Trump will claim victory no matter what, so Europe shouldn’t optimize for Truth Social.
Denmark isn’t backing down, Rutte can’t negotiate for Denmark or the EU, and he can’t “sell” Greenland. His lane is basically to keep NATO from imploding and offer Trump something he can call a win without Europe actually conceding anything. Which mostly means repackaging what the US already has, or what allies were already willing to do anyway (more Arctic coordination, surveillance, access, exercises).
This is the geopolitical equivalent of the fake bus stop outside a memory-care facility. The shuttle will be here shortly.
Mike, consider their MO was to let him think he got ‘something’ which was really nothing, just so he’d go away quietly? Sometimes with a changeable, raging, imbecile as he is, if they cut him off fast and short, he’d be so enraged in his delirium that he’d retaliate. All it took was for Norway to not give him the peace prize to have him go berserk. Perhaps, they decided to give him a crumb to make him go away. They could manipulate the negotiated crumb afterward when they were in a stronger position.
We’d all surely understand wanting him to go away soon and empty handed because we’ve had more than we can stomach from him. A foreign journalist aptly described him as half toddler/half dictator. How apt. -Nadine Long
Yes, but this softly, softly approach is what got us here in the first place. If people just said no, you're a crazy man, and refused to take it any further, Trump would be clearing tables. But his strategy is to make outrageous demands and threats, knowing everyone will freak out, then when he backs off a little, back to what he actually wanted, we think we won. When actually, HE won. Someone needs to just say no. Stand up to the tyrant and call him out for what he is. Clearly there are no Democrats with a spine. And he removed anyone in his own party who might cross him. But I really did think world leaders would raise the middle finger.
“That was the moment. That was the off-ramp. The correct European response was four words: “Good. There is nothing further to discuss.”
I disagree, Trump will never take a loss, he’ll just come back in a different way even more vengeful. The European’s are correct; engage and string him along. Let him believe he won even when he loses, otherwise, he’ll continue on his rampage.
Remember, it’s not just about his ego, he wants NATO destroyed; European’s aren’t ready to go it alone, and need time to scale up their own Military Industrial Complex and capabilities, outside of US involvement.
Not to mention, their resources are being diverted away from what’s truly important; continuing to rebuild their respective economies after several years of recession, and stopping Putin’s aggression by any means possible.
Therefore, you need to give them some slack, they are putting it to Trump for the first time ever; knowing full well that accommodating Trump and flattery has its limits!…:)
You misunderstand Mr. Trump's psychology, I think. Carney has been badmouthing America for the past however many months, and Trump largely ignores him. Trump is a coward. He's a bully. You must push back. Trump also ignores Gavin Newsom. Look at the evidence that Trump is a coward. It's all around. But we are surrounded by people afraid of him, and it's a serious problem.
I’m not misunderstanding; I agree, Trump is a coward, and the reason Ive been saying he will never invade for weeks; it was always about destroying NATO, but making the European’s own it.
And I agree, you have to push back, but the Canadian and European economies are intertwined with US; especially Canada’s, which is why his speech about the strength of Middle Powers united was so prescient .
Additionally Carney is being extremely cerebral; he’s making deals with China and other nations. They are also about to purchase 130 SAAB fighter jets, so they are trying to reduce their independence on the US both economically and militarily.
They can’t just say “F” you today, unless you want the petulant five year old on your radar. They already envision a world without the US and are planning accordingly. It’s the US and most of the pundits who can’t see the writing on the wall, or what’s actually happening in real-time; they are decoupling from us in every way possible.
Don’t forget, they also see what ICE is doing to immigrants, US citizens and citizens of their own countries, and recognize the US is no longer synonymous with liberty, freedom or democracy.
Donald has been mostly ignoring Carney, right up until Carney called out Donald's smashing of the post-WWII international order with a speech that bookended Louis St. Laurent's outlining its principles:
Then Donald decided to threaten us with invasion again by claiming that we only exist because the US lets us exist.
Pushing back against Donald is important, yes, but his threats must also be taken in complete seriousness, because if he ever does decide to act on them (as he did with Maduro) it will be devastating. His threat to "remember" is likely what drove Europe into continuing to negotiate, so that he can get some sort of "win", even if, as many others have noted, said "win" is just a repackaging of existing deals (like the one that lets the US put troops in Greenland as long as Denmark and Greenland are notified) that he can put his own name on.
