Any Americans on here? What is the feeling in America regarding trump?

[FedUpWithDilemmas]

I've only seen one person talking out against him regarding Greenland. I know this can't be representative to reality. But I wonder what the media is controlling

What's going on in America?

I'm an American. I hate what is happening. Even if I may support the underlying policy. I've no concerns about deporting people who are not legally authorized to be here. But it makes no sense to deport folks who have been in this country and contribute to society. Criminals, sure. Folks just trying to have a better life, it's terrible.

I'm in a pretty liberal State. Republicans here often describe ourselves as "California Republicans" because we love good tax policy, but also think abortion is essential to women's bodily autonomy. Some of us are religious, but not radically so.

Trump is gone in 2+ years. The American system is strong. Even die-hard republicans would oppose ignoring judicial rulings are congressional legislation.

But we've seen this before. Trump isn't the first president to behave as if the Executive branch has significant power. Nixon was in this camp. W. as well. But even those who support a strong executive understand that the US constitution defines 3 "co-equal" branches of government.

Another factor is State vs. Federal jurisdiction. "Trump is going to cancel the midterms!" Yeah, no. Elections are run by individual states and the feds aren't going to have much luck convincing California to cancel elections.

Mainstream republicans love the Constitution and believe it must be honored. Justice is achieved through fair and free process where every citizen has the same legal protection. If Trump tries to push this too far, he will absolutely lose support from the majority of Republicans. The radicals on the Right do not represent mainstream American conservative thought, IMO.

As an example, a few years ago the feds tried to enforce federal law on pot. This mean sending agents to interfere with shops in my state. When my republican buddies learned of this, we organized and surrounded the pot shops to prevent feds from entering. The 10th amendment is clear. Any power not given to feds explicitly, is controlled by states.

Outside the US, I don't know if there is an appreciation for how much power individual States have. Sure, there is the supremacy clause. But States beat feds all the time by showing that they don't have constitutional authority on what they are trying to enforce.

I agree Trump is a bit of a dick but he is not hitler. This is about narcissism and mineral rights.

I just feel if Trump is determined to get Greenland should this be a hill we did on in support of Denmark and it's sovreignty of an arctic territory where historically the native people have not been treated well. (I don't remember swarms of European nations coming to our aid during the Falkands war as well.)

we are too intertwined with the U.S. to make support of the Danes a priority and as a sovereign state is it up to the Danes to defend their territory? Maybe it is time for the Danes to make the deal because what other alternative is there?

we are too intertwined with the U.S. to make support of the Danes a priority and as a sovereign state is it up to the Danes to defend their territory? Maybe it is time for the Danes to make the deal because what other alternative is there?

uk is part of NATO, an attack on one is an attack on all - of the nation asks for help article 5

This an example of sensible policy approached in the most absurd way.

US control of Greenland isn't a new idea. American military presence would be a huge problem of Russian and China. Also, the world runs on rare earth minerals. Would we rather these be controlled by Russia and China or the Americans? All we hear these days is how Russia wants to invade Europe. US sovereignty over Greenland would significantly diminish their world power.

Greenland becoming part of the US isn't a crazy idea. It has almost happened before. We've purchased Alaska and Louisiana. This stuff happens all the time.

Trump is a moron his approach to this. We've bought territory before. And I'm confident that if we negotiated in good faith, made certain promises to Greenland, etc, we could make it a good deal for all involved.

But to impose tariffs and invoke the military? Absolute nonsense.

IMO, Trump is bloviating. The actual chances of US military involvement are slim to none. Americans wouldn't tolerate it. Just look at the Republican senators who have come out an opposed the notion of using the military and tariffs. These aren't repub nobodies. They are Senators will significant political power.

So while some of us understand the policy rationale, we would oppose any use of the military against a NATO ally.

The USA aren't handling relative decline very well. But that's what it is. Trump is as much a symptom of that as he is the cause of its current problems.

I am fully convinced that trump, Russia and China all got their colouring crayons and coloured in a map for which areas they want.

Well considering Trump declared military action could be used, then when some nato countries put a couple of boots on the ground from a few nato countries - trump turns to tariffs that hurt his own people just as much of those on the countries he is sanctioning

Wow.

Trump is doing to well in Venezuela, no takers in the oil world for putting infrastructure into Venezuela for more than 1% of the oil to come out, to risky and unstable for companies to go in

That's a good point. I'm watching the supporters of trump online because I'm horrified and trying to understand. Maybe I'm being fed more of the same rather than seeing the balance

Also, the world runs on rare earth minerals. Would we rather these be controlled by Russia and China or the Americans?

where are the facilities to deal with the minerals? , it’s not something that can be built in the short term and will take billions

You can read and watch US media online in the UK and see for yourself what they are saying.

Look at all the reform voters here who are basically wanting to follow suite. It’s depressing. We can’t look at the US and ask ‘but why are you voting for him’ when in 3 years time that will be us!

No argument from me.

