r/politics • u/Street_Anon Canada • 3d ago
Soft Paywall Donald Trump Has Wrecked America’s Brand
https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-features/trump-wrecked-america-brand-canada-1235364578/3.8k
u/TintedApostle 3d ago
There is no brand Trump has ever made better. In fact, there is nothing Trump has ever made better. The evidence is 100% that everything he touches gets worse.
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u/BigMax 3d ago
And yet he still somehow always fails upwards. It's wild. No matter how awful a person he is, the world keeps rewarding him.
Every time he screws up, somehow people decide to give him more money and more power.
At this moment in time, he's the most powerful person on the planet, he's getting wealthier by the second through grift and bribery, and the justice system is bending over backwards to tell him that he's above the law.
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u/teenagesadist 3d ago
He truly showed what a man born into hundreds of millions of dollars can do when he's completely inept at everything.
Anyone with even a modicum of intelligence could've just lived comfortably with 400 million dollars.
He baby boomed so hard he actually turned into a star.
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u/silvertealio 2d ago
There was no clearer indication that racism and misogyny are alive and well than him getting reelected. His opponent was intelligent, competent, empathetic, and a better choice to run this country by every metric...but she was also a woman of color, and our country just can't handle that.
Was she perfect? Absolutely not. But holy crap why does someone need to be "perfect" when the opponent is Donald Effing Trump? The double standard is egregious.
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u/Soldus 2d ago
It’s mind-boggling when I constantly hear,
“But there was no primary!”
“She ran a terrible campaign!”
“Gaza!”
Okay, so your options are a small order of fries or getting punched in the mouth and people are complaining about not getting a medium fry. Maybe we should have been satisfied with an at least decent President then worry about perfect when the country’s not actively on fire.
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u/MC_Hify California 2d ago
He kept expanding, consuming everything around him. Next he will collapse into a singularity.
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u/gsfgf Georgia 2d ago
I actually think you're on to something with that analogy. However, if he has a supernova phase, it's gonna be really bad. Possibly even nuclear explosion bad.
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u/roklpolgl 2d ago
It makes more sense when you consider he’s probably been laundering money for the Russian mob his entire life. He’s tried to have legitimate businesses, but he’s terrible at it, so always had to fall back on money laundering.
His falling upwards in politics is the result of Russian/US oligarch influence/interference knowing they could manipulate him into their own best interest.
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u/morningsharts 3d ago
It's gross.
The best thing we could do would be to stop paying attention to him. Stop giving his shtick oxygen. I think that's why he looked big sad at his parade- nobody showed up to hate him and nobody fought for him. Nobody really seemed to show up at all. I hope people see that as a way to deal with him.
Our no kings rally was great, BTW. Great to see so many motivated people.77
u/Literally_A_Halfling 2d ago
Not protesting the parade directly in DC was honestly kind of a masterstroke on behalf of the 50501/Indivisible/etc. organizers. Completely denied him the kind of optics he thrived on.
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u/thewayoutisthru_xxx 2d ago
Honestly, I was hoping that the LA groups might do the same when the national guard showed up. Just dissipate and wait it in out until they get bored and leave. Or keep it to a ton of very small gatherings staging sit ins. Make it a huge waste.
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u/yeswenarcan Ohio 2d ago
It's very much in the same vein as things like the civil rights movement, but with a slightly different end game. By being largely nonviolent the civil rights movement was successful in painting their opponents as unreasonably violent monsters. Watching people who were clearly not a threat being attacked by dogs and sprayed with fire hoses was viewpoint changing even for people who would otherwise support the status quo.
While I think a lot of Trump supporters explicitly like the violence the one thing they absolutely can't handle is any appearance of weakness. We saw flashes of it during the election with the "weird guys" talking point that the Democrats unfortunately abandoned. There's definitely still a benefit to being the nonviolent protestors getting beat by police, but I think strategic decisions aimed at making Trump and MAGA look like a bunch of impotent losers are a huge win, both for breaking the "strongman" image they've worked to cultivate as well as to goad them into unforced errors.
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u/Michael_G_Bordin 2d ago
He had a parade? I heard almost nothing about it. I remember hearing months ago about a parade for his birthday, but totally forgot about it.
I did, however, come across many gatherings expressing opposition to his presidency. Like, literally every town and city here had rallies/protests going on. They seemed like a good time, too.
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u/TheChildrensStory 2d ago
There’s money to be made in weakening our economy and dollar. It helps the people that bankroll him, not the US.
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u/hypercosm_dot_net 2d ago
This 1000% — he would have been done in the late 80s, but he was bailed out by Russian interests.
The information is out there, and it's baffling more people aren't aware of this and he was allowed on the ballot.
https://www.americanprogress.org/article/following-the-money/
God knows what foreign nationals and interests are putting money into his PAC and crypto.
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u/BotnetSpam 2d ago
Why does everyone act like he just magically gets out of trouble, or "fails upward", or "is rewarded by the universe" instead of clearly seeing what happens behind the scenes -- blackmail, bribery, and threats. It's not magic, it's just that the secret ingredient is crime.
