r/politics • u/PoliticsModeratorBot 🤖 Bot • 1d ago

Discussion Discussion Thread: US Senate Debates and Considers the Republican Budget Resolution on April 4th, 2025

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u/mmlauren35 1d ago

How permanent and detrimental is everything he’s doing? Say we have a democratic president in 4 years. When can I expect to feel normal again? 😖

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u/JadedIT_Tech Georgia 1d ago

The good news: No damage of this kind of permanent.

The bad news: It's going to take a really fucking long time to fix. And the more bullshit he pulls, the longer it's going to take.

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u/OnDrugsTonight United Kingdom 1d ago

I'd say the re-establishment of economic ties and removal of tariffs could happen pretty much instantaneously. Hell, nobody wanted this trade war in the first place, so we're all standing by for the US to snap out of it.

Other damages may be a lot harder to repair. America's loss of soft power through the abolishment of USAID means that by 2028 other players (mainly China) will have filled the vacuum left behind by America's withdrawal from the world stage, and countries around the globe will have entered into comfortable long term economic partnerships with China that they will be reluctant (or unable) to abandon.

Same with NATO. While it'd be good to temporarily have some sanity back in the White House, we'd be crazy to trust America again in the same way we did before. "Fool me once" etc. Knowing that every four years it'll be a roll of a dice whether or not we're still allies doesn't lend itself well to making strategic military decisions that are measured in decades. So the European side of NATO will probably be a lot more inward looking than it was before.

All of this obviously hinges on the rather optimistic assumption that you guys will still have meaningful, democratic elections in 2028.

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u/NeverForgetChainRule 1d ago

Regarding international relations, he probably has done damage that isnt reparable in the near future (near future being, say a dem wins in 2028 and for their whole first term). I'm sure theyll remove any tarrifs trump hasnt himself by then, and other nations likely will remove retalitory ones, and im sure the US will begin working with other nations again in places Trump is refusing, but I'd expect (and honestly hope) that the rest of the world will treat the US a bit differently with how bad one of our parties is in regards to international relations. At any point in 4 years, all of it can be clicked back on.

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u/chowderbags American Expat 1d ago

Even if tariffs are removed, companies are going to be reluctant to include the US in their supply chains. Why take the risk if there's a 50-50 shot that America elects another lunatic and trade gets fucked again? The only way someone would bother is if the America side puts in a steep discount to make it worth the risk, which means the American economy will suffer long after the tariffs are gone.

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u/cartwheel_123 1d ago

America is the targarayean dynasty. It's a coin flip if the president will be insane.Â