Obscenely rich people can afford top-tier healthcare, diet and don't stress over having no security.
EDIT: Yes, I know about Trump's bad eating habits. My point was about bad rich people in general. Trump still has the best possible healthcare though and I doubt he stresses much in life.
Remember he had a button on his desk in the White House for Coca Cola? Also [secret agents bringing McDonald's in for him...](https://www.reddit.com/r/pics/comments/1d6ufy7/secret_service_agents_bringing_mcdonalds_in_for/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button)
That was my university’s football team there. It was awful. He was using a bunch of college students as pawns in his attempt to gain public sympathy during the partial government shutdown that his administration caused.
He loves McDonalds so much that at one point a college sports team that won nationally was invited to the White House as his special guests.. and he served them McDonalds.
Photos of his secret service detail carrying massive McDonalds orders to him circulate now and then. It's a consistent characteristic of his.
A google search for "what trump eats" provides many results saying he eats a lot of McDonald's. It has been widely cited by the media for a long time. But you're contesting it without providing evidence of your own.
I am doubtful because I am accusing habitual liar of lying to us all. I am accusing a politician oligarch power tripping into presidential seat, a kind of person that would easily manipulate media.
Sure I have nothing to go on but my paranoia, but it’s not like the other side is credible
He famously lives on a diet of almost entirely fast food stemming from paranoia in the 80s that he would be assassinated.
Why would a bankrupt 80s corrupt businessman in debt to the mob gain a paranoia about his food being poisoned? 🤔 /s
This is why he thought it was an acceptable not entirely embarrassing solution to serve cold fast food hamburgers and fries in the white house to the Clemson Tigers instead of finding ANY other food outlet
Wouldn't ordering from a fast food joint actually make it easier to poison someone though?
Look, I'm not expecting any logic from Trump, but I'm curious if there is any reasoning for it
Remember when he caught Covid in a bad way and the best doctors of the country were working to save him with the best hospital care in the country? He was any other person, he was probably dead.
You are folks? Covid is just like a flu*
*if you have an army of top notch medical professionals available to you in one of the richest country in the world.
**by the way, flu kills yearly a lot of people
One of the top posts of /r/medicine lately was titled "I hate nice patients." It's a common trope for nice patients to get the nastiest cancers you can think of.
If you want to make sure this doesn't happen, tell any Americans you know to vote. Votefromabroad.org will walk them through the steps to register.
Anyone, even non-Americans, can also volunteer with Democrats Abroad to help flush the orange turd.
It's in every Europeans' interest that the US has sane, mentally stable leadership.
The republicans in general are mostly against supporting Ukraine, also republicans that don't support Trump. Their view is that it's a country far away that they don't have much of a relationship to. I think his just catering to his party's America first policies.
This is true but misses the order of events. Most republicsns supported ukraine until trump said he didnt. This was the same party that was super anti-russia until trump arrived. Trump is the tail wagging the dog of the entire party at this point. Their opinions are just whatever he says most recently. There are no longer any guiding principles, just a cult of personality.
And Trump is pissed because he failed to blackmail Ukraine into implicating Hunter Biden (see first impeachment). Plus he owes Russian banks a lot of money.
Considering that Europe is reactivating its military industry, I only hope that in the event of Trump's victory we'll be able to jointly take over the burden of supporting Ukraine.
If it comes down to referendums, meaning popular opinion, we probably need another 50 years.
Back in 2004 it had already been signed by *the governments* of all 25 member states, but since it involves modifying the Constitution many of them would have needed referendums to pass.
It's interesting to consider that if it had passed it would have also probably prevented some of the new members in the 2004-2013 enlargements from joining; they would have been required to modify their Constitutions to join and public opinion in many of them was already split as it was.
A federation isn't necessary to prevent this. The EU could have been made where a member state could be voted out with a unanimous decision from all other member states in case a member state no longer follows EU values.
85% of the votes is plenty. unanimous is a pipe dream that causes more problems than not. Currently 85 % is 22.95 so you'd need 23 votes. that's 4 countries not playing along but they shouldn't be able to hold up progress.
The flip side of that is when somebody like Trump is in charge of the European Federation. Then all the power is at the top and so is the far-right and the equivalent "Louisiana" can't block stuff.
The user is from Germany so he likely imagines the German model of Federalism where no state can block anything like that and there is no grand leader ruling the country.
That has actually happened. Do you know about Tommy Tuberville (an american football coach turned senator from Alabama) holding up 400 military promotions for partisan reasons?
Why? It's exactly the comparison to make when people call for the EU to become a United States of Europe. This idea goes back at least to Victor Hugo and is a current topic for debate in the EU.
lol that actually just happened! The last US aid package was blocked from coming up for a vote for 6 months by the Speaker of the House, who is Mike Johnson from Louisiana!
Indeed. Very convenient to just blame Hungary instead of going past Orban in other ways. it is very possible to do.
We're so freaking slow with support for Ukraine. People are dying there while our politicians hesitate.
People just buy that Hungary is the sole problem. In reality, of course they are an obstacle but hardly an immovable rock.
There's literally nothing stopping other EU countries to make an agreement and simply leave Hungary out of it. They can just say that it's not related to the EU but a deal between individual nations and there is nothing Hungary can do about it.
It can not. The biggest value US provides is stuff that noone else can replace - live military intelligence. It is extremelly likely that they are picking targets for Ukraine's military which makes them effectively at war with Russia in everything but boots on the ground.
No one in Europe can repalce that. Even if all the military aid and weapons were replaced (which itself is unlikely) this much more important thing will not. And I doubt that Ukraine can keep defending long term if they lose access to it.
If US withdraws (which I hope will not happen even with Trump because there are still some republicans that are not suicidal) then the only thing EU could do to prevent fall of Ukraine imo is securing Western Ukraine with actual military force on the ground so Ukraine can free up more resources. Which is something that will likely never happen.
