The US now presents itself as a lawless and piratical nation, plundering and pillaging the assets of a poorer neighbor. Serious question: Are most Americans okay with that?
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@gleick yes, since at least the Monroe doctrine.
@gleick A plurality are, and enough to make up a sizeable majority in addition just don't really care that much.
i'm definitely not OK with it, but i feel powerless to stop it, especially since he's targetted my community too. i'm focused on protecting myself and my community more than anything right now.
@gleick I don't think so, but I feel like I don't understand that whole "USA! USA!" vibe either.
@gleick im ready to quit my job to avoid paying taxes
@gleick I don’t feel the need to even ANSWER this question as an African American.
@gleick I think very few civilians are okay with it. I am worried about the number in the military who *are* okay with it. And there lies the problem: power.
Yes, we will continue to resist, in every way we know how, but do not mistake our inability to fight the power of the government, police, military, courts, etc. as some evidence that we are okay with anything happening. I would no sooner ask the children if they were okay with their dad beating their mom. It can really come down to power dynamics.
@gleick no. but America's involvement in South America is nothing new. #colonialism
@gleick I have one MAGA friend from Texas, and he is mostly overjoyed at how well the stock market is doing.
This guy gets all his news from Fox, is well inside the information bubble, routinely, uncritically parrots the party line - he thinks this great.
Is he representative of "most" Americans? Well they won with 49.8% so, probably not, but it's a frustratingly slim margin.
@gleick There hasn't been time for in-depth polling, but I found this:
https://apnews.com/article/poll-venezuela-trump-foreign-policy-15c94665b41312f5613772726d710905
I, personally, am disgusted by it.
Sadly, most Republican Americans are OK with it. You can tell where a person gets their news by their beliefs. I take the temperature of the people around me. GOP voters deny reality. The lawlessness & unconstitutional actions that bother me they just say "that's not real". And they believe they're right. The propagandists poisoning their minds are evil.
Any liberal that's OK with this is a fascist. Most GOP are already fascist. Facebook and the rest are not helping.
I don't know about most but I am not! Thank you!
@gleick According to what I've heard, about 1/3rd of Americans have believed the regime's propaganda and say they support the attack on Venezeula.
It's also worth mentioning that despite what the world believes about us, only about 1/3rd of American households contain firearms.
Most of the firearms owners in America are supporters of the regime, and most of the opposition has completely disarmed itself and feels smug and superior about that.
So, what would you have us do? Storm the capital?
@gleick yes, they are
@gleick
I think the issue is the insane amount disinformation and money into propping up sources that "seem," reliable. I know people who fully distrust the media and only trust this random source. They fully believe the media is somehow slandering Trump and that good is coming of his presidency. When all the news around you seems to have disinformation, its easy for sweet talkers to pretend to they are informed average joes spreading the actual truth.
They sees the falling gas prices believes that everything is going well. I'll admit this peraon isn't the most educated person, but I'm willing to bet a lot of people aren't. When things you physically see aren't collapsing, its hard to believe that the candidate you voted for isn't actually being slandered.
This person also sees the thing in Venezuela as Trump freeing the country of a dictator and believes he will develop the oil reserves and split it fairly between Venezuela and the US.
@gleick i think most of my fellow Yankees dont care at all, they are just "good citizens"
@gleick as late night comedy said: only about a third of American support the invasion of Venezuela. Another third thought that Maduro was a weight loss drug, ask your doctor about it
@gleick The super rich are plundering everything, doesn't matter what flag they wave, and it seems like most people don't give two farts as long as they get a sliver of the action. Many US states are currently being plundered to build Stargate. Hell, everyone's brains are being plundered too, all in the name of AI.
@gleick Of course not. We're fighting with the tools we have and it won't be an easy fight to win. He has the military, the courts and the congress.
No fucking way am I OK with that!
Most aren't, but this is the norm now in the fascist multipolar world. Russian land grabs, US more lawless invasions, China stripping the oceans across the world, propagating debt colonialism etc.
Three big mafia states dividing up the world and no one strong, united or aware enough to stand up to them. People in the US are only now re-learning the lessons from before the New Deal era, the power of unions, what organizing power looks like beyond merely vote. The momentum is slow.
@gleick Well, according to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2024_United_States_presidential_election, the turnout was only 64.1%, and only 48.3% out of those opposed Trump.
Less than 2% of the population turned out to the No Kings protests.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/June_2025_No_Kings_protests
Yeah, the numbers don't look great!
That is not to say we shouldn't keep fighting for those who do care and suffer unjustly, even if it's a minority.
@gleick NO we are not! And we remember that this is the troubled history of this nation, set up to benefit the very few at everyone else’s expense
Nope.
But, as another commenter mentioned, many feel powerless to stop the juggernaut they've built so they can be the baddies now.
It's been a systematic effort for years and years to put most folks on the rails, so, as we can only struggle to keep our heads above water, they can amass great fortune at the world's expense.
It is a schozoid split of a country, and unethical, greedy, lawless dipshits are at the wheel now. It's what the republicans have wanted for decades, apparently. Not a republic; an extractive capitalist machine that sucks the world dry for little green pieces of paper and gold-plated toilets.
They can't eat gold. It will take the working and serving class stopping feeding their delusions and stopping serving the billionaires to start change.
That won't happen; a general strike would only hurt us, not them. They can wait it out in their bunkers and on their yachts. We would starve, because we don't have systems for mutual aid and community care in place, and we don't have much wealth to distribute amongst ourselves to keep us afloat.
To put it mildly, it's quite the pickle.
@gleick Most Americans feel they don’t have any power to stop it
@gleick …and do they really understand that unless they act NOW, posterity will hold them accountable?
No, but unfortunately a critical mass is.
@gleick
This American in particular is not. Unfortunately 35% of my country voted for this crap, and while that's not a majority, they're very loud and obnoxious. And, for some reason, the rest of us can't seem to get those toddlers to stop screaming and crying.
We're failing, it's like we're trying to gentle parent 1/3rd of our country and it's not working.
@gleick Most Americans are sleepwalking.
@gleick Most Americans in the Orange States are. Most Americans in the Free States are not. America is two countries on this basis.
Serious answer - "America First" always promised letting Trump act above the law.
So, yes, his voters certainly are okay with it (that's about 30% and overwhelmingly white). His opponents always knew the risks and tried to stop him (another 30%, overwhelmingly not white). The remaining 40% avoid all politics and just try to survive the day.
@gleick ...the answer may be found in the call volume to members of Congress, esp the number of citizens calling for impeachment.
Have they been okay with the US *being* such a nation back when its leaders strained to pretend it was something else?
"Some" Americans welcome that lawless, greedy behavior and applaud it: American Empire.
Those that oppose it are unfortunately not in power. What is to be done?
Nation was established in a climate of active rebellion...do some have will to reclaim ???
@gleick I'm not, and I pray in November most aren't.
@gleick this American isn’t
@gleick they voted for Trump so I can only assume so… you get the politicians you deserve.
@gleick Do most Americans understand that might be an essential preliminary question.