We might be living the final moments of not being terrified what the US President is going to do
These might be the good old days. Go outside, feel the grass, say wassup to your neighbors,... whatever you do that means community, because sh*t might get bad for a while.
I'm seeing a lot of "democracy is going to die" posts..
But... I hate to break it to you:
America is not a democracy. And if somehow it is a democracy, then it's an incredibly bad one. It's the least democratic democracy in the Western world.
The two party system, the first past the post voting system, the indirect method of counting votes, lobbying, gerrymandering, the electoral collage. Systems to try and manipulate what a vote means. Systems that try to remove as much democracy from democracy as possible, while still being able to keep up some mock appearance.
Your whole country is fucked and backwards from the very beginning, and that wouldn't be so bad. But if America does something we all have to suffer for it!
I don’t think it was ever a true democracy, we’re just cycling back to the white male landowner as the only vote being counted as the norm. Another rally at MSG, all the racist rhetoric, all the dog whistles are just regular shouting now
As a person from Europe, who's is living next to Ukraine, who's girlfriend is ukranian, who's many friends are Ukrainian, who's many friends died due to that terrorist state: If you were eligible to vote in the US and didn't, fuck you.
Any vote that didn't go to Kamala, is a vote for fascism, a vote to accelerate and finish the genocide of palestine, a vote to cease support for Ukraine and a vote to help terrorists in ruzzia. If you support any of that, Fuck. You.
But I know my ukranian brothers, they will not surrender. Even if you selfish American pricks don't support them. They will fight until they can't fight anymore, and then they will still fight.
Unlike you, they are brave. They are heroes. They know whats fucking right.
And frankly, for all terrible things coming to the US, if you didnt vote, you deserve them all.
If you are from the LGBTQ+ community, not white or a woman, and you didn't vote, you have just commited suicide.
I will still support Ukraine, financially. Its not much but I don't care. And if its not enough and the worst comes, I am ready to die to save my brothers, just like my people did in the past.
I am willing to do my part, if you didn't vote, you didnt. So one, last fuck you.
It's like allowing someone in your house telling you that he's going to rob you, but he promises to do it LEGALLY. It's hilarious and maddening at the same time.
This is what I don't get...everyone keeps saying it is going to be a bad 4 years but most likely this is it we are done. Trump is going to pardon himself for all the shit he did last time in office and now he doesn't need to worry about breaking any laws since SCOTUS gave him immunity. This is going to be horrific. We are witnessing the death of America.
I honestly find this hilarious for a couple reasons—
His retarded voters are going to wake up 6 months from now with more Indian, Mexican, and Middle Eastern neighbors than ever before.
Inflation is going to increase like it did before under him.
The measures his government will pass will heavily favor corporations, both foreign and domestic.
If incels think that women hated them before, just wait, his incel base of voters are going to be enemy number one with women from all walks of life.
Women dying from lack of abortion care is going to get worse (I don't find this funny). The wives and daughters of republicans are going to among those that pass away from the lack of abortion care.
Trump doesn't care about White people and their weird obsession with being replaced. He even stated that he's going to increase immigration to levels never before seen due to AI, for some reason.
This upcoming Trump presidency is going to be a dumpster fire for his voting base because he will accomplish none of the things that they think Trump will do. He won't get them a wife, he won't end no fault divorce, he won't make anime real, he won't start mass deportations—he's just trying to stay out of jail.
For the rest of us, just laugh. We've been through 4 years of this idiot before.
The only thing I find irksome is the gloating of his retarded voting base. They would really vote against their own interest just to laugh at CNN/MSNBC pundits panicking online. It's like setting fire to your house because it makes your neighbor seethe.
I don't live in the US, so my views are probably biased by our anti-Trump media hype, so even though I agree with most of your points, I'd leave two open for discussion:
If incels think that women hated them before, just wait, his incel base of voters are going to be enemy number one with women from all walks of life.