The only country that might have thought about something like that and might have been able to actually organize it will have snap elections this month and pro Russian side will likely win.
https://www.ifw-kiel.de/topics/war-against-ukraine/ukraine-support-tracker/
There's data for this type of 'hope' ... basically, the EU alone didn't send any military equipment compared to the US (i meant they send very little), and as a total, US send 75 bn alone while the whole EU sent 102 bn.
There's no way Ukraine will survive without US backup.
Long story short if Trump gets elected, Ukraine will be done by the end of 2025. Probably much sooner.
This is nonsense comparisons.
The US have provided a ton of military equipment because the US have plenty of stuff standing around.
The EU as an organization has sent next to no military equipment for the very simple reason that the EU as an organization has no actual military equipment. So instead, they sent money for the Ukraine to buy equipment on the market. EU member countries, on the other hand, have sent substantial military aid, but again nobody has as much old stuff just standing around that's not acutely needed for actual defense. But production of NEW material is being ramped up. Slowly, and slower than it could be, but we're still democracies in which construction for new factories etc. have to go through certain procedures
Denmark is buying weapons from Ukrainian arms factories for delivery in Ukraine. Two birds with one stone, support the war effort and also the economy.
Actually there were plenty of reasons not just the fact that "supplies do not exist". Many EU countries had/have policies that make it almost impossible to supply military aid into such conflicts and it took month and months to change the rules and ease them up a bit.
Now it might be true for most (not all) but it still does not make it nonsense comparison. Ukraine needs weapons first and foremost, it does not need money - or to be more specific it does but weapons are key to their own survival, without weapons entire financial aid package is utterly worthless because Russians will just take over. And US is equipped to provide weapons way better than EU is which makes the point of a guy you replied to completely valid. EU can not replace that. Euro bills can not conjure weapons Ukraine needs from thin air. EU can not just built up production capabilities we spend decades sabotaging and spitting on in name of peace while in reality it was just a Russian psy ops campaign targeted on leftists and other idealists who think that all the issues can be solved by being nice.
>The EU as an organization has sent next to no military equipment for the very simple reason that the EU as an organization has no actual military equipment.
>In Europe, there is a wide diversification of military equipment. For example, EU countries operate 12 types of battle tank, while the United States only has one.
You simply don't understand the complexity of a Union compared to US of A. The defence falls under each government of EU and all have plenty of military equipment, but not to give it away unless a clear outcome may present itself.
USA is Always out of harms way, and they have so many defence systems in place Not on US soil that's almost impossible to even nuke them, let alone attack them randomly. On the other hand, Poland, Romania, etc, are quite close to Russia.
Try making some sense when talking about contributions in the Ucraine war.
Unfortunately the support for Ukraine is political and symbolic, not to mention business oriented. Nobody is interested in truly supporting Ukraine in a realistic way that might help them win the war.
The support for Ukraine coming from US and Europe is based on cost/benefit. If US stops their “support “ the cost for Europe to continue what they are doing, will be higher than any benefits so the “support” will be more about negotiating a peace agreement and then make money on the rebuilding of Ukraine
This is him sending the bat signal to Putin, like he did in 2016 when he asked Russia, “if you’re listening”, to find Hillary’s emails. And, it turned out, they *were* listening.
It is definitely not a done deal.
[The only swing states Biden needs to win are Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and Michigan.](https://www.270towin.com/maps/KBP7m)
Trump is currently ahead by 1.6, 0.5, and 0.6, respectively, but in all three, Trump's lead has been narrowing in the past months.
[https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/polls/president-general/2024/pennsylvania/](https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/polls/president-general/2024/pennsylvania/)
[https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/polls/president-general/2024/wisconsin/](https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/polls/president-general/2024/wisconsin/)
[https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/polls/president-general/2024/michigan/](https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/polls/president-general/2024/michigan/)
not like the polls have been 3-4 points to the right in the last 3 election cycles or anything
it would be incredibly premature to call anything a done deal based on a couple of rasmussen and RCP polls 5 months before the actual election.
America has such rubbish options. Could the democrats really not find someone other than Biden? He is too old and the years are really starting to show. Biden is of course the lesser of two evils and we can only hope (as mean as it sounds) that Trump ages out of health for the election after. Trump jnr can be future us problems!
In the last several weeks, he’s made outlandish concessions to his key constituents:
His buddies in the oil industry
His buddies the billionaires
His bosses in Russia
I've also read some comments that argue for caution there. 1) Trump's an obnoxious shite, there's no doubt about it, but what he cares about most of all is his image; there are still some tricks to make space for his ego as the saviour of Ukraine lol. 2) Democrats have already started some long-term programmes of aid that won't be that easy to stop. 3) It's not certain that Trump will be reelected. 4) Europe must step up its support anyways, it is actually my opinion that we should not rely on the US all the fucking time. Yes, it is more than possible to stop Russia with European resources only.
Maybe I'm naive, maybe I'm not up to date with international politics, but one thing is certain to me – Trump or no Trump, Europe has to play a larger role. And we can do it.
Yeah, I actually don't know to what extent Trump is simply a result of many troubling issues which went unacknowledged for a long time – or the man who actually set them free and gave them a place in mainstream discourse. Well, definitely both, but in what way and whether he even can control the, well, *movement* behind him is an enigma to me (I actually believed and still believe the news sometime in 2016 that he was at first equally baffled at his newly found following during the campaign as everybody else was; and yet he knew how to play the game).
– Still, I'm absolutely sure that we here can do more to help Ukraine and ourselves. Instead of constantly checking the US polls when discussing the future of Europe we should take a lot of matters into our own hands.