EDIT: It's also that Donald is mercurial at the best of times. He can say something yesterday (invade Greenland), go back on it the next (not invading Greenland, but we still want it), and then who knows if he'll flip again. Giving him a deal he can wave around and call a "win" is possibly better, and from the point of view of the rest of NATO, it can just be stuff they're doing anyway. (For instance, agree that: the US can station troops in Greenland with notice, which they already could anyway; NATO allies will beef up Arctic security, which they're doing anyway; NATO will monitor more closely for increased Russian or Chinese activity in the region, which is hardly a big concession since it serves NATO's interest anyway; enhancing the detection capabilities in the GIUK gap, which needs doing regardless, so again hardly a big concession.)
Nope. This is where the line should have been drawn. People going softly, softly and assuming they can negotiate or placate this tyrant are what got us here in the first place. Europe and the rest of the world should not bow to this embarrassment of a man. Like Canada, they should just pivot away. If Trump threatens tariffs, trade with someone else. Leave the US to the chaos they voted for. Show some spine for God's sake.
What I think this misses is that Europe has two contradictory interests.
They don't want to show Trump that his bullying works; that just encourages more bullying. But his threat to "remember" means that he'll just keep bullying anyway, whether they negotiate or not. So not having him be a schoolyard bully is off the table from Europe's perspective.
The other thing Europe wants is to get the Greenland issue off the table. Just saying "no" doesn't necessarily do that; he could just come up with some other excuse, or, because he's a mercurial toddler, go back on his word and send troops in the dead of night anyway to raid Nuuk and kidnap Nielsen the way he did with Caracas and Maduro.
As I noted above, there are "concessions" the rest of NATO can make that aren't really concessions at all. What Europe is probably banking on is that, since Trump loves to make deals, they can make a deal with him that simply preserves existing treaty obligations (the right to station US troops in Greenland) and "concedes" things that NATO should be doing anyway, or is already doing. The troop buildup in Greenland is no longer about deterring US aggression; it gets reframed as deterring Russian and Chinese aggression, and not putting all of that on the US forces there, and so on. The toddler can have his deal to wave around and Europe can (it hopes) get the Greenland issue off the table for good, without making any concessions comparable to the Sudeten annexation.
A "deal" is a shiny bauble you dangle in front of Trump and can usually be made with no actual obligations, and what actual obligations there are disappear the second he does. I don't think this is as much of a concession to Trump as you are imagining.
The psychopathology underlying bullying isn’t that confounding. Bullies suffer from self-loathing - in varying degrees and from various causes - and project it onto whoever and whatever serves their immediate impulsive needs. Often in the form of anger, cruelty, abuse, insults, gaslighting, violence - what they’d do to themselves if they weren’t deathly afraid of pulling back the curtain to understand their own inner workings. All they know is that there’s an anger or rage inside and it needs to be expressed. Because most of us dislike angry conflicts, bullies are too often appeased or accommodated. But that just kicks the can down the road, usually reinforcing the bully’s sense of powerful agency and making his subsequent bullying even worse, more audacious and outrageous. The person or group that says “enough” and refuses to interact with the bully, or actively hurts or injures the bully, sets the terms. Such defiance won’t change or “fix” the bully - that isn’t possible due to the underlying psychopathology - but it will deprive him of the powerful feelings of dominance that bullying so reliably delivers, will cause him to seek out other, easier and more pliable victims of his projected self-loathing. Like the corporations, universities and law firms that have kowtowed and continue to do so.
The EU would be wise to shut the door on MAGA America and refuse to play the bully’s game…
I'm with you Mike. I listened to Carney offer a dignified "out" for timid nations. That there was strength in numbers and presenting a united front, plus mutual protection against trump's wrath. And what does Rutte do? Appease. Makes me sick.
Another view on Venezuela/Greenland: Trump is driving himself to be the Davos world capo, the mafia king of the techno-fascist oligarchs. Global competition for critical minerals and other resources is out of hand, and the oligarchs are looking for a new order that will assure their continued control against the people and the planet. They grow desperate as the economy fractures over inequality and Overreach. They realize that a revolution is coming that will destroy them, and they will do awful things to assure the race to the bottom is theirs. Davos doesn’t represent Europeans any more than it does Americans, but they control the vibe and talking points. Why are we listening and not marching?
