to have the charisma to take them to that level. The ones that do pack their support staff with ‘chums’ who aren’t qualified for their roles.
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The top people in the military have sent messages that they would refuse to play along with it,
And by “messages” we mean an actual signed bloody letter.
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My favorite bit in that Geraldo piece is the whole “only 5 people died” thing. Imagine if some liberal commentator said that right after Benghazi. Conservatives still can’t get over that shit, but 5 people die in an insurrection at the Capitol ignited by the President of the US and their response is “it was only 5 people, so what”.
As an American, I still think Trump was the worst president I’ve ever seen. He attacked every institution that holds America up. If the GOP doesn’t actually stand up to him (which they won’t) and convict him on this impeachment charge then it really just leaves the door wide open for a more competent individual to waltz in and succeed where Trump failed. Trump exposed every single weakness and flaw in the system and showed a path to destroying American democracy. Now we have to rely on the likes of Mitch fucking McConnell to do the right thing and show would be Trump’s that we won’t stand for it. And that seems so very unlikely.
Granted, we are lucky that the next Trumper wannabes up are Cruz and Hawley, both of whom are obviously slimy idiots too. But I’m also certain they’re a hell of a lot more competent than Donny.
Still, I’ll never argue that Bush/Cheney weren’t terrible. Or that Reagan wasn’t awful too. Jeez, the GOP elects some godawful people.
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Within a few days, Trump will have declared martial law and tried to have his opposition shot. I’m not Qanoning, but I do believe he is crazy enough to do it.
The CEO of fucking MyPillow was photographed entering the White House earlier, and in a true The Thick of It moment he had a sheet of notes visible that suggest he was going to advise Trump to declare martial law in order to stay in power.
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The point here isn’t that Trump is a bad president – certainly he is – but maybe America is a bad country.
Case in point:
— Mac 🍽 (@GoodPoliticGuy) January 9, 2021
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Within a few days, Trump will have declared martial law and tried to have his opposition shot. I’m not Qanoning, but I do believe he is crazy enough to do it.
The CEO of fucking MyPillow was photographed entering the White House earlier, and in a true The Thick of It moment he had a sheet of notes visible that suggest he was going to advise Trump to declare martial law in order to stay in power.
Yeah, I saw that. It was one of the things that informed my post on the subject.
But it wasn’t the only thing. It’s pretty obvious to me that Trump is going to try EVERY available venue to stay in power. I’m leaning towards him actually trying to nuke a country, plunge the US into deep war and use that as a device to remain president if nothing else works.
I don’t do “hope” but it would make me very happy if it turns out I’m wrong. But until Biden or someone else IS the president I won’t subscribe to any such fantasy.
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The top people in the military have sent messages that they would refuse to play along with it,
And by “messages” we mean an actual signed bloody letter.
If I was a military official complicit in an attempt at a coup, this is exactly the kind of letter I would sign to ensure the path of least resistance.
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If you were a military official, chances are though that you’d have spent so much time eye-rolling in the last five years that your eyes are all sore and you can’t wait to get rid of fucking Trump.
I mean, enraging a mob over twitter is one thing, but let’s remember that apart from his family and a handful of psychopaths (and yes, it can be both things) nobody who has ever had to work with Trump can stand the man. And we do knows his disdain for soldiers, especially those stupid enough to get themselves killed.
The CEO of fucking MyPillow was photographed entering the White House earlier, and in a true The Thick of It moment he had a sheet of notes visible that suggest he was going to advise Trump to declare martial law in order to stay in power.
Huh. Pillows are far more sinister than I was aware, it seems.
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The MyPillow guy advising the host of The Apprentice to declare martial law is peak Trump Era nonsense. If anyone ever has to asks why Trump failed at his attempts at autocracy, look no further than him taking advice from the likes of the fucking MyPillow guy.
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Trump is now saying “orderly transition” etc though….I think he has accepted more or less that it’s over.
I have to wonder if someone hinted to him that it might “end badly” for him if he tries to go for martial law. If he would do that, a lot of people would want to get rid of him. Also I don’t think there is any mechanism in US law that would make him president indefinitely, even under the insurrection act. As I understand it, the insurrection act just gives the president the power to send the military in, it doesn’t somehow make him Emperor.
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Trump is now saying “orderly transition”
And as we all know, he is physically incapable of lying.
I can’t understand how you can possibly believe him when he says that in the exact same capacity I can’t understand how people believed him when he said he would “drain the swamp”. It’s the same fucking mechanism – You’re believing him because he’s saying what you want to happen.
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Yeah, I think the Joint Chiefs of Staff aren’t going to suck up to Trump and that this letter – aside from reassuring the public – was mainly supposed to piss him off. But then, my view of the Joint Chiefs is mabye overly positively influence by watching the West Wing.
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I can’t understand how you can possibly believe him when he says that in the exact same capacity I can’t understand how people believed him when he said he would “drain the swamp”. It’s the same fucking mechanism – You’re believing him because he’s saying what you want to happen.
Heh. I don’t think this is just about believing. I believe he would stage a coup to take the presidency if he could. But just like draining the swamp, he can’t. There’s actually not a whole of a lot that man can do apart from blustering and boasting.
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There’s actually not a whole of a lot that man can do apart from blustering and boasting.
Oh, we’re 100% in agreement on this. He is the ultimate fucking moron, but still, somehow, almost managed his fucking coup just last fucking wednesday.
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Woman arrested in Capitol attack: ‘I listen to my president’
Yeah, I’m posting this again:
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The MyPillow guy advising the host of The Apprentice to declare martial law is peak Trump Era nonsense. If anyone ever has to asks why Trump failed at his attempts at autocracy, look no further than him taking advice from the likes of the fucking MyPillow guy.
Don’t underestimate mypillow guy. If he were up against Kamala in 2024, I am not sure who would win.
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If he were up against Kamala in 2024, I am not sure who would win.
It’ll probably be whichever one is the whitest malest of the two.
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There’s actually not a whole of a lot that man can do apart from blustering and boasting.
Oh, we’re 100% in agreement on this. He is the ultimate fucking moron, but still, somehow, almost managed his fucking coup just last fucking wednesday.
Let’s be real here.
Last week was the closest he will ever come to coup and that was an absolute shitshow. That was his best shot.
Based on the articles I’ve been reading, his cabinet and staff are avoiding the whiny little bitch. They can’t wait to no longer be around him. He’s pissed off at Giuliani and Pence. He is alone.
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I hope Rudy got a bunch of cash from Trump before he joined every other sucker who ever did work for him on the “don’t pay him any more” list, because that might have to last the rest of his life.
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Last week was the closest he will ever come to coup and that was an absolute shitshow. That was his best shot.
Before that happened, you could’ve said the exact same thing about the frivolous lawsuits that happened. I’m not buying it. If we’ve learnt anything from the last four years is that when you think he can’t possibly do worse than [recent scandal]…
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wait for it…
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HE OUTPERFORMS HIMSELF AND STOOPS LOWER!
