Miles Taylor, who served as chief of staff at the Department of Homeland Security during Trump's first term, tore into the administration's handling of its relationship with Canada in a new Substack post.

"Canada is demonstrating, for every democracy watching, that the response to Trump’s bullying should be neither submission nor hysteria… but the calm construction of alternatives," he wrote. "Our allies aren’t leaving because they hate America. They’re leaving because they miss us, and they can’t stand the bully who’s holding us hostage."

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[–] 2 points 2 hours ago* (4 children)

You need to educate the >30% that still support Trump and his party.

You need to educate people generally. There is no quick fix for what ails the United States. It will take decades and probably generations.

You need to restore the rule of law and compassion for your fellows. Not fascist brutality, but just laws applied to all with reasonable force and consequences. And it has to apply to presidents and billionaires as much as to homeless people.

You need to do something about the grotesque and harmful disparity of wealth. Not just the occasional, sensational murder. Real structural change and stop venerating the greedy sociopaths. There has never been a 'free' economy. Capitalism exists only to the extent that governments support it. Unregulated, it is harmful. You need to reign it in. Not eliminate it, there is much that is good about it. But currently, it has run amok and is obviously dysfunctional.

You need healthcare, shelter and food security for everyone. That the wealthiest society in the history of humanity has homeless people dying on the streets without healthcare is a travesty.

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  • [–] 3 points 1 hour ago (3 children)

    You have nailed the basic rot of our society but underestimate the work. Community has fragmented so much that reaching these people is, well difficult. There is a few major problems, first the media has done an incredible job of convincing a major portion of the population to hate their own children. I am still amazed they pulled off this alchemy, but people who identify as conservative are willing to believe that their own adult children are just lazy lairs corrupted by the liberal media instead of the basic fact that capitalism is failing young people. It’s baffling and terrifying that they’re willing to cut off family instead of examining their own circumstances. Second, furthering the community collapse is the lack of jobs in rural areas. Educated Americans go to get jobs, but jobs that require a college education only spawn in blue areas. So these folks tend to be branded traitors by the community they left behind and the new area they vote in already agrees with them. It’s a huge self selection bias. Ugh then there’s AI and social media making the disinformation even worse and I am trying to disentangle that in my own family.

    TL:DR- we’re really sick and distrustful. People are trying and while you’re not wrong to criticize please give us some grace as we figure out how to out maneuver our billionaire controlled media to undo this brainwashing. Also you’re not wrong saying it will take decades.

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  • [–] 3 points 1 hour ago (2 children)

    Hear, hear!

    It's a long journey. I hope the upcoming elections prove a small step towards improvement.

    Most of the world can't vote in them, despite the outsized impact of them on everyone. The American Revolution long ago coined the slogan "No taxation without representation", for good reason. I think a better slogan for the modern era would be "No invasion without representation" but, of course, it won't happen. But maybe the United States at least will not progress to a hot war with Canada. That would be good.

    I wish good luck to all the reasonable, moral people trying to do the right things, who are able to vote. I know there are many.

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  • [–] 2 points 1 hour ago (1 child)

    We thank you for your patience in these troubling times. I am sure that you have heard this enough but we really don’t want to do a real life Canadian Bacon. Although that and South Park: Bigger, Longer, Uncut are funny films. I do assure you that there is a lot going on locally that doesn’t get as much coverage. Please keep some faith in us, we’re trying and it’s so very hard.

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