You guys probably feel pretty powerless watching the US elections from other countries. If it helps, those of us who live here feel pretty powerless too. Even those who live in swing states, from what I hear.
No wonder you feel powerless, what with first-past-the-post voting and… well, everything else 😅
We've definitely got our problems here in Yurop too (like literal fucking neofascists being super popular), but at least we get proportional representation – I get to vote for democratic socialists so that it actually means something
First past the post is bad, but the electoral college can make voter apathy unbearable. My state is more of a swing state now, but it used to be solidly red for decades, and voting blue felt like spitting in a hurricane.
Sure do. War is comming, because the American people crave for the blood gargling screeches of the innocent and their families and the dead expressions of even more of Trump's rape victims. Only a matter of time before I'll see my extended family run away to greener pastures or stubbornly die here and then I too can ask my self the question, join the war effort so I can feel like I did something or runaway and do my best to at least provide for my wife and the child she wants...
Like seriously? A Trump landslide? For once, I sincerely can say without a single ounce of hope or regret, fuck America, from the bottom of my heart. China is now the top superpower, good job assholes! Truly a race to the bottom...
During the Trump administration, every morning I’d wake up with vague existential dread, picking up my phone thinking “what now?” And every morning there would be some new shameful low. It was awful.
Meh, he's going to kill the environment, put people in camps, escalate a war between Israel/Iran, cut Ukraine's support and get millions of innocent civilians killed, hurt the economys across Europe, assuming someone like Poland doesn't intervene to assist, but that will just draw further fighting.
Tariffs raise our prices, the trade with Europe would have raised costs if there is further war... The labor market here will be decreased, raising prices, the undocumented immigrants paid 94 - billion in 2022 in taxes, and they expect to pay almost that much annually to deport them. So 180 billion dollars a year loss. "Tax cuts" on the rich and supposedly on the lower wages as well, meaning our national debt only goes up. If anything we learned from his first presidency he only spends more, and doesn't cut costs anywhere.
Kennedy will tear apart the CDC... I give up..
I predict in 4 years he will have died from a heart attack, and this countrys economy will be shot
Harris wouldn't exactly be someone I'd want to vote for myself, but being all the way Over Here™ she wouldn't have been nearly bad enough for me to start shovign 0.75L of rum into myself after not sleeping a wink at 10am.
What's crazy to me is I don't even know who's in charge of England or any other country for that matter. But it seems the whole world pays attention when us idiots decide to elect another idiot to run the rest of us idiots. Says a lot about our country that the whole world pays attention to what dumbass thing we're about to do now LOL. In my head I feel that those from other countries see our country like a really bad car accident that people drive by, slow down a bit and say oh gosh I hope everybody's okay when in reality you know damn well none of us are okay.
Well, POTUS is not just a national polititian, they do international politics as well. They influence the whole world directly in a big way. People from many other countries feel the same as Americans.
In my head I feel that those from other countries see our country like a really bad car accident that people drive by, slow down a bit and say oh gosh I hope everybody’s okay when in reality you know damn well none of us are okay.
… you said it, not me 😅 It's a combination of worry, horror and a sort of sick fascination.
But yeah the stereotypical joke of some Americans not realizing there's a world beyond their borders does have some truth to it. I guess it's sort of understandable given just geographical facts alone (let alone hegemonic status): continental US of A only has 2 countries as neighbors and one of them mostly speaks the same language, where in continental Yurop you can probably hit 4 countries with 7 languages on a 6h drive.
I have been unduly interested in US politics since 2016.
The last Trump presidency emboldened crazies and the right wing here in NZ. Our current government is acting far more right wing than any in the past 30 years. 30 years ago, there were other reasons for the moves that were made....this time it seems to be because FUCK YOU if you are not already rich.
I really wish that US politics wasn't so important for the rest of the world....but it really is. It sucks!
If Trump wins again, then I see a further strengthening of the global right. As it is, it is going to take a generation to reverse some of the issues currently being created.
The rest of the world is concerned about US politics because they are essentially the world police due to the size and power of their army.
If you stopped sending bombs, warships and fighter jets around the world, stopped interfering with foreign politics and just focused on NASA, Hollywood and music we'd all love you.
Part of the issue is that Europe largely relies on US media - e.g. there isn't really a European or French/German/Polish/... equivalent of Reddit or Twitter (unless you count the national Lemmy and Mastodon servers, but those are pitifully small compared to Reddit).
15 years ago I worked at a small gaming startup and after some party or another my boss was hung over for two days, and he said that it's totally a thing that happens when you get older. Being a dum idjit I didn't believe him.
Any state could change colors at any time. It's just that the overwhelming majority of the population in most states will not listen to any amount of evidence that shows what the consequences of their choice will be. They stick to their tribe. End of discussion. So only in the states where the two tribes are roughly equal in size will we see any excitement in the election
American, I’ve been not drinking by myself for four weeks now. That’s a big thing for me, I was going through 6-8 shots a night since May-June, and it, coupled with politics and other life stressors, was really doing a number on me. I bought a bottle last night that I might crack open for today… idk, yet. I’m sort of inclined to just leave it sealed. 🤷♂️
I’m still drinking socially, so one or two drinks once or twice a month with friends. I’m just not drinking alone, and anywhere near as much. That shit was getting expensive and fucking with my mental health through this election cycle.
My dear friend that's a healthy inclination if I ever saw one ❤️ I've definitely struggled with various addictions over the years and my drinking is like barely in control right now, so I absolutely get where you're coming from. Not like this is a healthy mechanism for dealing with shit, right?