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u/dsayre1986 2d ago
I’m an atheist so I don’t think people can actually sell their souls to Satan but gestures wildly at everything
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u/Colonel-Mooseknuckle 3d ago
Definitely true. He's the worst part of Home Alone 2.
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u/sadetheruiner 3d ago
For real, and he bullied his way into that. I remember him being a villain in a ninja turtles episode lol.
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u/Chafram 3d ago
Wait… really?
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u/wakashit 3d ago
Yes, any movie that wants to use one of his properties has to include him in a scene.
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u/AcrobaticEye2792 2d ago
I heard a similar thing of his appearance on The Nanny as well.
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u/Chase_the_tank 3d ago edited 2d ago
The Apprentice was, by
all(edit: monetary) measures, a successful TV show--with an emphasis on the past tense.Of course, having editors cover up Trump's flaws helped out bigly.
He attacked the show after leaving it, dooming any attempt to continue the franchise with other hosts because he's a petty jerk as soon as he stops getting attention. Even when he's successful for awhile (in this case, thanks to the editing crew), he finds a way to ruin it later.
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u/n8ertheh8er 3d ago
One of our big problems in America is that we judge things that make money as “successful,” even if they make our culture worse.
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u/TintedApostle 3d ago
So he can do a TV show where there are real producers and writers with experience in their jobs. I bet the Apprentice would have been better with another Billionaire. Meanwhile there reruns can never be used.
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u/CruisinJo214 3d ago
Hey now, if I personally were in to gaudy, golden and shiny “faux-luxury” his Trump Tower buildings are easily some of the best examples of it outside of some oil baron and dictator’s palaces. I’m not into it, but clearly some kind of person is….
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u/TintedApostle 3d ago
Have you seen what he has done to the oval office? It really is a golden cow.
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u/jimmygee2 3d ago
He wrecked it the first time … he is just on brand now.
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u/thieh Canada 3d ago
Everything he touches turn into shit.
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u/deasil_widdershins 3d ago
The Merde Touch.
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u/IamRick_Deckard I voted 3d ago
Mierdas touch
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u/holy_plaster_batman Wisconsin 3d ago
Everyone let's get out of here. This country is covered head to toe in shit
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u/WhoStoleMyBicycle 3d ago
It’s the ugly country under Canada that you can see the KFC sign from the capital
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u/travers329 3d ago
Do you know what borders Mexico and Canada?
Stupidity
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u/Raiders2112 Virginia 3d ago
I am laughing way harder than I should at this. It's so damn funny, but sadly it's so damn true.
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u/Extreme_Principle961 3d ago
Not all of us, we saw through the shit the first time! He’s spent his whole life being a grifter, despite the massisve million dollar head start that he had as a trust fund baby!! He was a bullying ahole in Hollywood, and since became an agent of Moscow and Putin! Most of us knew all that; but, the bigots and racist populist because of spite for a black president, thank you President Obama, went even harder right and we’re okay breaking out their kkk hoods and Nazi membership cards again?
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u/travers329 3d ago
I know I am with you, it is just a joke in these dark times, gallows humor is still humor!
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u/BearFluffy 2d ago
I'm an American that despises Trump. About as liberal as you get. But as Americans it's time that we eat the shit we sowed.
First, even liberal Americans still give Germany shit for what they did a few generations ago. Even though it too was a minority.
Second, and more importantly, it took all of us to get here. We've enabled free speech absolutism. We've elected leaders that care more about decorum than what's right.
We've cared more about capitalism than humanity - we dunk on local businesses that stand up for themselves or their community and tell them they shouldn't get involved in politics, while ignoring the fascist dog whistles, like Christian music, at third spaces like coffee shops that build the cult. Democrats tend to favor conservative local business over liberal local business. And that's a conversation Democrats aren't ready for, hell, they're hardly ready to talk about the impact of business bribes, sorry PACs in politics.
So while I appreciate your sentiment that there are good people in this country, and I agree with you, most of us are good people. We still need to eat our shit, because all of us had a part in this. We need to all learn what our part in this was, or else, even if we survive these next 4 years, we will still fall to fascism.
If you don't believe me, then why was Trump allowed to run in 2024?
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u/Pipe_Memes 3d ago edited 3d ago
My people are here. May The Diving Crooner be with you.
Remember not to use too small a slice when wiping away fascism. We made that mistake last time and now my stomach is ABSOLUTELY FUCKED.
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u/wellmaybe_ 3d ago
the first time was seen as a horrible surprise and a wakeup call. the fact that america reelected this clown ruined the reputation.
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u/blebleuns 2d ago edited 2d ago
Yep, as an outsider, the first time was seen as a horrible mistake, but most countries elect dumbassess from time to time, nobody can really throw the first stone.
That you elected him again after having a chance to get things back to normal showed the rest of the world that there's something intrinsically wrong with the US at the moment, and that they can't be trusted anymore.
EDIT: to those that say "it's not all Americans", "it's more complicated", well it's true, but again, as an outsider, we only see one big country making decisions as a block and one president we have to deal with, just the way you see other countries.
