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BBC, why not include uk’s opinion? Is it because your daddy didn’t liked the result?
Russia is absolutely cleaning house this decade. Daaaaamn
What myopic bullshit. China has been and still is a deep supporter of Russia's war.
Sure, USA under Trump was majorly fucked up even in the first term, and now it's even worse. And while Trump is still licking Putin's boots, they are not actively supporting Russia.
Then out of an environmentalist point, USA is one of the worst of all states on earth, probably THE worst...
China acts at least smart, I already feel embarassed as European about what USA has become. China seems to act the smartest in regards of progress currently (i.e. massively electrifying shit...).
China may be a dictatorship, but they actually put tax money into public projects. When they say they are going to do a project for the next X years it actually gets done. As a result, when cool new projects come up, the infrastructure is already there. It is one of the reasons why Chinese EVs are so good and so cheap.
Meanwhile, we have the US where the government is wholly noncommittal to public services that don't extract money from their citizens. They frequently break contracts and agreements when they are no longer profitable or beneficial to the upper class. We have private militaries kidnapping and killing legal citizens just for existing.
It's no wonder people view the US less favorably than China. Both are evil, but at least China doesn't behave like a petulant child.
Chinese EVs are so cheap because of the massive direct subsidies they get from the Chinese government, not because of some infrastructure.
I'll take a dictator that seems to care about the well-being of their country over a wannabe dictator that only cares about getting paid any day.
"I'll take a dictator..."
This is a MAGA talking point and repeated by MAGA supporters.
No we won't.
Americans scream and spit on Chinese democracy while they cling to electoral colleges and governor appointed senators and the fight to disenfranchise minority voters en mass.
I just don't know how to take any of it seriously. China's a dictatorship because it's ruled by a single, seemingly insurmountable communist party. But Texas and Florida can elect Republicans to a bulletproof supermajority for 40 years and that's just the Will Of The People.
A Congress with a 20% approval rating enjoys a Lockean Mandate, while a Parliament with 50-70% approval is a tyrannical regime of brutal oppression.
And don't even get me started on prison population...
How are we even defining democracy anymore? It just seems like American Exceptionalism.
How are we even defining democracy anymore?
There are multiple organisations invested in rating democracies worldwide, the main one is from The Economist EIU ,(https://www.eiu.com/n/campaigns/democracy-index-2025/, there are numerous places where the raw data is published more accessible such as here: https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/democracy-index-eiu).
I personally prefer the index made by Freedom House (https://freedomhouse.org/report/freedom-world) because it includes what a regular citizen experiences:
For each country and territory, Freedom in the World analyzes the electoral process, political pluralism and participation, the functioning of the government, freedom of expression and of belief, associational and organizational rights, the rule of law, and personal autonomy and individual rights.
Their assessment of the US democracy:
EIU (2024): 7.85/10, "flawed democracy" Freedom in the world score (2025): 81/100
These scores obviously are not about other things that matter, like economic stability or access to healthcare.
Damn, you can't even use China as the positive comparison here without some random tankie getting pissed I didn't adequately glaze China.
you can’t even use China as the positive comparison here
tankie
Yeah, the comparison is positive, but also anyone who disagrees with you wants you murdered by a tank.
FFS, can you people take any level of criticism?
I read your comment as largely, if not entirely, supportive of the guy you responded to. What am I missing?
Europe: "They both suck!"
They both suck but currently the us suck a bit more. Is it because of them acting like the abusive partner they are and that side is finally revealed? Dislike with a side of betrayal.
The EU is slowly moving the US to the same category China was already in.
There is more loud animosity towards the US because they are more interegrated today because of the old trusts that are being broken.
You shun heathens but you burn heritics and all
This has been happening every 4 years for the past 30 years. It will change once again once Trump is replaced by a Dem.
This also goes for Russia, Israel, China, or whatever other country. People put too much stock on perception trends, when in reality it means very little. Things like this change at the drop of a hat.
It will change once again once Trump is replaced by a Dem.
Rubio's state department has been standing up fascist dictatorships in Latin America as quickly as he can.
I suspect any Dem who replaces him and isn't fully in board with ethically cleansing indigenous people south of the border will have a difficult time.
Then you've got fascist governments in the Philippines, India, and Japan, all of whom have been very much onboard with Trump's ultra-nationalism.
And European fascists from Reform UK to the AfD have been piling up election wins for years, in no small part thanks to American tech billionaire support.
Anyone who believes this all ends the day Trump flounders out of office is kidding themselves. We will, at best, be right back where we started on January 7th, 2021.
And yet it means nothing. When you look at glonal perception data of the US, it was favorable under Clinton, Obama, and Biden and unfavorable under Bush and Trump both times. Outside of the obvious partisan implications, the data shows that perception changes a lot and very quickly. It really doesn't mean much outside of the present atmosphere.
Can only speak of my own country, but we certainly did nothing to permanently decouple from the US under Bush or the first Trump term. But we are now. I think you underestimate how much damage Trump has done to the US' relations with the rest of the world
I think a significant difference this time was that they elected the idiot again, after Biden had spent four years trying to douse the flames, and the guy still wasn't in jail. It became clear to us in a different way what kind of country we're dealing with: A country that will see a blatantly corrupt facist attempt a coup, and will elect him again four years later rather than imprison him.
With earlier ones like Bush there were always some easing circumstances: When you look back at Bush today there's no doubt that he was orders of magnitude more mentally stable that the orange one, while also largely playing by the rules (by that I mean, not attempting a violent coup after his second term).
With trump it's gone too far. This isn't just about political disagreement anymore, it's about electing someone that respects the basic facts about how the world works. Someone that can't just look at you with a straight face and lie about something you're both seeing right in front of you.
When you look at glonal perception data of the US, it was favorable under Clinton, Obama, and Biden
YMMV
We had a big leap from Bush to Obama in '08/'09. But Obama burned off his confidence over two terms, particularly with regard to Climate Change. Clinton enjoyed a similar honeymoon his first year in office, before souring on the world stage with repeated military interventions and trade fights.
Trump, curiously, gained back a bunch of his approval between terms, especially in big O&G linked nations (Australia, Saudi Arabia, Canada), before fucking it all up with the tariff bid. And he gets sudden upswells of support among ex-pat communities - Cubans, Venezuelans, Iranians, Chinese dissidents - depending on whether he's promising to do regime change against an American enemy leader.
Outside of the obvious partisan implications, the data shows that perception changes a lot and very quickly
One of the technical upsides of Trump's brand of transactional politics is that international leaders (and their ultra-wealthy handlers) can often buy favorable treatment from Trump directly, even when the domestic residents don't really care for him. So while we'll see "The world hates Trump!" we'll still end up with a cartel of international business leaders lobbying for him and doing pay-to-play politics in order to win concessions.
And yet it means nothing.
It really doesn't mean much outside of the present atmosphere.
I think you mean to say it doesn't affect you.
Both governments suck, but the US's currently does more. So I'd agree.
Both governments suck
Which policies have the Chinese bureaucrats failed to deliver for their civilian population?
Given the news cycles unerring focus on Trump's circus, this isn't surprising. Xi has been very quiet of late, though his support of Russia may flip some of those values once the dust settles and the news cycles shifts focus once more.
I suppose it could also just be because Xi is the more skilled autocrat?
Seems good at what he is doing, but China is so big he could just be quietly fucking up and it'd take a while to be able to tell.
Momentum is a hell of a thing
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Perception shifts faster than policy sometimes.
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this post was submitted on 15 Jul 2026
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