The entire problem with "Make <blank> Great Again" and business monkey dick-waving in general is that it carries an inherent assertion of success, while doing very little work to actually make that success happen. So it doesn't really make sense to brush aside the implausibility and analyze it in the a posteri context of "if it succeeds", any more than indulging the fantasy of a child saying "I want a pony". And sure sometimes such gambles can actually end up working. But that's more for debt/confidence based businesses where keeping investors on the hook can win significantly more resources. At the level of national leadership, such delusions are just ignorant.
I’d say it’s more accurate to say the Republican Party is firmly beholden to a man who is at times openly pro-Putin and the rest of the time merely transparently pro-Putin.
Thanks for clarifying, I'm not an American, and I was not aware Trump is openly pro-Putin. This is quite concerning, do you mind clarifying what openly or transparently pro-Putin policy positions he takes?
Well for one, his public and sharp criticism of NATO countries that he's decided are not or have not been spending enough on defense. Airing that stuff out in the open sows division and weakens the unity of the alliance. And it often seems like he is angling toward pulling the US out entirely at some point--though I'm not sure he'd be able to.
There is none, it is 100% rhetoric. When AOC says "Eat the rich" , do people think she literally wants the masses to go find the nearest billionaire and start cannibalism?
Trump thinks that the US pays too much into NATO and others not enough. This his tactic for getting other countries to pay more for the security we all enjoy which isn't free.
I'm not a Trump fan but I see through his words to his tactics.
The MAGAts in the House from the Speaker on down are blocking all Ukrainian aid concretely, not rhetorically. That's literally pro-Putin, and it comes 100% at the direction of the leader of the MAGAts.
This is quite reductive. 38% of democrats also oppose additional aid[0], are they literally pro-Putin? 100% (one hopes) of Americans would oppose a $100T aid package, are we all rootin' fer Putin? When I earned minimum wage, I steadfastly refused to donate to charity; was I literally pro-homelessness and suffering and all of societies ills?
Those "democrats" are not preventing a vote on the aid, which appears would pass with a large majority. The actual power here resides with the MAGAts, from the Speaker on down, directed by Trump.
I am not sure I can be charitable enough to think you really don't understand this. The reaching is extreme.
I'm taking issue with the claim that not doing something that Putin doesn't want you to do is being "literally pro-Putin". There is an infinite list of things that Putin doesn't want us to do- nuking Russia, for example- and there are many reasons other than supporting the guy not to do them.
I must admit I also don't have the charity in me to believe you made any attempt at being charitable before responding to only the first of my three sentences and calling me deliberately obtuse. 'You sound so stupid that I am convinced it is because you are a bad person' is a lot ruder than I think people realize. I'm not the smartest person in the world, but I'm above average; is it really so inconceivable that a random stranger is as dumb as half the people on the planet that you must immediately accuse them of malfeasance?
Ah. You also have reading comprehension problems, on the face of it, but I don't believe that either.
I believe that you are smart enough to understand the power dynamics in the House, and you understand that I don't think you're stupid. Quite the contrary.
Although... maybe you're a political "centrist"? That would explain a lot about your comments. Then I am sadly compelled to agree with you about what I think about you! I mean that means I'm an idiot myself for engaging with you. Sorry! Look around on the intertubes for what people who study this stuff think about US political "centrists".
Some journalists have interviewed high ranking members of the Trump administration, including Defense Secretary Mark Esper, who said that Trump told him "he would seek to withdraw from Nato and to blow up the US alliance with South Korea, should he win reelection."
The full context is he said if those European countries did not meet their NATO defense spending obligations he'd let Putin do what he wants with them.
Europe has to wake up. We are so lazy and political incompetent that it would easy for anyone to invade us and have us work in gulags. The only people left that fights back are the slaves, the rest of us is uncomfortably unconcerned.
The MAGA subgroup of Republicans: https://accountability.gop/ukraine-quotes/
Tucker Carlson is on there too, he's now a full time Russia shill.
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He invaded back in 2014 when no sane person could have guessed Trump would get in.
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From the perspective of the Russian people, it's a huge tragedy to send a whole generation of young men to die in the Ukrainian mud.
But I think Putin wants to go down in history as a great leader of Russia that turned the decline and Made Russia Great Again.
From that perspective what he's doing isn't dumb at all. At least if it succeeds.