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Disclaimer: I really want to be wrong on this, but I won’t budge until I have uncontrovertible proof he isn’t actually the president anymore.
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I should lay odds on whether it’s more likely Trump will admit he was wrong about the Central Park Five or that he won’t try another coup.
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Last week was the closest he will ever come to coup and that was an absolute shitshow. That was his best shot.
Before that happened, you could’ve said the exact same thing about the frivolous lawsuits that happened. I’m not buying it. If we’ve learnt anything from the last four years is that when you think he can’t possibly do worse than [recent scandal]…
…
wait for it…
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HE OUTPERFORMS HIMSELF AND STOOPS LOWER!
I think the big thing he is going to do is self-pardon and pardon his family. That’s really his last big move.
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I think Trump and people like Bush and Cheney are bad in different ways. I still think Trump isn’t as bad for world politics as Bush was but I understand why some people think he is worse for the US.
Yeah I think Trump was a lot better than most for the rest of the world… at least he didn’t start/join a war. I mean there were 2 failed coups in Venezuela and Bolivia, but yeah, they failed… so…
So I guess there are some advantages to having a self-serving asshole as a president =P
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Nah, Trump’s a global problem. Without him would Johnson, Farage, Bolsonaro and their ilk be as emboldened as they have been? Trump legitimises these arseholes.
It’ll be better with him gone, but cleaning up the damage is going to take a long time.
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I really have to wonder what people said to him after the Capitol insurrection. There was a marked difference at some point, at one point he tweeted something like “This is what happens when you steal an election” and then a while after that there was a video where he said there will be an orderly transition. I have a suspicion Trump is done, but I also think there is a deal in the making to not prosecute him. At least it’s not the Biden administration coming after him.
The impeachment seems to be designed to prevent him from running again. However, four years is a long time so that election will likely be a hard contest with a lot of changes to the culture. The big one that the mRNA Covid vaccine is that it represents the first widely reported product of the biotech revolution. That will be another serious transformation period for the world and the economy like nuclear energy (and weapons) and information technology (and cyber warfare) had in the 20th century.
The thing that strikes me about Qanon and its theories that the Election “loss” was actually somehow part of Trump’s plan to lure in all the real enemies of America for a finishing blow now scheduled for the Inauguration is how much it resembles some end of the world prophecies in that same group like the Harold Camping insanity of a few years ago.
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Do you follow the q anon anonymous podcast? They do a good job laying out the insanity of q anon. They got quite emotional last time over the death of the woman who was shot at the Capitol riot and whose head was filled by these conspiracies. She was a veteran and they made a link to deaths of despair, veterans who kill themselves when they can’t find their place in society. The q narrative, grotesque though it may be, gives some of these people a purpose.
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However, I feel there is a fallacy in that approach. The idea is often applied to great figures in history from Lincoln to Stalin to look into their personal histories, tragedies and injuries to “explain” their political actions and ideology. While there are obviously plenty of people whose experiences mirror these, but who have exactly the opposite opinions or follow completely different and completely normal paths. Personality doesn’t explain it, nor is any personality immune to any delusion or irrational ideology. There is not a definite and discreet “type” that explains the adherents to political conspiracies.
Just looking at all the stories of the rioters who’ve been arrested since the Capital trespass and vandalism, the vast majority of these people weren’t outsiders, loons or even demonstrably abnormal. Many had jobs, a normal circle of friends, colleagues and families that was filled with people who did not share their opinions or held completely opposing ones. These people often have a place in society, but the feeling that a person does not have a place in society is actually pretty universal. If any one here gets killed in a protest for any cause, believe me, the media will find exactly the same sorts of “explanations” in any of our lives that they always find after the events occur. It doesn’t really explain anything though since the people who get this posthumous spotlight are often actually pretty much like anybody else.
Especially when it is mass events like this. In demonstrations that turn to riots, there will be a few outliers who are willing to turn to violence. Then they spark the others once that first brick is thrown or shot fired until you get to the point where everyone’s threshold for it is passed. Just as there are only a few people out of a hundred who are ready to start a riot all on their own, it’s equally rare for the person who will not to join in when all one hundred of their friends are involved.
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I think Trump and people like Bush and Cheney are bad in different ways. I still think Trump isn’t as bad for world politics as Bush was but I understand why some people think he is worse for the US. Also Trump is a lot more crazy so he could just do something completely unexpected. With Bush you sorta knew what he was about.
I think njerry pointed this out, and I agree with it, Trump’s essential foreign affairs mistake was to behave unilaterally and in the end lose all of his objectives. If the United States really unified and applied power in an imperial manner, it could be very intimidating. However, our leadership has been far more effective in alliances. If we declare a unilateral trade war with China, it ends up hurting all our allies that also trade with China, so in the end Trump not only lost the trade war, but also left our allies in a weakened position and alliances shaken as well – especially when we simultaneously start criticizing the institutions of those alliances.
Meanwhile, though Trump did not start a war or bombing campaign with Iran, he still maintained the arms sales for the Saudis to continue bombing Yemen in spite of the actual absolute monarch of the Saudis blatantly committing a murder on foreign territory and continuing to send assassins around the world. It would be interesting to see if the number of blatant political assassinations in the world rose during Trump’s presidency.
As far as Trump’s legal troubles after this, I think there is very little available for any sort of political crime from treason to insurrection to stick. Very little that would get through the Supreme Courtas far as constitutional violations.
However, nearly everyone knows that if you are a supposed “billionaire” involved in selling overpriced property, then it is likely you’re involved in money laundering. It’s big in New York and I’m sure a lot of people here see it in London, Paris or whatever your country’s biggest cities might be. It will be nearly impossible for Trump as a private citizen to now avoid investigations from, completely legitimately, going into questionable and likely criminal business dealings that he will no longer be shielded from due to not being in any position over the people those investigations answer to.
How Donald Trump Got Involved in a Global Fraud | The Backstory | The New Yorker – YouTube
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That might be true. However q seems to be a powerful motivator for this kind of stuff. And 20 January is kind of their deadline. If Trump goes away and he doesn’t arrest the pedo cabal, their worldview will be shocked.
Nah, the Q-tards will just rationalize this as “part of the plan”.
“He now has the insider knowledge so that as a private citizen, he can wage war against the enemies without being held back!” or some such bullshit. When a theory is proven wrong, conspiracy theorists will rework it so they can think they’re still right. Their whole identity gets so wrapped up in these outlandish theories that being proven wrong is an existential crisis. Instead of facing reality, they modify their theory to maintain their delusion.
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If Trump goes away and he doesn’t arrest the pedo cabal, their worldview will be shocked.
I suspect they’ll just switch the focus. Q beliefs are growing in the UK and in a documentary podcast I was listening to they basically skirt around the ‘Trump saviour’ bit as it’s less relevant outside the US. It has survived this list of predictions that never happened.
