To think never again can Americans badge themselves as the good guys

[Decisionsdecisions1]

The millions who voted for Trump will go down in history akin to those who thought Adolf was a great guy.

Those sanctimonious bible belt so called Christians, full of values and morals supposedly, have blood on their hands.
If there is a God, and if there is a Judgement Day, they won't be going anywhere good.

I don't care if they see the error of their ways in decades to come. They didn't just vote for someone who put America First. They voted for someone who put dictators around the world first (and an unelected lunatic in the cabinet).
They have acted to the detriment of the safety and wellbeing of millions. They will not be forgiven.

I think any country claiming to be 'the good guys' is full of shit.

It's like with individuals - if someone has to say they're a good person, they're probably not.

For the next four years, the USA will be a pariah state, run by an ignorant bigot, a convicted felon, a cheap wheeler dealer with a fake tan.

After 2029, we can only hope the American people will kick him out, reverse his appalling policies, and return to the civilised world.

Time will tell.

Have you heard of AfD?

There are 152 AfD representatives in the Bundestag out of a total of 630. Imagine having 152 BNP MPs? That's what is happening in Germany.

So while the AfD is no immediate threat, don't be fooled. The potential is still there.

Trump will be kingmaker for the next Republican candidate for presidency and unless the Democrats admit to their mistakes and create a more centrist way forward for America, we could see trouble for more years.
The nightmare scenario is his children going into politics and continuing his vision as their family politics come across as messy as the TV series Succession.

The West is in terminal decline - it’s the fall of the Roman Empire. How the world will reshape itself over the next 20 years will be interesting to see but there’s no avoiding it.

America has been simultaneously the backer of western democracies whilst also being disliked and resented around the world. I know they’ve got a terrible history of sending in troops but it hasn’t been global acquisition, rather facing down what they have thought of as global threats (Communism, Al Qaeda, the Taliban). And we’ve usually supported them!

We’ve been happy to have their massive contributions to NATO, the UN , global aid programmes, Ukraine whilst the living standards of their own tax paying citizens have dropped dramatically. No wonder the rust belt voter who can’t afford health care or to pay their grocery bills is unable to understand why the US is supporting NATO when member states like Ireland, Austria and Switzerland have never contributed anything. Nothing. Look at the way global aid programmes are facing collapse now US Aid is being withdrawn.

Of course the American didn’t necessarily do this to be the ‘good guys’. They have enjoyed global status, increased balance sheets, widespread influence. But times they are a-changing. And I think it’s terrible that Trump is seen as the answer but I also understand that Americans didn’t have a lot of choices. Biden/Harris had little credibility or like ability - if only both parties had chosen better candidates.

And finally, there are no ‘good guys’ - it’s all about self interest and always has been. Some countries are just less ‘bad’.

And realistically, you don't need a kill switch, or even to hold back a software update. You can just have a government that stops you supplying parts. F-35s (and similar planes) are massively maintenance hungry and if a US administration blocked the export of parts, they're pretty swiftly useless.

Yes- the whole “Leader of the Free World” and everyone “good” in the world chanting “USA! USA!” trope

The US doesn’t come close to top of bad guys if we’re looking at what’s going on globally. There’s some really depressing, violent stuff in many countries and I’d take US influence over that.

Agree they’ve been called bad guys for ages, when providing military support it was too much meddling. Now it’s stopping they’re still the bad guys because they’re not providing. And when it comes to it Europe don’t actually want to pay that badly.

Anyone can end a war by giving all power to the other sid

"Gardenerbeatty · Today 09:46
I wonder how history will show this period.
On the one hand the Musk/Trump double act is terrifying with lots of obvious parallels to 1930s Germany."

You mean the parallels like the below that we see play out every day? A few examples.

A weaponised activist judiciary.
Freedom of speech under threat.
The govt going after political opponents.
A big bloated state with little or no accountability.
State sponsored propaganda.
Socialism, whether it's Marxist, National, or Liberal I'll leave for the reader to decide.

I agree there are parallels yes. But it ain't Trump and Musk doing it. Its the other side.

All you need to understand is what the left accuse the other side of they are themselves. It really is that simple.

with lots of obvious parallels to 1930s Germany."

I must be dumb because it’s not obvious to me

people who do not learn from history are cursed to repeat the same mistakes over again.

The majority of the US population voted for a man who said he would impose tariffs, cosy up to dictators he liked, would seize land and assets he wanted, deport millions, ignore the rule of law, free people who committed crimes in his name,is a convicted rapist and felon and the American public voted for him? I think the world was a bit naive to swallow Hollywood propaganda and now this is biting them in the back.

We’ve been happy to have their massive contributions to NATO, the UN , global aid programmes, Ukraine whilst the living standards of their own tax paying citizens have dropped dramatically. No wonder the rust belt voter who can’t afford health care or to pay their grocery bills is unable to understand why the US is supporting NATO when member states like Ireland, Austria and Switzerland have never contributed anything. Nothing. Look at the way global aid programmes are facing collapse now US Aid is being withdrawn.

Yes, I think some people who are upset about the aid massively fail to realize that when they say, "Omg, don't you realize how much your government stopping this aid is impacting the whole world!" it is a huge own goal.

Because the more they see the extent to which their tax dollars are being demanded by people in other parts of the world, while they themselves struggle, in a country with massive tent cities and crumbling cities, the more pissed off they are.

Stop bitching about the Americans and sort your own country out.

Dear God the whining on here over the last month. The world changes.

If the United Kingdom wants the world to be a certain way then it will need to toughen up and sort itself out.