Techno-fascist billionaires are spending big money now in congressional races, and media keep kowtowing, against good judgment as chaos penetrates their inner circles. It's why Repugnicans feel compelled to stick with Trump and talk otherwise, and it’s why misfits are coming out of the woodwork to run for office. But with public arousal, anyone with sense is between a rock and a hard place, and increasingly stressed out, uttering silliness and raising bad faith another octave. It's why many -- with any self-respect -- are bowing out. Watch for a cascade of resignations in the next few months as the opposition mounts (and No Kings marches again).
The techno-fascist mafia doesn't know how to govern anything, and rely on a self-appointed idiot who knows less than they do. The mafia only knows brute force, threatening Republicans’ families; Repugnicans are running scared. It’s why candidates and the rest of us need to urge getting out from under their thumb.
Yep, this is Europe failing to handle Trump the same way Dems have failed at home. Trump bluffs and tries it on, the more outrageous his demands the better. People protest, he backs down a little, there's a "negotiation" then Trump gets what he actually wanted in the first place. Everyone falls for this strategy every time. The dems or the Europeans or whoever, walk away feeling like they constrained him and got a victory. But in actual fact, they conceded. What SHOULD happen, as you say Mike, is say no and close the door. No negotiation. No backing down, just no. Trump is an evil tyrant and while he might have a grip on the US, he does not control Europe or the rest of the world.
I don’t think Americans are in a position to tell Europe that they fucked this one up… I don’t disagree with the substance of this, but ultimately it’s pretty rich for us to chastise year for how they are failing to meet the moment. This moment is entirely our fault.
Well true, America fucked up, but that shouldn't mean Europe should follow suit and bend the knee to the evil orange tyrant. I think a lot of us were hoping this is where the line would be drawn. Trump might have the US in his grasp, but you can't do the same thing globally. This constant fear of causing offense, of being diplomatic, and trying to reason with Trump, just emboldens him to keep going.
I understand the sentiment 'this is entirely our fault', there are plenty to who agree, and for those of us outside the States, its easy to just say 'leave them to it'. But it's more complex than that. The climate and conditions necessary for Trump to exist have been building for many years. And in that, we're all complicit. America's divisive culture, the misinformation, the violence we're seeing... it didn't just happen. The internet killed journalism, meant we had no keepers of truth, no fact checking, nobody to keep politicians and corporates in line. Then social media gave every nutcase with an axe to grind a voice, gave unqualified celebrities incredible influence, brainwashed generations and made it possible to weaponize people with algorithms... and so on. Anyway, regardless of fault or how we got to this awful place, we need some solidarity if we're going to fix it. If I was in Minnesota I'd be in the street. Easy to say from here I guess, but I would HOPE I would be in the street. As I'm overseas, all I can do is voice my opinion, even if that means offending people in my social circle. I think Trump is an evil tyrant who has to be stopped. All I can say to rational Americans, is that most of the world stands with you. And I'm damn glad we're starting to see it. Even Kier Starmer is starting to act like he has a spine.
You an ally here, my friend. Stay strong, and help keep the authoritarian movement at bay in your own backyard, which is the most important thing we all have to do. As angry as I am about where we are, one thing I know about the American people… we know we fucked up, and we’re in the process of correcting right now. I am monumentally sorry for the damage it’s doing the whole world. Peace.
You too - keep resisting. And don't apologize, this current madness is the result of a lot of bad decisions made by a lot of people over a long time. I'm not American, but I believe in the constitution, and the idea that fundamentally, America tries to do the right thing. The situation is intolerable right now, but Trump can't live forever. There's nobody with his level of stupidity, evil, and personal brand to take over. So eventually, American will get back on track.
Mike, I think it's a mistake to take anything trump says at face value. I'd guess trump ends up with literally no new concessions but claims he "won," in which case he is the coward we knew he was who backed down while trying to sound tough.
Trump will claim victory no matter what, so Europe shouldn’t optimize for Truth Social.
Denmark isn’t backing down, Rutte can’t negotiate for Denmark or the EU, and he can’t “sell” Greenland. His lane is basically to keep NATO from imploding and offer Trump something he can call a win without Europe actually conceding anything. Which mostly means repackaging what the US already has, or what allies were already willing to do anyway (more Arctic coordination, surveillance, access, exercises).
This is the geopolitical equivalent of the fake bus stop outside a memory-care facility. The shuttle will be here shortly.
