I'd like to see the 9/11 attacks become something like Pearl Harbor day (December 7th, 1941) in something we acknowledge happened but don't actually have department store sales over, and speeches by elected officials are optional, usually if victims / veterans are getting together for a pageant.

From a statecraft standpoint, I remain impressed with just how low the 9/11 attacks smote the US, and I'm sure even Bin Laden regarded it as a lucky hit, intending it to be a sting like the Doolittle raid, but with such perfect timing that it accelerated the US dissolution towards one-party autocracy. Now, many of the failings of the United States as a free democracy are laid plain, and it's our mess to clean up or to leave to fester.

If Harris wins in 2024, we'll get that chance, but Obama also promised hope and change and didn't deliver, and it cost us dearly. Again. So we'll see.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 month ago

Regardless of who wins, the mess has barely begun. Donald Trump brought up WWIII yesterday for a reason: he tilted international politics towards nationalism and militarism. In just 4 years, he managed to embolden Russia, piss off Iran, and encouraged China to become more hardline. Even if he loses, the damage is done.

There is a solid chance we see global conflict on a terrifying scale within the next 4 years, in small part thanks to that psychopath winning in 2016. The liberal world order deserves much of the blame, but Trump definitely accelerated things.