> You know what would make the people happy? If they just got to governing instead of grandstanding and brawling and actually tried to form a consensus instead

> You know what would make the people happy? If they just got to governing instead of grandstanding and brawling and actually tried to form a consensus instead of shouting each other down and trying to achieve absolute power. I mean, isn’t that what democracy is supposed to be about? Kind of hard to do that when leadership doesn't control the legislature. See the Biden years after losing the House in 2022, Trump after losing the House in 2018, Obama after losing the house in 2010, Bush losing the House in 2006, and so on. Why does legislative compromise look like it comes easier in some countries than other? Not a snarky remark, an open question. German conservatives routinely coalition with social democrats, vice versa in Denmark, Switzerland has had a permanent grand coalition for a long while now, etc. I'd like to add that existentialism in Taiwan is entirely warranted, and that denialism about an imminent military invasion was also widespread in Ukraine right up until Febuary 2022. That doesn't excuse poor domestic governance (though poor is likely a stretch, objectively the performance of the economy is very high, currently the PPP/capita is about the same as Denmark), but it does explain the priorities in messaging.