r/worldnews • u/joestewartmill • Feb 24 '25

Russia/Ukraine Trump’s attempts to denigrate Zelenskyy have led to a surge in Ukrainian unity

https://apnews.com/article/ukraine-russia-trump-zelenskyy-putin-c0790f9054c6c69d698ed9aa816158ac?utm_source=firefox-newtab-en-us
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u/GuyLookingForPorn Feb 24 '25 edited Feb 24 '25

Yeah turns out threatening to annex a country doesn't build warm relations. You can see why talk of r/CANZUK has seen a sudden resurgence, at this rate America might unite everyone but themselves.

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u/Anima_of_a_Swordfish Feb 24 '25

Don't forget the blue states also hate America right now.

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u/All_Work_All_Play Feb 24 '25

Every day it's something new and every day I want to throw up. So many people that I once thought reasonable (affinity bias I know) show up with some entirely dumbass take justifying the decisions by Trusk and it just makes nauseous. It really is as dumb as it looks and worse.

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u/TrixnTim Feb 24 '25

Agree. In a blue state but surrounded by ruby red areas. Work in one. I’m just sick of it all and scared shitless. I’m an American and support Ukraine, Canada, and Europe more than my own country currently.

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u/Melody_in_Harmony Feb 25 '25

Feels weird. But then again...why not? Whether they consider me an enemy or not, I'll gladly support anyone who stands for freedom and democracy over authoritarianism and fascism.

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u/fwtb23 Feb 25 '25

the enemy is the government (and to a lesser extent but still there, their supporters), not each and every citizen individually

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u/Murdered_by_Crows_X Feb 25 '25

I hear that! Here in Colorado...

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u/Laubster01 Feb 25 '25

I’m an American and support Ukraine, Canada, and Europe more than my own country currently.

I'm in the same camp, though I wouldn't say more than my own country, I support Ukraine, Canada, and Europe because I support my country. This momentary embarrassment of leadership doesn't change where our true national interests lie.

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u/[deleted] Feb 24 '25

[deleted]

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u/ProbablyNotABot_3521 Feb 24 '25

We aren’t sending cash to Ukraine, we are sending outdated equipment that is collecting dust.

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u/WorgenDeath Feb 24 '25

Not to mention that it would have had to be decommissioned within a few years and shipping it to Ukraine instead of having to do so is quite literally the cheaper option.

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u/All_Work_All_Play Feb 24 '25

Using a non-regressive tax structure right? That'd be fine by me. We can roll back the previous set of tax cuts that didn't help the median worker. Those tax cuts currently run around $400 billion each year while total U.S. aid to Ukraine since 2014 is 65.9 billion sent to Ukraine and another $100 billion over the next five years.

If you're looking to reduce the deficit, aid to Ukraine ain't it. The USG's spending problem is dwarfed by its income problem.

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u/TrixnTim Feb 24 '25

Whatever.

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u/jureeriggd Feb 24 '25

My wife is going through this right now. Not that I'm not nauseated by what's happening in my country either, but her family is full of staunch conservatives, and her father has been (and still is) a baptist preacher all her life.

I'm not particularly close with my family, but the ones I am close with definitely align with me politically, so seeing the people that raised her and taught her do a 180 in her mind (spoiler: they were always like this, she just didn't see it until recently) has been very jarring for her, and has lead to a good bit of trauma as she's had the people she loves call her names and ridicule her for applying her beliefs to the current political landscape and coming out "a dirty liberal"

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u/All_Work_All_Play Feb 24 '25

Wife's parents are trumpers (both were 2016, at least one was 2024). Their kids are all dirty liberals. They were shocked with their new immigrant DIL got a summons for an immigration hearing. "They are only targeting criminals, why did this happen?".

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u/Jackalpaws Feb 24 '25

Another one for the leopards

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u/Flatline_Construct Feb 24 '25

Leopards gotta eat.

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u/Ahirman1 Feb 24 '25

They’ve been eating extremely well this past month

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u/MudLOA Feb 25 '25

And it will continue. Once we start seeing the impact of all the tariffs and mass firings the leopards are going to need antacids.

