from cyrano@lemmy.dbzer0.com to world@lemmy.world on 19 Feb 16:03
https://lemmy.dbzer0.com/post/38195462
# Trump calls Zelenskyy a ‘dictator’ as US rift with Ukraine deepens
## US president warns Ukrainian leader he ‘better move fast or he is not going to have a Country left’
Donald Trump has called Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy a “dictator” and warned that he “better move fast or he is not going to have a Country left”, in a deepening rift between the two leaders.
In a post on his Truth Social platform on Wednesday, the US President hit out at his Ukrainian counterpart hours after Zelenskyy accused Trump of living in a “disinformation bubble” and disputed his $500bn bill for aid to Kyiv.
The bitter exchange comes after Trump upended decades of US policy by convening bilateral talks with Moscow on the Ukraine war without inviting Kyiv and blaming Zelenskyy for the 2022 Russian invasion.
In his most overt threat yet to end the war on terms favourable to Moscow, Trump wrote: “A Dictator without Elections, Zelenskyy better move fast or he is not going to have a Country left.”
He added that Zelenskyy had “talked the United States of America into spending $350 Billion Dollars, to go into a War that couldn’t be won”.
Speaking in Kyiv earlier on Wednesday, Zelenskyy, who was sidelined this week from high-profile talks between the US and Russia in Riyadh over the conflict, blasted Trump for pushing “a lot of disinformation coming from Russia”.Tap for article
“Unfortunately, President Trump, with all due respect for him as the leader of a nation that we respect greatly . . . is living in this disinformation bubble,” he said.
He made his comments as Russian President Vladimir Putin praised the US-Russian rapprochement and argued that European leaders had excluded themselves from the talks.
Zelenskyy’s retort was prompted by Trump’s remarks from his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida on Tuesday, in which the US president falsely claimed Kyiv had started the conflict, the largest on European soil since the second world war.
Trump added he was “very disappointed” that Ukraine was “upset about not having a seat” at Tuesday’s talks in Saudi Arabia.
“Today I heard: ‘Oh, well, we weren’t invited’,” the US president said. “Well, you’ve been there for three years . . . you should have never started it. You could have made a deal.”
Zelenskyy’s comments came a day after the US and Russia agreed to “lay the groundwork for future co-operation” on ending the war, in their first high-profile talks since Putin’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine began in 2022.
Amid a dramatic reversal of decades of US policy towards Russia, Trump last week announced that he had spoken to Putin about ending the Ukraine war, without consulting Kyiv or its European allies.
In his first comments since his conversation with Trump, Putin said he “highly appreciates” the US-Russia talks in Saudi Arabia, which he said “made the first step to resuming our work on all sorts of issues of mutual interest”.
“The US negotiators were totally different — they were open to a negotiating process without any biases or judgments about what was done in the past,” he said. “They intend to work together.”
Putin said Russia would not “speculate” on US-European relations, but claimed EU leaders had “insulted” Trump during his election campaign and said “they are themselves at fault for what is happening”.
Putin said he would meet Trump “with pleasure” but that any summit required substantial preparation.
On Wednesday, Zelenskyy pushed back against Trump’s suggestion that elections should be held in Ukraine, after the US president claimed that his Ukrainian counterpart had an approval rating of just 4 per cent.
Pointing to polling from the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology, which in February found that 57 per cent of Ukrainians trusted their president, Zelenskyy said: “So if anyone wants to replace me right now, that will not work.”
Putin has long sought regime change in Kyiv.
The Ukrainian president also disputed Trump’s claim that Ukraine owed the US $500bn worth of rare minerals and other resources for past military assistance.
Kyiv has spent $320bn on its war efforts against Russia, with $200bn coming from international military assistance, Zelenskyy said.
“The United States has contributed approximately $60bn so far, with an additional $31.5 billion in financial assistance,” he said. “That’s $67bn in weaponry and $31.5bn in direct budgetary support.”
US state department data broadly supports Zelenskyy’s figure for US military support for Ukraine.
#world
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Who was the one literally saying that when voting for them, that would be the last time the people would need to vote, implying the erection of a dictatorship?
But but but. Genocide Joe and I refuse to vote for genocide and draw the line there and anyone who tries to say otherwise is pro-genocide! GENOCIDE!
Why are you so pro-genocide?? /s
Pro Palestinian activists overwhelmingly voted for the Dems. Mainstream media is just once again blaming people on the left for their party leadership’s own failures. That’s what the Dems do every time they lose. They blame the progressives, claim that the party has somehow gone “too far left,” and claim that they just need to move the party further to the right.
Don’t blame the activists. Blame the Dem leadership who care far more for their millionaire and billionaire donors than they do their own constituents. Who care more about their donors than they do the end of democracy.
Biden and Harris thought continuing the genocide was more important than beating trump. Their decision on that doomed our country
If there was any shred of doubt as to which side of the Ukraine/Russia fence Trump belongs, there is now none. Trump is so far up Putin’s rear.
