Appeasing Trump

[Lemming]

I had a friend ranting at me the other day about how deeply unpopular Starmer (UK PM) is making himself by appeasing Trump.

I see his point. Trump's gameshow government is an embarrassment to the human race and watching other leaders sucking up to him is undignified to say the least.

On the other hand, I very much hope that something completely different is going on behind the scenes. The reality is that America is too pervasive to stand up to it immediately. The overnight switch from friend to enemy is a shock that America's former allies will take a while to adapt to.

Obviously we also don't know how long this will go on for. Maybe the American people or their constitution will end it soon. But we have to prepare for the possibility that they might not.

We can all see how Putin is playing Trump but we have to hope that the rest of the world is too. Hopefully, behind all the toadying to the mafia boss, is some cunning planning. The cheesy flattery and wanking off of Trump's ego needs to be a diversion while the civilised world organises some kind of new order.

I'm an eternal optimist. I think we need to zoom out far enough to see the progress we're making over the longer term. That doesn't mean we don't have to keep promoting love and peace, though. It's still possible that we'll burn the planet before climate change does it for us. It's still possible that the oil reserves that Trump is so obsessed with will be made radioactive. There are always more good people in the world than bad. We just have to try not to become corrupted.

In my lifetime the Internet has grown from nothing to universality. That's a massive change in the blink of an eye that is a human lifetime. Of course, there are countless problems with the Internet but it is connecting the world together in a way that's never been seen before. My hope is that it's a big step along the way to outgrowing nation states.

It's not just climate change that requires planet-wide unity to tackle it. It's also the multi-national companies that are way ahead of us in understanding how small the world really is. It's in their interest to divide us into the smallest possible entities so that we can be played off against each other for their benefit. Hopefully we can reverse that trend soon.

[talkrum]

The only shred of comfort I can gather is Trump didn't kill us first time round. I hope he remains all bullshit and bluster. My fear is the Chinese don't recognise Trump's BS. Whoops apocalypse.

[RoMoney]

The Gen Z protests in the developing world give me hope. If the Iranian regime falls secularism could take root in Iran which would be good IMO. Also interested to see if any other countries regulate social media and ban it for kids like in Australia.

The Donalds second term has been pretty wild in terms of attacking domestic opponents and freedom of speech. Cant say I was very upset about the Venezuela thing. There are officially 692k Venezuelans in Spain and I never met one who liked the government. Its a failed state where the people rely on money sent from abroad so bye bye Maduro, hasta nunca! Lets just hope it doesnt end up worse, like Iraq or Libya.

Still trying to understand the Greeland thing, feels like he is just trolling people. Lets see, my friend joked maybe if he cant get Greeland he will come for Ireland next. We already speak English and he has a golf course there On that basis maybe Scotland should be concerned too

Heres an old classic, Janey Godley outside his hotel in Scotland:

[Flemish]

Orange Satan and his Fourth Reich is taking the USA back to the white South of the 1950s. Fuck the United Shithole of America! Isn’t Rubio tRump’s ass fucking little
pussy?

[Lemming]

Absolutely agree that the younger generations give reason for hope. If the world survives long enough for them to take over then I think it will be in better hands.

I can also agree that there is no reason to sympathise with Maduro. I'm not convinced that this will actually help Venezuela or even America, though.

I think sometimes we try too hard to suggest grown-up motivations behind Trump's actions. We think he wants to steal Venezuela's oil. That would seem rational for an adult tyrant. But Trump is not an adult. He said it was because Maduro was taking the piss out of his dancing. Maybe we should believe him.

Did Trump pass over Machado as Venezuela president for complex political reasons or simply because he wanted her Peace Prize? If we try to think like a stroppy toddler would, then it all makes sense.

Does he want Greenland's minerals or is it really about a big splodge of colour on his nursery map of the world?

[macky]

Just way over his ski,s, Your economy is 80% service etc, netflcks ,meta , Amazon .
Your mag seven is investing billion in AI with the help of banks and asset managers . Tell them again how taking Greenland and losing your biggest market and it is there biggest market the EU.
Convenient that Trump does not include service sector in his trade war because that number would show the western world being bum fucked. You think all those companys run free in Russia ,China not a chance. if they can keep them out of there network I,m sure the EU could do the same .
When reality sets in the boys with the money will step in ,till then enjoy the show .
I live next door and no matter how much trolling his administration does where done taking the bait.

[Lemming]

Do you think Trump understands or cares about any of that stuff?
Is he not more excited by the idea of colouring Greenland and Canada the same as USA on his schoolboy map?

[RoMoney]

I think a lot of the time he likes making headlines by saying wild things. It keeps him relevant in his mind and nowadays it helps distract from other potential stories about old friends and islands.

Domestically the immigration situation there is mental looking from outside in with ICE roaming around like hit squads.. And when he is gone in a few years to fix things they will rip down the borders and go back to having a free for all. I think the most frustrating about modern politics is the lack of a centre and reasonable discussion about how to manage things cos now its either a gestapo like ICE outfit or no borders. I think social media killed the centre.

[Lemming]

Yep, agreed.

I think, or at least hope that, although social media may be part of the cause of the ridiculous polarisation of opinions, especially in America, the solution may also come via the Internet. As you said yourself, the younger generations give some reason for hope because they understand this new world in a way that my generation doesn't. They can see past some of the bullshit and are better equipped to work with the technology to make the world a better place, eventually

Regarding Greenland, as I understand it, America has actually been running down its military bases there and could build them back up again any time it wanted to. It also has access to the minerals there so there is absolutely no rational explanation for Trump's mad demands other than wanting to re-colour it on the map.

Maybe he wants to rename it Trumpland East, with Canada becoming Trumpland West. Maybe he expects to be bombing Copenhagen soon before handing Europe over to his mate Putin and doesn't want Greenland to go with it.

[RoMoney]

I think Gen Z definitely see through some of the rage bait online quicker than older people, but I think social media has also made them the most anxious and disconnected generation yet. I want to see what the social media ban for children in Australia does. China also limits how much time kids can spend doom scrolling or playing games and they actually offer them extra time for completing educational stuff online. In Europe if we tried either of those things people would scream facism from the rooftops.

Trump would love to expand I'm sure, bigger is better and I think everything he does definitely has an ego angle, he is a reality TV star at heart after all

In terms of our happiness as humans, one MASSIVE problem nowadays in my opinion is our access to information. 200 years ago we knew about the misery in our town and the nearest big cities and we heard about it secondhand. Today we have the misery of the world pumped 24 hours a day into our homes and phones with graphic imagery to reinforce how miserable it all is. Even on Instagram, just following cannabis related accounts, I get political content, advertisements and rage bait in my feed which I have zero interest in. It can be hard to find positive headspace.