ColDonald Trump has told aides he is willing to end US military action in Iran without reopening the Strait of Hormuz. Officials tell The Wall Street Journal the US president has decided that if diplomatic efforts fail, he will leave it to allies in Europe and the Gulf to get trade flowing through the waterway again.
foo ✅@kibcol1049 He's such a spoiled rotten child who makes a huge mess and walks away to let someone else clean it up...
@kibcol1049 The fact that ~30% of the populace think he's a great president just blows my mind.
@kibcol1049 When we finally get rid of him, imagine the unholy mess the next President will be faced with... and of course everyone will blame the mess on the cleaner upper.
@kibcol1049 It's like dysfunctional family dynamics writ large
@kibcol1049 I mean, the whole situation maps so cleanly to dysfunctional family gender stereotypes. The Left/Democrats are beleaguered unappreciated Mom. Mom cares about everyone and wants everyone to be happy and well cared for. Mom cleans up the messes. The Right/Republicans are merciless angry alcoholic raging abusive dad who is out of control and currently uncontrollable. ...
@kibcol1049 The dynamics are so weirdly obvious.
America needs to divorce it's abusive dad and go into therapy for it's collective daddy issues.
@kibcol1049 Thank you for listening to my spontaneous rant!
@slashdottir No! Thank you for sharing. I agree with it all. 🤨
Tofu Golem@slashdottir @kibcol1049
The USA needs to collapse and serve as a warning to others about what happens if you allow conservatives to have too much power.
The USA needs to collapse and serve as a warning to others about what happens if you allow conservatives to have too much power.
lankohr@Tofu_Golem @slashdottir @kibcol1049 I really don't understand why the USA aren't attacked by anibody yet. They started so many wars and nobody strikes back.
Mysturji@lankohr @Tofu_Golem @slashdottir @kibcol1049
Because nuclear weapons and a spoiled brat narcissist bully in charge.
Because nuclear weapons and a spoiled brat narcissist bully in charge.
Spicy but not too Flamey@mysturji @lankohr @Tofu_Golem @slashdottir @kibcol1049 Well, that and several centuries of war have left Europe with a strong urge to avoid it again, if possible (or so it looks to me here on the other side of the planet).
What the collective body politic of the world is doing, however, is emulating dear old Neville Chamberlain. "If we cede Gaza to Trump, he'll stop. If we cede Venezuela to Trump, he'll stop. If we cede Iran to Trump, he'll stop."
What the collective body politic of the world is doing, however, is emulating dear old Neville Chamberlain. "If we cede Gaza to Trump, he'll stop. If we cede Venezuela to Trump, he'll stop. If we cede Iran to Trump, he'll stop."
@mysturji @lankohr @Tofu_Golem @slashdottir @kibcol1049 Trump is the epitome of the abused yet spoiled child who will live his entire life knowing that whatever he does, whoever he hurts, the consequences of his actions aren't real -- don't exist -- because they happen to someone else. He will always be shielded by money, and craves the attention his betters get.
So he breaks things, he is dramatic, he says unhinged shit, because that gets him the attention he's otherwise denied.
So he breaks things, he is dramatic, he says unhinged shit, because that gets him the attention he's otherwise denied.
@PopTarts @mysturji @lankohr @Tofu_Golem @kibcol1049 What I still don't understand is why so many people admire him! Maybe they wish they could be uncontrollable spoiled brats too? He is literally the embodiment of the Freudian Id.
"Mediocre Bunny" Evelyn@slashdottir @PopTarts @mysturji @lankohr @Tofu_Golem @kibcol1049
Yes. They wish they could be uncontrollable spoiled brats too. They crowd as close as possible to him, hoping to gather up any crumbs of privilege that fall off his overloaded plate, meanwhile creating & maintaining (some of) that same privilege with their greedy adulation.
Yes. They wish they could be uncontrollable spoiled brats too. They crowd as close as possible to him, hoping to gather up any crumbs of privilege that fall off his overloaded plate, meanwhile creating & maintaining (some of) that same privilege with their greedy adulation.
@slashdottir @PopTarts @mysturji @lankohr @kibcol1049
Whenever you have a “first Black X” elected to a particular office, the next person to be elected will be the white candidate who is perceived to be the most racist. At least, that is how things work in the USA. I watched the city of Chicago go through something similar. Thankfully, mayor Daly was much less of an incompetent nincompoop than Trump.
In the minds of Trump supporters, Trump is “saving” them from the humiliation of living under a Black president.
This is why many of his supporters will NEVER abandon him no matter what he does.
alec@Tofu_Golem The idea of Trump’s election in response to Obama’s makes some sense for sure. But how do we square the fact that he got voted out (and Biden took over), then Trump got voted in again 4 years later?
@alecryan @Tofu_Golem Because his base really thought he was the better option, with all that that implies.
What they weren't banking on, because his base aren't known for deep thought, was how unhinged a lame duck Trump would be.
What they weren't banking on, because his base aren't known for deep thought, was how unhinged a lame duck Trump would be.
@alecryan
A number of factors there.
The racists still connect Biden with Obama.
A number of low-information voters blamed Biden for the pandemic inflation and thought Trump would bring things back to the way they were before the pandemic.
And of course, the mainstream media is fully on Trump's side. They used to at least pretend to be unbiased.
