The Cold War? Child’s play compared to what lies ahead, according to U.S. historian Robert Kagan. Trump, he says, is leading the world into the most dangerous era since 1945.
Tyrants always have the advantage in a “civil society”…
(Almost) Everything he does is legal so people treat it as fair game even if we don’t like it, and aside from ICE murdering people, there isn’t any direct violence to fight against so the “civil society” has to wait until it’s wayyyyyyyy too late, to the point that we’re all being sent to the gas chambers, until it decides it’s morally correct to use violence.
Until that point we’re left hoping our “representatives” will “fight” for us (hahahahahahahahahahahahaha… Ughh…)
:(
People forget that morality, legality, and constitutionality are all different. Andrew Jackson ignored court orders regarding treaties with the Cherokee, nothing bad happened, because the people supported him. Lincoln blockaded the South without congressional approval, that was a good thing, also unconstitutional. He suspended habeas corpus, which was also unconstitutional. ICE is likely not breaking the constitution in many instances. However, that doesn’t make their actions the slightest bit less abjorrent and evil. The constitution is a centuries old piece of paper. If anything, the Bill of Rights and some ot the other amendments (namely the 14th) are significantly more valuable.
Ice is detaining people without cause or warrants, it’s most definitely breaking the constitution.
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Not me; I think it’s been warranted for probably 6 months now.
But unlike my namesake I’m not willing to go it alone.
The last decade has made it abundantly clear how weak America actually is.
Growing up I just assumed we would stomp this kind of shit out real fast. Instead we’re bending over and letting an almost dead felon rapist pedophile fuck our country and our futures up. We’re allowing a clearly treasonous party to abdicate all their responsibilities to a fat creep that falls asleep and shits his pants during official duties.
It’s truly pathetic.
Don’t think I’ll be able to muster up much patriotism for this shithole for the remainder of my life.
ThEyRe BaItInG yOu
It’s interesting. It was pretty clear to me as a child, years ago, that this nation was fucked.
It had, and has, potential, but is driving in the wrong direction, with blinders on.
But I think it’s a perspective thing.
Some people just don’t see it, cause they are doing fine in their fishbowls.
Others have a twisted perspective and can’t tell what’s real and what’s not–even confuse what’s right in front of them, or biting them in the ass.
There are people that see it, sure. And people who fight against it. But it’s a lot and they are few. So even with huge wins here or there the overall trajectory remains the same.
It’s like the doomsday clock: it’s 5 second to midnight, maybe tomorrow it’ll move back to 10 seconds, but it’s unlikely to ever move back a minute, or an hour, or a day.
And I’m an optimist.
You’ve largely described my perception growing up; my own experience had a twist: I had a hard time reconciling how many others didn’t see the same cracks, and how things didn’t fall apart (sooner). I was beginning to accept the idea that maybe it wasn’t so bad, as that is what I was told over and over. Yet here we are.
I’ve mentioned this before to others whenever this comes up. most or a great majority of people in the US have it “good enough” to not “risk it all”.
Things over here “aren’t bad enough” for people to full-on revolt. I’d say we’re kinda close but modern, white, boring america just doesn’t want to get caught in the shit storm. They understand it might come for them at some point but that time isn’t now so why “stick their neck out”
most or a great majority of people in the US have it “good enough” to not “risk it all”.
Most of the people I know are barely hanging on and desperate to keep the little they have. When you’re barely getting by, like 60% of Americans currently living paycheck to paycheck, you can’t afford to risk anything.
They’re too busy making sure their kids don’t starve, or making sure they can stretch the last bit of money until the next check. Doesn’t help that all we do is exploit these people any chance we can.
And I’d bet a lot of people in that situation don’t really care to help repair a system that never really worked for them in the first place.
It’s not the right approach, you and I know that. But desperate people don’t act rationally. They act emotionally. And our society has gotten really good at manipulating peoples emotions.
The people living paycheck to paycheck are ones who would make the most impact by striking, but are least able to as they will starve, be evicted, lose utilities/cell/internet if they do.
