Should the US be a Dictatorship?

[Verbose]

I'm not really cheering it on, but I can see the writing on the wall. The only globally significant achievements of the American state this century are killing a really staggering number of people through military and other violence, making a handful of very rich people much more rich (in the process unleashing men like Elon Musk on the world), and making the USA the country with the most incarcerated people per capita.

If this tangent keeps going – the US is still more than likely to keep all the bad bits (especially being an entity for the rich, by the rich...) – while getting rid ot precisely the things that were its saving graces.

 

[Angst]

meanwhile, xi jinping wins by doing absolutely nothing.

 

[Verbose]

meanwhile, xi jinping wins by doing absolutely nothing.

He can still screw China in the end, but he is geting things for free like this.

 

[r16]

sinoamerican alliance still holds . The biggest ever Capitalist company by the name of CCP or whatever . And American soft power (that might have been trouble in hostile hands) goes down the drain . Bosses less threatened by the Western society growing back a spine or whatever .

 

[Verbose]

sinoamerican alliance still holds . The biggest ever Capitalist company by the name of CCP or whatever . And American soft power (that might have been trouble in hostile hands) goes down the drain . Bosses less threatened by the Western society growing back a spine or whatever .

Tosh. China is dependent on the globalized systen of trade the US has been the main guarantor of since 1945, and knows it. But Xi will not be constrained by petty things like market forces, since that would mean sharing power, and he won't.

However, mass starvation if things go seriously "Clonk" in the global trade situation, is more on the agenda for China.

China's risky dependence on food imports

China’s agricultural sector is increasingly struggling to meet the demands of its large population. In the event of a military conflict, the country’s reliance on food imports could pose a serious security threat.

www.nzz.ch

 

[r16]

in the last two weeks or so , face to face meetings between intelligence chiefs . Like even on you , as Ukraine forced to give up locations without a fight , Russia still having the power to crash things . The Chinese advance upnorth for peacekeeping purposes delayed a bit ; they getting doubts about American relationships with India , daily expecting backstabbing . Hence , Trump's personal dictating things to the fore , with delays in American defence buildup . Xi shared power with Obama , Trump , Biden . He will share power with Trump with ease .

 

[Valka D'Ur]

He's fulfilling campaign promises. Nothing he's doing is a surprise to people who actually watched his campaign speeches. He was popularly elected and will fulfill the mandate given to him by the American people. Something I found rather amusing is when he threatened Canada with tariffs and Justin Trudeau raced to Mar-a-Lago to bend the knee, and Trump insulted him by saying Canada should be the 51st state. Then a couple weeks later, Trudeau resigned as PM. If I was Canadian I'd be embarrassed my leader was so weak.

Are you seriously telling me that during the U.S. election, Trump campaigned on buying Greenland whether the Danish government wanted to sell it or not, take over the Panama canal regardless of what the government of Panama said, and annex Canada regardless of what the Canadians want?

If there's a campaign speech he made that includes these things, let's have a link.


You have a very strange way of looking at Canadian politics. Trudeau did not "bend the knee." Trudeau went to explain to Trump that the tariffs he keeps blathering about will negatively affect the American people.

You want to know which of our politicians did "bend the knee"? Google Danielle Smith, the premier of Alberta. She scampered down there to try to cut a side deal that boils down to "do whatever you want to the other provinces but leave Alberta's oil and gas out of it, pretty please?". There are so many people in my province who consider her a traitor, and we're desperately wishing there was a way to get rid of her before our own next provincial election comes up in 2027.

Oh, and Trudeau's resignation would have happened anyway, with or without Trump. The shelf life of our Prime Ministers is about 10 years, give or take a couple. He should actually have resigned in early 2024, to have time for a leadership race that isn't so rushed, with such a tight window before a federal election has to be called.


This whole situation has gotten beyond bizarre. There's talk in Europe that Canada should join the European Union.

 

[r16]

trump will destroy the America the Americans tell the world they are . His support base needs victories that will distract them from the ruin that will eventually come their way . There is no need to ask for links or demand integrity or honesty , however plenty they are in people on an individual basis . Everything in life will be a lie , today is all important , tomorrow is inevitably brilliant and yesterday is a blank page to be written anew everyday .

 

[Moriarte]

Are you seriously telling me that during the U.S. election, Trump campaigned on buying Greenland whether the Danish government wanted to sell it or not, take over the Panama canal regardless of what the government of Panama said, and annex Canada regardless of what the Canadians want?

As for Greenland - yeah, more or less. Here's the video where Trump promises to tariff the Danish ("at the very high level") if they choose to interfere with his plans regarding Greenland.

I guess that goes beyond "whether the Danish wanted to sell or not", into the territory of "we won't be even asking the Danish".

 

[Valka D'Ur]

As for Greenland - yeah, more or less. Here's the video where Trump promises to tariff the Danish ("at the very high level") if they choose to interfere with his plans regarding Greenland.

I guess that goes beyond "whether the Danish wanted to sell or not", into the territory of "we won't be even asking the Danish".

January 7 was not during the election campaign. I'm asking for links to prove that he was campaigning about all this BEFORE the election.

 

[GoodEnoughForMe]

I don’t know that he actively campaigned on all that, but all this Greenland stuff also happened in his first term, as did him prodding Trudeau to become the 51st state in phone calls during his first term. So it was behavior he had committed before. He pushed hard for Greenland in 2019.

 

[Valka D'Ur]

What he said in a private phone call isn't the same as actively campaigning along the lines of "If I am elected President, I will make Canada the 51st state."