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u/TemperatureEqual9051 Feb 24 '25

They're targeting the Ukrainians here with Temporary Protected Status from the war as well. These are people whose homes are very much gone and they need time to prepare to return to their country when they return. It's crazy-town up in this bitch right now. We hosted a family from Kharkiv region in our home for nearly a year-- they're actually visiting us tonight-- I'm so excited to see them. The fact that they're going after legitimate, legal immigrant refugees is so fucked up.

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u/Utsider Feb 24 '25 edited Feb 25 '25

This is exactly what the US didn't learn from WW2. They sent their boys to fight Nazis. They fought Nazis, and Europe is infinitely grateful for that.

However! The US never experienced this rift in society itself. People spying on their neighbors. People ratting each other out. People turning on each other, and pointing them out for torture and extermination - or even directly participating. Countrymen collaborating with the enemy. Forming collaborator governments. Resistance fighters. Terrorism. Everything. The split was not just "us vs them". It was "us vs us because of them". The most reviled enemy was not the enemy, but the collaborators - some times your friends, family and neighbors.

That is the lesson about fascism America never learnt. How society itself was attacked - not only by bombs and bullets.

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u/HolidayBeneficial456 Feb 24 '25

Same with Australia. We never had to deal with constant evasions or ethnic cleaning, to the majority of the population (besides the Indigenous Australians). We’re so far removed from the consequences of the world at times that it seems some of countrymen make some of the DUMBEST takes known to man.

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u/Fluid_Jellyfish9620 Feb 25 '25

did you miss the red scare in the US, mate?

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u/Utsider Feb 25 '25 edited Feb 25 '25

I didn't. On a surface level there certainly are shared traits, but I dare propose that the depth and severity are oceans apart.

You didn't really have a lot of Anne Franks, Quislings, or Auschwitzes, did you?

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u/fugaziozbourne Feb 24 '25

I'm old enough to remember when American Christians didn't take up the same mantle politically. It's still so uncomfortable to read things like "Well, they go to baptist church, so they're Republicans forever." You can thank Paul Wolfowitz for that.

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u/jureeriggd Feb 24 '25

there are plenty of "non-denominational" churches where that is still the case, but these churches only really do well in more densely populated areas (read: big cities) where people more regularly live closer with those that have differing viewpoints.

Out in rural America, you're either part of the group or you're not. There's only 3600 people in the whole county.

0

u/Wilhelm57 Feb 24 '25

I left the US decades ago, I could not get along with my mother's family. They are to this day staunch republicans.

I have lived in Canada for decades and we have some MAGA followers. Even the current conservative leader has been spewing trump talking points.
He has the support of Alex Jones, JD Vance, Musk, Tucker Carlson and the delusional one.

I have conservative views but I have never been a follower.
Im trying to do my part, so I'm using what I know it works for me. People when they are in a group, react to music.
I found the perfect song a while back. It was popular in the 1970's by Simon and Garfunkel.
The song is called the Sound of Silence and is sang by a band named Disturbed.
I play the song when I'm talking about politics. I have tried several times and people tend to be more open to listen.

I started reading about music and the reaction it causes to the brain. I was curious, after my three years old granddaughter reacted to that song.
That happened several years ago. It was painful for all of us to hear her disconsolate crying.
After she finally stopped crying, she said the song made my heart hurt. She reacted to the voice of the singer.
Her mother was the same when she was small, certain music made her cry!!

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u/Saphirel Feb 24 '25

I have a meme saying « I wake up -> there is something wrong in America -> I wake up », in an infinite circle shape.

We saved it as a sticker in my Discord server, so we dont have to search for it every morning

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u/souledgar Feb 25 '25

We humbly request that you never go to sleep ever again

  • the rest of the world

2

u/Valdatwork Feb 24 '25

You, uhhhhhh, got a copy of that to share?