QAnon’s first prediction was that Hillary Clinton was about to be arrested and would attempt to flee the country. This prediction failed. Other failed predictions include:[89]
- The “Storm” would take place on November 3, 2017. There were no notable events in US politics on that day.
- A major event involving the Department of Defense would take place on February 1, 2018.
- People targeted by the president would commit suicide en masse on February 10, 2018. No prominent people committed suicide that day.
- There would be a car bombing in London around February 16, 2018. There was no bombing.
- The Trump military parade would “never be forgotten”. The parade was canceled.
- The Five Eyes “won’t be around much longer.” It has not been terminated.
- Something major would happen in Chongqing on April 10, 2018. Nothing notable happened in Chongqing that day.
- There would be a “bombshell” revelation about North Korea in May 2018. There were no notable developments.
- A “smoking gun” video of Hillary Clinton would emerge in March 2018. No video appeared.
- Multiple failed predictions that John McCain would resign from the US Senate. McCain remained in the Senate until his death in August 2018.
- Multiple failed predictions that Mark Zuckerberg would leave Facebook and flee the United States. Zuckerberg remains CEO of Facebook as of January 2021.
- Multiple failed predictions that Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey would be forced to resign. Dorsey remains CEO of Twitter as of January 2021.
- Multiple failed predictions that Pope Francis would be arrested on felony charges. Francis has not been arrested.
- Multiple failed predictions that “something big” would happen or the truth would emerge “next week”.
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I’d really like to know exactly how many QAnon believers there are. I don’t think there is a study showing that realistically yet?
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I’d really like to know exactly how many QAnon believers there are. I don’t think there is a study showing that realistically yet?
About 74 Million in America, I’d say. Educated guess.
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a chunk of wealthy people
The League of Supervillains
another block that will always vote Republican
The Sith
those who always vote Democrat
The Jedi
Blocks such those give the illusion of support when there isn’t any.
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I think it’s also hard to define. Qanon now encompasses a wide variety of conspiracy things that have spread out from the hardcore followers of Q’s dumbass proclamations. People may not even know of Q but get sucked in by some of the 5G and Bill Gates’s tracking vaccines stuff.
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I suspect they’ll just switch the focus. Q beliefs are growing in the UK and in a documentary podcast I was listening to they basically skirt around the ‘Trump saviour’ bit as it’s less relevant outside the US. It has survived this list of predictions that never happened.
That is sadly true. Qanon is a thing in the Netherlands as well. We have one rapper who did a podcast where they alluded to assassinating our prime minister.
The thing is covid is making this grow to huge proportions. Turns out when you tell people they have to stay inside, not socialize, hide their face, lose their access to jobs, shops, bars, and loved ones, some go a bit nuts. Who would have thought.
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Nah, Trump’s a global problem. Without him would Johnson, Farage, Bolsonaro and their ilk be as emboldened as they have been? Trump legitimises these arseholes.
Of course they would’ve, the radicalization of the right (and the center and the left, for that matter) didn’t start with Trump… it was already bad. Look at Europe, there’s been a steady rise of the extreme rights over the past couple of decades. Trump is not the cause or even an amplifier, he’s merely yet another symptom… and it won’t magically stop now, so expect more and worse in the not-so-far future.
Meanwhile, though Trump did not start a war or bombing campaign with Iran, he still maintained the arms sales for the Saudis to continue bombing Yemen in spite of the actual absolute monarch of the Saudis blatantly committing a murder on foreign territory and continuing to send assassins around the world. It would be interesting to see if the number of blatant political assassinations in the world rose during Trump’s presidency.
Obviously not defending Trump here, but let’s be honest, the whole west is “friends” with the saudis, and that hypocritical bullshit’s been going on for quite a while… You think Obama (let’s not even talk about Biden) would’ve done any differently? Dude, not even 9/11 could break that “friendship”… a little assassination ain’t gonna do shit. Money talks, always.
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Obviously not defending Trump here, but let’s be honest, the whole west is “friends” with the saudis, and that hypocritical bullshit’s been going on for quite a while…
We’ll be friends with Saudis as long as we get oil from them.
As far as hypocrisy goes, the Saudis did one blatant murder, but we kill people too. Like Trump said, when they mentioned Putin was a killer, we have killers too. He was right about that.
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I’d really like to know exactly how many QAnon believers there are. I don’t think there is a study showing that realistically yet?
There’s probably a lot of overlap not only with eschatological fanatics but also flat earthers. However, Q anon is not a political ideology – it is a set of beliefs that purport to explain the secret workings of politics and wealth. At heart, I suspect that it is the heir to the Satanic Panic and even older anti-semitic conspiracies that were quite prevalent in the 80’s and 90’s and had many of the same elements. However, the grandparent of modern conspiracy theories is the Protocols of the Elders of Zion and this sort of behavior also goes back to the witch trials from the reign of King James to the American Salem colony.
The internet is the perfect medium for sustaining these ideas and connecting people looking for them – and that person could be anyone. Even though most people have a tolerable position in the world, it is very insecure. Also, that insecurity emotionally is heightened by the increased overflow of information and especially in the news which by it’s very nature often normalizes extreme situations. “If it bleeds, it leads,” so the media environment depicts the world as very violent, abusive and unstable because those dramatic elements are considered intrinsic to the news. We should expect the news to be skewed toward the unusually dramatic, not to be a mirror of average everyday life. If our lives were really as chaotic as the news stories we watch, then we would not have the time or safety to be able to watch the news.
The appeal of the conspiracies provides a kind of heroic model that attracts people who feel that they should be heroes. Almost everything we watch or read emphasizes the heroic impulse and, even though I’m not that attracted to Jungian or Freudian theories, certainly you can see the forces of projection and the shadow archetype playing out as a drama in the worldviews provided by these. It does not have a rational basis and therefore it can’t be rationally argued against.
However, white nationalism, black nationalism, theocratic politics, radical communism and other extreme political groups actually have a political ideology. Neo-Nazis are very ideological and very educated and determined on their political goals. Often, there will be Neo-Nazi communes that are also Marxist and may be the only people you’ll meet who’ve actually studied all three volumes of Marx’s Capital. Qanon does not provide a basis for government, but can be a tool in overturning the government. At the same time, governments get overthrown when they do not work for a large portion of the population. Even a strongly motivated minority of dissidents is enough for a revolution and often the new regime not only reinstitutes all the bad policies of the one it replaced but uses even more draconian methods to put down dissent.
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Obviously not defending Trump here, but let’s be honest, the whole west is “friends” with the saudis, and that hypocritical bullshit’s been going on for quite a while… You think Obama (let’s not even talk about Biden) would’ve done any differently? Dude, not even 9/11 could break that “friendship”… a little assassination ain’t gonna do shit. Money talks, always.
It’s not so much about oil in this case, but I do think it is likely the Saudis will restrain these assassination attempts when Biden is in office. It is about money, but not oil. We don’t need their oil, but someone’s gotta buy all these weapons we keep churning out.