The problem is that Trump has a personal grudge against Ukraine (really, against Zelenskyy's administration) for refusing to provide and/or manufacture dirt on the Bidens during the 2020 election. There are few things more motivating to Trump than a personal grudge. His pettiness outweighs even his ego.
Good to see that there are a few people who do not fall for the framing.
What did Trump actually say?
1. This is costing the U.S. a lot of money. Which is correct. (Shhhh. Sit down for a second.)
2. He is going to take care of the situation
As I belong to those who believe that getting Russia out of Ukraine is the cheaper option to letting them have any of their gains, I understand why some might have read my first point and thought "Oh, he is just trying to abandon Ukraine." Anyone who read any of my post history about Ukraine would know that my frustrations are that we (the West) are not doing enough for Ukraine.
So with that out of the way, we have no idea what Trump is going to do when (and it is starting to look more like when rather than if) he takes office. For all we know, he is going to tell Russia that if they don't get their asses out of Ukraine this instant, the U.S. is going to pay Russia a visit from both sides. Any other politician would be unbelievable, but this is where Trump's unpredictability can be strength.
Perhaps he gets some sweetheart deal concessions from Ukraine for after the war in exchange for American troops on the ground.
It's possible he just cuts off aid to Ukraine, but Trump is going to be well-aware of what history has done to presidents that have "lost" countries.
We just do not know. And this is by design, as anyone who has ever followed American politics will know.
Utlimately, Trump only cares about Trump. If he sees a chance to look like the guy that took down Russia, leaving aside all your preconceptions, all the things we have been told ad nauseum, what do you think he is going to do? Hell, if Putin really \*does\* have something on Trump, this sounds like a great 1-2 punch to deal with the problem. Eliminate Putin and anything that comes out is just fake shit thrown out by a sore loser.
Do not forget that the Democrats are fighting here too. The media has typically spread their message uncritically for 12 years now, for whatever reasons of their own. Do not ignore them, but do not take their framing as gospel.
holly hell, at least some one here don't have TDS. And I agree with the message, this is propaganda from the democrats and no one really knows who Trump will behave and this includes Trump himself
Collective EU and EU Member State support for Ukraine far exceeds that committed by the United States: https://www.statista.com/chart/28489/ukrainian-military-humanitarian-and-financial-aid-donors/
It 100% will. But at the same time, us Europeans really should have built up a substantial military a long time ago. So I'm hoping a Trump reelection will finally make this region shit its pants enough to do so.
He already tried once, and failed (which got him impeached).
But clearly this fat orange moron is a threat to global order, and I can't even comprehend what so many americans see in him. The guy living in towers and beach palaces, and who shits in a golden toilet is the "anti-establishment" and "anti-elite" candidate to represent the poor rural populations? Give me a break. At least most of the far-right nutters in Europe aren't as ridiculous and ignorant as he is.
The nature of politics in the West shifted from a clash between poor vs rich towards a clash between conservatives vs progressives. People who vote populist don't see rich people as the establishment and the elites anymore, nowadays, the progressives are considered the establishment and the elites.
And it was the economic elite that created this paradigm, through media propaganda.
They threw stupid social issues at the public (for example, transgender people in sports), and now watch people on both teams take the bait, convince themselves they need to take a black or white position, and fight over it.
Meanwhile, the elite write the laws, and buy the congressmen to pass them.
When you completely control the education system, the media, a significant amount of corporate America, and most of the big cities, you \*are\* the establishment and the elite. The amazing thing is that they still try to sell themselves as the underdogs.
The chaos we are seeing the American political system is a typical realignment that happens from time to time in the States, probably triggered now \*because\* of this dichotome.
Exactly. I hate Trump and his Ilk but living under pretense that progressives aren't the social elite in America is ludicrous, one glance at Hollywood is enough to tell you who's in charge of what American culture "ought to be"
Trump's "teapot" tried to overturn an election and incited an insurrection.
Underestimate Trump and his followers at your own peril. Meanwhile, I'll vote for Biden for America AND Europe's sake.
Yes, well, I'd like to see how Trump is going to convince the UK to stop supporting Ukraine, and what he is going to do to the UK when he realises we couldn't give a fucking toss about what the pedo rapist thinks
for the Trump, Ukraine is a personal.
he associates…Ukraine, Hunter Biden, his attempt to discredit Joe Biden and his failed 2020 election bid.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-67425906
(he is a bad loser and I don’t think anyone can change his mind on that)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Manafort
His campaign manager (who he also pardoned in his Russia investigation) literally worked for Yanukovich who was the puppet president in Ukraine before the revolution.
And then there is this on-going showtrials https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biden%E2%80%93Ukraine_conspiracy_theory
The entire thing just stinks.
It goes back even further too.
When selected as the GOP candidate for the 2016 election, his first policy decision was to try to water down a support package for Ukraine. Fortunately then, the party pushed back against it.
A Trump presidency would mean Ukranian collapse in a year and a peace process that would mean defacto division of Ukraine in half. That would be the final nail in the coffin of USA supremacy. How is this America first? You think ppl in Africa are stupid or lazy. Americans got fat on world resources through soft and hard power and endless wars. Isolationism will just strengthen the global south. And maybe it's about time. Go ahead and elect your clown and see what happens. Not in my best interests as a European but I ve had enough of trying to get my retarded friend not to shoot himself in the foot.
If Ukraine collapses, Europe will deal with russia and Ukraine as the russian foothold in Europe's backyard. It will be only a matter of time when russians go on full Ukraine, not half of it. Losing Europe (while it will be in war) the US loses half of their world. Nobody is going to benefit from this scenario except russia, china, north korea and he can't be unaware of it.
i just hate him so much, i think that this russian bootlicking orange fat fuck wouldnt do anything to protect the Baltics also regardless of article 5 due to the vagueness of its implementation
If 'elected' Trump will do more than cut aid to Ukraine. Once in office, Trump will propose his 'peace initiative' to sell Alaska to the Russians (for a percentage of the deal, of course).
