It’s interesting that this regime is already behaving as if the dictatorship it clearly aspires to has already been established. They obviously feel quite confident about their cause.
Well, they can afford to be, because it doesn’t look as if they have anything to fear in the way of consequences. Every day, I read alarming reports about abuse of power, open corruption, systematic racism, absurd policies that run counter to the interests of US citizens, blatant disregard for the law, and the involvement of high-ranking government officials in prostitution and pedophilia. But I never read anything that would suggest that those responsible are being held accountable.
I therefore assume that the establishment of a dictatorship à la Russia is already so far advanced that it won’t be prevented - and by that I mean a transformation of the plutocracy that has long been the norm in the US into an unvarnished autocracy, including all the associated methods of repression, in other words, the transformation of the US into a full-blown dictatorship.
They obviously feel quite confident about their cause.
The real question is whether they have the momentum to keep it going. Even the MAGA types are getting tired of the impacts these decisions have on their lives. Yes, a group of bros got in power and took over, but they are falling fairly flat at each attempt. In the end, most of what they have done is symbolic. We will get back to some sense of normalcy soon enough.
I’d say what was passed under the name “big beautiful bill” is sadly more than just symbolic and the deportation of thousands upon thousands of foreigners is not either.
It’s interesting that this regime is already behaving as if the dictatorship it clearly aspires to has already been established.
Unitary Executive Theory has been on the table since Nixon. To say “we’re not already living in a dictatorship”, you really need to squeeze your eyes shut, stay perfectly in your lane, and not ask why we have the largest prison population on earth.
I therefore assume that the establishment of a dictatorship à la Russia is already so far advanced that it won’t be prevented
Well, obviously, the Russians are naturally predisposed to being ruled with an iron fist, because they have bad genes. Once the American people have been cleansed of the social rot, we’re going to see the kind of Liberty and Freedom that our Founding Fathers could only dream of.
Or, at least, that’s what Steven Miller and Steve Bannon and the last half dozen Joe Rogan guests have told me.
its actually worst than that, they dint even know biden wasnt running anymore, or asking how is it affecting them now and being in the target minority of the gop,
The majority of Americans who bothered to show up want this.
The majority of Americans who were enfranchised and bothered to show up and weren’t so turned off by the ongoing genocide that they could choke down another vote for a dim-witted would-be technocrat.
A plurality decided they didn’t care either way
In Texas, the state legislature imposed a host of reforms to the election process that made lines longer, registration more difficult, and kicked more people off the rolls. The sitting liberal Attorney General of the United States didn’t do shit to stop them.
Consequently, voter participation in the state plunged a full 6% from 2020 to 2024.
This is, presumably, because over 1M people just got a case of the lazies.
All that disenfranchisement and it only dropped 6%?
Active disenfranchisement is definitely a factor, and something that needs to be addressed… but it’s hardly the biggest factor in why people aren’t voting.
I don’t think they were aware of what this meant for them. Discussing why they voted the way they did, and why so many apparently didn’t vote at all, seems rather pointless to me now.
The question seems to me to be whether the American people will manage to shake off their agony and fight back. Despite the protests, which are naturally to be welcomed, I see no signs of this happening. I don’t think this will be enough, because these protests are not large enough to pose a threat to the government— and to my knowledge, there are no plans for a general strike.
It seems to me that the majority of US citizens have already resigned themselves to their fate or are not prepared to take the necessary risks to defend what remains of their democracy, which is a shame because I don’t think the majority of US citizens want a dictatorship (maybe some still don’t comprehend what this actually means for their lives).
Therefore, in my opinion, things will turn out as feared, because no resistance is to be expected from the Democrats, and I consider a recourse to the legal system to be absolutely unrealistic—it is already too deeply infiltrated (the proof of this is the fact that the incumbent president is still the incumbent president instead of being in prison for all his serious crimes).
I’m sorry to be so pessimistic, but I think this assessment reflects reality.
Still, I think it’s pretty important that I share it.
I worked at a gas station on Jan 6 in an area that gave Trump very close to 90% of the vote. I seen two reactions from the common people. “I can’t believe they’re doing this and he’s doing nothing to stop it.” And, “Good! I’d rather have a Trump dictatorship than a Biden presidency.”
Even the ones who were shocked and appeared to be facing the last straw were thoroughly brainwashed by the end of the week. “It was ainteefuh, they just want to make Trump look bad!” Even years later, when the so called “antifa” got a blanket pardon Trump, it never dawned on them.
The ones who called for a dictatorship are watching with glee as democracy is dismantled. They believe they are going to get a Christian nation. They believe that all of the things they don’t like will be illegal. They are donating money to the men who are working to make this happen. They are bragging about it openly and getting their friends involved.
Yes, this kind of irrational behavior is not a US phenomenon; unfortunately, these deluded people exist all over the world. Here in Germany, there are a lot of people who vote for a neo-Nazi party, but don’t even understand that it’s also a neo-liberal party that pursues policies that are absolutely not in the interests of these voters (edit: by neo-liberal I mean US-style capitalism that wants to abolish the welfare state that still exists in our country). Apparently, it’s enough for people to have an imagined enemy – namely, some minority group – to no longer recognize their real enemy.