The people who are making enough money to be comfortable are afraid that if they upset the people above them, they will become the people living paycheck to paycheck.
The independently wealthy and top tier capitalists are the ones that have the most financial freedom to protest, but have the least reason to, are the smallest group, and are mostly fine with how things are (at best) or actively making things worse (most likely).
“We’re too poor to afford to risk anything” is insulting to all the popular revolutions which happened because people were actually poor. Like, sorry not sorry, but the median American proletarian may live paycheck-to-paycheck but still lives in untold luxury compared to a 1917 Bolshevik who had to go to war sharing two boots and one rifle with multiple people, or the median revolutionary in Nepal last year (one of the poorest countries in the world).
Americans really have it too good to risk it all, that analysis is correct. They could have it a lot better, sure, but threat of not having it so good anymore is what keeps them complacent.
First they came for the ‘illegals’, but I did not do anything as I wasn’t an illegal.
Then they came for the trans, but I did not speak up for I wasn’t trans.
Then they came for etc etc etc.Waiting for dictators to do the right thing is never ever a good idea.
first they came for the immigrants, and i’m freaking out because i’m trans and i’m worried we’ll be next, but everyone’s telling me to calm down. wonder what they’ll say to me when they come for the trans.
They’ll say, “Where’s lolola gone? …Oh, ohh, ohhhhhh. Oh well, never mind, I’m not trans. I’m just gay, they’ll never come for me.”
{Flashing lights outside. Knock on the door}
“Whoever could that be?..oh, hello officer, how can I help yo…why are you handcuffing me? Help! Help! No one could ever have seen this coming!!”
We have a lot of people willing to fight for a better future.
We don’t have nearly enough people willing to die for a better future.
The reason why is because it’s quite literally the last resort. Most of us aren’t there yet.
Most of us aren’t there yet.
By the time you are it’ll be too late.
Sure. Most of us recognize it too. You realize the entire country is built around keeping us tied to an employer right?
Without a job, I have no health insurance, I have no roof over my head, I have no food. Those of us helping with the community orgs can only do so because we can afford it.
Good luck inspiring people to go die while they have those basic needs being provided.
Absolutely. I’m very aware of my “white privilege”.
I vote. I’ve protested and will again.
Yet, I’m going away for long weekends and I have a very big vacation coming in 2 months. I’m sure many people find that selfish and offensive. However, I consider it my personal survival technique.
Best of luck to everyone.
I view it more as I might as well spend my money while it still has buying power.
Oh, I am… My GF and I are logging at least one day of OT per week to pay for that big vacation. I’ll be @ 54 hrs this week by end of today’s shift. And my company pays “critical staffing” bonus of $10/hr on top of my 1.5X OT rate.
Sadly yes, when it finally does get to the point where most of America says “we’ve had enough!” I feel the water will be boiling and the frog will be almost cooked.
It is hilarious to me and also annoying that they say there is no resistance. Millions are flooding the streets. Record protests. Hundreds of thousands have made networks of information systems. But yeah sure no resistance. A toy company took the administration to Supreme Court and won but okay yeah no resistance . Women gassed and burned ice warehouses but okkkkk no resistance. Kids punching nazis. No resistance. Ridiculous.
they say there is no resistance
There’s street resistance, but virtually no political opposition. At every level of government, Democrats are falling over to comply, even as their constituents scream in protest.
There’s a somewhat valid excuse that the Dems are minority powers in house, Senate, and supreme court (which is now partisan) and the American system doesn’t grant any political power at all to a minority party against a lock-step majority.
That said, remember during COVID peaks, when Trump had his BS press conference updates? Andrew Cuomo, himself no saint, also had daily (?) live streams to give important information and quarantine/medical advice. Dem politicians could absolutely be using their voices right now to make a lot of noise - even without mechanical political power.
Democrats are not the minority in California or Oregon or Minnesota or New York. Nevertheless, state and municipal leaders have rolled over to ICE, co-mingled local PD resources, and left grisley murders unprosecuted.
