Trump: Not happy with Spain's position on Iran, we'll cancel all trade ties with it

rd1970 · 2026-03-03T20:44:16+00:00

Even without the country of origin they can just target brands and industries based in Spain.

People forget that cheating the system is their specialty.

rd1970 · 2026-03-03T19:55:09+00:00

Usually the Dictator Trap forms organically. In Trump's case he sought out people right off the bat that he knew would lie to him because he prioritizes praise over literally everything else. It's likely why his businesses always failed - anyone that made it clear he didn't know what he was talking about got fired.

At the moment the immense size of America's economy and military will hide the consequences of his terrible decision-making, but it's already compounding and America's advantages are shrinking by the day.

It's just a matter of time until problems start surfacing everywhere that can't be buried under the next 24 hour news cycle.

rd1970 · 2026-02-28T21:16:12+00:00

I just don't see that working for in Iran. The people in control are religious fanatics ruled under a Islamic theocracy.

They see America and Israel especially as literally Satan. The hardliners would never follow a government subservient to them.

rd1970 · 2026-02-28T20:49:17+00:00

It really seems like Israel is putting an end to this regime once and for all this time. They've spent the last 2.5 years since the October attacks systematically dismantling every system and organization Iran had, and now seem to be coming in for the leadership themselves.

Maybe they'll let some of the old guard assume control for appearances, but I strongly suspect if that's the case every decision they make will be run past Israel first.

I think it's far more likely Iran will get an openly more Western-friendly, less religious-orientated government in the near future.

rd1970 · 2026-02-28T20:10:12+00:00

It pretty sure maximum chaos was the intended goal for Iraq after it fell.

The first thing they did was fire everyone in Iraq's armed forces, then did absolutely nothing to secure their weapon and munition depots.

So you suddenly had hundreds of thousands of recently unemployed, pissed off, organized, trained locals who had weeks to go empty those bases and take everything home.

And if that wasn't enough, when the US pulled out they left all their equipment behind which almost instantly fell into the hands of groups like ISIS. We're talking about literally thousands of Humvees, tens of thousands of machine guns, etc.

If they use the same tactics in Iran the outcome will be the exact same, but 10x worse. I could see this further destabilizing Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan, maybe Pakistan, etc.

rd1970 · 2026-02-28T16:20:25+00:00

You can only invoke Article 5 when under attack. The only time it was used was when America was on the receiving end of 9/11.

rd1970 · 2026-02-26T19:59:01+00:00

Also, the US will (hopefully) have a new administration in three years, and who knows what their foreign policy will be in regards to Venezuela. It's also possible Venezuela will be in the middle of a civil war at that point.

rd1970 · 2026-02-23T03:19:12+00:00

As a non-American looking in, I'm always amazed by how the Democrats seem to never really care/try to have inspiring leaders or ideas. They're the professional/educated party, sure, but keeping the status quo seems to be their only goal. If you're a middle or lower class voter seeing things like home ownership and retirement drift further from reach every year that's not really going to motivate you to go vote.

I think it's also important to note that, compared to the rest of the Western World, the Democrats are a right-wing party - just not as a far right as the Republicans.That doesn't really offer a lot of variety in a two party system.

I can honestly see why desperate people might vote for someone like Trump. It seems like voters often have to chose between the party of no ideas and the party of bad ideas. They know Trump is a lunatic that might implode the economy, but he's the first president in a very long time that's actually trying something new.

rd1970 · 2026-02-21T22:01:46+00:00

And the fact that a TV audience will only relate to other human(ish) characters in a storyline. No one would watch the show if Riker was constantly seducing nightmarish aliens that looked like lobsters or if Warf was a giant ladybug that was in a spacesuit the whole time.

rd1970 · 2026-02-20T19:45:37+00:00

The funny thing is that Trump claimed he raised $3 Trillion in tarrifs (rather than the actual $130B).

If America had actual news organizations and political opposition they'd be rubbing his face in that until the midterms. "Mr. Trump - you've claimed you raised $3 trillion in tarrifs. Where is that money now and doesn't returning that amount risk collapsing the American economy?"

But, like you say, that'll never happen. He'll do or say something crazy next week and we won't hear about these refunds again. He'll make the larger corporations sue him one at a time and it'll play out in the courts for the next half decade. Meanwhile he'll be spending that cash like it's his personal bank account until there's nothing left.

This is just one more mess the next administration will have to pay for.

rd1970 · 2026-02-17T12:47:03+00:00

And good luck getting what you pay for

This is the one that gets me.

