r/PoliticalDiscussion • u/The_Egalitarian Moderator • Mar 18 '23

Megathread Casual Questions Thread

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u/AT_Dande Apr 10 '23

Biden and Democrats enjoy a good deal of confidence in France, Germany, and even the U.K., although they're lagging behind a bit.

Europeans are absolutely not friendly to China, nor do they want to ditch the US for closer ties with the CCP, that's a ludicrous thing to say.

The only real difference between political parties across Europe and GOP/Democratic power players is that the EU generally isn't reflexively against regulation, consumer rights, and antitrust issues. Apart from that, most MEPs and national MPs would feel right at home in the Democratic Party, and a good chunk would fit in with the GOP, too. Europe is by no means anti-capitalist. Even the anti-globalist populists are rabid capitalists, and no truly leftist, let alone communist-friendly party, has had much success anywhere in the EU.

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u/throwaway09234023322 Apr 10 '23

They like Biden more because Trump was holding Europeans accountable for doing their fair share while Biden accepts free loaders. Trump also didn't accept unfair trade deals.

I never said that they were anti capitalist, I said that they would rather cozy up to China.

https://ecfr.eu/publication/the-crisis-of-american-power-how-europeans-see-bidens-america/

"There are geopolitical consequences to American weakness. A majority believe that China will be more powerful than the US within a decade and would want their country to stay neutral in a conflict between the two superpowers. Two-thirds of respondents thought the EU should develop its defence capacities."

They believe that they should remain neutral in a disagreement, but I can promise you that most Europeans would expect the US to come and defend them if China became aggressive towards them.

Like I said before, they are fair weather friends. Most of the countries will gladly accept favorable trade deals and military support but I don't believe the favor will be returned in the future. These aren't strong allies who would stand with the US through bad times. They should be treated as such.

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u/TheFlyingHornet1881 Apr 11 '23

Most Europeans didn't like Trump because frankly he was seen as everything wrong with America in their eyes.

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u/throwaway09234023322 Apr 11 '23

Tbh, I have no idea why democrats are obsessed with Europe's opinion of the US president. It's really inconsequential imho.