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American Politics Thread

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swiftgallade46 said:
He stated he would shift his focus to a peaceful transfer of power. Fat lot of good it means for him to say that now, though. He still needs to be removed from office.
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He's also still pretty consistent with the whole "we need to secure everything so election aren't thrown into doubt" thing though so I'm hesitant as to how peaceful his "peaceful" transition of power will be. And it sounds like Nancy and co. are going to power through an impeachment process ASAP, as early as Monday.
 
Beth Pavell said:
What happens when the dust settles, therefore, is anyone's guess. Speaking as a Brit, I'd only been following the election news these past few weeks out of amusement, because Trump is irredeemably odious and I don't have anything like enough of a stake in the election to take it seriously. But looking from the outside in, I will say this: don't make too many predictions
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Unfortunately, everyone in this world has a stake in this election. It doesn't matter where you live, the US government has a massive influence on the rest of the world. Climate change is just one thing that affects everyone in the world, and during the past 4 years the US has been actively sabotaging all attempts to mitigate it. We should also not forget how Trump's election in 2016 encouraged similar far-right populist across the world in their attempts to gain power. As a Brit, you yourself could have seen it being reflected in Boris Johnson and Brexit.
 
Volphied said:
Unfortunately, everyone in this world has a stake in this election. It doesn't matter where you live, the US government has a massive influence on the rest of the world. Climate change is just one thing that affects everyone in the world, and during the past 4 years the US has been actively sabotaging all attempts to mitigate it. We should also not forget how Trump's election in 2016 encouraged similar far-right populist across the world in their attempts to gain power. As a Brit, you yourself could have seen it being reflected in Boris Johnson and Brexit.
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Sadly, there has been many far-right wing populists elected since Trump such as Victor Orban in Hungary and with an election due either this year or next here in Australia (most likely this year), I am concerned that we could see far-right wingers elected here in Australia. But there has also been a growth in far-right wing media throughout the world, claiming to be an "alternative" to the "mainstream". In America, they got One America News (which is becoming a favourite of Trump since Fox News turned on him after the election) and Newsmax which are becoming more popular among supporters of Trump, as well as the proposed GB News in the UK. And here in Australia, we got this "Sky After Dark" on Sky News which has far-right wingers (such as Outsiders and "shockjock" Alan Jones).

I am fearful that if Trump is removed under the 25th Amendment to the US Constitution, then it could legitimise the QAnon cult and "patriots" and could lead to more violence.

And I think we should fear 17 January, as more rallies is planned for that day, not just in Washington but in the state capitals as well.
 
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Volphied said:
Unfortunately, everyone in this world has a stake in this election. It doesn't matter where you live, the US government has a massive influence on the rest of the world. Climate change is just one thing that affects everyone in the world, and during the past 4 years the US has been actively sabotaging all attempts to mitigate it. We should also not forget how Trump's election in 2016 encouraged similar far-right populist across the world in their attempts to gain power. As a Brit, you yourself could have seen it being reflected in Boris Johnson and Brexit.
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Respectfully, I disagree. Sure, whoever is in the White House does affect certain issues - climate change being one, yes, trade being another - but what Americans do in their political system isn't nearly as influential as Americans (Especially, but not limited to, American politicians) tend to believe it is. Nigel Farage was being Nigel Farage long before Donny decided 'President Trump' has a nice ring to it.
 
Beth Pavell said:
Respectfully, I disagree. Sure, whoever is in the White House does affect certain issues - climate change being one, yes, trade being another - but what Americans do in their political system isn't nearly as influential as Americans (Especially, but not limited to, American politicians) tend to believe it is. Nigel Farage was being Nigel Farage long before Donny decided 'President Trump' has a nice ring to it.
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www.newyorker.com

Nigel Farage on the Story Behind His Friendship with Trump

The British politician is riding a wave of good fortune with the success of Brexit and the election of an ally to the White House.
www.newyorker.com www.newyorker.com
Nigel-Farage-PoI-2.jpg

About a week before he flew to Mississippi, Farage learned that his trip was going to coincide with a Trump visit to the state, on August 25th. Also, Steve Bannon, the executive chairman of Breitbart News, was by that point in charge of the campaign. Bannon and Farage have been close for years. “I have got a very, very high regard for that man’s brain,” Farage told me. Bannon is a student of right-wing nationalist movements in Europe, and in the summer of 2012, shortly after his appointment at Breitbart, he’d invited Farage to spend several days with him in New York and Washington, where the UKIP leader was introduced to, among others, the staff of Jeff Sessions, the nativist Alabama senator who is Trump’s pick to be the next Attorney General.