This is disgusting… It’s not even subtle how they’re trying to change reality. If you weren’t afraid before, this is terrifying.
Next we’ll be putting boots on the ground to “liberate Ukraine from Zelensky’s tyranny…”
Jesus fuck that’s scary. I thought we europeans would need to fend of Russia in the near future. Now it might be the USA as well.
You 100% will. Maybe not directly, but get ready.
bad news, truly, this is what i believe from all evidence i've seen, most european nations have no standing armies, and no conventional weapons stockpiles, only uk and france have nukes. europe will begin to cauterize ukraine soon in order to concentrate on their own borders, but their defense spending has been so low, for so long, they couldn't offer a token defense to the russians (not even mentioning the americans) in 10 years, and that's if they started diverting enourmous parts of their gdp currrently going to social services like health care, yesterday
I think you are overestimating Russia. Sure Ukraine has US support, but it’s still a fraction of what fighting all of NATO (minus the US) would look like.
I’m more worried about economic and propaganda warfare. For instance, y’all need to regulate the shit out of engagement-driven, commercial social media before it’s too late.
ok. best of luck with that. i don't think i'm overstimating russia, or understimated european capability, and more importantly european resolve.
I ninja edited, but the point I am trying to make is that if you focus on physical military defense, the US and Russia are going to destroy you in the economic, cyber, and most critically, public opinion space. Demagogues will brainwash everyone without a single shot fired, as they are already doing.
Public opinion? Whose? Europe’s, who look down on rampant American capitalism and Trump? Africa’s, who have just been screwed by Trump and Musk? The Middle-East, who have been screwed by America for decades? Asia, who are waiting to hear what China says?
How about Europe’s own right wing movements, and their massive public followings. Brexit? AFD? Hungary? Many more are gaining traction right under your nose.
Take it from an American; that’s just the start.
Brexit wasn’t left/right wing. Eurosceptics on both sides. I’d also point out France where right-wing populism ultimately lost out despite an increase in protest votes.
There’s also a greater tradition of public service broadcasting, meaning politicians are more rigorously interrogated than in the highly commercial, partisan American system.
The EU and EC are somewhat stabilising influences too. An EU member government simply wouldn’t be allowed to do some of the stuff Trump is doing.
The lack of economic and political agility in Europe is a big reason much of Europe is 2nd world, and why Europe won’t return to its previous state of popularity for at least another 100 years.
Unfortunately, there are still plenty of fascist Europeans. Anecdotally, my mom recently told me her friend likes Trump, and that same person votes for our own far-right party whose leader has essentially been trying to emulate Trump.
One of my biggest fears that I think not enough people have though about, is that - due to how much more connect the world is with the internet - WW3 would devolve into a bunch of civil wars. WW2 was extremely different from WW1 and already had its far share of in fighting in some countries, this time it could be worse and happen in basically every country involved.
Do you think the global militaries haven’t spend a considerable amount of time strategizing possible war scenarios? If every country on earth had no strategic planning, then perhaps it would evolve into some wars within each country. But many countries have been running simulations for the scenarios since before electricity.
Right, I was gonna make that point, but it seems you made it for me. Because despite doing that, most wars in recent history, especially the world wars, did not go at all as predicted. Both world wars played out very different from previous wars and from what was to be expected. A standout example is British strategy for both world wars: in the first they made shitty trenches because they didn’t realize they’d be used so much; in the second they made much better and more comfortable trenches because they had learned from the first war, and they turned out to be mostly useless because the trenches used were no longer static.
Spain even had a civil war as a prelude to the second world war, then during WW2 you even had Vichy France and the French Resistance fighting each other, and recently we had the Syrian civil war. Right now, it seems the USA might be on the brink of civil war as well. Not sure what makes you so sure WW3 wouldn’t devolve into several civil wars when people are so much more connected with people from other countries nowadays.
It’s war, very obviously it’s hard to control by nature. It’s hard to hold water because of its nature. I love your British example because it proves my point. Americans have lots of war experience do they know what war time tools are outdated, like tanks. It’s not just money that makes the US a military leader but experience. The more experience, the more accurate the war games are or are not. Gamblers get better with experience. Gamblers call it ‘beginners luck’ because those without experience are rarely the best.
The British example goes straight against what you are saying, because at the time of both world wars, and especially the first, the British had plenty of war experience. And not just the British, but every empire at the time had plenty of war experience, but the war did not go at all like most were expecting it to. For a modern example of that with the US, just look at the war in Vietnam and in Iraq.
But more importantly than all of this, you are working under the assumption that the US is being led by extremely qualified people, and that every soldier would fall in line; however not only has the current US government been firing extremely qualified top officials because of “DEI”, but I doubt everyone in the military would happily invade a NATO member - with whom they’ve been allied and trained side by side for years - without even blinking an eye. Military experience does nothing to prevent a civil war, because one thing has nothing to do with the other. The military is made up of people too, who like I said before are a lot more connected with the rest of the world than they used to be.
