Don't blame me, I voted for the other guy. (Politics General)

@Kazapsky
Too bad America didn’t learn that lesson when Teddy Roosevelt and later FDR pushed it.

@Background Pony #10F6
Not if they are the ones paying the bribes. The EU is a free market system so that means either you dictate or you get dictated too.
I can’t blame them for seeing their previous government as weak cause it was but fascists don’t really improve things if Italy is any indication. The only ones that can improve things are the ones willing to stand up to the megacorps and share some of the money with the people. After all as the poorest country in the EU almost all the profits made in Romania go to foreign capitalists that are therefore taxes by other governments.

Poland was able to somewhat defy the EU and keep control over some parts of it’s economy though also privatizing a lot of it. Romania privatized nearly all of it which in the EU means it goes to the highest bidder and of course German and French capitalists are richer than local ones.
In the US this problem exists as well but it’s moderated somewhat by federal taxes which redistributes money from the richer blue states to the poorer red states. The EU doesn’t have this, there is a push for an EU wealth tax but I highly doubt it will get anywhere.

@marinus18
I mean I heard it said that a fascist government is actually just a corporate structure applied to government.

The problem is that countries are not equal in power in the EU. Germany and France can dictate to a large extent and Germany is not going to object when German megacorps are dictating to Romania. After all the profits of those German companies go to German state coffers. It’s kind of a new form of imperialism.

@Background Pony #10F6
That kinda is true though it’s more so the other way around. A corporation is a strict hierarchy and fascism at it’s core is an enforcement of hierarchy. Fascism is the end of the right wing spectrum so they want to enforce hierarchy in every way possible.
This enforcement of hierarchy often makes people feel safe and like the rulers are strong. But they rarely have the will to actually fight against bigger entities like the EU. They also don’t want to upset the donors that fund them which in the case of Romania is foreign capitalists who don’t want Romania leaving the EU.

I do have a very mixed view on the EU. It has it’s good points like some of the regulation it does that the US federal government doesn’t dare and the social policies are good, protective but not overly intrusive. However it’s liberal nature really screws over poor people and poor countries. In the EU you pretty much have a right to abuse the power of money.
Of course being Dutch and so part of the rich ones of the EU a lot of the money taken from poorer countries is collected by Dutch tax collectors.

The only thing I can hope is that the EU starts to invest more in poorer countries and increase the taxes on the richer ones to at least US levels. Though if Trump’s victory is any indication it should go beyond US levels cause the wealth gap between blue and red states still exists.

I do often question what is best for the left to do regarding culture war stuff. If trans people should be thrown under the bus as a compromise with the fascists to get economic policy passed or not. Cause protecting LGBTQ people provides a lot of ammunition for right wing propagandists and if they come to power they will just overrule any objections of the left.
If economic troubles start to go away the need for scapegoats goes down.

I can’t believe this shit. Trump is committing a ton of crimes and isn’t being held accountable because of his position.

@BlueYoshi
I thought he was going to try and out them on pause?

@BlueYoshi
So much for law and order.

@BlueYoshi
America has had a two tier justice system for a long time. It’s just very blatant now that a criminal is set to run the country.

Louisiana raises sales tax to fund tax cuts for the rich: https://apnews.com/article/louisiana-tax-reform-special-session-landry-95db6e608809dcdcfae5f5de8b0355d4?taid=67422d4130a1c7000102330f&utm_campaign=TrueAnthem&utm_medium=AP&utm_source=Twitter

But don’t worry guys billionaires are TOTALLY your friends.

Easy answer. They’re part of the proletariat and will be protected alongside their cisgender comrades. There will be no throwing anyone under the bus. There will be no appeasing fascists. We’re not free until ALL are free.

Trans rights are human rights. Gay rights are human rights. And workers’ rights are human rights. Do not settle for less.

@BlitztheDragon
What if going for everything gets you nothing, though?

People thinking Trudeau and the Liberals will benefit from a second Trump presidency are wildly delusional about how much Canucks care about US politics (they really don’t). They’re not gonna suddenly forget about inflation and the housing crisis because of stupid tariffs (besides, they too have grown hostile towards immigrants since Trump 1.0, arguably moreso than the US now).

Speaking of, Trump has announced he plans to implement a blanket 25% tariffs on all goods from China, Mexico and Canada. You know, our top trade partners.

We’re still doomed to end up with a Conservative majority in the next elections, the only uncertainty is how quickly we’ll end up with a clueless dipshit at the helm and how rapidly he’ll go from spamming that “Blame Trudeau” button to just going masks off and looting the country further to benefit the rich and powerful.

@Dustcan
So he is trying to kill off the best trade partners we have. Perfect. I can’t wait for the complaints to come in.

@BlueYoshi
If Jack didn’t drop the case, it could be dismissed with prejudice by trump’s appointees. We don’t want that. Getting it dropped now without prejudice means it can be reopened in four years.

Harris’ thing of “we’re not going back” also was bad it seemed cause most people voted for Trump because they believed he had a time machine.

There is also this stereotype of government regulations stiffling innovation but that doesn’t really make sense. Governments want to encourage innovation and if anything regulations usually do that. They make sure you can’t cheat your way to success and that old money can’t crush new innovation. Things like environmental regulations are big drivers of innovation.

@Dustcan
Guess I better stock up on electronic components before Jan 20th.

@lonewolf
Biden has created lots of battery and chip factories though so I don’t think the damage will be as severe as last time. (And I am pretty convinced Trump will try to take credit for those factories)

@Latecomer
We aren’t talking about land and money, but human rights. It’s not the impossible task you’re implying.

@Poison Trail
Republican majority you mean. Us sane conservatives voted against Trump and don’t want any part of his schemes.

@marinus18
Those idiots were going to vote for Trump anyway because for some reason they think he’s good at business/the economy.

@Meanlucario
They don’t seem to realize an economy as big as the US takes time to feel changes of policy. The first 2 years of Trump’s first term were really the aftermath of Obama and the same thing goes with Biden. You just don’t get instant results.

Given his druthers, Trudeau will stall out as close to the five-year term limit as he can to give the dollar store fascists Conservative party time to hang themselves.

The NDP, which is currently insulating the Liberals against confidence votes, theoretically can pull the trigger any time they want, but they don’t want to. Thing is, they’re just about flat broke - they don’t have the cash to run a campaign, even with Canada’s much stricter rules on campaign finance.

Meanwhile the Conservative party is playing fast and loose with the rules to run election ads when there’s no election, to try and brainwash people into thinking going full right-wing loony mode will benefit Canada at all.

Those of us smart enough to realize that “when America does something stupid, we catch the fallout” certainly care.