PoloniousmonkWe're spending more than triple the next biggest weapons buyer, China. Yeah, a lot of it is swindled by the M-I complex, but you still don't want to attack us.
Besides, it would just rally the people behind trumpie. It's a self-defeating move on both the political and tactical front.
Plus, America is an armed fucking camp. I never wanted to own a gun, but I'd certainly scrounge one and do what I could about an actual invader. There's zero doubt in my mind I'd fight in the War of 1812, which is the last time we fought a home game against anyone but ourselves.
Attacking the US is just a bad idea. Besides, it's totally unnecessary. Our enemies can just bankroll trumpie and he'll destroy the place for them.
@Uair I am really no expert in this. But weren't the USA always "the power"(which is for me the most redicolous thing about "make america great *again*?)? And pearl harbour was still a thing to them, or not? And 9/11?
@lankohr @Uair Our textbooks when I was in school related that while America was a major industrial and agricultural power by the 1850's, they didn't really step onto the world stage until 1917, and their entry into WWI. Wilson's 14 Points, Versailles, the League of Nations -- we had a sterling reputation going into WWII, and thanks to geography, were the only Great Power to exit the war intact. Thus we were able to dictate terms, establish Bretton Woods, etc. Because we were isolated.
@lankohr @Uair The young generations don't have a visceral reaction to 9/11 in the same way my generation didn't feel emotion about the fall of Saigon, and *that* generation didn't have an emotional investment in Pearl Harbor. Events become history quickly enough that while schoolchildren may be able to recite the facts that they were taught, it isn't *real* to them in the same way that it was to the old folks who were lived when it happened.
@lankohr @Tofu_Golem @kibcol1049 Yeah, why hasn't anyone decided to install a puppet government over here? I'm half expecting it really... It would be quite the karmic comeuppance
Seclusion5500 [they/them]@Seclusion5500 @lankohr @Tofu_Golem @kibcol1049 Yes it does seem like our entire government, left and right is in Israel's pocket. I don't understand it really.
@lankohr @slashdottir @kibcol1049
Geographically, the USA would be difficult to invade, sadly.
At this point I would happily replace our current government with almost anything that doesn't leave the oligarchs in power.
@Tofu_Golem @lankohr @slashdottir @kibcol1049 I was always amused by the sheer determination to do the seemingly impossible that was Imperial Japan. I mean, not the atrocities, of course, but the odd things, like sending balloon bombs to the West Coast of the USA (We were taught in school that a couple made it to Oregon, and exploded in the forest. Several made it to Alaska and California).
A few German submarines did harass shipping on the East Coast, and there were a few spies, but isolation.
A few German submarines did harass shipping on the East Coast, and there were a few spies, but isolation.
@Tofu_Golem @slashdottir @kibcol1049
Because that always worked before. Not.
People (mostly) don’t give a shit until it affects them personally.
Sorry, I’m increasingly cynical these days.
Because that always worked before. Not.
People (mostly) don’t give a shit until it affects them personally.
Sorry, I’m increasingly cynical these days.
@mysturji @Tofu_Golem @slashdottir @kibcol1049 How can you not be cynical these days? But i still don't get it: Let IT do evil on us, because if we try to do something IT will do evil on us?! What is there to lose at this point?
@lankohr @mysturji @Tofu_Golem @kibcol1049 It does seem like the regime is trying to work all the levers to inspire civilian violence. But that would just pump the levers harder to justify the increasing fascism. Everyone is very patiently waiting for the next election. If the regime succeeds in rigging those - it will be probably very obvious if so. Then we will likely have a big outbreak of violence. Which is what they are hoping for because daddy loves him some maximum violence...
@kibcol1049 @slashdottir @mysturji @Tofu_Golem That "big outbreak of violence" is the status quo of this planet and we are reaching peak, absolute, maximum hell on earth.
@lankohr @kibcol1049 @mysturji @Tofu_Golem Yeah, it's the internalized religion - we've all been taught since the get-go that god's will/the ultimate end-game is apocalypse. And now the christian Right is actually trying to speedrun that outcome - on purpose.
@slashdottir @kibcol1049 @mysturji @Tofu_Golem Like "final salvation" through "absolute annihialtion"?!
Anthony David@Tofu_Golem @slashdottir @kibcol1049
Also, letting corporations and wealthy individuals exercise too much power. Breaking up concentrations of power should be the ongoing function of a democracy. If this is ineffective, then the general populace is screwed. Too many democracies are failing in this area.
@slashdottir @kibcol1049 A german comedian put it to: "In the last 20 years we had one chanceloress and 4 popes. That's too much patch work for me."
@slashdottir @kibcol1049 It goes a little deeper than that, though. America was, once the colonies had been around for about 50 years or so, completely dominated by the religious fundamentalists expelled from Britain. So the youngest son -- the Republicans, who had already killed and eaten some of their siblings -- tried so very, very hard to emulate the abusive father they didn't even know. This led, eventually, to the drinking to try to assuage their feelings of shame. They are mean drunks.
@slashdottir @kibcol1049 Today, all you hear are the drunken sobs mixed with plaintive cries of, "Am I good enough *now*, Daddy?"
RightSprung will not complyOmg this exactly.
Randy CC is Real@rightsprung @slashdottir @kibcol1049 this is season 2026 of "get smart" and chaos is running amok. The billionaires want us regulars to be poor, so they can run rough shot over us, as the climate disaster continues.