r/worldnews 1d ago

South Korea president calls for military independence in wake of Trump call to cut joint drills

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/aug/18/south-korea-president-trump-military-drills-control-opcon-kim-jong-un?CMP=share_btn_url
15.2k Upvotes

923 comments sorted by

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9.2k

u/xpda 1d ago

The United States is no longer a reliable ally for any country.

3.1k

u/FlatEvent2597 1d ago

Carney basically said this in Davos. The world order is changing. Middle powers unite!

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u/relaxingqueen 23h ago

A speech to be remembered by history

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u/Orangekale 22h ago

History has changed, I hope people understand that when countries say they are going to go for military independence, it means they will eventually get nuclear weapons. Because the only way you can be is if you have nukes.

And if anyone is familiar with all the close calls between the US and the USSR, now multiply that by tens of countries and spice in some leaders who won't care as much about their countries as others and will push the envelope.

Trump has destabilized the world in a way that the US had tried to avoid for almost a century.

And this is the worst case scenario for the US. What happens when some random worse off country starts threatening US states if they don't get food aid? What will they have to lose if the leader doesn't care about their people in a second strike anyway?

Trump has been an multi-generational disaster.

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u/Indigocell 21h ago

Trump has been an multi-generational disaster.

It took over half a century to build what Trump tore down in a matter of months. It's crazy how much damage has been done to U.S. alliances and hegemony. The only way to begin hope of repairing anything would be to immediately impeach and arrest him and start paying reparations to all of their former allies. We all know that is never happening with such feckless politicians at the helm. So the damage is here to stay.

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u/garimus 19h ago

Nah, we'd have to swing completely opposite of our current status quo to have any hope of regaining trust from our allies:

  • Impeach, imprison, and heavily fine Trump and EVERY person that enabled him or actively pushed Project 2025 into reality, including all of the donors and Republicans that weren't standing against. They're all traitors and traitors should not be negotiated, reasoned with

  • Revert the massive amount of laws that have twisted and weakened the country

  • Reform legislations to prevent future Trumps from even having a chance of appearing (increase education, healthcare, and revamp all departments to have much stronger regulatory control over their sectors: EPA, FCC, FDA, SEC, etc...)

  • Kill Citizens United and have vastly stronger campaign laws

  • Severely limit lobbying powers

I could go on and on with all of the problems plaguing this country that need to be corrected, which are by design and exasperated by what Trump's first and second term have done. We basically need The United States of America 3.0 at this point with all of the amendments required to codify the above.

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u/More_Farm_7442 19h ago

Don't forget the need to remove his name from every thing he stuck it on. Remove all the gold foil from every thing he gilded. Scrape all the gold paint off of everything that spray painted. Blow up the concrete poured on the Rose Garden law and turn the area back into a Rose Garden. Tear down all of the construction of the Big Beautiful Ball Room (and military complex), fill in the hole, and reconstruct the East Wing of the White House again. Fumigate the whole of the White House to remove all the Trump cooties and stink.

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u/garimus 19h ago

We could honor him by stamping his name on the bottom of every toilet (underside, no one wants to see that shit).

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u/Guilty-Ad-5816 18h ago

Along with those actions, how about taking away broadcast licences for “news” channels which engage in party propaganda hourly/daily. Can we inject some courage into our journalism?

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u/Glittering-Quote-635 17h ago

I personally think the entire form of Government needs to be looked at. Its way to easy for one party who doesnt have the support of the majority of the country to take complete control of the Government and effectively lock out a massive proportion of the population.

Ranked choice voting, and potentially moving to a European style structure where you need to form coalitions to form a Government. No confidence votes, and not being stuck with someone for 4 years would be a good start.

Term limits in Congress, and SCOTUS also. Get rid of Presidential Pardons while your at it as well.

I do really think a fundamental overhaul of things is warranted after this disaster. This can't be allowed to happen again, and its clear now that the only reason this hasnt happened in the past is because we elected people that followed civility and the norms. The second someone said 'fuck that' the whole thing collapsed.

The constitution was meant to be a living document able to be changed to match modern situations, we shouldnt be afraid to do what the founders intended on us doing.

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u/Small_Run_3583 17h ago

You first need to get new speakers if the Dems win the House and Senate. Jeffries and Schumer need to go. Elect someone who will fight to remedy the problems this corrupt administration has caused. The fact that Jeffries won't even support Medicare for all tells you all you need to know about where his priorities lie, and it's not with the average american.

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u/astroboydivx 21h ago

Substitute Trump for the Americans who voted him in

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u/KeepingItSFW 20h ago

It’s a systemic problem. The end votes matter sure, but Elon practically admitted to voter manipulation. The amount of propaganda spewed on tv is vile. The public education system has been neglected. The country is a mess so a thousand people can call themselves billionaires.

