“I feel terrible for the American people because it’s not the American people, and it’s not even elected officials, it’s one person,”
Like hell. Congress is the one thing with the power to end this madness. The Republicans in control of both houses are absolutely responsible as they are doing literally nothing to rein in Trump’s madness.
Agreed. It’s 80% of the elected officials at this point. It’s unfortunate that foreign puppets are in power.
they are enabling and complicit, the gop also dont want to feel TRUMPs wrath and they also want to grift from whats hes getting from billionaires and russia.
The vast majority of people either voted for Trump or didn’t vote at all. Americans chose this madness either through action or inaction. They should feel accountable for the forthcoming consequences. Democracy in action.
Idk how much of a threat it actually is, but wasn’t musk threatening to primary anyone who went against him?
If a threat from an unelected foreign Nazi is all it takes to keep you from doing your job, you’re not fit to hold public office.
Well thanks to campaign funding in the usa musk could pay for any member of House to loose reelection
*lose
American here.
Keep doing what you’re doing Canada. Don’t play this retard’s game. The ONLY thing conservatives understand is money. Hit them where it hurts. It’s the only thing that’ll make them sour on this traitor.
American trade is nearly worth half of Canada’s total GDP. something like 75~80% of total Canadian exports go to the US. if they actually retaliate in force they could be dooming their country to an economic crisis if Trump is spiteful enough. so far the Canadian tariffs have only touched about $30B worth of goods, or 7% of the total trade.
Bottom line is Canada can’t rely on an unreliable country that literally threatens them.
It’s time for the world to move away from working with the U.S. We’ve shown we aren’t trustworthy. Canada needs to increase trade to other countries to compensate.
sounds nice in theory but i don’t think people realize just how integrated their economy is to the US
entire industries are completely dependent on US trade. they traded large swathes of their economic autonomy away for easy access to the US market. prosperity was deemed more important than sovereignty
it’s a decision that was decades in the making and it will likely take decades to reverse.
and if we’re being honest it shouldn’t have exactly taken Trump to make Canada realize the US acts in its own interests. Look at NAFTA signed by Bill Clinton. We pressured Canada into accepting a deal that forced them to maintain a certain level of oil export to the US even if there were domestic shortages.
It’s not the type of agreement equal parties or allies come to. It’s a relationship of domination. Always has been
It’s exactly that reason why we need to respond forcefully and not get bullied. We are incredibly dependent on reliable, good faith trade. If we let them jerk us around, we get all the disadvantages and incredible uncertainty.
We have to stand up to the bully’s demand for lunch money now or we’ll never be rid of him.
What would you consider a sufficiently forceful response?
So far Canada has taxed something like 10% of American exports into Canada with threats to increase that if Trump does not remove the initial tariffs.
Trump is threatening to tax all Canadian exports into US. And 80% of Canadian exports go to the US.
To summarize: US put a tariff on roughly 80% of all Canadian exports (there’s nuance here, like a few exclusions and certain goods have lower tariffs like oil)
Canada retaliated by putting a tariff on a little less than 1% of all American exports
Canada has a knob they can twist that goes up all the way to 10~12% of American exports. They can’t go any higher than that.
They’ve decided to start very small, even though Trump is threatening virtually everything.
The risk is if you go too high, Trump may increase his tariffs from 25% to a higher number. Amplifying the economic pain and potentially triggering an immediate recession with millions of job losses and the collapse of various industries.
So what’s the correct number? How do you stand up to a bully but also avoid an economic crisis?
It’s a very dangerous game and I do not envy your new banker PM. That’s why Trudaeu was so happy when he was leaving with his chair lol.
Mexico is taking a more muted response. They are in an even worse position.
None of the choices here are good, but clearly bending over and letting Trump fuck everyone is worse than the alternatives. China is also not going to take this lying down and they have a lot of potential for damaging Trump because so much of the USA’s manufacturing is outsourced there and they can more easily compensate with other partners than Canada can. If Canada, China and Mexico stick to their guns, together, long enough for the American people to do something about this idiot, then things can still work out.
While true, the Canadian government has already announced grants and loans to help Canadian companies restructure their supply chains away from the US. It’s a start. While the legal framework exists, Canadian companies haven’t yet had a reason to take advantage of new free trade agreements with the EU and the Asia Pacific. Now they do.
