Weekly US politics news and updates thread - week of June 30

Musk announces arrival of new ‘America Party’ after Trump split

I have a hard time with this. It's such a white washed, sanitized version of the British. Like a Hugh Grant version of events. I'm always shocked that they have managed to hold onto their soft power the way they have. Painting themselves as proper. The British can be very witty. They can be deadpan. They can be very very funny. But they can also be crass, pigheaded, and chronically unfunny. They ended up with Boris Johnson for fucks sake!

So much of my British extended family loves Trump. They all see him as "speaking striaght" and would deal with their immigrant problems. My formerly labor supporting, brick laying aunts and uncles are now decidedly conservative. And it's all built on frustration and hate.

And worse, he is that most unforgivable of all things to the British: a bully. That is, except when he is among bullies; then he suddenly transforms into a snivelling sidekick instead. There are unspoken rules to this stuff – the Queensberry rules of basic decency – and he breaks them all. He punches downwards – which a gentleman should, would, could never do – and every blow he aims is below the belt. He particularly likes to kick the vulnerable or voiceless – and he kicks them when they are down.

I'd argue that the British were the absolute bully of the world until they were no longer able to. The British often see themselves as superior - as is very clear in this article - and very frequently kick down. Give them a moment to talk about any of their colonial vassal states and I'm sure the veneer would wear thin. It's not even divided by class, both upper and lower class revel in it. My dad is english and used to crack up telling me about his teachers in the 50s/60s rolling down a world map and pointing to countries and screaming "We own them" and all the kids would cheer, and they'd point at another country "And we own that!", to more cheers, on repeat for all their colonies.

So yes, the British are very good at making a clever joke or having quick wit while simultaneously passing horribly anti-worker legislation, absolutely pillaging "vassal" states, and generally looking down on the rest of the world.