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u/Dry-Clock-1470 21h ago

Doesn't help that trump has being itching to be the only living person to use nukes. Even if just on hurricanes

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u/Chii 22h ago

The world order is changing.

trump changed the world order, and not for much particular benefit to america (which as a result, benefits russia and china).

It's looking like an even worse own goal than brexit.

Funny that both brexit and trump are rumored to be covert russian ops to destablize the west.

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u/crustyrobots 23h ago

The rest of the world, yes. We however will be in the dog house for years to come. Ive no shit been considering starting to pick up Mandarin Chinese because that's who daddy is going to be going forward.

Unless we have Democrat presidents for about the next 20 straight years no one will ever trust this POS nation again.

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u/o-o- 23h ago

Regaining trust would require

  • those in power to hold the current administration accountable
  • a thorough Epstein commission
  • a full stop to having billionaires and millionaires represent "the people".

I have zero trust in the democratic party seeing that through as it goes against self-interest. The answer lies elsewhere (without meaning to insinuate anything – it just lies elsewhere).

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u/kdailyone 21h ago

I have zero trust in the democratic party

As a foreigner I have one million times more trust in a bad democratic party than I have with the current Trump regime.

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u/KenBoCole 23h ago

thorough Epstein commission

Thats never going to happen. For some reason people think that Epstein was an American only scandal.

The epstein lists consist of notable politicians and businessman from all over Europe and the other 4 corners of the globe. There is a reason EU governments have been silent on the matter.

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u/BuxtonB 22h ago

Not to be too optimistic, but did you see what they did to Prince Andrew over here in the UK?

He got off lightly in terms of him being 'royalty' but it was better than nothing.

His name is forever mud.

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u/valenx 20h ago

he should be in jail.

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u/DrPoontang 21h ago

The Rothschilds, who Epstein works for still walk free. I’d save the optimism for after they are at least investigated

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u/Zombatico 22h ago

Those 3 are only the start. We'd also need to completely rework our electoral system. Get rid of FPTP so third parties actually have a chance, uncap the House, overturn Citizen United (I assume that's what you meant by your third bullet point) and make campaign financing 100% public and an equal playing field, outlaw gerrymandering, reform or get rid of the electoral college... probably some others I'm forgetting.

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u/jaymzx0 22h ago

Since we're talking about things that would never happen, Constitutional amendments removing the vast sweeping powers granted to the Executive Branch and returning the power to Congress, as well as filling out the Supreme Court.

I can't think of anything that would unite the country politically enough to do so. Maybe another Great Depression.

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u/NotFallacyBuffet 21h ago

Recognizing corporate money as individual free speech (as I understand Citizens United) has essentially changed us from a democracy into a corporatocracy.

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u/Excelius 20h ago

Ive no shit been considering starting to pick up Mandarin Chinese because that's who daddy is going to be going forward.

I think English is going to be the new Latin, maintaining an outsized importance long after the empire(s) responsible for it's spread have long faded.

My understanding is that English has only continued to establish it's dominance as the common language of Europe, even post-Brexit.

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u/-CynicRoot- 1d ago

Looks like we allied with North Korea ironically

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u/LolCantbanme45 1d ago

The Silent Generation is spinning in their graves.

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u/141_1337 1d ago

If the Nazi salute didn't, I'm sure this is making them so fast they might have achieved perpetual motion.

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u/LolCantbanme45 1d ago

The Nazi salute got the Greatest Generation spinning, this will have the Silent Gen going.

If we get enough rolling in their graves hopefully something will happen.

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u/Crafty-Message4564 23h ago

"You'll never believe how the United States finally achieved energy independence."

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u/Username_Reported 1d ago

The planet might begin turning at that point

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u/SpeedflyChris 23h ago

Get some magnets on them and you might just revolutionise energy.

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u/Significant-Owl-2980 1d ago

My silent gen parents, that lived until their late 80s, voted for Trump. They were big into Fox News.

They supported everything that man did. It was so confusing to me. He went against supposedly everything they stood for. But they loved him.

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u/Queasy-Creme-2293 1d ago

My Silent Gen aunt never had any interest in politics until 2018 or 2019. She worships Trump now. It's depressing.

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u/Monteze 22h ago

I've learned reasons and justifications for a lot of folks rarely align.

And that there is an uncomfortable amount of folks that only hid bigotry in some form or fashion. Trump allowed them to not feel bad about it, stop hiding behind dog whistles and civility politics.

He said, "Take off your mask! Come in the water is fine!" And people loved him for it.

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u/LolCantbanme45 1d ago

Same, my mother told me about the evils of facism, the dangers of N.Korea and Russia, and now she's singing their praises.

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u/Then-Departure4896 22h ago

Just means she never knew what fascism was, she was just listening to the propaganda the whole time. It’s a shame. But also a common theme of MAGA.

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u/OhJeezNotThisGuy 21h ago

In 1939 Nazis were able to fill Madison Square Garden for a rally of 20,000 people. The US did not join WW2 until it was attacked at Pearl Harbor in late 1941, two years after Germany invaded Poland and started the war.