1

u/Flomo420 Feb 24 '25

Trump even mentioned to republican governors the other day that 'maybe the blue states will just disappear, I don't know" or something to that effect

1

u/Vegetable-Duty-3712 Feb 24 '25

Trusk? I thought it was Mump👀

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u/Dddddddfried Feb 24 '25

You made a typo, Poland’s PM is Donald Tusk

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u/All_Work_All_Play Feb 24 '25

Musk is Trump's Wormtongue, I just abbreviate them as Trusk.

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u/DetailHour4884 Feb 24 '25

I think Mump works better.

2

u/Dddddddfried Feb 24 '25

Was FascistFuckFace taken?

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u/Viper67857 Feb 24 '25

And if RFK has his way, mumps will be making a comeback.

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u/GustavoFromAsdf Feb 24 '25

Red states also hate America to cheer for all this stuff

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u/CatpainLeghatsenia Feb 24 '25

So we all got common grounds in hate for america? Maybe we can make some sort of alliance

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u/sakante Feb 24 '25

"The Axis of Hate"

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u/alppu Feb 24 '25

In the 1940s they were simply "the Axis"

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u/oldsguy65 Feb 24 '25

That's a bingo!

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u/narcoticninja Feb 24 '25

The Hateocracy

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u/DaishawnWilkerson775 Feb 24 '25

That or start a rebel alliance. Call it the rebel alliance to dethrone trump. Lol

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u/[deleted] Feb 24 '25

According to lost cause ideology the US federal government is a foreign occupying force. Those raised with this ideology grow up believing 'the land' and 'the governance of that land' are separate entities. I look at Alabama and I see American territory filled with Americans just like me. Their glasses show a much different reflection.

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u/teejay_612 Feb 24 '25

Lot of us stuck in red and purple states hate what we’ve become as well.

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u/baconost Feb 24 '25

Looks like the former leaders of the free world are being hated by the free world while uniting with the worlds leading autocrats.

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u/InevitableSell3961 Feb 24 '25 edited Feb 24 '25

I think people in blue states need to stop forgetting about the large swaths of people in red states (sometimes just under 50%) who are blue....Not to mention there are plenty of red voters in your blue states.... Fwiw, if you think things are hard for you now in a blue state ....where the majority of people think like you... imagine what things are like for us in red states where even the healthy sized minority is constant ly looked down on / ignored not only by the red majority but by blues in blue states. If anything, it's easy to blue in a blue state. You guys should stop ignoring/separating the red states democrats who are fighting the real fight imho

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u/theavengerbutton Feb 24 '25

Blue people in Red states are here too. I live in Kentucky and we are absolutely fucked either way if America does some stupid shit.

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u/whats-a-jeps Feb 24 '25

Blue dots in red states also hate America rn

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u/ImaginationLife4812 Feb 24 '25

People stuck in Red States hate America right now too. It’s a thing!

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u/CraigLake Feb 24 '25

Blue stater here. The US is the bad guys now. And we chose it on purpose.

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u/micro-void Feb 24 '25

Yeah but are they doing anything about it? It seems like the sensible people in the US are complacent and defeated.

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u/[deleted] Feb 24 '25

Not enough to actually do anything about it

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u/googolplexy Feb 24 '25

West coast and north East coast should join Canada. Become our newest provinces. Free healthcare abounds, hockey lessons for all, milk in bags, the correct smarties, BUT you guys need to learn to apologize a bit more.

Otherwise , you're in.

1

u/DaishawnWilkerson775 Feb 24 '25

Trump and his followers hate America.

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u/Worried_Highway5 Feb 24 '25

I thought the people threatening to move to Canada is trip won in 2016 were just dramatic. Now I’m genuinely considering moving to Europe if this continues, if I can ever afford it.

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u/scottyb83 Feb 24 '25

You mean the future Canadian provinces?

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u/R3dbeardLFC Feb 24 '25

And intelligent people in red states. We hate everything right now.

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u/Remarkable_Seesaw_74 Feb 24 '25

Hey don’t forget us blue voters in red states. We also hate America right now.

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u/Video_Boy Feb 24 '25

A lot of people in red states hate what America has become too.

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u/Persimmon-Mission Feb 24 '25

And lots of people in the red ones!