Also, in terms of numbers: 20% of US exports go to the EU, 18% go to Canada, 17% to Mexico, and less than 10% to China. Similarly, about 70% of US imports come from those same markets. This will be devastating for the US, too. It won’t be the ‘short period of transition’ the bloated diet coke goblin imagines. World trade patterns and supply chains will literally be upended.
Also, in terms of numbers: about 25% of Canadian GDP is based on US trade
https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/IF/IF12595 US-Canada trade amounts to $920B
Canadian GDP roughly $2.1T
Or roughly equivalent to ~40% of GDP depending on the year
This will be devastating for everyone, the US included.
it will be painful for US but whatever US feels, Canada & Mexico will feel 3x worse (and that number can go up 10x worse if they retaliate)
go to figure 1. us economy might slow ~0.3%. canada & mexico go into recession. -3% easy with retaliation
note the tariffs are stupid and reckless and cruel and i don’t support them at all. im just adding context because i did not realize how fucked Mexico & Canada were until I looked into it
Canada’s total exports are about 35% of total GDP. So that puts US exports at somewhere around 24% of GDP. Pretty high but then if we exclude oil and gas and potash exports it’s a much, much smaller number. So small in fact that we would probably replace those exports within 12 months.
I wonder if anyone else other than the US wants some oil, natural gas, or potash? And yes I know we currently lack pipeline capacity but at this point I’d be willing to let the government finance it all to move oil and gas to the east coast.
I really think Americans over played their hand.
You’re not alone! It looks like investors also think they overplayed their hand, judging by the reaction of the markets. Terrible combination of Trumps silky smooth brain and US exceptionalism.
Also, not the first time I’ve seen the 40% GDP figure make an appearance. Must be doing its rounds on US propaganda networks.
Yeah the world’s doing its part, but it’d be nice if Americans did theirs.
Other than Bernie Sanders, the rest sure like to bitch a lot, but actions speak louder and they’re not getting out of their couches…
Yeah we’re not playing this back and forth game, just hit the Americans with tariffs and make them stick. Tbh I’m liking this “buy Canadian” movement that Americans have finally awakened
As an American… me too. I buy everything Canadian that I can. As long as he is in office, I’m buying foreign made. Idgaf about the tariff hike to do so. I’m voting with my wallet from now on since my vote doesn’t mean shit.
You’ll end up contributing more funding to Trump’s government that way. I’d consider just taking a 3-4 year vacation in Canada instead.
We’re gonna get a nice trump recession. All the fuckbrains will have to contend with their stupidity. I just hope I don’t get what they deserve.
We will get what he deserves… But that’s part of being American right now. It sucks, but this is what happens when our neighbors vote for an asshole.
We don’t deserve to take this on, but it’s our responsibility to do so.
I wonder how long it’s gonna take for the Americans to impeach him again
Considering it has no effect or impact, I don’t think they’ll bother. Everyone’s just hoping for a heart attack or a bullet at this point, because the way this government is set up, it apparently can’t do shit to save the country.
Downside is then we get literal retard J.D. Vance. And if someone deals with him Christo-Fascist Mike Johnson is next in line.
Neither of these guys have a cult of personality. I don’t care what their views are, no one on this planet is waking around with a JD VANCE tattoo on their fucking forehead and that matters
Lol ‘Trump recession’.
Better get ready for Trump destitution, with the way things are going
Who do you mean, the Liberals who prevented energy export to other countries under the guise of preventing climate change?
You moronic narcissists always fail to see the shittiniess of your own behaviour, and always accuses somebody else for your own shit.
Except this anti-development stance made us fully reliant on the US, and it funds our social safety net.
But the Liberals don’t give a shit about the poor, if housing is any indication.
🤡
Hell yeah - it’ll be a looooong time, if ever, before we can trust the U.S. again as a neighbour and ally. Right now, they’re nothing less than an enemy.
As an American, I can’t blame you for having this sentiment. Canada and Canadians don’t deserve the stupid shit the Trump administration and its followers are dishing out. Like many here, I’m disgusted that we are treating one of our closest abd staunchest allies in such a crappy way. I hope you guys continue to play hardball on this stuff.
I’ve got both family and friends in the U.S., and have always enjoyed my time there, like most Canadians I think - but we’re pissed off now, and we’re gonna protect ourselves and the country we love any way we can. Here’s hoping this madness ends soon, although right now it’s hard to see how :-(. Cheers, and thanks for the support!
