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Trump has done exactly the things he said he would do before the election. 51% Americans agreed, 49% thought they were stupid , idiotic, racist. Most of the rest of the world agreed with the latter.
Actually he hasn’t. Some of the biggest promises, that he would end the war in Ukraine on day 1, that he would instantly reduce inflation and the price of eggs from $7 per dozen and many more pre-office statements were just ludicrous and obvously haven’t happened. He also made many presidential proclamations that have already been reversed by the courts – Closing down VOA for one.
In fact his first four months in office have pretty much been a failure on every measure but that won’t stop the announcements saying this is the greatest time in american history and they should all count themselves lucky to live under the greatest president that there has ever been.
I never said that what he said would work or was a good idea, just that he’s done or tried to do what he said. It might have been economically stupid, racist , over ambitious. Can’t and don’t argue with that.
But that’s not the point I was making. My point Everyone (51%) knew what they were getting when they voted for the Donald and that’s what they got.
He didn’t say one thing and do the other.
Make that 2 lying buffoons in our case. But yes, people go nuts about the USA while happily visiting China, Brazil, India, Egypt and other countries with appalling records on human rights. China executed 4 Canadian citizens not long ago and it barely caused a blip in the media.
When people are listing the countries to which they object, Vietnam usually escapes mention presumably because people think it’s a lovely cuddly country when it’s in fact incredibly oppressive and authoritarian.
I’m not sure how many people really adjust their travel plans to a country’s human rights record, but how does one assess that anyway? The US is a relatively old democracy but as many will say, the reality is that it’s just the best democracy that money can buy. The US two party system, the money that drives it, and judicial roles that are political elections are different to most people’s notions of democracy. If you are a poor black person, I don’t think you will feel you have much in the way of human rights. Owing to the swingeing criminal sentencing regime, 95% of federal cases result in convictions as so many plead rather than risk these sentences. Is that right?
While you refer to executions in China, the US has capital punishment and large numbers of people on death row. The US is a rich country yet doesn’t afford people proper medical care, social care, denies women reproductive rights, has no proper social security safety net and while it has a totally barbaric penal system still has a dreadful crime and drugs problem. China offers its people good healthcare, social care and an orderly, relatively crime free environment. Which is net better?
Sorry, you’re wrong about health care in China. We have a Chinese friend married to a Brit with family in China. There are 2 tiers, 1 for ordinary Chinese and a second for those who can afford bribes to get seen in a reasonable time. The Chinese system is based on the US with extra bribes thrown in. However, it is pretty clear that after many decades of being poor, most Chinese don’t give a hoot about being a one party state as long as their lives are improving. One day that will change though. I don’t think it will end well.
“Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men, even when they exercise influence and not authority; still more when you superadd the tendency of the certainty of corruption by authority.” (Lord Acton)
You might not think it relevant to the UK, but free clothes, holidays, Taylor Swift tickets are blatant examples of where the “should be squeaky clean” can’t even control themselves. At least Rishi was forthcoming about how rich he was and had no idea how a contactless card worked 😉
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