That’s somewhat true, there has been mixed local/state resistance - I was focusing on nationally. I wonder if there’s some pressure being applied behind the scenes to local Dems, fear of retribution, or if it’s mere fecklessness.
My conspiracy hat suspicions are that Dem leadership is willingly sacrificing our rights/lives and letting things get worse in the hopes of boosting their midterm election chances. Althe answer to that is progressive sweep in the primaries
I wonder if there’s some pressure being applied behind the scenes to local Dems
Yeah, it’s called the DN fucking C.
Capitulating to Trump is a party policy
Oh boy, so this is what you think resistance is? I’m afraid you’re even more fucked than I was afraid of.
I’m sure that wherever you’re from has some history of armed uprising. Heck, you might have even been a part of it. But this is still the keyboard warrior trope. There are definitely more productive and friendly ways to explain that you think it’s going to take a lot more than what has already been tried than treating strangers in conflict zones like your own personally loathed chess pieces.
You’re winning some battles but that doesn’t mean you’re winning the war.
The efforts you’ve described are admirable and I’m sure has saved lives and the truth, but if the control runs deep, so must the resistance. I think the more we look into the secrets and recognize manipulation, the more enraged we will feel at how normal it was all made to seem.
It blew my mind when I realized how much of the internet and how much of national media in many countries is propaganda and flawed reporting. Leaving out details is lying imo and it’s often normalized because it’s “PR” or “protection”.
It all often takes me back to my abusive childhood home where I was kept inside/sheltered not to be protected from harm, but to keep me from realizing what was going on. To keep me from reaching people and information that would tell me it isn’t normal. But without the internet, its privacy and the people (not AI) I met there, I might still believe in that normal. It was thinking that got me out, and intense self-reflection. When the AI (even the algorithms sometimes) thinks for you, it doesn’t allow you to go through the process of reasoning and critical thinking.
I first thought it must feel like magic for the kids, then realized no, it’s as normal as our childhood surroundings were to us. And that is terrifying.
There’s a reason the word “renaissance” means rebirth. Wounding isn’t the same as killing (a status quo or a powerful person). They obviously know that, I think most of us don’t though. We didn’t even recognize the evil grow because they pit us against each other. I cri sorry for rant lemmy.
KEEP GOING EVERYONE!!! Locally up to internationally we the people have the power to get things done together!! Get more people active from anybody that isn’t yet!!
Also if you notice anybody going through tons of stress comfort them for a bit, laugh, have fun, and bring up their hope. Get them connected with others in person and online. All of us together are capable of anything
These countries a lot done from people working together: Syria, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Madagascar
Others that already were: Japan, South Korea, Norway, Denmark.
Currently all the People and especially people from these countries need all the assistance they can get: Ukraine, Myanmar, USA, Iran, Nigeria, India (Yes every country just these will have huge impact on everything else)
P.S. Networks of Information systems? I wanna help out for that what do you recommend I do? Been thinking setting up Matrix and Fluxer communities to help out with getting people mobilizing, collaborating, and doing in-person and online. Online communities focused on getting things done
There is a combination of factors that is turning America, a country founded on evicting a King from our government, into a country with a de-facto one.
First, one of the foundational principles of the country was the separation of powers. Specific powers were given to specific branches of government. The founders anticipated that ambitious people would fill those branches, and they would not give up that power so easily. They did not anticipate a Congress that would abdicate it’s power over directing the Executive branch when their guy is there. And a Supreme Court picked expressly to choose sides.
Second, the founders realized that there needed to be someone in charge of the Federal executive that had some real power. Recall that we had already formed one government , under the “Articles of Confederation”, with a weak central government that was not working. But, they did not trust the general electorate to pick it. That is the original purpose of the Electoral College: State Legislatures would name delegates, and those delegates would pick the President. We retain the Electoral College not because it still works in the modern era, but because it is too hard to change. (The fact that Congress hasn’t changed in size for 100 years also contributes to the inequity of the Electoral College, since each state’s votes are tied to their representation. In fact, I think the EC might still be workable if each district were smaller…).
