America - The Official Thread

[GranTurNismo]

Spoken as though this election didn't just end all of that.

What difference does this make?

Only time will tell whether the Democrats have a legitimate, fair chance to win again in 2028, or 2024 was the last true election we had before an inevitable decay into fascism. Either way, why would it not be appropriate to criticize Democrats where it is necessary?

You seem to be under the belief that the electorate moved right and no longer want democracy or the federal government to make an effort to materially improve their lives, facilitating a Trump win. Let's suppose you're right. To chalk this up to merely the savviness of Trump/the GOP, and/or mythical forces that can't be readily articulated is just incomplete. Do the Democrats have no role, at all? Is it no longer worth even trying to learn from 2024, just because the path to fascism seems so imminent and irreversible? Of course not.

The Democrats still have- albeit a very and increasingly small window- time to change pace, start over, and do something revolutionary. It's been shown that neoliberal institutionalism, both in the US and abroad, is failing to prevent fascism and uphold democracy. It's irrational to do the same thing over and over and expect different results.

 

[dylansan]

This is why we pressure Democrats.

Sen. Schumer Urged Democrats to Oppose Trump Nominees in Protest of His Policies

The Senate minority leader had initially said he would not lean on his colleagues to reflexively oppose every nominee, but changed his stance after the president’s actions generated heavy pressure from the left.

www.nytimes.com

They're powerless. A performance to pretend to stop Rubio might make you happier, but I have no doubt that picking and choosing battles over nominees is more effective communication.

Oh my god.


When I vote for a third party candidate because I, living in one of the most solidly blue states in the country, am powerless to stop Trump, I'm complicit in the destruction of democracy as we know it. But when senators literally vote for a person who wants to run the country into the ground, for no other reason than that they want to, they're excused because they're powerless.

You've invented a world where directly voting for a bad person is somehow less complicit than voting third party.

Not to mention a world where messaging is important and democrats need support, but all hope is lost so their actions don't matter.

Spoken like a republican trying to block Obama or Biden.

And apparently a world where blocking a president's agenda is bad regardless of what that agenda is? I legitimately have no idea what your point was with this.


Just, stop.

Stop responding to me. Stop engaging with me. I am not interested in what you have to say at all. It's a public forum, so I can't stop you from replying if I post about some event and you have to weigh in. But stop analyzing me and my politics. Nothing has made me more confident in my convictions than the inconsistency of yours.

I'm begging you to block me.

 

[Liquid]

Something I read online struck me a bit; the fact that many are surprised at how easily Trump and Musk are just doing what they want with very little pushback and very little procedural obfuscation. Someone suggested that due to two centuries of American exceptionalism, it's like a shocking flinch. These things don't happen in th US of A, they happen elsewhere, and this naive inexperience, it could never happen here, is why there is so much infighting and confusion instead of pushback.

It doesn't explain the whole thing but I do think elements of it are true.

 

[UKMikey]

It's die große Lüge, the lie so big nobody believes it's not true.

 

[EngieDiesel]

Something I read online struck me a bit; the fact that many are surprised at how easily Trump and Musk are just doing what they want with very little pushback and very little procedural obfuscation. Someone suggested that due to two centuries of American exceptionalism, it's like a shocking flinch. These things don't happen in th US of A, they happen elsewhere, and this naive inexperience, it could never happen here, is why there is so much infighting and confusion instead of pushback.

It doesn't explain the whole thing but I do think elements of it are true.

Also the fact that neither Trump nor Musk understand the concept of subtlety. The people who came before would initiate these kinds of things much more quietly and gradually to avoid public scrutiny, and to make it more difficult to reverse them when they finally to noticed. That's the expected behavior from politicians, so these two screaming "LOOK AT WHAT I'M DOING, LOOK AT MEEEEEE" and just throwing these massive edicts around and then immediately reversing them in full view of everyone is completely alien to anyone who would move against it.