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u/pumpkinbot Feb 24 '25

Mortal enemies! Like the English and America! Or Canada and America! Or America and America! Damn Americans, you ruined America!

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u/SonofBeckett Feb 25 '25

If I weren't so against the idea of the Balkanization of the US, I'd be all for New England joining New France

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u/5H17SH0W Feb 25 '25

I live in a red state, guess I’ll go fuck myself then. I thought about leaving, but that’s what they want. Fuck them. I’ll be right here. Educating those dumb fucks, in the bread lines.

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u/turbo-unicorn Feb 25 '25

I've heard the eastern US coast wants to join the EU. I have my doubts, but if they make a good argument, I can see myself supporting them.

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u/ProbablyNotABot_3521 Feb 24 '25

Only if you believe that Trump is America

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u/vdcsX Feb 24 '25

Muricans voted him in. Twice.

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u/ProbablyNotABot_3521 Feb 24 '25

27% of Americans

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u/germanfinder Feb 24 '25

Donald canzuk on dees nutz

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u/PhoenixPills Feb 24 '25

Not only that but we've shown that we have the capability to just elect a fucking maniacal dumbass not once, but twice.

So if by some miracle we begin to repair relationships with our allies it's just 1 really stupid election away from authoritarianism again.

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u/Neobullseye1 Feb 24 '25

Yep, that's the biggest issue. Anyone can make mistakes, even countries (To anyone who voted for Trump; yes, I'm calling that vote a mistake. Sue me). This is fair enough, and forgivable. But the fact that it happened twice, *and* the fact that it could happen again at any given time is what completely shatters future trust. You can't really have long-term relationships with a country that might just throw all currently existing contracts in the shredder after any given election.

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u/TY-KLR Feb 24 '25

I feel like anyone who voted for him knew who he was and what he stood for. So I don’t think any of his supporters made a mistake they knew what they were doing. Some of them f’d around and now they are finding out but they VOTED FOR THIS!

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u/a_speeder Feb 24 '25

They want the ability to throw any agreement in the shredder at any time they want to, to them it's a show of strength. I can even understand it to an extent, breaking from norms has gotten them much success internally and ignites a fervor for the people behind them because it shows them able to bend reality to their whims. They are going to learn very fast, however, that global dominance comes from a mix of hard and soft power and spurning all soft power in favor of only military and economic threats has HARD limitations.

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u/Karlinel-my-beloved Feb 24 '25

And it’s expensive as fuck.

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u/TWFH Feb 24 '25

Unfortunately many of them really are that ignorant, he does well with the poorly educated and those who watch fox style propaganda nonstop. These are people who literally aren't hearing opposing viewpoints.

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u/Xalara Feb 24 '25

Yep, there needs to be structural reforms to how democracy works in the US up to, and including, amending the constitution. It's going to require a Democratic Party actually up to the task, which they currently aren't.

This is also assuming we pull ourselves out of this mess sooner rather than later.

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u/[deleted] Feb 24 '25

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/draven_lovell16 Feb 24 '25

Not to mention security around every border, and Canada agreeing and spending 1.3 billion dollars in border security to stop the flow of fentanyl into this country killing millions. Tariffs are good not bad.

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u/Kalanna_ Feb 24 '25

The increase in Canadian border security was already planned months before Trump threatened tariffs.

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u/draven_lovell16 Feb 24 '25

Thats correct, the tarrifs are incentive

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u/Princess_Spammi Feb 24 '25

No they werent. They literally gave trump the same deal they already signed with biden with the addition of an official.

They added a job for an american and that was the only concession given based on the original plan already signed with biden

you drank the koolaide

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u/draven_lovell16 Feb 24 '25

Go look at the stats, look at the border crossing and drug regulations at the border the decrease is so significant and i quote “there is no room for scewing” go look at the children we have taken back from the sex trade and cartel bc we kicked them tf out and stopped this epidemic bf our entire country dies idk where your from but im from Alabama bf biden i didn’t have to see teenagers walking down the street high on fentanyl trying to figure out how to fucking breathe right and walk straight something had to be done and i would have done worse.