At the same time, we don’t really need their money either. Saudi Arabia is a piece in the increasingly unstable puzzle of Middle East piece, and it is one opposed to Iran. Iran is a serious threat to peace and stability even though personally, they are no worse than the Saudis as far as theocratic oppression in the region. Nevertheless, the Arab states in general are much more modern and appealing than either Saudi Arabia and Iran and since they are allies with Saudi Arabia and enemies of Iran, the US and the rest of the Western world prefers aligning with them.
At heart, despite all the messes, I have to admit that the world was in better shape when Obama was in office. Even the big failures of Syria ended up at least being more trouble for Russia and China than for the United States. Europe, of course, bore the brunt on our side, and much of that was Trump’s refusal to help with the refugee crisis.
Essentially, Trump’s lack of foresight is in going for unrealistic objectives bound to fail – like North Korea and the Trade War with China, rather than take advantage of opportunities to enhance American influence in Eurasia, the Near East and the Pacific. He doesn’t really leave anything behind and his inaction probably opened up a lot of opportunities for bad actors. If I was the King of Arabia, with Trump as president, I would have thought “why not take out a few of my critics. What’s he gonna do?” It’s likely that any of the international criminal syndicates laundering money around the world (and through Trump’s businesses) were all that worried either. Ironically, Trump’s immigration policy probably left us with even more human trafficking than when he took office simply because local law enforcement refused to work with ICE since he was targeting essentially harmless migrant workers for family separations and deportations instead of drug dealers and kidnappers.
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Historians having to tape together records that Trump tore up
Implications for public record and legal proceedings after administration seized or destroyed papers, notes and other information
Isn’t this literally the plot of Batman Returns?
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We don’t need their oil, but someone’s gotta buy all these weapons we keep churning out.
It’ll be interesting because of course the two are intertwined. Oil is hugely profitable but there’s every indication it won’t be as much in future as we shift in the next decade to more electric vehicles. We’ll still need oil for various other reasons like plastics or air and sea travel etc but not at the same volumes.
It’s a large reason why countries like the UAE and Qatar have ‘opened up’ to a degree because their supplies are not as plentiful as Saudi Arabia so they need alternative revenue sources, hence Dubai and Doha become travel hubs, tourism and business destinations.
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However, white nationalism, black nationalism, theocratic politics, radical communism and other extreme political groups actually have a political ideology. Neo-Nazis are very ideological and very educated and determined on their political goals. Often, there will be Neo-Nazi communes that are also Marxist and may be the only people you’ll meet who’ve actually studied all three volumes of Marx’s Capital. Qanon does not provide a basis for government, but can be a tool in overturning the government.
Yes, that is concerning, anti-semitism isn’t really big in the Netherlands but I am beginning to notice more and more anti-semitic comments on videos I watch. I think I have been naive about this. Qanon and the “adrenochrome” thing is reminiscent of the blood libel, I have to wonder who did those q posts. Maybe there is some neo nazi group behind that. Or maybe it is 4chan trolls. There is an overlap between those groups. Todd’s video is very good, I agree often conspiracy theories seem about eroding faith in institutions. This benefits radical groups.
When it comes to conspiracy theories, it is important to admit often they grow from some kernel of truth. 911 wasn’t done by the CIA, but evidence that Al Qaeda was planning this was neglected, and they certainly used it as a way to screw Iraq. Qanon is nonsense but there are obviously child abusers, and some in high places. Anti-vaxing is bad but vaccines do have side effects, sometimes bad ones. etc
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Yeah it’s now been pretty well documented how Qanon is based on old anti-semitic theories and just dressed up with new clothes. This from The Guardian:
This all sounds familiar. Haven’t we seen this before?
Yes. QAnon has its roots in previously established conspiracy theories, some relatively new and some a millennium old.
The contemporary antecedent is Pizzagate, the conspiracy theory that went viral during the 2016 presidential campaign when rightwing news outlets and influencers promoted the baseless idea that references to food and a popular Washington DC pizza restaurant in the stolen emails of Clinton campaign manager John Podesta were actually a secret code for a child trafficking ring. The theory touched off serious harassment of the restaurant and its employees, culminating in a December 2016 shooting by a man who had travelled to the restaurant believing there were children there in need of rescue.
QAnon evolved out of Pizzagate and includes many of the same basic characters and plotlines without the easily disprovable specifics. But QAnon also has its roots in much older antisemitic conspiracy theories. The idea of the all-powerful, world-ruling cabal comes straight out of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion, a fake document purporting to expose a Jewish plot to control the world that was used throughout the 20th century to justify antisemitism. Another QAnon canard – the idea that members of the cabal extract the chemical adrenochrome from the blood of their child victims and ingest it to extend their lives – is a modern remix of the age-old antisemitic blood libel.
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QAnon evolved out of Pizzagate and includes many of the same basic characters and plotlines without the easily disprovable specifics. But QAnon also has its roots in much older antisemitic conspiracy theories. The idea of the all-powerful, world-ruling cabal comes straight out of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion, a fake document purporting to expose a Jewish plot to control the world that was used throughout the 20th century to justify antisemitism. Another QAnon canard – the idea that members of the cabal extract the chemical adrenochrome from the blood of their child victims and ingest it to extend their lives – is a modern remix of the age-old antisemitic blood libel.
Yeah, basically whenever you drill down into a conspiracy theory where some shadowy figures are up to something it turns out to either be outright anti-semitism or once removed from same.
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In Trump’s case, his successes are essentially what he didn’t do wrong. However, you can not do a lot wrong at work, if you don’t do any work. Obviously, a lot will go wrong if you don’t do your job, though, so you can’t defend anything with “well, I didn’t do that.”
America’s foreign policy boils down to the intent to allow no one nation to achieve hegemonic power in any region. For the neo-cons and hawks, though, they usually tag on “except America” at the end of that – thus “American exceptionalism.”
However, with liberal leaders, the policy boils down to prevent any single nation hegemony in any region… including the United States. This whole idea is tough for a lot of people though. Liberals and a lot of conservatives don’t want wars and the failures of presidential policies since Bush to strengthen diplomatic options means that war is going to be a major tool in this policy. Conservatives and liberals also don’t think the United States should be the police of the world. Many conservatives and liberals think we need to put foreign policy at the bottom of the list and concentrate on domestic issue – protectionism and isolationism.
But if America doesn’t do it, there is no one else in a position to do it. Russia would like to be that power but they are too focused on becoming the major Eurasian power. Besides they are small and weak and completely incompetent compared to the United States. They can barely hold on to their own best people – – about as many Russian professionals work outside of Russia as work inside and they make a lot more money in London, Paris or New York than Moscow.
China absolutely wants to be the power in Asia, but they certainly don’t want to take the United States’ position as a world leader AND they don’t want the USA to step down from its position as that has been a major player stabilizing the world for their own benefit.