Mike, consider their MO was to let him think he got ‘something’ which was really nothing, just so he’d go away quietly? Sometimes with a changeable, raging, imbecile as he is, if they cut him off fast and short, he’d be so enraged in his delirium that he’d retaliate. All it took was for Norway to not give him the peace prize to have him go berserk. Perhaps, they decided to give him a crumb to make him go away. They could manipulate the negotiated crumb afterward when they were in a stronger position.
We’d all surely understand wanting him to go away soon and empty handed because we’ve had more than we can stomach from him. A foreign journalist aptly described him as half toddler/half dictator. How apt. -Nadine Long
Yes, but this softly, softly approach is what got us here in the first place. If people just said no, you're a crazy man, and refused to take it any further, Trump would be clearing tables. But his strategy is to make outrageous demands and threats, knowing everyone will freak out, then when he backs off a little, back to what he actually wanted, we think we won. When actually, HE won. Someone needs to just say no. Stand up to the tyrant and call him out for what he is. Clearly there are no Democrats with a spine. And he removed anyone in his own party who might cross him. But I really did think world leaders would raise the middle finger.
I do not understand why these countries bend to Trump, either. "Pax Pretio Empta" (peace bought at a price - if I have that correct), indeed.
Just saw this Truth Social Post from Trump: https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/115934734335579278
Thanks, Mike, for always saying it like it is. Thanks for having our backs.
Blessings and Peace to us all.
Agree. WTF! And don't forget Rutte was the one who called him "daddy" last July. I see this as weakness on NATO's part.
Ugh. They should have sent him (us!) to the proverbial kids’ table at Thanksgiving. Carney already had. 🤦🏻♀️
“That was the moment. That was the off-ramp. The correct European response was four words: “Good. There is nothing further to discuss.”
I disagree, Trump will never take a loss, he’ll just come back in a different way even more vengeful. The European’s are correct; engage and string him along. Let him believe he won even when he loses, otherwise, he’ll continue on his rampage.
Remember, it’s not just about his ego, he wants NATO destroyed; European’s aren’t ready to go it alone, and need time to scale up their own Military Industrial Complex and capabilities, outside of US involvement.
Not to mention, their resources are being diverted away from what’s truly important; continuing to rebuild their respective economies after several years of recession, and stopping Putin’s aggression by any means possible.
Therefore, you need to give them some slack, they are putting it to Trump for the first time ever; knowing full well that accommodating Trump and flattery has its limits!…:)
You misunderstand Mr. Trump's psychology, I think. Carney has been badmouthing America for the past however many months, and Trump largely ignores him. Trump is a coward. He's a bully. You must push back. Trump also ignores Gavin Newsom. Look at the evidence that Trump is a coward. It's all around. But we are surrounded by people afraid of him, and it's a serious problem.
I’m not misunderstanding; I agree, Trump is a coward, and the reason Ive been saying he will never invade for weeks; it was always about destroying NATO, but making the European’s own it.
And I agree, you have to push back, but the Canadian and European economies are intertwined with US; especially Canada’s, which is why his speech about the strength of Middle Powers united was so prescient .
Additionally Carney is being extremely cerebral; he’s making deals with China and other nations. They are also about to purchase 130 SAAB fighter jets, so they are trying to reduce their independence on the US both economically and militarily.
They can’t just say “F” you today, unless you want the petulant five year old on your radar. They already envision a world without the US and are planning accordingly. It’s the US and most of the pundits who can’t see the writing on the wall, or what’s actually happening in real-time; they are decoupling from us in every way possible.
Don’t forget, they also see what ICE is doing to immigrants, US citizens and citizens of their own countries, and recognize the US is no longer synonymous with liberty, freedom or democracy.
Donald has been mostly ignoring Carney, right up until Carney called out Donald's smashing of the post-WWII international order with a speech that bookended Louis St. Laurent's outlining its principles:
https://gac.canadiana.ca/view/ooe.sas_19460113ES/5
https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/mark-carney-davos-speech-foreign-policy-9.7053937
https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/mark-carney-speech-davos-rules-based-order-9.7053350
Then Donald decided to threaten us with invasion again by claiming that we only exist because the US lets us exist.
Pushing back against Donald is important, yes, but his threats must also be taken in complete seriousness, because if he ever does decide to act on them (as he did with Maduro) it will be devastating. His threat to "remember" is likely what drove Europe into continuing to negotiate, so that he can get some sort of "win", even if, as many others have noted, said "win" is just a repackaging of existing deals (like the one that lets the US put troops in Greenland as long as Denmark and Greenland are notified) that he can put his own name on.