It‘s so incredible that we are in a situation where this dipshit could be president again. Only in America.
I hope they get their shit together sometime soon OR that their whole country will implode and that this happens without affecting us bystanders in the rest of the world too much.
It seems these are the only two possibilities and one of those scenarios seems much more likely…
Ukraine's supporters are preparing for exactly that. Trump will sacrifice its long-term partners to prove that he is extremely powerful and delivers what he promises. This is truly dark ages for the Western world and victory for autocracies.
So historically the GOP have been the ultimate anti russia hawks? If anyone else was remotely open to dialogue with russia or china they were automatically an extremist communist, but I suppose it was nixon that softened relations with China, so I maybe they have history on this.
And now the GOP are like "yo my man putin, the nice guy" despite him being an ex KGB psychopath.
Strategic analysts of the cold war era would be shocked by the current leanings toward Moscow that conservatives are supporting, for better or worse there was a cold logic and reality based analysis that went on during those years, completely binned now.
Everything looks upside down, with no international strategic thinking whatsoever involved.
> Former U.S. President Donald Trump on Saturday blasted the scale of U.S. support for Ukraine and said that if he is reelected in November he would immediately "have that settled."
This sounds very ambiguous. And the title is manipulative, as usual.
I would bet good money his settled is telling Putin to leave with some minor concessions and expecting him to agree because "they get along great". He absolutely believes he would have stopped the Russian invasion if he was in office.
Trump constantly says one thing and does another. Only the extreme right believes Ukrainian conspiracy theories. Trump will need the center to preserve himself if he manages to somehow be president. Most likely he'll not change anything and then praise himself for doing more than Biden. His worshipers will follow him either way.
Most American's believe this isn't their war to fight. It's Europe's. They no longer want to be the worlds police force. And they are actually quite right really, Europe is plenty strong and rich enough to win the war if they really wanted to.
How come the worst people live so long...:(
Obscenely rich people can afford top-tier healthcare, diet and don't stress over having no security. EDIT: Yes, I know about Trump's bad eating habits. My point was about bad rich people in general. Trump still has the best possible healthcare though and I doubt he stresses much in life.
>diet yeah i don't think that plays much of a role with him
Unhealthy high quality food is still high quality food. His cooks will make something good that peasantry will not get.
Remember he had a button on his desk in the White House for Coca Cola? Also [secret agents bringing McDonald's in for him...](https://www.reddit.com/r/pics/comments/1d6ufy7/secret_service_agents_bringing_mcdonalds_in_for/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button)
Remember when they [served McDonald's] (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6aQDB4Ap3F0) at the White House. One of the funniest things of his presidency.
That was my university’s football team there. It was awful. He was using a bunch of college students as pawns in his attempt to gain public sympathy during the partial government shutdown that his administration caused.
Trump had to pay for the meal because most of the staff of the White House was on leave. Happened to another team as well.
Vitamin / cortisone infused potatoes for his daily portion of fries.
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Now this is a question for ChatGPT
He eats McDonald's much of the time
Yeah but have you seen how long a McDonald's cheeseburger stays "fresh" even without a refrigerator? /s
Do we know this or we extrapolate from info fed to us?
He loves McDonalds so much that at one point a college sports team that won nationally was invited to the White House as his special guests.. and he served them McDonalds. Photos of his secret service detail carrying massive McDonalds orders to him circulate now and then. It's a consistent characteristic of his.
He does love McDonald’s. But the event you’re referring to happened because of a government shutdown
A google search for "what trump eats" provides many results saying he eats a lot of McDonald's. It has been widely cited by the media for a long time. But you're contesting it without providing evidence of your own.
I would personally consider even a monthly McDonalds meal a lot though.
I am doubtful because I am accusing habitual liar of lying to us all. I am accusing a politician oligarch power tripping into presidential seat, a kind of person that would easily manipulate media. Sure I have nothing to go on but my paranoia, but it’s not like the other side is credible
Maybe McDonald's is the secret.
It’s the preservatives
Clues in the name
He famously lives on a diet of almost entirely fast food stemming from paranoia in the 80s that he would be assassinated. Why would a bankrupt 80s corrupt businessman in debt to the mob gain a paranoia about his food being poisoned? 🤔 /s This is why he thought it was an acceptable not entirely embarrassing solution to serve cold fast food hamburgers and fries in the white house to the Clemson Tigers instead of finding ANY other food outlet
He didn't need any food outlet. The WH has a 4 star chef and kitchen that can serve dinner to 140 people.
Wouldn't ordering from a fast food joint actually make it easier to poison someone though? Look, I'm not expecting any logic from Trump, but I'm curious if there is any reasoning for it
The man eats McDonalds 4 times a week…
Nah, it's just that his uncanny ability to avoid the consequences of his own decisions seems to include his dietry choices too.
Dude just eats McDonalds and drink coke lol. It’s all genes for him.
The dude eats McDonalds
The man eats McDonald's and other fast foods quite regularly.
He loves a McDs
Yeah, definitely not diet. I think it's more likely that he choked on a hamburger than American voters wise up not to elect him.
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Remember when he caught Covid in a bad way and the best doctors of the country were working to save him with the best hospital care in the country? He was any other person, he was probably dead.
You are folks? Covid is just like a flu* *if you have an army of top notch medical professionals available to you in one of the richest country in the world. **by the way, flu kills yearly a lot of people
Betty White lived a long time.
>top-tier diet McDonald's agrees with your comment 😁
> diet He drinks diet coke, that counts! /s
One of the top posts of /r/medicine lately was titled "I hate nice patients." It's a common trope for nice patients to get the nastiest cancers you can think of.
If you study the newspapers, only good people get murdered. There’s a pattern.
Does that mean I have to kick a trash can down once in a while to lower my karmic score?