In 2014, Breitbart opened an office in London. Its editor, Raheem Kassam, went to work as Farage’s chief of staff for almost a year. (This autumn, Kassam briefly ran to succeed Farage as party leader under the slogan “Make UKIP Great Again.”) Farage began writing a column for Breitbart—with headlines such as “UK Universities Hotbeds of EU Propaganda”—and some fellow UKIP officials became alarmed by the influence of the organization at the top of the party. One described to me the links between Farage, Kassam, and Breitbart as “a completely parallel structure” within UKIP. When I asked Farage whether he shared Bannon’s martial conception of politics—Trump’s chief strategist has said that “politics is war”—he made a joking reference to the two armies of the English Civil War, placing himself on the dashing side. “I am more cavalier; he is more roundhead,” Farage said. But he did not attempt to disguise his regard for the alt-right forum. “I speak to Breitbart every day,” he said.

On November 22nd, he was in Strasbourg when his phone rang at 3 A.M. It was Kassam. Trump had just tweeted, “Many people would like to see @Nigel_Farage represent Great Britain as their Ambassador to the United States. He would do a great job!” The idea should have been a non-starter—British governments appoint their own ambassadors, and the current office-holder, Sir Kim Darroch, has only held the post since January—but Johnson, who is now Foreign Secretary, was forced to spell out that there was no vacancy for the position.

Farage was gleeful at all the trouble coming out of Trump Tower. “Everything’s changed,” he told me. “My entire political career, I have been told all the way through, ‘No, No, No. That is not how you do it. You’re breaking all the rules.’ It is pretty clear from that tweet that is how Trump is going to do things. He is going to do them his way.”
 
Whilst US politics doesn’t influence the world as much as Americans tend to think, there still is a big influence. They have one of the big five seats in the UN, so if a president who thinks he’s better than everyone comes in they can have US chairs out wrenches into things.
 
Trump didn't create Nigel Farage. Farage has been UKIP leader since 2006 and at this whole Euroskepticism thing long before that. I'm well aware of Nigel's cosying up to Trump these past few years - revealingly, after his single-issue party apparently achieved what it set out to do and Farage subsequently lost the spotlight in British politics.

To put this as politely as possible, the world does not revolve around Washington.
 
Beth Pavell said:
Trump didn't create Nigel Farage. Farage has been UKIP leader since 2006 and at this whole Euroskepticism thing long before that. I'm well aware of Nigel's cosying up to Trump these past few years - revealingly, after his single-issue party apparently achieved what it set out to do and Farage subsequently lost the spotlight in British politics.

To put this as politely as possible, the world does not revolve around Washington.
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I never claimed that Trump created Farage. All I'm saying is that it's absurd to view the current events in the US as if they were happening in some isolated bubble. The rise fo the far-right populism in the US has been a huge boon for Farage and his ilk in the UK. We live in an inter-connected world, and the article I posted mentioned Farage's deep ties to US extremists, and the way they are financially tied together and influence each other. Farage outright says how Trump's behavior is inspiring to him. And Trump's alt-right propagandist Bannon has outright admitted that he's been working on spreading the "Trump Revolution" into Europe, which is why Farage went on to write for Breitbart.

No, the whole world doesn't revolve around the US. But the system of cross-Atlantic alliances does. I'm sure you noticed how Trump during the last four years constantly attacked and undermined democratic countries, while heaping praise on dictators. You must have noticed his constant shitting on NATO and the EU, while he grovelled at Putin's feet. All of this behavior has an effect on you and me too, even if we're outside of the US.

I live in a country that is currently being squeezed from the north and the south by illiberal regimes that have heaped praise on Trump's dismantling of democracy. When I open a history book, I find an entire chapter on how my country was left to be devoured by Nazis after feckless western countries refused to uphold their alliance agreements. Suffice to say, I didn't find the attack on the US capitol amusing in any way. A worst case scenario happening in the US would have an effect on my country too, even if it's separated by an ocean.
 
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To the surprise of nobody, turns out Trump only made his statement yesterday because his senior advisors told him he’d likely be removed if he didn’t.
edition.cnn.com

January 9 US Capitol riots and Trump news

The political fallout over President Trump's reaction to the deadly Capitol attack continues to escalate as President-elect Joe Biden prepares to take office. Follow here for the latest news.
edition.cnn.com edition.cnn.com
 
If nothing else, the attack on the Capitol once again highlights the threat right-wing extremists pose to the republic. Feels like a good time to point out Merrick Garland helped prosecute the Oklahoma City and Atlanta Olympic Bombings
 
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