Perhaps the BEST B1G Forum anywhere, here at College Football Fan Site, CFB51!!!

Setting aside if that group actually does help with world influence, it seems the push is for us decidedly not to have world influence, correct? Like that would be a good outcome for a lot of folks?

you are confusing destabilizing foreign societies and overthrowing foreign governments with influence. that's not influence- that's outright criminal fuckery. US-A.I.D. dying is a GREAT outcome for lots of folks around the globe. notice how you don't hear a single foreign world leader cry about US-A.I.D.- in fact most are rejoicing.

when say.....China wants to curry favor in foreign nations they build roads & bridges. when the US wants to do it they buy off media, buy off politicians, push censorship programs, fund "grassroots" political movements and fund "protests" and push for regime change and install a new puppet government that will do what the US wants. this is not influence. this is outright fucking criminal and the US has no business doing this anywhere in the world. 

If this was happening to any of your industries, you wouldn't speak so cavalierly about it.  And your opinion would be 180 degrees different.

Well, what exactly is happening to your industry?  And for sure, things are happening to our industry as well, even if on an in-direct basis.  Tariffs, less regulation, more regulation, lots of happenings with this new admin.  

I thought that was what ambassadors were for.

They’re for parlaying with governments. 

I’d put it this way, is there “brand” value in being seen as a big deal, which in theory good aid would do?

Another poster praised China building roads and bridges. At the moment, the US does have a presence both good and ill. If China usurps that role with its aid, do we care? 

Im told we have enough safeguards against corruption for such a thing to happen.

He's got enough of his own money to buy Gaza. A straight up trade for Mar a Lago would do the trick.

They’re for parlaying with governments.

I’d put it this way, is there “brand” value in being seen as a big deal, which in theory good aid would do?

Another poster praised China building roads and bridges. At the moment, the US does have a presence both good and ill. If China usurps that role with its aid, do we care?

what in the actual fuck are you missing here? the US does not provide "good aid". the vast majority of US-A.I.D.'s budget does not go to "humanitarian aid" whatsoever. most of it goes to absolute fuckery.

By the way genius, China has already usurped the role. They actually create and manufacture shit- unlike the US- and they have used their economic power and manufacturing/production engine to curry favor in foreign nations. Most of the world gets a long with China and actually needs China for cheap, affordable manufactured goods. 

Newsflash: most of the world hates America or sees America as the greatest threat to global security. Independent polling shows this time and time again. We don't produce anything here- we don't manufacture shit- the rest of the world does not need the US like it needs China. The US has already fucked it all up. There is no fix. There are only two things keeping the US at the top of the mountain and keeping it's global hegemony intact- and both things are eroding fast- US dollar as reserve currency of the world and the overwhelming US military superiority. Both those are under assault- especially with fuckface Biden pushing Russia & China together- which has long been oh you know- only the absolute worst case scenario for threat to US global dominance- and who knows how much time we have left in the sun. And unless serious changes are made by the Trump administration and those changes stick going forward- we won't be at the top for very much longer.

So the president would have the US take over something and his company would buy it?

Hell of an insider trade.

He wouldn't need the US to take it over. No corruption needed. No pardons either.

Disturbing....

https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1889841452353720437

I'm not shocked.