EDIT: It's also that Donald is mercurial at the best of times. He can say something yesterday (invade Greenland), go back on it the next (not invading Greenland, but we still want it), and then who knows if he'll flip again. Giving him a deal he can wave around and call a "win" is possibly better, and from the point of view of the rest of NATO, it can just be stuff they're doing anyway. (For instance, agree that: the US can station troops in Greenland with notice, which they already could anyway; NATO allies will beef up Arctic security, which they're doing anyway; NATO will monitor more closely for increased Russian or Chinese activity in the region, which is hardly a big concession since it serves NATO's interest anyway; enhancing the detection capabilities in the GIUK gap, which needs doing regardless, so again hardly a big concession.)
Agreed!…:)
Nope. This is where the line should have been drawn. People going softly, softly and assuming they can negotiate or placate this tyrant are what got us here in the first place. Europe and the rest of the world should not bow to this embarrassment of a man. Like Canada, they should just pivot away. If Trump threatens tariffs, trade with someone else. Leave the US to the chaos they voted for. Show some spine for God's sake.
What I think this misses is that Europe has two contradictory interests.
They don't want to show Trump that his bullying works; that just encourages more bullying. But his threat to "remember" means that he'll just keep bullying anyway, whether they negotiate or not. So not having him be a schoolyard bully is off the table from Europe's perspective.
The other thing Europe wants is to get the Greenland issue off the table. Just saying "no" doesn't necessarily do that; he could just come up with some other excuse, or, because he's a mercurial toddler, go back on his word and send troops in the dead of night anyway to raid Nuuk and kidnap Nielsen the way he did with Caracas and Maduro.
As I noted above, there are "concessions" the rest of NATO can make that aren't really concessions at all. What Europe is probably banking on is that, since Trump loves to make deals, they can make a deal with him that simply preserves existing treaty obligations (the right to station US troops in Greenland) and "concedes" things that NATO should be doing anyway, or is already doing. The troop buildup in Greenland is no longer about deterring US aggression; it gets reframed as deterring Russian and Chinese aggression, and not putting all of that on the US forces there, and so on. The toddler can have his deal to wave around and Europe can (it hopes) get the Greenland issue off the table for good, without making any concessions comparable to the Sudeten annexation.
Agreed, and they are pivoting.
Still waiting for the little boy in the crowd to say “But he hasn’t got anything on!”
This for me, has been the story of the entire fiasco. At what point does America, and the world, point out reality?
A "deal" is a shiny bauble you dangle in front of Trump and can usually be made with no actual obligations, and what actual obligations there are disappear the second he does. I don't think this is as much of a concession to Trump as you are imagining.
The psychopathology underlying bullying isn’t that confounding. Bullies suffer from self-loathing - in varying degrees and from various causes - and project it onto whoever and whatever serves their immediate impulsive needs. Often in the form of anger, cruelty, abuse, insults, gaslighting, violence - what they’d do to themselves if they weren’t deathly afraid of pulling back the curtain to understand their own inner workings. All they know is that there’s an anger or rage inside and it needs to be expressed. Because most of us dislike angry conflicts, bullies are too often appeased or accommodated. But that just kicks the can down the road, usually reinforcing the bully’s sense of powerful agency and making his subsequent bullying even worse, more audacious and outrageous. The person or group that says “enough” and refuses to interact with the bully, or actively hurts or injures the bully, sets the terms. Such defiance won’t change or “fix” the bully - that isn’t possible due to the underlying psychopathology - but it will deprive him of the powerful feelings of dominance that bullying so reliably delivers, will cause him to seek out other, easier and more pliable victims of his projected self-loathing. Like the corporations, universities and law firms that have kowtowed and continue to do so.
The EU would be wise to shut the door on MAGA America and refuse to play the bully’s game…
I'm with you Mike. I listened to Carney offer a dignified "out" for timid nations. That there was strength in numbers and presenting a united front, plus mutual protection against trump's wrath. And what does Rutte do? Appease. Makes me sick.
Of course, they don’t care what he “gets to say.” That’s mainly a problem here in the US, where his endless con game gets a new shot of adrenaline.
But in the long run, it will come back to bite them too, because it further emboldens him. And, as you say, Mike, he only pauses the tariffs.
Spot on.
