Open Discussion: Trump, for Better or for Worse?

A night for blunt questions, sharp opinions, and no easy answers. Was Trump a disruptive force the US needed, or the accelerant that made an already unstable world far more dangerous? How should the US deal with its internal problems of immigration, organised crime and doubts over the US-led COVID response? Did the United States have any real choice but to fight a trade war with the rest of the world in order to defend its economic position? Or was that confrontation always going to happen, no matter who was in the White House? And what about the bigger risks: was war with Iran inevitable? Could any US president have handled the Middle East without edging closer to conflict? In Europe, how much would the Russia–Ukraine war have changed under a different president? Would Zelensky have been forced to bargain differently with another leader in Washington, or would the outcome have been much the same regardless? We’ll also ask the deeper question that hangs over the entire post-2008 world: has the West really recovered from the Global Financial Crisis, or are we still living with its fallout? Was the rise of BRICS and the relative independence of economies outside the US-led G7 a natural historical correction — or a direct consequence of decades of policy failures, including those made under Trump-era politics and beyond? Then comes the hardest question of all: after 2028, what must the next US president do in a world that is no longer unipolar, no longer stable, and no longer waiting for Washington to catch up? Politically, economically, and militarily, what kind of leadership can actually hold the line? This may not necessarily a night for slogans. After all, it’s about free speech but subject to logic & the hierarchies of disagreement & evidence. It’s a night for arguing the hard stuff: - USA - Friend\, Foe or Empire? - Trade war or strategic necessity? - Iran: restraint\, deterrence\, or inevitability? - Ukraine: different president\, different war? - GFC aftershocks\, BRICS rise\, and the decline of Western certainty - The next president in a world that has moved on Come ready to challenge, defend, and rethink what you believe with one another & with AI participating. Light supper will be served. Donations at the door welcome.