It's much easier to destroy than build, and some things once destroyed can't be rebuilt.

Trump's inconsistent tariff and policy flip flopping means no one trusts the US to behave rationally and predictably.

The fact that the US population elected him a second time means that the US as a whole can't be trusted to behave like rational adults.

Decades or centuries of reputation has been thrown away. That can't be changed just by a new face saying "sorry we want to take it back".

▲

ta1243 3 days ago | parent | next [-]

If a new face can reverse policy on a dime, then that reversal can be reversed a couple of years later.

It's amazing how few people seem to understand this. Countries are oil tankers, they take years to turn even a little - and that's a good thing. In 2000 the world broadly knew what was going to happen, Gore and BushII would implement pretty much the same policies. Same thing in 2008 when it was McCain and Obama.

Sure you get some minor tweaks to policies which don't really affect much in aggregate.

Even in 2016 Trump was unable to make massive changes, because the state is built to prevent that from happening. The US does not elect a monarch. Things take forever by design, and it's really frustrating when you want it, but it also means one person or one administration can't make a major impact, it takes a generation of pushing the overton window in the direction.

Once you break that, you have a jetski zipping around, then you can't rely on stability, it becomes riskier to invest than investing in a country with a dictator.

▲

peterfirefly 3 days ago | parent [-]

> The US does not elect a monarch.

It is a constitutional monarchy with an elected, time-limited king.

Monarchies generally have (and had) lots of checks on the king's power. Not necessarily the kinds of checks we would like, of course. The rights of the nobility were well-protected, the rights of landless commoners were not.

▲

Tadpole9181 3 days ago | parent | next [-]

No, it's really not. The Executive does not have these powers in the constitution. They made it up and assigned it to themselves by loosely interpreting things how they wanted.

Executive orders are memos, not laws. The President has no power for legislation or budget or tariffing. We're supposed to require legislative review of any emergency actions, like using the military.

▲

noitpmeder 3 days ago | parent [-]

It doesn't matter what the law says if no one will enforce it. The law is whatever is currently being enforced.

	▲	mulmen 3 days ago \| parent \| next [-]
		This is what’s so dangerous about the game the Republicans are playing. They are perpetuating a belief that American society is broken by breaking it themselves. If the blinders ever come off their base the violent impulses will be directed at them the same way they were directed at Mike Pence. It’s phenomenally stupid to wind up an ignorant mob and think you can control it. The only way to maintain control is to make the mob angrier and angrier but there’s always a breaking point.
	▲	3 days ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		[deleted]

▲

dgfitz 3 days ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Somehow you’re wrong somewhere between two and 3 times in one sentence.

> It is a constitutional monarchy with an elected, time-limited king.

> Constitutional monarchy, also known as limited monarchy, parliamentary monarchy or democratic monarchy, is a form of monarchy in which the monarch exercises their authority in accordance with a constitution and is not alone in making decisions.[1][2][3] Constitutional monarchies differ from absolute monarchies (in which a monarch is the only decision-maker) in that they are bound to exercise powers and authorities within limits prescribed by an established legal framework. A constitutional monarch in a parliamentary democracy is a hereditary symbolic head of state (who may be an emperor, king or queen, prince or grand duke) who mainly performs representative and civic roles but does not exercise executive or policy-making power.[4]

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constitutional_monarchy

	▲	peterfirefly 2 hours ago \| parent [-]
		> but does not exercise executive or policy-making power This is largely but not entirely true. It's also largely true by convention/Realpolitik ("try and exercise your powers and see how long you stay king!") and not by law. > absolute monarchies (in which a monarch is the only decision-maker) The monarch was essentially never the only decision maker in absolute monarchies. Nominally, yes. In practice, not at all. Going against too many established interested was seriously bad for the monarch's health.

▲

3 days ago | parent | prev [-]

[deleted]

▲

taway1874 2 days ago | parent | prev | next [-]

"The fact that the US population elected him a second time means that the US as a whole can't be trusted to behave like rational adults."

This! I mean think about it for a second. That is around 80 million voters.

Trump or no Trump, our country isn't the cool kid on the block anymore.

▲

mensetmanusman 3 days ago | parent | prev [-]

The media and political ecosystem that gave us an early dementia patient on one hand and trump on the other also bears blame.

	▲	CursedSilicon 3 days ago \| parent [-]
		"early dementia patient" No, that's the guy that got elected. The one very smart at nuclear