this post was submitted on 11 Feb 2024
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And so it begins. Nine months still to go before the next US presidential election and already the Republican party favourite and former President Donald Trump is sending eyes rolling skywards with his seemingly outlandish statements.

And yet they will delight many of his supporters.

Suggesting at a rally in South Carolina that he would "encourage" aggressors (for example Russia) "to do whatever the hell they want" with Nato countries that fail to pay their dues has prompted an immediate slap down from the White House. A spokesman called the comment "appalling and unhinged", saying it was "encouraging invasions of our closest allies by murderous regimes".

Nato Secretary-general Jens Stoltenberg has also responded forcefully, saying: "Any suggestion that allies will not defend each other undermines all of our security, including that of the US, and puts American and European soldiers at increased risk."

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[–] dhork@lemmy.world 113 points 1 year ago (16 children)

But we are going to elect him anyway, because the other guy forgot a thing once. Just like we elected him 8 years ago, because the other one ran her own email server.

[–] twistypencil@lemmy.world 14 points 1 year ago

Not if we beat the drum about him being insane, instead of letting him get away with it as just another wacky thing

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[–] fidodo@lemmy.world 78 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Did Trump mean what he said? Probably not. This is typical Trump fare. Say something provocative, grab some headlines, outrage your critics and thrill your fans.

Oh bull fucking shit, don't downplay his idiocy and danger

[–] ChaoticEntropy@feddit.uk 18 points 1 year ago

Yeah... his understanding of his own lunatic words and actions is of very little consequence when compared their real world impact.

[–] kent_eh@lemmy.ca 75 points 1 year ago (1 children)

"Appalling and unhinged" describes the vast majority of things Trump has said in the last decade or 2.

[–] Sweetpeaches69@lemmy.world 20 points 1 year ago

But here's the cool thing: it's somehow going to get worse!

[–] twistypencil@lemmy.world 54 points 1 year ago (3 children)

Can we all agree to say Trump has dementia, and constantly hound him, his supporters and gop about this, beating the drum non stop, instead of just pointing out his wild statements when they come up, we need to question his sanity constantly like they do about Biden senility. If rather have a forgetful old man, than a bonafide lunatic

[–] HighElfMage@lemmy.world 38 points 1 year ago (1 children)

The good news is that Biden isn't even a forgetful old man. The media just takes every normal slip up he makes and runs it non-stop.

[–] Diplomjodler@feddit.de 28 points 1 year ago (1 children)

He's in pretty good shape for his age, both mentally and physically. I'd still rather have somebody younger. On the other hand, I genuinely cannot think of anyone less qualified than the Orange Baboon.

[–] HighElfMage@lemmy.world 21 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I would rather have an actual orange baboon as president than Donald Trump.

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[–] NABDad@lemmy.world 23 points 1 year ago (1 children)
[–] isthingoneventhis@lemmy.world 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

It's like Donnie Darko's creepy uncle.

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[–] VampyreOfNazareth@lemm.ee 49 points 1 year ago (1 children)
[–] Wahots@pawb.social 23 points 1 year ago (2 children)

We can only hope he has a stroke before the election. A massive one.

[–] littlebluespark@lemmy.world 3 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Could it maybe be with a razor sharp edge, too? And then an encore would be nice. Front row tickets'd sell out in seconds, no contest. Far better men than him have attempted it, but none have deserved to be a spectacle more than that pile of fetid shit.

[–] Jakdracula@lemmy.world 33 points 1 year ago (1 children)

That tracks, because Trump is appalling and unhinged.

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[–] spider@lemmy.nz 30 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Suggesting at a rally in South Carolina that he would "encourage" aggressors (for example Russia) "to do whatever the hell they want" with Nato countries that fail to pay their dues

I would "encourage" people to piss on Trump's grave when he's dead.

[–] Hyperreality@kbin.social 13 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

I would encourage America to piss on his grave while he's still alive.

[–] StructuredPair@lemmy.world 17 points 1 year ago

According to the dossier, he might like that.

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[–] HurlingDurling@lemmy.world 28 points 1 year ago (8 children)

I am honestly scared and I don't think society (not just the US) would really survive if this turd becomes reelected a second time.

[–] Wahots@pawb.social 4 points 1 year ago

Vote. Get all your friends and family to vote. Four more years should buy us enough time while his power is waning.

If there was ever an election that was important to vote and be clear-eyed in, it's this one.

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[–] Wahots@pawb.social 26 points 1 year ago

Vote. Get all your friends and family to vote. Four more years should buy us enough time while his power is waning.