I was under the impression that Republicans are not looking for love from women, but their total subjugation. Women don't need to love them (perhaps they can, only in Stockholm syndrome mode), but they have to obey. I don't think incels will be disappointed.
For the rest of us, just laugh. We’ve been through 4 years of this idiot before.
I said this twice before, and I was always wrong, so take this with a huge boulder of sand. But I don't think he'll last four years (unless they do a Weekend at Bernies), so part of the 4 years will be with that weird cross-dresser, and I have absolutely no idea what to expect from him.
I agree that he probably won't last the four years but even if he does he is already too senile to set any policy. He was also already more than happy for others to do the actual work of creating policy because he's incredibly lazy last time.
So I think Vance (and Musk) will be the real rulers behind King Trump. I don't think either is really that much interested in religion and racism but both are incredibly sexist and/or transphobic. So sadly a lot of horror and pain will be delivered to women and transgender people. (Which doesn't mean immigrants are safe.)
Musk will also push for deregulation/privatization of technology so that he can become even richer. This will lead to more monopolization/enshittification and stifle innovation for years, maybe decades. Vance will go along with it due to the Thiel-connection.
Additionally, Putin has made sure that Musk will also champion his interests even if Trump is unable to due to senility. The US will become a de facto ally of Russia and a geopolitical enemy of Europe in a similar vein as China (meaning not openly).
The military-industrial complex will quickly warm to the new reality of an autocracy and the US will start a new war somewhere. Probably in the Middle East. Maybe not within the first four years though. It will be used to distract from a crashing economy and the very real climate catastrophe (mirroring Ruzzia).
I wish all of this were ideas for an alt-history book and not a possible scenario for our future.
As a German aware of my country's history I can only shake my head in sad recognition and try not to feel utterly hopeless not only about the future of a once-great country but the entire world.
11% more women voted than men, if they all voted democrat, they would have won easily.
You could argue that a proportion of these women are brainwashed or whatever else but the simple fact of the matter is that not enough of them felt engaged with democratic policies.
Adding to this, the wealth disparity is going to continue to increase with those who have equities dramatically increasing their personal capitol, while the middle class is going to fall further behind.
I'm convinced a major part of inflation that goes completely ignored is the staggering amount of wealth generated by equities. People have literally seen 1 million become 2 or 3 over the last few years. They have been spending money with complete disregard... Watching what people buy at Costco is insane!
The goal is to make the middle class disappear and blame someone else for it. The US wants a wealthy upper class and a permanent lower working class. This is why Republicans never act on immigration, legal or otherwise, because it's the best way to lower wages, it's a huge point to campaign on, and many republicans benefit from immigrant H1-Bs and "none skilled" labor.
You could watch the reactionism ramp up as they slipped into the minority during Clinton; and white men struggling to deal with the loss of their relevance has basically been the story of American politics since.
NYT is calling it for Trump. America as we know it, may be over.
The war in Ukraine is about to end, with Russia probably getting everything they want, NATO might disband, China likely takes Taiwan, 100 years of authoritarianism and tyranny may be upon us after Trump truly consolidates powers, and nukes the Federal government.
Nah, we're gonna balkanize sooner or later. Economy is fucked beyond fucked. (Thank you Reagan) It won't be able to keep going. Especially not with republicans at the tiller. The end of the US will be the same as every other empire. But with nukes.
Damn, if only we had listened to the people calling for a negotiated peace since the first moment instead of calling them Putin bots...
NATO might disband
As a western European, I fucking wish, but you're too hopeful for that. NATO is exclusively a force for evil, and the only interventions that it's carried out are the bombing of Yugoslavia and the bombing of Libya, the latter resulting in a decade of civil wars that destroyed the formerly most prosperous country in Africa. Extraofficially (not technically NATO), also the invasion of Iraq. How is literally any of that good.
100 years of authoritarianism
The US has never been anything different from that. It's based on the genocide of natives, on slavery of imported Africans, and the decisions made at the government are consistently against the will and the interests of the majority.
