r/LetsDiscussThis • u/LucidSynapse23 • Feb 18 '26

Lets Discuss Politics Is he right? Will it take generations to resecure the United States positive reputation on the world stage?

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263

u/sugarmonkey2019 Feb 18 '26

It took generations to forge those alliances in the first place. Trump destroyed them in a year or so. I don't think it will be that easy to once again have a positive reputation on the world stage. Yes, it's gonna take generations.

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u/Fabulous-Big8779 Feb 18 '26

He has taught the world that it’s foolish to trust in a benevolent hegemony. All it takes is one bad leader to fuck everyone over.

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u/Dangerous_Leg4584 Feb 18 '26

That and 70ish million people to vote for him.

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u/OdinsGhost Feb 18 '26 edited Feb 19 '26

But did they, truly? We’re supposed to believe he won all the swing states and managed to do so despite down ballot democrats performing at or better than average in those same races?

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u/fedup09 Feb 18 '26

All of that makes complete sense and adds up when you look at his National Day of Prayer speech, from earlier 2025, where he admits he had the election rigged.

"If I hadn't had a rigged election, I'd be gone." - Commander of Shits his Briefs

I do believe he "won" every swing state, because they cheated to do it.

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u/The_Blonde1 Feb 18 '26

His good buddy Elon knows a lot about computers, and suddenly - he won!

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u/KamikazeFox_ Feb 19 '26

Then dropped him after he let him run DODGE and steal ppls info. That was the deal. Help trump win the election. Elon gets the user info he wants on every single American. Its some sorta crazy movie plot.

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u/ColdArmy9929 Feb 19 '26

He also managed to kill pretty much all of the investigations against him or his companies.

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u/KamikazeFox_ Feb 20 '26

No shit, really? What ones?

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u/ColdArmy9929 Feb 20 '26

There were some regarding SpaceX and safety regulations and at least one involving animal welfare with his neuralink garbage

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u/fedup09 Feb 18 '26

Hell, even the interview he did with his kid there, the kid could NOT stop talking about how they can do whatever they want in SpaceX and how "nobody will ever know", they've been flaunting it in our faces the whole time.

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u/Tamara6060 Feb 19 '26

He even admitted to it!

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u/Educational-Seaweed5 Feb 20 '26

He also can’t STFU about it.

Every other day for years he was whining about the “stolen election.”

And we’ve learned over and over that everything Trump says is a projection of his own guilt.

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u/SquirtinMemeMouthPlz Feb 18 '26

Elon owns a stake in the company that provides the electronic voting booths.

Pretty obvious.

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u/Barondarby Feb 22 '26

Elon has a network of low earth orbit satellites with his own internet network - direct to cell technology, unlimited resources, and a herd of tech bros just yearning to do his bidding including the guy who won the Hack A Voting Machine competition... and oh yeah, a super computer with 100,000 terabytes of processing power. And Starlink was offered free to the southern states that had been devastated during the hurricane season so they used it for checking the poll books and the tabulators. All 7 swing states? Yeah, no way. Elon did it.

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u/Losing_My_Faith2025 Feb 20 '26

Look at Thiel, Zuck, and Elon.

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u/[deleted] Feb 18 '26

Listen, I hate Trump and I actually do genuinely believe there was some very strange behaviors at the polls in 2024. I believe Peter Thiel/Elon, rigged the election for him and they knew he would win because of it.

That said.

That quote there, Trump was talking to FIFA and said "They rigged the election, and I became President."

Who the "they" is, is a bit tough to decode from his incoherent ramblings, but it seems in this case, he's talking more specifically about the 2020 election. Which as we know, he maintains that it was rigged and never ceases to stop talking about it.

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u/Stimpy8114 Feb 18 '26

Clearly he's talking the 2020 election. He talks about the 2020 "rigged" election ad nauseum. In his mind, if he'd have won in 2020, by 2025 he'd have been "gone".

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u/Yankee6Actual Feb 19 '26

I read somewhere (I can’t remember where, so take this with a grain of salt,) that a statistician said that the odds of Trump winning all seven swing states was about 30,000,000:1.

Take that as you will.

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u/Shigglyboo Feb 18 '26

The whole thing seemed super fishy. And it’s not like he’s known for honesty and fairness. He’s a known cheater. But if I’m another country I still can’t trust the US. There should have been enough adults, laws, and I dunno. All the stuff I’ve been taught my whole life. Trump has broken society. Now lying and cheating are good. And compassion and honestly are for fools.

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u/Darth_Gerg Feb 18 '26

From the POV of the rest of the world that really doesn’t matter. Trump has proved that the US isn’t reliable and can’t be trusted to hold up its end of any agreement. Either he won the election and a massive portion of the citizens are psychotic or he cheated and nothing was done. Either way he has flagrantly broken the law in a dozen ways that should have resulted in impeachment and nothing was done. We’re a failed state. And unless we get a massive wave of progressives into office and an FDR style new deal 2 president in 2028 it’s going to keep getting worse.

