US Election & Presidency

(09-11-2024 03:07 )ukusagolf Wrote:  Just a sad footnote to the Election

"Did Joe Biden drop out?" was a big google search on Election Night
Yeah

Would that not be world wide though?

(09-11-2024 02:44 )ukusagolf Wrote:  I always had a thing for Debbie Harry as well

She's 80 next year.

That's almost necrophilia

(08-11-2024 14:30 )Tumble_Drier Wrote:  Well they could always try representing working people. That might work

This is the key to it all.
Nail on the head. Not just in America.

It's how those seeking power get that message across.
In the case of Trump it seems people have bought into two things that he represents i.e Isolationism and Selfishness.
All about opting out of international agreements and clubs that leave America with any responsibilities or costs for the country.
All about making people think the only thing that matters is their bank balance.

No care for the many suffering people of other countries.
No care for international security.
No care for the climate.
No care for the US healthcare system.
No care for the education system either.
No care for the victims of gun crime and their families.
No care for social cohesion and unity.
No care for longer term economic stability.
No care for equal opportunity in life.

Just shutting oneself and the country off from everything and everybody might seem a jolly appetising idea at times even to the best of humanity in the worst of times.
But in reality the consequences prove utterly disastrous.
A culture of nobody taking responsibility for anything thereby allowing everything to decline until people realize nothing within the domestic social system works properly if at all anymore. And because of all the anti globalization policy there is only so much exploitation of other countries that will work. Eventually the well runs dry.
In reality people need each other. Countries need each other.

Everybody prancing around declaring I couldn't give a fuck about anyone else but me and anything else but my bank balance treads the path of relentless and ruthless unethical and exploitative practice for personal gain.

It's not always about
"What about me?".
More "What about us?"

Maybe those who voted Trump will be the guinea pigs in terms of finding out what the more extreme 2.0 version of Trump Isolationism and selfishness looks like by its end.

Their choice.
Their price.

Unfortunately though the price gets paid by everyone else as well.
Other Americans and the rest of the world too.

(09-11-2024 11:10 )Snooks Wrote:  No care for the many suffering people of other countries.
No care for international security.
No care for the climate.
No care for the US healthcare system.
No care for the education system either.
No care for the victims of gun crime and their families.
No care for social cohesion and unity.
No care for longer term economic stability.
No care for equal opportunity in life.

I agree with Snooks on most things, but have to disagree with this.

I actually think that thinking this way and framing arguments and strategies around this belief is part of the problem.

It’s too black-and-white. I’ve spent too much time in America to believe that anyone simply “doesn’t care” about this stuff or is somehow opposed to any of it. Of course they’re not. They can’t be.

I think they are just diametrically opposed in how to achieve these things.

Nobody wants gun crime. It’s a choice between arming the innocent or disarming the criminals.

Nobody wants war. It’s a choice between staying out of it or trying to win it.

Nobody wants a wrecked healthcare system. It’s a choice between public provision and the free market.

Before the media market fragmented, there were no great philosophical battles in America (abortion being a notable exception). For both democrats and republicans, the compass needle was pointing in broadly the same direction. They disagreed on three main points: (1) The level of government involvement; (2) The speed of change; and (3) Taxes. One side saw government as a necessary evil and its role should be minimised. The other saw government as a force for good and its role should be expanded. That was the extent of the ideological divide.

Since about 2010, however, these procedural disagreements over HOW to do things have been reframed into philosophical battles about our “way of life”.

The truth is, there are no communists in America. There are no fascists. The modern tragedy is that a country which is so ideologically homogenous can turn procedural disagreements into existential crises.

Didn't Trump promise to end the war in the Ukraine within 24 hours of winning the election.

We are waiting

This is Donald Trump we are talking about here. If it were about Democrats or Republicans I might be more convinced of a will to make a positive difference with opposing ways of achieving it.

But it's Trump.
He is an outlier.
He only cares about himself and his own agenda no matter the cost on ordinary people.
Where as he may not WANT war or social system decline I am genuinely not convinced he cares about relatively disadvantaged people enough to not want it.
Look at his appalling mismanagement of the COVID crisis. Thousands of innocent Americans died under his watch unnecessarily.
He has shown a consistent distain for climate friendly policy in favour of "drill baby drill". The damage that will do is unquantifiable.
It's a no care agenda.

Anything that he regards as a threat to his wealth and ability to claim how marvellous he is must be disparaged and eliminated because he and his cronies are all that matters.

He does not care for ordinary Americans or the rest of the world.
And that selfish, isolationist agenda is permeating dangerously into the public psyche.

Ah fair point…

I read that much more broadly than you probably intended it.

My mistake!

(09-11-2024 11:57 )Charlemagne Wrote:  Didn't Trump promise to end the war in the Ukraine within 24 hours of winning the election.

We are waiting

Of taking office, surely. He can do fuck all yet, except mouth off.

So much will happen over the next few years but anyone want to predict who will be running for both parties in 2028?

^ Gavin Newsom for Democrats & JD Vance for Republicans (as sitting President )