If Trump loses there are the next two months of wondering how many people will die around the inauguration, then the next two years of wondering what the project 2027 people are going to do, then...
The only way to stop this is to fix the US system. Fix the courts. Fix the elections. Fix gerrymandering. Fix the right wing control of the media. Fix the lies from the "news".
Can't stress this enough. And block based on keywords. My lemmy experience improved dramatically once I started blocking users, subs, and instances I didn't like.
Those users get to enjoy their thing, and I wont yuck their yum. I've managed to cutout most of the rage bait and the stuff in my feed is genuinely interesting.
I don't think anyone is, US healthcare is some of the best in the world and he can afford the best doctors. They can easily keep him alive another 4 years.
2 years. Immediately after the midpoint of the term, he'll get 25th'd, giving Vance the remainder of the term and leaving him eligible for two more, which he'll win due to the 2028 and 2032 elections both being North Korea style shams, intended to compile lists of suspected dissidents rather than decide anything.
Which is exactly why China is going to win. They play the long game where we only care about the next quarterly report. We drop bombs, they build schools and hospitals and install water wells. We trap countries into IMF loan scams, they give interest free loans.
And the thing is: Trump is not a clever man. In fact, he's blantantly, obviously, ferociously stupid. He didn't just appear out of nowhere. The rest of us have been watching this dog eat grass for the last 50 years.
I can't beleive the number of New Yorkers (NYC residents and expats) that trust Trump. He has wreaked havoc across the city and metro area with terrible buildings, stiffed contractors, and constant financial mockery. His post-TV show perception has done an insane job of making even the most affected people forget what a sack of shit he his. They really think 1. He runs businesses well due to his continued financial growth and that 2. Running the country like his businesses will somehow benefit them, the national equivalent of those laid off from his private endeavors.
So anyway, that's how I know they just racist assholes.
Ok everyone chill. Yeah, it sucks. But we kinda foresaw this ever since Biden decided to run again. Take a deep breath, think about it more later. The worst thing is to be angry instead of smart. Remember George Floyd. Remember specifically how everyone got angry and did dumb things about it, and today efforts at police reform are actually in a worse place than they were before he was murdered on video.
Think about ways to counter Trump that will be more effective and less just expressions of rage. I think the biggest problem is the media that really plays to Trump's reality TV-style politics. It's not enough to wine that the voters are too stupid, but what do we do about it?
Every federal judge and probably the supreme Court for the rest of our lives is going to be wholly owned by the dictatorship. Checks and balances are essentially broken at this point in the president can do whatever he wants with impunity. What about to hit a massive recession. What smart thing do you think were going to do about it?
the president can do whatever he wants with impunity.
I'm still hoping Biden uses that to finish Trump. That will lead surely you a civil war, but that's a price I'm willing to pay as somebody who doesn't live in the US.
massive recession. What smart thing do you think were going to do about it?
I remember 2008 like yesterday. "Nobody hiring. Mass layoffs. No jobs.", and then it seems like that same cycle has just been on regular repeat the rest of our lives up to this point. (Meanwhile, record profits because of course!)
This is what I really worry about. I'm still trying but still on the same treadmill. I'm not a super genius or a heartless grifter, so I don't really know if I can be clever enough for us to get through this... And that scares the crap out of me.
It’s not enough to wine that the voters are too stupid,
this is ultimately the problem though. The voter base is fucking retarded, and it's fuelled by a massive propaganda machine. There is literally nothing we can do here.
ROFL. George Floyd is one of the few good examples of popular mobilisation in the US and you're using it somehow as a point of how it's bad to protest????
It's a cult of personality. Jack Smith and the Judiciary just needs to step on the gas as soon as the election is called for Harris, get him gone. It'll be interesting to see where the GOP goes from there, but MAGA will be dead. Would anyone else be happy with your normal everyday NeoCons running the GOP again?
Us on the left need to stop depending on a government whose military is overwhelmingly in support of Trump.