It’s going to require my fellow Americans grow a brain and a conscience. Or learn that y’all’re’nt just silly maple folks who like hockey but a whole entire country that can and will fight back
“I feel terrible for the American people because it’s not the American people, and it’s not even elected officials, it’s one person,”
Americans elected Trump, and Americans are failing to do anything to reign Trump in.
These are the official policies for the COUNTRY! So unfortunately, this is not just one person, it is de facto USA as a whole.If it was only Trump, it would just be Trump refusing to buy Canadian for himself. As it is, the whole apparatus is enforcing these decisions, and they impact all of USA.
The US electoral system is broken and has always been broken. Republicans have spent the past 2 decades gerrymandering and introducing as much legislation as possible to manipulate the outcome of elections in as many districts as possible. They’ve introduced legislation: to prevent people with debt from voting, to prevent people with criminal records from voting, to prevent people who cannot physically make it to polling stations from voting. The Republicans and the ruling class own all the largest media organizations in the United States, and they have weaponized social media and traditional media to indoctrinate and manipulate as many people as possible.
Trump won this election with fewer votes than he lost in 2020. He won mostly because Republicans and Democrats are material allies in neoliberal and imperialist endeavors. Democrats refused to campaign on progressive politics, instead choosing to run on a more conservative campaign than they ever have before.
The working class is not responsible for their own manipulation at the hands of the ruling class. It is not their fault that the system is broken. It is not the fault of American families who literally can not afford to resist, as without the income from their jobs, they will lose their homes and be unable to feed themselves and their children.
Capitalism is the problem. Conservatism, and by extension neoliberalism and fascism, is the problem. Donald Trump is an accelerationist fascist. He will not wait and seeks to plunge the nation headlong into fascism as soon as possible. But do not mistake that as being in opposition to the social and political system of America. Donald Trump is entirely a representative of the failure of American democracy, not a representative of the American people. He manipulated people into voting for him, as evidenced by widespread outrage at his actions even among those who ostensibly voted for him.
The US electoral system is broken and has always been broken.
Oligarchy was built into the US electoral system, it is not broken but operating as designed. Only rich white males had any rights in the beginning, and every change since then was window dressing that could easily be taken away, as we are seeing now. The masks have dropped, the world is seeing the true USA. Genocidal, imperialistic, slave owning, bigoted and patriarchal. Nothing new to anyone with eyes and a brain.
The US electoral system is broken
Which is why it’s considered a flawed democracy, which I stated.
Republicans have spent the past 2 decades gerrymandering
Except Trump actually won the popular vote this time. Making this argument void regarding the presidential election 2024.
Republicans and Democrats are material allies
That far I agree, they have arranged it so they share power, except this time, Republicans may choose not to share it anymore.
The working class is not responsible for their own manipulation at the hands of the ruling class. It is not their fault that the system is broken.
Isn’t it? Haven’t they mostly agreed on this arrangement because for decades many mostly whites benefited from it too?
Capitalism is the problem
I partially agree, but there is no real alternative to capitalism, and definitely not anything proven, the problem is not capitalism but how it is managed. In a social democracy it can work pretty well.
We have been a flaws democracy the entire time of our existence.
Trump barely won the popular vote by 2 million and less than 50% of all votes. At best, 1/3 of Americans voted him in and unfortunately 1/3rd (beyond those who were disenfranchised) didn’t bother even showing up. Leaving 1/3rd who did or could do anything about it.
We’re pushing back. Unfortunately we have the law to work through and they’re just breaking the laws. Time will tell if the guardrails have completely fallen off. It’s not looking great but we have seen progress fighting back.
If you had read the rest of my first line, the American electoral system has always been broken. This isn’t a new state of affairs. The working class of America has been in a perpetual state of manipulation into further and further right-wing politics since at least the presidency of Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan.
He won this election with fewer votes than he lost in 2020. Ultimately, the popular vote is largely irrelevant as the number of votes overall is not what determines who won the election. He won in 2016 without the popular vote. Voter manipulation and strategic disenfranchisment won them that election and this one.
Correct, so the American public had a choice between conservatism and fascism. A state of affairs that outraged many people. The democrats and the Republicans share an interest in their corporate benefactors. They will unite to seek better outcomes for the ruling class at the expense of the working class. The democrats will and have consistently refused to adopt popular politics like those of Bernie Sanders and AOC. Those politics are in contrast to the desires of their benefactors.