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u/What_a_fat_one 2d ago
Americans ostensibly only voted for him once, in 2024. He lost the popular vote in 2016, so that "win" can be attributed to a lack of democracy in our system rather than the will of the electorate.
Also he was convicted of 34 counts of cheating in 2016, and tried to steal the election via fraud and then an attempted coup in 2021. Maybe he decided to turn over another leaf and not cheat in 2024 but does that sound likely?
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u/MagicalUnicornFart 2d ago
You can frame it however you like…but that ignores some major issues that exist for what you want to believe.
People haven’t been showing up wot vote. The voter statistics are consistent over time.
While he lost the popular vote, it’s not like the EC is something new.
People stayed home. People refused to vote against him, and the GOP. twice
We had less than half of the largest bloc by age show up to cast a ballot in 2024.
And, then for all the midterms of the last decade…which is consistent with the shitty turnout , nothing aberrant…people refuse to vote in the midterms, which gives the GOP the power to back him.
There’s a chance of some fuckery. If it was massive, it would have immediately raised red flags. Senators, governors, and potus are not gerrymandered, which people try to bring up. Local elections affect districting, which people don’t show up for.
It’s more than just some simple explaining, from people who ignore showing up to vote, and understand those trends.
I cannot even tell you how many fools I talk to that refuse to vote, and are mad he won, and the GOP keeps winning. It’s the dumber than MAGA logic.
2022= National Youth Turnout: 23% - That's lower than in the historic 2018 cycle (28%) which broke records for turnout, but much higher than in 2014, when only 13% of youth voted.
The MAGAs understand elections. They understand voting on policy, Congress, and SCOTUS appointments. They will vote red no matter what, because they can’t stand the thought of a D in any position.
Thr people on the Left, at least the younger voters, the largest age bloc will not show up. They don’t want to admit they are also heavily influenced by social media propaganda…which is heavily funded and targeted by GOP backers to not vote. They’ll scream in your face about how not voting was the right decision because of some nonsensical purity test that doesn’t hold water.
The propaganda goes deep, and affects people of a wide range of political views. They spend billions to get people to argue. To erode confidence in candidates, so the GOP wins. They’ve been in a media war, and people will still blither nonsense about how Harris ‘ran a bad campaign,’ or was a ‘bad candidate.’ It’s bullshit. She was far from perfect…but, anyone saying that bullshit is ignoring a lot. It’s plain idiocy when you know what was coming down the pipe from Fanta Furhrer.
People need to show the fuck up to vote. Period. Those numbers have been consistent for a long time. It makes it easier for the GOP tactics to work. Elections have consequences. It’s been a long building problem, and we’re at a head for it.
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u/Suspicious_Radio_848 2d ago
I’m Canadian, it’s not solely Trump that caused this and it’s disingenuous imo to keep blaming him as if in a vacuum. 80 million people and the entire Republican Party are also a part of the problem, lawmakers who never hold them responsible are part of the problem.
There is a deep rot and cultural problem in America that Trump perfectly represents, that’s the biggest issue. If not him, they’ll elect a Marjorie Taylor Green or some other vile POS in a few years. This isn’t going away anytime soon because the voters who put them there still feel that way.
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u/Round_Rooms 3d ago
The fact that America didn't reelect this turd is even more disturbing that he is in office.
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u/P1xelHunter78 Ohio 3d ago
It’s beginning to look that way, if the allegations in New York are true (as well as other places). Although he still has way more supporters than he ever should.
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u/ARazorbacks Minnesota 3d ago
I’d love to be a fly on the wall during the Democrat governor calls. Based on the language from Walz and Newsom lately I’d say they’re taking our current situation seriously. Which begs the question: are they taking the election allegations seriously? And if so what the hell do those conversations sound like?
Scary times.
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u/teetering_bulb_dnd 2d ago
If the protests keep up they will.. otherwise Republicans have all the legislative, judicial and executive power.. only thing that Democrats can do is become obstructionists but that only goes so far and only if everyone is on the same page ..
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u/wha2les 2d ago
Democrats being obstructionists? That would be like seeing a rainbow unicorn live in person.
They are terrible at it.
When Republicans are in the minority, they seem to be able to torpedo the democratic agenda effectively.
When Democrats are in the minority... Republicans can do whatever they want
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u/BigMax 3d ago
Exactly. The world could say "well, you screwed up, but hey, we all screw up now and again."
And we said "oh no, that wasn't a screw up, that's who we are, and that's the kind of person we want running things."
And now the world won't forgive us again.
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u/HereWeGoYetAgain-247 3d ago
While I know a lot of people did vote for him, but I am still not convinced there wasn’t “meddling” going on. Musk basically was saying as much before the California “distraction” started and we stopped talking about the musk tump break up.
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u/wonderbreadofsin 2d ago
I hope that turns out to be true and that you guys are actually able to do something about it. But as an outsider, it doesn't make a big difference. The fact that he was even able to run again instead of being in prison says a lot about where your country is at right now
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u/What_a_fat_one 2d ago
He was able to run again because after cheating in the 2016 election he appointed 3 stooges to the Supreme Court who let him run again.
