I recently had a (mostly) civilized discussion with an older gentleman who mentioned reading a book about how newer generations have not learned how to suffer, and that is the root cause of many evils in the world today. He then expressed a sort of excitement at the thought of self-induced suffering through our supreme leader's terrible economic and geopolitical decisions. It would "make us stronger on the other side."

To which my question was, and is still: "You're a top 2% earner in the most powerful country in the world. You have everything you could ever want or dream of. Why do YOU want to suffer?"

My second question/point was: "What you're describing as people being too comfortable, I'd counter that it's just the advancement of technology and industry -- most of us don't HAVE to suffer by breaking our backs working the fields from sun up to sun down because we have equipment to do that for us. Instead, we can work our desk jobs and play games on our phones."

And my final question/point was: "Why would anyone ever wish suffering upon anyone else? That doesn't seem very biblical."

I'm really struggling to understand the line of thinking that I am hearing from the very top levels of the government all the way down to the working class. The thinking that "we deserve to suffer." In a sense, I feel that it's a sort of disguised retribution or malice, i.e. "I don't want to suffer, but there are a bunch of people I disagree with that do need to suffer."

Please help me understand so I can be better prepared to debate the next person who tries to make this point to me. I'm looking at you, Dad.

Posting not a link as it's just a newsflash type thing. Translations with deepl. Edited some of the text myself to get rid of some redundant stuff.

Link

In March, sales of Jolly Cola increased at least 13-fold in Rema 1000 compared to the same period last year. Grocery chains Coop and Fleggaard have also seen significant increases. The Jolly Cola brewery also said earlier in March that they have never experienced anything like this.

Further context:

Link

Danes are bypassing American products, and chains are feeling it.

The boycott movement can be felt at the Danish fast food chain: ""We are clearly experiencing a growing interest. The fact that we are a Danish burger chain is an interesting alternative to the American chains for many Danes."

At a vintner, the anti-American movement is not a big issue, but the wine merchant has still received a “no thanks” from some customers when he has suggested an American wine: "Now that Trump has come to power, the demand is not as great as it used to be. Some people are simply opting out."

Even though consumers in Denmark want to send a signal and turn their backs on Trump and the US with their wallets, it could ultimately be a disservice to ourselves: "It should not become a joint boycott against the US, because we risk losing significantly more as a country than we gain from it. If the US suddenly says that it's time to stop buying Novo Nordisk medicines in the US, it will hit the Danish economy tenfold compared to the effect a consumer boycott has on the US economy,” he says. “There is no reason for us to provoke this trade war to become even fiercer than it already is."

Oh, and then there's also this:

Danish grocery chain to distinguish European from US goods.

More chains are joining in now: Coop to introduce labeling of American goods

Despite the awful prospect of four years with this man and his goons, I look at how totally chaotic the previous two months have been on all fronts and wonder if he's able to keep this level of nonsense for much longer.

My question is, what are your odds that he leaves office early and what are some of the ways it could happen?

I'm not great with odds, but I think there's a strong chance that Republicans throw him out after their constituencies begin to feel the pain and everybody's out for blood.

I'm going to put 20 dollars into the pile and say he's out in a year and a half if this keeps up at the pace it's been going.

Any wagers out there?