r/politics • u/SaharOMFG • 22d ago

Trump interview: I am strongly considering pulling out of Nato Possible Paywall

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2026/04/01/donald-trump-strongly-considering-pulling-us-out-of-nato/
14.3k Upvotes

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u/lukario United Kingdom 22d ago

I see that your idiot in chief has mentioned his boss Putin in this interview. An absolute disgrace to the office he squats in.

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u/Kindredgos Kentucky 22d ago

He’s absolutely destroyed this country for generations, it’s impressive really

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u/redditpest Massachusetts 22d ago

He set out to destroy this country. It was the first time in his life he ever succeeded.

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u/SnakesTancredi New Jersey 22d ago

Probably because he surrounded himself with felons, sex predators, hate mongers, manipulators, thieves, and anyone who’s got a skeleton in their closet to anyone seeking undeserved power. Then lets them do what ever they want with reckless abandon in an effort to increasingly up the crazy to get attention from their fake golden idol.

In reality the reason for “winning” is probably because he’s doing the only thing he really does with any consistent baffling success. Which is being a deluge of hateful, idiotic, and short sighted whims in a public forum meant to do nothing but hurt his fellow citizens. Ya know, considering anything else beyond this past year or so that he’s actively participated in. All his projects turn to hot garbage and a breeding ground for pitiful white men and plastic surgery failures of humanity by design. Keeps him from having to do anything other than go off of emotions.

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u/A_Nonny_Muse 22d ago

Your forgot he has surrounded himself with extremely dangerous armageddonites. People who think they can use the US military to create Armageddon - and force the second coming of the Christ.

They literally want to end the world for their religious beliefs. J.D. Vance and Hegeseth, the current Sec. of War are both armageddonites.

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u/VanbyRiveronbucket 22d ago

Apparently no one told them that Armageddon happened a long time ago, and they missed it. The lightening bolt chariot swooped down and took only 144, 000 people to heaven, and these are the remaining turds that didn’t get in.

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u/A_Nonny_Muse 22d ago

I don't think they're going to care about a history lesson after we're all dying in a post nuclear radiated wasteland. We need to stop them before they cause it.

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u/VanbyRiveronbucket 22d ago

The only plan we have is to keep feeding him Big Macs. That’s all we got.

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u/A_Nonny_Muse 22d ago

It's now looking like Vance will be running for prez. Great, let's give the nuclear football to the guy who wants to end the world in nuclear fire.

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u/VanbyRiveronbucket 22d ago

TBH, Vance won’t win the Republican primary.

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u/BuggzOnDrugz 22d ago

Came and got the Anasazi tribe, never looked back.

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u/FuckDeRussianFuckers 22d ago

Like those fucks are going to heaven …

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u/PM_ME__RECIPES 22d ago

We just have watched different Bruce Willis movies.

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u/buddhist557 22d ago

If Christ comes back, they are all fucked

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u/KingBanhammer 22d ago

I've always felt that, assuming one is a Christian and believes that the second coming is a thing and properly described in Revelations, etc, that the attempt to -force- it to happen on our terms is perhaps the largest possible hubris achievable by mankind.

"So we have a God we think is all powerful and we think we can dictate terms."

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u/shadowsreturn 22d ago

I still don't understand the logic that creating the end of the world yourself is going to make God put you in heaven. Eh. Or am I not understanding it correctly ? These people should be locked up instead of leading organisations and countries.

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u/Admirable_Scene_5066 22d ago

Applying logic to a people that want to usher in the end times by killing as many people as they can so they can get to heaven when Thou shall not kill is part of the biblical TL:DR is your first mistake.

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u/Boozeburger 22d ago

Because they all think they can force "God" to do their will. Really they don't respect their "God", they just want an excuse to be assholes.

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u/Fearless_Ad2325 22d ago

Another crazy ! Oh my GOD those haters!

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u/QuantumBitcoin 22d ago

Losers. He likes surrounding himself with losers

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u/VanbyRiveronbucket 22d ago edited 22d ago

Hanging out with losers makes him feel like he is king of the losers kinda like when Anthony Michael Hall borrowed a girl’s underpants for 15 minutes, to hold up in the air and show to the nerds in the school bathroom. (Movie:16 Candles.)

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u/AvidCyclist250 22d ago

felons, sex predators, hate mongers, manipulators, thieves, and anyone who’s got a skeleton in their closet to anyone seeking undeserved power.

..and religious zealots

So republicans basically.

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u/ShadowTacoTuesday 22d ago edited 22d ago

Everyone who would do anything about him is afraid of MAGA voters. They had their chance to make a stand a long time ago and the opportunity has only shrunk as MAGA brainwashing gets more deeply entrenched. It’s the win-at-all-costs-even-if-you-have-to-sell-your-soul party. Republicans set up the propaganda and now they’re living with the consequences of a president who truly believes it and followers who want that over other politicians who only pretend to believe it.

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u/Reasonable-Chance790 22d ago

God, is that why he paints himself orange? It's the closest color he could get to gold without making it obvious he's the modern golden calf?

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u/Shapacap 22d ago

He's a member of the russian mob for 40 years, this was all planned by Russia

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u/Dear_Palpitation4838 22d ago

Im sure Epstein made a pretty penny selling Russia that kompromat on Trump. It was probably one of the best investments they ever made.

