[jack_tripper]

Now THAT is blatantly false.

American power today stems from its power, military and fiscally (which is also backed militarily).

Most countries in the world today are allied to the US out of economic, trade and defense necessity and co-dependence, because all other alternatives are worse for them due to the immense asimetric power disparity.

This might shock you but most countries in the world don't like the US government and its policies, especially after their illegal invasion of Iraq and Afghanistan, but have no way to push back without negative repercussions to their economy, so they have to play along as allies whether they like it or not for their own good.

Feel free to down vote all you want, but I'm not revealing anything new or controversial here but it's the truth as all countries, kingdoms and empires throughout history have had alliances with others they didn't like, out of sheer necessity. Same how we in the liberal west have also been trading and having economic ties with the CCP, post-Crimean invasion Russia, Erdogan's Turkey and middle eastern countries that assassinate our journalists, as capitalism post-USSR collapse has prioritized monetary enrichment over fighting for upholding a western ideology.

[actionfromafar]

Turns out, that the US has succeeded in making other alternatives better, by making itself less attractive.

Canada is making deals with China. That's an incredible own goal by the US.

[mrsmrtss]

Also, Europe does not trust the US anymore. It's rather embarrassing and sad that what has become of this once great country.

[jack_tripper]

Define "better". Currently no county, even China can't replace the US as a trading partner in terms of how much the US consumer base buys from us(the European export base I mean) and the kind of technology the US provides back in return. Until China's consumer purchasing power comes close, we're stuck with the US as our main pay piggy.

Plus, I don't think replacing the US with China, a dictatorship that's running slave labor camps, has no human rights or freedom of speech, no freedom of religion, etc, as the main world superpower, is the best idea.

So, how people can promote cozying up to the CCP as some sort of win just to stick it to Trump, is beyond me. It's as narrow minded as the people who were promoting Russian gas dependency as some sort of political victory, until it bit them in the ass and is now costing us through the nose. Why don't people learn from history that cutting your nose to spite your face is not a wise long term strategy?

As bad as Trump is he's only got 3 more years in power until next elections while the CCP is a forever evil pretending to be your friend playing the Embrace Extend Extinguish long game.

[spiderfarmer]

What you see as cozying up to the CCP is irrelevant if people perceive the USA as being the same as China.

Trying to gain independence from the USA is sorely needed. Smaller countries have no choice but to play both sides.

The US consumer base is driven by debt, which is unsustainable. So it just makes sense strategically: https://impaxam.com/insights-and-news/blog/us-consumer-healt...

The US also doesn't have freedom of speech anymore. Daily attacks on the free press, wrongful arrests, censorship of government agencies, extortion of Universities. Also, ICE has disappeared activists who were legally in the US. It's becoming Trump's gestapo real quick.

Don't close your eyes to the harsh reality. The US has had mass incarceration on the same footing as slave labor camps for decades now. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_incarcera...

There might be freedom of religion, for now. But there's no freedom from religion: https://www.peoplesworld.org/article/the-terrible-10-church-...

Nobody believes the current trend will end with Trump. The corruption, internal divisions, feelings of grandeur and bullying will not end with this regime. And there are a lot reasons to believe Trump will not cede power.

[jcattle]

> As bad as Trump is he's only got 3 more years in power until next elections

And even in the "best case" scenario where trump does not win that next election, what are you left with then?

A new reality where potentially the office of the president has widely increased powers. Depending on what the supreme court says on wednesday the president will now be able to raise tarrifs at will, send the army into domestic cities at will, have the army kill foreign civil citizens we are not at war with at will and a massively expanded ICE agency which will be really hard to downsize for later administrations.

[jack_tripper]

What are you on about? Trump isn't part of the next elections.

And everything you just said after that, China is 100x worse at those things. So this isn't the "US bad, China better partner" gotcha you were hoping to be.

[jcattle]

If you remember the last time Trump lost an election there was a violent coup. I do not hold out any hope that there will be an orderly transfer of power.

Also, I wasn't comparing the US to anyone, I don't care what China is doing. I was just listing the direction that the US democracy is heading in under Trump. And that direction is a systemic extension of presidential powers that go largely unchecked. The Wednesday ruling of the Supreme Court will be a watershed moment in this case, if they will not check his overreach on tariffs, I doubt that they will check anything that Trump is doing.