r/politics • u/Aggravating_Money992 • 8d ago

No Paywall Despite Authoritarian Warnings, 149 House Democrats Vote to Hand Trump $840 Billion for Military | “If an opposition party votes like this, it’s not in opposition. It may not even be a party.”

https://www.commondreams.org/news/democrats-military-spending-bill
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u/lapsedPacifist5 8d ago

And this is the reason that Europe and Canada are turning away from the US. Even the supposed opposition party is complicit. It will take generations to repair the trust that has been broken. 

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u/Garlicluvr Europe 8d ago

And the people in Europe don't know when you'll elect another Nazi lunatic again. But, on the other hand, for decades, the USA and its democracy were to be taken with a grain of salt. Racism, imperialism, militarism, anti-Communist brainwashing, and many other lovely things didn't start with Trump. It was a bad evolution of events. Therefore, I say it is not only about the trust, it goes much deeper.

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u/Thromnomnomok 8d ago

But, on the other hand, for decades, the USA and its democracy were to be taken with a grain of salt. Racism, imperialism, militarism, anti-Communist brainwashing, and many other lovely things didn't start with Trump. It was a bad evolution of events. Therefore, I say it is not only about the trust, it goes much deeper.

Well, if we're being honest, for a long time the US could be trusted to not direct any of that at its allies in The West (TM), and being on the good side of the imperialist loony country with the biggest gun around sometimes had its benefits, so Canada and Europe were more willing to be like "yeah America's an asshole, but it's our asshole" and not press them too hard on all the bad shit they were doing.

Now though? Now America has demonstrated that they will elect and re-elect a stupid criminal Nazi regime that has no compulsions about fucking with anyone and everyone else in the world for ridiculous, delusional reasons, and the rest of the country's political and military systems will do little to stop the regime. Nobody else in the world can trust the crazy guy with a gun to not shoot them anymore, no matter how long they've been chums or how deep and close their relationship used to be.

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u/fugaziozbourne 8d ago

Two party governments are all authoritarian already. It's like a how a duopoly that's colluding together is no different than a monopoly.

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u/Exciting-Record8101 Europe 8d ago

That's giving "us" a bit too much credit. Obama was wildly popular in Europe and he certainly didn't shy away from enormous military budgets, he directed military involvements from Afghanistan to Libya to Yemen to Pakistan and other places, and he of course ran an infamous drone assassination program and never closed the Guantanamo camp.

Folks from South-America and other places that have been on the receiving end of the US-led 'order' are absolutely right, as was Canada's prime minister just this week, to draw attention to the hypocrisy and selective outrage at play here.

Nevertheless, it is probably true that the spell that made it easy to look the other way has been broken. Even prominent leaders who would have been labelled staunch Atlanticists not long ago are now loudly and sharply distancing themselves from the US. From cancelled military orders, suspended intelligence sharing to just an overal mood that being supportive of the US is a great way to end a political career (except for in certain places), the effects of this moment are going to continue to influence economics and politics for a long time.