Yes, absolutely, but it seems to me that this message never got through to the American people. It may well have been overlooked by past administrations amid all the typical flag-waving.
My hope is that, in the face of this completely obvious corruption—which the current administration didn’t invent, but which it exploits more shamelessly than any previous U.S. administration has—U.S. citizens might come to their senses.
Perhaps this completely obvious abuse of power will lead U.S. citizens to reflect on the values that have been instilled in them—according to all the propaganda—as a model democracy.
In other words: Perhaps, despite their unspeakable self-centeredness, U.S. citizens will eventually come to understand that what was sold to them as the American Dream is, in fact, nothing but a nightmare.
It is truly a shame that this realization apparently is only possible in the face of ruin. Yet, unfortunately, I am still undecided as to whether it has even sunk in at all, even now.
The bitter truth is this: My experiences are also based on exchanges with U.S. citizens on Lemmy. Even they, for the most part, want to carry on as before and are not willing to put up a fight.
Since I am well aware that these are just a small fraction of the people in the U.S., I have, unfortunately, given up all hope.
As a European, I expect that we will soon face military force from the U.S. due to the mindless policies of its leadership—simply because it is a declining power that clings to its past greatness, led by the mentally deranged who, due to their delusions, still consider illusions of the past to be reality.
Edit: Just to make this absolutely clear: The reason for the misery of U.S. citizens is by no means some kind of “agent” power from another country. The reason is the oligarchs who rule this country and shamelessly enrich themselves at the expense of the people’s suffering. As long as U.S. citizens aren’t aware of this, nothing can change.
Do you seriously think Russia would function any differently? Do you really think all those millions are voluntarily serving as Putin’s henchmen?
Probably goes some way to outlining the split in America as he was a Republican who the Republican Party now stands almost entirely against, having learned that social politics is a fast track to political power and riches.
It’s hard to explain how a country of ~400 million lets this happen, but the short version is propaganda and lies. And unfortunately those aren’t limited to the US.
Even Eisenhower was, compared to today, still a reasonably decent person—though those were times when people’s perceptions weren’t controlled by billionaires, as is the case today.
That’s why it’s all the more important for us to come together and reflect on human values, rather than indulging in the hatred that the billionaires can spread through their unprecedented reach.
I refuse to view people as inherently bad simply because an absolute minority uses its money to propagate that view.
Eisenhower was, compared to today, still a reasonably decent person
glances at the Korean War, the Dirty Wars south of the border, CIA operations across the Middle East and East Asia, backing for the early Apartheid government in South Africa, Operation Plumbbob, Nixon…
The big difference between Eisenhower’s two terms and Trump’s two terms boils down to the alignment of the US national media at the time. Eisenhower had them under lock-and-key day one. Trump’s had an off-and-on relationship going back to his Central Park Five ad.
The dirty truth of Presidential politics is that lots of these guys are corrupt, lots of them are incompetent, and lots of them are complete assholes. But public opinion hinges on whether the national media wants to scream at them. Trump getting into a four month long disastrous war with Iran is - frankly - a huge improvement over the Bush Jr (decades in Iraq/Afghanistan) or Reagan (instigated the Iran-Iraq War which killed millions) or Eisenhower (toppled multiple liberal Middle Eastern governments from the inside). Assuming this peace deal sticks, he’s going to go down as one of the least reprehensible US Presidents to meddle in Middle Eastern politics, by volume of atrocities committed.
Drump is actually the best representative this country has ever had.
He’s definitely a symptom of the US decline. But given our nightmare run at foreign policy across the region, that’s somehow managed to be an improvement.
Do you really think that Trump and his billionaire cronies don’t have the media under their thumb?
I don’t think there’s anything left in the U.S. that could even be called a free press, and the major social media platforms—as well as, now, the AI cloud providers—are completely controlled by billionaires who, out of sheer opportunism, belong to the Trump camp anyway.
The fact that the Orange One is still in such a bad spot seems to me to be simply due to the fact that he’s such a completely unscrupulous monster. I mean, he’s mentioned thousands of times in the Eppstein Files alone and allows himself to be bribed as openly as is even conceivable.
The fact that he’s still in office at all borders on a miracle and is probably only conceivable in the land of unlimited possibilities.
Do you really think that Trump and his billionaire cronies don’t have the media under their thumb?
I think media owners regularly have to discipline Trump with negative news stories and right wing hecklers.
Neocon Hecklers got him into the Iran War. Wall Street hecklers got him to sign a deal. And Zionist hecklers will likely convince him to blow it up again.
The fact that he’s still in office at all borders on a miracle
Once you prove you can get elected, you develop a level of inertia that keeps getting you elected.
Once you prove you can get elected, you develop a level of inertia that keeps getting you elected.
Well, I think the key factor that determines who gets elected and who gets to stay in office in the U.S. is money and pandering to the oligarchs, who have been ruling this country for a long time now.
The whole “democracy” thing is little more than a show, if you ask me.
There are plenty of reasons for this mess: starting with the Constitution itself, through the absurd Electoral College and two-party system and the corrupt Supreme Court, all the way to unlimited campaign donations and the fact that there is no free press.