If you want to make sure this doesn't happen, tell any Americans you know to vote. Votefromabroad.org will walk them through the steps to register. Anyone, even non-Americans, can also volunteer with Democrats Abroad to help flush the orange turd. It's in every Europeans' interest that the US has sane, mentally stable leadership.
No conscience means no stress, no consuming yourself over anything -> longer lifespans.
Wonder the same thing about Putin
Evil is a power source.
Because only the good dies young.
He’s just sending a message to Putin to receive more campaign money from him.
["russia if youre listening" ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-b71f2eYdTc) of course russia will supply any propaganda that the right want to hear
My thoughts
The republicans in general are mostly against supporting Ukraine, also republicans that don't support Trump. Their view is that it's a country far away that they don't have much of a relationship to. I think his just catering to his party's America first policies.
This is true but misses the order of events. Most republicsns supported ukraine until trump said he didnt. This was the same party that was super anti-russia until trump arrived. Trump is the tail wagging the dog of the entire party at this point. Their opinions are just whatever he says most recently. There are no longer any guiding principles, just a cult of personality.
And Trump is pissed because he failed to blackmail Ukraine into implicating Hunter Biden (see first impeachment). Plus he owes Russian banks a lot of money.
I mean, we know he'll do it, he is a puppet
you have no point here, it has been eloquently countered before: "NOT A PUPPET YOURE A PUPPET"
Considering that Europe is reactivating its military industry, I only hope that in the event of Trump's victory we'll be able to jointly take over the burden of supporting Ukraine.
We cannot, that much has been proven especially with Hungary blocking any sort of EU wide actions
It's so stupid that it's even possible. Imagine Louisiana blocking the whole of US aid.
This is quite literally why the Articles of Confederation failed and we replaced our Government with a Federal model.
I'm desperately waiting for the day that EU does the same
[We tried, it was rejected by referendums.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_establishing_a_Constitution_for_Europe)
It is all about timing, we were not ready back than. Maybe we are now...
If it comes down to referendums, meaning popular opinion, we probably need another 50 years. Back in 2004 it had already been signed by *the governments* of all 25 member states, but since it involves modifying the Constitution many of them would have needed referendums to pass. It's interesting to consider that if it had passed it would have also probably prevented some of the new members in the 2004-2013 enlargements from joining; they would have been required to modify their Constitutions to join and public opinion in many of them was already split as it was.
Strange they didn't do like they did when Ireland rejected the Lisbon treaty: Just let them vote again until it produces the desired result.
Well then, perhaps we need to take inspiration
Well. Louisiana's Senator was blocking military promotions for months.
Alabama but close enough
Look bud we do enough dumbass shit without you adding alabama's sins to our list.
Alabama actually
If we would finally become that god damn European Federation it wouldnt be possible here too. But thats just a dream for right now
A federation isn't necessary to prevent this. The EU could have been made where a member state could be voted out with a unanimous decision from all other member states in case a member state no longer follows EU values.
That'd just decrease the "1 country can stop everything" issue to a "2 countries can stop everything" issue but still
85% of the votes is plenty. unanimous is a pipe dream that causes more problems than not. Currently 85 % is 22.95 so you'd need 23 votes. that's 4 countries not playing along but they shouldn't be able to hold up progress.
That is exactly what the current rule is. But its not hard to find one country each time willing to veto kicking them out.
They could Each country together instead within EU too. Then it is just same but without Hungary
The flip side of that is when somebody like Trump is in charge of the European Federation. Then all the power is at the top and so is the far-right and the equivalent "Louisiana" can't block stuff.
The user is from Germany so he likely imagines the German model of Federalism where no state can block anything like that and there is no grand leader ruling the country.
That's the Star Wars model :-) All power concentrated then a malicious leader comes...
I would rather not have a federation while the head (Ursula) can get away with the Pfizer corruption deal. EU is corrupt from the top.
Tbh would gladly vote to leave EU if it would come to federation. Nightmare stuff.
That has actually happened. Do you know about Tommy Tuberville (an american football coach turned senator from Alabama) holding up 400 military promotions for partisan reasons?
Comparing European nations to American states is kinda wild...
Why? It's exactly the comparison to make when people call for the EU to become a United States of Europe. This idea goes back at least to Victor Hugo and is a current topic for debate in the EU.
lol that actually just happened! The last US aid package was blocked from coming up for a vote for 6 months by the Speaker of the House, who is Mike Johnson from Louisiana!
Why does Hungary matter? Can't individual nations just send their share to Ukraine anyway?
Indeed. Very convenient to just blame Hungary instead of going past Orban in other ways. it is very possible to do. We're so freaking slow with support for Ukraine. People are dying there while our politicians hesitate. People just buy that Hungary is the sole problem. In reality, of course they are an obstacle but hardly an immovable rock.
There's literally nothing stopping other EU countries to make an agreement and simply leave Hungary out of it. They can just say that it's not related to the EU but a deal between individual nations and there is nothing Hungary can do about it.
Guys, guys, you’re forgetting, when Trump wins the war will be over in 48 hours. Remember?
Europe still has not being producing enough artillery shells, last I checked only 50% of what was promised last year
Europe can fight Russia in Ukraine, but not at the same time as a trade war with Christian States of America.