If America steps back, and does not work to undermine Russian and Chinese power in their regions, then a lot of nations suffer – especially our allies and we end up watching a new form of economic colonization in the Southern Hemisphere as well as the rise of a whole new crop of dictatorships and authoritarian governments. The concept of America acting as a kind of antithesis to the conventional idea of empire has been what has prevented the world from retreating back into a new unstable balance of power that would eventually collapse in a third global conflict, this time protracted with environmental disasters resulting. If the United States doesn’t step up to the responsibility, then the global chaos and anarchy will make any domestic policies equally impossible to address.
Still, clearly the population of America doesn’t see the point. We haven’t had a great state department for a while and political stability is not something that the military is designed to achieve. Trump really devastated the State Department, but GW Bush lit that fuse and it is hard to convince many people that it is a bad thing when America’s diplomatic capacity is practically non-existent.
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Well, you have a very “positive” view of America’s place in the world. I don’t… =P
I’ve always found the argument of “if America doesn’t do it, no one else will” a bit of a false aregument, because nothing dictates that someone should do it in the first place, plus you know, there’s an organization that was created for that sort of quandries anyways. Case in point:
If America steps back, and does not work to undermine Russian and Chinese power in their regions, then a lot of nations suffer
Sure but that’s ignoring the very obvious fact that when the US steps in a lot of nations suffer too. Which kinda ties in a sense with my overall point which is:
Focusing on Trump, making HIM the boogeyman of the story, is IMO the wrong lesson to take away from all this. I’ll say it again, Trump is NOT the disease, he’s merely yet another symptom. Yes, Trump is an egomaniacal opportunistic asshole, sure, but that is not the point here. At some point americans will have to wake up to the brutal reality that maybe, juuust maybe they’re the “villains” in the story and that maybe they’ve been the villains all along and they’ve just bought their own propaganda while ignoring the festering wounds plaguing their nation.
No, the US is not the best, they’re not the greatest nation, they’re not a shining beacon of democracy, they’re not a shining beacon of morality… faaaaaaaaaar from it, as we’ve witnessed this past 2020, no matter how much the narrative says otherwise.
Which is to say, it’s very important that americans realize that they have a TON of problems and that they need to address them instead of burying their head in the sand while people chant USA USA! Solely blaming Trump for the godawful mess the US is in is just a continuation of that fantasy and the only thing that will happen is that thing will keep getting worse and worse until it ends as it usually does.
People should take Trump’s presidency for what it really was: a very cynical peak behind the curtain into all that ugliness and crap that’s been laying under the surface (or under the fantasy/narrative/propaganda, however you wanna call it) for a loooooooooooooong time. HE is a product of it and not the other way around. It should be a huge wake up call, because while Trump will be gone in a couple of days, you’re still gonna need to deal with that roughly 50% of people who voted for him, but more importantly what that means and what that entails.
Or, you know, just carry on like nothing’s wrong…
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America is not protecting the worlds interests by ‘kEePiNg RuSsIa aNd ChInA iN lInE’ or whatever. It’s protecting its own interests, which is capitalist individualist free market bullshit dogma. America is just as much ‘the bad guy’ as china and russia is.
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I’d really like to know exactly how many QAnon believers there are. I don’t think there is a study showing that realistically yet?
I’ve seen the number three million tossed around; apparently this is the rough number of people who belong(ed) to QAnon groups.
The exact figure probably becomes murkier, though, as there are still a lot of people who believe what I would consider to be Q-adjacent beliefs/pre-Q beliefs who aren’t necessarily active in the “Q” scene.
Just as an example, I don’t know personally know anyone who is openly a QAnon believer, but I know lots of people who are obsessed with things like “Spirit Cooking” and those lists of people they believe the Clintons had killed. The latter conspiracy pre-dates Q by two decades.
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In Trump’s case, his successes are essentially what he didn’t do wrong.
Yeah, a lot of people sympathetic to Trump trot out that “he didn’t start a war!” bit as a resounding endorsement of him and, like, that’s quite a low bar? And also, it’s not like he didn’t try with North Korea.
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I have Qanon morons among friends of friends. Most of them have blocked me on Instagram after I made angry discourse in their comments section. #proud
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In Trump’s case, his successes are essentially what he didn’t do wrong.
Yeah, a lot of people sympathetic to Trump trot out that “he didn’t start a war!” bit as a resounding endorsement of him and, like, that’s quite a low bar? And also, it’s not like he didn’t try with North Korea.
It seemed like he spent four years doing his damnedest to start a war with Iran.
Fortunately it was another one his failures.
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In Trump’s case, his successes are essentially what he didn’t do wrong.
Yeah, a lot of people sympathetic to Trump trot out that “he didn’t start a war!” bit as a resounding endorsement of him and, like, that’s quite a low bar? And also, it’s not like he didn’t try with North Korea.
Or, you know, inside the US. His supporters literally stormed the US Capitol. Some even wearing shirts about starting the next Civil War. So fine, no foreign wars, because he was too busy sowing the seeds for Civil War part 2.
But yeah, there’s also plenty or reports he wanted to go start shit with Iran too. Dude probably would have wanted to start World War 3 if his advisors had let him.
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Civil War part 2
That was such shit as compared to the first one. And the first one wasn’t even particularly good, but it’s one of the Millar books I hate the least. Although he did personally, back during his Marvel Knights: Spider-Man, promise a friend of mine that he would never expose the identity of Spider-Man. Fucking Liar.
What were we talking about? Oh yeah, Trump. Fucking liar.
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Thing: Changes.
It’s incredible.
Checks out.
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But yeah, there’s also plenty or reports he wanted to go start shit with Iran too. Dude probably would have wanted to start World War 3 if his advisors had let him.
I suspect it could have been the other way round. John Bolton has had a hard-on for invading Iran for decades. He’s the biggest hawk ever, there’s no war he doesn’t like, and I was glad when he left.
The big thing with Iran’s ‘threat’ is you really do have to wonder if they’d ever have bothered anyone if we just left them alone. The US and UK particularly spent decades trying to manipulate their leadership. There’s a constant narrative that they are one of the great dangers yet have not directly attacked anywhere. We shook hands with Saddam when he invaded them. Yes they are involved in proxy warfare and ME power games but again I’m not certain they would have felt the need without constant pressure placed on their existence.
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If Trump had won a second term, his advisers would be taking aim at the whatever-it-is amendment that set term limits on the Presidency.
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If Cancel Culture is really going to have Donald J. Trump removed from the John Hughes movie “Home Alone,” then in support of MY PRESIDENT, I’d like to have myself officially removed from the John Hughes’ films, “Pretty In Pink” and “Ferris Buhler’s Day Off.”😂
— Kristy Swanson (@KristySwansonXO) January 15, 2021
Someone should deepfake in Michelle Obama over Kristy Swansons appearances in said movies.
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Donald Trump’s Far-Right Extremist Army Has Turned On Him
For months, president Donald Trump’s message to his supporters was clear: The election was being stolen from him, and they needed to fight to take it back.
