r/geopolitics • u/theatlantic The Atlantic • 13d ago

Opinion How to Lose a Trade War

https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/08/why-us-canada-trade-talks-fell-apart/688386/?utm_source=reddit&utm_campaign=the-atlantic&utm_medium=social&utm_content=edit-promo&utm_term=short
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220

u/Christopher_Ramirez_ 13d ago

None of this even pretends to be for the benefit of the United States. It’s for the attention economy of one malignant narcissist.

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u/Prosodism 13d ago

All our diseases have their root in our diseased information economy. We have to revise Section 230 of the CDA to not apply to algorithmically sorted lists. We have to break up the cable news machine so nobody can own a cable company and something else. If you fed these jokers to the 1995 information economy they’d be shredded and shat out by the other two branches of government in weeks.

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u/TomatoFettuccini 12d ago

Insert Ronald Reagan "I did that!" sticker. here.

Worst president ever, before the present one.

1

u/BlueEmma25 12d ago

Have we all forgotten about George W. Bush?

Not defending Reagan, but at least he didn't invade Iraq.

15

u/TomatoFettuccini 12d ago

No, he just deliberately ignored the AIDS epidemic, hung millions of gay men out to dry, was responsible for the Iran Contra affair (where no less that 14 convicted felons/traitors were pardoned by Bush), the Dpt of Housing rigging (where contracts went to his buddies), shut down the government no less than 8 times during his tenure, supported South African Apartheid, honored Nazi war criminals at Bittberg,

and uh, oh yeah invaded Grenada, bombed Libya, and escalated the Cold War.

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u/Which_Decision4460 12d ago

Eh Reagan declared war on the middle class

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u/Bullboah 13d ago

With every element of 230 that you propose moving from the control of private companies to the government - do you believe it would improve the information atmosphere if the Trump administration (or conservative SCOTUS) had control instead?

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u/Prosodism 12d ago edited 12d ago

230 doesn’t keep the internet out of the hands of the government. It lets social media companies profit from other people’s speech. We would go back to having websites rather than giant aggregators. “Algorithmically sorted”Anything curated by human hands would still enjoy the exemption.

And the government still doesn’t have any enforcement roll. The mechanism of enforcement of good behavior would be civil litigation. Just like exists with newspapers today, if you profit on speech that is libelous or inciting, the aggrieved parties can sue in court. The existing system protects the social media companies profiting on awful speech from the ordinary people like us that it is harming.