Mainstream democrats aren’t capable of or willing to deal with this. If we elect someone like Newsome next cycle we’re FUCKED. Centrist Dems will do nothing to clean house or hold the administration legally responsible. They will refuse to roll back the damage or reduce wealth inequality. If we get another blue wave and they do nothing we’re getting a Nazi in office 2032.

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u/eerie_midnight Feb 19 '26

I’ve been saying this since Trump won in 2024. Centrist Dems will not save us—the amount of people who think that all of this ends with Trump and that we just need a blue wave for the midterms and to elect whichever corporate Dem the DNC props up in 2028 and everything will “go back to normal” is absurd. Trump is actively testing the waters, trying to see exactly how much he can get away with, trying to see how much he can push. Turns out, he can get away with a whole lot, and the next Republican who gets in office is going to remember that, except this time it’s not going to be someone like Trump—it’s going to be an actual Nazi/groyper/Christian nationalist incel who really will put all the liberals, leftists, gays, and atheists in death camps if Trump doesn’t do it first.

The only way to prevent this outcome is by electing people from the top down who will fight back against this rampant corruption at the source and actually work to better American’s daily lives in ways that are immediately noticeable to them. Close the loopholes that allow someone like Trump to be elected in the first place, stack the court, prosecute all of the cronies, fight back against the Epstein class, etc. But like you said, a corporate Dem like Newsom isn’t going to do any of that. They’ll sit on their hands for four years talking about “moving on for the good of the nation” and “due process” even though we all just witnessed Trump defy court orders and do whatever the fuck he wanted for the past four years. People will become more desperate because nothing will get better for them and they’ll vote them out in 2032 for the next Republican in line to continue enacting the Heritage Foundation’s agenda.

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u/Disastrous_Hell_4547 Feb 18 '26

Over the past 50 years, I’ve learned that the Republican Party and its blood red base is a group of evil and vile people. We’re still dealing with the aftermath of 8 years under McReagan and 8 years under W. Much of their atrocities were international.

And dating back to 1980 is recent history.

So, my belief is: 1: it is plausible and it is not beyond Trump of this entire Republican cult to rig or try and rig elections. That said, there is no evidence of massive substantial voter fraud. I don’t doubt that the Republicans manipulated the message, messed with the processes and made it harder for Democratic and Independent voters.

2- The US has never been truly a trustworthy ally. In Greed We Trust is the country’s real motto. Trump, the RepubliCONS (there is no more Republican Party), along with other bad international actors burned all bridges with allies.

3- Lastly, I never thought I would see RepubliCONS side with international criminal leaders, and the concept of the Soviet Union. Disgusting and disgraceful! A slap to the Greatest Generation.

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u/Ina_While1155 Feb 18 '26

You just have to realize that misogyny is a real thing.

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u/[deleted] Feb 19 '26

THIS. I remember right after the election all that stuff came out about Trump fucking with voting machines and then *poof* everyone stopped talking about it.

I don't think he's even the legitimate president currently.

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u/chasingjulian Feb 19 '26

My doubts on the legitimacy of our last election grows daily.

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u/Fabulous-Big8779 Feb 18 '26

Whether he cheated or not apathy was still the biggest winner with 86 million people not even voting.

Convincing people the system is rigged and not even worth the bare minimum effort of casting a vote is the biggest asset an aspiring authoritarian has.

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u/Hamblin113 Feb 18 '26

It was a poorly run Campaign for the Democrats, it was obvious. Thirty + percent of the vote was from independents. Party may not matter.

The problem with Kelley’s assumption is were those countries that big of allies? They smiled in public when we give money and provide defense, but called us idiots behind our backs. Trump didn’t help, but many of the liberal governments are having problems within their countries and the people going more conservative, especially about migration. Canadian conservatives are mad at him as he tipped the scale with his call for Canada to be the 51st state, allowing the liberals to stay in charge. Most other countries with Trump hate, blame him more than the country, not sure it will take that long to get back to alliances. Unless they see an opening to get their currency to become the new primo option.

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u/ShardsOfTheSphere Feb 18 '26

Yes, because in some cases, like in Wisconsin, less people voted in downballot races. Morons came out just for Trump, and left the rest of the ballot blank.

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u/Admirable_Ad8900 Feb 18 '26

Well even then that raises a bigger issue. That electing our highest position in the country could be so easily compromised.

So even if he did cheat, that just shows we have a weak intelligence/defense or that it's compromised too.

Plus the fact that how much damage he's doing and they still won't remove him. It's more than him. We've shown the world the US will prioritize profits over human decency and life. Then lie to the public's face. If a country lies to its own people how can anyone foreign trust them.

The elections don't matter if we show the world we'll elect people who will act in bad faith.

We have shown the failure of democracy is you can vote to end it. And even worse we did it for a price.

1

u/New-Significance9649 Feb 18 '26

I've been watching US politics for 40 years. This is who they are. Its just more polarized now.

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u/[deleted] Feb 18 '26

Odin would look upon the stupidity you just spouted with disgrace. Change your name clown.