Finally, even if it’s true that the US would somehow be immune to a civil war, that would still not mean the majority of countries would not fall into a civil war. To give just one example, Germany has a very big nazi far-right party that has been directly supported by Musk and Vance; if Germany went to war with the US, those people might take up arms against their own country.
With the ego of the average European, I don’t think Europe could ever lose in the court of public opinion. Too white, too much history, too much wealth. Maybe if South America can come up properly or South Africa continues to be a destination, but America is predisposed to be a public opinion loser after decades of controlling western media, being the global police, and providing rights to people when other countries refused to provide those rights. While all of those things are beneficial and can be good, Europe is fundamentally not the leader of global freedom. They are the leader of Western culture, not freedom. Western culture is very popular but freedom isn’t always popular.
Yes you are.
I hope most Europeans don’t think like this because it would take long at all for America to decimate Europe. There are several simulations across decades to plan for these scenarios. Who would stop America? Not India, China or Russia (assuming Russia follows history and doesn’t unite with Europe). Canada could try but they are one of the weakest countries in the planet nearly totally dependent on America with 3/4 of Canadian exports being bought by Americans. America has played nice for decades and I guess everyone forgot why America keeps getting involved in wars; because we tend to win wars.
Wherever you’re getting your information from, you should probably look elsewhere.
<img alt="" src="https://lemmy.ca/pictrs/image/89821688-3f65-479f-958a-0aeef9fdf46b.png">
Honey, America doesn’t have battle tanks because they are outdated. Carrying ppl into war via vehicles is some 1940s war behavior. Modern war is focused on subs, planes, and targeted missiles. Less waste, less civilian death, more precise. Unlike Europe, America has enough war experience to learn what works best. America is sending their outdated handmidown tanks, not a B83.
Honey, you’re a one hour old account with nothing but horribly bad takes on everything.
Good luck
Is there an internet law that says I’m not allowed to comment the day I sign up? Stop this mentality lol
Yes. It’s rule #33, “Lurk more – it’s never enough”.
You got video of that?
If that were true then what have EU countries been sending to Ukraine this entire time? IOUs?
ukraineaidtracker.org/en/report
Exactly
I’m sorry, but that’s absolutely patently false information.
worldatlas.com/…/the-largest-standing-armies-of-t…
Top 10 Largest Standing Militaries Of The European Union
(Yes, I may be showing off that I learned how to make tables today).
Trump can act this brash because Europe is nearly defenseless. Just considering the land mass and population sizes, there is no competition. But then consider that Europe isn’t as coordinated as America, there is room for reduced performance in war. But the biggest factor is that Europe has no defense money. They have relied on America to save them for over a century and the consequences are: Europe can’t intervene with them Trump Putin talks because they didn’t earn a seat at the table.
I quite sincerely believe that the long term goal is for the US to formally ally with Russia in a war against the EU.
I'm not kidding.
WW3 is probably going to be US/Russia/China vs Europe/Canada/Mexico/Japan?
I’m not so sure China will be on their side.
If they were, there wouldn’t be a real war
They’re kinda backing Russia already materially and supporting the Trump culture war
They’re playing the long game and having everyone else destroy themselves so that they can swoop in afterward. Much like how the US did after WWII when most of the world was rebuilding.
China is going to sit on the sidelines and swoop in suddenly to “win” the war, just like the US did in both World Wars previously. Being the only country not rebuilding is an attractive position to be in when vying for economic dominance.
I wonder if the geographical proximity to Russia will allow China to do that? American was able to sit it out because of, you know, oceans.
I’m not entirely sure if geographical proximity is even relevant any more in a world where spaceflight exists.
It’s very relevant. Wars are still mostly fought by troops on the ground, and you have to be able to get them to the place you want to invade. About the only other option is to try to physically destroy a hostile country with nuclear weapons, but that’s pretty much guaranteed to be disastrous for all parties involved.
That’s why the Russian world politics strategy prescribes fomenting war between China and India. To keep them busy while Russia fuck Europe with the USA’s blessing.
Chinas economy is crumbling as the youngest generation refuses to start after a historic flood season. Considering the new tariffs which eliminates Chinas ‘cheap labor’ sales tactic, China is expected to struggle throughout trumps presidency.
You clearly aren’t Mexican if you think Mexico would join forces with Canada before America lol
America is so split, I think we’d see a red America (allied with Russia and/or China) and a blue America (allied with Europe, Canada, Japan, Australia) fighting itself. There would be defections, sabotage, and theft of all American military stuff.
Maybe I’m wrong, but I would hope there’s enough good people in the military or former military with connections that would fight any alliance with Russia.
The only ppl who believe that are engaging in radical politics. That’s you! Even in the most blue state, there are red areas. Even in California, there are red counties. America is not so divided that red voters in New York would love to Russia. If you think it is that divided, then maybe you are part of the people creating the division.
