Let's talk about how Trump turned the US from the world's policeman into a corrupt cop.... - Belle of the Ranch

Well, howdy there Internet people. It's Belle again. So, today we're going to talk about Trump, Europe, and the world's police.

We've got a really interesting question that gets to the heart of a pretty major shift that's occurring. Here's the message.

Belle, there's one thing I'm not really clear on. For 50 years, the US has been the country that would maintain the status quo. The status quo isn't always great, but it's predictable. The world just acknowledged that it was the job of the US to maintain waterways, shipping routes, airspace, and everything like that. The world backed up the US when we acted, especially Europe and European countries today are the loudest critics of us acting to secure the waterway. Do they just hate Trump that much or is there a reason they're acting against their own interests?

Right and it's really been longer than 50 years. Ever since the end of World War II, the US was the defender of the status quo for much of the world. The world's policeman. Prior to its collapse, the Soviet Union was the cop in the next town over. It's worth acknowledging that the status quo isn't great or fair or just, but it's predictable.

For nation states, predictability is important. Because while the system isn't just, it's a system with rules, both spoken, like say the Geneva Conventions or other international laws and agreements, and unspoken rules. Don't touch our boats and don't nationalize Western oil interests. It gave countries around the world a sort of framework to operate within. This led to the framing of a rules-based international order.

Of course, the rules were decided by the most powerful countries with the most powerful economies. The world became a city, countries were neighborhoods, and the US was the cop. Not all neighborhoods got equal protection. Some neighborhoods got discriminated against, but there was stability because of spoken and unspoken rules. The poorer neighborhoods didn't get to help make the rules. It's really a good analogy that works in a lot of ways.

So, what happened that made some rich neighborhoods come out screaming FTP [fuck the population] like they were Dr. Dre? Why did the city turn against the world's policemen?

Because the world's policeman started acting like Vic Mackey. The world's policeman became just another corrupt cop. There was always some corruption in the department. But when detective Donald Alonzo Harris Trump came in, the corruption became blatant.

The world's policeman started demanding protection money and taxing everybody's shipments into the richest neighborhood. He broke into Venezuela's house without a warrant. He engaged in excessive force in the Gulf. He threatened other cops like detectives Greenland and Canada. He told other cops that if they needed backup, he'd leave them twisting in the wind and turn off his radio. Then he tried to take out a rival, made a mess of it, and it cut off the supply of a substance pretty much every neighborhood is addicted to--oil.

Make no mistake, just like in Training Day, the corrupt cop who alienates other cops and the neighborhood ends up standing alone, powerless, screaming that he's putting cases on everybody, but he no longer has the juice or to use Trump's term doesn't have the cards. The world is turning on the US because we broke the rules. We had been entrusted to uphold and then we violated the biggest unspoken rule. We messed with the money.

Anyway, it's just a thought. Y'all have a good day.