I found this thread in the Greenland Sub-Reddit, and I found the OP, as well as the comments, well worth a read.

[LuckyCharms]

Link is below text.

To Every American Who's Sorry.

We're getting at least 10 posts a day from Americans apologising , and saying things like they didn't vote for Trump or don't support his policies. To be blunt, none of that actually matters. You can say you're different from the rest of Americans, but to the rest of the world, that distinction doesn't exist.

To us, your country is a single entity on the world stage, and it's threatening its allies. Think about how you view other countries. For example, Russian opposition doesn't change what Russia does, because that's their domestic politics. The same thing applies to the US too, except you had the power to choose your president, and you may still have it.

So instead of coming here nonstop to apologise on behalf of your country for your constant need for sympathy, focus on actually changing something while you still can.

https://old.reddit.com/r/greenland/comments/1qhhijq/to_every_american_whos_sorry/

[JustAnotherGen]

1. Then there's me

I'm not sorry. I didn't do it.

Non White people in America are in fear and the rest of world can fuck right off.

[LuckyCharms]

2. I didn't do it either.

None of us here did.

But the perception is what the perception is, isn't it?

Also, it's not just the non-white people who are afraid.

Finally, I don't think the rest of the world should fuck off, because they are in fear, as we are.

[JustAnotherGen]

6. I commend you

But all of my great nieces and nephews with the exception of one are half latino/latina. The one who is not? Her grandparents are from Ivory Coast.

My 16 year old niece in Rochester is going to school with a passport. To be clear - we are Americans. We predate the French Indian war in my mother's family. We descend from enslaved Americans.

Black folks? We've been here before. 1877-1965. None of this is new to us.

What is new to us? Now that it impacts the 'rest of world' they give a damn. They always traded and engaged with America . . . and overlooked just what an evil bunch of miscreants we were and remain.

We have ALWAYS been this country . . . just now? It's the White Supremacy is hitting everyone at home and abroad in the face. So yes - they can kindly fuck off.

[malaise]

8. Profound

Rec

[LuckyCharms]

9. But also...

many in the world viewed us as "The Ugly Americans" well before Trump. They were not blind to our history.

I take your point, though.

[JustAnotherGen]

10. Thank you

I remember traveling during the Bush Admin to places such as France and Ireland and having to hold back a snicker when I would tell them . . .

Um - I'm a black American. Accusing me of being one of them is highly insulting. They got the point.

[underpants]

3. That's solid

[dem4decades]

4. Maybe Greenland doesn't realize that we're hostages too.

[Irish_Dem]

5. Yep. The USA is now a crime syndicate.

We are part of it whether we like it or not.

We are a democracy so it is all on we the people.

[JustAnotherGen]

11. If it is on all of us

That will give the magapubs an out when the Regime falls.

That would be returning to a status quo of 'let's all come together now'.


No. I refuse. We need sharp and clearly defined markers so we can figure out who gets sent to Gitmo, Alligator Alley, etc. etc. - who simply loses the right to vote for 20 years vs the rest of their lives - who doesn't get to hold any job in govt anywhere - who gets hung in the public square.

It's deeply distressing to me that we are all for one, and one for all. We did that before and 88 years of Country Sanctioned racial horror was inflicted on us.

[Initech]

15. When the regime finally does fall...

The MAGAts in Congress and the Senate who enable him daily, and the network news psychos who keep bailing him out time and time again, must be put on trial. We cannot let them get away with it.

SCOTUS too. Don't forget they're actively complicit in rubber stamping Murdoch's brand of authoritarianism.

[MiHale]

7. Now we are experiencing the effects of American Exceptionalism...

hitting us in the face.

[Emrys]

12. I've no idea who this Sub-Redditor is, who claims to speak for "the rest of the world", but he doesn't speak for me.

Last edited Tue Jan 20, 2026, 03:18 PM - Edit history (1)

Outside lazy, careless barroom blether, those I know in the UK are quite capable of distinguishing between the acts and statements of Trump and his wannabe junta and the wishes and acts of a substantial proportion of the American population.

This is just common sense, but also probably a hangover from when our prime minister was Margaret Thatcher, and we who never supported and the many who openly opposed her certainly would never have welcomed being tarred with her brush.

It's easy to shout "Do something!" from the sidelines. A few suggestions as to realistic things to do would be a step forward.

[highplainsdem]

14. I saw a number of people in the replies who wanted to see a general strike in the US, and more of a

boycott of companies supporting to Trump.

And a number of them were upset with a large fraction of Americans not bothering to vote, and they consider those people just as responsible as the Trump supporters.

My impression is that the people in that thread are as upset as they are because Trump is more dangerous, a greater threat to the world, than any other leader who's appeared recently, and those redditors expected better from the US.

Oh, and the post in the OP is from a moderator of r/greenland.

[Emrys]

16. If any of them are from the UK, then I'm unimpressed

The fact a moderator on some Sub-Reddit comes out with something like this isn't surprising to me, nor persuasive.

Currently, Nigel Farage's Reform UK is riding high in UK polls. I'll be very pissed off if he ever does get elected and I get the blame for it.

[highplainsdem]

17. As disgusting as Farage is, he couldn't even if elected there do the worldwide harm Trump is capable

of doing, and is already starting to do.

That's the reason for the anger - actually, more frustration - with the US that I saw in that Reddit thread.

The other reason is not understanding how we got here.

A lot of them do seem unaware of how much the US government structure, especially the electoral college, makes minority rule more likely. How it gives more power to rural over urban voters.

How it allows almost unlimited money from any source to influence our elections.

They don't understand how much power RW media has had here, especially RW talk radio in rural areas.

They want us to do something NOW - or better yet, to have never let anyone like Trump gain power.

They don't hate Americans. They're just scared as hell and want us to stop Trump. And a lot of them have the impression that Americans haven't tried hard enough to stop Trump, because they don't understand how anyone with such low approval ratings is in power.

[Emrys]

18. Yeah, I've had to explain the US political setup to folks in the UK before,

not least when Obama was president and was being blamed for actions and inaction that were the result of machinations in congress.

But with Reddit, you're dealing with a self-selected minute subsample that often harbours extremist views, so it's as ridiculous to assume it's representative of anything as it is for its moderator to assume to speak for "the rest of the world". Fuck his presumptiveness.

Farage has already done untold harm to the UK and not exactly helped the situation with the EU. The fact he's currently just a poisonous bit player on the world stage is little comfort when we have poll after poll showing that all that's likely to stop Reform UK's progress is its own implosion that I think will happen in due course.

I still haven't heard any realistic ideas about what more Americans could do at the moment. I look forward to being potentially surprised, but I don't see the prospects of a general strike in the US as being realistic. Even if it happened, I can't see it would cause much more than a blip.

[highplainsdem]

13. Thanks for posting that, LC! I saw it late last night - I was awake till after 4 ayem - but was too tired to

post it and then stay online at least a while for discussion.