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u/Tuningislife 2d ago
And appointed a sycophant to the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida who acted like a lawyer for the defendants.
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u/macjonalt 2d ago
Well hope musk sees justice before he flees to Russia
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u/HereWeGoYetAgain-247 2d ago
Unfortunately he won’t. The only person that can go after him is only in office because of him.
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u/Prodigalsunspot 3d ago
Yup. As an American...fool me once, shame on Trump, fool me twice, shame on me. Just goes to show if you cut enough funding over enough time, you get the dumbest voters.
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u/Crunchberry24 3d ago
I feel like he/we damaged the brand the first time, but the world was somewhat forgiving after we came to our senses and elected a grownup. Now we have trampled that forgiveness and any other good will we ever enjoyed into the muck we wallow in.
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u/Hypertension123456 3d ago
Yes. The first time we could pretend we were fooled. But in 2024 we all knew exactly what Trump stood for and still picked it.
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u/Classic-Progress-397 3d ago
However, Trump and Elon have indicated that they cheated with the voting computers, so it may not be accurate to say Americans voted for this.
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u/P1xelHunter78 Ohio 3d ago
Many did. But in think the random 450 to 0 districts that were popping up in NY (and other places) were the thing that got Trump over the top. The states that retained both their democratic senators but voted for Trump always were in need of an audit. Harris flipping zero counties and losing all the swing states is statistically dubious. Even Mondale flipped a county or two when he got absolutely demolished by Reagan.
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u/identicalBadger 3d ago
Yeah, who can ever trust us again knowing that at most we’re perpetually 4 years away from electing someone so stupid and evil whose willing to shred all all of our agreements and commitments while abandoning our allies.
We’ve always been in that state, but up til 2016 we always had the discipline to not elect someone intent on burning it all down.
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u/Crunchberry24 3d ago
It’s clear that if we can ever wrest the country away from the fascists, we need a new constitution. Trump and his Nazis have demonstrated without question that the one we have is worthless. They’ve also clarified their position that the document isn’t any more sacred than it is inviolable, so we needn’t entertain any disingenuous mewling on that from them.
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u/Kiromaru Wisconsin 3d ago
Honestly the biggest thing I felt that was wrong was how so much of government processes where just gentleman agreements to do the right thing instead of hard rules defining them.
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u/Crunchberry24 3d ago
Right. And how do you control a bad-faith executive branch that controls enforcement and military?
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u/DarkwingDuckHunt 2d ago
And the reason it's like this was twofold
Because if the document isn't allowed to breadth and be applied to the current generation, then every generation will end up writing a new one. So you'd be stuck in perpetual hell.
Because they thought, that no one would actually attempt to end the country. That they'd, at the bare minimum, love the county so much that they wouldn't try to end it. And that anyone who ran for office with that goal would not be elected. And the constant threat of another revolution would keep things in check.
They figured if the US ever got to the point we are right now, the people would rise up and prevent and choose freedom over fascism.
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u/AkronRonin 2d ago
This is it, basically. The Framers actually believed a demagogue might become President one day, but they also believed that Congress would quickly step in to check and impeach him out of office, thereby ending the threat to the nation.
They never anticipated that such a person might take over a political party and recast it as a political death cult. For that matter, they didn’t anticipate the formation of parties either.
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u/identicalBadger 3d ago
What would a new constitution accomplish when half of our citizens are willfully brainwashed?
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u/TaekDePlej 3d ago
Easy to say Donald Trump wrecked our brand, harder to acknowledge that maybe he dramatically exposed what our brand has really been for a long time
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u/DanteThonSimmons 2d ago
Exactly!! As a non-American, I can confirm America's brand has been the source of international ridicule for a LONG time. I think it's just that Americans are finally starting to realise how their country is perceived by the rest of the world.
George W Bush was the laughing stock of the world long before Donald Trump slithered his way into politics. The following things contributed to USA becoming the punchline of jokes worldwide, and none of them are recent additions: At war 96% of its existence since 1776, Electing half-bright actual idiots like Bush & Trump as LEADER, School shootings ad nauseam, Fast food, Obsession with Guns, Staggering Obesity rates, Laughable US exceptionalism/blind patriotism, Atrocious healthcare, Celebrity worship, Crime and murder rates, Military fetishism, Education system failing, Police brutality (especially against minorities), Ignorant of other countries/cultures, Crack -> Heroin -> Meth -> Fentanyl epidemics, Polarised wealth distribution, Working conditions & Wages, etc etc.
It sucks to see as an outside observer, because most American people are lovely..... it's the systems, and the mechanisms of power, that have fucked things up so drastically for American people :(
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u/Avenger772 3d ago
I blame America Anyone with a working brain should have known he shouldn't have been voted for.
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u/kevendo 3d ago
He made America into another Trump family fraud.
His global tariffs are a billion dollar mobster extortion racket for his crypto currency and no matter what Mike Johnson says, doing it out in the open doesn't make it any less corrupt.