The working class has been manipulated through a union of the education system and mass media to indoctrinate them into fascism and further anti worker politics. Even in traditionally democratic held states, there is a persistent refusal to educate children on anti-imperialist and anti-capitalist politics. There is a refusal to educate children on the failures of American democracy and an insistence on nationalist indoctrination. In red states, this is even worse. These problems have existed since at least the presidency of Richard Nixon and to differing extents even before then. American fascism is the system. It didn’t start yesterday, and has been manipulating the American working class for a very long time.
Even more than that the entirety of the media and education systems unite to indoctrinate the working class into anti working class politics. It indoctrinates the people into believing civil unrest is wrong, that protest and demonstration is wrong, that all political violence is wrong. This is deliberate. It is a deliberate effort to protect the interests of the ruling capitalist class.
Socialism is an alternative to capitalism. You have been indoctrinated by the capitalist ruling class into believing that socialism has never functioned. It has and continues to do so today. Socialism and authoritarianism are not equivalent concepts. The failure of authoritarian socialist states were failures of authoritarianism, not of Socialism. Capitalists have taken advantage of those failures to manipulate billions of people, like yourself, into seeing Socialism as the problem. It isn’t. Capitalism is and has been a global failure. A system that serves the self interests of billionaires is a failure. A system where workers do not own the fruits of their own labor is a failure. A system that tolerates landlords and private corporations is a failure.
f you had read the rest of my first line, the American electoral system has always been broken.
How does anything I write indicate otherwise? It’s not Trump that broke democracy (yet), he is merely exploiting the fact that it’s broken.
so the American public had a choice between conservatism and fascism.
Conservatism that at least makes room for social democrats like Bernie AOC and Ilhan Omar, and over that they chose fascism.
I don’t think there’s much point in arguing further, seems to me you are making a lot of false equivalences, and I have no patience for arguing against that.
You called it a flawed democracy. I said that it’s not flawed it is broken. It’s not democratic. The people do not get what they want.
The democratic party “leaves room” for leftists like Bernie Sanders and AOC, in that they can hang around and talk sometimes. Only as long as they have no actual power and can’t affect change in any way.
I wasn’t aware we were arguing. You didn’t respond to 95% of what I said. And that’s fine, but you can just say that you can’t or don’t want to consider anything I’ve said. You don’t have to say that I’m “making a lot of false equivalences”? I’m not really sure what you’re referring to by that.
Regarding the capitalism part
I’d say that what we see today is the logical conclusion of capitalism. In a way it’s a broken system, it just takes time to collapse. But growing wealth inequality and consolidation of power are inherent problems in capitalism, and we were always going to see times like this. I mean, for further example, look at climate change and how it’s damn near impossible to actually solve the problem
It’s more that there is little political will for an alternative system, but don’t get me wrong, if humanity wants to survive in the long run, there is no easy way out. I seriously do think that, either humanity makes a global economy that serves people, and not capital, or we will self-destruct due to systemic incentives of the profit incentive
I’d say that what we see today is the logical conclusion of capitalism
Capitalism is not a political system, what is happening now is what happens when governments fail to adhere to things that were figured out more than a hundred years ago, that Capitalism needs to be reigned in, exactly to avoid it from developing into monopolies and an oligarchy. USA has allowed that to happen, because of the (bitter) “sweet” profits, and with an already dysfunctional democracy, USA is very vulnerable to abuse of the power of extremely strong companies and even individuals now.
if humanity wants to survive in the long run, there is no easy way out.
I think there absolutely is, that is called social democracy, which has a pretty strong track record for protecting both citizens and the environment from powerful capitalists.
But it requires a well functioning democracy, and it probably can’t exist in a vacuum either. But in EU things have been trending in that direction, and EU is an excellent environment for it. USA however has a long way to go. The mentality simply isn’t there currently.No, I live in the EU, the same capitalistic problems exist here, they’re just slowed down a bit due to social democracy. But don’t get me wrong, the fundamental issues are here just as much as anywhere else on the globe
Capitalism is not directly an ideology by itself, no, but it is a massive fundamental part of a given ideology. There’s a reason most ideologies revolve around the economic system, because it’s so pervasive in everything we do. From the things we do every day, to the way we interact with others, to the way we get access to resources and services we need and want, to where we live, to how we think
What you need to keep in mind, is that under capitalism there will always be a profit incentive to undermine the system for even further profit. This is what collapses civilizations, this is what makes society fall apart in the long run
Making a capitalistic economy work for the benefit of everyone, for the people, is like trying to swim upstream all the time, forever. It would be much much more internally consistent to just have a river you swim downstream with. In other words, an economy based on cooperation, not competition. A civilization based on competition is almost an oxymoron, civilization itself is fundamentally a cooperative environment. Why do we tack competition on top of that?