So on January 6, during a Trump-promoted rally to “Stop the Steal,” thousands laid siege to the US Capitol in a stunning attempt to do just that. The fallout of their failed insurrection, which resulted in five deaths, was swift: Trump was de-platformed from nearly every major social network and, on Wednesday, impeached for a historic second time.
When he emerged on camera a short while later, tail tucked between his legs, to condemn the rioters whom he himself had incited, and to call for a peaceful transfer of power to president-elect Joe Biden, his base felt betrayed.
“So he basically just sold out the patriots who got rounded up for him,” one person wrote in a 15,000-member pro-Trump Telegram group. “Just wow.”
In online havens for MAGA extremists, including Gab, CloutHub, MeWe, Telegram and far-right message boards such as 8kun, the tone toward Trump is shifting. HuffPost reviewed thousands of messages across these platforms and found that a growing minority of the president’s once-devout backers are now denouncing him and rejecting his recent pleas for peace. Some have called for his arrest or execution, labelling him a “traitor” and a “coward.” Alarmingly, many of those who are irate about Biden’s supposed electoral theft are still plotting to forcibly prevent him from taking office – with or without Trump’s help.
“We don’t follow you,” another Telegram user wrote, addressing Trump, after the president put out his video urging calm and order. “Be quiet and get out of our way.”
It has become apparent that now – after his mass radicalisation campaign of voter-fraud disinformation and conspiracy-mongering – even Trump can’t stop the dangerous delusion he’s instilled across the country, or the next wave of violence it may soon bring.
Authorities are urgently warning of armed protests being planned in all 50 state capitals in the days leading up to Biden’s inauguration. Politically motivated extremists “will very likely pose the greatest domestic terrorism threats in 2021,” according to a new joint intelligence bulletin from the FBI, Department of Homeland Security and US National Counterterrorism Center. The document, first obtained by Yahoo News, attributes this threat to “false narratives” that Biden’s victory “was illegitimate, or fraudulent,” and the subsequent belief that the election results “should be contested or unrecognised.”
Ahead of last week’s riots, Trump supporters openly planned their attack on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and other mainstream platforms, where they shared materials including flyers titled “Operation Occupy the Capitol.” These sites have since cracked down aggressively on such behaviour, causing extremists to migrate to lesser-known corners of the internet to plan their next move.
While this has hindered their ability to spread propaganda and enlist new recruits, their new social channels are subject to less scrutiny and havealready exploded in reach.CloutHub, MeWe and Telegram shot to the top of the charts of popular free apps on the App Store and Google PlayStorein the wake of the siege. Gab has also reported a massive surge in new users, with about 10,000 people signing up every hour.
In these spaces, HuffPost has observed calls to “burn down” the Capitol,launch “an armed revolt,” “pop some libtards” and “TAKE THIS COUNTRY BACK WHATEVER IT TAKES!!” Some posts are more specific:“Civil War is here. Group up locally. Take out the News stations,” one person declared. “LET’S HANG THEM ALL,” another implored. “LET’S FINISH THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY.”
The Boogaloo Bois, a far-right militia organising to foment civil war, is capitalising on the unrest to issue online a renewed call to arms. The FBI has warned specifically of potential Boogaloo violence during planned rallies at state Capitol buildings in Michigan and Minnesota on Sunday.
“Theres a war coming, and cowering in your home [while] real patriots march with rifles … will make you a traitor,” commented a member of an encrypted Boogaloo chat.
Some extremists, however, are urging each other not to attend any of the upcoming armed protests. The Proud Boys, a rabidly pro-Trump neo-fascist group that helped storm the Capitol, is cautioning its followers that such demonstrations could be “fed honeypot” events set up by authorities in order to seize attendees’ guns.
It seems that even the Proud Boys are losing faith in Trump: a Telegram channel run by the group reposted a message with Trump’s video along with the text “The Betrayal of Trumpist base by Trump himself continues.”
For four years,the president’s supporters have worshipped him like a god.His rallies have been likened to cult gatherings.Nearly half of his campaign donations came from small donors, trouncing Biden’s 39%.For most of his presidency, Trump enjoyed strong support from the Republican base, polling well above 90% with that group. But after the Capitol riots, his support is plummeting at record rates.
MAGA world has stood unwaveringly by Trump’s side through multiple allegations of sexual assault (including rape), animpeachment for abuse of power, revelations that his administration literally caged children, a historic rise in national debt, countless lies, blatant self-enrichment by him and his family members,a pandemic that has claimed close to 400,000 American lives under his leadership – nearly a fifth of all deaths worldwide – and more.
So to see his “America First” army suddenly begin to turn on him is truly remarkable. It’s happening broadly among his supporters, and even among the far-right extremist communities that have flourished online during Trump’s presidency.
Among the recent messagesexcoriating Trump in dedicated pro-Trump networks:“tbh I hope they hang Trump at this point”; “He deserves what’s coming to him”; “he is literally done he will die in jail”; “Seriously hoping they’ll lock him up or lynch [him]”; “Guy is the biggest cuck ever at this point”;“Can’t wait til the left locks up his bitch ass. Rot in prison.” Several people have proclaimed that at this point, Trump can only redeem himself by declaring martial law to maintain power by force.
After losing to Biden, Trump systematically attacked the allies that propped up his presidency in a desperate effort to keep his re-election fantasy alive.
He first turned his adherents against Fox News, which stoked his ire by accurately projecting Biden’s electoral victory in Arizona before a few other networks did so. Then, when some Republicans – including Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell – declined to play along with his unsupported claims of mass voter fraud, Trump urged his base to turn on them. After that came Trump’s own vice president, Mike Pence, who refused Trump’s unconstitutional demand to reject votes in favour of Biden. (“Mike Pence didn’t have the courage to do what should have been done to protect our Country and our Constitution,” Trump tweeted on the afternoon of January 6, provoking chants of “Hang Pence” during the riots.)
Now that Trump himself appears to finally be backing away from his “Stop the Steal” hoax, a growing faction of his supporters is through with him, too.
But after the dramatic failure of his slow-motion coup, as he counts down the days until his return to life as a private citizen, Trump presumably has more pressing concerns than maintaining his followers’ devotion. Aside from the hundreds of millions of dollars in personal debt hanging over his head,it seems increasingly likely that he could face criminal prosecution, from which he will no longer be immune. And following his latest impeachment, if the Senate convicts him, it can also vote to disqualify him from ever running for office again.
With so much at stake and no sane hope of clinging to power, it’s now in the president’s best interest for his base to avoid further violence, which could increase his chances of conviction. But the reality is that the monster Trump created doesn’t need him anymore.
“He can promise and call for peace all he likes,” one Gab user wrote. “Won’t make a blind bit of difference.”
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In the days before President Donald Trump fired James Comey as FBI director — one of the most defining moments of his presidency — Trump penned a scathing letter to Comey that has never been publicly released.
In fact, the four-page letter was never even sent to Comey because White House lawyers quickly determined it should never see the “light of day,” Special Counsel Robert Mueller later recounted.