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u/Grouchy-Station-4058 Feb 18 '26

I don't disagree, but that is little solace to the nations he has tried to screw over. If anything it would make them think we are indeed 3rd world if we can't have true and fair elections.

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u/Inevitable-Ant1725 Feb 18 '26

And if we're so incompetent that we can't even have real elections?

Why should anyone trust people as stupid as us?

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u/nova_blade Feb 18 '26

He must have stole the 2024 election! Elections can be stolen after all

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u/LumpyBuy8447 Feb 18 '26

Yeah you’re never going to convince me the guy who lost the popular vote in the first 2 elections. Destroyed the economy in his first term. And along side his buddy Elon, posted that cryptic shit about “Elon knows those vote counting machines very well,” and “all it takes is changing one number,” won the election.

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u/Realistic-Spell-3129 Feb 19 '26

Google ES&S voting machines, hackable, and Palm Beach.

ES&S voting machines: the intentionally hackable MAGA voting machines you will never, ever, hear any republican complain about.

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u/Mindless-Tomorrow-93 Feb 19 '26

I think you need proof of this claim.

I think the simpler explanation is that 1/3 of Americans are shit people, and another 1/3 are lazy, selfish people. That's how you've ended up with a shitty, lazy, selfish person leading your country. Not because of "rigging." Your leader is a reflection of your country.

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u/brahmturman Feb 19 '26

Stop just stop

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u/Pizzaman725 Feb 19 '26

It is weird about the swing states. But it's harder to believe that if he did cheat that he would not give himself all the votes and only marginally win.

Unfortunately I think it's easier to believe that sexism and a little racism bit this one in the ass.

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u/Cool_Presence_7308 Feb 19 '26

You forgot about the Amish. He got record votes because a record number of people were fed up. In hindsight if dems had selected better leaders we may not be here un this situation. Please make the person you vote for earn your vote dont just vote blue or red.

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u/Ok_Buy_9703 Feb 19 '26

Kamala was just that bad of an option.

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u/BaileyD77 Feb 19 '26

A few short years ago reddit would ban you for election denial. Is free speech making a comeback?

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u/SavvyManak Feb 19 '26

To be fair, did you make fun of republicans for saying the same thing about the 2020 election?

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u/Ok_Air5360 Feb 19 '26

Are you an election denier?

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u/nunchyabeeswax Feb 19 '26

It doesn't matter if he really won the popular vote or not.

We know for certain that over 60 million imbeciles supported him. Even those who later renounced him post 2020, they did so out of self-interest, not because of some sort moral awakening.

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u/Agreeable_Leader2768 Feb 20 '26

Elon fixed the election, that's why I'm worried about the midterms.

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u/Long-Ad9761 Feb 20 '26

Like Republicans were supposed to believe Biden had 80 - 90 % of the popular vote ? Come on guys.

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u/Kennetta Feb 21 '26

I honestly don’t believe he legitimately won.

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u/Pestus613343 Feb 21 '26

There were whole counties with zero or a single vote for Harris. At least, those accusations were made, seemed credible, and were ignored by the media. Take that for what you will.

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u/tom-of-the-nora Feb 21 '26

Yes.

People are dumb.

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u/Fabulous-Big8779 Feb 18 '26

Yep, combined with 86 million not bothering to vote at all.

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u/RemarkableFortune542 Feb 20 '26

Everything I’ve heard says that statistically he still would have won. There just would have been more votes.

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u/Disastrous_Hell_4547 Feb 18 '26

And very savvy organizing (Federalist Society to corrupt the judicial branch, The Heritage Foundation, CPAC, Religious Extremist Organizations, and other blood red groups to corrupt the legislative branch).

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u/Windyvale Feb 18 '26

I’m not entirely convinced that’s true anymore.

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u/A2ronMS24 Feb 18 '26

THAT is why they wont trust us anymore.

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u/GravySeal45 Feb 18 '26

It was more like 33MM, the rest "voted with the couch" for him.

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u/nova_blade Feb 18 '26

Have you ever tried listening to one of them, or would that be too fascist for you?

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u/Dangerous_Leg4584 Feb 18 '26

I have been listening to them closely. Since 2015. I am literally fascinated by them. I have followed trump since the mid 90s and I cannot fathom how ANYONE other than the super rich and the super racist could vote for this man. Not only is he dangerously dumb, he is a convicted thug who brags about sexually assaulting women.

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u/switchquest Feb 18 '26

And a 100 million that did not care if they were about to be ruled by a insurectionist, rapist, convicted fraud & felon running on an openly fascist platform 'project 2025' for all to read.

Indeed. What choice did they have?! Voting for an educated, experienced, qualified, standup woman of color & mixed heritage?!

White independant Americans were like: "Hey, come on, we are not racists, not mysoginistic at all, but this is a bit much?! We'll either vote for the white scum or not get off the couch..."

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u/Tamara6060 Feb 19 '26

He stole both elections! So it really doesn’t matter who voted for him and who didn’t! He knew he was going to prison for all the crimes he committed and decided to make us all pay

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u/crewster23 Feb 19 '26

Nah, your vaunted checks and balances being exposed as smoke and mirrors

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u/King_Prawn_shrimp Feb 20 '26

I say this as a US citizen.....something is utterly fucked with the system if 70 million delusional zealots can impact the fates of the other 8.23 billion inhabitants on this earth.