We already know nearly all police are the same fascists (not to mention uvalde)
Arm yourself and train your family. Be silently ready for anything, don't make yourself a target
Top brass seem to swing the other way though. These are generations that tangled with Russia and china for decades now. They see much more behind the curtain than others do.
I'm just going to keep riding this horse until it fucking dies but the very first thing he did was take everything Obama did during his presidency and throw it out the window, including the pandemic playbook.
That playbook would have given us step by step instructions and reactions to deal with any type of suddenly erupting national pandemic like Ebola or coronavirus.
And because of this, which was by all measures a racially motivated attack on Obama, more than 1 million Americans died in a badly managed pandemic.
Trump's racism killed a million Americans.
It undoubtedly exacerbated the problem for the entire world and his total kill count is likely much more than that.
How can you let somebody who genocided millions of people through racism sit in the oval office?
It's a cult. They have people denying COVID ever existed. Heartily rejecting vaccines.
There's just too much to list but it only ever makes sense if you take whatever he's doing as right and readjust everyone around him to work does it ever make sense.
The fact that this election is even close is absolutely insane to me.
It's crazy that the vote is apparently close. Really goes to show how many "average" americans have utterly lost any connection to actual reality and have guzzled enough of the kool-aid to believe the weird whacky world of wonders the religious fascists constantly conjure up.
I wonder though, is this ultimately a failure not of the education and internal offices, decades ago? We let schools let people down, leading to them becoming undereducated terrible parents who let their kids down and made them vulnerable to be exploited by republicans and churches and crypto grifters. :(
Don’t underestimate their tactic. For the republican presidential campaign, they will recognize only one of two outcomes: victory, or election tampering/fraud/manipulation. And, the wider the margin of win, the stronger the rhetoric will be.
Trump will challenge no matter what the margin is, if he loses. He will never concede because he’s a narcissistic loser and his moron followers will blindly do his bidding, especially on the next January 6.
As long as he loses I think it’s mostly good. He currently does not hold the levers of power, and I think as much as his supporters like to play the victim, I think a second loss will lead to evaporating support. Hard to pretend to be a strongman when you look weak
A second loss should be a death knell of the current Republican party. He won't transition any of his power to Vance or any other Republicans. He could die and we still would see 10% of the Americans to vote for him in 2028 because his death was just media propaganda as far as they are concerned.
His rallies have fizzled and I suspect this year (unlike 2016) a lot of these attendees were paid for their attendance, hence the common early exodus we have seen from his “supporters”.
Expect the challenge. I've been watching the usual suspects on Twitter, they're completely bwashed into thinking there's only one possible outcome, and if it goes against them it means there's been election fraud. They're already calling it a landslide.
If we are being honest I suspect this election will be tight. Let's try not to pull a democrat this time. In 2020 they voted to uphold the election without any recounts because there was a democrat majority in Congress. When you are elected leader it is your job to serve the people. They should've at least looked into Trumps claims even if they were fabricated.
They should’ve at least looked into Trumps claims even if they were fabricated.
to be clear, trump has made 10x the amount of public claims, privately, every single one was either incredibly illegal. Or fucking wrong. Not a single one was correct.
I voted Trump but I completely agree. We need a landslide, even if Harris wins. Anything else gives the bad actors on either side fuel for an already out of control fire.
Sorry, but I just had to take a peek at your profile. You claim to be on an autism spectrum, yet you voted for a man who will - as the first order of business - make your very life extremely miserable.
Trump and team don't need to win the election. They just need to make it tainted with enough irregularities that it forms the basis for the entire thing to be called into question. Even if that evidence is created by them. And this time they're more prepared for that outcome. They've had years to work on his scenario.
The court cases and investigations will go on for years.