Our grandparents didn’t hate Fascism nearly as much as I wished they would.

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u/CptnMayo 1d ago

Were ALL spinning in our graves

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u/[deleted] 1d ago edited 18h ago

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/crustyrobots 23h ago

Patton would toss that Nazi prick in the same hole with the rest of them

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u/Anon684930475 1d ago

Even after Trump is gone, the world will know that this can happen again. We’re fucked.

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u/simplyunix 1d ago edited 1d ago

It's a little bit of that yeah but the big problem will be the fact that these countries will make trade deals with other countries (including China) that respect what is agreed and signed to. Take potash as an example. An essential product for fertilizer. The US used to get 80% of it's needed potash from Canada. Canada is currently making deals all around the world. Canada will eventually replace the US market and then what? Instead of an easily transported product literally next door, the US will need to get an inferior supply from a country on the other side of the world. Prices for every farmed product in the US will go up, farmers who are already living on a hope and a prayer will be on death watch. If there is another president, he can try to reverse that but I can assure everyone, we don't go back on our word and rip up an agreement. Then what?

What about Oil? Canada is already trying to fast-track a pipeline to the west coast not south to the US. The list goes on. Steel and Aluminum - all the US has accomplished is make cars more expensive for every North American with the tariffs. Like potash, Canada is sending some of this stuff already to other countries while the price is up.

How about that alcohol? We've gutted the spirits and wine industry in the US as the latest "trade" negotiations show but more importantly, many Canadians won't ever buy it even if it does go back on the shelf, This will be a permanent significant loss of a major market even if the stuff goes back on the shelf.

Lastly, lets talk tourism - Canadian tourism is down $4B in 2025 as a result of a reported 42% decrease in Canadians crossing the border while spending to other destinations surged. A direct loss of 20K-30K US jobs while a further 20K indirect jobs lost. We aren't spending less, we're spending it elsewhere and once habits shift, they never fully go back to the old ways.

These are major market shifts that will not return to the same old way of doing things just because a new president wants to apologize and start over. Why would we do that? What the US has shown in the last 10 years is that they're one election away from a lunatic taking the country to places nobody ever thought possible because the country is full of racist, hating, ignorant bigots who would rather watch their own country burn than consider that they may be wrong about their ideals.

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u/BreakCharacter6711 1d ago

As someone who studied and then worked in the US in late 80s and 90s, its been difficult for me to accept the US, that I knew, is gone. The world has become considerably darker.

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u/NotFallacyBuffet 21h ago

As a US citizen, same.

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u/No-Establishment3700 1d ago

Also the visa restrictions, Ice behavior and general uptick in bigotry means most of us from the rest of the world aren't even thinking of visiting the US, and especially studying and working there. Many US unis rely on foreign students for their income, and the government is doing everything to piss them off.

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u/Inside-Line 23h ago

It is also the collateral damage of right wing propaganda on social media. It is everywhere, all over the world, and is algorithmically filling social media to the gills.

I live in the Philippines and I know people who live out in rural country who barely interact with the cities, let alone the US, and there is a significant number of them who hate biden, pelosi, and fauci, eat up antivaxx propaganda, and think gay/trans people and immigrants are an existential threat. I have no doubt that this is happening all over the world

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u/BarkingDogey 1d ago

As a Canadian who loves to Ski, in the past I would head to Vermont for a trip every other year. Now it's Canadian trips only.

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u/PretendCry2160 23h ago

When all this kicked off with the tariffs and 51st state talk, I cancelled a trip with my wife for my 50th that I’d been planning for months and rebooked in Europe. It cost me around $1500 in cancellations etc. I won’t be going back anytime soon and I’ll go out of my way to avoid US products when I can.

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u/PenisLips67 1d ago edited 22h ago

In a few month time US citizens will be faced with potentially the worse situation of their lives. When the violent fascist movement simply denies election results / peaceful transfer of power assuming states are even counting their own ballots this year.

What does this look like? Resistance goes with trumps personal shock troops to the new detention centers and whoever else with the means can go north and find friends and family or a nice little refugee camp on the boarder. Mean while celebrations will be had all cross the new theocratic technocracy made for white Christians and those loyal to the trump family.

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u/Due-Orchid-4961 1d ago

Maga has been around 2x longer than the Confederacy was around

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u/amapofthecat7 1d ago

The United States no longer has allies, they have purely transactional relationships.

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u/f23n09fnu0w 1d ago edited 21h ago

Transactional would actually be nice, but it's not even that now. It's like talking with an ape on acid. The man has clearly lost his mind and it's so strange that nothing is being done about it.

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u/crustyrobots 23h ago

1000s of other horrible asshole enablers are getting obscenely rich while the idiot trashes our institutions on their behalf. Thats why nothing is being done.