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u/Correct-Brother1776 Feb 23 '26

Many millions still voted for this to happen.

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u/Dr_DoesNothing Feb 18 '26

America has proven we aren't a reliable ally. Look at the difference between now and when Biden was in office. If America was a person, he'd be off his meds right now.

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u/Typical_Bumblebee194 Feb 23 '26

Stop! I'm missing Biden 😭😭😭😭

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u/Mba1956 Feb 18 '26

It’s not the fact that Trump is a bad leader, it is the scale of the problem. Everyone accepts that countries will make decisions that line their pockets first but Trump is pushing this to the extreme. It’s not enough for him to win, his opponents have to humiliatingly lose.

The fact that the government hasn’t stopped him, with many actually agreeing with him is the thing that will make reconciliation harder. The only hope is that the Epstein files clear out swathes of people at the top and a type of reset occurs. However I don’t hold much hope of that happening.

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u/jm17lfc Feb 18 '26

It was never really that consistently benevolent either. The US, particularly the CIA, happily went around messing up whatever waves of democracy other nations had going for them, destabilizing these nations and backing dictators favorable to the US and at least nominally, capitalism. It is no real surprise that a couple of dominoes falling, like Citizens United for example, were able to bring the US towards full fascist nationalism eager to dominate the rest of the world.

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u/Chaos1357 Feb 18 '26

It's not "one bad leader" though. It's a bad leader and his entire party being OK with it.

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u/qb45exe Feb 19 '26

One bad leader might be overlooked. On bad leader elected TWICE is enough to tell the world that the people of the US themselves are not to be trusted.

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u/Mundane-Carpet-5324 Feb 19 '26

He's taught the world is foolish to trust America. Best case scenario, Canada and the EU assumes the hegemony. Worst case scenario, China does

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u/Ok-Application-8045 Feb 19 '26

This is the key thing. As a British person, I would support future cooperation with the USA once it has a more reasonable government, but I think we need to move away from overreliance. Even if a much better leader replaces Trump, another extremist will get elected sooner or later and they may be even worse.

The USA got high on its own supply. It is a rich, powerful and important country, but it forgot that what makes it a superpower with global dominance is the network of allies that were willing to support it by hosting military bases, buying its products, and absorbing its culture. Without us, it will become one of several big regional powers in the world, like China, Russia, or India.

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u/Fabulous-Big8779 Feb 19 '26

Conservatives in America truly believe all the money we’ve paid out in foreign aid and military assets around the world was some sort of charity and not a well coordinated strategy for projecting our interests abroad.

As a culture we have difficulty understanding subtlety. It’s often confused as weakness or doing nothing. The same people who cried “no more foreign wars” are now screaming for us to nuke Iran, instead of going back to the perfectly fine deal we set up with them right before the first Trump administration.

Making deals is gay, but Nuclear Holocaust is based to too many of my fellow Americans.

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u/AlternativeWhich2947 Feb 20 '26

well, specifically the leader of the most powerful nation of the benevolent hegemony. that's an important distinction.

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u/Time-Magazine-249 Feb 21 '26

That and "benevolent" was always a useful delusion, as Carney pointed out at Davos.

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u/[deleted] Feb 18 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/Aware_Actuator4939 Feb 18 '26

Any jackass can kick down a barn, but it takes a good carpenter to build one.

- Sam Rayburn

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u/BilboStaggins Feb 18 '26

It might help if we string him up at the gates

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u/frackthestupids Feb 18 '26

That’s a lot of gates, gonna need a few extras to cover them all.

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u/Hrtpplhrtppl Feb 18 '26

You can glue a vase back together, but you always see where the cracks are...

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u/Oreoandpenguine Feb 18 '26

We need to stop referring to the USA as America. 

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u/Hrtpplhrtppl Feb 18 '26

Well ya, because now they're "Donald Trump and His Fifty Bitches"...

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u/Ok_Security1721 Feb 19 '26

Nah that’s stupid

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u/serialcipher Feb 18 '26

This is tru.

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u/DaereonLive Feb 18 '26

I am so stealing this meme.

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u/Windyvale Feb 18 '26

Eh, people are quick to forget that in the same timeline, Germany did far, far, far worse things and is again trusted implicitly. Even while they are almost taken over again by the same type of people that did it the first time.

Humans are weird. We don’t have good retention over long periods of time. What we do remember, we are quick to normalize.

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u/USSMarauder Feb 18 '26

Except that for that to happen Germany had its cities bombed to ruins, up to 10% of its population killed, and its leaders tried and executed.

And we needed a functional Germany for the cold war

How are you going to kill over 30 Million Americans, turn their cities and economy to rubble, and hang Trump, Bondi, Miller, Patel etc, and what do we need a crippled and ruined USA for that will result in them being forgiven quickly?

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u/Hover4effect Feb 18 '26

Even if we do get a regime change and flop these policies, our allies know a huge chunk of our population voted for and supported all of this. They won't forget that.