Nobody, least of all the Americans care how you feel. They just don't. The world doesn't care, it is a harsh, cold place, it always has been and you have been living in lala land (possibly provided by the Americans) if you ever thought otherwise.

The United Kingdom and all other countries are going to have to get used to the new landscape. Increase their own defence spending, and make new allegiances.

What changed to make the tech billionaires turn from Democrats to Maga-ism? 🤔Could it not have something to do with money, and profit??
I counter the Narnia analogy with the one about Alice and the rabbit hole!

I remember Jon Sopel saying “Pete Buttegieg.. he just needs to become slightly more racist and less gay”

That answer is really only very partly true in the sense that Marc Andressen is now a vc investor in AI companies and the Biden administration was literally de-banking AI firms with the stated remit that they wanted to control AI companies. As he explains the de banking is absolute total over reach by governments, asking private sector companies to punish businesses without having to change laws / go through due process etc. It’s back door gangsterism,

so yes, the democrats were against free trade and ability to generate wealth in tech, literally. You could say it’s simply ‘it’s the money’ but there’s much more at play in terms of upstanding the ethics of free trade and addressing government over reach.

Most people think Zuckerberg voted for Trump too. He’s been quite open about how the Biden administration forced him to censor his platforms on topics such as Hunter Biden laptop and almost any dissenting voice during Covid. People don’t like their businesses interfered with by government. It’s much more than ‘just making money’ it becomes an ethical and moral issue of state over reach.

Trump is a very masculine energy, whether you like that (or are used to that ) or not

I think the UK could do with some decisive masculine energy instead of these wet pandering leaders we’ve had in the past few decades.

Females can have masculine energy btw, see Thatcher, it’s a pattern of decisive disagreeable behaviour. So yes, ‘less gay’ - more decisive and less about everyone’s feelings and ‘more racist’ - more about your country and less about others across the world

Its odd to watch people in countries which are in terminal decline, such as this one, sitting there passing judgement on America.

Yeah, so America is choosing to spend its money, yeah that’s right, it’s own tax dollars as it sees fit. If soon to be third world hellholos like the UK want to play the big guy, dip your hand into your own pocket. Oh but wait…..but there’s not money, is there: because it’s been pissed up the wall in endless freebies for everyone.

Americans must laugh at people passing judgement in countries where people cannot afford to afford their energy bills to heat their homes and average wages are in decline.

OP, I would worry about the shithole of a country this is before being all sanctimonious about the USA.

People were negative when US did pay. Look at the themes emerge over the last few years. US too meddling, ‘evil’ anyway for military support. You can see it on here.

So they voted to stop and now everyone blames them even more.

I agree with last few posts. No wonder they’ve said sort it out.

I watched that yes, and they come from this town where teaching of Darwin is not allowed or watching films depicting magic such as Harry Potter this lads lasses was not allowed to watch.yet this American lad has over 14 guns in his bedroom ,his bucket list is to shoot certain animals !! They are screwed up , you see why they love a dictator thick as two short planks

The US created several institutions and paid into them to exert influence. They pay 11% of the IMF budget but have 16.5% of the voting rights. As policies have to be passed with 85% of the vote, the US essentially has veto powers. Likewise, the UN was set up to provide resolutions for international disputes, the US as a permanent member has veto powers that they exercise to influence world policy.

Nothing it does is altruistic and it spends it money to gain influence and further the aims of its own military industrial complex. It would be naive to think otherwise, but there are people in the current administration that do not think so far ahead.They have influenced a whole swathe of people to think less about the country and more about the redistribution of wealth upwards as being beneficial for US society. The US could have free healthcare, a better social system and better infrastructure as well as less pollution and poverty but it has been a conscious choice not to do these things. Do not think that it is either or. All administrations have adopted the status quo and Trump is destroying society even further to the detriment of the majority of the country and its standing in the world (while being supported by those he is harming the most).

USAID was more to do with subsidising US farmers and supporting their agricultural sector as well as the pharmaceutical industry. It was also a means of wealth redistribution as it took US taxpayers dollar and created jobs that employed young people just out of college in the US to provide works skills such as project management, leadership, critical thinking, negotiation skills and team working . The vast majority of cash was spent in the US on US products and services.
DOGE’s claims of wastage have not been proved right.
The main driver of USAID was to develop markets for US interests and further US political aims through expressions of soft power while supporting a whole swathe of US jobs and industries. China gifted several pieces of infrastructure to Ethiopia such as an airport and railways. When they found minerals, the contracts to develop mines went to, guess what? Chinese companies without threats or coercion (unlike in Ukraine). These mines will pay back the Chinese investment and more.
People have wholeheartedly swallowed the lies of the GOP which is destroying jobs and industries in the US in the name of reducing waste and fraud, to provide tax cuts for billionaires while diminishing the stature and influence of the US. This is a shortsighted policy, supported by myopic people. The fact that you are repeating these untruths shows how much repeating a lie often enough can make them become true.

Interesting post as Joe Rogan spreads a lot of propaganda and misinformation and is extremely subjectively pro Trump, but you are not seeing that if you think of Joe Rogan as the ultimate arbiter of truth. That's the problem these days, everyone listening to big personalities and then becoming so focused on what that person says, they don't listen to other sources.

The data is out there for us to research ourselves - we don't need a mouthpiece to tell us what to think (& they're selling their product ultimately) - but noone finds it very entertaining to sweat over mining the data themselves. If we all did we'd all be way better informed.

I haven’t posted about USAID so your post isn’t related to mine.

But what are your thoughts on our gov cutting foreign aid? Any repercussions there?