> How anyone can not think this is completely insane I dunno.
Not quite, there's a method in the madness. This isn't new in the world of politics - nationalism and expansionist warmongering have always been used in approximately the same way - part distraction and part dog whistling.
Distraction from economic and security policies that aren't in the public interest - the prospect of looting dazzles the mind and makes it easy to utilize the population for concentrating the power in the hands of the looters.
At the same time, it's a dog-whistle to other closeted looters (aka the Putins of the world) signaling that world policing is now passe and pirating has become an honorable profession.
While the newly-hatched pirates salivate over each-other's land, reject all prior agreements as "not something written proving ownership" and proceed to kill each other, they provide more distraction and more justification for war and looting. Mission accomplished.
> Do ~40% of Americans really want their country to become a rampaging conqueror?
That percentage seems a bit low to me. Have you heard any rational arguments against that kind of policy? Something that spells it out, as I did above, together with the risks for the public it entails? Something in mainstream media outside of rare user comments?
Why would people object if no authoritative voice objects on rational grounds?
Yes, it's insane. However on this occasion, I think Trump is just trolling with that map (and his planting a flag post). That said, I do think it's likely that Trump may go ahead with the military option as he seems keen to play with his new toys.
I show my young daughter this stuff and try to role model healthy skepticism. Critical thinking YT like Corridor Crew’s paranormal UFO/bigfoot/ghosts/etc series is great too. Peer pressure might be the deciding factor in what she ultimately chooses to believe, though.
I think the broader response and re-evaluation is going to take a lot longer. Children of today are growing up in an obviously hostile information environment whereas older folk are trying to re-calibrate in an environment that's changing faster than they are.
If the next generation can weather the slop storm, they may have a chance to re-establish new forms of authentic communication, though probably on a completely different scale and in different forms to the Web and current social media platforms.
Farage whos been campaigning for Trump in US multiple times? Meloni who is Elon Musks bestie going on dates together?
Their disapproval of Trump is simply calculation. They would have been hurt too much otherwise. Once most of europe will go their way (europe has huge hard right turn incoming) the rhetoric will change. It will be normalized, they will sell europe in name of anti-regulation, lack of innovation and “incompetence” of other eu states.
Campaigning for Trump was useful for Farage when Trump was a fun edgy character that his base liked. This Greenland stuff is deeply unpopular across the entire political spectrum in Europe, there is no way to back selling off a sovereign territory to the US and have a hope of winning an election.
That's the same thing what am i saying. But what do you think Farage would do if he was already in power? Contradict his ally? They would cook up some angle so both of them would get something out of it. Farage is already busy downplaying the situation and steering the discussion away.
You think Denmark is not the US’s ally? They would happily cook up an angle but there is absolutely no world where that angle involves selling Greenland and that appears to be the only result Trump will accept, presumably so he can go down in history as the first President to expand the United States in a long time.
The EU/Mercosur deal looks like it’s going to pass too. This move will only make it more likely. America first will become America alone pretty quickly.
I think this is the biggest indicator of permanent damage. The EU politicians aren't as impulsive and loud as the US, they won't do anything drastic when necessary changes take time to implement. They will buffer this hurt as much as they can, to cut their losses. However, the fact the trade deal now suddenly passed, after 20 years(?) of talk, points to a fundamental shift behind the scenes. Things are clearly in progress.
I presume, it's the lack of opposition and outrage. Americans letting it happen. It's evident, there is no waiting this out. Today it's Trump, tomorrow it's Vance or whatever lunatic. 38 trillion debt, but nothing to show for it, foreign assets abandoned, power projection crumbling and spread thin. Things are expected to get unstable. The US will never be trusted or even respected again, not any time soon.
The president who is willing to fix this will have to bend the knee. The US behavior is straight insulting and caused major economic damage. If your drunk uncle pointed a gun to your head, a simple "Sorry!" won't do.