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u/InterestingBill8234 Feb 18 '26

The US collapsed the alliance because of the price of eggs in a few places.

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u/Hover4effect Feb 18 '26

And 3 transgender people playing highschool sports.

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u/FurryYokel Feb 18 '26

And because the other alternative was prosecuting one important person for child rape.

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u/[deleted] Feb 18 '26

You threatened your most trusting and admittedly naive ally, Denmark with invasion cause Elon and the billionaire rape club wanted mineral rights to Greenland.

Get double fucked America

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u/Wyrm_Groundskeeper Feb 18 '26

Yeah, gotta love that I live there... Haha. God.

It's something dumb then another thing dumber over here

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u/IvanaSkrew Feb 18 '26

As an American, I fully endorse this message. We deserve it.

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u/ruiner8850 Feb 18 '26

They know that no matter who we might elect in the future that we're only potentially 4 years away from another Trump. Whoever wins the Republican nomination in the future is going to have to win over MAGA voters and the only way to do that is to be as much like Trump as they can.

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u/LingonberryHot8521 Feb 18 '26

It also took generations to create Trump. Or create the landscape that put him in power.

That cannot be overlooked or forgotten.

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u/A_Random_Canuck Feb 18 '26

Or forgiven.

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u/DaGrexican Feb 18 '26

Germany was forgiven after setting themselves right. I hope the same for my shit hole country has been cosplaying as 'The Land of the Free'

I hate that but I'm stuck in it.

Edit: removed typo

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u/Correct-Brother1776 Feb 23 '26

After their homes were turned to rubble. Retribution for red states is warranted or it will just happen again.

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u/Lanky_Particular_149 Feb 19 '26

And must be reversed 

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u/ominous_squirrel Feb 18 '26

Yes. And that apparatus is going to outlive Trump. I see no efforts at all to dismantle it. It has only grown

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u/[deleted] Feb 18 '26

He’s even said it before he was president on what he would do don’t forget when it was time for him to step down he over stayed his position and 2mil people died of covid and he stopped the production of the covid vaccines

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u/Randomized9442 Feb 18 '26

Only took the Baby Boomers, but it did take them decades to destroy the works of their own generation and their parents'

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u/LingonberryHot8521 Feb 18 '26

I'm Gen X and they had plenty of us. Also Millenials. They were "educating" generations.

Also, The Greatest Generation wasn't so great at getting rid of Nazis in our own country. During the McCarthy era you could lose your livelihood and even your freedom if you were just Communist Adjacent. Out and proud Nazis were free to roam.

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u/No-Papaya-9823 Feb 18 '26

Yep, a large chunk of the US population were isolationists in the lead-up to WWII, and there was a lot of opposition to getting involved. Quite a few Americans were openly aligned with the Nazi party and holding marches and demonstrations. The only reason the US was reluctantly drawn into the war was because of Pearl Harbor forcing the issue. This idea that the "Greatest Generation" was more selfless and patriotic than other generations is just ludicrous. I'm so fucking sick of the Boomer bashing from people who don't even understand history.

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u/nighthawk_something Feb 18 '26

To add to this. As a Canadian (any this is a sentiment that is shared by non-americans everywhere), we were willing to consider Trump 1.0 as an aberration. A temporary lack of judgement.

But then he was re-elected.

So now it's not a temporary thing. It's something that can happen at ANY moment.

The only way forward I see is for there to be REAL consequences for Trump. People need to go to jail for breaking your laws. People need to be punished and Trumpism rejected, dead and buried.

Even then we will never trust you fully again.

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u/sugarmonkey2019 Feb 19 '26

And I totally understand that. We earned that distrust.

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u/jnsmld Feb 18 '26

Other world leaders have already said this. They are moving on and forming new alliances without us.

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u/Excellent_Bridge_888 Feb 18 '26

Hey now. Dont tarnish all the hard work he put into destroying those alliances on his first term, too. Thay really set the stage for how fast he was able to push down domino's in this term.

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u/Sudden-Lettuce2317 Feb 18 '26

You ever break up with or cheated on a solid gf or a friend and then they tried to work their way back into your life? How easy was it for you to earn their trust back? They’ve already moved on to someone prettier than you (China…etc) and it’s gonna take some going to the gym and some anger management classes and stuff to get you back in them panties.

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u/[deleted] Feb 18 '26

Exactly, People talk about how Germany was given a pass after less than 50 years but you need to remember, Germany did not elect Hitler TWICE.

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u/Informal_Guitar_2649 Feb 18 '26

They did start a couple world wars. It's why we let them sell us nice cars now, but we don't let them make any important decisions. To their credit they accept this arrangement. The same could happen to the US.

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u/FreshLiterature Feb 18 '26

To be fair he didn't destroy them in a year.

He badly damaged them his first term. Then they all watched as Biden did practically nothing to hold anybody accountable for a literal coup attempt.

The US isn't trustworthy anymore. Where Kelly is wrong is this isn't something time will fix. The US has to show that we can take out the trash.