The entire problem with "Make <blank> Great Again" and business monkey dick-waving in general is that it carries an inherent assertion of success, while doing very little work to actually make that success happen. So it doesn't really make sense to brush aside the implausibility and analyze it in the a posteri context of "if it succeeds", any more than indulging the fantasy of a child saying "I want a pony". And sure sometimes such gambles can actually end up working. But that's more for debt/confidence based businesses where keeping investors on the hook can win significantly more resources. At the level of national leadership, such delusions are just ignorant.
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I’d say it’s more accurate to say the Republican Party is firmly beholden to a man who is at times openly pro-Putin and the rest of the time merely transparently pro-Putin.
Thanks for clarifying, I'm not an American, and I was not aware Trump is openly pro-Putin. This is quite concerning, do you mind clarifying what openly or transparently pro-Putin policy positions he takes?
Well for one, his public and sharp criticism of NATO countries that he's decided are not or have not been spending enough on defense. Airing that stuff out in the open sows division and weakens the unity of the alliance. And it often seems like he is angling toward pulling the US out entirely at some point--though I'm not sure he'd be able to.
[flagged]
There is none, it is 100% rhetoric. When AOC says "Eat the rich" , do people think she literally wants the masses to go find the nearest billionaire and start cannibalism?
Trump thinks that the US pays too much into NATO and others not enough. This his tactic for getting other countries to pay more for the security we all enjoy which isn't free.
I'm not a Trump fan but I see through his words to his tactics.
The MAGAts in the House from the Speaker on down are blocking all Ukrainian aid concretely, not rhetorically. That's literally pro-Putin, and it comes 100% at the direction of the leader of the MAGAts.
This is quite reductive. 38% of democrats also oppose additional aid[0], are they literally pro-Putin? 100% (one hopes) of Americans would oppose a $100T aid package, are we all rootin' fer Putin? When I earned minimum wage, I steadfastly refused to donate to charity; was I literally pro-homelessness and suffering and all of societies ills?
[0] https://www.cnn.com/2023/08/04/politics/cnn-poll-ukraine/ind...
Those "democrats" are not preventing a vote on the aid, which appears would pass with a large majority. The actual power here resides with the MAGAts, from the Speaker on down, directed by Trump.
I am not sure I can be charitable enough to think you really don't understand this. The reaching is extreme.
I'm taking issue with the claim that not doing something that Putin doesn't want you to do is being "literally pro-Putin". There is an infinite list of things that Putin doesn't want us to do- nuking Russia, for example- and there are many reasons other than supporting the guy not to do them.
I must admit I also don't have the charity in me to believe you made any attempt at being charitable before responding to only the first of my three sentences and calling me deliberately obtuse. 'You sound so stupid that I am convinced it is because you are a bad person' is a lot ruder than I think people realize. I'm not the smartest person in the world, but I'm above average; is it really so inconceivable that a random stranger is as dumb as half the people on the planet that you must immediately accuse them of malfeasance?
Ah. You also have reading comprehension problems, on the face of it, but I don't believe that either.
I believe that you are smart enough to understand the power dynamics in the House, and you understand that I don't think you're stupid. Quite the contrary.
Although... maybe you're a political "centrist"? That would explain a lot about your comments. Then I am sadly compelled to agree with you about what I think about you! I mean that means I'm an idiot myself for engaging with you. Sorry! Look around on the intertubes for what people who study this stuff think about US political "centrists".
Some journalists have interviewed high ranking members of the Trump administration, including Defense Secretary Mark Esper, who said that Trump told him "he would seek to withdraw from Nato and to blow up the US alliance with South Korea, should he win reelection."
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politic...
It's not just Trump thinks; under NATO those countries are obligated to spend a certain % of their GDP on defense, which they've failed to do.
Recently Trump said that if Putin invaded Europe, he (Trump) "would encourage Russia to do whatever the hell they wanted to you".
It's not full pro-Russia yet, but he's certainly moving in that direction. Unfortunately, Trump is currently the republican party.
The full context is he said if those European countries did not meet their NATO defense spending obligations he'd let Putin do what he wants with them.
Not just "let", he explicitly said "encourage".
Europe has to wake up. We are so lazy and political incompetent that it would easy for anyone to invade us and have us work in gulags. The only people left that fights back are the slaves, the rest of us is uncomfortably unconcerned.
Please help us by selecting Trump.