If there was ever an election that was important to vote and be clear-eyed in, it's this one.

[–] ef9357@lemmy.sdf.org 26 points 1 year ago (6 children)
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[–] ItsMeSpez@lemmy.world 25 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Why should we, America, carry the burden of defending Europe when it won't pay for its own defence?

I love this sentiment simply because the idea that the US would be spending less on the military if they weren't in NATO is ridiculous. There's no stopping US military spending without absolutely crippling the US economy. Other NATO members spending more on their militaries will not save the US taxpayer a dime.

[–] SpaceCowboy@lemmy.ca 9 points 1 year ago

I's about selling more weapons made by the US military industrial complex to NATO countries. Which does bring more money into the US economy, but only by growing the military industrial complex larger.

Kinda like franchising out McDonald's but with more death machines involved.

But personally, I like Ike, "Beware the military industrial complex."

[–] Dozzi92@lemmy.world 5 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I'm actually okay with the idea that perhaps Europe ought to be more interested in bolstering their own defenses. The part about urging Russia toward aggression I think any reasonable person can see what's wrong with that.

But the military presence worldwide, in more instances than not, exists to protect corporate interests. I'm almost okay with the idea of scaling it all back. Tax money shouldn't go to line pockets of the wealthy. The obvious issue is the immediate effect on the economy, but where do we draw the line? I know this site leans towards stopping the global corporatocracy, but I don't know that anyone's ready for things to really grind to a halt.

So I guess we will just have to wait til next January and then we will see what happens!

[–] ashok36@lemmy.world 6 points 1 year ago

Trump wants to sell weapons to Russia so they can take over Europe. I honestly think Trump just doesn't like that there's no many countries and leaders in Europe to keep track of and wishes it was all just run by one guy he can try him art of the deal bullshit on.

[–] avidamoeba@lemmy.ca 24 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I hope this time around he won't be able to hide behind "he doesn't mean it, he'd never actually do that"

[–] ObviouslyNotBanana@lemmy.world 13 points 1 year ago

I don't think anything Donnie says correlates with reality. Does that mean we shouldn't worry? Fuck no! He's a disaster.

[–] sebinspace@lemmy.world 12 points 1 year ago

The fuck else is new

[–] rusticus@lemm.ee 11 points 1 year ago (2 children)

If the US is stupid enough to elect this idiot a second time, then we deserve to become the banana republic we've instituted in countless other countries. I'm not too worried about it. He lost by 7 million votes in 2020 and about 1 million of his voters died with COVID. Plus I know at least a few percentage points of his voters that will not vote for him again. And I don't know ANYONE that hasn't voted for him before that are now interested in giving him their vote. It will take unprecedented election interference for Trump to win the electoral vote (there's not a chance he wins the popular).

[–] jwt@programming.dev 6 points 1 year ago (2 children)

If the US is stupid enough to elect this idiot a second time, then we deserve to become the banana republic ...

"A banana republic, if you can keep it"

[–] rusticus@lemm.ee 4 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

United Fruit Company bitches!

Embrace Idiocracy

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[–] Sanity_in_Moderation@lemmy.world 5 points 1 year ago (4 children)

I did the math a few years ago because I couldn't find anyone else who had published it. This is rough and IANAM (mathmagicman).

Every single day 8,000 boomers and above die, and 12,000 people turn 18 and those numbers are actually accelerating. If you use existing data to estimate conservative/liberal and likely voters within those groups it works out to a delta of 10,000 per day on a national scale. That's 5,000 votes switching every single day. That might not seem like alot. Because it really isn't. Out of 155 million votes cast, 10,000 is .006 percent. But here's the thing. It's cumulative. And it just doesn't stop. It is relentless. it's 300k a month, 3.6 million per year. And that pace is accelerating. Between 2020 and 2024 it's a 15 million vote difference. By 2028 it's 30 million.

It used to be that people age into conservatism. But that is not happening with millennials. The demographics are changing, and changing quickly. The most conservative group in the country is dying. While the most liberal group is rising.

We just have to hold on to democracy for a few more years. This will all be behind us. Another 10k today.

[–] TokenBoomer@lemmy.world 6 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

And that explains why Republicans have given up on democracy. Thanks for doing the math.

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[–] AnneBonny@lemmy.dbzer0.com 6 points 1 year ago

It's not Nato, it's NATO isn't it?

[–] BeMoreCareful@lemmy.world 5 points 1 year ago (5 children)

I know this isn't the place, but what's that helmet strap thing they're sporting?

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[–] Daft_ish@lemmy.world 5 points 1 year ago

But fuck if the electorate doesn't give a shit

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