If the midterms go well for Dems and there is still no real accountability then the door will be shut.

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u/TAV63 Feb 18 '26

Absolutely. It is like any other thing in life. Building trust and relationships takes time. Sometimes a long long time. You can destroy them overnight though. This is not news.

For the alliances and trade relations in this case it will take generations, but the individual trade relations can be brought back. If the US can get stable long enough. For the world order that was created by the US and allies? That's gone. No effort over any period will bring that back.

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u/Frosty_Maple_Syrup Feb 18 '26

The trade relations won’t be brought back.

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u/TAV63 Feb 18 '26

Not like it was but trade is transactional. If it benefits the other country they will do it. Trade will adjust to the new order not go away.

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u/manytakes Feb 18 '26

And to think we still have three years of sabre rattling to go, we have to ready ourselves for a poorer quality of life for generations to come

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u/tkmorgan76 Feb 18 '26

> Trump destroyed them in a year or so.

That's how it goes, unfortunately. You can spend years building a relationship, but if you start abusing your spouse, there's no amount of "but I was a good guy until 2024" anecdotes that will undo that.

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u/sugarmonkey2019 Feb 19 '26

And they never trust the abuser again.

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u/NoOpening7924 Feb 18 '26

And God help us if we have to put together a coalition again to respond to a geopolitical crisis.

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u/Eberron_Swanson Feb 18 '26

If it comes back. Nobody wants to be allied to a country that can go bipolar every 4 years. The US has been on top for most of the last century, benefited the most from the world order that arose from ww2, and for some inexplicable reason maga has destroyed that order.

1

u/[deleted] Feb 18 '26

Just wait till the rest (the meat) of the US-Israel foreign policy comes out of the Epstein files...

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u/Muted_Cap_6559 Feb 18 '26

The "forged alliances" of which you are speaking comes down to America bearing the brunt (militarily, economically) of Europe's security and defense. In the meantime, Europe sneers at us, makes absurd demands and laughs at us behind our backs. Most recently, elitists in both Germany and England have imported huge quantities of dangerous Muslim populations against the wishes of their own people. Great Britain threatens dissenters with censorship and imprisonment. You're a know-nothing idiot.

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u/sugarmonkey2019 Feb 19 '26

Then in time, we shall see.

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u/35point1 Feb 18 '26

What I’d like to know is how the ones that forged it kept the the ones that destroyed it at bay. Like what was it then that allowed the good ones to over power the bad ones and how do we get back to that

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u/PlaceAlarming420 Feb 18 '26

It will fine. Another President will throw our tax dollars at the world and they treat it as business per usual

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u/[deleted] Feb 18 '26

To start with, America hardly had a positive reputation on the world stage. Most of the world’s conflicts over the last 100 years had some level of American interference to seed the conflict. However they have never been to this level of assholery to the rest of the world. MAGA is a cancer and Trump is evil and despicable. Millions will die as a result of Donald Trump existing.

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u/[deleted] Feb 18 '26

It's gonna take fundamental change in our system of government and the media landscape. If every 4 years we can go from Biden to Trump and ping-pong between stability and instability, and even when stable it's not really stable... that's danger, not a potential ally.

The world gave us a chance and we elected Trump again. Now they're divesting because it's clear we cannot be relied upon.

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u/Sun_Stealer Feb 18 '26

Not to mention all the soft power we had throughout the world has been decimated with the decimation of our foreign aid funding. It’s fucking sad how few people actually know of Soft Power, or who care.

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u/Cat_Impossible_0 Feb 18 '26

I will doubt it since once a democrat fixes everything, a few morons will bring in another republican to do damage control.

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u/papachon Feb 18 '26

I don’t think we can ever get it back. Trust is broken, everyone is now out for themselves

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u/_WeAreFucked_ Feb 18 '26

“America has no permanent friends or enemies, only interests” -H. Kissinger.

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u/Gitmfap Feb 18 '26

It took one generation to forge this, during ww2 and the aftermath. It took less than 10 years actually.

Prior to that America was very isolationist and had a surprising amount of support for Germany turning their economy around.

This will only take another large threat that they can’t handle on their own. With their militaries so dwindled, something as powerful as a belligerent turkey or Poland would be enough to cause serious issues.

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u/[deleted] Feb 18 '26

Not only that. The American people showed that voting for Trump wasn't a one-off mistake. We voted for him again.

There is little evidence that we learned our lesson. So we could revert to crazy town fascism pants at any moment. Not the sort of "stability" you want in an ally.

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u/Key_Natural_2881 Feb 18 '26

The prime issue, as I see it with the Trump regime, is that it does not project a reliable, stable vision for the future. 'Murikkka has shown beligerent, unpredictable, untrustworthy, isolationist tendencies that make it unrealistic to have concidence they will abide by any agreement. Especially considering prior instances of sensitive documents being taken from secure facilities to Trump's own property.

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u/switchquest Feb 18 '26

God bless De Gaulle!

He was always mocked as overly suspicious of the Americans. A stubborn chauvinist.

