”Machado … won the Nobel for building democratic infrastructure under authoritarian pressure… She came to Washington…, hoping to secure what Venezuela desperately needs:
- Clear US backing
- Protection from political erasure
- A path toward legitimate elections
Instead, she encountered Trump’s favorite foreign-policy doctrine: Optics over outcomes.”
—Dean Blundell, The Day Trump Took Someone Else’s Nobel Peace Prize And Sent Her Home With Cheap Cologne and MAGA Hats
#trump #machado #venezuela

”You can hang the gold. You can’t claim the honour. Trump did it anyway.”
—Dean Blundell, The Day Trump Took Someone Else’s Nobel Peace Prize And Sent Her Home With Cheap Cologne and MAGA Hats
#trump #machado #nobelpeaceprize

”Trump’s obsession with the Nobel Peace Prize isn’t new. … He never wanted peace and defiely didnt want to do the work required to be a Nobel Laureate. He wanted the receipt. The Medal. The Trophy. The Physical manifestation of merit he never earned. It’s who he is and who he’s always been, so it’s fitting. A bully and a fraud who leverages and cons people into handing over their achievements to him as if he’s some kind of f****** virus.”
—Dean Blundell
https://deanblundell.substack.com/p/the-day-trump-took-someone-elses
#trump #machado

“America has blown 80 years of accumulated goodwill & trust… America’s recent actions have destroyed the ability of any ally to continue to have faith in America to act even within its own strategic self-interest, let alone that of any ally. …America’s former role is gone. And I think that Americans themselves are having the hardest time of all coming to terms with what that might actually mean in the long run.”
—Matt Gurney
https://www.readtheline.ca/p/matt-gurney-we-will-never-fucking
#america #usa

“There is zero chance Canada buys F-35s from the United States. … This is not a procurement story. This is a trust collapse — and it’s global. … Because Donald Trump has made it explicit: American weapons come with political obedience clauses, and allies are now treated as assets to be pressured, not partners to be protected.”
—Dean Blundell
https://deanblundell.substack.com/p/source-there-is-zero-chance-canada
#trump #usa #canada