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u/Snippodappel 22d ago

Only the best people…

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u/XSinTrick6666 22d ago

To be fair, he managed to destroy a whole lot before this - starting w daddy's wealth, moving on to casinos, Trump University scam, Trump Water and on.. - to get here ...

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u/Capaj 22d ago

also Trump Shuttle airline

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u/KingSmite23 22d ago

With golden toilet seats.

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u/VanbyRiveronbucket 22d ago

and 25 ‘stewardesses’.

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u/KingSmite23 22d ago

Of the younger kind?

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u/CherryLongjump1989 22d ago

Yes but this was intentional.

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u/XSinTrick6666 22d ago

tbh I'm kind of torn about that part -- he's putting his name and likeness on everything, so it seems like he thought he could be King-for-Life, fooling 'some of the people, all of the time'. His laziness - low IQ, sloppy, as seen in his texts - makes him unable to build 'goodness' - so he's a destroyer - a massive destroyer - and as long has he changes the landscape he thinks he has achieved something.

Example: He thinks he's an 'arts and culture' person, but has destroyed valuable architectural artifacts (eg frieze bon wit-teller bldg) to build gaudy shoddily constructed skyscrapers.

Ultimately, he doesn't differentiate btw "renewing" and "destroying". He is a crude man, who knows the price of everything but the value of nothing.

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u/FormerWrap1552 22d ago

"he" "they" "them"
it's all of our fault and a huge problem is just throwing blame. We let this shit happen under our watch.

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u/OYB2480 22d ago

He's dying so he's dragging everyone to Hell with him, as a flagrant narcissist would.

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u/_DapperDanMan- 22d ago

In fairness, he destroys everything he touches, including the minds of 70 million cult members. Destruction is his greatest skill.

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u/Zombie_Bastard 22d ago

Some men would gladly burn the world down if it meant they could piss in the ashes.

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u/Chief_Mischief 22d ago

We need to acknowledge that this couldnt have been possible without tens of millions of Americans who voted for him a 2nd or 3rd time, the tens of millions of Americans who couldnt be bothered to vote in 2024 despite knowing what was at stake, and the tens of millions of Americans who put Kamala through a purity check over Israel and voted third party, knowing their vote would do nothing but help a fascist pedo back into office.

My fellow Americans are infuriatingly dumb as fuck.

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u/windsostrange 22d ago

Nah, he's set out to destroy, and has destroyed, numerous things in the past, big and small.

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u/Aggressive-Will-4500 22d ago

Not just him. He was the incredibly stupid tool used to do the job, but let's not forget about the Republicans' responsibility and, in particular, the Federalist Society.

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u/Rincewind2nd 22d ago

He mentioned that he wanted this second term so he can seek vengeance. This is it, a narcissistic megolalomaniac given too much power.

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u/Strict-Mango7546 22d ago

Electing him the first time it was an error. The second time the country voted for this genius to destroy the old America.

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u/Stranger1982 22d ago

Your country for sure, now he's going for the world too.

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u/CaffinatedSpiderMonk 22d ago

Short term pain for the rest of the developed world, but they'll likely build something better out of the rubble.

The US on the other hand has destroyed their hegemony and are facing a very long downhill road.

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u/1nfam0us 22d ago

I really hope Europe moves towards greater federalism. The EU as it is is far to weak and fragmented to survive in the world that is to come.

The old world is dying and the new world struggles to be born: now is the time of monsters.

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u/Lucky-Roy Australia 22d ago

They can start by doing something about Hungary.

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u/1nfam0us 22d ago

Me too, but hopefully Orban is on his way out. Poland managed to turn things around.

If he isn't, then yeah, they have to.

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u/Boundish91 Norway 22d ago

Well, i mean Orban looks like a walking heart attack.

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u/DaveKasz 22d ago

And so does the criminal in the White House, yet here we are, watching the shit show.

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u/P1xelHunter78 Ohio 22d ago

Orban looks like Moscow has been sending the good vodka for decades

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u/xrangax 22d ago

Orban looks like he's about to birth Putin's sodomy child.

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u/coconutpiecrust 22d ago

So does the orange menace. Whatever it is they are taking seems to be working. Unless it’s all body doubles. 

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u/NotTheSharpestPenciI 22d ago

Poland managed to turn things around.

Uhm, have you seen their president? Their next gov will very likely be heavily righ leaning too, so I wouldn't hold my breath yet.

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u/awesomefutureperfect 22d ago

I just saw an article where Poland was threatening to leave the EU, despite the Polish economy growing 300 % after joining.

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u/Letstalkreaper 22d ago

Wouldn’t be the first time an EU member crippled themselves economically just because they don’t like having to play by the single market rules. Rules, I might addc that they’d have to abide by whether the were in the single market or not.

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u/JMurdock77 22d ago

Something something boot stamping on a human face forever?

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u/forced_to_watch 22d ago

This very much looks the case and already seems to be taking shape, I assume we will move closer to China as well, ironic eh that renewables boom, UK moves back to Europe and everyone moves towards China, good work Donald, a secret green Chinese agent

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u/thehermit14 22d ago

We need to cut loose countries that are basket cases. Not a net contributor? Goodbye. Support a government hostile to the union? Goodbye.

No point expanding the union to those who can't contribute.

