This is the worst of it for me. I have written that previously.
I was talking to the attendant at Subway recently. From her accent, she's an immigrant from Haiti, a full-fledged American citizen now. She said when she gets asked where she's from she is embarrassed and tries to avoid answering that she's American. Imagine that.
There is something about seeing yourself through others' eyes. There was something for me about seeing us through my own eyes when abroad. I have told this story before too: I was in France, abroad for the first time, when the Rodney King beating, captured on videotape, was made public. I used to get up early to feed my baby boy and the CBS Evening News was replayed in Lyon at 6 a.m. local time. That was one of the searing experiences of my life, htg. I was so depressed. And embarrassed. I would have been embarrassed to answer "American" if a Frenchman asked where I was from (which (s)he probably would not have since it was so obvious).
Now on this guy's points. America will recover its standing in the world but it will take a long time. I have written this before, too: I don't think you recover from this, Trump's election in 2016, I mean. And what if he gets reelected? It is because I do not think that the U.S. can recover that I thought it was so important that Trump be seen to be illegitimate (his greatest fear, btw). If he had been seen to be illegitimate then you write these four years off with citation to Hamilton 68. But if not...
"America has a failed federal government...But America is not a failed state. It will be saved by its scientists and doctors..." Don't be ridiculous. Scientists and doctors did not save the American people from a goddamned medical condition. They can't save the goddamned state. A state is a political entity and the dumb ass in charge wants the scientists and doctors to inject light and heat and disinfectants into people's bodies.
In a democracy, even a quasi-democracy corrupted by Russia, one cannot separate "the government" from the people. "A failed federal government" was the choice of 63,000,000 people who were failures at life. And even after four years of "a failed federal government," a banana republic, a "shithole country," the Failure in Chief trails Joe Biden by only 4.4% (RCP average). He lost the 2016 popular vote by 2.1%. Be real: Trump is a clown; he has always been a clown. He should have been crushed in 2016; he should have had no shot at getting the GOP nomination. After four years of an illegitimate presidency with clownish buffoonery and serial disasters, he is only -4.4% from reelection? See, the fault is with the people. That's the way it works with democratic legitimacy. My nightmare, and it's not a dream, but reality, is that the American people have been exposed. We do not comprise a responsible electorate; we are irresponsible, undemocratic bumpkins who cannot be trusted with the vote. Democratic theory itself is now openly questioned.
Although bettors are putting their money on a Trump reelection let's say he loses by 4.4%. The rest of the world is going to be all,"the nightmare is over?" "America, Lead us again"? Bullshit. Unless 2016 and 2020 are seen to be illegitimate a close Trump loss in both elections is going result in, "63,000,000 Americans are clowns; we're not going to be led by 63,000,000 clowns."
...much of the world has started to feel sorry for a nation laid low by the lethal ineptitude of President Trump. [How humiliating that we had to get masks and other equipment from China, who Trump blamed for the virus.]
“The country Trump promised to make great again has never in its history seemed so pitiful,” wrote Fintan O’Toole in The Irish Times. And he asked: “Will American prestige ever recover from this shameful episode?”
...
America has a failed federal government, laughed at and pitied the world over. But America is not a failed state. It will be saved by its scientists and doctors, its hospitals and universities, its nimble and creative companies, and leaders in the statehouses who act more decisively than the family of frauds in the White House.
As to the Irishman’s question: Will American prestige ever recover? Not for some time. Our image abroad took a real hit after Trump’s election, and it has continued to fall. Most of the world now has no confidence in the president’s leadership.
...
But then, the same is true with most Americans. Welcome to our nightmare.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/08/opinion/coronavirus-trump.html
I was talking to the attendant at Subway recently. From her accent, she's an immigrant from Haiti, a full-fledged American citizen now. She said when she gets asked where she's from she is embarrassed and tries to avoid answering that she's American. Imagine that.
There is something about seeing yourself through others' eyes. There was something for me about seeing us through my own eyes when abroad. I have told this story before too: I was in France, abroad for the first time, when the Rodney King beating, captured on videotape, was made public. I used to get up early to feed my baby boy and the CBS Evening News was replayed in Lyon at 6 a.m. local time. That was one of the searing experiences of my life, htg. I was so depressed. And embarrassed. I would have been embarrassed to answer "American" if a Frenchman asked where I was from (which (s)he probably would not have since it was so obvious).
Now on this guy's points. America will recover its standing in the world but it will take a long time. I have written this before, too: I don't think you recover from this, Trump's election in 2016, I mean. And what if he gets reelected? It is because I do not think that the U.S. can recover that I thought it was so important that Trump be seen to be illegitimate (his greatest fear, btw). If he had been seen to be illegitimate then you write these four years off with citation to Hamilton 68. But if not...
"America has a failed federal government...But America is not a failed state. It will be saved by its scientists and doctors..." Don't be ridiculous. Scientists and doctors did not save the American people from a goddamned medical condition. They can't save the goddamned state. A state is a political entity and the dumb ass in charge wants the scientists and doctors to inject light and heat and disinfectants into people's bodies.
In a democracy, even a quasi-democracy corrupted by Russia, one cannot separate "the government" from the people. "A failed federal government" was the choice of 63,000,000 people who were failures at life. And even after four years of "a failed federal government," a banana republic, a "shithole country," the Failure in Chief trails Joe Biden by only 4.4% (RCP average). He lost the 2016 popular vote by 2.1%. Be real: Trump is a clown; he has always been a clown. He should have been crushed in 2016; he should have had no shot at getting the GOP nomination. After four years of an illegitimate presidency with clownish buffoonery and serial disasters, he is only -4.4% from reelection? See, the fault is with the people. That's the way it works with democratic legitimacy. My nightmare, and it's not a dream, but reality, is that the American people have been exposed. We do not comprise a responsible electorate; we are irresponsible, undemocratic bumpkins who cannot be trusted with the vote. Democratic theory itself is now openly questioned.
Although bettors are putting their money on a Trump reelection let's say he loses by 4.4%. The rest of the world is going to be all,"the nightmare is over?" "America, Lead us again"? Bullshit. Unless 2016 and 2020 are seen to be illegitimate a close Trump loss in both elections is going result in, "63,000,000 Americans are clowns; we're not going to be led by 63,000,000 clowns."
...much of the world has started to feel sorry for a nation laid low by the lethal ineptitude of President Trump. [How humiliating that we had to get masks and other equipment from China, who Trump blamed for the virus.]
“The country Trump promised to make great again has never in its history seemed so pitiful,” wrote Fintan O’Toole in The Irish Times. And he asked: “Will American prestige ever recover from this shameful episode?”
...
America has a failed federal government, laughed at and pitied the world over. But America is not a failed state. It will be saved by its scientists and doctors, its hospitals and universities, its nimble and creative companies, and leaders in the statehouses who act more decisively than the family of frauds in the White House.
As to the Irishman’s question: Will American prestige ever recover? Not for some time. Our image abroad took a real hit after Trump’s election, and it has continued to fall. Most of the world now has no confidence in the president’s leadership.
...
But then, the same is true with most Americans. Welcome to our nightmare.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/08/opinion/coronavirus-trump.html