Nah man. I agree with you.
I’m only saying hypothetically, if America were to ally and there was no way to come to a unified decision internally then you would likely see a division. I’m not saying that I think it would literally happen at all. I really don’t think it would. I’m an American in my 40s and Russia has always been the big bad boogie man you don’t want to become.
Would we be considered “an ally” is Putin is running both countries? We be more like a satellite office of the Russian empire.
I can tell you don’t work for the government because only someone uninformed would legitimately think there are enough Russians on earth to overtake 330 million Americans.
I can tell you don’t follow politics or the news if you think they need to “overtake” us when the elected president is capitulating to their every desire while half the voting population cheers it on.
What desires are being capitulated? I legitimately don’t know any American who is a ‘fan of Russia’ but I can’t even say what Russia wants, much less find it in the current movements. Can you list a top 5 list of wants that’s more detailed than ‘overtake __, rule ___.’ It looks like Trump is doing what he wants and playing sales games.
To start, we have Trump calling Zelensky a “dictator” and blaming Ukraine for “starting the war with Russia.” We have Trump negotiating the removal of sanctions against Russia. We have Trump calling for Russia to be re-added to the G7. Russia hacked the DNC in 2016 and leaked all their information to help get him elected the first time. During his first term, we had Republicans walking around like this: <img alt="" src="https://midwest.social/pictrs/image/dfa45fd7-0f95-4b7a-bf0d-a01c03124b3a.jpeg">
Russia wants the power and influence of the former USSR. They’re doing it by destabilizing and weakening western countries like the US and UK via bot farms on social media, getting people like Trump elected and leading them around by their nose, getting Brexit passed, stoking animosity and conflict, engaging in proxy wars like in Syria, supporting dictatorships like North Korea, trying to destabilize NATO while forming their own organization called BRICS, etc, etc.
Well, Zelenskyy does fit the definition of a dictator in that he cannot be replaced in office. Does that make him one? Not really, it’s a weird war time law. But no one else but him is allowed to fix the problem for Ukraine. Russia has funded both political parties in America because the goal is to destabilize America. They did a great job at it! If Russia had the choice between pushing America into its own self destruction vs exploiting the relationship for a benefit, Russia will choose option 2 because it’s cheaper, easier with less complications. Sorry, I do not believe that Putin is the secret president of America. That sounds irrational and I can’t find a single fact online to support the claim. The world can see that Biden had political ties Ukraine and Trump with Russia. That’s what politicians do; pick sides, build fleeting relationships, and manipulate storylines to win.
I somewhat believe that there won’t be a U.S. if that begins to happen. At some point, the states themselves will have to do something drastic for their own sake rather than let that idiot do something so inconceivably bad as starting a global conflict.
Maybe it’s unfounded optimism, but I feel like the United States would self-immolate before a war against the EU could take off.
Willing to put your money where your mouth is? Texas would have broken off decades ago if it was a feasible idea.
I’m with Adderbox on this. I think there are too many people within the gov or military that would not just up and join Russia. There would be dissent and sabotage, perhaps even a civil war here before America would just straight up join Russia.
America looks divided on the global stage but I’ve never met an American IRL who vocalized a want to become Russian. It’s a ‘Russian mail order bride’ because most Americans don’t want to be Russian.
Has there ever been Time in history when the European block showed a majority favoritism towards America?? I’ve never known a Europe that didn’t hate America. What’s new?!?
Well it was the same narrative bs with the WMD in 2003 …wikipedia.org/…/Iraq_and_weapons_of_mass_destruc…
That wouldn’t surprise me. Trump is without doubt serving Russian interests. Next, Trump will try to pull the US out of NATO, after that he’ll push for an amendment to scrapping the maximum of two presidential terms. US democracy is being rapidly dismantled along with the West.
Can USA get kicked out NATO? Is there any process allowing that?
They have precious minerals they aren’t willing to give us. We’ve done something similar for oil, so your scenario seems realistic.
If you are referring to Iraq, not selling oil to the US wasn’t their big sin; it was trying to establish international oil trading in a currency other than USD.
If this is terrifying you, get therapy.
Before or after they put boots on the ground to “liberate America from liberal tyranny”?
Everything out of his mouth is projection or a lie. Or both.
I don't see how any other single human being could have done a better job at leading and defending Ukraine these last 3 years than Zelensky has. The only reason Russia/Trump is pushing for elections is so Russia can interfe with them.
Plus, Elon’s really good with those vote counting computers. Maybe he can help.
What a cunt.
Naah, cunts are warm, deep and desirable
This is more creepy and unsettling than anything i have ever witnessed before in the “world news” … and i’ve been around for a while.
Agreed.
Trump is gonna get those rare earth minerals anyway he can. If Ukraine won’t sign them over he’ll make a deal with Russia to get them and Ukraine be damned. Licking Putin’s butthole is just a bonus.