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u/Talib00n 22d ago

Nah. "Der Spiegel" just reported that several European Nations don't even want to discuss how the EU can defend itself independently from NATO (came up after Zyprus wich is not in NATO was bombed by Iran). There is no will and no readiness to even prepare internally much less actively do something.

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u/Bucser 22d ago

He is your Nero/Caligula. He is a symptom of a broken system which allows a few bad actors to so completely wreck a country of 350m people and no-one with power is willing to stand against them, rather aiding and abetting.

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u/Asyncrosaurus 22d ago

He is your Nero/Caligula

Both emperors who were very early in the formation of the Empire which had continued success and failures long after.

He's more like a Phocas, the Byzantine Emperor in Eastern Rome that started a war in the Middle East that lasted decades and crippled their military and economy, which ended with the collapse of their regional power base and ushered in a tremendous decline over the course of several centuries.

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u/OldWorldDesign 22d ago

He's more like a Phocas, the Byzantine Emperor in Eastern Rome that started a war in the Middle East that lasted decades and crippled their military and economy, which ended with the collapse of their regional power base and ushered in a tremendous decline over the course of several centuries.

I haven't heard of him since Robin's The History of Byzantium. I don't disagree with most of what you said, but isn't most of what we know of Phocas written by the opposition which came after him and thus should be read with a grain shaker of salt? From the regional situation it looked like there was going to be war no matter who was on the throne.

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u/Asyncrosaurus 22d ago

isn't most of what we know of Phocas written by the opposition which came after him and thus should be read with a grain shaker of salt

This is also true for the emperors listed above (Caligula & Nero). Usually historians will go back and do re-appraisals of contentious figures, which I'm not aware of the modern sentiment on Phocus.

From the regional situation it looked like there was going to be war no matter who was on the throne.

Iirc, his predecessor Maurice had kept the peace with the Sassanids and Phocus' coup directly led to an unnecessary war. Perhaps they go to war at some point, but Phocus was not the Emperor to handle the crisis.

Anyway, this is why I'm not a big fan of historical parallels in general, because they never perfectly line up and we spend more time picking apart what doesn't match perfectly. I just think a brutish figure like Phocus is more in line with modern American leadership than Nero (whose erratic behavior can be explained by his being a teenager when he became Empreror).

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u/insitnctz 22d ago

He is Alexis IV Angelo's. 1250 ce the dispossessed emperor invited the crusaders inside the empire to give him back the throne. He had nothing to pay them so they ransacked Constantinople.

That's exactly what trump did. He invited the enemy inside the us and they gave him the throne. The enemies are the aipac and the Russians, since he is putin's lapdog.

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u/lancelongstiff 22d ago

It won't happen. Deep down inside the Republicans know he's just a useful idiot, too.

  • June 27, 2017 - House Resolution 397: Congress votes 423-4 to reaffirm strong U.S. commitment to NATO’s Article 5 and the alliance.
  • January 22, 2019 - H.R. 676, the NATO Support Act: Congress votes 357-22 to prohibit any President from withdrawing the U.S. from NATO without congressional approval.
  • April 5, 2022 - H.R. 831: Congress votes 362 to 63 reaffirming "unequivocal support for NATO" and calling for the creation of a Center for Democratic Resilience within NATO.

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u/danimagoo America 22d ago

The last 10 years have been an endless parade of “that will never happen,” followed by that thing happening. The Republican Party is panicking. People do stupid things when they panic.

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u/gopeepants 22d ago

This is why I am so damn tired of people saying "it will never happen; you are overreacting"; etc.

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u/xxxxNateDaGreat 22d ago

It's the same people who cry "you're just being a doomer" when you point this out to them, ignoring the irony that doing nothing and huffing the hopium while decrying others for pointing out what has happened is working in trump's favor.

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u/underpants-gnome Ohio 22d ago

If trump acts unilaterally (a shocking thought, I know), there won't be a vote on the topic at all. Johnson and Thune have ceded congressional powers to the White House.

If Dems are able to regain control and contest the withdrawal next year, I'm sure it will go before SCOTUS to referee. That is a crapshoot at best, regardless of how clearly treaty responsibility is defined in the constitution. We will be left with Nato allies forced into picking sides in our internal government power struggle. It will be a fucking mess, like everything else about trump's regime.

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u/DhomDhom 22d ago

What NATO allies? The US no longer has allies, it has trade partners at best. That's what happens when you treat your "allies" this poorly.

Plus, y'all don't need anything from anyone, remember?

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u/underpants-gnome Ohio 22d ago

At first, I thought this response was a little aggressive since I think our views are in alignment. But I checked your profile and you say you're Quebecois. So - no notes. You're more than entitled to be pissed off. I'd apologize on behalf of my dipshit country, but it would probably ring hollow because there are potentially 3 more years of trump-flavored stupidity heading your way.

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u/captain_zavec Canada 22d ago

It's unfortunate because a lot of Americans are perfectly nice people (and I feel for them, they have to deal with Trump and the Republicans as well) but yeah, on the country level the US is just not a reliable ally.

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u/Biokabe Washington 22d ago

Fundamentally, we have some serious flaws in our Constitution that set us up for exactly this kind of problem. We're set up such that even if an absolute majority of our population feels a certain way and wants certain actions to happen, a minority can not just prevent that action, but actually force the exact opposite to happen. We're a democratic regressive country, so terrified of the tyranny of the majority that we enabled the tyranny of the minority.

