CharlesDarwin1809

Maybe there is more manipulation in US elections than I’m aware of, I don’t know. Anyway, I do think it would be good if the US and Europe could be strong friends, but I don’t think that should happen while politicians such as the MAGA cabal are in control of America. I remember when Trump complained about apparent “foreign interference” of Brits in the 2024 US presidential election, only for Trump’s vice president to then actively campaign for a European political candidate, Viktor Orban.

Yes probably many Americans want to be friends with Europe so it’s a shame that the Americans who don’t like Europe are currently running America

I definitely think Musk wants to rig elections as much as he can, but he probably tries to do it just about within the law, so he can sell himself as a moral fighter for whatever crap he thinks he’s fighting for (enriching himself, of course).

I guess my general point was that lots of Americans did seem to vote for Trump in 2024, even if many of those now seem to regret their vote, given Trump’s current approval ratings. I hope that a better US president will be elected in 2028. But I think Europe should aim for as much autonomy as possible, regardless of how 2028 turns out, so that friendship with the US becomes a choice rather than an obligation.

Many experts in the US have said that US votes are reliable though, right? Trump kept casting doubt on US votes, saying that Biden could only have won in 2020 due to manipulation, and experts were saying that actually the US voting system is reliable.

I definitely believe that many Americans want to be friends with Europe, yes. I also think there are quite a few Americans who love Trump and dislike Europe for whatever reasons. I hope America will elect somebody more sensible than Trump in 2028, but I don’t think it’s yet clear what will happen.

I guess the American people need to decide whether they want to be friends with Europe again. Trump got 49.8% of the popular vote in 2024, so not a majority, but still a lot of people. So they need to choose between continuing isolation in 2028 (e.g. Vance) or a leader who is a bit more sensible (e.g. Gavin Newsom).

In a way maybe it is weird. Anyway, whether the UK rejoins the EU in the coming years or not, I hope the UK cooperates with the EU where it makes sense. The UK and the EU both have an interest in a prosperous Europe which doesn’t need to rely on unreliable or unfriendly states (US, China, Russia).

I would argue that Microsoft are better than they used to be (I quite like TypeScript, and WSL) but perhaps only marginally. I’m lucky that I don’t have to use Windows. I just use Linux these days.

In terms of sovereignty, I think Europe should try to find alternatives to Microsoft for critical things, even if the only reason for that is because Microsoft is American. As the OP article shows, the US government can make it painful for Europe to rely on American companies like Microsoft, regardless of what Microsoft themselves choose to do.

As a European (British) I hope Europe can become as autonomous as possible.

We can trade with foreign entities when they’re being reasonable, but at the moment a few of them are being unreasonable.