Didn't he like dictators?
Yeah but not officially. Putin is a “strong leader” not a “dictator”
„With all due respect“ yeah, none
As an American, I am absolutely fucking mortified at (but honestly not surprised by) this development.
Fix your fucking country, Americans. I’m legit getting a nervous eye twitch from reading the news these days.
I’m sorry but there isn’t going to be a big moment any time soon unless he tries to stop the 2026 elections or does something like declaring martial law. There’s a good possibility there will be 4 more years of this.
He probably won’t stop the elections, he’ll just “putinize” them further.
Yup and we have to be ready. We can use the filibuster to prevent anything binding.
No we can’t. Nor unless republicans stop universally falling in line.
Did I miss an election that gave the Republicans 60 votes in the Senate?
They can kill the filibuster at any time.
Also this is assuming that anything Congress does will mean anythibg.
I think Trump will try to amend the 22nd Amendment and he will become dictator of the US.
Good luck? He needs
7566 votes in the Senate just to start.Edit - I hate fractions. It’s mutual.
at the rate the Senate’s spine is deteriorating i suspect it to slip by their scoliotic corpse within a couple years.
If that happens then yeah the country is cooked. But it’s not very likely.
I admire your baseless optimism.
Optimism makes the world go round. Nobody goes to the illegal declaration of Independence convention without optimism. Nobody marches in the street without optimism.
Having that possibility, that hope, is the core of making shit happen. Pessimism shuts shit down before it even begins. Realism can at least lead to doing a duty you’re pretty sure will kill you.
Do not count on that. Him and his fellow traitors are capable to things you can’t even imagine.
I don’t know, I’ve studied coups and I have a pretty active imagination. In fact I generally have to calm myself down. Which is part of why I know the minutia here.
The end run would be a Saddam Hussein moment, where he had members of his legislature arrested for treason while they were gathered for a speech by him. The particulars wouldn’t necessarily match but the idea would be to reduce the Senate to it’s quorum number and hold the vote then.
The problem with that course of action is 2/3 of the states must then also vote for it. And that’s not a realistic scenario. Especially if he tries to conduct mass arrests to affect the number of sitting legislators there too. Because at that point he’s lost all legitimacy and triggered massive protests or a civil war. At which point we refer to case G anyways. (The Go To Hell plan, when everything fails)
Note - it is 66 Senators, not 75. I hate fractions.
Is that regardless of like 20% of democrats being assassinated? Could they get the numbers if enough of the no votes are eliminated?
If they outright kill legislators en masse then Trump better be heading to a bunker staffed by loyalists. Because he just blew the air horn to start a civil war, with exactly zero moral high ground or legitimacy.
They would simply blame Mexicans and DEI. Use it to garner more power. Who would be able to stop them, or prosecute in any meaningful way?
We would. That’s where the people have to step up. The military would. Political leaders not aligned with trump would.
You are making way more assumptions about functioning government than recent trends would predict.
He’s consolidating all power in the executive. All bets are off on anything functioning the way it’s “supposed” to.
There’s a giant difference between hiring and firing in the civil service and declaring a new Constitutional Amendment without Congress or the States approving it.
A piece of paper means nothing if people with guns disregard it.
There’s more guns than people in this country. Picking up a gun to disregard paper is a very dangerous game.
Is it? There have barely been any protests on the streets. People are infinitely far away from violently rising up against this regime.
Maybe where you are? I’ve seen several since the beginning of the month. And nobody should be doing violence right now. We do not have the organization, moral high ground, or legitimacy for that.
We know, you Americans can’t stop talking about it.
But Americans also claim that all those guns are supposed to keep the government from getting corrupt and taking away their rights.
I don’t see the most corrupted government in your country’s history being scared to act because of all those armed citizens.
That’s because it’s also the silver spoon brigade who’ve never faced a consequence a day in their life.
He’s reinstating corrupt officials. He’s piling in sycophants into every corner of the government. He’s declaring he alone has the ability to interpret laws. He’s killing major federal departments. He’s ignoring policy. He’s ignoring court orders. He’s literally calling himself a king.
We are way, way beyond “firing civil servants”, and it is just going to get worse.
I don’t think he will amend the constitution. I think at the moment it doesn’t matter and it will be ignored. We are now actively in the greatest constitutional crisis in American history.
Understand that the shit has gotten very, very real. All this other stuff that we’ve counted on all our lives is gone unless something massive happens REALLY SOON.
I agree the biggest constitutional crisis of our life is already underway. I do not agree that we’ve reached the panic stage. Protest, organize, and be ready to vote in 2026. That’s what we do right now.
Bro have you not been paying attention? The new administration is governing without any respect for the law, they just do things and say they’re all powerful. And so far, nobody is stopping them. Nobody really has the power to, anyway.
They’re claiming a bunch of things but all they’ve actually managed is data access, a money stop, and firings. The big claims are being tested in court right now.