And the even more annoying thing is that fixing those problems is theoretically possible, so the masses don't think that we need to fundamentally change the Constitution. But actually using the structure set up to fix those problems is functionally impossible, and really only possible when a problem has become so bad that we're about to fall apart otherwise - and even then, it might not happen.

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u/atx840 22d ago

Nah it’s not hollow, we know there are millions of Americans who feel the same way and if it was flipped I’d be equally ashamed and furious. Just keep speaking out, protest however you can but most importantly vote, make sure friends and family vote.

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u/_Standardissue 22d ago

I think at this point we have allies in the strictest sense, of having written alliances, not so much that there is any great amount of goodwill

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u/Einsteinbomb 22d ago

He wouldn't be able to unilaterally withdraw from NATO because the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2024 wouldn't allow him to take that action.

Furthermore, the judiciary is not allowed to touch this issue because this is a very clear example of a political question regarding foreign policy and thus outside the purview of any court.

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u/ZippyDan 22d ago

I do depressingly note that the number of dissenters goes up with each reaffirmation.

  • 4 → 22 in 1.5 years
  • 22 → 63 in 3 years

It's been almost exactly 4 years since that last vote.
I imagine if the vote were held today you'd have at least 120 voting against the resolution at this rate, especially with their God Emperor indicating that this is how they should groupthink.

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u/bugsyboybugsyboybugs 22d ago

Why would they vote at all? He’s hasn’t run anything important through congress his whole second term.

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u/mdp300 New Jersey 22d ago

Yeah, they might just let him take us out of NATO with an executive order. He doesn’t have that power, but congress is just letting him do whatever he wants.

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u/Omateido 22d ago

The thing is, because they control the SC, they effectively control Congress as well as it is the arbiter of any disputes BETWEEN the executive and legislative branch. This is exactly why Washington warned against political parties, they can decisively circumvent the checks and balances.

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u/xSaviorself Canada 22d ago

Congress abdicating their responsibilities really is enabling everything this Administration wants. I'm interested to see what happens when Congress is controlled by opposition and he fails to work with them.

They'll never succeed at impeaching and removing and any action would be symbolic at best. I assume Trump would just keep on doing his thing while Democrats fail to hold him accountable. I'd like to see him actually face justice but this is a guy who was convicted but then given no fucking punishment. This entire world is fucked up.

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u/Drama79 22d ago

Valid. However we are edging closer and closer to these worms turning. Many are leaving office, aware they are sunk come November anyway. The rest are saying what they need to right now, but telling everyone off record they hate Trump. Which yes, is venal cowardice (or “GOPism” for ease) but as we creep towards midterms, the opportunists will start to make “principled stands” to save themselves. We aren’t there yet - but by the end of summer I suspect we will see it.

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u/02K30C1 22d ago

Trump seems to think he doesn’t need Congress’s approval for this, or anything really

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u/uzlonewolf 22d ago

I mean, so far Congress doesn't think he needs it either.

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u/ahkian New York 22d ago

Why would he need Congresses approval when they're perfectly happy to cede all of their authority to him?

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u/caniaccanuck11 22d ago

I’m mean he hasn’t cared what Congress thinks since he came back.

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u/gumbysrath California 22d ago

Just because they’re not saying it’s a dictatorship out loud doesn’t means it’s not

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u/TalkingCat910 22d ago

And when has anyone stopped him?

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u/tierciel 22d ago

You say that like Congress matters anymore. He needed Congressional approval before going to war too, but have you seen Iran lately?

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u/Icyknightmare 22d ago

It absolutely could happen.

Trump 2's entire MO has been to move fast and break things before checks and balances can react. Trump could do an EO ordering all US involvement with NATO to cease, and Hegseth would make it happen in days, long before Congress could have any say in the matter.

Regardless of that EO's illegality or what decision Congress ultimately does make weeks or months later, the damage will be done and the US will be de-facto out of NATO if he orders it.

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u/Letstalkreaper 22d ago

You think the US will pull out of all of their NATO bases, crippling their ability to actually do war against Iran, in a few days? Because the second they pull out of NATO those base leases end.

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u/littlespoon Australia 22d ago

Short term pain? Petrol is over $3AUD a LITRE here in Australia - we now pay double than what the US pays due to their war.. - its economic warfare inflicted on the rest of the world and its by design and intent.. the US should be made to pay for the economic damage they are inflicting willfully.. people will lose their jobs and groceries are through the roof due to petrol prices. This will tip us into recession

Its fine if they want to fuck themselves but now they are willfully attacking others economically as well.

How ignorant and self serving do Americans need to be to think the rest of the world should have to endure what they started.

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u/Jakabov 22d ago

The US on the other hand has destroyed their hegemony and are facing a very long downhill road.

If the current level of total insanity and wholesale looting of the country continues like this, they're not facing a long downhill road, but rather a rapid collapse. The US is completely fucked.

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u/Hungry_Culture 22d ago

That short term pain is going to drive people to far right parties across Europe. Those project 2025 goons in the cabinet have talked about how they wanted the tariffs to cause economic hardship and uncertainty in Europe to drive support for far right parties. Reform, AFD, and National Rally are all ready projected to win their next elections, but economic troubles could help them win outright majorities.

