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After the US midterm rout of Trumpism, the world struggles to trust America again (apnews.com)
submitted 1 day ago by to c/politics@lemmy.world
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For Joe Reeve, the midterm afterglow faded fast.

The London startup founder was among the wave around the Trump-weary world awakening to the stunning news that Americans had sharply rejected President Donald Trump’s fist-in-the-eye stewardship of the United States that had started a war with Iran, forged no peace in Ukraine or the Mideast and made gas and food so expensive.

Voters, Reeve saw online, had flipped control of both houses of Congress, handing the power to check the president to his rival Democrats. American democracy, 250 years on, had survived the Trump era.

But a deep and profound distrust of the United States had survived the vote, too. And from national leaders to aspiring American immigrants, no one seemed confident that change was afoot.

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[–] 20 points 1 day ago (6 children)

It’ll never be repaired. Schedule F, gutting of all government agencies and mass exodus of career SMEs (various disciplines)…

There is no recourse for an “organization”. Turning civil servants into political appointees will never go back to the way it was with a simple regime change.

We are very much still fucked albeit, slightly less fucked.

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  • [–] 13 points 1 day ago* (5 children)

    Never is a long time. Germany systematically murdered thirteen million people in the forties. Obviously that does come up, but Germany largely rehabilitated its image by the 90s. Maybe earlier if we’re just talking West Germany.

    I’m not saying with any certainty that the US will ever be as comfortable in the world as it previously was. But if people can get over the Holocaust in fifty years, I think the US has a puncher’s chance to sort things out.

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  • [–] 15 points 1 day ago (3 children)

    The tricky part is that Germany was beaten in a war and had external forces standing over them forcing them to clean house. That's not going to happen to the US, so there's not going to be that sort of house-cleaning happening.

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  • [–] 3 points 12 hours ago (1 child)

    Yup. America hasn't even started the work to regain trust, yet here they are thinking their redemption arc has already started after one midterm election.

    Prosecute, update your laws, spend a few more election cycles voting for people that care about their impact on something besides the wallets of themselves and their billionaire friends, and maybe in 10-15 years, we can start to talk about trust

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  • [–] 3 points 12 hours ago

    Yeah. This is the abusive drunk standing outside the door declaring "I haven't had a drink all day, I've changed, baby!" And begging to be let back in.

    Good on you for spending the day sober. I hope it's the start of a new life and fervently wish you well. Still not letting you back in.

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  • [–] 2 points 1 day ago

    Very tricky. It's a difficult road back to international accord, or at least what most Americans and Europeans thought of as international accord even though it was pretty spicy for everybody else.

    But I think people in this thread are overestimating how long people's memories are. Tricky doesn't have to be long. I'm not convinced the Democrats have the momentum or frankly savvy to fully fix things, but I could be wrong. If in ten years people in the US and Europe look back and say "Damn, those were crazy times, but I'm glad we got that tariff thing sorted out," I'm not going to be shocked.

    I do think the Republicans getting taken behind the woodshed is important not just because the Democrats are more globalist (which they are) but because it's proving that as crazy as things get, the US still has to play by the rules with regard to democratic elections, which have here sort of acted as a final safety valve.

    I do think it's nearly impossible that the US will ever have the sort of military power it formerly had as Europe continues to weigh its options, which... good.

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