Third, we had built up a strong tradition of non-partianship in the executive branch, with career civil servants doing their jobs across administrations, providing continuity. We even thought that protection was entrenched in law. But then this guy comes along, and decides that none of those laws matter. Once that merit-based expertise leaves, it is very hard to get back. And he can violate laws with impunity because of Point #1.
So, while we don’t call Trump a King officially, his office is being turned into a monarchy, where his opinion rules all and the rule of law is subject to it.
On the one hand, the founding fathers were tasked with constructing an entire political system before the fields of game theory and political science even existed to tell them the fragility of their checks and balances.
On the other, they also had very particular opinions about who were even eligible to participate in their new system (read: land owning whites).
One reason is that the US is just too big and too different to fight back effectively.
I think the most practical resistance is the west coast trying to split off.
It’s a lot easier to rally an entire state than an entire country.
Especially if it’s an economic powerhouse that’s drained to subsidize red states who voted for this.
The Weimar Republic also fell to the Nazis with almost no resistance.
There was plenty of violence in Germany leading up to the Jan 1931.
they didn’t have high spread internet back then to show they’re crimes of to the wider public, given that there losing seats in deep red states tells me the majority does not support these people and they’re not getting a lot of back up if things get ugly for them.
It is without resistance. The citizens offer protest while the Democratic Party looks out for their retirement checks. The protest has been ineffective other than getting press and bringing out trump’s goon squad.
The 2001 Patriot Act is the cornerstone and the MAGA fucknuts pushed ahead with their insane Project 2025 BS!
It’s relieving in a terrible way to see this acknowledged. I’ve heard far too many people over the last 15 months argue that this is just a roadbump, or talk about it like the typical Republican administration of economic strain and erosion of some civil rights. This is unprecedented in our country’s history. This is not something to hunker down and wait out.
Even the idea that “fascism will inevitably collapse” is an oversimplification and wishful thinking. I understand that much of this inaction is trauma from the strain of us living in a post 9/11 America, which up until now has been a slow-burn erosion of rights and tightening of economic conditions. Trump’s second term is in every way a different beast. It was well apparent that it would be since before the election even happened: Project 2025. The signs reading “MASS DEPORTATIONS”. Hell; I thought the Alt-Right Insurrection on Jan 6th, 2021 was so blatantly anti-democratic that Trump would have no chance of winning in 2024. I was clearly wrong.
Look at China. Look at Russia. That’s where the USA is heading. Those nations are fascist, too. That is the type of fascism I see this country falling into. It’s not going to be loud, with massive parades and MAGA Youth programs—Not in a country with this many people, this large an area; and this many guns. The fascism of the USA will be like it has been for the last year: With citizens disappeared from our streets; Agents exploiting our already shredded rights; and surveillance networks tracking our every move. That is life in China and Russia; and those nations are well-settled in those systems.
The course of the USA is to fall into a fascism of the system. It will not be our military harming our citizens. The violence will be carried out in policies enacted by people with faces and roles; under the guise of “just doing a job” or “protecting their community”. Hell, let’s not pretend like that wasn’t already the case. The War on Drugs, The Patriot Act, the regular abuses of police against protestors… This nation has been one of systemic violence since well before Trump took the stage in 2015. Just look to the population held imprisoned without being found guilty in our prisons, hospitals, and CIA detention centers.
I applaud the resistance in Minneapolis and Saint Paul. What happened in the Twin Cities was the first bit of resistance we’ve seen in this entire administration (excluding one-day attacks—I am not downplaying their significance.) Regarding the rest of this nation: What happened throughout the last year (especially the atrocities of ICE) is well beyond what I inherently assumed would be the “snapping point”. The fact that our economy and institutions are continuing in the midst of such blatant oppression and corruption, has me convinced there is no snapping point at all. En large, no draconian policy will trigger an out-roar, because the masses simply do not have it within them. We’re too worn down, too distracted, too traumatized, and too used to it. What scares me most is how clear it is—by the public conduct of our corporations, our elected leaders, and our government accounts—that our rulers know this.
“Fascism will inevitably collapse” is the dumbest take.