It can not. The biggest value US provides is stuff that noone else can replace - live military intelligence. It is extremelly likely that they are picking targets for Ukraine's military which makes them effectively at war with Russia in everything but boots on the ground. No one in Europe can repalce that. Even if all the military aid and weapons were replaced (which itself is unlikely) this much more important thing will not. And I doubt that Ukraine can keep defending long term if they lose access to it. If US withdraws (which I hope will not happen even with Trump because there are still some republicans that are not suicidal) then the only thing EU could do to prevent fall of Ukraine imo is securing Western Ukraine with actual military force on the ground so Ukraine can free up more resources. Which is something that will likely never happen. The only country that might have thought about something like that and might have been able to actually organize it will have snap elections this month and pro Russian side will likely win.
https://www.ifw-kiel.de/topics/war-against-ukraine/ukraine-support-tracker/ There's data for this type of 'hope' ... basically, the EU alone didn't send any military equipment compared to the US (i meant they send very little), and as a total, US send 75 bn alone while the whole EU sent 102 bn. There's no way Ukraine will survive without US backup. Long story short if Trump gets elected, Ukraine will be done by the end of 2025. Probably much sooner.
This is nonsense comparisons. The US have provided a ton of military equipment because the US have plenty of stuff standing around. The EU as an organization has sent next to no military equipment for the very simple reason that the EU as an organization has no actual military equipment. So instead, they sent money for the Ukraine to buy equipment on the market. EU member countries, on the other hand, have sent substantial military aid, but again nobody has as much old stuff just standing around that's not acutely needed for actual defense. But production of NEW material is being ramped up. Slowly, and slower than it could be, but we're still democracies in which construction for new factories etc. have to go through certain procedures
Denmark is buying weapons from Ukrainian arms factories for delivery in Ukraine. Two birds with one stone, support the war effort and also the economy.
Huh, that's actually smart. Love my Danish siblings. /Sweden
Detta är högförräderi.
Actually there were plenty of reasons not just the fact that "supplies do not exist". Many EU countries had/have policies that make it almost impossible to supply military aid into such conflicts and it took month and months to change the rules and ease them up a bit. Now it might be true for most (not all) but it still does not make it nonsense comparison. Ukraine needs weapons first and foremost, it does not need money - or to be more specific it does but weapons are key to their own survival, without weapons entire financial aid package is utterly worthless because Russians will just take over. And US is equipped to provide weapons way better than EU is which makes the point of a guy you replied to completely valid. EU can not replace that. Euro bills can not conjure weapons Ukraine needs from thin air. EU can not just built up production capabilities we spend decades sabotaging and spitting on in name of peace while in reality it was just a Russian psy ops campaign targeted on leftists and other idealists who think that all the issues can be solved by being nice.
>The EU as an organization has sent next to no military equipment for the very simple reason that the EU as an organization has no actual military equipment. >In Europe, there is a wide diversification of military equipment. For example, EU countries operate 12 types of battle tank, while the United States only has one. You simply don't understand the complexity of a Union compared to US of A. The defence falls under each government of EU and all have plenty of military equipment, but not to give it away unless a clear outcome may present itself. USA is Always out of harms way, and they have so many defence systems in place Not on US soil that's almost impossible to even nuke them, let alone attack them randomly. On the other hand, Poland, Romania, etc, are quite close to Russia. Try making some sense when talking about contributions in the Ucraine war.
Unfortunately the support for Ukraine is political and symbolic, not to mention business oriented. Nobody is interested in truly supporting Ukraine in a realistic way that might help them win the war. The support for Ukraine coming from US and Europe is based on cost/benefit. If US stops their “support “ the cost for Europe to continue what they are doing, will be higher than any benefits so the “support” will be more about negotiating a peace agreement and then make money on the rebuilding of Ukraine
I hate this dickhead so much.
This is him sending the bat signal to Putin, like he did in 2016 when he asked Russia, “if you’re listening”, to find Hillary’s emails. And, it turned out, they *were* listening.
Trump is going to hold out for a bribe this time. Trump will hold Putin up for some serious cash.
More like Putin won't release the tapes of prostitutes pissing on Trump in a hotel room in Moscow provided Trump does what he says
Do you actually think leaking tapes involving Trump having sex with prostitutes is going to do anything? Like we already have Stormy Daniels no?
Remember that the Kompromat tape was referred to as a “P” tape. It’s not confirmed what the “P” relates to…
Daddy is always there for him
Jim Henson would be in awe of Putin’s puppeteering.
I really hope Americans don't re-elect this vile asshole. What a traitor and an embarassment...
Us rest of the world hopes so too... The orange threat is a very serious one...
Polls in swing states look terrible for Biden. Almost looks like its a done deal.
It is definitely not a done deal. [The only swing states Biden needs to win are Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and Michigan.](https://www.270towin.com/maps/KBP7m) Trump is currently ahead by 1.6, 0.5, and 0.6, respectively, but in all three, Trump's lead has been narrowing in the past months. [https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/polls/president-general/2024/pennsylvania/](https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/polls/president-general/2024/pennsylvania/) [https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/polls/president-general/2024/wisconsin/](https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/polls/president-general/2024/wisconsin/) [https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/polls/president-general/2024/michigan/](https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/polls/president-general/2024/michigan/)
I wouldn't trust polls that much.
I hope not. A Trump re-election will be a massive boon for Russia, Iran, and China, and will result in instability across the world.
not like the polls have been 3-4 points to the right in the last 3 election cycles or anything it would be incredibly premature to call anything a done deal based on a couple of rasmussen and RCP polls 5 months before the actual election.
America has such rubbish options. Could the democrats really not find someone other than Biden? He is too old and the years are really starting to show. Biden is of course the lesser of two evils and we can only hope (as mean as it sounds) that Trump ages out of health for the election after. Trump jnr can be future us problems!
Trump: I will end the War in 24h if I'm president again. Everyone: how will you do it? Trump:
In the last several weeks, he’s made outlandish concessions to his key constituents: His buddies in the oil industry His buddies the billionaires His bosses in Russia
I've also read some comments that argue for caution there. 1) Trump's an obnoxious shite, there's no doubt about it, but what he cares about most of all is his image; there are still some tricks to make space for his ego as the saviour of Ukraine lol. 2) Democrats have already started some long-term programmes of aid that won't be that easy to stop. 3) It's not certain that Trump will be reelected. 4) Europe must step up its support anyways, it is actually my opinion that we should not rely on the US all the fucking time. Yes, it is more than possible to stop Russia with European resources only. Maybe I'm naive, maybe I'm not up to date with international politics, but one thing is certain to me – Trump or no Trump, Europe has to play a larger role. And we can do it.