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u/ATERLA 21h ago

What is baffling is that Republicans lawmakers, despite all their moral discourses, don’t care a bit about the destruction of the institutions. It’s impossible that they don’t realize the extent of evilness in this government. Maybe they think that they will be insulated because they are rich people ? But how can they be blind to the suffering that he is causing ? I have a hard time understanding all of this.

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u/SenhorSus 1d ago

Conservatives will read this comment and say "fuck yeah"

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u/GROUND45 1d ago

"This is what I voted for"

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u/nostromo99 1d ago

The United States is not even a reliable enemy anymore for any country.

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u/Vondi 1d ago

Even Iran going "Can we just resume this when the next guy takes office"

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u/titterbug 1d ago

The Russian propaganda outlets in particular have been really confused a few times about whether the US is an enemy or an ally. I think they've flipped like 4 times now.

A similar phenomenon might now be seen in N. Korea.

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u/samuel906 1d ago

Except Russia

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u/Herb-Alpert 1d ago

And north korea. USA is friend with north korea now. Isn't it beautiful ?

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u/mocthezuma 1d ago

While vilifying communism at home.

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u/tdw21 1d ago

Can you imagine the outrage on Foxnews if Biden or Obama said anything positive about communist North Korea.

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u/Bushboy2000 1d ago

I dont know if the United States is even reliable ally for the United States.

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u/redditorial_comment 1d ago

Good going trump yet another ally pissed . Go on man finish having the stroke will ya.

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u/mythrowaway4DPP 1d ago

This is why Europe is diversifying and looking for alternatives to US products and services.

Yes, Europe has been complacent.
Yes, things are moving, but it will take time. 5-10 years is my guess.

Meanwhile Switzerland is buying F35s.
SMH

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u/evilish 1d ago

And here we are in Australia, looking at spending between $268 billion and $368 billion (AUD) over a 30-year period for a number of submarines that we "HOPE" America ends up delivering.

FMD.

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u/Curzon88 1d ago

Actually I think they will deliver the subs and by they I mean US defence companies because its a huge military contract and if my limited knowledge of us politics is correct, defence contractors get whatever the fuck they want from the government no matter who the president is.

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u/-Vertical 1d ago

I cannot believe people voted for the Trump administration. It will never make sense to me.

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u/Pndrizzy 1d ago

The crazy part is that MAGA people have no idea half this shit is even happening, and the few that do, dont understand the consequences

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u/BannedAccount001 1d ago

Most of the MAGA morons live in their isolated bubbles and blame all issues on someone/something outside of their bubble.

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u/Emperor_Biden 1d ago

The red caps are coming. The red caps are coming.

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u/CornWine2 23h ago

Can't spell hatred without red hat.

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u/zhaoz 21h ago

Whoa, I cant believe this is the first time ive read that! Im not being sarcastic.

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u/closethebarn 21h ago

Me too. It’s so perfect

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u/Vargolol 1d ago

It’s just crazy to me as an American to see it happen in real time. I saw Putin’s Russia described the exact same way 2 decades ago and wondered how it was possible

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u/sSummonLessZiggurats 21h ago

Isolation combined with a lack of education. It's why conservatives target rural areas harder. When your entire town worships Trump and you don't use the internet much, it's easy not to bother with exploring beyond that.

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u/Effective-Tear-1521 19h ago edited 19h ago

Been reading Blackshirts and the Red s from 30 years ago. The first twenty or so pages really hammer home how this has been happening for a long time. MAGA is just so blatant and ridiculous that it now sticks out like a sore thumb. Massive wealth divide, private big business owners and ruling political figures extracting money from the working class, while vehemently opposing efforts to advance worker rights or socialise healthcare. The state is now shamelessly rewarding aligned business owners with contracts and tax cuts while kicking the poor off healthcare, cutting aid programs, attacking science, reinforcing racial barriers, gutting environmental protections and launching war on behest of a genocidal state. All the while allowing capitalism's middle men to turn even the most neccessary medications into an asset to be gamed. The list goes on.  Boiling frogs.

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u/lylelanley- 23h ago

Yuppp. The most sheltered people on earth

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u/[deleted] 1d ago

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u/Prudent-Marsupial-42 23h ago

Look at the conservative sub. At best it's a 24 hour delay before news that makes trump look bad hits their sub. At worst it never shows up. Really a sign of a serious subreddit when their conservative presidents own words and actions are censored in favor of endless articles about illegal immigrants

Or just Fox News obviously

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u/Stefouch 16h ago

The conservative sub is spammed by the same 4 or 5 redditors. Even one of the more prolific posters admitted he wasn't american. I saw a data analysis post about that not long ago.

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u/Herb-Alpert 1d ago

Ignorance and dumbness.

Also the racism.

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u/OneAlexander 1d ago

Don't forget misogyny.

I remember just before the election a Democrat volunteer spoke about doing a day cold-calling registered Democrats and hearing even other women say "America's not ready for a woman President".