Not to mention that the this “English is now the official language” decree is, I think, a way to set the foundation for a way to exclude even more people from voting. I predict they’ll come out with some kind of English proficiency test to be allowed to vote.
And it’s not like the tariffs were a bait and switch. Trump literally had them in his platform.
In fact, all the crap he’s been pulling was in his platform. He’s doing exactly what he promised he would do, and half the country was like, “Maybe this isn’t a good idea” and the other half enthusiastically voted him and then are shocked he’s doing exactly what he said he would do.
This is like the time the UK voted for Brexit and then became shocked when Brexit happened.
In fact, all the crap he’s been pulling was in his platform.
Yes, and he was making similar attempts about everything he is doing now already in his first term. So these policies aren’t new, and Americans voted for it.
This is like the time the UK voted for Brexit and then became shocked when Brexit happened.
Yes, but this is actually worse. Although Brexit cannot be reversed, and Trump’s first term was somewhat reversed. The way USA is acting now, threatening every ally they have, very seriously undermining NATO, Europe, democracy and Ukraine, threatening to destroy economies of Canada and Mexico. This can never be forgotten. USA is not even considered an ally anymore in most places that used to be the strongest allies of USA.
Yup. Whoever is next, and hopefully that will be in January 2029 if not earlier, is not going to have anything like the same influence that previous presidents have had. They will be able to deescalate short-term issues and generally provide a lull in the storm, but Trump has exposed the fragility of US power, and his base proves that America is an unreliable partner, so getting anything significant done that might cross administrations is going to be so much harder. Even if the next president is not insane and is without any above-average level of evil (neither is guaranteed), then that only helps temporarily. Hell, even if there’s some sea change in the electorate that makes democratic allies more optimistic, recovering from Trump 2 is going to mean the US looks inward for a time and there will be, if not a power vacuum, a serious low-pressure system that draws in disturbances.
Now, I’m not sad about the decline of American hegemony per se, but this is very much a “not like this” moment, and a slower unwinding would be better for stability. Our best case scenario here is that our allies understand the conflict inherent in the American ethos and work with us where practicable but also pursue the “strategic independence” we’ve been hearing about. I hope it’s Europe that steps up and reasserts itself, because barring a very unlikely leveling of the international order, your other options are China bulldozing the world for the financial benefit of the party, or Putin throwing bodies (both at enemies and out of windows), cutting off fossil fuels, and threatening nuclear war every time he doesn’t get his way.
Yup. Whoever is next, and hopefully that will be in January 2029 if not earlier, is not going to have anything like the same influence that previous presidents have had.
You’re an optimist, as it is, I don’t see the signs for it to go that way. But hopefully you are right.
Now, I’m not sad about the decline of American hegemony per se, but this is very much a “not like this” moment,
I said the same when Bush Jr. was elected, yet he was re-elected. Then I thought for sure Americans must have learned their lesson by now, and hopes were high with Obama.
But then Trump got elected, and created a shit show that almost ruined relations with allies completely. And jokes absolutely on me, because that even bigger idiot than Bush was actually elected for a 2nd term too.I have no hope for USA anymore. It’s gone steadily from bad to worse, and it seems like Americans never learn, ans especially like the Democrats never learn. Because they’ve done absolutely NOTHING to strengthen checks and balances or to strengthen democracy in USA. So here we are. USA is now a rogue nation.
I have no hope for USA anymore. It’s gone steadily from bad to worse, and it seems like Americans never learn, ans especially like the Democrats never learn. Because they’ve done absolutely NOTHING to strengthen checks and balances or to strengthen democracy in USA.
This is a fair criticism, and is looking like a much bigger mistake than it seemed initially, and I think it’s telling the one single thing Obama spent the political capital on to get properly enshrined into statue is the one bit of his legacy that Trump is having the hardest time undoing. Constitutionally, we have fucked ourselves by thinking we could run the largest economy in the world on the legal equivalent of a “plan of a plan,” worshipping said high-level outline like it was holy writ, and then making surprise-pikachu face when a bad actor who’s not concerned about long-term stability starts shoving dynamite into its many cracks (pardon the mixed metaphor).