The way we heard it here, Trudeau and Trump got along reasonably okay until Trump left Canada after one of their trade meetings and Trudeau held a press conference and promised to stand up for Canada. Trump heard about that and had a humungous temper tantrum. Next thing we knew, there were politicians going on American news, yapping about there "being a special place in hell" for Trudeau.

That was years ago. Now? I'm flabbergasted that the people down there are just sitting around like it's normal to have a psychopath for a leader. At least those of us in Alberta who are the sane, rational ones know it's not normal to have a sociopath like the one we currently have. Danielle Smith is lucky that she's living in the early 21st century and not the late 18th century.

 

[Archon8]

What he said in a private phone call isn't the same as actively campaigning along the lines of "If I am elected President, I will make Canada the 51st state."

The way we heard it here, Trudeau and Trump got along reasonably okay until Trump left Canada after one of their trade meetings and Trudeau held a press conference and promised to stand up for Canada. Trump heard about that and had a humungous temper tantrum. Next thing we knew, there were politicians going on American news, yapping about there "being a special place in hell" for Trudeau.

That was years ago. Now? I'm flabbergasted that the people down there are just sitting around like it's normal to have a psychopath for a leader. At least those of us in Alberta who are the sane, rational ones know it's not normal to have a sociopath like the one we currently have. Danielle Smith is lucky that she's living in the early 21st century and not the late 18th century.

So you're saying that Trudeau wanted Canada to have an advantage in our bilateral trade, Trump reacted and caused American politicians to support giving Americans that advantage. And this is somehow psychopathic? Sounds to me we have a good leader who will put his people (Americans) first. With all respect, the opinion that Canadians have of our president does not make the top 100 of my priorities as a voting American citizen.

 

[Valka D'Ur]

So you're saying that Trudeau wanted Canada to have an advantage in our bilateral trade, Trump reacted and caused American politicians to support giving Americans that advantage. And this is somehow psychopathic? Sounds to me we have a good leader who will put his people (Americans) first. With all respect, the opinion that Canadians have of our president does not make the top 100 of my priorities as a voting American citizen.

You'd get along much better with me if you'd actually read and understand what I'm saying. I'm referring to the free trade agreement between the U.S., Canada, and Mexico that was signed in Trump's first presidency.

Trump got on his plane and left, and Trudeau held a press conference. Some people were rightly concerned about how much Canada was giving up and Trudeau reassured them that he would stand up for Canada.

Trump apparently heard this, or was told of this while he was in the plane, and threw a temper tantrum. Next thing, as I said, there were Americans on your news programs ranting about Trudeau and Canada.

Just like children on a playground.

I also differentiated between 'then' and 'now.' Please go back and re-read my previous post.

 

[Archon8]

Trump got on his plane and left, and Trudeau held a press conference. Some people were rightly concerned about how much Canada was giving up and Trudeau reassured them that he would stand up for Canada.

Trump apparently heard this, or was told of this while he was in the plane, and threw a temper tantrum. Next thing, as I said, there were Americans on your news programs ranting about Trudeau and Canada.

I'm going to have to doubt this chain of events, would you have a source or collection of sources which confirm this occurred as you said it did?

 

[Perfection]

I'm going to have to doubt this chain of events, would you have a source or collection of sources which confirm this occurred as you said it did?

having temper tantrums is pretty in character for the jerk

 

[Kaitzilla]

As for Greenland - yeah, more or less. Here's the video where Trump promises to tariff the Danish ("at the very high level") if they choose to interfere with his plans regarding Greenland.

I guess that goes beyond "whether the Danish wanted to sell or not", into the territory of "we won't be even asking the Danish".

Denmark is not the same as Columbia.

The entire European Union will retaliate with tariffs if Trump tries it.

 

[Angst]

Denmark is not the same as Columbia.

The entire European Union will retaliate with tariffs if Trump tries it.

as a dane here, i want to believe, but i'm unsure.

thing is that it's pretty clear for literally all europeans other than the strongmen that the usa is no longer a safe and reliable trading partner. it's a question of trust. we've known that since 2016 and trump's madness back then. biden showed promise that it was a fluke, but trump is back and it's worse. so we're looking elsewhere for options. americans often forget the bargaining power of the european market. it's huge.

and mind you, it doesn't even have to be. so a small sidebar here. whatever good things about danish industry people might not know about (we're not all cute legos, but are high grade, state of the art energy tech and medicinal exporters, for example), denmark has consistently had a AAA investment rating for all of living memory - not because of an incredible chip export economy or even any relevant raw goods besides oil - but because it's a reliable and robust economy. your money may not explode, but you're extremely certain that deals will be kept and you'll get your money back and then some. this facet of investment is something completely missing to the current us administration, as they're systematically destroying all trust the us has ensured itself over the last century. and their voting constitutients are blind to it. they have no idea what they're throwing away.

it really doesn't matter what good deal trump is going to offer you if you can reasonably expect he'll cancel it in a week.

so will the eu retaliate with tariffs? i'm unsure. but our pm is making the rounds internationally atm to get some meetings going, maybe there's going to be some broad coalition thing going on, because the eu is sick of this crap. and long term, the eu has lost significant interest in trading with the us.

 

[Birdjaguar]

So you're saying that Trudeau wanted Canada to have an advantage in our bilateral trade, Trump reacted and caused American politicians to support giving Americans that advantage.

Trump has no interest inputting Americans first unless they are his rich buddies. Have you noticed the impact of the recent EOs?

 

[Birdjaguar]

I'm going to have to doubt this chain of events, would you have a source or collection of sources which confirm this occurred as you said it did?

I do understand your need for others to provide sources, but I have seen you refuse to provide sources for your claims. I have also noticed that when I do provide you with sources that point to your claims being false, you just ignore them.

Are you here for an honest give and take on ideas, facts and opinions?