Another view on Venezuela/Greenland: Trump is driving himself to be the Davos world capo, the mafia king of the techno-fascist oligarchs. Global competition for critical minerals and other resources is out of hand, and the oligarchs are looking for a new order that will assure their continued control against the people and the planet. They grow desperate as the economy fractures over inequality and Overreach. They realize that a revolution is coming that will destroy them, and they will do awful things to assure the race to the bottom is theirs. Davos doesn’t represent Europeans any more than it does Americans, but they control the vibe and talking points. Why are we listening and not marching?
Techno-fascist billionaires are spending big money now in congressional races, and media keep kowtowing, against good judgment as chaos penetrates their inner circles. It's why Repugnicans feel compelled to stick with Trump and talk otherwise, and it’s why misfits are coming out of the woodwork to run for office. But with public arousal, anyone with sense is between a rock and a hard place, and increasingly stressed out, uttering silliness and raising bad faith another octave. It's why many -- with any self-respect -- are bowing out. Watch for a cascade of resignations in the next few months as the opposition mounts (and No Kings marches again).
The techno-fascist mafia doesn't know how to govern anything, and rely on a self-appointed idiot who knows less than they do. The mafia only knows brute force, threatening Republicans’ families; Repugnicans are running scared. It’s why candidates and the rest of us need to urge getting out from under their thumb.
The image of Churchill’s indignant skeleton shambling onward to defend European honor is a vivid one. Well done.
Reasonable for Trump can lead down a very dark tunnel and then into a black hole.
Yep, this is Europe failing to handle Trump the same way Dems have failed at home. Trump bluffs and tries it on, the more outrageous his demands the better. People protest, he backs down a little, there's a "negotiation" then Trump gets what he actually wanted in the first place. Everyone falls for this strategy every time. The dems or the Europeans or whoever, walk away feeling like they constrained him and got a victory. But in actual fact, they conceded. What SHOULD happen, as you say Mike, is say no and close the door. No negotiation. No backing down, just no. Trump is an evil tyrant and while he might have a grip on the US, he does not control Europe or the rest of the world.
I don’t think Americans are in a position to tell Europe that they fucked this one up… I don’t disagree with the substance of this, but ultimately it’s pretty rich for us to chastise year for how they are failing to meet the moment. This moment is entirely our fault.
I stand by every word I said.
Well true, America fucked up, but that shouldn't mean Europe should follow suit and bend the knee to the evil orange tyrant. I think a lot of us were hoping this is where the line would be drawn. Trump might have the US in his grasp, but you can't do the same thing globally. This constant fear of causing offense, of being diplomatic, and trying to reason with Trump, just emboldens him to keep going.
Fair enough
I understand the sentiment 'this is entirely our fault', there are plenty to who agree, and for those of us outside the States, its easy to just say 'leave them to it'. But it's more complex than that. The climate and conditions necessary for Trump to exist have been building for many years. And in that, we're all complicit. America's divisive culture, the misinformation, the violence we're seeing... it didn't just happen. The internet killed journalism, meant we had no keepers of truth, no fact checking, nobody to keep politicians and corporates in line. Then social media gave every nutcase with an axe to grind a voice, gave unqualified celebrities incredible influence, brainwashed generations and made it possible to weaponize people with algorithms... and so on. Anyway, regardless of fault or how we got to this awful place, we need some solidarity if we're going to fix it. If I was in Minnesota I'd be in the street. Easy to say from here I guess, but I would HOPE I would be in the street. As I'm overseas, all I can do is voice my opinion, even if that means offending people in my social circle. I think Trump is an evil tyrant who has to be stopped. All I can say to rational Americans, is that most of the world stands with you. And I'm damn glad we're starting to see it. Even Kier Starmer is starting to act like he has a spine.
You an ally here, my friend. Stay strong, and help keep the authoritarian movement at bay in your own backyard, which is the most important thing we all have to do. As angry as I am about where we are, one thing I know about the American people… we know we fucked up, and we’re in the process of correcting right now. I am monumentally sorry for the damage it’s doing the whole world. Peace.
You too - keep resisting. And don't apologize, this current madness is the result of a lot of bad decisions made by a lot of people over a long time. I'm not American, but I believe in the constitution, and the idea that fundamentally, America tries to do the right thing. The situation is intolerable right now, but Trump can't live forever. There's nobody with his level of stupidity, evil, and personal brand to take over. So eventually, American will get back on track.
Mike, I think it's a mistake to take anything trump says at face value. I'd guess trump ends up with literally no new concessions but claims he "won," in which case he is the coward we knew he was who backed down while trying to sound tough.