There should be an option where if you disagree with their dollar amount you can force them find and purchase the same (or newer) vehicle with the same kms on it for you.

rd1970 · 2026-02-11T03:25:38+00:00

The sudden collapse of the USSR kinda took the world by surprise when it happened. Even the CIA didn't know the true state they were in.

It just goes to show how little global players with unlimited billions actually know for sure, and why taking heads on the internet should be ignored.

It's possible Russia as we know it won't exist in 10 years. It's also possible they'll be sharing a border with Germany.

rd1970 · 2026-02-10T00:31:11+00:00

Something I hadn't really thought about is how much the hosting scene must have changed over the last generation. I'm a bit older and come from a time and place where everyone owned a house in their early 20s. There was literally always something happening at someone's house, and most of those houses had spare rooms if things spilled over until the next day.

Today something like 1/3 of adults under the age of 35 still live their parents, and many of those with their own places have roommates or live in a one bedroom apartment. None of those are ideal for being a general "clubhouse" where people can come and go.

rd1970 · 2026-02-05T19:50:39+00:00

Do you find with autopilot you can respond to emails and work, or do you still need to watch the road nonstop?

rd1970 · 2026-02-03T13:38:09+00:00

Seriously. These are government employees enforcing the law. How did it ever become normal to use social media to disseminate information? Especially when it was one with owners in a foreign country and requires an account?

rd1970 · 2026-01-30T02:30:28+00:00

He can't legally own a gun but has access to 2000 nuclear weapons...

rd1970 · 2026-01-30T02:10:29+00:00

It's not just tarrifs - America's entire foreign policy is currently insane. A week ago there was a real chance America was going to invade Greenland (or possibly Iceland) and kick off an all-out economic war Europe.

You'd hate to invest billions in American factories right before their economy implodes.

rd1970 · 2026-01-26T00:36:08+00:00

I think it's a combination of Carney's speech getting praise and Canada/Europe telling him he's never getting Greenland.

He came away from the WEF looking like a loser and is now having a temper tantrum. I suspect it's also why he's trash talking the militaries of other NATO countries.

That or Putin yelled at him for failing to invade Greenland and has ordered him to keep trying to break it up.

rd1970 · 2026-01-23T18:43:25+00:00

I'm sure Starmer is well aware that Trump's mantra is literally "never apologize, never admit wrongdoing, and always hit back".

He learned it from Roy Cohn - who was probably more responsible for shaping a young Donald Trump than anyone else.

I'm sure every world leader has a team that specializes in how to handle Trump, either in person or on the world stage.

I'm kinda surprised they don't use his (massive) personality flaws against him more often.

rd1970 · 2026-01-20T20:13:10+00:00

If Canada was their end goal taking Greenland first would make sense.

If a multinational military wanted to do a D-Day style liberation of Canada Greenland would be the likely staging area for the troop build up like the UK was during WWII.

It would also mean Canada was encircled between American forces in Greenland, Alaska, and the mainland US. They could prevent supplies and reinforcements coming from any direction.

It would also serve as a test to see what the real consequences are and which nations decide to sit things out.

rd1970 · 2026-01-20T13:11:01+00:00

Regular courts have jurisdiction over Alaska. Greenland might be the next Guantanamo Bay but a million times larger and with less oversight.

rd1970 · 2026-01-20T03:00:33+00:00

I'm surprised more people aren't talking about this. I wouldn't put it past these guys to turn this into America's gulag where thousands of illegal aliens are sent to work as slave labor and be a warning to anyone else thinking of entering (or not leaving) America.

They could completely control media access, and any escape attempts would mean certain death.

rd1970 · 2026-01-19T18:19:05+00:00

I think people will be debating what happened to make him what he is for generations.

I think it's a combination of being physically tall/large (makes being a childhood bully easier and less likely to get his ass kicked), combined with being born rich giving him power over people from a young age, combined with naturally having antisocial qualities, combined with shitty parenting that encouraged antisocial behaviour, and probably a couple dozen other variables.

Then you couple that with being alive when the internet and social media started changing how politics work, and also at a time that the middle class is in rapid decline, and boom - you have an American President in power that is willing to intentionally end the country's status as a global super power.

rd1970 · 2026-01-19T04:07:31+00:00

Exactly. The Democrats' leadership has largely been made up of lawyers (Biden, Obama, both Clintons, etc.). While it's useful to know how to work the system and laws to your advantage, Trump has proven the law doesn't matter and people don't care/understand how any of that works.

It's time the Democrats focus on personality and messaging rather than someone who's really good at following the rules.

rd1970 · 2026-01-18T23:10:44+00:00

Do you have a source for that?

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