Donald J. Trump (For everyone else except Victor)

yeah, moral judgement aside, he seems to have a knack for wresting and staying in power

a ton of people fled and the remaining fraction was willing to keep living normally.

can't really blame an IQ 86 disabled person for staying, or a 70y old, or claim that's proof Putin was liked or accepted.

but we are talking after 30-40% of residents went away. all normal people left.

Millions were displaced even before the formal Russian invasion

"X must be so clever, because X has been a dictator for a long time"

This is a tired argument that underestimate the right to free speech and the right to assembly.

Authoritarians and dictators live in countries where speaking up against them is very difficult, often illegal and very, very dangerous. What is even more difficult, more illegal and even more dangerous is trying to organize an alternative to their rule.

Now, we can probably argue that some people are better at being dictators then others, but the argument that you are somehow very clever and skilled because you rule for a long time in a country that has made it illegal or all but illegal to oppose you is simply not true. Also, it is generally very hard to differentiate mythos from reality when it comes to these personas, simply because the entire system around them is geared to be servile and credulous. An apt phenomena to bring up in this thread, as we see the same thing with Trump and his supporters.

If anyone wants evidence, then simply look to history. There is no shortage of idiot monarchs, and you can find many with long unhappy reigns.

bruh, you're out of your element

at some point you need to acknowledge that luck factors and variance aside, it's hard to stay in power and those who do so are usually talented at that

thousands of people try to rule like Putin did and only a handful worldwide in the last 60-70 years manage for decades.

yet "very serious people" disagree those specially talented evil monsters are really uniquely good at what they do compared to the huge number of wonnabe authoritarians that just get slaughtered by opponents.

they can't even vaguely understand the enemy, leftism is really a brain disease that makes you fully incapable of understanding reality.

And so here we are, with America’s place on the global stage completely undone by a fat orange halfwit and the dipshits who gave them power cuz something something DEI for the rest of our lifetimes

You are never gonna learn the lesson are you? The reason your tribe is deeply hated by tens of millions of people?

Keep losing bro and whining

I can’t understand you because everything you say sounds like gibberish when you’re gobbling on putin’s…. boot. Giving it that guack guack 9000.

Now I understand the comments from earlier, you’re just legitimately braindead and a loss cause on this issue

Your tribe is deeply hated by tens of millions too. Luciom you have become even more stupid and bitter. Is it because you realize Republicans are really that stupid and you thought they weren’t? I remember when you actually had a backbone about Ukraine now you’re just a limp dick.

As presumptions go this is a mistake

To the extent I read the posts that quote him it’s aggressively clear this form of Lucy is exactly what he/it has always been. Now he/it is just comfortable taking the mask off

Yeah I give him that 😀

It’s true but Rickroll has a point 2 .
Aka to be a long standing criminal for decades u must have some intelligence if u never got caught and be able to do it for so long ….

How exactly is this relevant to anything? Yes, Putin has shown himself very good at staying in power, so....

We should let him take over more territory without a fight?

We should support having a dictatorship with fake elections here in the US?

ah yes, good posting

for the record i'm fully onboard with supporting ukraine to the full extent and even already have plans to volunteer there once the war is over

that fondness for ukraine and deep support of their independence doesn't mean i'm just going to close my eyes and pretend that they are both a historic ally and it's ahistorical for them to be part of the greater russian sphere

I’m not blaming Biden. It is the fault of every politician who fought to keep parts of the economy closed for so long during and after Covid, ballooned the size of govt spending - especially after Covid and the fed for printing money at 3x the normal rate.

I think a recession is likely. However, I think we will look back in a year or two and say Q1 2025’s GDP reduction was at least in part due to a significant increase in imports to get ahead of trumps tariffs. Conversely a reduction in imports in future quarters (over the next couple years) will also make economic growth seem better than it really is.

Boat, interesting thought but I’ve said almost the complete opposite maybe 50+ times on 2+2 that:

1) a president gets way too much credit/blame for things that happen on his watch that are good/bad - especially when it comes to the economy
2) The President has way less control over the economy than most people think.
3) the US economy is a battleship and can’t turn on a dime. Policies often takes years to decades to really feel their full effects.

I don’t know much about BG except what he’s posted itt over the last 24 hours but I think I agree with almost everything he’s said about stocks and the economy:

There is a lag effect in the economy on policy changes
Economy doesn’t equal the stock market
The stock market is overvalued

The only thing I have a slight problem with is his take that if stocks are up 30% over trumps next 4 years it can only be because trump devalued the dollar. If the market is up that much there is a chance that could be the reason but I think there are other scenarios where we could be up 30% over 4 years.

haha true, but we have always had a positive dialogue around ukraine so I just assumed that would continue. I have been out of debating politics for a few months and I don’t remember Luciom being unfair. In fact he has tried to argue that Republicans are responsible for supporting Ukraine not dems.