They already won culturally, as they managed to shift the political culture closer towards theirs. They also managed to set issues that are "theirs". We see the same shit in Europe, were supposedly progressive parties are implementing the wildest dreams of racist anti-immigration, anti-refugee, anti-science and authoritarian surveillance state policies that the fascists dreamed off. All in the name of "stopping" them, while neglecting actually relevant issues like social services and infrastructure investments. Rinse and repeat and by the time the fascists take over all they have to do is remove the remaining formalities of division of power and democracy.
The major difference is that he's not president this time, Biden is. Republicans only control the House, and that control is narrow. He will try, but he has very few people in government who support him this time.
That's true.. They just need enough to start a civil war (and the entire point by Trump, and the rest of his cronies is to stay out of prison).
And all he needs to do, is start a coup, but not be 100% upfront this time. And he's been sowing those seeds.. He also needs to take over the justice system and the voting system (and he's been trying to do that too). The idea, like dealing drugs or the mafia, is to try to put measures in place so that other people get blamed
Anyway what happens if he wins fair in square? Would there be a group of people who refused to accept it? Maybe even a violent mob on the capital?
I think both sides need to chill. I've seen so many people questioning the polls even though there is little evidence to back it up. We don't need mobs from either side causing chaos. I think a lot of uncertainty is coming from US adversaries who want to destabilize the US. It is scary how well it is working.
Also calling the election into question isn't a problem by itself. If they want to do a recount that is perfectly fine by me. I think it is way more important to have accurate results. Follow the law and official policies. If doing a recount means settling a dispute then go for it.
Hahahahhahahaha you think Trump is the last guy to feel threatened by? The dude was just the starter. There's a whole movement now with tons of corrupt politicians who will try to get a shot at the presidency. I'm thinking about the Florida governor for example.
USA is a country with a lot of inequality, if not rising inequality, so a fertile breeding ground for populists. And it has an ancient voting system that always gives a two party system so perfect for this kind of polarisation. The system with campaign contributions will also make sure nothing changes about inequality and is making things worse. Yeah, it'll happen again.
The voting system is so insane. I mean sure, back in the 18th century it made sense due to the travel required, but the fact that americans still use a voting system from that time says it all really...
We might be living the final moments of not being terrified what the US President is going to do
Come on dude... I live with that since I can understand the world, US can introduce democracy to my country in any moment doesn't matter who is the fucking president.
If you're so concerned about 3rd parties being a spoiler, then you must work towards replacing First-past-the-post voting in your state.
With a more representative electoral system, people would be free to vote for those they feel best represent them, with their vote still being counted against the republicans.
State level electoral reform is possible, some states have already done away with FPTP voting, and others are voting on it!
Given how this structural flaw in our voting system can be repaired, and your high level of concern of the spoiler effect, I invite you to my asklemmy post to discuss your new commitment to replacing FPTP voting in your state after the election.
replacing First-past-the-post voting in your state
Yeah, well, incidentally, ranked choice voting was on the ballot in 2020. We had a sign out encouraging people to vote for it, and I talked it up to whomever it would listen when political discourse came up, but it didn't pass, so here we still are.
The difference is I am also terrified about what will happen with the Democrats in power. About the unlimited slop being handed to the military-industrial complex so they can ship guns to Israel to continue a genocide. About the crackdown on immigrants and refugees. About the global poor being crushed under the bootheels of American-led capitalism.
To support the Democratic party is to actively decide to place less value on the lives of non-Americans, something I simply cannot do. You want to vote for Harris as harm reduction, be my guest. But understand that the problems facing America cannot, and will not, be solved by voting. Voting should be an absolutely minor thing in the totality of your political actions. Join, start, or support a union. Find what mutual aids groups are nearby, and participate. Join protests. Pressure your local politicians. Support your comrades in their direct action campaigns. Build political power that is under your control, not the control of a system invented in the 1700s by a bunch of wealthy white slaveowners.
Voting should be an absolutely minor thing in the totality of your political actions. Join, start, or support a union. Find what mutual aids groups are nearby, and participate. Join protests. Pressure your local politicians. Support your comrades in their direct action campaigns. Build political power that is under your control, not the control of a system invented in the 1700s by a bunch of wealthy white slaveowners.