Quite frankly, considering the wide diplomatic damage and collapsing influence, paired with its deep social, cultural and economic internal issues... I can totally see the US failing. They depend so much on power projection and economic influence, I don't see how they could possibly manage on their own. What will happen to the dollar if the US isn't guaranteeing stability anymore? The debt will explode and former allies may call on their stake. Due to the AI bubble, the American economy is worse than it looks. It may all come down together.
Is California going to hold the bag for Florida? What's being American other than an international embarrassment and a bully, at this point? How strong is the shared identity when it comes to it? With ICE and all, can they get over the differences in "opinion" about who's deserving human rights and who doesn't?
> The president who is willing to fix this will have to bend the knee.
A similar instance of this is happening currently in the talks between EU/UK — The EU is demanding a „Farage“ clause. They want a guarantee that the damages are paid for in case Farage becomes prime minister and will roll back all treaties and trade deals and what not.
I have a similar take and I have written in one of the comments here about it but America's biggest export has been finance and this just seals the deal.
"Quite frankly, considering the wide diplomatic damage and collapsing influence, paired with its deep social, cultural and economic internal issues... I can totally see the US failing"
The only thing that a new democrat president or any new president even the most extremely fixable can do is risk mitigation. Its like the breaking point of a rubber band, they have streched it far enough and now it wont go back no matter how much amounts of sorry
I don't know, I was highly pessimistic about Trump from the start but even I didn't expect this much, at this point, its game over. I used to chalk up some things to stupidity due to Occam's razor but when you combine all of these things together (especially with Epstein files), to me it doesn't feel like stupidity but malicious behaviour.
I was feeling when trump flipped off an american citizen to be weird and now this.
At this point, just give me a break from world politics as a non American, the news cycle is so fast and depressing, like moving the world a century back depressing
> What's being American other than an international embarrassment and a bully, at this point?
This is a good point and I don't know what the answer is. To be American is to be a citizen of Eternal Trumpistan. Trump is America and America is Trump at this point. They have no soft power on the world stage at all any more, they're largely detested, even by their own friends.
The USA had an important role to play in the rest of the 21st century and China could have been contained. But it's over now. Good job Americans. Good job you fucking morons.
EU is also this close to making a deal with India and both India and EU are enthusiastic about this deal or EU is very optimistic to create a deal with India
A deal which was being on hold for atleast a decade.
It's just not the EU which is more willing to make deals but the rest of world (India got hit with 50% tarrifs) as well.
I don’t buy this at all. Russia is a relatively small economy with a tiny fraction of the EU population. The US is not going to launch a shooting war with Europe. Europe is not going to back down here. This Greenland thing is deeply unpopular in the US. It’s only a conflict because of one senile old man who will be dead soon.
It's not just 1 old man. Most of the wars Trump does is just a logical continuation of the military industrial complex strategy, he just doesn't hide it at all.
Venezuela was already a target, Panama was already conquered, and I'm sure Greenland was in plans already.
The US already has 1) a base in Greenland, and 2) and agreement with Denmark that they can arbitrarily increase their presence there. America could increase it's presence a hundredfold and start putting missiles there, and Denmark would be fine with it.
America is threatening Greenland for one reason: Trump wants to brag that he added Greenland to America.
Venezuela has been an issue for all administrations since Bush. Greenland has never been an issue because there is absolutely no rationale for it. The US can put as many troops there as it likes and is welcome to try to profitably extract minerals from a frozen wasteland. This is just Trump wanting legacy because he’s a narcissist.
Also from the EU and I think the EU cannot back down here. The only way the US gets Greenland is if they seize it or the population votes for it. A tariff is just not going to make a difference and underlines to the EU how craven the US has become.
Hopefully the supreme court comes to its senses and realize that if they don't stop the madness now, the American people are going back to king rule, and their legacy as well as survival of their institution has one big question mark on it.
Right… why do you think they spent so much time intentionally rigging the courts with illegitimate judges? They’ve been planning a non-democratic takeover of the country FOR A LONG FUCKING TIME. They are just more open about it now.
Do ~40% of Americans really want their country to become a rampaging conqueror?
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