Mueller reviewed the May 2017 letter as part of his wide-ranging investigation and mentioned parts of it in his final report, but the letter has remained largely hidden from the public nearly four years later.
Now, a source connected to Mueller’s probe has relayed the contents of the letter to ABC News, which — especially in light of recent events — offer a telling look at how Trump viewed the then-leader of the nation’s top law enforcement agency.
“Your conduct has grown unpredictable and even erratic – including rambling and self-indulgent public performances that have baffled experts, citizens and law enforcement professionals alike – making it impossible for you to effectively lead this agency,” Trump wrote to Comey.
The letter then chastised Comey for “spen[ding] too much time cultivating a public image, and not enough time getting your own house in order.”
Almost half of the letter focused on Comey’s handling of the investigation into then-presidential candidate Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server, including Comey’s testimony to Congress days earlier defending his decision to publicly announce a year before that Clinton had been “extremely careless” with classified information but should not face charges.
That testimony was “another media circus full of unprofessional conjecture, bizarre legal theories, and irresponsible speculation,” Trump’s letter stated.
The letter falsely insisted that Comey’s “strange legal decisions and contradictory public statements” had “sowed confusion” and inspired “a near-rebellion by many rank-and-file agents” within the FBI.
Even at the time, FBI officials disputed such claims, which were repeated by White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders when she asserted to a reporter that rank-and-file FBI agents had lost confidence in Comey. She later told federal investigators that her comment to the reporter “was not founded on anything,” according to Mueller’s report.
Seemingly incensed by the wave of media reports that alleged concerning contacts between members of Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign and Russian operatives, Trump’s letter to Comey also derided the doomed FBI director for what the president called Comey’s “failure” to stop “rampant leaking.”
“You’ve shown a total inability to control leaks, both within and outside the agency. As a result, intelligence — real and fake – has been weaponized into an instrument of partisan warfare,” the letter said.
Ironically, as president, Trump has been plagued by “leaks” about his own internal deliberations and personal conduct.
Nevertheless, in Comey’s testimony to Congress days before he was fired, he publicly confirmed — for at least the second time — that the FBI was investigating whether any Trump associates had coordinated with Russian operatives during the 2016 campaign.
Mueller’s team ultimately didn’t find enough evidence to support charges of any coordination with Russia, but the Justice Department’s inspector general later concluded that the underlying FBI investigation into members of Trump’s campaign was properly opened and based on “sufficient” concerns.
In the letter to Comey, Trump emphasized Comey’s repeated assurances that the president was not a focus of the FBI investigation. That changed, though, when Trump fired Comey, prompting Mueller’s appointment and launching a new line of inquiry into whether Trump was trying to obstruct a federal investigation.
Still, in the letter, Trump told Comey that his “actions and decisions” reflect “a total lack of judgment and have left our country deeply divided and rightfully angry.”
“America needs an FBI director who inspires confidence across all layers of government, and who the public believes to be fair, impartial and beyond reproach,” Trump concluded.
“You have lost the confidence of the skilled professionals in your command, the congressional lawmakers with whom you work, and the general public whom you serve,” the president added.
Without offering specifics about the letter’s contents, the New York Times first reported its existence in September 2017, saying the letter was turned over to Mueller’s team and was being described as “an unvarnished view of Mr. Trump’s thinking.”
The letter had been put together by the president’s senior aide Stephen Miller, based on “arguments and specific language” dictated by Trump, Miller’s own research, and then “several rounds of edits” from the president, according to Mueller’s report.
Mueller noted that the letter “critique[d] Comey’s judgment and conduct, including his May 3 testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee, his handling of the Clinton email investigation, and his failure to hold leakers accountable.” But Mueller offered little more about how Trump initially explained his decision to fire Comey.
When the White House Counsel’s Office saw Trump’s four-page letter, they believed it “should ‘[n]ot [see the] light of day’ and that it would be better to offer ‘[n]o other rationales’ for the firing than what” then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions and then-Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein had articulated themselves, Mueller’s report said.
In letters they each wrote, Sessions and Rosenstein recommended Comey be fired solely based on his handling of the Clinton email investigation.
A year later, the Justice Department’s inspector general concluded that Comey’s “justifications” for publicly announcing the FBI’s findings in the case were not “reasonable or persuasive,” and the announcement itself not only “violated long-standing Department practice and protocol” by publicly criticizing “uncharged conduct” but also “usurped the authority of the Attorney General.” The inspector general did not suggest Comey committed any criminal wrongdoing in the case.
After Comey’s firing was announced on May 9, 2017, the White House released the letters from Sessions and Rosenstein, along with a brief — and significantly different — letter from Trump.
“I have accepted their recommendation and you are hereby … removed from office,” Trump wrote in the letter he did send to Comey.
Nearly four years later, Trump is now the one leaving office, accused of mismanaging the U.S. government’s response to a deadly, global pandemic, and impeached — for the second time — for allegedly inciting a violent mob to storm the U.S. Capitol with unfounded claims that the 2020 presidential election was stolen from him.
Trump has defended his actions and rhetoric, calling his second impeachment “a continuation of the greatest witch hunt in the history of politics.”
Two former White House attorneys who, according to Mueller, were involved in the internal deliberations over the initial letter did not immediately respond to messages seeking comment for this article.
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Note that Bens post says:
his advisers would be taking aim at
His advisers. He’s not giving Trump credit for shit.
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In Trump’s case, his successes are essentially what he didn’t do wrong. However, you can not do a lot wrong at work, if you don’t do any work. Obviously, a lot will go wrong if you don’t do your job, though, so you can’t defend anything with “well, I didn’t do that.”
America’s foreign policy boils down to the intent to allow no one nation to achieve hegemonic power in any region. For the neo-cons and hawks, though, they usually tag on “except America” at the end of that – thus “American exceptionalism.”
However, with liberal leaders, the policy boils down to prevent any single nation hegemony in any region… including the United States. This whole idea is tough for a lot of people though. Liberals and a lot of conservatives don’t want wars and the failures of presidential policies since Bush to strengthen diplomatic options means that war is going to be a major tool in this policy. Conservatives and liberals also don’t think the United States should be the police of the world. Many conservatives and liberals think we need to put foreign policy at the bottom of the list and concentrate on domestic issue – protectionism and isolationism.
But if America doesn’t do it, there is no one else in a position to do it. Russia would like to be that power but they are too focused on becoming the major Eurasian power. Besides they are small and weak and completely incompetent compared to the United States. They can barely hold on to their own best people – – about as many Russian professionals work outside of Russia as work inside and they make a lot more money in London, Paris or New York than Moscow.
China absolutely wants to be the power in Asia, but they certainly don’t want to take the United States’ position as a world leader AND they don’t want the USA to step down from its position as that has been a major player stabilizing the world for their own benefit.