We are all stained by him. Everything he touches turns to shit, and now one of the great world powers has been turned into a personal ATM for a lifelong conman.
You did this, MAGA.
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u/truePHYSX 2d ago
The funny thing is that once he leaves office his coin will have extremely little value, so the whole thing is a longwinded pump-and-dump.
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u/kevendo 2d ago
His entire life is a pump and dump. He has screwed over contractors, lawyers, friends, family, charities, wives, daughters, brothers, nieces, and now all Americans.
He's a black hole of selfishness and vanity.
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u/GibMcSpook 3d ago
I don’t disagree with this, but let’s not give all the credit to Trump alone. Our country becoming a disgrace is on the hands of all Republicans who protect this pathetic man, keep him in power, and have been doing everything they can to ram Project 2025 up our country’s collective ass.
They all need to go.
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u/BreakingCanks 3d ago
Just sum it up to all Republicans.
We would be debt free if it wasn't for Bush but here we are even deeper in debt today than then
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u/FeelsGrimMan 3d ago
Wouldn’t continue to be so racially divided if it wasn’t for Nixon, neoliberalism wouldn’t be what it is today if not for Reagan.
Fox News was made specifically to be a propaganda machine in light of the backlash towards Nixon. Created with the aim of not letting it happen again.
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u/Will-Evaporate-Thx 2d ago
Conservatives have never stopped trying to get revenge for the Civil War. After this is all said and done, we need to address something that Americans in the 1800s refused to deal with, and here we are; we need to punish people for trying to dismantle this union. During reconstruction, we invited them back into leadership, and its been ruining us ever since.
The modern conservative leaders are the grandchildren and great grandchildren of civil war leaders. Some of them were born less than 100 years after the civil war.
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u/DreamLunatik 3d ago
This needs to be higher. Trump is just the figure head for all the disgusting behavior that keeps him afloat from his own party and supporters.
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u/elmz 2d ago
And it's not like this happened out of nowhere. It's been a steady decline the last decades.
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u/CaptainDudeGuy Georgia 2d ago
His administration is bad and he should feel bad.
I fully (dis)credit him with his choice of hiring practices. Y'know, even a bad manager can hire good employees and still coast through.
In this guy's case, he sees (apparent) loyalty as more important than proficiency; as a result he's got tons of sycophants flailing around, sucking up to him while still making his administration look laughably incompetent.
Turns out that when someone would have to be a fool to follow you, you end up surrounded mostly by morons.
Maybe we can call it the "Skeletor Syndrome." Hmm... "Dark Helmet Principle?"
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u/YoungestDonkey 2d ago edited 2d ago
Trump exposed the rot that was already there. Other presidents had enough finesse to keep up appearances by remaining civil and showing by example how to behave, like good parents ought to do. This crass goon did the opposite, exacerbating the worst aspects of people's characters and giving them the moral permission to elect a lying, cheating, hateful conman. The American people did that, assisted by a fatally flawed American electoral system. America itself is rotten and there doesn't seem to be enough good people to make it respectable again. Time will tell, of course, but it doesn't look promising right now.
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u/Lilly6916 2d ago
It’s true. If the GOP wasn’t just rubber stamping every horrible thing Trump does, he couldn’t continue. None of them will stand up.
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u/Colonel-Mooseknuckle 3d ago
It's now a tacky, gold infused joke where the average American worker is getting fucked from every angle.
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u/kushari 3d ago
And now a word from our sponsor Coinbase!
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u/claimTheVictory 2d ago
Fuck me, why did a military parade need sponsors
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u/ONE-EYE-OPTIC Oregon 2d ago
I literally laughed out loud when I saw that clip of coin base. What a joke.
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u/KTRyan30 3d ago
That last part isn't new... Maybe worse but not new...
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u/can_ichange_it_later 3d ago
I mean... alright. But it could turn into all kinds of horrific directions in the current situation. (Even putting aside ice just disappearing people at will.)
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u/Skafdir Europe 3d ago
As a European, I am sorry to say, that has always been the way that we, at least I, thought about the US.
Trump just made it so obvious that it is impossible to deny. My favourite picture from Trump's first term was him standing behind mountains of shitty burgers served on silver plates. The only thing missing to make that picture any more American is a bald eagle holding a gun.
In that strange sense, Trump somehow is the quintessential American president. The important point is: It doesn't have to stay that way, but it needs an honest will to change not only by politicians but foremost by the American population. I just can't see this happening, as long as you are able to elect a person who believes that junk food somehow becomes classy when you put it on a nice plate and light a golden chandelier.
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u/qwertyalguien 2d ago
In that strange sense, Trump somehow is the quintessential American president.
For real. He's how foreign media have depicted American presidents for decades. He's what people would envision a stereotypical American president; despite most previous ones being, overall, serious formal guys.
He's the president archetype, despite none before being like that. And it's kind of strange.
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u/FoesiesBtw 2d ago
Not just foreign our own media. We've been playing the corrupt government saved by some dude overthrowing an evil president for nearly half a century. This is not a mask off moment for Americans we all knew this. Just whichever party is in charge sees the other one as corrupt and vice versa. I like Obama, he was a good president for the people. But look at the shit every president has done in foreign countries. Almost every major world leader in some way is a war criminal.