Nobody but The People
The People are largely idiots who let him be in charge twice.
I don’t think he’ll bother with amendments.
Please bomb us, we need punishment to learn anything
Bombing has historically not been the best way to change a country’s stance on anything really.
What? How about… Nazi Germany? Imperial Japan?
Bombing them didn’t really change the opinions of the Germans though. It just reinforced their stance on the “total war” and they kept going until they were obliterated. I guess a point could be made about Japan though.
So the Germans kept their stance on Jews etc. post war?
That’s obviously not what I mean. I meant the act of bombing will not change anyone’s political orientation. Total destruction and occupation might. But that’s not what this thread is about.
No need to change political opinions if we're all dead. We even color code the more evil states red for your convenience!
On the Japan front, they were already fairly demoralized and the most important factor is simply that, while the US had nukes, no one else did. With mutually assured destruction, that’s off the table.
He said himself, it’s not a crime if you are saving America!
Great way to get your country and allies nuked, however.
It is just getting started. You have not seen anything yet. We have if we are lucky 3 years more of this. If unlucky this is how it will be going forward.
If we are lucky this is only how bad it will be. I strongly suspect it is going to get much worse before it gets better.
The outright corruption and country-killing isn’t really having that much impact yet, but it will. And just wait for the global economic crisis.
However, if things get bad enough there’s a better chance of people rising up and things changing for the better. Or if things stay sane enough somehow, the midterm elections changing everything.
Assuming those mid-term elections are permitted to happen…
If we’re really lucky, 2. If we take congress then they can at least limit his powers or, with a strong enough change, remove him from office. Now, if this happens I don’t expect him to actually accept it and there will still be a fight, but the only real factor that matters at that point is if the military sides with him or the constitution. Right now, he doesn’t have the military support to successfully perform a self coup.
Imagine if the republicans get wiped out in both houses and the dems have enough seats to overcome filibusters and make constitutional amendments.
ok so what do you suggest
Crank the organized protests up to 11 and be prepared to fight once the next election is cancelled.
armed uprising
You have guns, fucking use them
can you be more specific
Use your imagination
i imagine you’re probably an idiot
And you’re a coward
go to the us and do what you’re suggesting before you call me a coward
Strikes. The only thing that works and is non violent. The rest is just reminders that the working class can stop working. Or reminders that one can do a Luigi.
This is what around half of the voting public wants. I’m going to be doing what I can to try to fight against this (for as long as I remain anyway), but the rest of the world needs to plan as if the U.S. is an enemy state and an active threat. We should be given no benefit of the doubt. No trust. Assume the worst and then try and think about how it could be even worse and go with that.
tell us what to do!! we tried voting and our educational system is so sabotaged that we do not know what else is possible
LOL
Get organized. Join local groups. Print flyers. Protest. It’s how people have been doing it for hundreds of years.
I’m not trying to be glib, but read this. You don’t fix big, systemic problems by working only within the system.
It’s your bloody country.
I would hope you should understand it better than we do.
again, the sabotaged education system guarantees that we do not
You should have had that nervous eye twitch for the last 40 years, the U.S. was doing plenty of fucked up shit even when we were projecting calm security. The first Trump presidency was the wake-up call to the rest of the world to start cutting ties with us, it actually blows my mind how little there was in place internationally for when he won again. Sanctions should have been placed on us, trade agreements dissolved, we should be getting isolated right now. I’m sure we’ll get there eventually, but it might be too late by then.
FUCK YOU, tRUMP!
There was never a better time for Europe to become independent again.
There was, 8 years ago. But the second best time is right now.
Russian asset says what
Inb4 military aid to Russia…
The Orange Turd is projecting again.
Looks like President Musk and puppet Trump are projecting once more.
I’m pissed at the american people.
Without getting into insults and earning a ban, they voted for this guy.
I’m right there with you and I live here. It boggles my mind that people voted for him and people stayed home.
The leadership on the left is terrible, and there is so much money and propagandizing on the right, it is insane.
They know who and how to target political messaging in a way that that was unheard of 20 years ago.
Even now, there are smart intelligent people that are like, “He seems to be making a difference.” Holy fucking shit!
And then they get mad when I ask them how. They always have bullshit propaganda points that were spoon fed to them and zero, actual understanding of the issues.
Mm it makes me very angry and sad to see peoples response to this. I feel like in Europe at least more and more people are becoming aware that it is not in fact just “the art of the deal”, but serious. Still a lot of careful rethoric thrown around and a lot of people refuse accepting the situation (fascists in the white house) but it is getting better. I have no idea how it is in the US tho except for some news articles which don’t tell me shit about what people think…
I feel the same way. But TBF I live in a country that voted for brexit. Essentially voted for sanctions against ourselves FFS, even though it should clearly have seemed like a horrible idea to everyone at the time. It’s not the same as electing an actual fascist but I’m just saying that Americans aren’t the only electorate that makes terrible decisions based on ignorance, xenophobia and misinformation.
