Dunge

I think it was Bonnie Greer who said that what Americans want, more than anything, is to feel safe. It’s why 9/11 shook them up so much. Now we see Trump actively jumping at any threat of Russian nukes or WWIII. He’s terrified of it and running from it. And a lot of Americans will quietly agree with him.

If Trump doesn’t want a United States of Europe, he’s going exactly the wrong way about it.

America is more than just Trump and Vance. Even the Republican Party, however corrupted they may be right now, is more than that. Meanwhile, our military - including probably our nuclear deterrent - is intrinsically linked with America. America remains the greatest military power on Earth; even if things were to kick off in any serious way, we’d likely need to buy their weapons. It really isn’t as simple as Starmer flipping the bird to Trump and saying “screw you then”.

Yeah, I don’t think it’s fair to say that Starmer’s on the same side as Orban. He’s trying to maintain a diplomatic bridge between the US and Europe. It may not work but I don’t blame him for trying at this point.

I was mostly throwing out possibilities, but Moldova would be the obvious next step and the path would be through a future subservient Ukraine. Although I imagine the remaining population of Ukraine would hate the Russians for generations to come and Russia could have trouble controlling them.

I’m not sure. It would’ve been interesting to see what happened if and when Russia’s economic problems properly caught up with them. Doesn’t look like that’s on the cards any more, of course. In fact it looks like America could try to actively boost them to extricate them from China.

I think Putin took inspiration from Hamlet three years ago - when he went charging into Ukraine and tried to take Kyiv, nobody was quite sure whether he was mad. Even his own regime looked worried. Now of course, we know that he’s not. But he is using identifiable strategies. One of those strategies is to never take a backward step. Another is that if you’re in trouble you hang in there and wait for something to happen. Both have been working for him. The other strategy that we’ve seen from him over the years is to probe at something and see what happens. He’s done it in Georgia, he did it in Ukraine multiple times before the full-scale invasion. He’ll probably do similar in the future, arming a group like the Transnistrians in Moldova or some group or other in the Baltics. Maybe go back for more in Georgia or Armenia. See what happens.

I think that’s fair, up to the point where the second family member has been trying to kill the first and you’re now proposing that both he and you each take one of the first’s kidneys.

Problem is, it’s not as simple as saying “Europe, unite”. What do you do about Hungary and Slovakia, for instance? What about other far-right parties across Europe who are both sympathetic toward Russia and could get into power?

Trump’s said Zelensky can come back if that’s any positive?

It’s basically Prince John and Sir Hiss.

The whole thing actually exposes the Trump administration: Russian aggression, Climate change - They don’t want to believe that bad, out of control things are happening. Trump says he believes Putin wants a deal and an end to the war; he believes it because the alternative scares him. He says that American miners in Ukraine will be protection enough, that Putin wouldn’t attack while that was happening; he believes it, because the alternative scares him. Not that it matters a great lot, given a sizeable proportion of the American public will go with Trump for precisely the same reason. They have a big, beautiful ocean in the way, after all. But it’s all there, laid out. Trump’s America is primed to run away.

He seems to have caught Trump in a jovial mood and there certainly haven’t been any disasters. In fact it looks like the closest we came to any disaster was “probing” questions from our own press. Which anyone who remembers the Covid press conferences won’t come as a surprise.

The one on the left isn’t bad either.

Andrew Tate: US envoy to the UK. You can’t say it won’t happen in this era.

I think it’s a bit like how the RP accent went from the height of trustworthiness with BBC newsreaders, etc. to being seen as shifty and demeaning. Trump is rude, and his supporters love him for it precisely because he isn’t giving slick, politician, dodge-the-question answers.

I mean… good; let’s keep it that way.

It’s looking increasingly like the split in the administration won’t be between Trump and Musk but between Musk and the Republican Party. They might have a Dominic Cummings situation on their hands.

Tell me you don’t know who Stephen King is without telling me you don’t know who Stephen King is.

I notice that some Americans who enthusiastically voted for cuts to the state aren’t happy at the cuts to the state through which Elon Musk is trying to drive his chainsaw. And that some Rupert Murdoch-owned media is starting to get a little nervous about Trump’s attitude toward Russia. I often scoff at the “leopards eating people’s faces” meme, but…

It was probably never that strong in the first place, but essentially she’s been radicalised by everyone laughing at her. She hates that lettuce.

Also, when we become the 52nd state (along with Canada), we’ll be under the American nuclear umbrella and together we’ll be able to vote a Democrat win over the line in 2028. If there are elections. And if those elections are unrigged. But let’s be positive.

No, I just think she can’t take the criticism and humiliation that she’s had mentally and this is how she’s compensated. She didn’t believe this in the past; she’s gone there because of a personal inability to accept responsibility.

I’ll say one thing for him: The risk of nukes being used in the Ukraine conflict has dropped to virtually zero.

Is that Bannon’s? I mean honestly I’m surprised the guy doesn’t already walk in goose steps.