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by defrost 159 days ago
As a non American you have a semi reasonable chance of being to sit back, take a beat, and watch (maybe) Trump implode and self destruct within the US system and maybe some following rebuilding of the system "as intended" with better safeguards.

  Trump’s triumphant narrative is not working at home, either. A new CNN poll released Friday shows that fifty-eight percent of Americans believe that Trump’s first year in office has been a failure. Americans worry most about the economy, but concerns about democracy come in second. The numbers beyond that continue to be bad for Trump. Sixty-six percent of Americans think Trump doesn’t care about people like them. Fifty-three percent think he doesn’t have the stamina and sharpness to serve effectively as president.

  Sixty-five percent of Americans say Trump is not someone they are proud to have as president.
~ Jan 17th, 2026 - https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/january-17-2026

See also: https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/january-16-2026 etc.
1 comments
Imustaskforhelp 159 days ago
One of the issues I have with this is that a Weaker America does mean a better China and the reasons I have been vocal is that this doesn't have to do much with America itself but rather the fact that we need a multi polarized world in first place with (I think) policies of non alighnment because Europe aligned itself to US for the most part, its coming so much as a shock-wave in the first place.

A stronger China does mean more micro-agressions towards Asean countries in general (japan,south korea,India) and QUAD members (minus the united states) so it would be beneficial if the EU block could align itself with the members of Asean who still align with democratic ideals and similar.

This is probably why most countries officials (or people interested in geopolitics) are on the edge of their seats

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defrost 159 days ago
A better China, or stronger China, would likely look like China as a trading powerhouse dominating Atlas of Economic Complexity rankings globally, exerting greater control over the bottleneck of China Sea through which almost all its inbound and outbound goods traverse.

It's unlikely (but possible) to see it flex as a global military powerhouse in the same manner as other great empires have done in the past - but it is probable that china will continue to extract "water resources" as food from Africa and elsewhere as it, the Saudi's, and others already do .. in China's case with the backing of its own mercanaries and with US mercanaries (they were hiring Erik Prince and Blackwater not so long ago).

This is a pattern the world has seen before - great powers come and go, meridans and global financial centres have moved before and will move again.

Yes, there has been an uneasy peace of sorts for 75 years or so, do be aware of and prepared for transitions.

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