Unfortunately, most nations aren't insulated from the consequences of what America has decided to do to itself.

With the US freely surrendering much of its soft power to China and Russia (e.g. by exiting the WHO, ...), I suppose it'll a bit more insulated.

WHO wasn't supposed to be a tool of soft power, and the fact it turned to one makes the decision to leave it all more valid. What soft power does a healthcare organisation provide, that couldnt be better served by your own means?

How do you feel about something like the International Atomic Energy Agency?

Showing up to do work is how you wield soft power nonetheless, even if it's a side effect.

I think you're confusing soft power with hard power.

It's going to be a very memorable four years a lot of us are looking forward to.

What is happening now will take a lot longer than 4 years to recover from if ever. Just feel sorry for us, that it is just us, which it won't be.

I don't think there is any sort of recovering from this. Have we recovered from the Bush years? Have we recovered from the fall of the Roman Empire?

I much prefer it when they are actually serious. Hasn't happened anywhere on a while, at least on national stages

Unfortunately I think they are serious, just not about solving the problems they say they will solve.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=joV-9FFoA3Q

Which country are you based in, Canada? I have bad news for what’s happening with your government, both related to America and not.

Really? I’m looking forward to finally getting some adults in the room.

It’s hilarious when the campaign is focused on getting immigration, public safety and the government budget under control (all basic functions of government that haven’t been functioning) and people’s response is “i feel sorry for you”.

Uhh, ok?

They're renaming a government agency after an internet meme.

There are no adults left. Only a malignant narcissist, and the people willing to feed his insatiable ego.

If you voted for the man, you've been duped.

Versus what? Voting for the prior president who has dementia and hasn’t been running the country for the past 2 years?

Or the woman who can’t do live interviews without cackling and giving nonsense answers?

Serious like Biden preemptively pardoning all of his family and Dr "Gain of function research is worth the risk" Fauci?

"Glad I'm not X" doesn't matter when the withdrawal from the Paris climate agreement will hit the whole planet.

We surpassed the goals set by the accord already and other countries ignore it because it has no teeth. Nothing was lost.

Yellow jacket riots?

Sorry that we got what we voted for?

Don’t be.

Democracy is not a game focused on picking the best outcome. Democracy is a game of trial and error.

The problem is that our government has been merely pretending to be serious while being extremely unserious: https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-solutions/2024/03/28/....

Musk, who has revolutionized two massive industries, is “serious.” The outgoing administration was cosplaying seriousness. America didn’t want to reelect Trump. They did it because the “grownups in the room” were a tire fire that managed to do almost everything wrong, from immigration to foreign policy.

I know Americans tend to be patriots, but also that they often have a misunderstanding of the rest of the western world. I wonder if they care how the rest of the western world views the US democracy (which was never considered to be strong implementation of democracy) and the clown government that is now being installed.

It feels like being on a train about to go over a collapsed bridge. Watching as the first cars go over the cliff.