Mirth

The rest of the world is dealing with the ramifications of the current US administration and I don't know how Trump could make things any worse.

"Trump would be even worse" rings hollow when Biden and Harris are active right now in supporting, funding and arming what will go down as one of the worst genocides of the 21st century. Their administration has changed US law to arm the genociders quicker and with less oversight. This is worse than anything Trump did during his four years. Harris has offered nothing but full throated support and continues to gaslight Palestinians on behalf of the colonial army trying to eradicate them.

Like with Obama, it's alluring to see a less conservative POC as hope that the US may revert its assault on the rest of the world, but POC who reach leadership positions within the swampiest of swampy establishment institutions like the Democratic Party don't attain those positions if they have conflicting views to the donors and the Pentagon.

      Dom the world isn't just anxious for the fallout in the Middle East, there's Asia and Eastern Europe regions where the current administration's approach has been better received than Trump's approach.

      If you want to see evidence, you can see the change in approval ratings between 2019 and 2023. As much as US foreign policy doesn't change, there's bad and then there's worse. https://www.pewresearch.org/global/2023/06/27/overall-opinion-of-the-u-s/

        flobaba this is true, but also, such progress comes with very real costs. The status quo is much maligned, and I'm one of those maligners, but the hard reality that the kids never want to face is that reactionary forces will predictably accelerate their violent agendas as their general support wanes. It's a real in-before-the-lock mentality, and it establishes a new status quo for the foreseeable that's very hard to undo. It's like fixing the interest on an adjustable line of credit. Genocide, historically, is often at its most intense nearer to its perpetrators' rise/demise.

        The truth is that just about everyone is ready to sacrifice the lives of others for their ideological goals, which are usually couched in the rhetoric of preservation - of a culture, of a way of life, of a people, of a sense of what the status quo was or should be. But, when you actually get to the crossroads with your finger on the button, its much harder to press it than the slogans on the protest signs make it seem. Granted, some people have no trouble mashing that button, but those people aren't the ones you want to give that opportunity to, however noble their cause may be.

          One of the glaring issues with US foreign policy in the years since Iraq has been that the imperial agenda and expectations are continuing, but they're lagging the decline in how willing and able the US establishment is to sustain large military commitments.

          There's been a pattern of inadequate accounting for the scope and possibilities of the conflicts the rest of the United States' international conduct touches on.

          Imperialism is brutal, but this all care no responsibility pseudo-imperialism, where the forces hang round for five, ten or twenty years while the MIC money machine spins, then rack off leaving the state of things in chaos worse than when they showed up—because a Trump has been elected, perhaps—has been diabolical in other ways.

          It’s fair to say that there is bad and then is worse US foreign policy. In recent history, the Bush, Rumsfeld, Cheney, Rice administration comes to mind as one that was particularly heinous. Regardless of perceived harms against them, they wreaked havoc.

            never really paid much attention to josh shapiro because pennsylvania doesn't even register with me, but damn this man straight up copied obama's style. he went in the lab and got to creating. i don't hate it, it's just weird. a jewish obama.

              I’m reading that in Obama’s voice even before listening to Shapiro 😂

              Claudius US state agencies seem unable to contain the spread of misguided agenda-building and avoid further terrible outcomes. As an example, take the "steps to a convenient Sunni statelet in East Iraq" thought bubble that was circulating in the State Department around 2010.

              Someone senior at one of the agencies becomes convinced one of these objectives is strategic and achievable. RAND Corporation comes in and does the white paper. The agency seeks support from the executive. I reckon the difference between "bad and worse" is between one President who says "Halliburton would love this idea, we're all in" and the next who says instead "I haven't got the political capital for this, set your objections aside and bring me a plan that's bound to fail so long as it only involves funding contras".

                Meatwad unfortunately he has some truly depressing thoughts on palestinians, which has to drop him down the vp rankings, imo

                  he truly cannot help himself

                  Former President Donald Trump falsely claimed Wednesday that his 2024 Democratic rival, Vice President Kamala Harris, “happened to turn Black” a few years ago, saying that “all of a sudden, she made a turn” in her identity.

                  Trump’s comments at a gathering of Black journalists in Chicago came when an interviewer asked him whether he agreed with Republicans on Capitol Hill who have characterized Harris as a “DEI hire.” Trump responded by questioning Harris’ heritage.

                  “She was always of Indian heritage, and she was only promoting Indian heritage. I didn’t know she was Black until a number of years ago, when she happened to turn Black, and now she wants to be known as Black. So I don’t know, is she Indian or is she Black?” the former president said.

