Is it time to hang the flag upside-down yet?

What constitutes "utter distress"? Is the country there yet? Or do we need to watch the train-wreck of a federal government for another month or two first? How bad do things have to get before people realize that the total lack of leadership from PINO is bringing the country to the brink of disaster?

Personally, I can't believe the stuff I've been seeing about the USA over the past few months, and the past week has taken it to a whole new level.

His supporters are baked on at this point. They'll keep backing him as long as he is in office.

The country is so polarized I expect the result of the November election to be more than just tense, no matter who wins.

Honestly, between PINO's reaction to the pandemic and the spreading protests and accompanying violence, the USA is looking more and more like a third-world country run by a hopelessly out-of-touch wannabee dictator. Not even a competent dictator.

If there is an election.

How can you tell the French flag is hung upside down?

You can't. Which is why that tradition is totally unknown here.

so if the meltdown continues until November and Biden is elected how will the next four years be any different?
Will the deep down systemic issues causing the meltdown be reversed or even ameliorated? If you answer yes you are delusional. Without having Trump to blame the people that want long lasting change will have nobody to blame (they wanted Biden, they got him) and get to work changing things. Will this happen? Time will tell!

Even worse, if the situation in France gets halfway towards distress, it suddenly turns into Holland!

Nah, they just increase production of white flags.....

Let's make a list:

US becomes epicenter of a worldwide pandemic
100,000 + Dead
41,000,000 + files unemployment
GDP shrinks 4.8%... and falling!
Unarmed black men & women killed in the streets
People of all races conducting mass protest/riots
President hides in a bunker
US Military "tear gasses and rubber bullets" their own people so the president can play "strong man" and get a photo op.


You make the call.


As for me, I say that the president has never appeared more pathetic than he does at this very moment. January 20, 2021 can't get here fast enough.

and when it gets here then what? One scenario is Biden is elected and things get worse! Of course you'll blame Trump for handing Biden a broken product.

And he would be right. That is exactly what would be the case.

So if Biden wins (twice) and another Democrat wins (twice) would that be enough time to stop blaming Trump?
I mean give me a ballpark figure of how long you think it would take America to get to your standard of a functioning democracy.

Trump's favorite line is "The previous administration failed to xyz..." I don't expect any president to deliver all puppy dogs and roses on day 1. The bottom line is that this president has lost all credibility and confidence as far as I'm concerned. It's time for a new one.

Trump has done enough damage to take the blame for at least the next 50 years, if not until the end of the US, whichever comes first. Leave that date open.

What happens when it gets down to 25% HP?

Biden wins. Biden's health quickly deteriorates. Biden's VP (Liz Warren, with any luck) takes over at some point in his term. But we also need to remove almost the entirety of the current crop of Republican congresscritters, who have been complicit in the stupidity. Either way, no matter what happens, there's a shit-ton of work to be done repairing all of the orange moron's fuckups. International relations to repair, legislation and regulations to put back to rights, etc.

Also need to dump a whole bunch of decrepit, fossilized and reality-impaired Democrats, who despite holding a majority in the House have basically been stumbling around like drunken idiots for the last few years.

Ha!

Do you always drink this early in the morning?

How long will it take to stop blaming Obama? or Clinton?

International relations are not going to be easy to repair. Now that other countries have had their noses rubbed in the fact that a "treaty" with the US is meaningless, because all that is needed to end it is a new president who doesn't like it signing an executive order (even though Congress has ratified it), my guess is it will take about twenty years of honorable actions from the US before other countries start considering America to be a trustworthy ally. Otherwise, cooperation will be on the short-term only: "As long as the current government is in place, we'll get along on this, but we know that a committment from the US doesn't mean anything after the next election."

The damage the current PINO and Senate have done to the world's image of America is significantly worse than those who live in the country and listen to Fox News can possibly imagine. In Europe, even the Chinese government has a slightly higher "credibility rating" than the USA. That's how far down the country has come.

Not surprising, when 40% of Americans have never left the country. (An interesting stat that roughly lines up with the number of Trump supporters.)

Worse, 11% of Americans have never even left their home state and 54% have barely traveled domestically.

You are correct that simply electing Biden won’t solve the systemic issues at play here.

It can do a lot to relieve some of the immediate symptoms though, which can buy the system some time to fix itself. Just having a competent person in the WH who gives a rats ass about this country and its people (and not just himself) will help calm the situation.

Now, if Biden’s win is combined with a D Senate then some systemic issues can be worked on. First the government can be made more answerable to the people. A new Voters Rights Act and support for mail in voting can increase voter turnout. New rules for impartial redistricting (will likely need a more favorable SCOTUS to stick) can mean that the voters choose their electeds, instead of electeds choosing their voters. Statehood for DC and Puerto Rico provide some more balance in the Senate (not a long term solution, this will be a harder nut to crack).

Then there is the policy work that can be done. Healthcare and taxation policy come first to mind. Also new regs on policing. Maybe we can actually get an infrastructure/jobs bill passed. A stimulus plan that can get money to the people, not just the mega corps.

No all this won’t get done in a term even with Biden and a Dem Senate. However none of it will get done with another 4 years of Trump and R control of the Senate.

Puerto Rico doesn't seem terribly interested in statehood. Statehood for DC is a bad joke. The solution there would be to fold the District back into Maryland.

Sure.

But then let’s also deal with some of the other ‘joke’ states.

Vermont merge with New Hampshire.
Wyoming merge with Montana.
The Dakotas merge.
Alaska merges with Washington.

Then we don’t have any ‘joke’ states with less than a single million in population.

Agreed on all counts. But in fairness, two other things contribute to China's higher rating: They are much more competent at lying, just as they are more competent at pretty much everything else, than the current US government. And they currently look very powerful, whereas America looks very nearly like a failed state. This makes people want to believe that being friends with China is fine. (It isn't.)

Well, if we're going full retard, let's also break up California into four or five smaller states so that those people have more accurate representation. And statehood for Guam, the US Virgin Islands, American Samoa . . . woo-hoo!

Okay, ya got me.

We’ll just grant DC (with larger population than Vermont or Wyoming and close to overtaking Alaska and the Dakotas) statehood and call it good.

You’re right, it is much simpler.

Oh yes, I'm possibly guilty of giving this impression myself at times. There's no doubt China have monstrous human rights issues and are very adept at deception.

Where I may at times seem ambiguous is in my refusal to simply accept the USA as an automatically positive choice when it comes to lending unconditional support. The US has a long way to go to be as bad as China but there are no guarantees. No Constitution or Bill of Rights will prevent abuses and the idea that the US is in some sense above the rest of us is painfully ignorant, especially when it is by and large driven by the limited knowledge of her citizens.

As horrible as things are people are still going about life in most areas. No need for your surrender frenchy.