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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

America will never regain the credibility they have lost

201 replies

GloiredeDijon · 18/03/2026 07:34

AIBU to believe that come what may America has lost all credibility in the world and even if they eventually unseat the current regime nobody will trust them ever again, or at the very least for a very, very long time indeed.

OP posts:
SerendipityJane · 19/03/2026 18:00

nuclear super power

The US is becoming a world power now (which is one down from super power).

InveterateWineDrinker · 20/03/2026 10:10

Alexandra2001 · 19/03/2026 17:48

If only the US was a diminished power, its far from that, a nuclear super power, a huge military, a very strong economy.....

.....and a deranged cretin at the helm.

The US may well be a nuclear power but there are seven other acknowledged ones (including an islamic one with a shared land border with Iran), one unacknowledged one which is also involved in this war... and that's just the ones we know about. Its 'huge' military couldn't intervene in the Iran demonstrations in January despite Trump's vague insinuations because its readily deployable power projection assets were floating around off Venezuela, and the current campaign in Iran had to wait for them to move to the Middle East. This same huge military gives the impression of a technological marvel, and it is undoubtedly strong in the air, but it has repeatedly found itself wanting against enemies fighting asymetric wars, living in caves, flying cheap drones, and so on.

The economy is the interesting one, because Presidential legitimacy essentially flows from American consumers. This is a problem because the American consumer is essentially propped by the foreign buyers of US government debt who fund the trade deficit and maintain the US dollar's value by entrenching its position as a global reserve currency. Meanwhile, the stuff American consumers buy to keep the whole show running is utterly interdependent with the global economy, not just on manufactured goods themselves but with the supply chains behind them in energy, materials, minerals, and labour. The US is actually rapidly heading towards a middle-class cost of living crisis just like we have in the UK, caused by many of the same things: declining productivity, increasing dependency ratio, and many, many chickens coming home to roost. It just hasn't really hit middle class pockets yet, although poorer Americans know all about it. If you strip out the Magnificent Seven, the US stockmarket has been flatlining at best for a few years now. Supply side price shocks like what's happened in the last three weeks will cripple the US economy, which will cascade out again through the rest of the globalised world in a vicious circle.

Trump half-recognises some of all this, which is why he is trying to use tarriffs to re-shore manufacturing although his starting point is about blue collar jobs that will vote for him. No serious economist subscribes to his policies, because they don't work in the presence of the global structural realities I've just described. Trump seems taken by surprise every time markets react negatively - and predictably - to his actions, and he seems to genuinely believe that he can control markets and the public by making things up, telling people what to do, and lying to them. Newsflash: he can't, because the US economy is fundamentally fucked and no amount of tinkering from the Oval Office (or Mar-a-Lago) will change that.

Morepositivemum · 20/03/2026 10:13

i wonder if their tourism has been knocked at all or is that ever even a thing with a country that size? I know a lot of people who have said they don’t really want to go but who had always wanted to.

CharlotteRumpling · 20/03/2026 10:14

Morepositivemum · 20/03/2026 10:13

i wonder if their tourism has been knocked at all or is that ever even a thing with a country that size? I know a lot of people who have said they don’t really want to go but who had always wanted to.

I have a sibling in the US and am not visiting. I am brown though. And she lives in a red state! Have no desire to go.

Abra1t · 20/03/2026 10:38

TutTutTutSigh · 18/03/2026 12:38

They need to stop electing pensioners for a start. Leader of the free world is not a typical post- retirement hobby job.

My husband is 72 and quite sharp enough to be working on complex analysis. Very fit—can still outrun me and I am ten years younger.

I know people in their eighties who are very sharp and fit too. My dad was critiquing books on history until a week before he died at 89.

In this country, 66 or 67 is pension age. Look around you and you will see that may of these people are doing very well.

No need to be extrapolating from Biden and Trump.

SerendipityJane · 20/03/2026 10:52

Morepositivemum · 20/03/2026 10:13

i wonder if their tourism has been knocked at all or is that ever even a thing with a country that size? I know a lot of people who have said they don’t really want to go but who had always wanted to.

You won't read of inhabitant of Butt Fuck Missouri realising that they have seen a drop in the number of tourists. And when they hear of Libtard destinations suffering, they are probably glad they voted MAGA.

nomas · 20/03/2026 11:10

Ilikewinter · 18/03/2026 07:41

I think it depends on how long Trump serves and who they replace him with. I would think the longer he's there, the harder it is to wind things back that he's done / will do ?

JD Vance will probably be next President.

Things are going to get progressively worse.

Ilikewinter · 20/03/2026 11:59

nomas · 20/03/2026 11:10

JD Vance will probably be next President.

Things are going to get progressively worse.

God I really hope not

MushMonster · 20/03/2026 13:14

Not Vance as President please!
He is a useless arrogant piece of work.
They keep him very quiet since the Zelensky and extra jounalist added to the chat group incident. He did not even say a word to the Japanese PM!

CaptainMyCaptain · 20/03/2026 13:42

Vance is next in line though should anything happen to Trump (be careful what you wish for). He's a nasty piece of work.

Alexandra2001 · 20/03/2026 14:16

CaptainMyCaptain · 20/03/2026 13:42

Vance is next in line though should anything happen to Trump (be careful what you wish for). He's a nasty piece of work.

He may be a nasty piece of work but he isn't insane and/or suffering from mental decline/dementia.

Vance can be reasoned with, have his mind changed, not so Trump, he doesn't remember what he said 20mins ago.

Trump is about to throw the worlds economy off a cliff, he wont force Netanyahu to stop, even if the USA stops bombing and if these pair of lunatics did stop fighting, who is to say the Iranians will stop? they have no reason to do so & if the Saudis or others join in, then God knows where this will end.