I hope you’re wrong, but I am not confident enough that you are to argue the point.
One thing is sure, it’s really really sad.
I hope things don’t turn out as bad as it looks right now.
The people who voted for him got scammed. They’re stupid, but it’s not their fault either. They are spiritually invested in a scam.
but it’s not their fault either.
IDK isn’t it? Good information is available, and they choose to ignore it. I know victims of scams can be so entangled with it, that they can’t see it, even when the police arrest the scammers, and show them the evidence they were being scammed.
But at that point, isn’t that too their own fault that they choose to believe the scammer over police and evidence?I don’t think we shall give a pass based on “stupidity”, staying stupid is generally their own choice.
You people have worms in your brains, just like the Republicans.
Life is not black and white, though you know who loves to think in black and white? Fascists. Also, you know who loves this idea of lumping together the American people as a whole? Trump does.
you know who loves this idea of lumping together the American people as a whole?
I have often written in comments that criticize Americans that there obviously are good Americans, that tried to prevent this. Just because I didn’t include that part here doesn’t mean I am generalizing wildly, and think they are the same whether they voted for Trump or Harris.
But that doesn’t change the fact that the Trump administration is the administration for ALL of USA, because they voted him in. We can’t make trade agreements or buy weapons from the people who voted against Trump, because that is simply not how it works. We have to respond to the country, not individuals. So this situation is one that the COUNTRY is in, not just Trump or MAGA. And the country let Trump and MAGA win.
We also can’t wait out the 4 years Trump is president like we did last time, because Russia has invaded Europe, and USA is failing completely as an ally, and is actively hostile now. Preventing F-16 planes and Himars from working, that were given to Ukraine by Europe. Failing even in sharing intelligence that doesn’t cost any money to share, and negotiating 100% on behalf of Russia. The allied countries need to move on without USA, that’s not at all up for debate. Allies can no longer trust American equipment.
It’s not Trump alone, it’s all of USA that is failing democracy and former allies. Not just Texas, and not just half the population that voted for the fascist despite the warnings.If you can’t see that, you are denying reality.
Something also not touched on in the article is the HUGE number of ukrainians we have in our country, particularly in the praries. We’re ranked in the top 3 for ukrianians/Ukraine heritage, below Ukraine and Russia.
I’d argue most Canadians are pretty pro-Ukraine, and the US wiffle-waffling on that as well stings deep.
I get it’s ‘the US’ because he was voted in but it’s not the US it’s one fucking moron. Our country bumkins are misinformed idiots that got him to power, yes, but population centers aka well educated folks are blue and we fucking hate every minute of this shit. Hence demonstrations at all state capitols multiple times over the last 2 months. Idk I’m probably making a moot point. I just can’t stand being thrown in a pile with the current administration, him winning or not, none of this is okay.
Bit tired of hearing this NGL, the problem is with your entire country and frankly that includes casting off the American rural poor as “idiotic country bumkins”. Stuff like that is exactly what will turn them away from your ideals & into the hands of those pointing at the snobbish urban elites looking down at them.
most of the educated are blue, alot of them are also red, because they fell for the misinformation while growing up, and through the bitterness in lack of career advancement because the major they chose dint lead them to one. i followed some asian tubers once, and they were all college educated, but they turned pretty maga during pandemic and a defensive coping mechanism from being called out for mistreatment of a employment, turns out they were always right wingers and shitty people, when people digged up thier social media/and past how badly they treated thier employees.
the 2 channel owners were college educated, but they are so misinformed on things, and very low info they fell for joe roegan,and shapiro, or whatever right winger was on the time.
You Americans being so dismissive of other people is exactly how this happened in the first place.
Remember when people were calling out how gender affirming care policies had gone too far and those people were written off as bigots? Then it turned out that a bunch of ideologues had hijacked the processes in several countries and were issuing puberty blockers and hormones with barely any consultation, then suppressed evidence that unchecked use of puberty blockers and hormones was actively harming people?
Remember when it turned out that droplet theory was bullshit and cloth masks don’t actually block COVID but we kept trucking along like they did?
