Trumpmageddon

[Blondbraid]

As a non-American, I do hope Trump continues to rattle European nations awake from their slumber when it comes to American world-police status. He wasn't wrong when he raised the issue of Europe trusting America to save their asses in case a conflict broke out and with Ukraine we've seen over and over again how utterly unprepared the UK, Germany and France have been to face any kind of extended conflict, as they cannot even scrounge up munitions to support a more limited one on the edge of Europe, let alone hope to defend themselves if needed. As difficult a time as Trump and his isolationist policies may bring to parts of the world, I see potential for developing better futures outside of the US as long as our leaders take what Trump says seriously enough, instead of laughing in his face as they did last time around.

My homeland of Sweden has never relied on USA for protection, military or otherwise.

Whenever the Russian bear starts stirring, the Swedish strategy for the last millenia has been counting on the fact that if Russians wanted to invade Sweden,
they'd have to go through Finland first.

[WHAM]

Well, yes. Thanks to geography in the region, Sweden has had Finland acting as its de-facto bulwark against the only obvious regional threat, so basically Finland has paid for Sweden's national defence simply by existing as an independent country after WW2, a thing that we very nearly failed to do and paid considerably for. Seeing Sweden and Finland both in NATO seems to me like a solid way to create a credible framework for Nordic defence collaboration, allowing Sweden to play its part in a potential future conflict. To me, personally, seeing Finland and Sweden delaying joining NATO until so very late, doing so only after a threat had solidified on European soil, is a great shame.

Better late than never!

[LimpingFish]

A lighter look at the situation I mentioned earlier, explaining that not only did the Democrats clearly not run on a "woke" platform, but that they likely alienated those that expected them to offer an alternative to republican policies, and not, y'know...the same policies!

[Blondbraid]

Well, yes. Thanks to geography in the region, Sweden has had Finland acting as its de-facto bulwark against the only obvious regional threat, so basically Finland has paid for Sweden's national defence simply by existing as an independent country after WW2, a thing that we very nearly failed to do and paid considerably for. Seeing Sweden and Finland both in NATO seems to me like a solid way to create a credible framework for Nordic defence collaboration, allowing Sweden to play its part in a potential future conflict. To me, personally, seeing Finland and Sweden delaying joining NATO until so very late, doing so only after a threat had solidified on European soil, is a great shame.

Better late than never!

Well, the trouble with joining NATO is that it doesn't have a good track record of actually sending aid to members at war, and the US has mainly used it as a pretext to drag other nations into their oil wars. Plus now that Trump is president, much of his platform was centered on an America-first policy that would slash most foreign aid and interventions.

I don't see anything worth sacrificing the status as a neutral ground for with NATO, because the only other defense strategy Sweden has apart from Finland is banking on the fact that few wartime leaders want to antagonize a nation selling arms to both sides.

[Khris]

I'm so torn about whether I should or shouldn't laugh my ass off at the people who voted Trump only to immediately faceplant.
At least this is a lesson for other countries. Maybe? ...what's the latest from Argentina?

[Blondbraid]

This is so telling.

[fire7side]

The debt will continue to increase at a crazy rate.  The tariffs won't go through.  They'll stop a few more from crossing the Mexican border.  Inflation will continue to increase.  Nothing will change on abortion.  It's already up to the states and that's where it will stay.  I didn't bother voting and I don't care who won because we are becoming like Greece and nothing is going to stop it.  Next year it will be even harder to buy groceries.  There will be fewer jobs.  Doesn't matter which one is in charge.

[Mandle]

UNBELIEVABLE! They aren't going to bring the wrongly deported man, Kilmar Abrego Garcia, back to America. Instead, they are going to let him rot in a hellhole prison, where he will probably die. That's pure evil.

Tied with this for first place in despicable news: Trump has said that he is open to sending American-born citizens to the same El Salvador mega-prison. So that's how he plans to get away with concentration camps to put anyone he doesn't like in: he can't build them on American soil, too many people would notice. He'll just outsource them to other countries where they will be out of sight out of mind. They are still death camps, though.

This is how he makes his Reich in a less obvious way than Hitler.

Is this okay, America? Can you look at all this and go along with it? Wake the fuck up, America.

And, I'm not talking about violence here. You just need to stop doing what this evil man says. Doing so may delegitimize the office of president and a new system may have to be formed.

But, it might be time for that. When one man can seize control like this, and disobey the system without consequence, then the system you have isn't working anyway.

[TheFrighter]

This is getting worse.

_

[Mandle]

This is getting worse.

It's getting horrifying.

[BHIOU]

Honestly, with Trump, I expect a mix of media chaos and unexpected decisions.
It could boost the economy as much as rekindle tensions.
The political climate is going to remain hyper-polarized, that's for sure.
But I think a lot of people will stay glued to the news, like a series.
We'll see... popcorn ready!

[Kastchey]

Honestly, with Trump, I expect a mix of media chaos and unexpected decisions.
It could boost the economy as much as rekindle tensions.
The political climate is going to remain hyper-polarized, that's for sure.
But I think a lot of people will stay glued to the news, like a series.
We'll see... popcorn ready!

That kind of comment would probably get a pass around October last year, but unless you were living under a rock for the past three months, you must surely realize that under Trump, people get sent to concentration camps without due process, arrested for using a bathroom or deprived of health care benefits and pension they had relied on to survive. And that's just scratching the surface.

Maybe that's me living in a bubble, but I can't imagine how you could gleefully watch these things happen while stuffing yourself with popcorn, and call yourself a decent person.

[Khris]

They also deported a 19-year old without priors or tattoos who wasn't on their list. One ICE agent just said "take him anyway" and off he went to the torture prison in another country.

It's also extremely irritating to see how conservatives keep framing the backlash as wanting "terrorists to roam free" or whatever when the actual objections are about something else entirely: the erosion of due process and the black-bagging of completely innocent people. It's insane to see how bloodthirsty morons keep defending Trump instead of realizing that they or one of their loved ones could literally be next and that's it for them, gone. No lawyer, no judge, nothing. You don't even get to return from the death camp after your government officially acknowledged it made a mistake because the fascist who rules the other country doesn't want to "smuggle terrorists into the U.S.".
Makes you want to scream.

The only tiny sliver of hope is that since the floodgates have so thoroughly burst already, since it's happening in bright daylight and out in the open, that maybe, just maybe, enough people will realize in time what is happening.