The rightwing has once again thrown the world into turmoil.

CaptainMyCaptain · 20/03/2026 14:34

Alexandra2001 · 20/03/2026 14:16

He may be a nasty piece of work but he isn't insane and/or suffering from mental decline/dementia.

Vance can be reasoned with, have his mind changed, not so Trump, he doesn't remember what he said 20mins ago.

Trump is about to throw the worlds economy off a cliff, he wont force Netanyahu to stop, even if the USA stops bombing and if these pair of lunatics did stop fighting, who is to say the Iranians will stop? they have no reason to do so & if the Saudis or others join in, then God knows where this will end.

The rightwing has once again thrown the world into turmoil.

I agree but that could make him even worse. He's evil and does know what he's doing.

MrsBennetsPoorNervesAreBack · 20/03/2026 14:35

Trump is terrifying. However, I think I'm even more terrified by the prospect of President J D Vance.

InveterateWineDrinker · 20/03/2026 14:56

JD Vance is arguably in a stronger position now than before. He is very much from the 'America First' camp which forms quite a substantial constituency within the wider MAGA movement, and they have been horrified at the intervention in Iran. For MAGA and more moderate Republicans, JD Vance may well be the off-ramp that Trump's ego won't allow him to take.

The 25th Amendment requires a majority of the Cabinet and the Vice President to remove an incapacitated President. The stranger Trump's behaviour becomes, the more tempting - and likely - such a move becomes for Vance. He'd be able to finish Trump's term at the same time as distancing himself from the worst of Trump's decisions (made easier by his curious silence since this all started) and even reversing the worst of them. And then, of course, he'd have two full terms in his own right, should Americans continue to think this madness is the best they could ask for.

Alexandra2001 · 20/03/2026 14:59

Vance wants whats best for Vance and that isn't a world wide depression, which if analysts are to be believed, its what Trump and Netanyahu are going to give us.

What Trump is doing is beyond the pale and something which only our Great Grandparents witnessed.

I think its telling that Vance has, at least on this side of the Atlantic, been silent.

FasterMichelin · 20/03/2026 14:59

I don’t agree. Trump is an embarrassment but if Obama was able to come back for example, I don’t think people would still think lowly of America like they do now.

He’s a temporary stain on their history, he doesn’t represent the decades of mutual support and alliance we’ve had previously.

CharlotteRumpling · 20/03/2026 15:04

MrsBennetsPoorNervesAreBack · 20/03/2026 14:35

Trump is terrifying. However, I think I'm even more terrified by the prospect of President J D Vance.

I should think Vance will focus on fucking up America and stay out of bombing the rest of the world.

twentyeightfishinthepond · 20/03/2026 15:09

I’m so sick of hearing Trump whining about who hasn’t done whatever for him. Well you’ve put all our household bills through the roof, and we will have to shoulder that, without having been consulted, so do fuck off.

ThatPearlkitty · 20/03/2026 15:12

twentyeightfishinthepond · 20/03/2026 15:09

I’m so sick of hearing Trump whining about who hasn’t done whatever for him. Well you’ve put all our household bills through the roof, and we will have to shoulder that, without having been consulted, so do fuck off.

strictly speaking Iran caused all the energy crisis not trump

flapjackfairy · 20/03/2026 15:28

Itsmetheflamingo · 18/03/2026 17:20

I don’t think it’ll take long at all. Look at all the lessons we’ve forgotten from ww2 already.

depends on your definition of long then really. The second world war was the best part of a century ago !

flapjackfairy · 20/03/2026 15:29

MrsBennetsPoorNervesAreBack · 20/03/2026 14:35

Trump is terrifying. However, I think I'm even more terrified by the prospect of President J D Vance.

well he has all.the charisma of a sweaty sock so I cant see him holding sway like Trump can.

twentyeightfishinthepond · 20/03/2026 15:45

ThatPearlkitty · 20/03/2026 15:12

strictly speaking Iran caused all the energy crisis not trump

Strictly speaking, they were invaded without a reason. US and Israel caused this war, all by themselves. Not that I would shed tears for the Iranian regime.

Locutus2000 · 20/03/2026 15:49

flapjackfairy · 20/03/2026 15:29

well he has all.the charisma of a sweaty sock so I cant see him holding sway like Trump can.

This. He will never have the cult following of Dear Leader.

FFSToEverythingSince2020 · 20/03/2026 15:58

Think about it like this, if you want (if you don’t want to, no worries; this is just how I think about it).

Are there things in your country that people are angry at anyone particular about? A certain person or political party or someone who did something fucked up, and half the country is still angry 25 years later (obviously, this could be lots of very different things, depending on your country).

But… if people will stay mad at their own countrymen for doing so much less a quarter of a century ago, how much longer will they be angry at a foreign country that acted so much worse?

I would expect the American democracy will be extinct in 50 years or less; either Trump or someone like him will declare a monarchy that starts with him and extends to Barron (have you noticed all the stories coming out now that it’s his 20th birthday, painting him as a successful businessman and “crypto genius” already?), or there will be civil war.

DdraigGoch · 20/03/2026 16:25

Abra1t · 20/03/2026 10:38

My husband is 72 and quite sharp enough to be working on complex analysis. Very fit—can still outrun me and I am ten years younger.

I know people in their eighties who are very sharp and fit too. My dad was critiquing books on history until a week before he died at 89.

In this country, 66 or 67 is pension age. Look around you and you will see that may of these people are doing very well.

No need to be extrapolating from Biden and Trump.

Yeah, Trump was utterly thick when he was 19, never mind 79.