That’s true. It is a human trait. But at the moment the ones making that mistake again are the Americans.
It it was unprecedented, would it be more or less forgivable? I don’t know really.
I didn’t.
*trump (g)rift
“I’m rubber your glue” in the head ass mfer bro
All of maga are like toddlers you got Steve miller having a tantrum because a reporter not “celebrating saving Americans billions”
you got elons bitch calling Zelensky a dictator
I know I’m missing more
P-R-O-J-E-C-T-I-O-N.
I thought Trump loves dictators.
Only Dicktators that have Putin’s smell.
The “Day One” Dictator who idolizes Hitler, Pooh Bear, and Putin says what?
The government of the USA is horrifying.
It’s crazy to witness everything happening, in 10 years when the USA is best allies with Russia and they are invading all other countries and starting wars and the USA has no check and balances people will look back and ask why they didn’t do anything to stop it.
There were 2 people who tried
Thomas Matthew Crooks
Ryan Wesley Routh
This transition will not take 10 years. It has barely been a month since the new administration took over and they’re well on their way to fundamentally changing the USA for the foreseeable future.
The lack of pushback is equally concerning.
If a foreign actor had directly attacked the Americans, they would be up in arms ready to “glass parking lot” whatever country had attacked them, but this attack from the inside (though partially pupprteered from abroad) is going almost entirely unchallenged (and barely noticed inside the country thanks to a mostly captured and complicit media).
Your use of “in 10 years” is incorrect: in 10 years, there will only be 4 meaningful-factions left on this world, the “Russian Empire”, which is then actually just a decorative-cloth-glove for the CCP, as Putin’s inability to understand anything not centered on him, has already made Russia the economic vassal-state of China, & his doing that well-broadcast teleconference-with-Jinping during Trump’s inaugeration-day, was Jinping getting Putin put-down some, so that he’d be more-controllable-by-Jinping…
That Trump is now sucking-up-to his mentor-of-multiple-decades ( read The Kremlin Papers stuff, on The Guardian, if you want, or Solnit’s stuff identifying how sooo many of his top-people are tied to the kremlin, also on The Guardian, a news-source who recently fired many?most? of their journalists, prefering to be more-profitible, & more aligned with their new-owners… no real/actual Journalism left, only corporate-partisanship, eh?
I remember when NONE of the so-called “Journalism” reported on the actual-election-results in the Phillipines was happening…
after the beginning, suddenly polling-station after polling-station was reporting exactly identical “2/3rds of all votes are for Marcos”…
& NONE of the “Journalism” of the West considered that to be news??
Traitors, all of ‘em )
& has now been in-power for exactly 1 month ( 20th of Feb, as I write this, morning… )
I guarantee you that there won’t be more than 4 factions left in 1 decade…
A former-spy named John Braddock has 3 books on understanding/thinking, in adverse contexts…
The 1 thing that makes me recommend his 3 books, in spite of the nauseating-to-me trance-induction-writing of his ( “Ten Types of Human” also demonstrates trance-induction-writing mode, & also is an important read, for any who care about the meanings in it )
is that he identifies the real-truth about strategy:
There are 3 categories of “games”:
IF you don’t know which of those 3 your-opponent is playing, THEN you’re incompetent at strategy, within the context your-life is caught-in.
The most-important book on strategy other than Braddock’s books, is “Playing to Win”, by Lafley, on the 5 dimensions of strategy that HAVE to be got-right, to win, strategically…
But … IF you don’t understand that your-opponent is playing a nihilist-game, a negative-sum-game, wherein their being “kings” of the world, while intentionally butchering/annihilating ALL others’ chances, where that is the whole point, THEN you are living entirely-in Hopium, with no traction, whatsoever.
WHEN you see a violent/aggressive phase rabid-animal running to kill your child, you do not go & have sociopolitical-debates with it, to try to make it feel “belonging” with your sociopolitical faction: you kill it, as directly as you can, accepting that its condition is beyond reason.
Some humans, including mass-shooters/murdercide-bombers, & other narcissist-ideologues/prejudice-enforces/“religion”-enforcers, are unreachable-by-reason, & either are dealt-with as the actually-are, XOR are allowed to take as many other-lives down with them, as they can…
Humankind will be spending the next … less-than-decade … finding-out that this is true.
Once it’s too-late, & there’s NO US of A left, THEN the BRICS-axis would be incompetent to fail to launch everything they’ve got against the West’s lives, to take all the opportunity that they can: it’s basic military pragmatism.
I’m expecting that to happen, the actual conflagration-of-the-world in global war ( not nuclear-inferno, but 1/2-century of war-of-attrition ), to begin sometime between 2031 & 2035, but I think it begins early, not late ( that obviously depends on how-long-it-takes for Trump to convert from wounded-narcissist to no-humanity-left-psychopath-with-absolutely-coherent-instinct, which I believe will take from now to 2028-ish, -/+ 1 year ).
