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Comment by notmyjob | Hacker News Reader

For many nations, DJT has been the best thing that has ever happened, by a wide indisputable margin. Not all nations, but some.

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Or for individuals. I;ve never realized how US-like my country was becoming until DJT and his second administration. I'm probably one of the most US-pilled person my age in my country (I follow US football more than soccer, i hang out on US forums and discords, i used to follow US news every day, i've spent a month between Ohio and WV, and another between California, Nevada and Colorado, it's the foreign country i've spent the most time in overall) and even I realized how subserviant and culturally acclimated to the US we became. Von der Layen and her "negociation" did not help the sentiment, i guarantee, but i think it's how much even national news talked about the US that made me realized we have to cut ties.

I've moved, in 6 month, from a pretty pro-OTAN, "liberal" point of view toward an anti-OTAN, anti-Atlantist position, and i think i'm right. I now would even vote for an anti-atlantist right wing party rather than for the left of center, pro-US party i've voted for before (well, since an anti-Atlantist left wing party exist, and despite its radicality, i will probably vote for them, but i'm now a single-issue voter, and my issue is how omnipresent the US is in our culture).

DJT made me realized i'm part of the problem, and now i can take steps to fix it.

You might want to think a little bit further.

One, figure out why you're "anti-Atlantist", and anti-defense pact. Two, think about how radicality created the US problems, and why you think radicalism is the answer in your case.

Yes, Europe needs to change its stance, but electing a "burn-it-to-the-ground" faction is not actually going to do this in a productive way.

As for the "omnipresence" of the US, that is and has always been a lot of individual choices more than a political choice. By all means, fixate less on the US yourself, but I promise you that trying to force that on others by electing a more authoritarian party will backfire spectacularly.

Soft power isn't countered by hard power. The two working counters are increased soft power on your own (i.e. a culture that's more attractive than US culture), or said soft-power self-reducing. You can trust DJT to achieve the latter.

You don't have to "cut ties". You have to learn to think on your own.

I'm similar in that I had hugely admired the USA for as long as I've been politically aware (so a bit over 15 years) and dreamt of living there one day. That's all changed now of course, I think we need to keep the USA on side for as long as possible but we need to cut ties with them as soon as we can. Not only do they not give a shit about us, they seem to actively hate us. I don't recognise their right wing any more, they just worship that fucktard in the WH. Basically everything I believed about Western civilisation and America's role in leading it, turned out to be a lie. I mean, I wouldn't even call the USA a western country any more.

So who will lead then? A world without great power competition isn’t an actual thing. I’d be ok with the UK, maybe Italy. It won’t be France which is in turmoil. So who do you prefer over the USA, that has some chance of taking over?

It's not about who I want to lead. The USA has already stated to the world that it has no desire to lead and wants to retreat from the global stage. It's more about survival at this stage. Of course the UK cannot lead, it is too small, and I say that as a Brit.

I'm an American living _in_ Europe for over a decade and I've been going crazy watching the EU willfully remain a weak and insignificant vassal to the US when it _could_ be much, much stronger. It's insane watching them go back to their abuser over and over and over and acting surprised when the abuser behaves exactly like they said they would.

What do you mean by "weak" and "vassal"?

Do a mental experiment. Suppose that the US disappeared. What would Europe do differently?

> DJT has been the best thing that has ever happened…

I am curious about whether your model of how the current Administration in the U.S. has benefited various countries so strikingly includes the United States itself.

I personally think the US benefited from recent events in a similar way body benefits from a fever. So yes, even though it might not feel like it at times.

In the sense that a lot of fevers are deadly.

Bodies do not "benefit" from fever. A fever is a signal that pathogens have recently entered the body, and the body is desperately at work trying to kick them out again. If it fails, you die. The fever is a direct mirror of the inflammation caused by that fight.

So, yes, the current administration certainly caused a fever. And the only thing the US benefits from are the antibodies fighting that pathogen.

The jury is very much out on that. Market’s up, unemployment rising but relatively low. Our place in the world stage not as good as 30 years ago, but arguably a tad bit better than the days between our Afghan withdrawal and Putin’s blitz on Ukraine, or the dark days of pandemic lockdowns. Sometimes the darkest hour is before dawn. To be sure I ask myself your question nearly everyday and the concerns are obvious: a declining superpower (ensured by demographics) leaves a lot of room for the devil to take hold. Nuclear war has never felt more close or inevitable to me. Hatred reigns in many places, forgiveness, unity and love quite scarce compared to 30 years ago when soft power meant something. The Cold War years seem comfy in hindsight.

At least there was some good music back then that you coulf cling to and have hope

Absolutely. Putin's regime has certainly benefited enormously.

North Korea was the one I was thinking about, and Pakistan, and one or more of our more notable allies.

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