Right now it seems the only course of action anyone can think of is "wait till the toddlers are done throwing their toys around the room and then punish them for knocking holes in the walls".

 

[Biggles]

It's really starting to seem like there are no effective "checks & balances" in the US at all. Trump with just 49.7% of the popular vote cast in the 2024 election is embarking on the complete remaking of of the Federal government, reconstituting or shuttering government departments, firing hundreds of thousands of civil servants, filling government positions with unqualified Trump loyalists and sycophants and overturning longstanding US foreign policy positions and international alliances & trade agreements. Given his refusal to recognize the results of the 2020 election, it's hard to see how Trump and his MAGA followers would accept the results of any future elections that weren't in his favour, now that Trump has a firm hold on all the levers of power.

 

[Scaff]

The architect of Project 2025 is now the White House Budget Director.

It's funny how that happened when Trump said he had nothing to do with Project 2025 and the Trump fans said it was never really going to be used. I guess the former is a liar, and the latter are deluded idiots.

Senate Confirms Project 2025 Architect As Trump's Budget Director

Vought was confirmed on a party-line vote of 53-47, putting him into one of the most influential positions in the federal government.

www.huffpost.com

In other news, one of Elon's little Stormtroopers has quit, not because he realised he was doing the wrong thing, but because his attempts to delete his racism on X weren't ineffective.

DOGE Staffer Resigns After Racist Social Media Posts Exposed: Report

“You could not pay me to marry outside of my ethnicity," read one post from the account in question.

www.huffingtonpost.co.uk

 

[UKMikey]

In other news, one of Elon's little Stormtroopers has quit, not because he realised he was doing the wrong thing, but because his attempts to delete his racism on X weren't ineffective.

DOGE Staffer Resigns After Racist Social Media Posts Exposed: Report

“You could not pay me to marry outside of my ethnicity," read one post from the account in question.

www.huffingtonpost.co.uk

My heart goes out to him.

 

[Joey D]

Something I read online struck me a bit; the fact that many are surprised at how easily Trump and Musk are just doing what they want with very little pushback and very little procedural obfuscation. Someone suggested that due to two centuries of American exceptionalism, it's like a shocking flinch. These things don't happen in th US of A, they happen elsewhere, and this naive inexperience, it could never happen here, is why there is so much infighting and confusion instead of pushback.

It doesn't explain the whole thing but I do think elements of it are true.

The US has brushed fascism before. Woodrow Wilson is often cited as a fascist president. Depending on how you view him and his policies, FDR had some fascist tendencies as well (like locking up American citizens in concentration camps). Then there was the entire time during the Cold War when politicians branded anyone they didn't like a Communist to jail them or discredit them.

I don't think Trump is anything new for America, and we've been here before; the only difference now is that there's more money and influence to chart the course while also having easily accessible platforms to spread nonsense. Think about how the Red Scare would've gone if social media had existed and crackpots had the opportunity to say whatever they wanted at any time. So really, we've always been here, it just hasn't been as easily seen as it is now since we have infinite access to information, a platform for people to say whatever they want and reach millions, and 24-hour news cycles. The amount of money being thrown at politics is also insane and the people behind that money support fascist ideals.

It's really starting to seem like there are no effective "checks & balances" in the US at all. Trump with just 49.7% of the popular vote cast in the 2024 election is embarking on the complete remaking of of the Federal government, reconstituting or shuttering government departments, firing hundreds of thousands of civil servants, filling government positions with unqualified Trump loyalists and sycophants and overturning longstanding US foreign policy positions and international alliances & trade agreements. Given his refusal to recognize the results of the 2020 election, it's hard to see how Trump and his MAGA followers would accept the results of any future elections that weren't in his favour, now that Trump has a firm hold on all the levers of power.

Checks and balances haven't been effective in a long time. It used to work when each branch was concerned with its power, but now it's just all about falling in line with the party leadership so you can keep your job. Whatever the head of the party says goes, even if the underlings disagree. The benefits of being in Congress are excellent and people don't want to lose that so they just continue to toe the line. Just look at what happened with Congressmen like Mitt Romney and Adam Kinzinger or Congresswoman Liz Cheney; they went against Trump and lost their power even though they were right.