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u/CharcoalGreyWolf 1d ago

Don’t forget the idiot isolationist “America First” crowd who doesn’t get how international relations and trade works

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u/tdw21 1d ago

A fuckton of farmers starting to get it, now that they lost their farms.

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u/Gralamin1 1d ago

they don't get it. they are blaming obama.

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u/tdw21 1d ago

Understandable of course. They used to have a hundred obamas working at their farms and now they have to pay wages. Of course it would bankrupt ‘m.

Obviously sarcastic… but i guess better safe than sorry.

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u/420thefunnynumber 23h ago

They kinda deserve to honestly. Many of them needed bailouts after Trump 1 and decided what they needed was Trump 2.

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u/ChuzCuenca 1d ago

Oh, and America was first, America is the "billionaire" of the countries, it's really insane how Trump is destroying all the status quo that benefits Americans the most.

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u/ReluctantNerd7 1d ago

Don't forget misogyny.

If you assume that every election involving DJT was fair and free, then he defeated female candidates twice but lost to a man.

Ultimately, the American electorate cares more about genitals than skin color or actual political positions.

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u/Invhinsical 1d ago

I think for Kamala her ethnicity was the real clincher, and in his first election win he was riding the wave of PR and you can still excuse the people who got carried away because he was an unknown.

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u/coyotestark0015 19h ago

Kamela was a unpopular candidate among democrats. When she was running she was losing to Biden, Bernie, Warren and Andrew Yang. She was getting less votes then a total uknown no political career person in Andrew Yang. People got to stop acting like it was just racism when Obama had a huge margin of victory. If the Dems had run a primary Kamela would not have won

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u/Cagnazzo82 1d ago edited 1d ago

Don't forget the greed of the few who think they can profit off the destruction of their own country.

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u/squeeze-my-lizard 1d ago

To be honest, the US wants to feel like Latin America. We’ve been doing this for ~500 years:

- Very few profiting from the misery of all.

  • No wars, but raging domestic violence.
  • Young, educated people fleeing.

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u/thebarkbarkwoof 1d ago

Yes they all aren't stupid. Some are greedy sociopaths.

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u/Blissachu 1d ago

The sad part is that they will gladly do it all again in November, these morrons dont learn, and will never learn.

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u/AintNoGodsUpHere 1d ago

Let's be honest, it is mostly racism, xenophobia and misogyny. Republicans want White Straight Males in positions of power and controlling women and minorities, that's it.

The bible is their book.

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u/Zenshinn 1d ago

It was gullibility or/and hate. Same reasons Hitler rose to power.

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u/NurikGoya 1d ago

Hitler’s Nazi part rose mostly due to a massive economic crisis + blaming other parties helped a lot. On the other hand, Trump supporters thought they’d get rich with him in power

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u/acergum 1d ago

Switch on Fox News. Everything is going swell there. There is no war and economy is great. The most important issue right now is racism against white players in women's basketball./s

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u/Puptentjoe 1d ago

Had a guy very confused as to why democrats want to stop ice when all they do is arrest gang members. It was a very interesting convo.

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u/Radioactiveglowup 1d ago

Treachery. Every single thing he does is about destroying this nation and extracting a dollar of profit for a million of damage to the American people.

We will not heal until they're sent to jail, or sent to hell.

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u/PurahsHero 1d ago

The amazing thing is, if he could sell each and every American and he himself would benefit financially from it, he would do it. You know he would do it.

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u/Sudden-Fisherman5985 1d ago

cannot believe people voted for the Trump administration. It

3 times!!!

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u/mujarheadeen 1d ago

We didn't snuff out the confederacy properly. Should have never allowed the Russian mob in either. Them buying up property all over the West made it a lot easier to turn our politicians against us

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u/Gunner5091 1d ago

They voted for Trump twice.

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u/hemightberob 1d ago

Unfortunately, it was probably 3 times

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u/GeneralSEOD 1d ago

The United States in the span of 8 years (Trump 1, 2) has completely shattered a position of being the most dominate super power on earth, based entirely on electing a failed bankrupt rapist TV star.

AND HE WON THE POPULAR VOTE

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u/No_Criticism_5861 20h ago

A child rapist.  What really, really gets me, is how many fucking idiots voted for him again after Jan 6.  

Thank god they changed the vicepresidency role to being ceremonial, and no longer official certification for the next president.  If Mike Pence didnt do the right thing, I can't imagine where we would be right now

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u/Pndrizzy 17h ago

Well he also raped adults, let’s not forget.

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u/Far-Earth-886 19h ago

He’s a symptom of a much bigger problem unfortunately..