Like, it took world mobilization and six years to snuff out last time, but this time it’ll just eat itself? Sure
THANK YOU. Also the German Army was weak before Hitler’s rise (hence the loss in WWI which the Nazi’s attributed to the “Stab in the Back” theory). Germany also owed significant debt for reparations in the Treaty of Versailles. And the mobilization of Eurasia, the USA and Canada is no small feat.
None of this is true here. The USA has the strongest and most expensive army in the world. The USA largely was the army of the “Free World”—I say was because it’s clear the USA is aligned closer to China and Russia. Sure, the USA is in debt; but it’s all imaginary numbers because the USA also prints the world currency.
Also: nukes. We’ve got nukes. We’ve got TONS of nukes. In WWII, Germany did not have nukes. Japan did not have nukes. Now, nukes are not nation-enders; but they are fierce deterrents, especially against democracies where leaders have to answer questions like “Why did you provoke the USA into turning my family into shadows over foreign policy?”.
[The world unifies to save the USAmericans] is a prediction so self-absorbed and far-fetched, you’d only hear it from a USAmerican. The UK, Canada, Germany; they’ve all got their own rising fascist movements to suppress—and Again, hurting your civilians over foreign politics is extremely unpopular.
Look at China. Look at Russia.
One of these things 🎵
Is not like the other 🎶
Look at China. … That’s where the USA is heading.
你好！我是一名逃离美国百年屈辱的难民。请问哪里可以找到火车？
We have been sufficiently divided to prevent collective action until it is too late. Those who should be allied with us are too distracted by gender arguments and religious propaganda to notice the boot coming down for us all.
There are a couple of factors that play into the “lack of resistance.”
- Healthcare and employment are intertwined in the US. Also, healthcare is more expensive in the US than just about anywhere else in the world.
- Employment in most states is “at will,” meaning employees can be fired without cause. For most employees, there is also no employment contract. Unions in the US are very weak for the most part.
- Most people in the US live paycheck to paycheck, and don’t own their primary residence.
These are the ingredients of a captive population. They can hate something all they want, but objecting to it is a risk of losing everything they have. And that’s not hyperbole. There have already been reports of people being fired for social media posts, and ICE collecting info on “anti-ICE” social media content. Unfortunately, this is going to have to get to a point where enough people are willing to die to oppose this. When the economy starts hurting the upper-middle class, things might change, but I don’t know.
There is and has been resistance, and it’s resulted in American deaths. There just hasn’t been the craziness of, e.g., Jan 6 (irony intended)!
Also, it’s important to remember, if resistance gets to the level of Jan 6, this president likely won’t hesitate in implementing the Insurrection Act. That would effectively start either a mass slaughter of civilians and/or a civil war.
a mass slaughter of civilians and/or a civil war would be counterproductive to der Führer. historically those are last resort attempts to hold together a failing regime and usually speed up rejection
Minneapolis protestors beg to differ
I don’t blame the Citizens. The Citizens are against a huge media blitz working against them: Online, social media, and traditional media. They’ve been systematically targets to oppose on another on multiple levels.
The Democrats and the Republicans both failed. This is Democratic Erosion over a long timeline. We’re seeing the results of a failure of Democracy.
Democratic guardrails were removed over a long enough time and/or were not reinstated fast enough. The same people who thrive in high-level social circles tend to be sociopaths and psychopaths, both can be corrupt, this is humans nature. Technology moved faster than geriatric politicians could keep up with, and this was taken advantage of by both the psy/sociopaths and International Forces. We are living through the downfall of American Democracy driven by both Capitalism and International Forces doing what all Internationals Forces have done since Pangea split or whatever.
We don’t live in a perfect world. Democracy will always be a tug of war between ideas of shared power and the want of absolute power; this is human nature.
The only forces that can hold a POTUS accountable, especially at this stage when there’s so many stooges in place, is a literal mob or the Military Branch. If this administration doesn’t want to give up power; I’m not sure there’s anything to stop them.
Americans are too obsessed with themselves to give a shit. And when ICE starts busting the heads of white people, they’ll happily report their neighbors and coworkers for disloyalty.