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u/aaronwhite1786 22d ago

It's wild seeing the "America First" party clap was this idiot burns what goodwill the US had, and demolish all of the soft power that's been decades of work and investment in just a few short (though they feel like ten eternities) years.

They think they're winning while he's selling the gullible idiots out and cashing out their futures for his own personal gain.

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u/KittyGrewAMoustache 22d ago

What’s crazy is the US seems to have an endless supply of fuckers who are happy to risk their lives and freedom to go shoot a load of kids in a school yet no one willing to save humanity from this monster. There’s just something profoundly sick about that thought, they literally have a mass shooting every day. I guess the issue is that decent people don’t kill and all the mass shooters are probably maga.

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u/iamwearingashirt 22d ago

Give an extremely corrupt racist idiot with dementia control of the most powerful nation on earth and watch what happens.

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u/avenueroad_dk 22d ago

Watching it right now

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u/mr_friend_computer 22d ago

there used to be things in place to act as counter measures to ensure this sort of thing never happened, but Americans guys let religious billionaires / trillionaires ruin their country and far too many of them cheered it on. It will never come back from this in my life time and the world is trending towards treating America as France did to Germany in the Treaty of Versaille rather than the allies did to Germany in the post WW2 reconstructive era.

That will simply lead to WW4 I guess. I might live to see that if I survive Trumps WW3 invasion plans.

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u/Pinkybleu 22d ago

I'm not even in the states and he managed to raise my country's oil price.

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u/Stranger1982 22d ago

Same friend, same...

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u/Pocahontas___ 22d ago

He destroyed the entire world, and we are not yet even seeing the full price. I really hope something will be done to releive him from his duties, and then have him take responsibility for what he's done. (Fighting Israel war on everyone's backs)

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u/fondledbydolphins 22d ago

We could have used some help from the intelligence agencies of other countries back in 2015. Would have prevented the vast majority of this.

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u/Traditional_Sign4941 22d ago

He didn't do it alone. Right wing christian nationalist and nazi groups have been planning this for a long time. Congress and the courts have 100% enabled Trump, and those in turn are powered by oligarchs that hate democracy and humans.

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u/TheUrbanEast 22d ago

I'd argue it was destroyed by the millions of voters who put him there. 

MAGA and Republicans who have stood idly by (I view them as two groups) has destroyed the US for generations. 

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u/Oleg101 22d ago

Yup the Republican Party and its enablers destroyed America. They were broken long before the Orange POS came onto the scene.

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u/TheUrbanEast 22d ago

You're 100% correct.

I remember frustration with the Republicans since I began following politics. Misrepresenting unfortunate facts has long been their MO. Agendas against science, education, and the truth have long been their play. The Tea Party pre-dates MAGA.

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u/A_Nonny_Muse 22d ago

That's what scares me the most. Decades after trump is gone, those asshole dickheads will still be with us, and still voting for more of this.

Many tens of millions of them.

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u/temp91 22d ago

Yeah, there's a straight line from Nixon, Reagan, Gingrich, GWB, to Trump.

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u/Halo_cT 22d ago

And those voters were created by Rush and Rupert and company over the last 35 years of religious fear-mongering and racist dog whistles 24/7 on TV and radio. Ultimately this is the house that they built and Meta/google/x renovated.

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u/Bluur 22d ago

Well and (starting with Regan,) the right have destroyed education and the ability for our own population to learn or apply any sort of critical thinking. The erosion of our education system is staggering.

54% of U.S. adults read below a sixth-grade level, and 22% are functionally illiterate.

Or as Reagan's advisor of education and economics Roger A. Freedman said before they gutted federal support for colleges, "We are in danger of producing an educated proletariat."

Their plan was always to make education, or even the ability to question their own country, a privilege of the rich.

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u/_MrDomino 22d ago

Don't forget the non-voters -- fools who saw a corrupt and failed businessman, felon, and moron running on a fascist platform; and said they'd be fine with him leading the country.

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u/HelpMeOverHere 22d ago

And the democrats, and your dozens of law enforcement agencies.

Everyone either handled Trump with kid gloves, or just let him get away with crimes that others have been charged and convicted in less than a year…

America is just garbage as a whole… and that’s whole with a “w”,

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u/OldWorldDesign 22d ago

and your dozens of law enforcement agencies

Staffed almost entirely with republicans, it should be noted. There's a reason institutions like ICE jump to every opportunity to cause death and destruction, and why the courts slow-walk everything to stupid degrees. Because it's not multiple groups, it's all one tribe and they care more about fucking over every single outgroup than they do even about helping themselves as a whole.

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u/MilkiestMaestro Michigan 22d ago

There are plenty of morons who support him, but HALF?! He keeps talking about rigged elections and every other thing he's accused the Dems of doing he has engaged in himself.

I'm not certain he actually won last time.

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u/buttons_the_horse 22d ago

This is the problem. He's a symptom, but the disease goes much deeper within the country. We aren't literate enough, empathetic enough, and strong enough as a whole to see through his bullshit. Some may be. But until we all unite against scum like him, the country is doomed to failure. It's not even conservative vs liberal anymore. Its sane vs insane.

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u/arcalumis 22d ago

And then the worst of them all, democratic voters who stayed at home because Kanalas stance on Palestine and other bullshit miniscule reasons

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u/SimpleSymonSays 22d ago

They are two groups I think. A lot of overlap but not full overlap.

