With something like this, we know we are on the right track.
Ohhh man, thats too good. Our hats are made in the EU, not “chyna”
This makes me so happy!
LOL, “how dare you MEGA!”
“slams”?
Defending oneself is one of the most basic forms of self-interest. It’s in the fucking name.
I don’t believe for a second the man fails to see the hypocrisy - he and his masters exercise hypocrisy like a muscle.
If I read this comment last year I would have responded that they are fucking with us, saying insane bullshit to draw attention. Nowadays I am just convinced that they are idiots, somehow western institutions of all stripes have managed to draw in the most inane peoples possible. I don’t think this man or Trump can be hypocritical, they just lack the cognitive capacity to be consistent.
I’ve learned to split my assessment between followers and authoritarians. The followers tend to be like that, good at compartmentalizing and kinda just plain dumb, but the authoritarians follow a more dark triad pattern. Fairly normal intelligence, on the low end - but definitely smart enough to know they’re getting away with something.
The followers are also authoritarians, that’s why they follow.
The leaders aren’t just authoritarian, they’re also high on social dominance. That why they seek leadership.
I wasn’t using the right word - but I’ve read the book. We’re on the same page
Weren’t they just bitching about Europe not having their own defense and relying too much on the US?
Yes, but they don’t actually want Europe to be able to defend itself, they want European money to buy American weapons
What’s that?
Yep, thanks.
Well yeah. That’s how it’s supposed to work isn’t it, capitalism?
It’s protectionism, and it doesn’t work.
Protecting against hostile actions taken by the US United States?
Protectionism doesn’t work whoever applies it. America has tried this before. The EU’s single market is protectionist as well.
Free market capitalism doesn’t work either, because the invisible hand doesn’t work. So regulated capitalism, which you seem to be conflating with protectionism, mitigate the downsides of capitalism and isolationism to give something that isn’t as bad as either.
True. But free trade works. Tariffs like the US is using and non tariff barriers like the EU use doesn’t.
It’s made even worse when you add austerity because that reduces your internal single market trade as well.
Free trade is not the same thing as free market capitalism. Canada and the US had a free trade deal for decades, but there were still limits on what or how much could be traded, and still had tariffs on some things (mainly agricultural products) even when they had a free trade agreement.
That was my point. Protectionism reduces comparative advantage.
“Spend more on defense!”
…
“Wait, not like that!”
Exactly. Spend more mantra was so transparent from the get go.
I mean yeah it is ‘self-interest’, that’s not a gotcha. This is what the US wanted, Europe taking more control over their defence. Maybe if they hadn’t been so aggressive and stupid in their approach, countries would have continued buying US weapons.
Absolutly a self own by Trump
This is what the US wanted, Europe taking more control over their defence.
Buying more US weapons, not developing their own… Read the fine prints for hell’s sake 😜
The problem is that Republicans have demonstrated that they are perfectly fine having a leader who will just whip out sanctions left and right, often for no readily apparent reason. Continuing to rely on US manufactured weapons constitutes an unacceptable national security risk, because at any point support for those weapon systems maybe withdrawn.
They should have maybe thought about this before letting the international skid mark loose.
hahahahahahahaaaa
Um… yes?
The Pentagon has fiercely opposed the move, despite the US administration heaping pressure on NATO’s European allies to become more independent in their self-defence.>
Left hand - right hand, meet.
You mean like with the “made in america” push and the aggressive taxing?
Well, surely he is an expert on the topic of self-interest.
