To genuinely wonder what is going to happen to the US?

[AlternativePerspective]

Weirdly the story has now disappeared from the BBC since I saw it this morning, but basically. Donald Trump is suggesting UV treatment and injecting disinfectant as a means to kill COVID.

Obviously most know he’s a lunatic, but enough support him to keep him in power, and people will take this advice seriously and will surely inevitably die as a result.

Thing is, there seems no way to stop him. if he gets back into power, which he undoubtedly will, then they have another four years of this, in which case the stability of the country is in serious danger.

But if he doesn’t get in I predict serious unrest and even wonder whether the states could end up in civil war.

Either way it’s not a place I would want to be going right now.

It’s obviously easy to laugh at trump from the sidelines, but people are having to live under this....

Sorry that was long!

The whole format of that briefing was strange - the way he was turning to people as if he was opening a blue-sky discussion and asking them to check with real medical doctors?
We have our problems with Johnson in the UK, but if we had any leaders in Europe starting to wander about like this we'd be calling in doctors for them, and looking for the real announcements from real people. I saw the journalist say pretty much the same thing, and Trump turn round and say he himself was the president, the journalist was fake news. Was that sarcasm, after his attack on the press?
Just how did Trump get so far? Someone who doesn't even know what every 5 / 6 year old knows, not to drink the cleaning stuff?? America is in serious trouble now, it seems to be paralysed and incapable of taking action.

I can't explain the differences in the data from the Pew study and the American Religious Identification Survey. It's also worth noting that 23% of the population is non-religious which limits the power of any specific religious group.

You also seem to be assuming that all Evangelical Christians are right wing nuts. I think that there is a range of political views in any religious group. That's certainly the case in my own Protestant denomination.

Re the supreme court, they don't get to make policy, which is largely set at the state level. NY and CA will always lean progressive, other states will lean conservative. I don't see a possible chain of events based on religious views that lead to the end of the nation. That's really hyperbolic, especially in view of our long tradition of religious tolerance.

Just how did Trump get so far?

Same way Hitler did.

Very wealthy and powerful people who thought they could use him as a puppet campaigned, bribed and schemed to get him into office.

Then found that he was a runaway train and they couldn't do what they expected regarding keeping him under control.

Re: American religion, things can change. The new leader of the Southern Baptist’s is black and they have come over all sensible of late.

Add in Episcopalians, Methodists and Quakers and you really can’t Stereotype all American Christians as right wing nut jobs. Though doing so is fun, I’ll admit.

White Evangelicals are undeniably a particularly pro-Trump demographic.

Add in Episcopalians, Methodists and Quakers and you really can’t Stereotype all American Christians as right wing nut jobs.

I'm an Episcopalian. It's a very progressive church. At my last parish the rector was a lesbian. I used to sit with her wife during services. And here's our leader:

episcopalchurch.org/presiding-bishop-michael-curry

He gave a notable wedding sermon in the UK in 2018. Surely some of you saw it on television. What do you guess his politics are?

i dont think its totoally insxane to volunteer to come out of lockdown(sorry i cant remember the poster)

nevada has had a low rate of deaths and theyre whole thing is gambling and the casinos tghey cant stay out of business too long

Of course not all evangelicals are right wing, but white evangelicals overwhelmingly support Trump and give him a high approval rating. Without them, he would be toast.

The Supreme Court does not set policy, but if states want to enact extreme religious policies like banning abortion, it is the Supreme Court that decides whether such policies can stand.

People ask why the Republican Party continues to support Trump a big part of it is the courts. If you can pack the federal courts with right-wing judges who serve for life, you can impose your agenda even if you lose the White House. That's not just abortion, that's guns, taxes, getting rid of environmental laws all the stuff that donors will give you lots of money for.

And sorry, but I have to laugh at 'long tradition of religious tolerance'. There is a long history of anti-Catholic and anti-Jewish discrimination up to the mid-20th century, to say nothing of the current restrictions on Muslim immigration, the huge number of hate crimes that occur. The first amendment is an amazing thing but there is a long history of religious discrimination and intolerance in the US that can always get worse.

The Supreme Court does not set policy, but if states want to enact extreme religious policies like banning abortion, it is the Supreme Court that decides whether such policies can stand.

For almost 250 years liberal presidents have appointed liberal judges and conservative presidents have appointed conservative judges and the nation has survived. That's partly due to the moderating influence of the confirmation process and the confines of the constitution. I'm sure that lots of people weren't happy with with Obama and Clinton's nominees but they got over it and none of their worst fears came to pass. No one branch of government gets to dictate the direction of the country.

Of course there has been religious discrimination, that's the imperfect nature of people, but here there is a legal process and structure supporting religious freedom. Contrast that to England where Edward I was able to simply expel the entire Jewish population.

I think the US will continue to become a better place, regardless of who occupies the oval office.

The greatest danger to the world right now is COVID 19 and TRUMP. The man is not worthy of the office.

Of course there has been religious discrimination, that's the imperfect nature of people, but here there is a legal process and structure supporting religious freedom. Contrast that to England where Edward I was able to simply expel the entire Jewish population.

I think you might find one or two things have changed in the UK since the 13th century.

Religious tolerance in the USA often does not extend to atheists and other non-believers, notably the one who came up with the name "United States of America" who was disenfranchised for expressing atheist views.

Climate change is still the greatest danger to world, imho.

If someone was to write Trump as a character, along with the stuff he said, people would not believe it.

He didn't take any questions at the briefing last night. Maybe he just thinks it will go away if people can't ask questions.

He's now claiming the disinfectant comments were sarcasm. First, we all saw you Donald and there wasn't a hint of sarcasm. Second, he was giving an official presidential briefing from the White House on the biggest crisis most of us have probably experienced in our lifetimes. The whole world was watching. There is absolutely no place for sarcasm in such circumstances.

My last turd had more class and statesmanship than that man.

You can fool all the people some of the time and some of the people all the time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time.

How many people does he need to fool to keep power?

In answer to what I think will happen to the US, I think its relevance as a world power will ebb as its isolationist stance grows. As a result, China will increasingly step into that void.

With the fractiousness of Eastern Europe, and the kick of Brexit, with the body-blow of Covid 19, thus the weakening of the EU, Russia will reimpose its power over its former Eastern Bloc colonies, with surprisingly little resistance from within and without.

China will influence Africa more and more, and much of the world will retreat into medieval religious faith, as certainly appears to be happening in the US!

Russia will reimpose its power over its former Eastern Bloc colonies, with surprisingly little resistance from within and without.

Depends which ones. Finland, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia are in that group and I think would not be happy. Many of us in the UK are extremely unhappy with losing Europe already. And actually the authoritarian moves in Poland appear to match Britain’s rather than Russia’s. Guessing here, but would we really watch Poland suffer again?

Trump will win the next election.

Because enough people are greedy bastards who will go out and vote for the lowest common denominator.

Read in the New York Daily News today there’s been a spike in the number of people seeking treatment for consuming cleaning products.

www.nydailynews.com/coronavirus/ny-coronavirus-new-yorkers-household-cleaners-trump-20200425-rnaqio5dyfeaxmthxx2vktqa5m-story.html

I do worry about people in the US.

Let’s hope that the people who think Trump is the second coming believe every crazy word that comes out of his tiny, tiny mouth. They will die and it’s called Darwinism.

I have been absolutely slated for suggesting that the here was something wrong with trump.An American woman in the UK on Facebook trying to convince people to ignore government advice to stay in.She defended his comments and actually said the ideas are backed by scientists.I do wonder if it's me that's on another planet😏

I have a friend married to an American who is convinced that the union is going to break up.