4 ms·

There is none, it is 100% rhetoric. When AOC says "Eat the rich" , do people think she literally wants the masses to go find the nearest billionaire and start

There is none, it is 100% rhetoric. When AOC says "Eat the rich" , do people think she literally wants the masses to go find the nearest billionaire and start cannibalism? Trump thinks that the US pays too much into NATO and others not enough. This his tactic for getting other countries to pay more for the security we all enjoy which isn't free. I'm not a Trump fan but I see through his words to his tactics.

logicchains 3y ago
It's not just Trump thinks; under NATO those countries are obligated to spend a certain % of their GDP on defense, which they've failed to do.
downut 3y ago
The MAGAts in the House from the Speaker on down are blocking all Ukrainian aid concretely, not rhetorically. That's literally pro-Putin, and it comes 100% at the direction of the leader of the MAGAts.
- ToValueFunfetti 3y ago
  This is quite reductive. 38% of democrats also oppose additional aid[0], are they literally pro-Putin? 100% (one hopes) of Americans would oppose a $100T aid package, are we all rootin' fer Putin? When I earned minimum wage, I steadfastly refused to donate to charity; was I literally pro-homelessness and suffering and all of societies ills? [0] https://www.cnn.com/2023/08/04/politics/cnn-poll-ukraine/index.html https://www.cnn.com/2023/08/04/politics/cnn-poll-ukraine/ind...
  - downut 3y ago
    Those "democrats" are not preventing a vote on the aid, which appears would pass with a large majority. The actual power here resides with the MAGAts, from the Speaker on down, directed by Trump. I am not sure I can be charitable enough to think you really don't understand this. The reaching is extreme.
    - ToValueFunfetti 3y ago
      I'm taking issue with the claim that not doing something that Putin doesn't want you to do is being "literally pro-Putin". There is an infinite list of things that Putin doesn't want us to do- nuking Russia, for example- and there are many reasons other than supporting the guy not to do them. I must admit I also don't have the charity in me to believe you made any attempt at being charitable before responding to only the first of my three sentences and calling me deliberately obtuse. 'You sound so stupid that I am convinced it is because you are a bad person' is a lot ruder than I think people realize. I'm not the smartest person in the world, but I'm above average; is it really so inconceivable that a random stranger is as dumb as half the people on the planet that you must immediately accuse them of malfeasance?
      - downut 3y ago
        Ah. You also have reading comprehension problems, on the face of it, but I don't believe that either. I believe that you are smart enough to understand the power dynamics in the House, and you understand that I don't think you're stupid. Quite the contrary. Although... maybe you're a political "centrist"? That would explain a lot about your comments. Then I am sadly compelled to agree with you about what I think about you! I mean that means I'm an idiot myself for engaging with you. Sorry! Look around on the intertubes for what people who study this stuff think about US political "centrists".
the_why_of_y 3y ago
Some journalists have interviewed high ranking members of the Trump administration, including Defense Secretary Mark Esper, who said that Trump told him "he would seek to withdraw from Nato and to blow up the US alliance with South Korea, should he win reelection." https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/trump-nato-south-korea-book-b1883457.html https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politic...

logicchains 3y ago

It's not just Trump thinks; under NATO those countries are obligated to spend a certain % of their GDP on defense, which they've failed to do.

downut 3y ago

The MAGAts in the House from the Speaker on down are blocking all Ukrainian aid concretely, not rhetorically. That's literally pro-Putin, and it comes 100% at the direction of the leader of the MAGAts.

ToValueFunfetti 3y ago
This is quite reductive. 38% of democrats also oppose additional aid[0], are they literally pro-Putin? 100% (one hopes) of Americans would oppose a $100T aid package, are we all rootin' fer Putin? When I earned minimum wage, I steadfastly refused to donate to charity; was I literally pro-homelessness and suffering and all of societies ills? [0] https://www.cnn.com/2023/08/04/politics/cnn-poll-ukraine/index.html https://www.cnn.com/2023/08/04/politics/cnn-poll-ukraine/ind...
- downut 3y ago
  Those "democrats" are not preventing a vote on the aid, which appears would pass with a large majority. The actual power here resides with the MAGAts, from the Speaker on down, directed by Trump. I am not sure I can be charitable enough to think you really don't understand this. The reaching is extreme.
  - ToValueFunfetti 3y ago
    I'm taking issue with the claim that not doing something that Putin doesn't want you to do is being "literally pro-Putin". There is an infinite list of things that Putin doesn't want us to do- nuking Russia, for example- and there are many reasons other than supporting the guy not to do them. I must admit I also don't have the charity in me to believe you made any attempt at being charitable before responding to only the first of my three sentences and calling me deliberately obtuse. 'You sound so stupid that I am convinced it is because you are a bad person' is a lot ruder than I think people realize. I'm not the smartest person in the world, but I'm above average; is it really so inconceivable that a random stranger is as dumb as half the people on the planet that you must immediately accuse them of malfeasance?
    - downut 3y ago
      Ah. You also have reading comprehension problems, on the face of it, but I don't believe that either. I believe that you are smart enough to understand the power dynamics in the House, and you understand that I don't think you're stupid. Quite the contrary. Although... maybe you're a political "centrist"? That would explain a lot about your comments. Then I am sadly compelled to agree with you about what I think about you! I mean that means I'm an idiot myself for engaging with you. Sorry! Look around on the intertubes for what people who study this stuff think about US political "centrists".

the_why_of_y 3y ago

Some journalists have interviewed high ranking members of the Trump administration, including Defense Secretary Mark Esper, who said that Trump told him "he would seek to withdraw from Nato and to blow up the US alliance with South Korea, should he win reelection." https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/trump-nato-south-korea-book-b1883457.html https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politic...