4 ms·

> It doesn't matter what the reality is, but what it can be made to look like. I disagree, I think it matters what the reality is, but do what feels right for

> It doesn't matter what the reality is, but what it can be made to look like. I disagree, I think it matters what the reality is, but do what feels right for you.

karmakurtisaani 2mo ago
Did reality matter in Trumps campaign? Did it matter his facts were check to be consistently incorrect? I don't mean what matters to you or me, I mean what has proven to matter to the general population.
- leereeves 2mo ago
  Oh, if you mean campaign strategy, Democrats and the media spent most of 2016 (and all the years since) mocking Trump. How well did that work out?
  - epistasis 2mo ago
    It's very important to realize that the rest of the world does not exist in the US's media sphere, and evaluates evidence in a very different way. Talking about how things went for Democrats has ~0 impact on the actual security implications of this, because the rest of the world is far more connected to reality than partisan politics in the US. The rest of the world views Trump as weak authoritarian, with a tenuous hold on the country, that will trash the long term interests of the US for any short term personal gain he can achieve. Hearing that he's so scared of Iran that he's doing things like this significantly lowers the rest of the world's opinion of the strength of the US. That makes attacks and war far more likely.
epistasis 2mo ago
When it comes to national security, appearances matter a ton, and any president that doesn't understand that is putting the US at great risk. Wars are started on appearances not on reality. Everything goes into managing it. The US used to be viewed as a strong ally, but Trump has already made the US into a weak, unreliable ally. Being a weak ally makes the US weaker, because it greatly lowers the overall expectation of aid should the US enter war. Now Trump is making the US look weak by letting leak rink-a-dink security moves, transmitting to the entire world that the President is scared of Iran, and willing to look weak when there are threats. Contrast this with Zelenskyy going out on the streets of Kyiv when Putin was said to have teams of special ops out hunting to kill Zelenskyy. That's what strength is, and what leadership is. Whoever let this leak in Trump's administration did a grave disservice to the US (and to Trump too, but really I only care about the US, not any particular president).

> It doesn't matter what the reality is, but what it can be made to look like. I disagree, I think it matters what the reality is, but do what feels right for you.

karmakurtisaani 2mo ago

Did reality matter in Trumps campaign? Did it matter his facts were check to be consistently incorrect? I don't mean what matters to you or me, I mean what has proven to matter to the general population.

leereeves 2mo ago
Oh, if you mean campaign strategy, Democrats and the media spent most of 2016 (and all the years since) mocking Trump. How well did that work out?
- epistasis 2mo ago
  It's very important to realize that the rest of the world does not exist in the US's media sphere, and evaluates evidence in a very different way. Talking about how things went for Democrats has ~0 impact on the actual security implications of this, because the rest of the world is far more connected to reality than partisan politics in the US. The rest of the world views Trump as weak authoritarian, with a tenuous hold on the country, that will trash the long term interests of the US for any short term personal gain he can achieve. Hearing that he's so scared of Iran that he's doing things like this significantly lowers the rest of the world's opinion of the strength of the US. That makes attacks and war far more likely.

epistasis 2mo ago

When it comes to national security, appearances matter a ton, and any president that doesn't understand that is putting the US at great risk. Wars are started on appearances not on reality. Everything goes into managing it. The US used to be viewed as a strong ally, but Trump has already made the US into a weak, unreliable ally. Being a weak ally makes the US weaker, because it greatly lowers the overall expectation of aid should the US enter war. Now Trump is making the US look weak by letting leak rink-a-dink security moves, transmitting to the entire world that the President is scared of Iran, and willing to look weak when there are threats. Contrast this with Zelenskyy going out on the streets of Kyiv when Putin was said to have teams of special ops out hunting to kill Zelenskyy. That's what strength is, and what leadership is. Whoever let this leak in Trump's administration did a grave disservice to the US (and to Trump too, but really I only care about the US, not any particular president).