Remember when Democrats told people facing hard times that the economy was doing great, even as the number of homeless was shooting up and inflation was going wild?
These and others are the kinds of lies that make people lose trust in authorities. Doubling down on them only made it worse. And before someone chimes in with a list of Republican / right-wing versions of this: yes I know they do the same thing, but telling people that as if that makes what “your side” did any better is stupid. The idea is to tell them about the lies on both sides so that they realize you’re not just another tribal moron. Tell the truth, gain some trust, and maybe you’ll see you share more in common than you’ve been lead to believe.
Trump thinks he can simply order things up like he’s getting a Big Mac, and the courts and other countries are demonstrating to him that the world and the US do not work that way.
Also, I hate how normal this feels. Everyone’s still struggling to pay for food, utilities, and health care, but now the other 49% are making excuses because now it’s their shitty guy in charge of it, and the people who were making excuses while it happened for the last four years are pretending they give a shit.
Eh, the last 4 years were rough, but we were coming out of a pandemic and had one of the best, if not the best recovery in the world. To pin how we responded to covid on Biden is disingenuous. I voted for him because I didn’t want Trump, but outside of his really bad fumble for the recent election (and his support of Isreal genociding Palestinians), he did a rather decent job.
I don’t think ‘decent’ is the correct adjective here.
Vast swaths of our population have never recovered, which is why Trump was able to expand his coalition to an Obama-era degree. People will point to inflation and job numbers, while ignoring the fact that prices have never gone down and most people are working 2-3 jobs and upwards of 100 hours a week to live in a roach-infested studio apartment because that’s all their hustle can afford them.
And to make matters worse, Biden had Congress for two years. He could have accomplished anything if he cared about the working class and poor, but his governance strongly suggests he was only taking the phone calls of the billionaire class.
the pandemic response was fucked. trump failed catastrophically. biden failed catastrophically. covid is now endemic. it is not past tense.
more than that, the whole field of epidemiology and study of infectious diseases is now polarized; like 30% of the country is actively opposed to the very concept of public health measures now.
we did not recover. trump could have saved us with a fast and severe response, calling for immediate quarantines, saying to compartmentalize your social groups-maybe on the level of your office or your church to limit contagion, talking up the vaccine research he’d authorized, and wearing a mask in public whenever he could so his followers would take lead. he did the opposite of all those things. biden could have saved us by buckling down, keeping drug companies for taking profit from tax funded research, and making some hard decisions on sacrificing to do a big international aid push, quarantining, etc.
neither of them did those things. both of them had a responsibility to. fuck those guys.
had one of the best, if not the best recovery in the world
And that’s really sad. The “best recovery in the world” and we’re still inches away from a destitute working class, and ever-increasing wealth for the oligarchs.
I think if anything the swing of Gen Z voters shows clearly that his economic recovery clearly wasn’t helping everyone. Those with the least amount of money and no job experience entering the work force found a terrible job market that either was barely hiring or was only hiring people who already had experience. Combine that with high prices and the increased presence of AI in the hiring process and it makes sense Gen Z were upset about the status quo. A lot of people argue that it was the podcasts that made Gen z swing right but if anything I think that just connected Gen z with a message of tearing down the system that they were looking for. But anyways my point is that sure America’s recovery was good for people with wealth or companies but for those either entering the workforce for the first time or those without money saved up and good jobs already there really wasn’t much of a recovery.
The major swing in gen z men can be explained by many more of them just not voting. Particularly since the last election democrats cosigned trump propaganda on the border, gaza, etc alienating latinos, muslims, etc destroying the dem coalition.
Well hopefully with the impending economic downturn the US will get their shit together… Right?
It’s a temporary reprieve for a reason. Canadians would have to have American levels of comprehension of what’s happening to back off now
narcissists will not respect you if you don’t fight them tooth and nail on every single possible thing.
if you give them an inch, you are done. do not let the americans have shit. punish every gesture.
What if, hear me out, what if we trick trump into thinking DC is canada? Maybe we would be DC statehood then? 👀
I do find it pretty appalling that Canada is being offered statehood before PR
DC and Puerto Rico will become states the same day that we are 100% sure how they will vote in future elections, and the party we are certain they will vote for has the executive and congressional majority.
Oh DC is a permanent blue, yet Dems are too spineless to add it.