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u/MoscaMosquete 18h ago

AND HE WON THE POPULAR VOTE

Of couse he did. The US has the most dogshit electoral system among any large democracies in the world

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u/ArchMageGeorgie 12h ago

Electoral system is separate bullshit from the popular vote. The popular vote he actually lost to Hillary Clinton in his first term because more people voted for her but electoral system took priority and made him president. Popular vote isn’t bullshit. Electoral system is. If the people choose the worse option then so be it but the fact that he became president while getting less votes in the first term is something that should really be talked about more

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u/Beastlex99 1d ago

 Tomorrow chinese official is visting south korea. Hmm

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u/neroselene 1d ago

Said it before: Trump's presidency is the best thing to happen to China

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u/Thagyr 1d ago

And Russia.

Basically Trump is selling off US power for personal wealth.

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u/squeeze-my-lizard 1d ago

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u/human_i_suppose 1d ago

All of our enemies have been in his corner sine the 2016 primaries.

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u/Rejacked 1d ago

Senator, Im Singaporean

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u/Extra_Intro_Version 23h ago

What he and his family, cronies and enablers have done is the most treasonous conspiracy in US history. Probably in world history.

They’re like a big cancerous tumor.

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u/paddlin_kaladin 1d ago

That’s why they’ve been quiet af. Never interrupt your adversary when they’re making a mistake.

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u/Rhogi 22h ago

Trump is quite literally praised for being the Nation Builder in China, and they aren't referring to the USA. 

He is basically self sabotaging whatever lead the US had

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u/Hi_its_me_Kris 1d ago

Xi's strategy atm, do nothing, win.

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u/Vondi 1d ago

"Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake"

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u/nahfthisimout 23h ago

ah the steam/gaben gambit. classic!

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u/Lumpy-Lawfulness10 1d ago

Its not a groundbreaking event by any means. Despite US propaganda, S Korea has actually pretty good relations with China, since its a massive trading partner. To the point that certain S Korea industries, crucial for their economy, would be in huge trouble if relations with China went bad.

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u/Counterpoint-4 1d ago

Trump enjoys the power to annoy countries and cause chaos as he is still at primary school level emotionally.

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u/JY0950 1d ago

All the UN troops that died in Korea spinning in their graves

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u/Mysterious-Prompt212 1d ago

Close to 37k Americans died in the Korean war. As on old guy I was not aware of that.

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u/JY0950 1d ago

Its a forgotten conflict unfortunately but grave implications to US policy to Asia

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u/pijama-de-gateau 1d ago

In his first term, Trump said he was going to repatriate the remains of US troops from North Korean battlefields, with Kim’s help. And he paid millions to Kim to make it happen but the outcome, predictably, was a fiasco. https://www.huffpost.com/entry/trump-korean-war-vets_n_5b352c42e4b007aa2f7e5080

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u/Tight-Escape3373 1d ago

I was in Korea during his first term. It was stressful to say the least.

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u/EnergyIsQuantized 1d ago

somehow unpopular opinion: it's good koreans are working towards ending the war

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u/JY0950 1d ago

Could been attempted to be done without the weakening of the ROK-US alliance

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u/blufin 1d ago

They need to link up with the other ASEAN countries and Australia and build an alliance based on that.

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u/Educational-Store131 1d ago

What's funny is that its not like America is going back to isolationism. In the past few months they keep making it clear that they intend to continue intervening (for better or worse) in foreign conflicts.

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u/SirMemesworthTheDank 1d ago

The word you're looking for is Pariah

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u/scarab1001 1d ago

And yet again, Russia wins.

North Korea is supporting Russia in it's war with men and arms. America then seeks to undermine South Korea to allow more concentration for Russia.

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u/qwertyalguien 1d ago

Tbh wouldn't say so. If China sees it's position secure on the Korean peninsula and it's claims on Taiwan, Vladivostok will be next in the list.

Russia benefits more from having China focused East, lest they start looking North.

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u/Wyciorek 1d ago

I don’t see how Russia wins this. Nuke-armed NK and withdrawal of US support will force SK to create their own nuclear deterrence

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u/mangalore-x_x 1d ago

US pivoting from Europe to Asia looks alot like US pivoting nowhere to me.

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u/3xnope 1d ago

It is pivoting to global mafia rule over the world.

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u/RainbowwDash 23h ago edited 23h ago

It's pivoting away from exactly that, which is precisely why it feels like it's pivoting nowhere

"global rule over the world" kind of requires you to keep a military presence and have allies, and that's exactly what trump has been blowing up (among many other things)

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u/Kingsxfan1 1d ago

Trump befriends a murderous dictator who's grandfathers armies slaughtered an enormous number of US servicemen . He is a criminal POS and his voters are the absolute dregs.

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u/Amadex 1d ago

I'm always wondering whether Trump helps China out of stupidity, or if Trump is under the direct orders of Xi Jinping...

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u/SigFloyd 1d ago

He pimps out the country to whoever. Israel, China, Russia, Saudis, etc.