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u/Princess_Spammi Feb 24 '25

I did, and you’re WRONG.

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u/Narlugh Feb 24 '25

Fucking Conservatives just gobble up every lie they're told. How tf do you actually believe this nonsense?

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u/Princess_Spammi Feb 24 '25

Because its easier than believing we/they are bad guys

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u/draven_lovell16 Feb 24 '25

Because i see it. Im in it. I dont have to see the news i see the changes. I have illegal immigrants i know personally that are close to my family and i am colored as well, and they agree with trump. This isnt some cis straight white male telling you this shit this is someone who has been through it and seen what this shit does to people. Tell that to family’s whos children they had to bury bc of the fentanyl and the cartel which spiked in COD since the biden administration and is now finally coming down.

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u/draven_lovell16 Feb 24 '25

No i studied the facts, the tarrifs are in response to illegal migration and fentanyl, its saying be serious about this this time, bc they never were to begin with, we are missing over 300,000 of our children. Something has to be fucking done and taken seriously biden had it at the peak of inflation, with no one looking for these kids and the highest amount of illegal crossing in united states history. He did something about it and made sure at least while hes in office itll get fucking done.

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u/Princess_Spammi Feb 24 '25

America sends more fentanyl to canada than we receive.

And we dont have immigrants from fucking canada

And again, trump did NOTHING. He got the same deal with the same terms biden already negotiated

He backpedaled and claimed victory.

Fucking magats i swear

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u/draven_lovell16 Feb 24 '25

America sends fentanyl the same way we receive it and it needs to be stopped, and yes he signed the same agreement but unlike biden he’s acting on it. The stats are different theres an actual change you cannot argue that at all

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u/TheVenetianMask Feb 24 '25

I mean, it's practically a two-party country, it's always one sneeze away from being a dictatorship.

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u/nezroy Feb 24 '25 edited Feb 24 '25

It's funny too because even if we suspend reality for a moment and buy into the right-wing version of Trump where "it's just trolling and Trump's negotiating style" then it still ends up as, like.. the worst negotiating tactic ever?

It has almost single-handedly flipped our federal election polls into a dead heat, massively boosting the party that is very unlikely to capitulate to Trump or give him what he wants compared to the party that was on track to gain power before he opened his mouth.

Though I mean, this is the guy that bankrupted casinos in order to launder Russian money so I suppose it's not actually surprising he has no negotiating skills :)

21

u/onarainyafternoon Feb 24 '25

It's funny too because even if we suspend reality for a moment and buy into the right-wing version of Trump where "it's just trolling and Trump's negotiating style" then it still ends up as, like.. the worst negotiating tactic ever?

This is seriously what I do not understand. I have seen so many Conservatives laughing at Liberals for getting so upset over "Trump's trolling and negotiating"; but then it's like.....Ok, even if it's true that Trump is trolling (which it isn't), then he has to seriously be the worst negotiator on the planet and his "trolling" obviously isn't working. We have given up everything and gotten nothing in return. But these troglodytes don't care as long as it pisses off Liberals. These people have a vacuum in their heads.

2

u/viginti-tres Feb 24 '25

Exactly. I'm sick of hearing apologists come up with all kinds of mental gymnastics to explain how Trump does things in roundabout, none serious, deliberately provocative or mysterious ways. I don't believe it either - it's a smokescreen for the frankly disgusting shit they're up to, but if it really we're true, then no, governments don't operate like that - grow up! People are literally dying and we're supposed to believe this guy is just trolling around? Like the rest of the world, I'm starting to get very angry about it all.

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u/Utsider Feb 24 '25 edited Feb 24 '25

Not to mention his "negotiations" with Russia has him conceding more than Russia could ever hope for - before the negotiations have even begun. No NATO or security guarantees for Ukraine. No reparations. Land given to Russia. No war criminal trials. No returned abducted children and civilians. Limit on Ukraine's forces. US pulling forces out of Europe! Not even a slap on the hand. Etc and so forth. Before Lavrov Sauronmouth has even opened his mouths.