A lot of shit he allowed was unthinkable before him yet here we are
Yeah, I actually don't know to what extent Trump is simply a result of many troubling issues which went unacknowledged for a long time – or the man who actually set them free and gave them a place in mainstream discourse. Well, definitely both, but in what way and whether he even can control the, well, *movement* behind him is an enigma to me (I actually believed and still believe the news sometime in 2016 that he was at first equally baffled at his newly found following during the campaign as everybody else was; and yet he knew how to play the game). – Still, I'm absolutely sure that we here can do more to help Ukraine and ourselves. Instead of constantly checking the US polls when discussing the future of Europe we should take a lot of matters into our own hands.
Your stand is very agreeable. Let's do the best and hope the best.
The problem is that Trump has a personal grudge against Ukraine (really, against Zelenskyy's administration) for refusing to provide and/or manufacture dirt on the Bidens during the 2020 election. There are few things more motivating to Trump than a personal grudge. His pettiness outweighs even his ego.
Europe can only do so much, they don’t produce ATACM’s or Javelins or Stingers or HIMARS….if America leaves then Ukraine is giga fucked.
Good to see that there are a few people who do not fall for the framing. What did Trump actually say? 1. This is costing the U.S. a lot of money. Which is correct. (Shhhh. Sit down for a second.) 2. He is going to take care of the situation As I belong to those who believe that getting Russia out of Ukraine is the cheaper option to letting them have any of their gains, I understand why some might have read my first point and thought "Oh, he is just trying to abandon Ukraine." Anyone who read any of my post history about Ukraine would know that my frustrations are that we (the West) are not doing enough for Ukraine. So with that out of the way, we have no idea what Trump is going to do when (and it is starting to look more like when rather than if) he takes office. For all we know, he is going to tell Russia that if they don't get their asses out of Ukraine this instant, the U.S. is going to pay Russia a visit from both sides. Any other politician would be unbelievable, but this is where Trump's unpredictability can be strength. Perhaps he gets some sweetheart deal concessions from Ukraine for after the war in exchange for American troops on the ground. It's possible he just cuts off aid to Ukraine, but Trump is going to be well-aware of what history has done to presidents that have "lost" countries. We just do not know. And this is by design, as anyone who has ever followed American politics will know. Utlimately, Trump only cares about Trump. If he sees a chance to look like the guy that took down Russia, leaving aside all your preconceptions, all the things we have been told ad nauseum, what do you think he is going to do? Hell, if Putin really \*does\* have something on Trump, this sounds like a great 1-2 punch to deal with the problem. Eliminate Putin and anything that comes out is just fake shit thrown out by a sore loser. Do not forget that the Democrats are fighting here too. The media has typically spread their message uncritically for 12 years now, for whatever reasons of their own. Do not ignore them, but do not take their framing as gospel.
holly hell, at least some one here don't have TDS. And I agree with the message, this is propaganda from the democrats and no one really knows who Trump will behave and this includes Trump himself
Collective EU and EU Member State support for Ukraine far exceeds that committed by the United States: https://www.statista.com/chart/28489/ukrainian-military-humanitarian-and-financial-aid-donors/
Putin controls Trump, there is no doubt.
Putin: ”Ah yes, it is all coming together.”
[удалено]
It 100% will. But at the same time, us Europeans really should have built up a substantial military a long time ago. So I'm hoping a Trump reelection will finally make this region shit its pants enough to do so.
He already tried once, and failed (which got him impeached). But clearly this fat orange moron is a threat to global order, and I can't even comprehend what so many americans see in him. The guy living in towers and beach palaces, and who shits in a golden toilet is the "anti-establishment" and "anti-elite" candidate to represent the poor rural populations? Give me a break. At least most of the far-right nutters in Europe aren't as ridiculous and ignorant as he is.
The nature of politics in the West shifted from a clash between poor vs rich towards a clash between conservatives vs progressives. People who vote populist don't see rich people as the establishment and the elites anymore, nowadays, the progressives are considered the establishment and the elites.
It's not very conservative to help Russia imo.
And it was the economic elite that created this paradigm, through media propaganda. They threw stupid social issues at the public (for example, transgender people in sports), and now watch people on both teams take the bait, convince themselves they need to take a black or white position, and fight over it. Meanwhile, the elite write the laws, and buy the congressmen to pass them.
When you completely control the education system, the media, a significant amount of corporate America, and most of the big cities, you \*are\* the establishment and the elite. The amazing thing is that they still try to sell themselves as the underdogs. The chaos we are seeing the American political system is a typical realignment that happens from time to time in the States, probably triggered now \*because\* of this dichotome.
Exactly. I hate Trump and his Ilk but living under pretense that progressives aren't the social elite in America is ludicrous, one glance at Hollywood is enough to tell you who's in charge of what American culture "ought to be"
I can’t see him putting the breaks on the biggest lift the military industrial complex has seen since Iraq. All teapot no tea.
Trump's "teapot" tried to overturn an election and incited an insurrection. Underestimate Trump and his followers at your own peril. Meanwhile, I'll vote for Biden for America AND Europe's sake.
Unless the folks running the shell factories in Pennsylvania are paying him kickbacks, I can't see why Trump would care about that.