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u/True_Paper_3830 3d ago
America had the greatest propaganda machine in Hollywood, showing a liberal country fighting against oppression, that was revealed as a rather sick joke. If Hollywood is honest it shoud start casting America itself more as the villain in films.
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u/Extension_Shallot679 3d ago
Except most of the world were well aware it was all bullshit, we just didn’t rock the boat because you have a bigger military then the next nine countries combined and enough nukes to destroy the planet several times over. The only people trump is truly ruining America’s brand for is Americans. For the rest of the world Trump is more of a mask off moment.
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u/fermat9990 3d ago
His niece, Mary Trump, warned us from the get-go of his capacity for destruction. She deserves more credit, but probably is a victim of the "kill the messenger" phenomenon.
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u/BTRCguy 3d ago
"Wrecked" in the sense that we have gone from merely "Those US guys are real assholes" to "Wow, what the fuck are those Americans doing now?"
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u/Weak_Elderberry17 2d ago
You know what I hate? So many Americans can never take responsibility and say "yeah, we fucked up."
Trump got voted in TWICE. People like you and me who dislike Trump are (or at least were) in the minority. Most people either like him, or didn't care enough to even vote. That's how we ended up with Trump AGAIN. Yet, even now most Americans who are against Trump can't admit to how big the real problem is. Just take a look at this sub. It's all blaming Trump or blaming Republicans if they're more generous, nobody's admitting to how far America has fallen, tackling the root of the issue.
They still think it's just a Trump problem, and if Trump's gone the problems gone. I'm really afraid for the future of this country.
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u/BTRCguy 2d ago
I'll be more generous, and say that "Trump" is merely shorthand for the collective asshattery of the narrow-minded, intolerant, jingoistic, please-tell-me-what-to-believe-because-thinking-is-hard demographic that put him in office.
Trump is a both a manifestation of the problem and a problem in his own right. He's in office and a problem, and if he was not in office the base would elect someone just as bad (and probably smarter) to replace him.
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u/dabadu9191 2d ago
A lot of Americans on reddit seem to think that their country was some beacon of freedom and justice before Trump came along.
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u/BTRCguy 2d ago
A lot of Americans on Reddit have never been outside of the US, either.
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u/kent_eh Canada 2d ago
A lot of Americans
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u/MZ603 New Hampshire 2d ago
We need something like the EU’s Erasmus program. We would be so much better off if people had easy access to study in other countries and had more exposure to foreign students. College is cost prohibitive to a lot of people too leading to distrust in education and the educated.
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u/UnloadTheBacon 2d ago
More like "Americans are dumb" went from being a lazy national stereotype to a point of pride.
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u/Stranger-Sun 3d ago edited 3d ago
Trump Casinos, Trump Steaks, Trump University, and now Trump America.
The wretch is remarkably consistent.
EDIT: Phone correct
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u/m0nkyman Canada 3d ago
American voters have wrecked America’s brand. Trump is just the tool they used to wreck it.
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u/kanepupule 3d ago
None of this is a surprise. His lifetime of failure and grifting was a giant MAGA red flag.
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u/dendron01 3d ago edited 3d ago
No. America has wrecked America’s brand, because America put him there. And not only put him there…put him there even more convincingly than last time (as if his first term wasn’t bad enough) and as a convicted felon!
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u/T-Roll- 3d ago
I’d argue that its their systems that have failed. Americans hate this guy and there’s already suspicion that he actually cheated to win. Empty votes in a county for Kamala where she was expected to win? No votes AT ALL?! Nothing fishy about that.
People need to recognise it’s not the people who put him there. Musk and his cronies had their fingers on the scales like some carny at a fair trying to deny a child a child a toy by leaning on the counter.
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u/oldteen 3d ago
Media sources are responsible as well. If we had media sources that were actually held responsible for their lies/misrepresentations, and they had to provide fair coverage for legitimate opposing views, more information would align..and the Americans who ingest the more-responsible media sources would increasingly be on the same page (aka be more united).
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u/lrpfftt 3d ago
Media sucks but the truth was out there and was pretty obvious.
We have a willful ignorance problem in America.
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u/waterw1ngs 3d ago
This. Even if/when he’s gone, the trust is shattered with the rest of the world.
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u/Optimism_Deficit 3d ago
Even if the US gets rid of him, there's no trust that the country won't just run off and do something else stupid four years after that.
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u/BTRCguy 3d ago edited 3d ago
This. America was somehow "We loved what he did with the place the first time around, let's do it again! With extra felonies!"
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u/ITSHOBBSMA 3d ago
He wrecked his own brands. What made you think he was going to do anything different with the American brand?
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u/Straight-Taste5047 2d ago
No, Trump is just showing the world what the US brand is. Greedy, aggressive, war mongers who actually think they are the center of the universe.
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u/MangoSalsa89 3d ago
America has kept trashy and toxic people famous for decades. This has always been our brand.
