as article points out: that one person is supported by a whole class of Americans - the billionaires. And those in turn are supported by not insignificant portion of American population. So plural is very apropos here.

[–] CanadaPlus@lemmy.sdf.org 1 points 5 days ago (1 children)

Pretty much all buisnesspeople hate the trade war, and trade protectionism in general.

[–] droopy4096@lemmy.ca 0 points 5 days ago (1 children)

businesspeople differ from billionaires in that they don't get to impact policies and they don't run multinationals milking both sides of the border

[–] CanadaPlus@lemmy.sdf.org 1 points 3 days ago

Billionaires tend to be buisnesspeople, plenty of multinationals (most, actually) aren't owned by a billionaire, and non-billionaires can run businesses that operate in multiple countries (again, probably most of them).

[–] minorkeys@sh.itjust.works 10 points 6 days ago (1 children)

And 1/3 follow without reservation.

[–] Auli@lemmy.ca 3 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago) (1 children)

And another 1/3 don't care what happens.

[–] CanadaPlus@lemmy.sdf.org 1 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago)

As is tradition.

This isn't even like an objective of the whole MAGA movement, though. Maybe they'll manage to drum up more support over time, but right now, it's the fuhrer's vanity project. So, that doesn't really count as "being serious about it", for the rest of them.

[–] stylusmobilus@aussie.zone -1 points 5 days ago (1 children)

The president represents the country.

[–] CanadaPlus@lemmy.sdf.org 2 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago) (1 children)

Yeah, there is that legal fiction, and typical way of looking at things, so it's not an incorrect phrasing. It's just kinda funny.

[–] stylusmobilus@aussie.zone 2 points 4 days ago (1 children)

Nah he represents it

[–] CanadaPlus@lemmy.sdf.org 1 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago) (1 children)

400 million people is 400 million distinct people. Nobody could or does represent them; the idea that someone can represent "the will of the people" is propaganda. Same with every other government; they actually just have control.

[–] stylusmobilus@aussie.zone 1 points 3 days ago (1 children)

A leader that is elected by their country, represents it. It’s a collective responsibility.

In Trumps case, he truly represents it, in every way. Selfish, debaucherous, arrogant, can’t take criticism.

[–] CanadaPlus@lemmy.sdf.org 1 points 3 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (1 children)

A leader that is elected by their country, represents it.

Well, that's basically the propaganda. Says who? God? Physics? Neither. And, elect how? Some countries have proportional representation, which neither the US or Canada do.

At the end of the day, a state is anything that has a monopoly on the use of force. Some allocate political power within themselves through elections (of many massively different kinds), while some do it other ways.

You could say, "okay, elections have nothing to do with it, but we're still responsible for what we let our governments do", which covers the "it's a collective responsibility" bit. And there's a strong argument for that. But, by that measure pretty much everyone sucks everywhere, which you can take however you want.

[–] stylusmobilus@aussie.zone 1 points 1 day ago

Says who

Well in that country, Republicans voters definitely because they turn out to vote religiously. We know they’re represented.

I guess this presidents apathy and selfishness represents those who don’t vote for whatever reason, so he represents them as well.

For those that did and are looking for excuses, this president gives a lot of those too, so I guess he represents them?

That’d cover it wouldn’t it?

You could say, elections have nothing to do with it

Well if I go by the evidence demonstrated repeatedly by the Republican vote, which is evidence demonstrated by Americans, I have to disagree.

pretty much everyone sucks everywhere

Well, no, but we are responsible for our governments. As an Aussie I’m ashamed of my weak government and I will act however I can next election, but I note that the voting strategy, which was to vote in progressive senators that block bad policy and pass good I and many others took has been reasonably effective here.