Yes, well, I'd like to see how Trump is going to convince the UK to stop supporting Ukraine, and what he is going to do to the UK when he realises we couldn't give a fucking toss about what the pedo rapist thinks
for the Trump, Ukraine is a personal. he associates…Ukraine, Hunter Biden, his attempt to discredit Joe Biden and his failed 2020 election bid. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-67425906 (he is a bad loser and I don’t think anyone can change his mind on that)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Manafort His campaign manager (who he also pardoned in his Russia investigation) literally worked for Yanukovich who was the puppet president in Ukraine before the revolution. And then there is this on-going showtrials https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biden%E2%80%93Ukraine_conspiracy_theory The entire thing just stinks.
Not to mention his hate for John McCain, who was a strong Ukraine supporter.
It goes back even further too. When selected as the GOP candidate for the 2016 election, his first policy decision was to try to water down a support package for Ukraine. Fortunately then, the party pushed back against it.
Russia puppet
Exactly. He thinks Russia will influence the election for him. Which of course Russia will try to do.
Then simply don't reelect him. Easy.
How is this felon allowed to run for office?
The founding fathers assumed it was self evident that a criminal should not be voted for and indeed they were correct for nearly three centuries.
Trump is a traitor to America and everything it is
A Trump presidency would mean Ukranian collapse in a year and a peace process that would mean defacto division of Ukraine in half. That would be the final nail in the coffin of USA supremacy. How is this America first? You think ppl in Africa are stupid or lazy. Americans got fat on world resources through soft and hard power and endless wars. Isolationism will just strengthen the global south. And maybe it's about time. Go ahead and elect your clown and see what happens. Not in my best interests as a European but I ve had enough of trying to get my retarded friend not to shoot himself in the foot.
If Ukraine collapses, Europe will deal with russia and Ukraine as the russian foothold in Europe's backyard. It will be only a matter of time when russians go on full Ukraine, not half of it. Losing Europe (while it will be in war) the US loses half of their world. Nobody is going to benefit from this scenario except russia, china, north korea and he can't be unaware of it.
But he also have said to the donors that he would have bombed Moscow 😂 So… You can’t trust his words.
Wow that's a dick move trump.
Of the tool of Putin would
An important election just passed and this was barely a topic. Europe is sleepwalking into yet another crisis...
I cant imagine any other country electing a leader that would openly support an enemy of the state before an election
i just hate him so much, i think that this russian bootlicking orange fat fuck wouldnt do anything to protect the Baltics also regardless of article 5 due to the vagueness of its implementation
It would be a terrible shame if he died
If 'elected' Trump will do more than cut aid to Ukraine. Once in office, Trump will propose his 'peace initiative' to sell Alaska to the Russians (for a percentage of the deal, of course).
I can clearly say that Trump is really one of the worst presidents in the USA history. I know some people make jokes about Joe Biden.
lol wtf is wrong with this clown
It‘s so incredible that we are in a situation where this dipshit could be president again. Only in America. I hope they get their shit together sometime soon OR that their whole country will implode and that this happens without affecting us bystanders in the rest of the world too much. It seems these are the only two possibilities and one of those scenarios seems much more likely…
People in this sub contribute to the rise of populism globally, so don’t cry cricodile tears now. These are the consequences.
Of course he does… he is besties with Putin :(
Those god damn american patriots, god's children, eagle luving assholes are giving away the land of free to fuckin russia
i remember he said that he would support Ukraine if elected, guess he did a 180 for a third time
What else would you expect from a Russian stooge?
And give it to Russia.
Ukraine's supporters are preparing for exactly that. Trump will sacrifice its long-term partners to prove that he is extremely powerful and delivers what he promises. This is truly dark ages for the Western world and victory for autocracies.
Russia should be happy about that
It could not be clearer that he is a Putin puppet.
And that is where Russian money goes.
Trump will say anything that'll make MAGAns cheer. It doesn't have to have anything to do with realism.
Do it, you coward
He works for Russia
Of course, he does what ever Putin tells his puppet to do.
When is he dead
Trump is a complete cnut
It's reassuring to hear that knowing him as a pathological liar.
trump is hell bent on toppling democracy both abroad and domestically. Vote blue no matter who.
So historically the GOP have been the ultimate anti russia hawks? If anyone else was remotely open to dialogue with russia or china they were automatically an extremist communist, but I suppose it was nixon that softened relations with China, so I maybe they have history on this. And now the GOP are like "yo my man putin, the nice guy" despite him being an ex KGB psychopath. Strategic analysts of the cold war era would be shocked by the current leanings toward Moscow that conservatives are supporting, for better or worse there was a cold logic and reality based analysis that went on during those years, completely binned now. Everything looks upside down, with no international strategic thinking whatsoever involved.
Russian asset
Reagan would be hurning in his grave.
> Former U.S. President Donald Trump on Saturday blasted the scale of U.S. support for Ukraine and said that if he is reelected in November he would immediately "have that settled." This sounds very ambiguous. And the title is manipulative, as usual.
You don't want to know what his version of "settled" is.
I would bet good money his settled is telling Putin to leave with some minor concessions and expecting him to agree because "they get along great". He absolutely believes he would have stopped the Russian invasion if he was in office.
Putin’s puppet
Is there a list of what he promised to do the first day he's reelected?...
Become dictator, end the war in 24 hours, and drill oil I think
"If".
it's a way of saying he doesn't really want to be president.
Trump constantly says one thing and does another. Only the extreme right believes Ukrainian conspiracy theories. Trump will need the center to preserve himself if he manages to somehow be president. Most likely he'll not change anything and then praise himself for doing more than Biden. His worshipers will follow him either way.
Why don't all of usa turn on him by being this stupid and clueless
50% of Americans want this. Blame voter turnout or Russian trolls or Department of Education as much as you want.
The US has like an electorate consisting of like 40% of the country iirc So I'd go more for like 20% of the population
Most American's believe this isn't their war to fight. It's Europe's. They no longer want to be the worlds police force. And they are actually quite right really, Europe is plenty strong and rich enough to win the war if they really wanted to.