• Chainweasel
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      542 days ago

      I can’t wait for someone to come by and tell me why Trump increasing aid to Israel, repealing Biden’s restrictions, and not trying for any kind of resolution other than extermination, is actually Biden’s fault.

      • Flying Squid
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        312 days ago

        I still haven’t gotten over “genocide is genocide and once it starts it can’t get any worse,” which is what I was told by several people before November.

          • Flying Squid
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            21 day ago

            They’re no all gone. For instance, Verdant Banana, one of the most vocal of those people, is still here, still doing the “both parties are the same” thing.

      • @[email protected]
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        -52 days ago

        I mean it sort of is, if Biden had dropped out earlier / never entered the race we could’ve had a primary and gotten a decent candidate who could’ve campaigned for more than 3 months.

        Never forget that it was biden’s hubris and stubbornness that got us into this mess.

        • @newDayRocks
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          232 days ago

          No amount of Biden hubris makes up for the fact that the middle and “conservatives” just kinda forgot what 4 years of Trump was like.

          • @[email protected]
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            112 days ago

            Conservatives didn’t forget, they spent four years waiting to bring him back.

            The middle though…

            In my entire life I have never been as free with “I told you so” as I’m going to be for the next four years, possibly longer than that.

            If I end up dead in a ditch due to civil war, my final breath will be used to curse Trump, Republicans, and every fucker who brought this on.

            • @newDayRocks
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              21 hour ago

              Conservatives in quotes because I’m talking about the not so stupid people on the right who didn’t want a shit show anymore and wanted their party back, supposedly. Turns out nope. They did want the shit show back.

        • @Kayday
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          62 days ago

          It’s my grandpa’s fault that my dad hit me as a kid because my grandpa nutted in my grandma.

          • @[email protected]
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            31 day ago

            What? This isn’t ancient history blaming Clinton or Carter for this. It’s only been 6 months since Biden shit the bed on the debate stage and less than a year since he could’ve seen the many polls that said generic democrat was doing far better then him, dropped out and let the party have a primary.

            Are you guys allergic to blaming anyone in the democratic establishment for the shit situation were in?

    • @IndustryStandard
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      422 days ago

      Except Israel, Egypt and Jordan. So everything around Israel receiving US weapons. What a coincidence

  • @Buffalox
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    2 days ago

    I bet the Chinese are more than eager to take over all the soft power USA currently enjoy.
    Fortunately for USA, the Chinese are too stupid to actually do it, because China wants to be a “respected” (as in feared) superpower, in much the same way Russia does.

    Hopefully Trump will be out in 4 years, but I wouldn’t be surprised if he hands the reign to someone as bad or worse, and USA will become an authoritarian dictatorship, under the guise of some kind of national security crisis.

    Imagine how rich Musk could become if he controlled USA as Putin controls Russia!

    • Phoenixz
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      211 hours ago

      Not sure if you’ve been living under a rock but China has already been expanding their soft power like crazy since the previous trump term. China is fucking everywhere, especially in Africa and Latin America, they have a huge amount of countries in their pockets already

      • @Buffalox
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        2 days ago

        Yes absolutely, China has been going in places where USA doesn’t have a strong standing.
        What I’m arguing is that China could go in where USA is actually strong, and create closer relationships.
        Except for their behavior lately makes most US allies very cautious towards China with good reason.

        The soft power of African countries is limited.

        • djsoren19
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          72 days ago

          I think you’re overestimating the importance of the West. If China is able to control all of SA, SEA, and Africa, including all of their resource riches through debt, why would they care about Europe? What can Europe seriously offer them?

          • @Buffalox
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            -12 days ago

            Freedom from that control.

            • NoneOfUrBusiness
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              11 day ago

              If Europe was willing to offer that China wouldn’t be winning in Africa in the first place.

    • @MothmanDelorian
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      252 days ago

      Are you joking? China is absolutely willing to and understands how to grab that doft power

      • @Buffalox
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        2 days ago

        No they don’t, if they did, they wouldn’t escalate threats towards Taiwan. There is much more to be gained from increased cooperation with highly developed democratic countries around the world, but China is fucking up because of nationalistic ideological fanaticism that is very off-putting for democratic countries.

        • @MothmanDelorian
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          102 days ago

          That’s different than being willing to take up soft power opportunities in other parts of the world. I promise you China will reach out to South America soon

          • @Buffalox
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            2 days ago

            They’ve already done that for years. Because it’s low hanging fruit, and most of those countries have strained relationships with USA for good reasons, much like the middle east.

            USA has done way too much power-play for control and financial reasons, the Chinese are doing the same now.

    • Brusque
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      122 days ago

      “Hopefully Trump will be out in 4 years,”

      Eeeeeeeyeah, that’s the type of widespread thinking that’s going to prevent the actual solution to the problem. We will not be able to vote our way out of this one, they have been absolutely transparent with everything they said they would do and relinquishing their power is not on the table. We have to take it back by force.

    • @blazeknave
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      42 days ago

      You lost me. The new silk road capitalizes on every US and Russian withdrawal since the cold war. Besides a few Soviet mercenaries, who do you think is developing Africa? They just pulled out of Nicaragua after trying to build a second Panama canal for a decade. They’re pushing physical borders with India, looming over Taiwan… bruh

    • @fuzzy_ad
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      -162 days ago

      I bet the Chinese are more than eager to take over all the soft power USA currently enjoy.

      I like dogging on Trump as much as the next guy, but until we have major problems (physical health, homeless, mental health, etc) solved in the US, I don’t give a fuck about our soft power.

      • NaibofTabr
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        142 days ago

        I don’t give a fuck about our soft power.

        This is a shortsighted and narrow-minded point of view - unless it’s just a misunderstanding of the term. Part of this “soft power” is just having international friends who will work with us, negotiate with us, and cooperate in efforts such as combating human trafficking and ransomware, both of which the US plays a large role in. These relationships are important for the internal stability of the US. We can’t limit our focus to internal issues only, that is a losing strategy.

      • @Buffalox
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        142 days ago

        but until we have major problems (physical health, homeless, mental health, etc) solved in the US, I don’t give a fuck about our soft power.

        Oh boy, I think you are in for an awakening, because losing democratic and humanitarian values in general, will make all of that worse too.
        Are you not aware what Nazism does? That’s what you have in USA. If Trump really wanted to solve those problems, he would have the blessings from most countries.

        When did you ever see an authoritarian government care about the weakest in their country?

  • @[email protected]
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    62 days ago

    We’re too weak to help the needy in America. We need to keep our wealthy happy, and it’s very expensive…

    Don’t call them kings and queens, though. That might upset the founders.