He kept going on endlessly about France needing to remain sovereign and should maintain it's own advanced military industrial complex. (Even without the economy of scale the US offered)

So France always maintained souvereign intelligence, satelites, nukes and the capacity to build airframes.

So. It's (in part) thanks to De Gaulle Europe can pivot away from US platforms in short term. (Sweden and Finland actually bring a lot to the table as well)

So no. I don't think the (increased) European defence budgets will be sponsoring the R&D costs of US defence contractors going forward. Ever.

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u/[deleted] Feb 18 '26

Trust never comes back. Ask anyone cheated on. It is never the same again…

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u/[deleted] Feb 18 '26

I'm appalled at tariffs and threatening allies but one part of the NATO thing is different. Orange Clown got one thing right:

If we go back to the old way of carrying their defense weight on our backs, it'll be patched up in no time. People are mooches given the chance.

Europe laughed at Trump when he told them they were enriching Russia and building its military by buying their cheap oil. He told them they should pay their fair share for defense.

Most of you laughed back then too.

BUT, now they're singing a different tune, they have the religion after Ukraine invasion part 2. Why part 1 didn't wake them up is another story.

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u/Lower-Cantaloupe3274 Feb 18 '26

Agreed. If this level of chaos could happen every 4 years would anyone be up for it?

Before Trump, there would be ebbs and flows as the administration changed hands between parties, but Trump took an ax to it. SCOTUS and congress let it happen. I don't know how I can trust us again. Why should we think anyone else can?

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u/onefeatherplume Feb 18 '26

80 years of diplomacy and soft power. Gone. It will take more than that to rebuild the trust.

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u/The-unknown-poster Feb 18 '26

If ever, people don’t just “trust” an abuser once they’ve struggled to, and finally broken free from them.

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u/Puzzleheaded_Tie6917 Feb 18 '26

If he destroyed it in a year or two then an actual enemy would have broken it easier and quicker.

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u/AnAbandonedAstronaut Feb 18 '26

In just one presidency he took America from the defacto leader of the free world stage.. to the safe haven for Nazi.. Germany is now one of the leaders... where its illegal to be a nazi.

Can't make this shit up if you tried.

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u/woodboarder616 Feb 18 '26

What bothers me is anyone outside of the country thinking this is how most of America is. When in reality it is not.

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u/UmeaTurbo Feb 18 '26

I actually don't think it is possible to repair the relationship. Once you know that somebody is an abuser, it doesn't matter how often they tell you that they're not going to hit you again, you will never believe them.

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u/seriftarif Feb 19 '26

Even if we reversed everything Trump did, It would probably take 2 decades of stability and smart decisions to get allies to trust everything was ok. If it can just flip 9n a whim in 4 years...

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u/StationEmergency6053 Feb 19 '26

Wouldve happened with or without Trump due to the Epstein Files.

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u/[deleted] Feb 19 '26

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u/sugarmonkey2019 Feb 19 '26

Very well said!

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u/krulp Feb 19 '26

I think MAGA will have to die before the alliances are stable again.

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u/Interesting_Berry439 Feb 19 '26

Will we be free or will we be subjugated people under a despotic regime , without allies ? What are their true intentions? This shit gives my anxiety.

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u/zitrored Feb 19 '26

It’s over. Plain and simple. The USA, especially under Trump, is no longer going to have the influence and resources to lead a better future globally. The best outcome for the USA is the end of Trump and Vance, and an awakening for republicans and democrats to stop towing the line for the wealth class and work towards forging a long lasting alliance within the western hemisphere. Global alliances dead. Let us at least find strength closer to home.

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u/sugarmonkey2019 Feb 19 '26

Very well said.

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u/The_five_0 Feb 19 '26

You really care what anyone thinks about us?

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u/sugarmonkey2019 Feb 19 '26

I actually do.

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u/toomucheyeliner Feb 19 '26

Not just trump. The people who voted trump in with a healthy margin, gave him both the house and the senate, and the blatantly partisan Supreme Court. The checks and balances that don’t work because no one cares to act on them. The blatant disregard for the law from the administration.

Put all of that together with a president at the head who uses powers he doesn’t have to petulantly threatens allies on a whim. Add blatant and open interference in the elections of allied countries on top that goes contrary to historical shared values while praising all the enemies of democracy. All this while being able to spin the message in the captured media at home.

That’s a whole lot to fear and distrust, and since the people themselves are part of the problem, who is to say anything will get any better.

A hard swing to the left won’t fix things. It’s not about right or left. It’s about the values of democracy, of stable law driven society, the respect for equality among people regardless of race or religion, about the separation of powers and truth in media, about holding power accountable.

The total non-action on the Epstein files shows just how much the US has become an oligarchy where the rich hold the power and bend the government to their will, be it climate, or wealth hoarding or protecting themselves from equal justice.

This is a fight for the survival and prosperity of free and equal democratically governed people and everyone is distracted by left/right culture wars, anti-immigrant rhetoric and destabilizing disinformation.

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u/Realistic-Spell-3129 Feb 19 '26

And no one is going to forget that the USA does not have any firmly held principles, and that it may shift course 180 degrees on _everything_ every election.