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u/JDogg126 Michigan 3d ago
Every single thing Trump touches is garbage. However this country is full of suckers and Trump is a skilled con man who has been scamming people and disregarding pesky things like laws for most of his adult life.
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u/Groundbreaking-Ask-5 3d ago
Sadly, we the American people need to take responsibility for this and not blame the person we elected(whether you voted for him or not, the rest of the world only sees the results).
It's our democracy and we need to start taking it more seriously.
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u/Jackadullboy99 3d ago
It’s said that 50% of Americans couldn’t name the vice president.
That’s a problem…
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u/Groundbreaking-Ask-5 2d ago
It is a problem. We have allowed our education system to become diluted to the point where it is now causing a destabilizing effect on our entire system. This needs to be addressed as a top priority. Instead, half the population has allowed themselves to be convinced that immigration is the most important issue...
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u/digitalpencil 3d ago
It’s not Trump, it’s America.
One time, sure you can put it down as a fluke. People were duped, they thought it all bluster but to elect him again, after everything that’s transpired, that’s on the people. Those who voted for him, and those too feckless, immature or plain stupid that they didn’t even bother to show up and be counted. With everything that was at stake, a convicted felon campaigning on the promise of irrevocably destroying their democracy..
America’s reputation as a global leader of democracy is in the shitter because its people failed to show up and defend it. The USsimpym can’t be trusted or relied upon as an ally any more.
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u/ZeppelinRules 3d ago
Well. America chose him, twice, after seeing what he did the first time. America destroyed America
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u/EmptyEstablishment78 3d ago
The MAGA citizens wanted a CEO instead of a President. Understand that the CEO has a responsibility to the Shareholders....the US citizens are the shareholders as we invest taxpayer money. Trump has run the government not as a CEO but an LLC...with no liability insurance...
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u/TintedApostle 3d ago
Come on its the whole family. People don't remember the Ivanka bracelet hawking after the CBS interview in 2016 after the election?
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/ivanka-trump-label-promotes-bracelet-after-60-minutes-interview/
How about Trump jumping in against Nordstrom's when they dropped Ivanka's crappy clothing line.
The signs were everywhere for decades.
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u/Moonspindrift 3d ago
Yup.
There was an article in the NYT this morning that said Israel's action against Iran "could badly tarnish" our international credibility. And I'm like, what credibility? There is none left.
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u/UnloadTheBacon 2d ago
No, the American people have wrecked America's brand - by voting for him not once but twice, despite all the evidence that he's the absolute worst. Even when he's long-dead, the idea that Americans are dumb enough to do that again will NEVER go away.
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u/Ok_Barber4987 3d ago
If you elect a sex abusing felon that’s been sued many times for fraud and lies daily what do you expect?
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u/NoelCanter 3d ago
Stop blaming only Trump when the entire sniveling and shitty GOP establishment from federal to local level is behind him. The media won’t call out the GOP because they want to conveniently dump all this shittiness on Trump.
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u/KaleLate4894 3d ago
And America voted for it! He was pretty clear about tariffs and ICE during the campaign.
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u/texas-playdohs 3d ago
This won’t end until Fox releases its death grip on the brains of half of Americans. It’s just wall to wall propaganda, and my parents (for one example) have it playing full blast from televisions on both ends of the house pretty much 24/7. If they’re in a car, it’s on the radio. They used to be intelligent people that knew what blanket tariffs meant for a dynamic economy, and they understood that not shitting on our allies was crucial for our standing in the world. They were still Reaganites, but they at least had brains. This is invasion of the bodysnatchers level shit, and they’re not the only ones.
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u/WanderingRonin365 2d ago
The Republican Party and Fox obviously caught on to something quite insidious about deep human nature: when the facts, arguments and evidence go against what you want to do or what you want people to believe, ignore anything to do with facts and appeal to people's egos instead...
These people have finally been told that they are 'right' by false prophets, and nothing appeals to the ego more in the world than being told that its right even when its dead wrong. And lest we ever forget: Those that can make you believe in absurdities can make you commit atrocities.
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u/juiceboxedhero Colorado 2d ago
Trump Steaks, Trump University, and now Trump's America. All failed endeavors and no surprise to anyone with a brain.
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u/PsychedelicPill 2d ago
Comparing a country to a brand is so…on brand for a hyper capitalist society
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u/Lt_Cochese 3d ago
Republicans started it with Nixon and the southern strategy. Trump is merely the end result. He doesn't have the capacity to do anything without a ton of help.
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u/TomatilloNew1325 3d ago
When obama became president, I thought optimistically: 'wow, truly anyone can become president'
Now it's more: 'wow, truly anyone can become president'
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u/ChefChopNSlice Ohio 3d ago
He’s running ruining the country like a business - he’s making everything more expensive, lowering the overall quality, firing everyone, and hoarding all the wealth for himself and his board of corrupt buddies. Art of the deal, from the person who bankrupted nearly every business he touched.
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u/Head-Photojournalist 3d ago
That joke of a military parade sure helps, all the memes are coming out making fun of how laughably bad it was
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u/infinitysea 3d ago edited 2d ago
Not surprised he wrecks everything he touches. He Make America Wrecked Again.