                  “I respect either one, but she obviously doesn’t, because she was Indian all the way, and then all of a sudden she made a turn and she went – she became a Black person,” he said at the National Association of Black Journalists convention. “I think somebody should look into that too.”

                  Trump’s comments are reminiscent of his similar attacks on Black political rivals in the past, including the years he spent pushing the false, racist “birther” conspiracy theory that former President Barack Obama was not born in the United States.

                  Harris’ mother was Indian and her father is Jamaican; both immigrated to the United States. Harris was born in Oakland, California, and attended a historically Black university, Howard University, in Washington. She is the first female, first Black and first Asian American vice president.

                  Trump on Wednesday was interviewed by a panel that included ABC News’ Rachel Scott, Semafor’s Kadia Goba and Fox News’ Harris Faulkner.

                  Scott began the interview by asking Trump: “You have pushed false claims about some of your rivals, from Nikki Haley to former President Barack Obama, saying that they were not born in the United States, which is not true. You have told four congresswomen of color, who were American citizens, to go back to where they came from. You have used words like ‘animal’ and ‘rabid’ to describe Black district attorneys. You have attacked Black journalists, calling them a ‘loser,’ saying the questions they ask are, quote, ‘stupid’ and ‘racist.’ You’ve had dinner with a White supremacist at your Mar-a-Lago resort. So my question, sir – now that you are asking Black supporters to vote for you, why should Black voters trust you after you have used language like that?”

                  A combative Trump responded: “Well, first of all, I don’t think I’ve ever been asked a question so – in such a horrible manner, first question. You don’t even say, ‘Hello. How are you?’”

                  https://www.cnn.com/2024/07/31/politics/donald-trump-kamala-harris-black-nabj/index.html

                  oh also, this

                  Trump did not answer directly when asked by Fox News’ Faulkner whether his running mate, Ohio Sen. JD Vance, would be “ready on Day One to be president.

                  “Historically, the vice president, in terms of the election, does not have any impact – I mean, virtually no impact,” Trump said.

                  “You have two or three days where there’s a lot of commotion,” he said, pointing to Harris’ consideration of a running mate, “and then that dies down, and it’s all about the presidential pick. Virtually never has it mattered.”

                  “You can have a vice president who’s outstanding in every way, and I think JD is … but you’re not voting that way. You’re voting for the president,” Trump said.

                  congrats, JD, im sure this is everything you could have hoped for and more.

                    mdgoonah41 haha. Vance deserves every bit of this. how power hungry do you have to be to sign up for this knowing how he treated his last VP

                    there's an air of arrogance and complacency about how trumps people have run his campaign. they have been coasting since it became apparent Biden was a husk, and it's led to them not bothering to mask their normie-repellent rhetoric and agenda. now that's it a contest, trump is having to explain himself and play defense. if he's explaining or apologising, it means he's losing

                      Even though Trump is batshit crazy I'll give him credit for the fact he is willing to put himself in a hostile environment. When was the last time Biden did that? Kamala is running a slick campaign right now but it all feels like a massive promotional tour. To be fair she's doing a lot better than I thought, I think the whole party rallying behind her quickly has given her much needed momentum.

                      I enjoy seeing politicians up against hostile journalists, nowadays everything seems so soft and you can just tell hand-picked journalists ask pre vetted questions.

                        JazzG he’s a sociopath. The interviewer asked him a reasonable question and he started by saying it’s the most horrible question he’d ever been asked. Can’t compare

                          Oh I don't disagree with you but I haven't seen the clip in question. I'm just making a general point about Politicians who prefer staying in friendly environments rather than reaching across the political divide and interacting with those who probably don't like you.

                            He deserves no credit. Every non-extremist environment he 'puts himself in' will be hostile.

                            it feels like ages that a journalist questioned him on the crazy shit he says to his face, and the thin skinned autocrat showed his colours immediately. outside of MAGA world journos he's hopeless. this isn't normal behaviour for any leader.

                            JazzG he's attempting to play those journalists for his own campaign - it benefits Trump to create a us vs them mentality, more than most politicians. They did a good job holding their frame.

                              I’m only interested in swing states, and Georgia is one of them. 2020 numbers that I’d assume Kamala can improve upon:

                              • 88% of Black voters chose Biden
                              • 64% of LGBT for Biden
                              • 52% of first time voters
                              • suburban voters (62% of the cohort) with 48% for Biden

                              Need to look at other states, but those demographics (some large cohorts, some small) have me confident in Georgia remaining blue.