“Arbiter” is too kind. Does MAGA think greed and ignorance is a winning strategy?
10
Connect-Coat6277Mar 25, 2026
+4
Yes they do
4
hcwhitewolfMar 25, 2026
+15
I think calling the US the global guardian even pre-Trump warmongering is a bit generous. It's just fully mask-off now.
15
StoneAgeRickMar 25, 2026
+4
Exactly, they have shed the pretend-face and now we are seeing them for what they really are and always has been.
4
Purify5Mar 25, 2026
+6
Exactly. The US was always protecting their hegemony.
6
S0vereignCitizenMar 25, 2026
+10
But the movies told me America is the good guy
10
zubbs99Mar 25, 2026
+3
Good guy with a gun.
3
RamonaQ-JunieBMar 25, 2026
+4
Chaos, bigotry, racism, sexism, violence are just a few of the horrible examples of what the GOP/US exports in the name of being a “global guardian.”
4
MudBloodLiteMar 25, 2026
+10
US was never a global guardian.
Sure they have always had the largest military, but they never did any guardianship. It was either threatening, or outright invading.
10
Kink_PandaMar 25, 2026
+3
We're already been a bully the world feared more than felt was a protector, the GOP and Trump just made it WAY more violent. They made sure we were seen as tyrants because they think that fear is a much better weapon. I'd love to think we're better but its just a flat lie.
Now we have to hope the rest of the world doesn't want to take a piece out of us while we're weakened when they sure as shit have a reason to.
edit: Typo
3
albatrossSKYMar 25, 2026
+3
The US was never a guardian, we were just a hegemon with better PR. The only difference now is that we stopped pretending the 'rules based order' applied to us too. its just bullying without the polite veneer anymore.
3
Mauchit_RonMar 25, 2026
+5
LOL no one has even remotely thought of the US as _global guardian_ since Obama. The idea that the sentiment started with the Iran war is f****** laughable
5
walkallover1991Mar 25, 2026
+7
Um, Obama was blowing up MSF hospitals in Afghanistan and air striking weddings in Yemen.
The U.S. government was never a global guardian. The whole reason Iran is in the situation it's in today is because the U.S. and UK governments jointly overthrew their democratically elected socialist government in the 1950s to protect oil interests after Mosaddegh attempted to nationalize their oil industry.
7
Mauchit_RonMar 25, 2026
-1
I didn't say I was a fan of Obama - one of his administration's final acts in office was a multi-billion dollar arms sale to the Saudis so F*** Obama - but the perception from the rest of the world's point if view was that he was a real and competent leader, and that the US could still be relied upon as an ally. Then the US put Trump in office. That's when the rest of the world stopped taking the US seriously.
-1
walkallover1991Mar 25, 2026
+3
I mean no one really took the U.S. seriously under Obama, either. There were massive protests in Chile when Bachelet met him in Washington after he refused to apologize for the CIA overthrowing Allende's government, for example.
3
Mauchit_RonMar 25, 2026
-2
That's simply not true. The rest of the (western) world looked at the US as a protector and ally under Obama, regardless of how effective he actually was as a leader.
-2
walkallover1991Mar 25, 2026
+3
The western world only has roughly 12% percent of the entire global population. Regardless, you are speaking from the perspective of western political leaders - not of the general population.
In the global south - which contains the majority of the world's population - the perspective on the U.S. government is far different.
3
naughtywhirlxMar 25, 2026
+3
Exactly, that take really glosses over a lot of history. The idea that the U.S. suddenly lost its “global guardian” image only because of a recent conflict doesn’t hold up, perceptions have been shifting for years, shaped by wars, foreign policy choices, and global reactions.
3
theclansman22Mar 25, 2026
+1
*Since Clinton*
1
zubbs99Mar 25, 2026
+2
For all the 'winning' we're becoming a 'failed state'.
2
Typical_Intention996Mar 25, 2026
+2
'Global guardian' pfft.
That's like Bill Cosby saying he was only helping people overcome insomnia.
2
olderdeafguy1Mar 25, 2026
+1
No argument there.
1
Optimism_DeficitMar 25, 2026
+1
No it hasn't.
Everyone had already figured that out from him thrashing about wildly with his illegal tariffs, abducting the President of Venezuela, and threatening to annex Greenland.
1
Interesting-Prize-79Mar 25, 2026
+1
Guardian of western imperialism
1
julia_fnsMar 25, 2026
+1
When I think of a pigeon playing chess, “arbiter” doesn’t come to mind.
26 Comments