I'd rather not, because it would damage the power dynamic of the EU.

The USA is an all-powerfull political entity that can dictate terms on its own. A bit like a monopoly. Europe is a large group of players, condemned to each other, making parallel but not identical choices (e.g are you in/out/half part of the EU).

This changes the way you talk to others, as you'll need to talk to them again, and the power dynamic will have shifted.

So the USA knows it's the best at everything, and will loudly declare it. Most inhabitants only have second hand impressions from other cultures.

European countries each know they individually are the best, but there are tons of neighbours with near status, so it's impolite to say it loud. If differences get big, you can't help but notice next time you enter a neighbour.

The neverending wars, culminating in WWI and WWII, tought everyone what happened when you stop communicating and start ordering. A lot of our politics is trying not to restart that and working together with others who we don't like very much. The EU is but one such project, and if we're honest, the USA pushing for stability was one helper in the past.

One way to look at Trump is: Can we Europeans deal with each others as adults when the big USA stick has disappeared. And can we talk to a partner who seems to have gone mad temporarily but might come back ?

Like the founder of telegram?

Hey, it could be worse. They could have voted to ban it entirely unless they sold their European operations to friends of EU bureaucrats. There's some precedent for that now.

> Well, that ain't as bad news/punishment as it used to be.

Agreed. My company (which is smallish but quite international) has largely stopped meetups/conferences/etc. in the US because so many people either have to wait ages for a visa, or are from countries now on blacklists. This is not to mention the risk of getting randomly pulled by TSA/ICE/etc. I have to imagine this is much more widespread than just my company as well.

Fun to watch a superpower attempt self-destruction. /s Too bad it'll probably hurt all of us in some form or another.

I can be worse if US companies like VISA or Google are forced to not service this person like it was done with International Court of Justice judges.

UN hq is in New York for exemple.

> cannot afford the war against Putin without American help

Yet. And the US gov shows clear intent that it should remain so.

While I don't love over-regulation, and there certainly are some parts of the DSA which are probably over-broad, it is astonishingly rich that the current US administration is targeting the EU for "suppressing freedom of expression".

In the UK we told the EU bully bureaucrats to go f*ck themselves in 2016.

The same thing is possible in all EU nations - never give up hope.

The EU bureaucracy stunts growth on the continent. It's undemocratic (only the executive can originate and repeal law - and they are appointed, not elected), protectionist, bullying, expensive and unnecessary.

Successful nations like Switzerland and Norway (#3 and #4 highest GDP per capita in the European continent) show that you don't need to be an EU member state to prosper, maintain peaceful government and strong human rights protections.

Land of the free looking like rank shitty low cowards, afraid of every shadow these days. Absolutely no tolerance, demanding subservience. It's totally up-side down, just madcap that any of this is OK with anyone. All Correct turning to All In-Correct, all wrong.

If you wanna operate in a market you have to follow said market's rules and regulations, full stop and period. The only ones actively trying to suppress freedom of expression are the bullies and borderline sociopaths currently in the US executive.

We all know the correct, American way to deal with democratically-elected Presidents of foreign nations is to overthrow them, bomb them or if all else fails assassinate them.

Impartant context: EU demands US follow EU law on EU soil for EU consumers.

EU stuff must abie by US law when going to the US, vice versa as well.