Totally with you!
Voted PSL, and yah, I am terrified.
Ah, you lost me. You see a problem, but you seem to be unwilling to accept that there are incremental steps to solving that problem, and the first step is to make sure Trump loses this election. If you aren't doing everything you can to effect that result, you are, to put it simply, fucking up.
To support the Democratic party is to actively decide to place less value on the lives of non-Americans
Netanyahu wants Trump to win, and with good reason. Harris might not have good policy with regards to Israel / Palestine, but Trump's is indisputably worse, if you aren't staunchly pro-Israel. Furthermore, Harris is better in pretty much every measurable metric including climate change, where Trump's "Burn it all down" policy would doom us all.
To be clear, if I was going to be a single issue voter, climate change would be that issue, not foreign policy, because if we fuck that one up, everyone loses.
It's cool, though - I'm sure the people dying in Gaza if Trump wins will understand that you couldn't vote for "better" because it wasn't "perfect". Your 12-16 year plan for change will surely make them feel better about their situation, when Trump is encouraging Israel to do whatever they need to to end the conflict quickly.
You definitely are going to sleep better by not supporting any criminal with blood on his hands. There's many other things other than voting you can do to change things for good, if you are not fine with Jill Stein and believe she's evil don't vote for them either
Honestly, I doubt it. Even if he loses, he's still going to be spewing his mouth diarrhea nonstop and his cult will still believe the shit he says. Also, I'm thinking the Republican party will continue his shit. He created a new Republican party. They'll keep pushing candidates who will act and do shit like him since he's been very successful in fooling his base.
I remember telling my (trump supporter) father the night before the election in 2016 something along the lines of: "You don't think this clown actually has a chance, do you?"
It's a little funny to see Americans saying "genocide joe" like if the USA endorsing a genocide was a temporal thing and not the freaking constant of the last century
"Sure, Republicans killed a million Iraqis chasing fake WMDs, but I'm voting against the Democrat because she isn't sufficiently outraged about Israel killing 40k Palestinians."
Americans need to clean up their own shit before assuming their self-assigned role as world police.
Honestly it doesn't matter who wins the election. Bam I said it.
Well it does technically matter but I don't think it is worth getting stressed about. Your vote is just a small part in the process. If something bad happens you can deal with it then.
Then you’re showing your privilege, and clearly haven’t seen the thousands of images and videos of shredded children coming out of Palestine for the past year.
Yeah, and I plan to vote against Netanyahu's buddy who keeps saying he should do "whatever it takes to finish the job". Stop pretending that a Trump presidency will be better for Palestine. Literally everyone who actually cares about Palestinians in good faith knows that a vote for Harris is a vote for harm reduction.
You're showing your privilege here by admitting you aren't scared of Trump's plans, which involves oppressing millions of people, because you're confident you're not one of the groups he plans to oppress.
Cope lol. Harris has consistently shown her message to be "fuck Palestine". You call it a harm reduction, yet how are you going to explain the harm already done, and the point of harm reduction? Is Israel going to genocide less-lightly? Kill all the people in Palestine a little bit slower? What's the difference in the end, there is absolutely none.
Harris polls this shittily because of Palestine and going against what people want. That's why suddenly 2 days before the election the messaging changed to "we love Palestine we will end the war really quickly!".
The reality is you cannot run a campaign on "but Trump worse!". You need something that makes you different, you need policy. That's why Kamala's CNN Town Hall was such a huge failure - the only thing she talked about is how she isn't Trump. Acting as if "people are stupid if they don't vote, vote 3rd party or vote Trump" is a valid statement only shows the blindness of what's actually happening. And what's happening is if you only care about Palestine / Middle East, both candidates will happily stand by and letting it burn.
Remember, this all could stop immediately using one phone call to Netanyahu. We know that, because things like this stopped immediately after such phonecalls. But there needs to be a political will to do that, and there is none right now, or in the future.