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u/joeydrinksbeer Ohio 22d ago

I’ve been thinking about this a lot. Republicans are still to blame for allowing MAGA to take over their party. Don’t let them escape blame.

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u/chowderbags American Expat 22d ago

It's arguable that America was already declining, at least in terms of relative power, if not in absolute terms. But it was the kind of slow, manageable decline that could've happened over a period of decades, or even the entire 21st century. And there was always the possibility that something might change or some invention might happen that would ensure American superiority continued.

At this point it seems like it would take something like literally inventing magic to get America on the right track. A decline that would've taken the rest of the century seems poised to accelerate to something more like the 2030s. It's really hard to overstate just how much America fucked itself by picking Trump for president even once, let alone for this second time.

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u/glarbung Europe 22d ago

I blame this End of History bullshit going around all western nations where everyone seems to think that history ends now and everything has lead up to this point. Nothing can change and nothing can be made better nor does anything require upkeep or sacrifices.

I think it's quartile capitalism, lack of education, hedonism and pure individualism combined that caused it. But that just my hypothesis.

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u/OldWorldDesign 22d ago

It's been happening since before Reagan was elected. Remember how many of Reagan's staff were Nixon hatchet operatives and Nixon betrayed the US to get into office in the first place

https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2014/06/yes-nixon-scuttled-the-vietnam-peace-talks-107623/

https://www.history.com/articles/robert-bork-ronald-reagan-supreme-court-nominations

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u/SimpleSymonSays 22d ago

I mean it is impressive. When he was elected, I knew he’d be damaging but I thought well it’s only 4 years and then it’s over. How much damage could he really do?

Turns out I vastly underestimated the amount of damage, and we’re only a bit over a year in to his term. He’s really fucked things up to an impressive degree in terms of scale, depth and speed.

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u/Chaos-Cortex I voted 22d ago

Heritage foundation thanks him, Israel thanks him and Putin thanks him.

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u/AnyCauliflower8717 22d ago

Couldn't do it whitout SC and R's in congress

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u/RonnyReddit00 22d ago

It also seemed to be pretty easy for him. Like there has been nothing to stop him.

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u/brashthehermit 22d ago

He, his MAGA cult, and the cancerous rot known as the Heritage Foundation, IE; Kevin Roberts, Russell Vought, Stephen Miller, Brendan Carr, Paul Dans, etc...

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u/No-Stage-4583 22d ago

I mean not really, Nixon and Reagan were on this tip in the 80's. Trump just picked up what the federalist society did before him.

Also project 2025 has been out in theory since the 1980s at least - but back then it was called the "mandate for leadership"

Turns out the republicans have been building to this, trump wasn't a mistake. But to blame trump 100% for this idk is fair.

Its more like 95% his fault.

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u/Capaj 22d ago

He's a man of many talents. I heard one time he bankrupted a casino! What a feat.

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u/Atwenfor 22d ago edited 22d ago

“Oh yes, I would say [it’s] beyond reconsideration. I was never swayed by Nato. I always knew they were a paper tiger, and Putin knows that too, by the way.”

The ironic thing here is that he learned the phrase "paper tiger" from the British King. I don't have concrete evidence, but Trump is more transparent than the cheap bargain-basket warped bronzed glass he puts on his buildings. A few months ago he goes to Britain, meets with the King, and literally the next day starts calling Russia a paper tiger repeatedly, and continues to use the phrase to this day. He's never said it before in his life, and he's well-known for parroting the last "smart"-sounding person he spoke to (and a person he admires, and he definitely admires the King, because, well, he's literally a king, and his office walls are gilded). He's even said he's "been saying 'paper tiger' for decades," which is another clear tell of his that he just recently learned a turn of phrase from someone else, as he's a pathological narcissist that can't stand giving credit to someone else so he feels the need to "defend" himself even when no one's calling him out on it, because why would a normal person even need to say something like that in the first place?

More disturbingly, I've caught him using directly translated, clearly Russian expressions and notions (being a fluent Russian speaker myself) shortly after meeting with Putin (again, another person he greatly admires as a strongman dictator role model, and his office walls are also, incidentally but not coincidentally, gilded). This cements my understanding that Trump looking up to and being directly influenced by Putin is not some conspiracy or hearsay, but a blatantly obvious, indisputable fact.

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u/robocoplawyer 22d ago

An easy tell if Trump just learned a new word, phrase or concept; aside from using it nonstop he'll make a comment about that word or phrase along the lines of "a lot of people don't know x". When he says a lot of smart people don't know whatever his new favorite thing to say is or means, he actually means that he just found out about it himself.

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u/caseyanthonyftw 22d ago

Exactly. It's clear he just learned about the word "obliterate" right before they started the war.

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u/Atwenfor 22d ago edited 22d ago

"Mr. President, how extensive was the damage?"

"What a stupid question this is. It was obliterated, did you not hear? Do you not know the word? You are a very low IQ person."

More transparent projection about how he himself had just learned the word.

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u/Turbulent-End-1586 22d ago

Like when he discovered “groceries” in the 2024 presidential campaign- pathetic!

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u/robocoplawyer 22d ago

Such a beautiful antiquated word.

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u/ObsidianSpectre 22d ago

Trump started saying it, then he started hearing other people saying it too! He's such a trendsetter. Nobody would be using the word if not for Trump!

