Clueless Paul thinks the US is based on capitalism rather than freedom and democracy. (well its generally a misnomer to use the term Paul thinks" in a sentence).

The US economy is based on capitalism. But the US polity is (or used to be) based on freedom and democracy. To be clear, it was imperfectly based on freedom and democracy. Its freedom was never pure and its democracy even less so. But in terms of the real world (a place alien to the Pauls of the world) it was the most free and its democracy the most democratic.

This is being lost, but for a time it was a glorious thing and history will look back in envy at 20th century US in the same way as it looks back in envy at Periclean Athens.

Incidentally, just to nudge Paul's education along a tad, freedom is impossible without capitalism. Private property and freedom go hand in hand - you can't have one without the other.

So the US was a free, democratic, capitalist nation, now being destroyed to protect the power and wealth of an avaricious elite.

"America is not going to regain it's former glory as an industrialised nation. To do that, they would have to re-industrialise, and it would cost trillions, meanwhile capitalism goes where the profits are, and the West can't compete with the scale and cost efficiencies of China's production."

AC buys this gumph! The US doesn't need to re-industrialise to the level it was post-WW2. The world has moved on, even though the AC's of the old world haven't noticed. Production of 'stuff' isn't the measure of a nation or an economy any longer.

Sure, the US needs to bring some critical industry back home - micro-chips, pharmaceuticals etc. But not much else.

One of the great achievements of the Trump regime, which the clueless cluelessly miss, was the USMCA which replace NAFTA. The US won't re-industrialise back to where it was....but Mexico will. North America will become the predominant economic region on the planet with Canada's resources, Mexico's cheap and abundant labour and the US's highly skilled and AI savvy workforce combining to make a new powerhouse.

"the West can't compete with the scale and cost efficiencies of China's production."
Don't look now but China's brief period of economic advantage has already passed, supplanted by Vietnam and India and the Philippines. Its population is in decline, its industrial capacity also. And a declining xenophobic authoritarian regime, is very dangerous to its people and its neighbours.

It was Thomas Jefferson, the third president of the United
States and the primary author of the Declaration of
Independence who said:

"Whenever the people are well-informed, they can be trusted
with their own government."

In other words the old cliche that you are entitled to your
opinion can be translated to mean, you are entitled to your
informed opinion. No one is entitled to be ignorant.

We can see by what's happening in the United States and
elsewhere around the globe that if people are informed they
will do the right thing. It is when they are not informed that
they become hostages to prejudice.

Associate Professor Brendan O'Çonnor, an expert in United States
political elections and politics at the United States Studies
Centre at the University of Sydney explains the Trump whirlwind
in this way:

"It's tempting to proclaim that Trump is very familiar to us
because he embodies the worst things about Americans. However,
these traits are apparent across the world."

"Trump is not merely an "ugly American" but is an amplification
of common place cultural trends. Those that Trump exemplifies
such as narcissism, self-centredness, gnat-like attention spans,
obsessive-self regard, pre-occupation with the number of
followers one has, and a lack of interest in listening to others,
these are all trends that are easy to pass off as particularly
"American."

"But, if we're honest, this behaviour is all around us. To
prevent the next Trump and there will be more, requires
challenging the sources of selfishness in much of modern
culture that is everywhere and seemingly on the rise."

We're told that:
There is widespread disapproval world-wide of Trump's
nationalistic, protectionist and racist policies. But, it
is his persona that most repels non-Americans. If foreigners
could vote Trump would never get elected. Trump is strongly
disliked across the world because he is the archetypal
"ugly American." Obnoxious, uncouth, boastful, materialistic,
and duplicitous.

Today we can toss a coin. Trump is either finished or on
the road back to the White House. No one can predict with any
certainty - which.

Donald Trump has launched into attacks on the judge in his
criminal trial and he continued to undermine New York's
criminal justice system on Friday. And all this on the
judge who is yet to pass sentence.

There's more on the link below. Key moments and analysis
from the Associated Press:

http://apnews.com/live/trump-guilty-verdict-updates

It was "all done by Biden."
Foxy,
I don't believe Biden would be capable but the Democrat movement yes, of course just like Left/Labor does similarly here !

" Trump is strongly disliked across the world because he is the archetypal "ugly American." Obnoxious, uncouth, boastful, materialistic,
and duplicitous."

Yet again for the umpteenth time, Foxy demonstrates how shallow she is by failing to identify which Trump policies that she's opposed to, just that he's uncouth.

Of course, Europeans hate him. He forced them to pay for their own defence rather than making Americans do it. Of course Chinese hate him. He started them on the path to irrelevance. Of course, Russians hate him. He put them in a box from which they only escaped once he was illegitimately overthrown.

But Trump is running to be US President. Seems this is a concept beyond Foxy's understanding.