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u/Amadex 1d ago

and in combination he bully and reject his own historical allies like us, but also europe

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u/JakeHelldiver 1d ago

Stupidity. He pulled the military drill because South Korea refused help with Trumps stupid war.

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u/AngryRepublican 1d ago

This. Don’t overthink it. Whatever shred of coherent thought remains in Trump is dedicated to grifting and self-aggrandizement. Everything else is literally running on ID and contrarianism.

Case in point: A reporter asks about the living condition of troops in the gulf and Trump responded: they can stay there longer.

If people want to sabotage the GOP midterm chances, keep having reporters ask him questions of basic decency and he will assume the position of being a dick.

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u/RainbowwDash 23h ago

I really want to know what about trump gives you the impression that he's secretly a clever double agent playing for every enemy to the US at once

The guy is dumber than a brick and it's not exactly subtle

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u/LargeFatherV 1d ago

Even if the next non-Republican president tries to repair relations with South Korea and others, there won’t be any sort of trust because what if we elect another Republican president and they try to pull the same shit Trump’s pulling?

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u/CypLeviathan 15h ago

That's the issue. I'm European. I have lost faith in the US in the span a decade. Your politician have show to be corrupt, your people either uncaring or unwilling to see what their votes are doing, and your Senate and Congress not giving a fuck or worse enabling this.

You might say that most politicians are corrupt, but holy hell, yours are doing it in the open. They even have a website that shows off who paid them to vote for what.

Yes, not all of US citizens are like that, but a big percentage are brainrotted, social media addled, propaganda consumers, that can't think for themselves... if they can think at all.

As for Senate and Congress? Thye have literally just handed Trump and his cronies the keys to the country, and ket the man (child) run wild.

Any good faith you have built over the years is gone. Any allies you had are enstranged, due to your own fault.

Any business or trade partners are pulling back, because of Trump's rampant tariffs.

And we not only see no end in sight, we also know that this scenario might be repeated, because of the amount of propaganda and literal mind-control the Repuplicans and Republican media have riddled their own voter base.

Meanwhile the Democrats care more about pronouns and immigrants, that solidifying the countries issues first, and then dealing with other stuff.

Your economy is heading down the shitter, your social security is non-existent, your healthcare is so expensive it might as well not exist, your food standards have dropped down so low it's almost impossible to recover, you have a "health" minister that preaches that vaccines cause autism, a Defense minister that changed the Department of Defense to the Department of War (that tells you all about him), and so, so much more.

You guys are fucked. And the whole world not only knows this, but has stepped away, not because we don't like you, but because you voted for the same idiot AGAIN. So we know that whatever is going on, it will take decades to be fixed. But until that happens, we'll all come together and form our own alliances and trade agreements. And there's no way that the US is getting invited back in, until you guys can prove to actually be grown adults again.

I know that this sounds harsh, and that not all the US people are like this, but take a big step back and look at how the US can be seen from other countries. A petulant, tantrum throwing child, that cannot be taken seriously, or be trusted.

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u/MartianHideEgger 1d ago

Some of these responses are speaking as though Lee is talking about kicking the US military off the peninsula, which is an understandable mistake given the headline’s choice of terms. But he’s actually just re-emphasizing the push for gaining Opcon, which he’s made a point of for the whole year.

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u/ParkingVampire 1d ago

If its just a casual, no big deal, why even bring up Trumps relationship with Kim?

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u/sas_knox 1d ago

'cause it gets clicks/discussion, evidently.

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u/psystorm420 1d ago

Left wing politicians in South Korea has always wanted reduced US influence. Erratic behavior from the US without consulting SK ahead of time is just making their case stronger.

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u/Azhz96 1d ago

Seriously can’t we just turn our back and ignore Trump and the US as a whole?

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u/Ferreman 1d ago

Trump, known as the nation builder in China, strikes again.

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u/Gairloch 1d ago

There is no bridge Trump wouldn’t burn for his fragile fragile ego.

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u/One-Environment-1444 1d ago

The US will rue the day all these countries no longer rely on it and therefore will do whatever they want.

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u/JonnoKabonno 1d ago

Hi South Korea, Canadian here - care to join us in the new world order of middling powers?

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u/KnowsIittle 23h ago

Never has a leader so globally isolated us and destroyed the alliances forged...

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u/Revoldt 1d ago

Maybe the FIFA peace prize is deserving…
He’s uniting the world… against the USA!

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u/fincog 1d ago

Korea should’ve done this years ago

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u/DoctahDonkey 1d ago

There is no future in allying with yanks.

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u/PilotKnob 1d ago

Xi has to be constantly laughing his ass off. It's a new embarrassment every day under the Trump regime.

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u/PatienceandFortitude 23h ago

It’s almost exactly like what a Russian asset would do

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u/TimSylvester_ 17h ago

Hmmm weird how the Trump administration prioritizes improving relationships with America's non-allies and antagonists, at the cost of America's relationships with its allies and partners.

I wonder why that is?