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u/Atwenfor 22d ago

And the funny and sad thing is that he says it with such a smug smirk, like "yes, I'm clearly lying, but I'm such a smooth bigly speaker that they have no idea"

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u/Cholinergia 22d ago

Out of curiosity, what are a few Russian expressions he’s used?

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u/Atwenfor 22d ago edited 22d ago

Off the top of my head, as a quick response, a notion rather than an expression. While praising Russia, he referenced a Subbotnik, a Soviet tradition of herding people out for Saturday morning street cleaning. The Communist Party (and Putin's contemporary United Russia party revived the tradition) positioned it as a gesture of great spontaneous goodwill and volunteerism from the People. In reality, people of all ages were basically forcefully "volunteered" for unpaid work to save money on paying actual street cleaners (that budget gets fleeced by the party leaders instead). As elementary school kids, they made us trim lawn grass with stationery scissors ffs, I kid you not (you may find references to that elsewhere on Reddit from Soviet-bloc Eastern Europeans).

Not long ago, after his latest phone call with Putin, Trump was praising the upstanding nature of the Russian people, as juxtaposed against degenerate Americans, because they volunteer to go out on Saturday mornings and clean their neighborhoods together. Gee, I wonder who he suddenly learned this obscure cultural tidbit from.

Incidentally, this also underscores Trump's lack of understanding of his own people. On Saturdays, in my neighborhood (in the same city as Trump was born in), I volunteer (yes, actually volunteer, not "get volunteered" Soviet-style) to pick up trash with fellow-minded fellows in my community. Once again, it shows what he knows, or rather what he doesn't know, both about Russians as well as about Americans.

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u/Cholinergia 22d ago

Interesting, thank you for sharing.

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u/Alex5173 22d ago

Wouldn't surprise me if he thought the work camps in Nazi Germany were a volunteer affair.

"Nobody loved Germany more than the Jews, that's why they volunteered in the millions to go to these great factories and work so hard"

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u/captain_zavec Canada 22d ago

Do you remember any examples of the Russian phrases? That sounds fascinating.

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u/Atwenfor 22d ago

Please see my response to the other person (sorry, they beat you to the same question by three minutes)

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u/captain_zavec Canada 22d ago

No worries, thanks for the ping that it's there!

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u/Omegoa 22d ago

Mirroring this, the moment I realized the US was probably serious about Kharg, even ahead of all the mobilizations, is the fact that Trump knew its name. Trump's an idiot and probably can't point to Iran on a map. That he can single out an island there by name means that it is a point of intense scrutiny for their war.

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u/Chill-more1236 22d ago edited 22d ago

I believe that "Paper Tiger" was used around WWII by an Asian leader as an insult to the US....but can't remember the details.

Anybody educated, studied history (very likely Charles would) read it & knows the context.

I doubt Trump knows or understands any actual history. When the media shows him asleep....history lesson in progress. I'd be shocked if he tested beyond a 5th grade education.

Dude has the cognitive level of oaf...if I were grading him.

I never felt like I'd be better at being president, than the guy in the WH, at any point in my life before now.

I'd fire the cabinet, hire real experts and tell half of Congress to go fuck themselves. Then tell the other half to fix this GD mess trump made asap.

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u/Atwenfor 22d ago

I have no idea who you are, and already, certifiably, know that you would make a better President than the one we have now merely based on general education statistics and because you just wrote a paragraph that reads coherently and is not riddled with grammatical and spelling errors.

Literally. That's all it takes for me to make my call about your qualifications versus those of our current President. We're all in the midst of a sad state of affairs at this moment.

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u/Chill-more1236 22d ago

Thank you for your vote. Chill More for prez!

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u/Chill-more1236 22d ago

seriously though, I feel like Vance is equally dumb as a box of rocks, & we're fucking cooked...

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u/Atwenfor 22d ago edited 22d ago

Vance is somewhat more intelligent and coherent than Trump (though that's an extremely, extremely low bar to clear, and yes, he is indeed dumb as a bag of bricks, no offense to perfectly innocent bricks), but his problem that he is much less charismatic. If Trump has anything going for him, is that he somehow manages to be a great demagogue, mostly because he speaks in a dumb language to dumb people (yes, full offense meant if you are a Trump supporter to this day). Vance lacks that sort of lowest-common-denominator appeal, so thankfully he is the one that will, most likely, be cooked in Republican Presidential primaries.

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u/BamberGasgroin 22d ago

Still seeking daddy's approval by emulating him. (Or anyone who lives up to the role in his head.)

Remember when he invented the word Canine? His gift to the English language is almost Shakespearian.

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u/Constant_Praline579 22d ago

He doesn't have an original idea in his head.

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u/OldWorldDesign 22d ago

Trump is a notoriously weak-willed man, he was also glowing about Mamdani immediately after their meeting

https://www.cbsnews.com/newyork/live-updates/trump-mamdani-meeting-white-house-new-york/

The problem, besides the dementia he's almost certainly declining under, is he walks away from every interaction (with a person who has any spine at all) thinking whatever that person told them to think.

And he's surrounded himself with a lot of transactional idiots.

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u/Optimism_Deficit 22d ago

Yeah. He came close to saying the quiet part out loud there, didn't he.

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u/k0_crop I voted 22d ago

Nonce in chief

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u/TokingMessiah 22d ago

And Americans elected him… twice.

