"Some will cheer the decline of America. But I think we'll miss it when it's gone"

[CousinIT]

The G20 became the G19 as it ended. On the Paris climate accords the United States was left isolated and friendless.

It is, apparently, where this US President wants to be as he seeks to turn his nation inward.

. . .

He is a character drawn from America's wild west, a travelling medicine showman selling moonshine remedies that will kill the patient.

And this week he underlined he has neither the desire nor the capacity to lead the world.

. . .

A man who barks out bile in 140 characters, who wastes his precious days as President at war with the West's institutions — like the judiciary, independent government agencies and the free press.

. . .

Mr Trump is a man who craves power because it burnishes his celebrity. To be constantly talking and talked about is all that really matters. And there is no value placed on the meaning of words. So what is said one day can be discarded the next.

. . .

Some will cheer the decline of America, but I think we'll miss it when it is gone.

And that is the biggest threat to the values of the West which he claims to hold so dear.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-07-09/did-trumps-g20-performance-indicate-us-decline-as-world-power/8691538

[pangaia]

1. I wonder what goes through the minds of the secret service folks who

have 'agreed' to die to protect this shit faced piece of shit.

Yes I used shit twice.

[Pachamama]

10. I have wondered the same thing a few times...

Honestly, I can't think of any reason that a life would be worth sacrificing to save his....

Don't worry about using the shit twice....only mistake is you should have used it at least 3 or 4 times...

[marked50]

2. The descriptions of our our dilemma are almost poetic...

[world wide wally]

3. There is no question that he is the enemy from within

[malchickiwick]

4. I'm already missing Her....

[The Wizard]

5. "Say goodbye to America

and say hello to the world."
(Tim Buckley, "Goodbye and Hello&quot

[roamer65]

6. The worst is yet to come.

Trust me, it will be worse than anyone can imagine.

[Initech]

15. Think the alt right is scary now? It's going to morph into something much worse.

The right wing media is the product of fear and paranoia. The alt right is the second generation of that fear and paranoia. What will the third generation bring? We may laugh at Neo Nazis and Pepe The Frog now, but I fear this is just the beginning.

[ancianita]

7. Seriously? You believe this? Think America cannot survive this one idiot? Puh-lease. Deez guyz

ain't nuthin' but a pimple on the ass of the third largest country on the planet.

Not you, me, DU or any other thinking person who knows how to live free should identify with this failure.

This failure has nothing to do with America.

Nothing.

[progressoid]

9. I wouldn't say it has nothing to do with America.

Sixty three million people thought he was the best choice.

63,000,000.

He should have been defeated by a landslide. Hell, he shouldn't even have gotten past iowa and New Hampshire. But here we are. Dealing with the choice America made.

[ancianita]

12. But even those who voted for him are not rooting for the criminal justice system to not

deliver the facts and their case. I get your point, though.

Many millions have made bad mistakes. Our country wouldn't be the first. History teaches that numbers alone don't confer good judgment, even while the erring populations are still alive.

This isn't about counting chads, or which bullies prevail, or which vision for America wins. America is about providing the free space for doing all that.

This whole case has everything to do with upholding his supporters' freedom to have clear and unencumbered elections and equally applied constitutional protections. That's a structural issue and not a matter of opinion, like a vote.

I think they know that. If not, they'll have a good while for the FBI's findings to sink in.

No one president or his media has discredited such a huge criminal justice system without help from his military, which I don't think he'll get.

It G20 fail has nothing to do with the America I see.

[meadowlander]

11. It's not just one idiot, it's an entire party of them

and they are systematically dismantling American democracy while we watch.

[ancianita]

13. They're suborned. Their bosses pay them to dismantle services. International election observers

can help with all the voting accounting, a thing that goes on in many places on the globe.

Dismantling is just failure to fill slots right now. It's a form of government shrinkage, to squeeze that money toward the owners, but government is not theirs to "take away."

[VOX]

14. I wouldn't be so quick to downplay the threat...

It's not just "one idiot," it's single-party rule in all three branches of government. It's 30+ states that are governed top-to-bottom by Republicans. Its the utter silence of those same Republicans who remain silently complicit with this daily outrage. It's their media advantage, with a dedicated "news" outlet pumping the party message 24/7. It's African Americans, Hispanics and POC being unable to walk their streets or drive a car without fear for their lives. It's voter suppression. It's an all-out war on women. It's a newly minted conservative Supreme Court judge, with probably another on the way fairly soon. It's the hundreds of lifetime federal judgeship appointments that #45 has yet to name. It's the obvious ties to Russia, a hostile oligarchy. It's how Republicans get away with murder, but if a Democrat so much as bends a paper clip, there is screaming from the right for blood.

And worse yet, it's having to share the country with a large group of people who live in complete delusion, where Jesus is savior and Donald Trump is stern-parent-king. He's gotten us neck-deep into a cold (so far) Civil War.

Your enthusiasm is admirable and welcome, but my 68-year-old eyes have seen a lot, good and bad. And this...THIS...is bad. The worst kind of bad: the very *reality* of the United States being called into question every day now.

On edit: I will still fight gang-and-claw against this monstrosity; just because my mood flags a bit doesn't mean the spirit has left me. I will do everything I can to give the Trump Train it's well-earned "Bridge on the River Kwai" finish.

[ancianita]

16. Hardly quick. I'm 68, too. I address six defeatists sounding as if the U.S. is irretrievably wrecked

It's not.

It takes some history reading to come around to how we fight off corruption, but we have done just that.

The theater and the play have been seen for what they are, and even those who were duped are coming around, but we have to let them.

Time changes a lot of people when they continue to get good, useful information. As we've seen with their finally learning what Single Payer is. Rachel's is the most watched show now. That's something, because people crave historical perspective and civics.

I'm not enthused but I'm far from feeling defeat, either. It's worse than even we know, which is why the old heads from the Pizza Connection, Lockerbie Pan Am103 days have dived into this situation. They've had intel all over the world about Russia, and they've got the budgets and expertise to tease out the evidence and make the case.

Governmental reorganization won't be a bad thing, either.

I can't recommend that what helps me is for everyone, but reading more about cybersecurity, Russia, the FBI and history usually does help people. I don't think this is the year for junk TV or fast food fiction.

Another thing. We have to get away from "Admiring The Problem" journalism, not just the he-said/she-said journalism. We have to latch onto solutions being found out there, and people who do work that's for the good of more than just themselves.

2018. If we can't win the House, we won't win the 2020 redistricting. So I do look forward to that win.

Al Franken. I'm calling it. He's going to be the new Bernie Sanders of the Democratic Party.

Republicans are okay with him, Schumer digs him, and we can use some laughs in the service of restructuring.

[Blue_Roses]

18. Thank-you!

Well said!

[YOHABLO]

8. Well what a defeatist attitude on here. WTF? How about power to the people folks?

[Hekate]

17. KnR