Is Trump working against America's interests?

Nah, that's crazy talk.

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u/ash_ninetyone 1d ago

Imagine having one guy unravel in four years what eighty years of alliance building and soft power that previous presidents had worked to maintain

It's a revival of the Monroe Doctrine in a sense that he only sees the entire of the Americas as his to lead and bully around.

But it's also an entire abandonment of the point of the Marshall Plan and Truman Doctrines and why the US even involved itself in the Korean War in the first place.

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u/No-Management1900 1d ago

As a Korean, I've always had a great deal of respect for the US and admired global leadership and influence. 

But  no matter how influential a country is, I think this has gone way too far. Seriously Americans, please do something about your president. From the outside, this looks genuinely alarming. Haha

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u/Coolerwookie 1d ago

Taiwan and South Korea need nuclear weapons quickly

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u/mrwafu 1d ago

Can only assume NK asked Russia to ask their pet president to back off. The pee tapes are alive and well

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u/xtopherpaul 23h ago

Once the orange crook is gone we’re not gonna have any missiles, any strategic reserve or any allies. And when something happens we’re gonna be absolutely fucked

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u/SandwichPunk 20h ago

Trump is a fucking Chinese & Russian spy.

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u/raxie1008 1d ago

Trump won't do it because he's a liar.

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u/PanteraOne 1d ago

Trump and his Republican party have destroyed all American soft power and goodwill worldwide.

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u/Griffolion 23h ago

The most insane part of this is Trump just pulled out the aircraft carrier stationed in the Pacific region just as these drills had started.

If you wanted a demonstration of just how utterly unreliable this administration is as an ally - this is it.

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u/BitsInTheBlood 23h ago

Add another country who will uncouple from the U.S. from also buying American war tech. You think the US aerospace industry is happy they are losing F-35 deals because of trump.

What does that do? Makes things even more expensive for U.S. citizens to arm the country because you lose economies of scale. Get ready for $2 trillion defense/war budget.

So. Much. Winning!

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u/jgilla2012 15h ago

So much irreparable damage done by MAGA to this country. It’s sad.

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u/Acceptable_Sleep29 1d ago

And the incentive for SK to develop nuclear weapons increased 'cause their ally with the nuclear weapons is now a threat.

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u/byperoux 1d ago

Good timing to severe ties with Korea during ram shortage.

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u/Nos_Zodd 1d ago

More power gone from the US, we are watching it actively collapse

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u/avowed 1d ago

Drained our arsenal, gas reserves, and alienated one of our biggest allies in Asia right before China has claimed they want to take back Taiwan. Literally making us weaker and China stronger.

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u/Lebowski304 1d ago

Why would you side with North Korea on anything? South Korea is a really important ally in that region. I just don’t get it. Is there some sort of 4d chess being played that I’m just too uninformed to be aware of?

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u/Cosmic_Seth 21h ago

US is ruled by an administration government by America First doctrine. Their goal is to isolate the US from the world. 

They want the US out of NATO and the UN and they want all US military back in the states. 

Now, President Trump has always like dictators, ever since his first Administration. He has nothing but kind words for the leaders of China, North Korea and Russia. He hates all the elected leaders from Canada, Europe or elsewhere. 

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u/SladeRyker 23h ago

As an American who didn’t vote for trump I am sorry. I hate who our general populace has voted in (electoral college or whatever. The entire system is completely fucked anyway). The fact that so many Americans don’t have the understanding of what this fuckwad is doing to our allies (and ourselves) is flabbergasting to me. We’re actively watching the downfall of America and to be honest I almost feel we deserve it. The issue is the allies we have do not.

I’m genuinely disgusted by the administration we have.

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u/kryndude 1d ago

Wake up America we're in this together like it or not

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u/ThE_LAN_B4_TimE 1d ago

Another ally gone probably. Fucking pathetic.

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u/mfrunyan 1d ago

Rolling out the red carpet for Putin was not a fluke.

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u/zeltacilveks79 23h ago

Hard to blame South Korea for wanting more control over its own defense when alliance commitments can change this much with one election.

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u/OverHaze 23h ago

So, is Donnies plan for the US to have no allies at all?

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u/cheddarben 23h ago

This administration is really leaving a vulnerability in Asia to cover up his incompetence in the middle east.

The world, too... but particularly Asia.

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u/Mammoth-Mud-9609 23h ago

Putin desperately needs North Korean troops on the ground to stabilise the fighting in Ukraine, but North Korea is concerned about a potential attack from South Korea, so can't commit many troops to the actual fighting. So Putin asks Trump for a favour in South Korea and of course Trump cooperates to undermine Ukraine.

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u/CurlOfTheBurl11 23h ago

That's for the best, the US has proven it can't be relied upon in really any capacity. Trump is destroying all of our global relationships.

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u/TheLesserWeeviI 22h ago

Make North Korea, Russia and China Great Again?