My own country lies to me far more than Russia could ever even dream it. The president of the US went on live tv and said he saw non-existent "beheaded babies" just to service Israel. Russia isn't even a blip of a problem for US citizens (other than the Ukraine stealing our tax dollars). In fact, a lot of people that want to take away our freedoms seem to be anti-Russia, so at worst they're the enemy of our enemy.
I don't vote "right" because the Democrats and the Republicans are both working against my interests.
As soon as citizens no longer trust their democratic government, democracy stops being effective. I the Netherlands I think the governments have done a pretty decent job (although far from perfect, but compared to other countries they’re top of class) and I trust that most people in government are trying to do the right thing. A lot of the online lies are aimed at creating this distrust so democracies stop working.
And that distrust starts with this dishonest framing like ‘ukrain are stealing our dollars’. No they’re not, it’s your politicians that decided it was in the interest of the US to have wars: fight hitler (thank you!), fight communism in Vietnam, fund and later fight saddam, fund and later fight taliban.
But now you have a government that no longer thinks fighting Putin is useful, because they think the Russian style of government is the way to go, and not a threat to the US way of life. I doubt they’re right, the average Russian in the country leads a very poor life, and freedom is not a priority in Russia, if you disagree with government you will get thrown out of a window.
But your government is now following the government style of Russia, not following the rules of law, not following democratic, constitutional rules. Do you really want to be next Russia?
As a citizen I support my government's decision to not fund the Ukraine. I never supported it, most people don't. It's common sense, why send our money halfway across the globe to fight a battle that has nothing to do with us? That's stealing my money in my book and I don't need "Russian trolls" to tell me that. For the record I, along with many others, didn't support the wars against Vietnam, "communism" or the Taliban. We should not be the world's police. A domestic, home grown opinion based on basic logic.
US president Roosevelt actually started the creation of the United Nations to avoid another world war. If we want to avoid another world war, more policing is needed, and Roosevelt thought the US was in a good position to do this. No amount of financial efficiency weighs up to not having freedom. What is the worth of your millions if your family is gassed in concentration camps? That’s why I also don’t mind the European Union not being super efficient, as long as it brings us peace it’s worth it.
We are under no threat of that in the US. The UN is 100% ineffective anyway, they can't even stop or slow down Israel. Since the UN was created it's been the US that has been the major belligerent party across the globe. Our "policing" is the crime, we killed over a million Vietnamese people, over a million people in Iraq... we're the bad guys.
Any empire is the "bad guys" pretty much by definition, but there are still bad guys and worse guys. And Ukraine is very different from Afghanistan or Vietnam - it's a country that's genuinely asking for US military assistance against an external enemy that invaded it for openly imperialist reasons (annexing territory etc). Not just the Ukrainian government, but when you look at the polls, it really is a "people's war".
Now, that still doesn't obligate US to help. But it does mean that any military assistance that US does render to Ukraine can only improve its well-deserved "bad guy" image. If you truly believe that US did an evil thing by invading other countries, what better way to redeem yourself than to help someone who is being attacked by a bully just like you?
Agree, the us, and its allies have made some stupid decisions, but I would not be so sure there’s no threat from Russia. Putin may have already concurred the US by replacing its government by people that are owned by Putin, that vote and decide the way Putin wants them, and that are destroying the US and its economy so it can no longer be a leader in the world.
Israel did this long ago, not Russia. That's the threat. That's why our politicians vote the way Israel wants, that's also why they pass anti-free speech anti-BDS laws.
Polling disagrees with you here. Funding and helping Ukraine was massively popular in the US and transcended party lines until it became a wedge issue after the Republican primaries (what changed?).
Polling is easily manipulated and falsified. Just talk to any American and ask them if they're working hard so they can send their tax dollars to the Ukraine, you'll quickly find that there's no support.
I don't vote "right" because the Democrats and the Republicans are both working against my interests.