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by thisislife2·1y ago·view on hn ↗
All this worry mongering about Trump / MAGA is just political ignorance.

As the oldest democracy in the world, with a deliberate 2 party system that is essentially ideologically similar, the US political system is quite resilient. Yes, a "deep state" or a "military-industrial complex" does have enormous influence over the country - but there's nothing truly insidious about it when you realise that it is a part of the US political system. It is somewhat undemocratic, but it still acts as one of the checks and balances of US political system to ensure the US remains a superpower (i.e. it only comes into picture on superpower politics). It is composed of the core of the US capitalistic system, whose leaders also have a lot of political influence. Both the US political parties understand that you need this "deep state / MIL complex" to continue to be a superpower, and so a US President is only ever allowed to freely exercise his democratic powers domestically (i.e. in America) and for routine foreign diplomacy. For anything else related to superpower politics, the President of the US does not have a free hand in any manner of speaking - it's a 100+ year old idea and institute that has ensured the US becomes the eminent (and now sole) superpower in the world.

And Trump is going to be a President only for a few years. (Again, note, by design - term limits in the US political systems ensure authoritarianism cannot flourish).

Moreover, many might not remember that once the US developed nuclear weapons during WW 2, with the help of British and other European scientists, it immediately expelled British scientists from its research labs and worked to deny this technology to the British. The British had to do their own research to create nuclear weapons. (But they still chose to be dependent on the US because they understand the value of alliances - it's always better to fight a war alongside someone, than alone). The delivery systems for nuclear weapons are much easier to create, especially when you have wealth and help from others (alliances). Even if by some rare and extraordinary fluke, the US explodes from within, the British can easily catchup.

3 comments
Brits who were just told their boys dying for the US when the US asked means nothing don't agree with you. Those watching America throw away an entire country don't agree with you. "Ah the good old American's up to their old tricks" isn't gonna cover this one.
Nothing is going to happen that's gonna cause any long-term political damage to the alliance. It's all superpower politics at work here - the 800 billion that EU countries are now committing to bolster their military is exactly what America has been asking for decades now from its NATO allies in EU. (To understand politics, don't look at what politicians say, but do - the actual political actions they take reveal their true goals / intentions).
Bullshit. Germany, France, and the UK ALREADY meet their NATO commitments.

You are excluding trust and relationships. You can't just ignore the impact of both of those. Those are gone and aren't coming back.

It is not 4d chess to achieve something that was already occurring PRIOR to the 4d chess move. It is a petty asshole being petty, and it will cost the US dearly.

> Germany, France, and the UK ALREADY meet their NATO commitments.

And are they the only members of NATO?

> You are excluding trust and relationships.

No. All that talk is just a hype in the western media to make the increase in defence spending more palatable to European citizens. The European politicians know nothing really has changed in the strategic relationship with the US. In the short-term, yes, there will be some small damage. But both sides consider it minor and acceptable to the larger goal of pumping more money into their military alliance.

> And Trump is going to be a President only for a few years.

Except people are going silent, cowed into submission by threats of violence: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/06/us/politics/trump-democra...

They're "scared shitless": https://www.vanityfair.com/news/story/trump-congress-politic...

And this has been going on for a while: https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2023/11/mitt-ro...

Trump's already tried to overthrow one election and he's already talking about trying to get a third term.

He may even try to confect an excuse to stop midterm elections. I wouldn't put it past him.

I am talking about international politics and you are talking about domestic politics. (Even with domestic politics, the political institutions of America are quite robust, and can withstand an assault on it. Not saying it won't hurt, but no long-term damage that can't be easily addressed is going to happen in America.)
> you are talking about domestic politics.

It turns out it matters who runs the country and how they run it.

Respectfully, we are in the comments section of an article about international diplomacy and the parent commenter really went out of their way for their comment to be exclusively about US foreign policy.

It’s also worth discussing domestic policy, that’s just not this thread.

Who do you think is setting foreign policy? How sure are you that "Trump is going to be a President only for a few years"? Even if elections proceed as normal, how sure are you that JD Vance, for example, won't win the next term? You don't think JD Vance's foreign policy would be different, do you?

This is precisely this thread.

>All this worry mongering about Trump / MAGA is just political ignorance

You are saying this as if it hasn't had very real consequences already?!

What real consequences that truly hurt (or will hurt) in the long term, has happened, in your opinion?