If America steps back, and does not work to undermine Russian and Chinese power in their regions, then a lot of nations suffer – especially our allies and we end up watching a new form of economic colonization in the Southern Hemisphere as well as the rise of a whole new crop of dictatorships and authoritarian governments. The concept of America acting as a kind of antithesis to the conventional idea of empire has been what has prevented the world from retreating back into a new unstable balance of power that would eventually collapse in a third global conflict, this time protracted with environmental disasters resulting. If the United States doesn’t step up to the responsibility, then the global chaos and anarchy will make any domestic policies equally impossible to address.
Still, clearly the population of America doesn’t see the point. We haven’t had a great state department for a while and political stability is not something that the military is designed to achieve. Trump really devastated the State Department, but GW Bush lit that fuse and it is hard to convince many people that it is a bad thing when America’s diplomatic capacity is practically non-existent.
I do have to wonder what Europe would do if all American forces were to leave and NATO annulled. Germany would probably have to expand their military significantly.
I think we’re currently seeing a beginning maelstrom of extremist, authoritarian ideology trying to reach for power. It is certainly there on the right but also on the left. I am not sure what is going to defend against it. Maybe we need some kind of global enlightenment rather than a political solution. A return to kind, humanistic, liberal values. I am not sure that is possible. I think the response to covid shows we have lost these values, and we’re colder, more bureaucratic, robotlike.
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I do have to wonder what Europe would do if all American forces were to leave and NATO annulled. Germany would probably have to expand their military significantly.
True, but would Germany be able to get enough support from the rest of the EU and the UK to allow that, AND the more important question is would Germany really want to behave as the central power supporting the interests of all of its allies and their allies around the world?
Obviously, all of us were born into this system. I doubt anyone here was a World War 2 vet or lived through the interwar period in the 30’s. The United States became the largest economy in the world before WW1, but it really had no interest in world affairs even as WW2 began. That was and still should be the major advantage of America as a superpower in international politics. The majority of its population was not that interested in ruling an empire. Even nationalism in this country is not about creating a single power nationally or internationally, but about basically ruling locally.
The headache here is that at least since Reagan, the United States has definitely had long periods where it has betrayed the basic utility of its position. In other words, it tried to be the hegemonic power definitely in South America and then in the Middle East and in the Pacific Rim. Now, Asia has seriously different concerns that the Western Hemisphere because the Cold War never really ended. Though it allowed an authoritarian variation on capitalism, it’s still the Communist Party that rules China and that is a straight line from Mao. It did not collapse like the Soviet Union. The Korean War is just on hold – not ended. So, there is a great deal of risk to the democratic process for all our allies in that region.
Under Bush, the United States became too unilateral in its international politics and too dependent upon military force. Under Obama, that was turning around, but he was caught by surprise several times when regimes collapsed and when China and Russia took aggressive actions that Obama, rightly, was not willing to meet with equally aggressive force. However, possibly because he was left with a diminished diplomatic core and an overly enhanced military wing, he was too warlike for someone who once was awarded a Nobel Peace Prize (for what, I couldn’t say – ask the Nobel people).
Trump essentially wanted to become like Putin – he wanted to make America the Great Power in this region only, dominate South America (everything South of the Border), control Pacific Trade routes and pull away from any international entanglements that would force the involvement of US power. Oddly, I do believe Trump had a much wider view of the world than George Bush or Obama, really, because he did business around the world. But at the same time, I think that view was informed by the idea that real bargains only came when there was a lot of chaos in the environment.
We really need to get back to a position where the United States’ diplomatic functions are what lead our application of economic interests or military power and rebuild many of the alliances that basically guided the world successfully when facing the possibility of a nuclear war with the USSR. Essentially, though, that means doing what no president has been willing to do, which is listen to the far more experienced diplomatic advice of our closest allies and often lending them support to lead initiatives toward peaceful resolutions rather than demanding to be the top dog all the time. Our big advantage is our isolation geographically from many of the contentious places that require the most attention, and this also means that we are often the least informed or have the least interest in the outcome.
I think it would be nice to have no superpower nations or any nations that want to be superpowers. In the long run, that should be a US objective, but, again, it’s not something the USA should do unilaterally and just leave all its allies out in the cold.
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but it really had no interest in world affairs even as WW2 began
It might not have had interest in european affairs, but they’d already been meddling heavily in central and southamerica for a while at that point (and probably the middle east too)… so it’s not like they were just there with their arms folded. And in all probability the interest in Europe was also always there, but they were not as much of a priority for their plans since as we all know Europe is not exactly swimming in natural ressources, so strategically it wouldn’t make sense… but then the two WWs happened and opportunity presented iself.
We really need to get back to a position where the United States’ diplomatic functions
Do we really though? Because I’m thinking the best way forward is either strenghtening or revamping the UN so it actually funtions like it should and not just some wall decoration.
The US has always “led” by bullying everyone else into submission (or else)… The only reason why anyone goes along (and why Russia is the only one who tends to not go along) is because they’ve got the biggest dick… erm I mean, the largest nuke stockpile.
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I doubt that is possible, a vacuum will probably be filled by someone. At best we could get a multipolar world with countries shielding their own interests. But you will still have big regional powers that overshadow smaller countries. Honestly I think the EU needs some kind of rapprochment with Russia. We should focus less on getting other countries to be like us and more on forming stable relations. I am not sure China is ever going to be the new superpower. Most Asian countries seem to dislike them and are not influenced by them in the way the US has influenced the world. However they build partnerships based on pragmatic considerations. That is not a bad model for the EU to follow: forming pragmatic partnerships with Russia, and Turkey and North Africa. It doesn’t mean you agree with their approach to governing and human rights, it means you recognize the need for a stable world where countries can develop on their own terms.
And that where a truly functioning UN could come into play… the UN was a great idea, they just neutered it at birth because it would get in the way of world domination… xD
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I think it’s fair to kick off users who violate the terms of service, like for hate speech, bullying etc. But the reason you’re kicked off should be clear and reasoned.
Compare twitter to an apartment building with people who rent from some corporation. If one renter continually blasts loud music, litters the building, threatens other people who live there, eventually you have no choice but to evict them. If you’re a nuisance you can’t expect other people to go along with that indefinitely.
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I do believe that all internet forums, social media cites and communication platforms should be subject to the FCC regulations in the same way that television networks, radio and telecommunications are.
This is a significant issue with the internet though. FCC regulations can be applied to US based offerings, which do dominate social media at the moment but can easily be replicated offshore. Telegram, growing in popularity, comes out of Russia.
Now on the internet pornography laws globally are those of Canada (where Pornhub and its numerous spinoffs dwell), gambling laws are those of Jersey (a tiny tax haven offshoot of the UK), music royalties and file sharing belong to Sweden (Spotify and Pirate Bay).
That means if the operation is outside your borders your only method of control is a blanket ban on the sites, one that’s really easily circumnavigated with VPNs, which nowadays can be as simple as a free browser extension you set up in a minute.
Edit: as if by magic this appeared in my news feed 2 minutes after writing this post:
Parler is back online now by routing 100% of its user traffic through servers located within the Russian Federation.