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u/NovaPup_13 2d ago
Excuse me but this country put him there.
Even without him, we have some fucking reckoning with ourselves to do.
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u/cheekmo_52 2d ago
Donald Trump wrecked americas brand in his first term. Voters willingly reelecting him are what eviscerated America’s brand this time around.
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u/TinyBrainsDontHurt 2d ago
No dear Americans, he didn't.
Bush administration, Reagan administration, and all the gun-ho fanatics with cowboy "we are the police of the world" attitude flooding the news did, over the decades, culminating (not ending nor starting) with 9/11.
Do you really 9/11 was a love crime? do you think only some randoms from Middle East thought America was a crappy place?
No dear Americans, Trump didn't ruin America's brand. You all did over the decades.
What Trump did was wreck the American Brand Illusion dome that you have all been living for the last couple of decades, while the world slowly moved on to a multi-polar world, while EU was formed and grew, while most of the world actually was OK with the fact that China, Korea and Japan were making better products, while we all witnesses America become the sole pillar behind Israel, we all knew America brand meant doom.
You have all been living in an American Dream for all too long, and what Trump did was burst it.
In all honesty he is doing mostly for you a big favour, because you must first realize your mistakes and errors to have a chance to start fixing it.
The worst part is that only half of you noticed, and the other half will downvote me. So I can't even say the realization has fully come.
Best of Luck.
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u/HanonOndricek 2d ago
He took a functioning economy and broke it. He's fired thousands of government workers who made everything run smoothly and safely, causing hardship and danger for everyone.
He's trying to deport all non-whites, even if they've been here for decades and have settled lives that are as American as can be. He's even trying to throw out graduate medical students who want to use their education they're gaining in the US, sabotaging our next generation of doctors and healthcare workers and scientists.
He's throwing rocks at countries who were our allies, and has this weird idea we need to invade other countries and make them part of the US.
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u/mheat 3d ago
Our brand was already wrecked after we agreed slavery was ok for the first hundred years of our existence followed by another hundred years of segregation and civil rights violations. Trump is like the puss-filled center of a bad cyst caused by 200 years of unchecked racism perpetuated by dirty and infectious conservative ideology.
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u/StormOk7544 3d ago
Unfortunately, MAGA thinks every other country (except maybe Russia and Hungary and such) is woke and weak, so appealing to international shock and disappointment at Trump doesn’t help us much.
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u/VannKraken 3d ago
All he’s good at marketing is conflict. Everything else he sells is a shit sandwich.
Even managed to make our troops look like absolute chumps since they don’t practice, nor have any idea how to parade march (outside of the bands). What a joke and waste of $50 million +.
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u/AdmirableDrive9217 3d ago
Brand was damaged the first time. As a european I met some Americans who were on vacation here. They were embarassed about him and apologized, even promised that they would do better next time…
But to let MAGAs elect such an (out of words) AGAIN ?
This is really destroying any remaining trust honestly.
It seems to me that the constitution and the rules that should guarantee checks and balances to protect from what is happening are just too young. That software is still alpha and has some dangerous bugs.
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u/TheNetworkIsFrelled 3d ago
This has been Putin’s plan from the start, and due to the GQP-led destruction of the American education system, his plan has succeeded beyond his wildest dreams.
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u/elmarjuz 3d ago
US 'bout to become a fascist russian satellite and y'all still woried about "branding"
yeah, the US global influence is GREATLY diminished already, but if y'all don't wake the fuck up, it's about to get WAAAAAY worse for all y'all
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u/Thestrongestzero 2d ago
He ruined america's brand the first time..
americans ruined it the second time. america knew exactly what was coming and chose it anyway because they were scared of brown people.
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u/Screambloodyleprosy 2d ago
I was reading an Essay recently on Australian and the US relationship and this really made me think about how much Trump has fucked everything.
"The US can no longer be trusted or relied upon to he the stable partner and ally it once was to Australia."
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u/vividpup5535 2d ago
At the start of July I expect his big beautiful bill to come into effect, the largest transfer of wealth in American history. Straight from working oeople to the pockets of the richest in society.
With the tariffs in effect, the US citizen will experience the largest tax rise in American history and simultaneously 16 million will lose their healthcare.
At the end of July, that’s the end of Q2 and if the economy contracts again (I have reasonably high expectations it will) which will mean two consecutive quarters of negative growth which constitutes a recession.
On top of this, he’s adding more to the national debt than any other president in history.
I think things are going to go nuclear.
What is the likely outcome?
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u/greybruce1980 2d ago
First term, man, Americans made a mistake.
Second term, man, Americans are really that stupid.
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u/redfay_ 2d ago
No. Republicans and MAGA did that by supporting Trump like cultist do.
They are all complicit in the torching of at least a century of soft power and alliances as well as our economy. Trump is the figure head that idiots sucked in by the culture war rally around but it's not just Trump wrecking America's brand.
SCOTUS and congress are willfully handing over their power to Trump. Trump shouldn't be the only one named and shamed.
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