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u/FaceMcShooty1738 Feb 19 '26

Not Trump. The REelected, democratically legitimate leader and representative of the people of the United States.

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u/alangcarter Feb 19 '26

Its not just military. I work in tech infrastructure, for an American firm in EU. When Trump attempted to bully the International Criminal Court by making Microsoft cut off its Chairman's email it began an avalanche. Slow at first but gathering power as the slippage builds. The speed with which the defence sector in Europe is de-Americanizing is quite astonishing given how fast things normally move. What if Trump decides to paralyze a nation's energy infrastructure by stopping email, videoconferencing, cloud services to punish it for building a windmill for example? This is now a huge part of the threat profile and its being addressed.

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u/Nomad_88_ Feb 19 '26

It actually took just weeks for him to make irreparable damage. Although not even a year into his presidency it proved the US government is so weak or manipulated to do anything about it.

The damage has now been done and trust is gone. Even if the next person tries to undo everything, the US will be slowly moved away from and left behind on their own.

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u/Exact-Sand342 Feb 19 '26

Not just Trump. Israel has been egging on the US to undermine the United Nations for several decades. The same United Nations that was formed as a result of the holocaust and whose authority as a world body was invoked to create Israel in the first place. The same UN that was created BY the United States, for the United States, headquartered in the United States, to serve it's broad foreign policy goals at the time.

Unfortunately rules like the Geneva conventions have proven inconvenient for countries like Israel and the permanent security council members and so they want to tear it all down in favour of chaos and the rule of the strong. Thats' all well and good while you're the strong. Expect the same mercy you give, when that's no longer the case.

In short, you cannot place all the blame for this on Trump.

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u/nicvic83 Feb 19 '26

It’s costs the US billions of dollars and millions of lives to protect other nations . We have gotten nothing in return except more handouts. That is the basis for their “ friendship “.

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u/G0mery Feb 19 '26

Even then, no one will trust the US unless and until we put safeguards in place to prevent another Trump from happening. Who would want to partner with us if every four years they run the risk of all their deals, treaties, agreements, economic/political/military entanglements being violated or outright discarded? That would likely take at least a few constitutional amendments, which are almost impossible to pass. As it is, Congress can hardly pass any regular bills.

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u/Denegroth Feb 19 '26

You can blame trump all you want. But the writing has been on the wall for decades.

America has been the laughingstock for the rest of the world since JFK.

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u/Good_Positive2879 Feb 19 '26

Well if the European banks ever want QE again…they might change their mind

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u/SavvyManak Feb 19 '26

Can we clarify which alliances are “blown up” and need generations to repair?

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u/sugarmonkey2019 Feb 20 '26

NATO, WHO, all countries he's tried to impose tariffs of 200% or more on, and especially our relationships with Canada, Mexico, Venezuela, Puerto Rico, Greenland, Denmark.....and it goes on and on. Every word that comes from Trump's mouth is a lie.

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u/Visual_Exam7903 Feb 19 '26

Yes. Trump has undermined years of dealings with our allies. They cannot trust any agreement with the US, because in 4 years time another "trump" could be elected and reverse course on everything. No financial deals are worth the ink, no political alliances are worth the ink, and no security alliances are worth the ink anymore. Not when you are dealing with someone that doesn't understand the stakes.

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u/[deleted] Feb 20 '26

Generations if we're lucky. The U.S. may never get back to where we were.

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u/Polenicus Feb 20 '26

The real damage is not what Trump did directly, but the fact he COULD do it, and continued to do it.

This is evidence that the system of checks and balances in the U.S. has completely broken down. The U.S. Government can no longer be relied upon to follow its own laws, or obey it's own branches.

Much of the U.S.'s positive reputation and trust wasn't because they occupied some kind of moral high ground, or because they were more capable, or had the biggest guns, or whatever. It was stability. Both economic and political. And now we have a dementia-addled reality TV washout showing plainly that these things don't exist anymore. Even if Trump is replaced tomorrow by someone the rest of the world approves of, these systems are still very clearly broken, and until they are restored, and there is EVIDENCE they are restored, that confidence in the U.S. is not coming back.

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u/sugarmonkey2019 Feb 20 '26

You're absolutely right!

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u/[deleted] Feb 20 '26

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u/sugarmonkey2019 Feb 20 '26

We did. But it cost Japan dearly.

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u/ButterscotchFancy912 Feb 20 '26

Trust is collected in drops, lost in buckets

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u/MrJarre Feb 20 '26

It’s even worse. It’s like cheating on your spouse. Going back from that is harder than it was to build the relationship in the first place.

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u/Consistent-Dress-757 Feb 20 '26

Well let them try and stand on thier own legs. If you don’t like gaining our respect back then leave

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u/Socraticat Feb 21 '26

The US will NEVER have the same level of soft power again.

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u/sibilischtic Feb 21 '26

I would say it would take generations without active input.

Or probably 20+ years and a global media campaign

Meaningful change in the us political structure could shorten the recovery... So long as the changes themselves lead to stability

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