Actually impeached, narrowly acquitted.
It’s pretty small.
I laughed!
Out of curiosity, what specifically did they like about Trump?
I mean a sort of get the, Democrats are evil, or the “real” America first screw the rest of the world, reasons to follow Trump, but I don’t think that would translate outside the US?
I assume it was anti immigrant bigotry.
Speaking NOT for @OldOlds, but from people outside the US who have spoken admiringly about Trump in my experience, they want the Big Strong Man™ who will fix all the problems just like they promise, and do so quickly and without raising taxes.
IE they want the father figure who can fix anything magically without them having to sacrifice everything. Which, of course, is how Trump and his ilk portray themselves, while blaming any failures on THOSE OTHER GUYS.
No one wants to be told there are long delayed, expensive problems that will take a lot of work and probably sacrifice to fix, and will take decades to get done. More rational individuals acknowlege that and work for the future, many people though just want things to stay the same or get even a little bit better RIGHT NOW and leave the future for the future.
We didn’t discuss immigrants, though I know that’s a big issue over there (I’m in Europe quite often and have got to know quite a few people there).
But it was the America First part that they all mentioned. As much as it pains me, Trump is consistent in this - he routinely says his priority is the interest of the US and that other leaders’ priorities should be to their countries’ interests. They want a leader that puts Belgium first, not the EU, not NATO, etc.
I’ve noticed a lot more general unhappiness with the EU than I think is apparent from this side of the pond. I think a clear majority supports it, but more than you’d expect don’t like it.
That’s interesting, I can understand it intellectually, but I look at the example of Brexit and scratch my head. It seems that when evaluating such a union, everyone sees all the so-called costs (open borders, shared systems/standards, lack of internal economic protectivism) and ignore or forget about all the benefits (lower costs for products, ease of trade, economic assistance).
Not that the US is immune to this sort of BS, as with oft-desired TEXIT or portions of states wanting to leave and join others.
Dammit, humans have an endless wellspring of stupid blindness and Trump and his ilk are good at channeling it, while depending on people to not realize that there are consequences.
It’s too early to drink, but I need one now.
Agree. What I see (and this is just my impression) is that it’s driven by a few things (I’m describing what I perceive they perceive, not stating these as fact):
-Loss of local identity
-Smaller nations being “pushed around”
-Crushing bureaucracy (this one might be fair)
-Immigration, but not what you think. The Brexit Brits for instance seemed to really resent the Poles, for instance. I think this is that they don’t blame the EU for the non-EU migrants. They blame the EU for the poor European migrants.
FWIW, not only am I there often, but when Brexit was going on I reported directly to the London office and nearly all my close colleagues were Brits.
Please note two posts above yours…
You know, it’s this kind of defeatist attitude that’s going to kill us. Crack open a beer!
Were the packets armed and dangerous?
Trying to come up with a joke about a packet’s TTL (time to live) but coming up short.
Oh well. I feel sorry for his employees but glad that money he’s spending on this nonsense isn’t going anywhere it could do any real harm
He did say the briefs will be filed later today (Thursday). I wonder if there will be “explosive new evidence?”
Don’t forget the abominable Mr. Murdock.
There is some truth in that observation. Take me, for instance: I have worked in or for the EU for years, I think I understand pretty well how it works and that it is all in all a pretty good thing that it exists. But I don’t like it, and particularly I don’t like how the last five or six leaders were elected (Barroso, Juncker, von der Leyen, Michel, van Rompuy…), how they act(ed) and what they stand for.
Still I know the alternatives are all far worse. But it is hard to fight with enthusiasm for a lobbyist influenced bureaucratic technocracy, the oponents have it much easier. It gets really hard when you are undermined from within (think Orban, for instance) with an existential threat from Russia (and let’s be frank: we must stand with Ucraine, there is no alternative, but Ucraine is a country that is not easy to like either), distracted by stupid British politicians (Farrage, Boris, etc.) with the help of the already mentioned Mr. Murdock.
And Trump? Same story, I am afraid. That is all he does: play the resentment card, and he plays it well. So where is the schadenfreude? I don’t have much to offer tonight, sorry. He must be defeated, he must lose the next election in a clear and irrefutable manner, he must go to jail (directly! Without passing Go and without collecting 200$), then I will have schadenfreude. Sadly, it is not in my hands.
Nope. Localism is alive and well in Europe. Ask the Catalans, the Bretons, the Irish, the Bavarians…
May I tell you about Hungary? Who is pushing who around, and who is punching way above his weight?
It is not, bureaucracy is boring, but not really crushing. The powers that be (monopolies, big corporations, foreign powers) would be even morse and mightier were it not for the rules to constrain them. With lots of caveats, of course.
I agree on that one. I remember the interviews on TV before the Brexit vote and it was most bizarre how they always seemed to end up complaining about the Polish plumber. And the remainers simply would not see it, therefore not fight it. Another parallel with Trump.
Just to be clear, I thought I was clear, that I’m portraying what the people I speak with seem unhappy about.
From where I sit in Boston, the EU looks pretty good. But I don’t get a vote on these things.
The combination of Lindell’s personality and style, plus the words “briefs” and “explosive” gave me a mental image that cannot be in good taste shared. Especially considering the shitty (I’m sorry!) nature of all such “evidence” to date. I blame you for this.
Actually, it’s Trump that explodes in his briefs.
(I really wish I’d never seen the photo that clearly shows Trump wears tighty-whities.)
Yes, I know. Just felt like ranting. Wrong thread, I am sorry.
If I were to stick a hand outside to check the economic weather, my experience is that the isolationist policy that Trump pushed through has lead to the predicted increase in prices (AKA inflation). It seems to have been noticed by the news on the occasion.
Thanks Trump!
(Note: I was in favor of cutting off our reliance on cheap Chinese products and am glad that we’ve begun that process. But we already had that all set to go via the Trans-Pacific Partnership, in a way that wouldn’t have lead to the sudden rise in inflation. Trump just replaced it with a dumb, self-harm alternative.)