Good article on the decline of America's international stature under Trump.
One danger of taking a lot of time off from work is that during your absence, people learn to get along without you. When you come back, you're no longer as relevant, because the place has adjusted. Someone else in the workplace has taken over the tasks you were responsible for and their value has risen while yours has fallen.
That could happen to America, directly as a result of Trump giving other countries the opportunity to fill the void in leadership he's leaving.
This was completely avoidable. Obama had strengthened our economy and was respected in the international community. America was still seen as the world leader.
But, in six months, and mostly out of spite and self-obsession, Trump has undone that. Just to please his troglodyte base, who believe nothing could happen because a bearded ghost in a nightgown is watching over the universe, he completely abdicated leadership on global warming and made the U.S. look like a bunch of hooting bronze-age halfwits. Then Trump handed a huge trade deal over to China, India, Russia, and Brazil, who'll fill in America's void in Europe. Our economy will decline drastically because of this once it takes effect, but, hey, he just
had to prove he was different than Obama, right? His base -- who don't understand basic things, even though they have strong opinions about all of them -- demanded it.
But, everybody's entertained by the reality show, right? Whoo-hoo, TV ratings are up! Gotta have drama! Fuck the bread, double down on the circus!
According to a recent Pew Research Center survey of 37 countries, people around the world increasingly believe that they can make do without America. Trump’s presidency is making the United States something worse than just feared or derided. It is becoming irrelevant.
Trump has managed to do something that Putin could not. He has unified Europe. As the continent faces the challenges of Trump, Brexit and populism, a funny thing has happened. Support for Europe among its residents has risen, and plans for deeper European integration are underway. If the Trump administration proceeds as it has promised and initiates protectionist measures against Europe, the continent’s resolve will only strengthen. Under the combined leadership of Merkel and new French President Emmanuel Macron, Europe will adopt a more activist global agenda. Its economy has rebounded and is now growing as fast as that of the United States.
To America’s north, Canada’s foreign minister recently spoke out, in a friendly and measured way, noting that the United States has clearly signaled that it is no longer willing to bear the burdens of global leadership, leaving it to countries such as Canada to stand up for a rules-based international system, free trade and human rights.
China’s leadership began taking advantage of Trump’s rhetoric and foreign policy right from the start, announcing that it was happy to play the role of chief promoter of trade and investment around the world, cutting deals with countries from Latin America to Africa to Central Asia. According to the Pew survey, seven of 10 European countries now believe that China is the world’s leading economic power, not the United States.
The most dismaying of Pew’s findings is that the drop in regard for America goes well beyond Trump. Sixty-four percent of the people surveyed expressed a favorable view of the United States at the end of the Obama presidency. That has fallen to 49 percent now. Even when U.S. foreign policy was unpopular, people around the world still believed in America — the place, the idea. This is less true today.
All this and we're only six months in. Wait 'til the idiots policies actually start taking effect and things start crumbling. Enjoy that stock market while it lasts, because all indicators say we're all going to take such a hit you won't fucking believe it.
Putin knows what wrecked the USSR, and he wants the same to happen to us, just to level the playing field for him. So far, Trump has accommodated his plans to the letter.
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