I was in a similar position. Best advice I can give is to try to find a local Marxist org if you can. Luckily there was one for me, but I know not everyone has one. I think isolating ourselves is probably the worst thing we can do right now, even though the capitalist system makes it easy to do so.

I used to think that I could convince my more lib/conservative minded friends since I read so much, but it’s not that easy even if you have all the knowledge needed for making a point. I have never successfully converted someone, but I think I at least made them think a little bit more critically and even have them agree with me on some things.

Even in the context of Trump being in charge of the US right now, I still feel somewhat alone when talking to liberal-resistance-minded people about it because it’s like they’re approaching it from another universe of belief about how things work.

Yea I feel this too, and imo it’s because they are not against the system but the individuals running the system.

I been getting clips of her too. I could only watch for a couple seconds before I had to stop because I couldn’t stand her smugness

Eugene is great!

This leaves us with “join them”, and here Trump’s calculation seems to be that if the U.S. does so first, it undoubtedly can negotiate much better terms for the U.S.

Correct me if I am wrong, but I dont think the US wants to “join” in an alliance with China-Russia. America will not join anything if they are not the leader of it and have the ultimate say on decisions.

Still, the fundamental reality remains that Trump, for all his faults, seems to have understood earlier than Europeans that the world has changed and he’d better be the first to adapt. This was clear from Rubio’s very first major interview in his new role as Secretary of State when he declared that we’re now in a multipolar world with “multi-great powers in different parts of the planet”.

This is giving Trump too much credit no? The Rubio quote sounds more like trying to manufacture consent for war than building an alliance between multiple great powers.

True. There needs to be some vanguard of the revolution though.

I think it’s a result of declining material conditions and concessions being given to oppressed minorities coinciding at the same time. The two are separate things, but timing wise they coincide so it’s really easy to falsely link them as cause and effect.

At risk of sounding like a lib, I really do feel we are missing some kinda strong and intellectual leader type that goes against the status quo. Unfortunately the only leaders willing to go against the status quo are people like Trump and Milei, who I dont really consider strong. Even the status quo they go against is in more of a backwards cultural way rather than economic, because economically the status quo is already trending towards neoliberalism. This could also just be me being western biased, there are things going on in the Sahel states that I’m not too informed on.

Putin maybe? But he seems to be another capitalist at the end of the day. China is off doing their own thing. The whole Gaza genocide and Syria collapse just made Iran look really weak to me, but idk Im just an amateur looking at the situation from afar. Guess the west is literally just going to collapse through its own contradictions with no one there to pick up the pieces

He definitely feels more like what people were saying Ron Desantis would be like. I think his main weakness (politically speaking) is he’s not very charismatic, but it didnt matter since he ran on the Trump ticket which doesnt require him to be charismatic.

Not surprising, Vance was made Trump’s VP pick specifically to represent silicon valley interests.

Vance mocked the notion that such campaigns could derail elections. “If your democracy can be destroyed with a few hundred thousand dollars from a foreign country, then it wasn’t very strong to begin with.”

Vance is more dangerous than Trump. He has clear goals and knows what language to use to hide them.

EU needs to grow a backbone and stop thinking they can go back to the good ol’ days of being America’s lapdog against Russia

Feels bad 😞

Yup. But also I’ve learned not to ever expect the moment of catharsis when people realize you were right the whole time. I think even it’s too narcissistic to expect it.

The way I rationalize talking to people is with the goal of planting seeds in their minds, and hope that the sunlight and water, which in this analogy are the contradictions of society, grow those seeds and sprout into something.

A frequent issue i see with “apolitical” people is that in reality they reinforce the status quo (ruling political ideology) and they are hostile to any effort to try to circumvent it because it’s seen as political and they’re against any politics. It’s sort of a deadlock because they arent aware of just how political they are actually being by doing nothing.