How do you believe a country can maintain its hegemonic position if it does its utmost to reverse a hundred years of propaganda and cultural status?

Can you define 'perception' and why it matters, especially on a global level?

Unless you mean it like, "countries have no friends", but that's not a very interesting observation.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

What did that coup accomplish for him? Last time I checked those people went to jail for a while and he was still not president till the next election.

> I do not hold out any hope that there will be an orderly transfer of power.

Kind of like how Antifa with the aid of blue city leadership has been burning down Teslas and assaulting Federal agents for a year now, just because Democrats lost the election and can't accept it?

You mean that kind of "peaceful" transfer of power?

Now, I believe two wrongs don't make a right, but clearly democrats aren't innocent angels in the politics game, but are using every dirty trick in in the book and outside the book to upset the election results while playing the victims.

This is exactly what I am talking about. Trump is right now shifting what is within a Presidents power. He is eroding the checks and balances which were set up to keep we the people in power, not a foreign government or a single person ruling in their own interest; We the People. And as you say, even if there is an orderly transfer of power, I do not see the state of the US democracy changing afterwards. You now have a position which is more powerful than ever, and a single person can do more than ever to bend the people to their will. Why consider other positions and opinions of your People, when you can just send the Army to silence them?

Doesn't matter if they wear a blue tie or a red tie.

And the majority of the voting American people have decided at the elections they want and support Trump's policies.

It doesn't get more democratic than that.

> It doesn't get more democratic than that.

It does get more democratic than that: You vote for congress. You vote in your state, you vote in local county elections, etc.

If now historically your congress, your state, your county had certain powers which are now being taken by the President, I would argue that everything gets less democratic. Your vote and your voice matters less and less. I'm not arguing against Trump in particular here. I am arguing for democratic principles.

Maybe I am misreading your position, but it seems like you do not see democracy as changing in the US?

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.

Alliances form out of fear.

Fear of being crushed by the US military.

The largest Air Force in the world? US Air Force.

Second largest Air Force? US navy.

The last US military action widely regarded as a success was the first Gulf war but, I didn't know about you, but I like my successful military actions to come without a part II.

Afghanistan is extremely difficult to control and has been for thousands of years.

Alexander the Great's army was garbage. He managed barely by marrying a local noblewoman after a long and frustrating campaign. He had the benefit of not being on the opposite side of the planet. America had to fly over Iran to get there. Super easy.

The British were garbage. The first Anglo-Afghan war went .... poorly. They had the same experience as the US forces. The second Anglo-Afghan war went great! They defeated the Afghan army! A few months later they lost Kabul, their forces collapsed immediately, being slaughtered again by Afghanis. They reinvaded, failed, and retreated. They would have totally won if they had an air force.

The Soviet military was garbage. They struggled for a decade to prop up their own government there. (Sound familiar yet?)

There was a third Anglo-Afghan war. This time the British won handily. Just kidding, they failed yet again, like everyone else.

This is like me telling you: "If you're so smart, why aren't you a billionaire?" Well, that isn't how it works, is it?

Geography is the same reason Iran will never be invaded by a land army.

this negative-space begs-the-question story-telling that is popular lately feels weird.

"And you know what he said Tommy?"

If you want to tell us about public sentiment towards Americans then just do it -- don't pawn the social liability off on your Dutch friends.

But let me take a guess : they really liked us and were in-tune with social policies and hopeful for the future. ...Right?

It's just that Americans act like they are the best country in the world, while they never top a single positive index. American life and culture are not attractive to Europeans and you have beautiful art all over the world.

https://www.visualcapitalist.com/ranked-countries-with-the-b...

Which country do those Dutch people think is the better one?

And hey, I grew up in a culture that loved the USA. There are lots of countries where that's the opposite.

Remember, this deeply unserious regime wants us to trust them: https://www.whitehouse.gov/mysafespace/