Elon Musk just threw up a sieg heil and the crowd cheered. I am entirely out of hope. I'm glad some people can find solace in hoping for a better tomorrow, but I am not one of those people.
I am hopeful that Trump will find that the filibuster is stopping him from doing the things he wants to do and will move to get rid of it. Hopefully right before the midterms. Then I hope democrats get the trifecta back and actually uses it for good - since republicans benefit from a non-working government the filibuster is win-win for them. The only way the left wins is if the filibuster falls and we are in control.
The divine right of kings did not survive the invention of the printing press. Nation-states likely won't survive the invention of the internet. I'm hopeful for that.
We will then see it in the 2026 midterms and the 2028 presidential election, when Americans elect true leaders who care about working people and the common good.
No we won't. We'll get milquetoast neoliberals and a few blue dogs. And they'll control one chamber and get fuck all done. Americans are idiots who have always voted against their best interests to entrench oligarchy.
I have no idea how someone with so much experience in politics could possibly think this is what will happen.
Of all the horrible things Trump will do/has done, I personally think one of the most dangerous things he has done is that he gave Republicans a lesson they should have never learned: as long as the propaganda machine is on your side you can literally do anything you want.
Republicans used to do the whole song and dance of paying lip service to our norms and shying away from doing anything abhorrent out in the open, blatant corruption and the like, but Trump has shown them that they don't need to care at all. The next charismatic asshat to take the party for a ride will be much much worse because of this lesson.
With practically the entirety of social media being owned by Reich wing assholes, or soon to be owned by them, and the literal entirety of corporate media being owned by rich self centered assholes that utilize the media for their own benefit, I only see our population getting more and more Reich wing going forward. This will be true ESPECIALLY if the only real opposition are the Democrats pulling this "lalalalalala I'm not listening, next time we just need to lie harder about the economy being good!" bullshit instead of recognizing that they actually have to do more than just say they give a shit about us.
If you are white and straight no reason to worry too much.
It's the minorities that need to be concerned. I'm concerned as fuck for my people and especially that we are in a sanctuary city and a state that all reds hate.
Straight white and actually wealthy, ah yeah that's the ticket, fucking untouchable. Can't wait to see the leopards come out for just the first two of three.
Which is why I said "worry too much". You think they'll go for white skin folks first? That's just naive. Trust me I'm not putting your worries behind it's just that they have already used "invasion and war" against minorities coming in even on approved refugee status.
I grew up in Texas under Clinton, Bush, Obama, and then Trump. Our leaders are feckless at best and monsters at worst. I'm so ashamed of my fellow Americans by allowing a political spectrum that is scoped and framed to never address looming tangible existential issues to be the only one ever considered, but also the incessant slop media produces to placate the lowest common denominator amongst the population. I'm so frustrated being surrounded by simpletons, lorded over by rich morons, and being economically stunted because I'm descended from idiot junkies.
Culturally the Americas has been rotten long before the slave owning richest man in the country turned warlord so a new set of elites could replace the British nobility.
Edit: Correction, Washington wasn't the richest man in the Americas at the time. Just tremendously wealthy by the standards of the time. My apologies about the inaccuracy.
Ahhh hell you're right I'll go make a correction. I like Aztec history way more than U.S.A. history so I'm not surprised I've been mistaken about this for decades.
He also didn't turn into some warlord to overturn the elite. What a wild revisionism of the Revolution. My ancestor was a signer of the DoI and lost everything to further the cause...this wasn't some changing from one wealthy group to another. There's plenty of places to point to for elitism and corruption, but this point in time was not one of them.
Resistance requires hope. I appreciate people being willing to imagine how things could get better from this point. If you aren't willing to allow yourself to even imagine victory, you've already lost.