In between now & the actual-beginning-of-the-conflagration-of-the-world, is the setting-up-of-that, which is when the fascist-alliance ( Trump, Putin, Orban, Millei, Germany’s AfD, Canada’s Poilievre, Farage in England, etc ), pull the world into obeying their global-alliance/network’s power, AND China obliterates independence/autonomy from Asia ( India, having relied on “king” Modi’s “Russia will save us from China” “s
those-prophecies would be fulfilled, simply because it isn’t religion that makes them come-true,
rather, it is hitting the industrial-revolutions-sequence, while still no-more-mature-than-the-Animals-&-Tribes-Time-people-of-the-past that makes them come true…
So, I think the same kind of pophecies could be dropped into ALL worlds who hit the industrious-empire stage, which enables the future industrial-revolutions-sequence, & in most, if not all of those worlds, the same “fulfilling of prophecies” would happen…
So, to me it’s a psychoevolution-system structural-consequence of unconscious-mind problems, not in any way tied to “this” or “that” religion.
The specific “religions”/ideologies/prejudices are just … “makeup”, to be honest, on the fundamental-unconscious-ignorance-breaking-world-to-prove-that-it-is-“GOD”.
A tantrum, in other words.
A world-breaking tantrum, to break god & make god OBEY the breaker-of-world-life.
THAT is what’s fundamentally going-on.
Have you got it in you to face into your own unconscious-mind darkness, & FORCE it into breaking, FORCE the total-you into growing-up, shattering/destroying all “identities” in you, until successful?
Boot-camp which never ends, in other words…
That is what Consequences, aka karma, are forcing into/on humankind, this-next-century.
Will humankind survive?
A remnant may…
IF the upright earns that result, & IF the upright have sufficient strength, in the world
( same as with cancer: if the cancer has taken-over ALL systems in one’s body, then the best one can hope-for is a good-death.
However, if one digs-in quick-enough, systematically-enough, strongly-enough, strategically-enough, not-sacrificing-what-cannot-be-lost, like brain, then surviving becomes possible.
Humankind’s now in this exact situation: what cannot be saved, what can, what NEED get done to enforce that humankind CAN continue-living… )
Sorry to be thorough/rigorous, unlike MSM, but “profitable stampeding” is what got humankind into this shit, in the 1st place.
Humankind’s survivors need to be centering on objective-and-spiritual-pragmatism, right now, & unbreakably, until this is all finished.
No matter how bad it gets.
_ /\ _
said the guy who banned the use of the word gender in scientific articles
Projection at it again.
Magats be like:
Ukraine under invasion by a foreign nation and it’s constitution does not allow elections while under martial law: “Dictatorship”
USA during peacetime, and the elected officials actively sabotaging the institutions of democracy: “Not A Dictatorship”
Self projection again? The official white house xitter account published an AI generated image of a turd with a crown, officially stating that the USA are now ruled by a king with absolute power
Oh you were being serious.
<img alt="" src="https://lemmy.world/pictrs/image/19ee4051-2b66-492b-94c7-926aa616a4e7.png">
<img alt="" src="https://discuss.online/pictrs/image/fad63585-56ee-4c22-8e7b-93d1a1f16312.jpeg">
Obviously Russia and Belarus have significantly better leaders if their people keep electing them over and over again /s
Oh look. The dumb fuck is projecting again.
Remember how Hitler called Churchill “a firebrand” & threat-to-all-Europe?
Projecting AND gaslighting, both, same as his template, who acted 8 decades before.
_ /\ _
The right loves projection.
this is a rift between MAGA and Ukraine.
or they could say between the US government and Ukraine.
I still support Ukraine and most Harris voters and many traditional Republicans (Eisenhower type) do, too.
I hope that the Biden admin did a good job of building them up and building Europe up to last through 2-4 years of a potential MAGA administration. Even if they were confident it wouldn’t happen. Hope for the best and prepare for the worst and all that.
Convicted felon, adjudicated rapist, serial fraudster and sexual harasser, serial adulterer, serial business bankrupter, pathological liar, and life long conman says more stupid shit.
Who the fuck cares?
It’s concerning because he’s the leader of arguably the most powerful nation in the world. That’s not a good thing.
It is concerning but the US is only the most powerful country in the world because of its influence. The rest of the world sees Trump as a dangerous joke. The US loses influence under Trump. The US closes, most trusted allies now see the US as untrustworthy because Trump is up to his old tricks of bullying others into renegotiating treaties that he signed because he doesn’t like the terms. Why would anyone make a deal with the US if it’s just going to throw out the deal and force a new deal whenever it wants?
Trump is going to be good for the rest of the world because he will greatly diminish the standing of and trust of the US. Trade relationships will realign to exclude the US. China will continue to increase its lead in EVs and cheap, renewable energy. The US has already lost and doesn’t even know it.