But Trump does not have the constitutional authority to engage in this type of behavior.

Remember, the constitution is very clear. Treaties are controlled by the Senate. Not the President. Even the most conservative SC justices would oppose an explicit violation of the constitutional text. Thomas and Alito are textual purists. There is no way they could get past an explicit violation of very clear text.

So assuming our system will work, the SC would rule that treaty violations must be approved by 2/3 of Senators. In my experience, mainstream conservatives would back the Senate.

One of the problems with the Iran deal negotiated by Obama was that he did not take it to the Senate for approval. Had he done that, Trump would have absolutely no authority to violate the treaty. But because it wasn't ratified by the Senate, it wasn't a real treaty.

A fundamental problem is that the branches of government do not exercise their power. Senators and congresspeople love to complain about health care CEOs and billionaires. But, they have the power to change tax law. So if Bezos isn't paying enough, it is the fault of politicians. But too many members of congress are too cowardly to exercise their constitutional authority. It sucks.

And if he then goes for Canada, what then? We let him have that as well?

What else would you be willing to hand over?

I have an American friend actively trying to leave by only dating Canadians (lives near the border) and another moving to France in March (she’s a dual National via her mum) she’s 71 and can’t stand it any more, her dc already live in 3 different European countries one left during the first Trump innings and the other 2 in the past year, but not every American has options like this

I think a lot of us believed that there were checks and balances built in to the US constitution, but we are not really seeing those in action. Trump seems to be doing whatever he likes, and the rest of the US system currently appears either unable or unwilling to stop him.

Well, they would need to be developed. And like it or not, the US has the resources to develop it. The Danes simply don't.

So again, if this were approached by actual adults, there is likely a way to make this a good deal for Greenlanders, Danes, NATO, and Americans. But instead, we are pissing off allies for literally no reason. And it is counterproductive. For all parties. I mean, you could make guarantees that Greenlanders and Danes would be entitled to resource profits etc... But instead, Trump is handling this like an idiot.

Greenland have offered for the minerals to be mined by other countries, as they have stated they don’t have the capabilities. Seems a sensible adult offer

Neville Chamberlain has entered the chat.

I don't think we really have to worry about that. If reform managed to get us to a point where we could afford to buy or invade Greenland, they would have to be capable of performing miracles.

40% approve of Trump, 63% disapprove per this tracker:

https://www.economist.com/interactive/trump-approval-tracker

The US acquiring Greenland is reasonable idea, which is why many presidents have tried to do it over history. More sensible the more the ice recedes.

Trump is going about it in the most damaging and dangerous way possible though. The US has usually done territorial expansion by buying land, and this presumably what Trump thinks he’s doing: make Denmark realise they have no cards and then strike a deal.

The issue is that the damage he is doing to the Western alliance and to Nato in the process is huge, because that relies on projecting unity. Trump doesn’t recognise that as a cost even to the US, and he doesn’t care about cost to other Western partners.

He’s also poisoning the well for any deal under a future administration as a deal relies on belief that the US is benign.

What do you mean, ‘what is the media controlling’. As I understand it, the MSM is overwhelmingly democrat with only Fox representing right wing views.

Immigration was a huge issue in the election so presumably a lot of Americans support what Trump is doing.

Trump ( and whoever his successor is, if the republicans put up a candidate associated with Trump) will be judged on how well he is seen to do domestically and how well his policies serve working class people and families.

The media, unfortunately, presents it this way.

Checks and balances are happening. They just don't get press. And it isn't just Democrats. Republicans hold the constitution almost as a sacred text. They are loyal to this document, not the President.

Are there MAGA extremists who would follow Trump into authoritarianism? Sure. But they do not represent the majority of Americans or even conservatives.

In the States, conservatives oppose federal power all the time. The feds own most of the land in several states. This is nonsense and conservative Republicans lead the charge against the federal overreach.

So are Republicans "silent" on Trump? Yes. But this isn't surprising. Political parties like to resolve their problems internally. And many of us are lobbying Senators and congresspeople to do their jobs and introduce legislation to curb Presidential power.

A similar thing happened in 2006. Americans were not comfortable with W's power grabs. So they voted for democrats to control the House. This was a clear check on Presidential power.

For some reason, there is an impression that the US president can behave with impunity. This simply isn't true. In MN, for example, the governor controls the National Guard. And this Guard is meant to preserve State power over federal influence. So will MN guard troops be deployed to oppose federal authority? Probably. And that's the way the system is supposed to work.

Also, sorry to ramble. But another important point is that the US military is not a united force. The Army, Navy, Marines, etc. are separate entities with their own chiefs and generals. So let's say Trump somehow convinces the Army that they should become loyal to him. Do we really think the Marines, AF, and Navy would tolerate this? Absolutely not. Consolidating the support of all US armed forces would be absurdly difficult by design. Rivalry between these branches is encouraged. They are meant to oppose each other if necessary. US soldiers pledge allegiance to the constitution, not a President.