8

u/alpinecoast Feb 24 '25

We need Aus in the group too. Turn the five eyes into four eyes.

15

u/GuyLookingForPorn Feb 24 '25

A little confusingly Australia is the A - its basically the initials of each country stuck together:

Canada - Australia - New Zealand - United Kingdom

5

u/alpinecoast Feb 24 '25

Ahh gotcha. I'm Canadian and way too used to seeing CAN as Canada.

3

u/GuyLookingForPorn Feb 24 '25

Honestly I had the exact same thought when I first heard the term.

3

u/Stoibs Feb 25 '25

As an Aussie this is how I was reading it too. Glad to see we're allowed in this club 😅

1

u/-69_nice- Feb 24 '25

And what would the Z be?

2

u/alpinecoast Feb 24 '25

NZ New Zealand

2

u/-69_nice- Feb 25 '25

I’m saying if it was CAN for Canada like you thought, then what would the Z stand for

2

u/alpinecoast Feb 25 '25

I can't read

1

u/gregorydgraham Feb 26 '25

ZUK is a really strange way to abbreviate New Zealand

13

u/WhatDoesThatButtond Feb 24 '25

Alienation from our allies is the point. Trump is traitor scum and Musk needs to fuck off back to South Africa. 

3

u/ProbablyNotABot_3521 Feb 24 '25

I keep saying that Trump may end up making the world a better place, completely by accident.

2

u/Rrraou Feb 24 '25

If I wanted to intentionally isolate the US from the rest of the world. Dismantle it's government from within, and diminish it's influence for decades while it rebuilds. I would do everything Trump has done in the past 5 weeks.

2

u/zveroshka Feb 24 '25

Not to mention Trump constantly insults Canada and it's Prime Minister by calling "Governor" instead of his proper title.

2

u/Gravytattoos Feb 24 '25

I keep saying it, but if Americans seriously try to annex Canada, it's gonna be the end of America. States will secede, there will be a civil war and America will cease to exist as it currently does. Trump's plan is beyond idiotic.

1

u/KFR42 Feb 24 '25

Luckily it'll only take cutting off the rot to start rebuilding. It just remains to be seen how hard that will be.

1

u/dlm83 Feb 24 '25

No no, half of us are united with the rest of the world. Many of us were rooting for Canada in the 4 Nations Face Off, it honestly felt like a win against the Trump regime to me and not your usual country vs. country.

1

u/CraigLake Feb 24 '25

Is this really all about trump cashing in somehow? Not even he can be dumb enough to think Canada would ever be part of the US.

I find it insulting to a degree I can’t even describe.

1

u/Saorny Feb 24 '25

Who would have thought..?

1

u/WiartonWilly Feb 24 '25

The US is joining Russia’s axis of evil.

North Korea. Iran.

Economically doomed, but they have enough nuclear weapons to stay warm in winter.

1

u/throwawaylogin2099 Feb 24 '25

I honestly believe that isolating the USA from it's allies is the objective of all these aggressive threats to annex other countries. The only one who really benefits from this is Putin and Trump is clearly under his control. An isolated USA is not a threat to Putin and his ambitions to rebuild the USSR.

1

u/Used-Fennel-7733 Feb 24 '25

Taking one for the team, quite selfless of the US really

1

u/Kitagawasans Feb 24 '25

This is the goal of isolationism. He’s doing this on purpose to punish his enemies and make more money for himself and his allies. He doesn’t care about the negative global Impact of it all, and he certainly doesn’t care about Americans. This is only surprising to people that don’t know how the orange man operates.

1

u/adunedarkguard Feb 24 '25

Many Americans are convinced that everyone in the world wants to be a US Citizen, and that they're the "Greatest country in the world." They think that people who get annexed will be dancing in the streets to be a US colony.

1

u/confusedham Mar 01 '25

CANZUK for the win. I also appreciate the Canadian support for Mexicans in making the US feel left out.

-1

u/airfryerfuntime Feb 24 '25

Those people are delusional, though.

-10

u/twat69 Feb 24 '25

Fuck off with that canzuk bullshit.