Some highlights I found interesting:
The tariffs have been met with deep anxiety in Canada, whose majority of exports are sold to companies and clients in the US. Officials predict up to a million job losses if a 25% across the board levy went ahead, while economists warn that a recession is imminent if they persist.
Even with the tariffs being scaled back temporarily, the uncertainty alone is hurting both American and Canadian economies, says Rob Gillezeau, an assistant professor of economic analysis and policy at the University of Toronto.
“The most sensitive thing to uncertainty is business investment,” Prof Gillezeau says, adding that firms are “not going to want to spend a dime anywhere” until they have some clarity.
That trepidation is also seen in the stock market, which had erased virtually all its gains since Trump won the presidency in November.
Proof that the rug can be pulled out from under you is a good sign that you need to prepare for that.
million job losses if a 25% across the board levy went ahead, while economists warn that a recession is imminent if they persist.
Obviously this will harm the economy initially, probably much like when Finland lost most of Nokia. (Nokia was a huge part of Finish economy and jobs)
But Finland rose again quickly, and Canada will too, because Canada is a country that is very well liked in most of the world, and will have no problem increasing trade elsewhere.
There will be a transitional period, but on the upside also greater independence from USA.
Luckily Canada does not suffer from Dutch disease like Finland did. So Canada will be more flexible in the ways it can recover quickly.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dutch_disease
USA on the other hand, will not be in similar position to recoup their trade losses with, Mexico, Canada, EU, UK and China.
So USA will probably face a harder recession than Canada.And that’s probably Trump’s plan, to weaken the entire west, including USA, NATO and of course Europe to benefit Russia.
On top of that, I think Canada could make a trade agreement with UK. After Brexit, UK has been looking for ways to mitigate their economic predicament, so old colonies like Canada seem like a good place to start. UK really needs the deal too, so Canada could be in a good position to set some conditions.
Absolutely, I have no doubt they will make a trade agreement soon. Canada and EU already has one, but maybe it can be expanded?
As an American, I hope more countries choose this path. Trump, and a large number of Americans need to understand that “American exceptionalism” only matters to (some) Americans. A community of nations means no one country gets to dictate to all the others. Eventually that isolationism some of my country clamor for will come to feel pretty lonely as fewer and fewer countries put up with our BS.
Honest question - are Canadians generally fine with normal US citizens with no untoward agenda still coming to visit and shop in Canada? I love partaking in the cuisine, a museum, and a library in a relatively nearby border town. Especially the more ethnically-diverse cuisine, because shitty generic Americana fare gets tiresome. Canadian Tire is fun, too, although I do secretly wonder why it’s not Canadian Tyre. Curious to know if US plates on a car in Canada generate a negative response nowadays.
Also, I’m sorry about the reality for which I felt the need to ask this question.
We dislike your president and the shit show he’s caused. If you’re willing to spend your hard earned money here though we’ll welcome you with open arms.
Come spend your money, just don’t act all full of yourself like some Americans do.
Also, “tyre” is British spelling. We kind of have our own spelling where we generally use British spelling, but not for everything. For example, we don’t spell fetus as “foetus” or estrogen as “oestrogen” either. There’s probably some fancy official name for it.
Most of the people I know are not okay with Americans right now. I’m in Alberta tho.
Same here in America. It’s frustrating to know that half the people you know or are related to want the world to burn under an orange king.
That is surprising. I would anticipated the opposite in Alberta.
“Well, they’re very… sensitive.”
-BC
Alberta is a broken province. The people here are single issue voters, and that single issue is always “it better not be a damn liberal”.
For a province that’s voted conservative and had a conservative premier since 1971 (aside from 1 term in 2015), we sure like to blame all our problems on the other parties.
Our last 2 premiers ran on platforms of reducing healthcare and education spending. And now my kid has a harder time in school because they have way less resources, teachers are underpaid, and half the healthcare workers (nurses and doctors) fucked off to B.C. and Sask.
The conservative solution to the problem they created (on purpose of course) is to privatize healthcare. And the people are eating it up claiming they wanna pay less taxes. We already pay less taxes here than the rest of the fuckin country.
But for some reasons all my neighbors think about is “trans people are evil” and “Ontario is stealing our money!” So, we continue to be a blue province.
However, Trump is losing favor here pretty quick with 25% tarrifs on our oil and farm goods. when those 2 things are 27% of our GDP and employ about 8% of the province, it hurts pretty bad.
You tug on the leash too many times and eventually the dog is going to turn on you