 

[McLaren]

In other news, one of Elon's little Stormtroopers has quit, not because he realised he was doing the wrong thing, but because his attempts to delete his racism on X weren't ineffective.

DOGE Staffer Resigns After Racist Social Media Posts Exposed: Report

“You could not pay me to marry outside of my ethnicity," read one post from the account in question.

www.huffingtonpost.co.uk

And in natural fashion, Elon is running a "poll" asking if he should bring the staffer back with Justa Dummy Vance advocating that social media shouldn't ruin his life.

Curious what the excuse from these idiots will be if you were to remind them that kid is anti-Israel: "I would not mind at all if Gaza and Israel were both wiped off the face of the Earth."

 

[dylansan]

Netanyahu gifts Trump a golden pager to celebrate the attacks in Lebanon.

Netanyahu gives Trump ‘golden pager’ in apparent reference to Lebanon attack

Photos show gift, reportedly nod to Israel’s deadly attack on Hezbollah, during which devices simultaneously detonated

www.theguardian.com

Then poses for a photo with Chuck Schumer and a handful of other members of Congress (both R and D).

...

DOJ orders National Center for Missing and Exploited Children to scrub LGBTQ+ language and deadname trans kids, which will no doubt hinder efforts to find trans kids.

 

[DK]

Not pictured: John Fetterman licking Netanyahu's shoes.

 

[Famine]

And then there's this asshole:

Kanye West Condemned After Praising Hitler In Antisemitic Rant On Elon Musk’s X Platform

Kanye West is doubling and tripling down on his anti-Jewish stand and has taken to Elon Musk's microblogging platform to do so.

deadline.com

 

[doblocruiser]

What I find a shame here on GTP is that even the slightest flirt with Trump or Musk ends up being labeled like stupid, racist, fascist, homophobe , uneducated and wrong. All arguments are drilled into the ground with we are right and you are wrong. No wonder most people keep their opinions to themselves.

 

[TexRex]

What I find a shame here on GTP is that even the slightest flirt with Trump or Musk ends up being labeled like stupid, racist, fascist, homophobe , uneducated and wrong. All arguments are drilled into the ground with we are right and you are wrong. No wonder most people keep their opinions to themselves.

lol. Gonna offer any kind of counter to any posts doing such or are you just going to cry like a little bitch because others are being mean?

Edit: Appropriate time for this one.

 

[McLaren]

What I find a shame here on GTP is that even the slightest flirt with Trump or Musk ends up being labeled like stupid, racist, fascist, homophobe , uneducated and wrong. All arguments are drilled into the ground with we are right and you are wrong. No wonder most people keep their opinions to themselves.

Flirt regarding what? Because if you’re gonna be vague, then yeah, that’s probably gonna be the general response as anything those two do will likely fall into the categories you’ve named.

 

[Roo]

What I find a shame here on GTP is that even the slightest flirt with Trump or Musk ends up being labeled like stupid, racist, fascist, homophobe , uneducated and wrong. All arguments are drilled into the ground with we are right and you are wrong. No wonder most people keep their opinions to themselves.

I'm using the word "you" in this post in the general sense, not the individual "you doblocruiser" sense, as I don't know how you voted, if at all.

When you vote for someone, you're saying that you feel they best represent you and your opinions*. If the person you vote for is some or all the things you describe, then it stands that you felt those descriptors best represent you, particularly when the alternative was not those things.

*The word "best" is doing a lot of heavy lifting here - perhaps substitute "least worst"

 

[Liquid]

If you can find a reason to support Donald Trump or Elon Musk without supporting the fascism, racism, greed, vanity, ethic cleansing, prejudice, bigotry, persecution and general smugness that comes with it, or to support them without those things somehow hanging over that support like a brown cloud, we'd certainly like to hear it.