No matter what happens, I believe the author is correct. Europe will not trust the US in a long time. Trump actually has managed to destroy the image of America in the entire world, in a few months.

  • Buffalox@lemmy.world
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    22 hours ago

    This realization may be painful for Americans. But we should know that the rest of the world understands us more clearly than we understand ourselves.

    It seems to me most Americans here know what’s going on, and understand it well.
    But overall I think most Europeans understand USA in a way most Americans don’t. We generally understand how USA as a society is sick, sick with selfishness to a degree it’s become sociopathic, and for some reason it refuses anything that could help cure it.

    50 years ago USA was to many Europeans an ideal to follow. Today it’s a warning of what NOT to do.

    • Sanctus@lemmy.world
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      22 hours ago

      A lot of our citizens have felt that way for decades. The only way to change it is to remove the money and lobbyists from politics. So in other words we are fucked. The sickness has long set in. Whoever can steer the ship has decided this is who we are, and a lot of us that vote seem okay with it. I fucken hate it here.

      • Buffalox@lemmy.world
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        21 hours ago

        There are a lot of good and bright people in USA, unfortunately they are not the majority.
        I thought for sure Americans learned something from 2 Presidential periods with Bush. But when Trump was elected first time, I knew the American people were “Beyond pedagogical reach”. An expression used here about people who refuse to learn.

        Hopefully this time will be bad enough for enough American people to finally understand the lesson, so this doesn’t happen again in a life time. But I wouldn’t bet on it.

        I fucken hate it here.

        I feel for the Americans that tried to prevent this, because they can see Trump is evil.
        And anyone who denies that Trump isn’t evil has to be both blind and stupid socially. Trump is a flaming malignant narcissist, and that’s basically the definition of pure evil.

        • Jax@sh.itjust.works
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          3 hours ago

          ’ Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by incompetence ’ - the statement always manages to forget how evil stupidity can be.

        • Sanctus@lemmy.world
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          21 hours ago

          I just wish all these protest movements would come together and ask our old allies for funding. We can fix it. Its hard and a lot of work, but sustained effort from three generations and we could fix everything. Thats not even that long in the grand scheme. But nah, let’s keep giving the suits heavy wallets while they destroy everything. Yeah, that sounds good.

        • gravitas_deficiency@sh.itjust.works
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          20 hours ago

          I predict massive brain drain, followed by across the board exit visa requirements and/or national revocation of passports. And then we’ll be the illegal immigrants.

    • dota__2@lemmy.world
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      21 hours ago

      “It seems to me most Americans here know what’s going on”

      1/3 didn’t vote and a 1/3 voted for this. so by no definition do most people have a fucking clue.

      • belastend@slrpnk.net
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        11 hours ago

        If a third didnt vote, then 2/3s haven’t got a clue.

        (Felons and other suppressed groups are exempt from this)

      • 7U5K3N@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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        21 hours ago

        The other day I was on Facebook and a dude that flat-out refused to vote for Harris because of her history in California as a prosecutor, posted that Trump was a complete idiot when it came to economics…

        I was like bro you didn’t even vote… You and on a rant about how she was horrific at that anything would be better… And now here we are…

        STFU bro

      • Buffalox@lemmy.world
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        21 hours ago

        From what I see, most Americans here on Lemmy seems to know better than most Americans on average.

    • d7sdx@lemmy.world
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      21 hours ago

      That is true but we have the same problems over here too. The Putin Party (AFD) will be the strongest party in Germany soon and the rest of Europe does not look much better. We are all in this together and we are fu#@£&.

      • Buffalox@lemmy.world
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        21 hours ago

        The Putin Party (AFD) will be the strongest party in Germany soon

        I seriously doubt that, we had a similar party here in Denmark that topped at 22%. And even with 22% they never became part of government.

        Even if AfD manages to become part of a government in the future, they will never have exclusive governing power like Trump has in USA. That’s the difference between a functional democracy, and the flawed democracy USA has.
        AfD is mostly popular in the old East Germany, and German politicians need to figure out why that is. Why do they want authoritarianism again?
        I have my suspicions, that it may have to do with not doing enough for ordinary workers, and giving too many privileges to the 1%. This is the problem in USA, where ironically they see Trump as resistance against that, when in fact he is part of the problem.

        If AfD isn’t topping now, German politicians are doing something wrong. Do East Germans really favor Russia above EU?
        If they do, they must be grossly misinformed.

        • Muyal_Hix@lemmy.world
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          4 hours ago

          The real reason is that German unification was done poorly and it benefited West Germany in a very disproportionate manner.

          Most people and jobs migrated to west Germany and East Germany was left to rot.

          Couple that with the fact that communism/socialism became a big taboo in Europe and capitalism’s faults were completely ignored, even when it was visibly failing.

          When you ban and stigmatize the left so much, people will turn to the only side that actually acknowledges something is wrong, and in this case, only the far right has done so.

          • Buffalox@lemmy.world
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            1 hour ago

            Maybe East Germans didn’t realize how much they were behind?
            Obviously the task was to pull East Germany up to western standards. And the investments to do so were very significant.
            BUT the old East Germany was more equal, and I don’t think east Germans like the inequality of what they probably perceive as a capitalist problem.
            Inequality is a problem throughout Europe, and those that are supposed to be good at it, like the Scandinavian countries, have been going the wrong way for decades now.
            But of course AfD is destined to make the problem worse instead of better. Just like Trump obviously is in USA. And for the same reason, namely that they lack empathy.

        • d7sdx@lemmy.world
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          7 hours ago

          I too hoped they would stop at 20% but it looks like they will overturn CDU in the next survey. Numbers are on the rise in west Germany too.

          And regarding the “functioning democracy” I am not to optimistic either. 😔

          • Buffalox@lemmy.world
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            5 hours ago

            it looks like they will overturn CDU

            Will that make AfD the biggest party?
            Here it stopped at 2nd biggest.

            • d7sdx@lemmy.world
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              2 hours ago

              Unfortunately yes. Currently it is:

              CDU/CDU: 24 Prozent AfD: 24 Prozent SPD: 16 Prozent Grüne: 11 Prozent Linke: 11 Prozent …

        • belastend@slrpnk.net
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          11 hours ago

          They don’t favor russia. They favor racial purity. A large part of the east wants an ethnostate without any “filthy outsiders or queers”.

      • MountingSuspicion@reddthat.com
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        21 hours ago

        Glad you said something. As an American, I know we suck, but so does everyone else (to differing degrees - of course USA is still #1 🥲). We had a target on us for a long time, but Obama was in office when Brexit was happening. We were hoping for change with a black president and the UK was hating immigrants. We’re all the same, they just got to us first. I really hope other countries disdain for the US (often deserved) help lead them in different directions. There is a worldwide disinformation campaign, and it’s already taken hold in so many places. We are screwed at this point, but there’s still hope for other countries. Hearing people act like this is a US specific thing is honestly a little scary. People don’t realize how fragile everything is.