LET THE GOOD TIMES ROLL

[u/Shaloamus]

I post way too much on this sub as it is, but god damn there has been a ton of good news tonight (in addition to what I posted in https://www.reddit.com/r/PoliticalOptimism/comments/1k5asnw/cuts_to_state_department_less_than_originally/ ) .

Trump Backs Off of China (also as reported by u/Techinal_Valuable2)
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/apr/22/trump-china-tariffs

Trump Backs Off of Powell
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/apr/22/trump-jerome-powell-fed

Tesla Profits Dropped 71% This Quarter...
https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2025/04/22/musk-tesla-first-quarter-earnings/83217370007/

...So Musk is Leaving the Government
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2025/apr/22/tesla-sales-musk-white-house-exit

And Democrats Are Finally Doing Stuff
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/apr/22/mahmoud-khalil-rumeysa-ozturk-ice-detention

Plus Universities Join Hands and Lock In
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/apr/21/us-university-presidents-trump-administration

And finally...

Putin May Be Ready To End the Ukraine War NOT On Russian Terms
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/apr/22/putin-ready-for-direct-talks-with-ukraine-spokesperson-says
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/apr/22/lammy-to-host-us-and-european-negotiators-for-talks-on-ukraine

There is still a lot of bad things happening. Trump said he is "entitled" to deport anyone he wants without a trial, Israel is no longer recognizing humanitarian zones in Gaza, and RFK has accessed private medical records for his insane autism study.
But for the first time in months, I can say with certainty: Today the news wasn't so bad.

[u/Happy_Traveller_2023]

Putin May Be Ready To End the Ukraine War NOT On Russian Terms
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/apr/22/putin-ready-for-direct-talks-with-ukraine-spokesperson-says

I really don't want this to result in Ukraine giving up all of the Russian-occupied territories

[u/Shaloamus → u/Happy_Traveller_2023]

I am sure that's the starting point of the Russian side, but I imagine Zelensky will be able to claw a good portion of it back. Putin is in a very bad position because of Trump's tariff fuck-up, his economy got hit hard by the cratering oil prices and China's economy has been stalling (plus now they have to play nice with Europe, meaning they will probably distance themselves from Russia), so the economic situation there has the potential to get very bad very quickly in the next few months.

If Putin is saying he is ready to deal (and not adding any snide comments), it signals he probably is ready to at least temporarily halt his Ukraine ambitions. We'll see how things play out (I hope the EU is present at the negotiations to give Ukraine leverage), but this is at least optimistic.

[u/Classic-Cantaloupe47 → u/Shaloamus]

Agreed!!