Kenneth
Tuesday 28th February 2017 1:39am
5,447 posts
Quote: DaButt @ 27th February 2017, 9:50 PM
It's so bizarre to me that non-Americans would invest so much time and effort into railing against an American president.
Allow me to elucidate:
1. America has for decades (since the end of WWII) had a global leadership role, for better or for worse. Now, if Trump were the president of, say, Finland (which does not have a global leadership role), then perhaps fewer people would care about him.
2. Australia and the UK have traditionally been US allies. Australia and the US have a defense treaty. So when a traditional ally is led by an unstable, undiplomatic egomaniac, there is cause for alarm.
3. America has thousands of nuclear weapons. Trump has no experience in foreign policy. How will he handle foreign crises? With wise, thoughtful leadership? Or will he respond with his trademark egotistical bombast and petulance (preferring to get his facts from Fox News over intelligence)? This is of concern to many people.
4. As Trump relinquishes America's global leadership role, and instead adopts a more Chinese-style approach of "no shared values for other countries, just do whatever is in our economic interest" -- then will other nations turn to China (a far greater economic superpower than America) to fill the vacuum? China, unlike the US, does not espouse "Western-style democratic values". China has territorial ambitions. It's fascinating to see how the world may change because celebrity-obsessed America elected a dipshit clown (not that Hillary Clinton was any great alternative).
Hope this clears things up.