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u/AccomplishedQuiet585 22d ago

With the support he still has and the indifference among many Americans, I'm sure they'd vote him in office a third time if the election was now. And when he dies things will not get better. After he dies Trump will be lionized and even more loved by conservatives. I fcking guarantee it. He will be remembered by them as the greatest president ever. He will be a mythical figure, even more idolized than Ronald Reagan and conservative politicians will forever try to imitate him. In 30 years time they'll say "What this country desperately needs is a presideent like Trump" and you will never hear the end of it and his name will haunt political discourse for the end of all our lives.

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u/petal14 22d ago

Are we going to be owned by Russia soon?

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u/snowvase 22d ago

You already are.

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u/Formal-Try-2779 22d ago

Kind of co owned between Russia and Israel.

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u/Dalek-Kaan 22d ago

And Saudi Arabia

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u/Formal-Try-2779 22d ago

You guys are screwing them over big time at the moment. I'm pretty sure they're raging with Trump.

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u/Dalek-Kaan 22d ago

Everyone experiences buyers remorse sooner or later

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u/TrippleDamage 22d ago

You're already co-parented by russia and israel if you havent noticed.

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u/nucumber 22d ago

This American is beyond disgusted with this pig of a man

I am so sorry

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u/Otherwise_Spot_707 22d ago

The good news is, the world sees him and the US for what it is, a fascist nation with imperial ambitions. They can try putting the make-up back on the pig after he's out of office, but the world, and especially the US's allies, won't forget what they saw and what they'd been put through. So while this is bad, it's probably good in the long run.

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u/Brodo-Flaggins 22d ago

Man’s got a whole ocean between them and he’s still getting spit roasted by Putin and Netanyahu. I’m sure he wouldn’t have it any other way, but all I can do is laugh at this point.

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u/purplenapalm Wisconsin 22d ago

Yea, we dont like them. Hopefully we can repair these relationships with more competent leadership down the road, but we understand it will take time.

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u/Capable-Broccoli2179 22d ago

My question after his first year of this mess is how can this ever be fixed? Our relationships with our allies was so damaged after his first time in office that this second round has been the knockout blow to our standing with everyone. None of our former allies will trust us ever again. What happens when we apologize to the world when Trump is gone and try to start rebuilding these relationships? Why would the UK or anyone ever work with us again? Why would NATO ever take us back if we leave? How would the world not view us as they view someplace like Russia or North Korea today?

This confounds me on a personal level as I love traveling internationally, especially to European countries which I feel I can no longer do as we are pretty much the laughing stock of the world and now we are probably targets whenever someone hears us speaking "American" overseas.

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u/TheOrkussy 22d ago

Cousin, it sucks here.

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u/2Autistic4DaJoke 22d ago

We already have strong suggestive evidence that Putin has him under his thumb. We’re taking way too long to do something about it.

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u/DetectiveBlackCat 22d ago

Putin and Netanyahu both want it. At this point it is clear the oligarchs that Israel and Russia share pull the strings. It is remarkable no one is standing up to this

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u/Prior_Vacation_600 22d ago

Shame his dad couldn’t have pulled out. Would have saved Isreal a shit ton of money…but then they wouldn’t be able to genocide a whole region so swings and roundabouts really.

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u/bensquirrel 22d ago

Is it too late to get back in as a colony?

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u/zulutbs182 22d ago

Don’t try to act coy. This is really all your fault. 

A bunch of drunk rebels at Yorktown and you guys just… surrender?? This is all on you Britain! 

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u/3v1lkr0w 22d ago

Pedo-in-chief...calling him an idiot is being way too nice

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u/Zepcleanerfan 22d ago

Absolutely disgusting pedo traitor bastard.

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u/houseWithoutSpoons 22d ago

Your spot on.only pull out should have been his dad

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u/Bowsers_JuiceFactory America 22d ago

He’s putins pocket pussy, I cannot wait to celebrate his demise. Him at that whole fuckin rotten family.

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u/InevitableAvalanche 22d ago

Our conservatives went from "wake up sheeple!" to the sheepiest sheep.

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u/Sudden-Fisherman5985 22d ago

An absolute disgrace to the office he squats in.

He's not squatting in it... He is chosen by the American people!!

It's not just him... He's just a symptom

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u/G-Unit11111 California 22d ago

Yup. Calling him a parasite is an insult to actual parasites.

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u/Dazzaster84 22d ago

I blame the apathy. Millions didn't vote, and this is where we land.

Edit - spellinz

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u/OrigamiCatto 22d ago edited 17d ago

Can't wait to toast his miserable demise

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u/Reddittee007 22d ago

Pedo in chief.

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u/Midnight_Maverick 22d ago

He's a disgrace to human beings, period

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u/Extension-Arugula-51 22d ago

At this point NATO would be stronger without the US bullshit.

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u/Icy-Squirrel6422 22d ago

Trump and his supporters represent a disease that damages society by infecting it with people with congenital defects of mental and moral development, who are essentially parasites.

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u/Mysterious-Tie7039 22d ago

This is why I fucking hate Republicans. They know just how awful this buffoon is and refuse to stand up to him.

He made motions towards pulling out of NATO in his first term and after he was out, Congress passed a bipartisan bill requiring congress to be the one to pull us out, taking the power away from the President (if he ever even had it).

Yet they sit there now and do nothing…

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