-FJ... what does Machiavelli say about being loathed?
No one fears Trump anymore. Especially not Iran. Trump and his minions have shown we can, like Russia, inflict grave damage on a country. However a Vietnam Era exchange between Champ Summers and North Vietnamese Colonel Nguyen Don Tu may be instructive here...
Summers remarked, "You know, you never defeated us on the battlefield." Colonel Tu paused, then responded, "That may be so. But it is also irrelevant."
That's exactly what Trump has exposed about the US. We are no longer feared, no longer respected, no longer seen as leaders in the free world.
Not Reagan, bot Clinton, not either Bush, not Obama and not Biden. It's all because of Trump.
Because he essentially could not keep his mouth shut and as such, removed any doubt about our capabilities, thereby putting America at risk.
Fear and loathing indicate a codependency. The bond is purely one of mutual utility w/o affection. And we don't need Europe's affection in exchange for taxpayer charity and largess. 'Ef Europe.
Nations are not loved, not by those other than their own citizens. But nations can be respected, and it is better to be respected than feared. Trump and his worshipers don't understand the difference.
Putin prefers being feared. He deals with foreign countries almost exclusively via threats. That strategy drove Finland and Sweden to join NATO and drove Poland and Germany to massively re-arm -- for him, the worst possible outcomes. Trump's bullying of fellow democracies has driven countries to develop new trade relationships that exclude the US, and to minimize their technological and military dependence on us, thus reducing our influence over them.
When you make people fear you, they have an incentive to defend themselves against you and strengthen themselves to resist you. Only the weakest and most pitiful knuckle under to bullying.
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It's better to be feared than loved. Machiavelli, "The Prince"
-FJ... what does Machiavelli say about being loathed?
No one fears Trump anymore. Especially not Iran. Trump and his minions have shown we can, like Russia, inflict grave damage on a country. However a Vietnam Era exchange between Champ Summers and North Vietnamese Colonel Nguyen Don Tu may be instructive here...
Summers remarked, "You know, you never defeated us on the battlefield." Colonel Tu paused, then responded, "That may be so. But it is also irrelevant."
That's exactly what Trump has exposed about the US. We are no longer feared, no longer respected, no longer seen as leaders in the free world.
Not Reagan, bot Clinton, not either Bush, not Obama and not Biden. It's all because of Trump.
Because he essentially could not keep his mouth shut and as such, removed any doubt about our capabilities, thereby putting America at risk.
Especially for moron narcissists. Right?
Fear and loathing indicate a codependency. The bond is purely one of mutual utility w/o affection. And we don't need Europe's affection in exchange for taxpayer charity and largess. 'Ef Europe.
Nations are not loved, not by those other than their own citizens. But nations can be respected, and it is better to be respected than feared. Trump and his worshipers don't understand the difference.
Putin prefers being feared. He deals with foreign countries almost exclusively via threats. That strategy drove Finland and Sweden to join NATO and drove Poland and Germany to massively re-arm -- for him, the worst possible outcomes. Trump's bullying of fellow democracies has driven countries to develop new trade relationships that exclude the US, and to minimize their technological and military dependence on us, thus reducing our influence over them.
When you make people fear you, they have an incentive to defend themselves against you and strengthen themselves to resist you. Only the weakest and most pitiful knuckle under to bullying.
The Decline of the American Empire has been in progress since about 1978. trump has feverishly put that Decline on steriods and greased the slide.
It's going to be hard fall.
Why trump, and America by extension, are losers today.
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