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Edited by Mrph1 on Nov 30th 2023 at 11:03:59 AM
Yeah, I was yesterday listening to some guy on...I think it was CNN, who was arguing that the problem is that the agreement isn't binding so other countries will sneak out of it while the US always honours its obligation. No lie, I nearly spit my water all over my keyboard. In what reality? Trump isn't even able to affirm a single pledge.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hMuHN5sUJ_w
Sadly in German (though I am sure that someone will at least add subtitles, soon), but the song goes more or less: I like all this stuff, but especially me.
Look, even if the agreement had no binding laws, the act of withdrawal sends a giant symbolic message: "We don't care about saving the planet. You suckers figure it out, we're gonna keep using dying coal." Mixed along with "FUCK YOU PAY ME."
As with our drop in tourism, it's going to take the U.S. dozens of years to repair its image after this.
Whoever is the next Democratic POTUS is going to have to go on a worldwide apology tour — one where they actually say "Sorry" — and bring a bunch of fruit baskets.
At this point, just mailing the baskets won't be enough.
If someone you once considered a friend suddenly started treating you like crap and insulted you all the time...would you really be so quick to forgive and forget?
edited 2nd Jun '17 6:01:21 AM by M84
Disgusted, but not surprised![]()
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Until the next eight years down the line where the American electorate goes off its meds again and elects another cartoon supervillain, and the whole fucking cycle starts over again, rinse and fucking repeat
edited 2nd Jun '17 6:02:29 AM by Reflextion
Someone did tell me life was going to be this way.It's not that easy. It took Obama a lot of time to repair the damage Bush did (as much as it was possible, we are still dealing with the consequences of Bush's misguided politics). If the world can't trust that not every four or eight years someone utterly incompetent or utterly insane sits in the White House and above all if it can't trust that the congress keeps the president in check if he gets off the rail, it can't trust the US in general. As I mentioned above, if the chancellor in Germany behaved this way, he or she would be out of office in a minute. Trump is, at the end of the day, just a symptom, he is not the underlying illness, and unless the US cleans house, thoroughly, I don't see it gaining new ground with its allies anytime soon.
The only standards the current GOP have for a president are "capable of signing a document, and is preferably a white man." They'd probably either push for someone who's already in their inner circle or a complete non-entity who's a complete pushover. Either that or someone will hijack the primaries again and they'll get Kanye West or someone who will be so different from their standard that they'll have no idea how to ask them to do anything.
It's an issue of trust. Once you lose somebody's trust, it's very hard to convince them to trust you again.
Trump has repeatedly shown that other countries can't trust the U.S. anymore. He constantly does this passive-aggressive "Maybe we'll join this or sign this, maybe not, we'll see how the deal affects us first and foremost." And there's the whole practice of being somewhat congenial to leaders face to face, then whining about them later on Twitter. That's no way to get along with other leaders in the world. It may be an effective business technique (and even that's questionable) but the presidential attitude should be of cooperation, not belligerence and backstabbing.
EDIT:
x3 And even back then, certain GOP'ers complained about Obama's "apology tour", claiming it made us look weak to the world.
edited 2nd Jun '17 6:15:03 AM by speedyboris
Doesn't help that while he waffles on everything, he makes it incredibly obvious that he has no idea what he's talking about. Stupid and vindictive is a bad combination.
And there are still people who think that Trump is "rebuilding" US trust abroad because they pay attention to nothing and have no idea how things work.
I have way more respect for someone who can step up and say "You know what? I was completely wrong and I apologize" than someone who'll just yell at you and go "I'm not wrong you're wrong I'm always right you're a loser!"
edited 2nd Jun '17 6:16:18 AM by Zendervai
I have even less respect for someone who, as speedyboris said, says what he thinks will get you to like him to your face only to whine on Twitter once he's an ocean away about how you didn't grovel at his feet.
"He is so... changeable. He is so prone to extremes. Eager to please, so quick to take offence. He's so keen to be your best friend, and then, at the slightest hint of an insult, he's angry with you. Furious. Offended. Like a child."
It's kind of sad that our current POTUS has the same kind of personality as a Traitor Primarch. Even sadder that his fans think he's the God Emperor.
edited 2nd Jun '17 6:20:22 AM by M84
Disgusted, but not surprisedhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4AphW6a_9OM
A really good summary of Trumps negotiation abilities.....
The guide to how to stop the tempurature from rising.
https://www.indivisibleguide.com/resource/trump-against-the-planet/
And the UN's response to Trump
edited 2nd Jun '17 6:23:45 AM by megaeliz
I don't think Trump or his fans care about trust in the first place. They only care about respect, and only in that very specific sense where respect is almost synonymous with fear. They think that by being a dick to everyone, we're showing that we don't care what they think of us, and therefore that we're projecting strength. This of course assumes that everyone watching us is an idiot.
My Fox News watching grandma didn't know that Donald Trump called it a Muslim Ban on live television, or what the Paris Agreement actually was. All she knew was it was some liberal thing so therefore bad. I think that may be how fake news operates. Presenting selected facts and heated opinion in the same way, that it makes it hard to separate the two.
My grandma insisted that he wouldn't say it was a Muslim ban, and I had to look up that clip.
edited 2nd Jun '17 6:36:36 AM by megaeliz
I'm very happy that so many cities/states, including my own (New York) have continued to commit to the Paris agreement, it really lifted my spirits over all this that these people are still willing to follow their own goals instead of the president, and that even with a White House full of buffoons some of America is still sane.
In fact all the outrage of this from world leaders like Macron and lots of prominent figures (even The Weather Channel!) has really delighted me as well.
About the discussion earlier, about whether Trump will be the worst president ever, I think it's too early to tell. We've had lots of really terrible presidents. I mean George W. Bush started two pointless wars, was a catalyst for making the Middle East mess the way it is today, was a disaster on foreign and domestic policy, heavily damaged the environment through lack of action on global warming, and was responsible for the worst economic depression since the 1930s. Trump would have to do a lot to top that. Or, going further back, James Buchanan, who started the Civil War, or Andrew Jackson, or Andrew Johnson... If Trump scores some more big policy "wins" he will climb very high on the list, but right now it's too early to say for sure.
Just another day in the life of Jimmy Nutrin

I wouldn't be surprised if the tipping point for this was him not receiving all of the adulation he thought he deserved during his trip abroad. Shit, I wouldn't be surprised if he did this because Macron gave him a boo-boo with that handshake.
Disgusted, but not surprised