Yes, absolutely, but it seems to me that this message never got through to the American people. It may well have been overlooked by past administrations amid all the typical flag-waving.
My hope is that, in the face of this completely obvious corruption—which the current administration didn’t invent, but which it exploits more shamelessly than any previous U.S. administration has—U.S. citizens might come to their senses.
Perhaps this completely obvious abuse of power will lead U.S. citizens to reflect on the values that have been instilled in them—according to all the propaganda—as a model democracy.
In other words: Perhaps, despite their unspeakable self-centeredness, U.S. citizens will eventually come to understand that what was sold to them as the American Dream is, in fact, nothing but a nightmare.
It is truly a shame that this realization apparently is only possible in the face of ruin. Yet, unfortunately, I am still undecided as to whether it has even sunk in at all, even now.
The bitter truth is this: My experiences are also based on exchanges with U.S. citizens on Lemmy. Even they, for the most part, want to carry on as before and are not willing to put up a fight.
Since I am well aware that these are just a small fraction of the people in the U.S., I have, unfortunately, given up all hope.
As a European, I expect that we will soon face military force from the U.S. due to the mindless policies of its leadership—simply because it is a declining power that clings to its past greatness, led by the mentally deranged who, due to their delusions, still consider illusions of the past to be reality.
Edit: Just to make this absolutely clear: The reason for the misery of U.S. citizens is by no means some kind of “agent” power from another country. The reason is the oligarchs who rule this country and shamelessly enrich themselves at the expense of the people’s suffering. As long as U.S. citizens aren’t aware of this, nothing can change.
Do you seriously think Russia would function any differently? Do you really think all those millions are voluntarily serving as Putin’s henchmen?
It’s a quote from the farewell address of President Eisenhower.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dwight_D._Eisenhower's_farewell_address
Probably goes some way to outlining the split in America as he was a Republican who the Republican Party now stands almost entirely against, having learned that social politics is a fast track to political power and riches.
It’s hard to explain how a country of ~400 million lets this happen, but the short version is propaganda and lies. And unfortunately those aren’t limited to the US.
Even Eisenhower was, compared to today, still a reasonably decent person—though those were times when people’s perceptions weren’t controlled by billionaires, as is the case today.
That’s why it’s all the more important for us to come together and reflect on human values, rather than indulging in the hatred that the billionaires can spread through their unprecedented reach.
I refuse to view people as inherently bad simply because an absolute minority uses its money to propagate that view.
glances at the Korean War, the Dirty Wars south of the border, CIA operations across the Middle East and East Asia, backing for the early Apartheid government in South Africa, Operation Plumbbob, Nixon…
Yes, Eisenhower was a scumbag. But compared to the monstrosity and absurd corruption of today’s U.S. regime, even he seems halfway civilized.
But yeah, it’s true—the U.S. has far more terrible crimes on its conscience than its global reputation would have you believe.
But hey, that’s all in the past now. In that sense, Drump is actually the best representative this country has ever had.
The big difference between Eisenhower’s two terms and Trump’s two terms boils down to the alignment of the US national media at the time. Eisenhower had them under lock-and-key day one. Trump’s had an off-and-on relationship going back to his Central Park Five ad.
The dirty truth of Presidential politics is that lots of these guys are corrupt, lots of them are incompetent, and lots of them are complete assholes. But public opinion hinges on whether the national media wants to scream at them. Trump getting into a four month long disastrous war with Iran is - frankly - a huge improvement over the Bush Jr (decades in Iraq/Afghanistan) or Reagan (instigated the Iran-Iraq War which killed millions) or Eisenhower (toppled multiple liberal Middle Eastern governments from the inside). Assuming this peace deal sticks, he’s going to go down as one of the least reprehensible US Presidents to meddle in Middle Eastern politics, by volume of atrocities committed.
He’s definitely a symptom of the US decline. But given our nightmare run at foreign policy across the region, that’s somehow managed to be an improvement.
Do you really think that Trump and his billionaire cronies don’t have the media under their thumb?
I don’t think there’s anything left in the U.S. that could even be called a free press, and the major social media platforms—as well as, now, the AI cloud providers—are completely controlled by billionaires who, out of sheer opportunism, belong to the Trump camp anyway.
The fact that the Orange One is still in such a bad spot seems to me to be simply due to the fact that he’s such a completely unscrupulous monster. I mean, he’s mentioned thousands of times in the Eppstein Files alone and allows himself to be bribed as openly as is even conceivable.
The fact that he’s still in office at all borders on a miracle and is probably only conceivable in the land of unlimited possibilities.
I think media owners regularly have to discipline Trump with negative news stories and right wing hecklers.
Neocon Hecklers got him into the Iran War. Wall Street hecklers got him to sign a deal. And Zionist hecklers will likely convince him to blow it up again.
Once you prove you can get elected, you develop a level of inertia that keeps getting you elected.
Well, I think the key factor that determines who gets elected and who gets to stay in office in the U.S. is money and pandering to the oligarchs, who have been ruling this country for a long time now.
The whole “democracy” thing is little more than a show, if you ask me.
There are plenty of reasons for this mess: starting with the Constitution itself, through the absurd Electoral College and two-party system and the corrupt Supreme Court, all the way to unlimited campaign donations and the fact that there is no free press.