Sad, but that’s the way it is. Unfortunately, I don’t expect it to be too long before we end up in the same situation as in the US: despite Germany’s history, fascists will be back in power – and once again, no one except the 1% will benefit from all the cruelty and inhumanity. The only question for me is whether there will be more resistance in Germany - I’m not so sure about that, unfortunately.
Most Americans are completely clueless that anything is even happening. They’re just going about their days as they always have. Especially the older generations.
That’s because there is no longer any independent journalism. Neither in the traditional form of newspapers, magazines or TV, nor online. “The media” has long since been taken over because the billionaires who own it profit from fascism. The frightening thing is that the great utopia of the internet, namely to break the power of mass media, has turned out to be false: it has only made things worse - although people could freely obtain information, but they do not do so.
In the age of AI, it’s only going to get worse.
Unfortunately, it’s still Joseph Goebbels’ program: whoever controls the media controls people’s minds.
I think that’s just as true today as it was during the Nazi era, which is now reviving. Nothing has changed, since people are utterly incapable of learning from history.
Even if we assumed every single third-party vote would have gone towards Harris (which isn’t true at all), there were only 2.6m third-party votes. That would just barely allow Harris to eke out Trump in regards to the popular vote, but still wouldn’t have won her the electoral college.
She was a fucking unpopular candidate. No way around that. She started off strong with a lot of excitement, but then failed to separate herself from Biden’s boring policies whatsoever. Democrat voters are tired of the existing establishment, and the democrat party ran an establishment candidate.
This is why I can’t be angry at people that didn’t vote or voted 3rd party instead of democrats. People were rightfully disenfranchised. It’s like blaming a rape victim for dressing a certain way.
It’s interesting that this regime is already behaving as if the dictatorship it clearly aspires to has already been established. They obviously feel quite confident about their cause.
Well, they can afford to be, because it doesn’t look as if they have anything to fear in the way of consequences. Every day, I read alarming reports about abuse of power, open corruption, systematic racism, absurd policies that run counter to the interests of US citizens, blatant disregard for the law, and the involvement of high-ranking government officials in prostitution and pedophilia. But I never read anything that would suggest that those responsible are being held accountable.
I therefore assume that the establishment of a dictatorship à la Russia is already so far advanced that it won’t be prevented - and by that I mean a transformation of the plutocracy that has long been the norm in the US into an unvarnished autocracy, including all the associated methods of repression, in other words, the transformation of the US into a full-blown dictatorship.
Fake it til you make it.
If they see no consequences to their actions, it only makes them bolder to go more extreme.
The real question is whether they have the momentum to keep it going. Even the MAGA types are getting tired of the impacts these decisions have on their lives. Yes, a group of bros got in power and took over, but they are falling fairly flat at each attempt. In the end, most of what they have done is symbolic. We will get back to some sense of normalcy soon enough.
I’d say what was passed under the name “big beautiful bill” is sadly more than just symbolic and the deportation of thousands upon thousands of foreigners is not either.
Unitary Executive Theory has been on the table since Nixon. To say “we’re not already living in a dictatorship”, you really need to squeeze your eyes shut, stay perfectly in your lane, and not ask why we have the largest prison population on earth.
Well, obviously, the Russians are naturally predisposed to being ruled with an iron fist, because they have bad genes. Once the American people have been cleansed of the social rot, we’re going to see the kind of Liberty and Freedom that our Founding Fathers could only dream of.
Or, at least, that’s what Steven Miller and Steve Bannon and the last half dozen Joe Rogan guests have told me.
With this comment, you are simply stating that you are incapable of engaging in rational discussion.
Not op but lol, wut?
Lemmy is really full of angry people recently who are projecting their problems onto others. It’s very odd.
These are the consequences, the majority of Americans want this.
The majority of Americans who bothered to show up want this. A plurality decided they didn’t care either way and decided they’d rather just stay home.
its actually worst than that, they dint even know biden wasnt running anymore, or asking how is it affecting them now and being in the target minority of the gop,
The majority of Americans who were enfranchised and bothered to show up and weren’t so turned off by the ongoing genocide that they could choke down another vote for a dim-witted would-be technocrat.
In Texas, the state legislature imposed a host of reforms to the election process that made lines longer, registration more difficult, and kicked more people off the rolls. The sitting liberal Attorney General of the United States didn’t do shit to stop them.
Consequently, voter participation in the state plunged a full 6% from 2020 to 2024.
This is, presumably, because over 1M people just got a case of the lazies.
All that disenfranchisement and it only dropped 6%?
Active disenfranchisement is definitely a factor, and something that needs to be addressed… but it’s hardly the biggest factor in why people aren’t voting.
I don’t think they were aware of what this meant for them. Discussing why they voted the way they did, and why so many apparently didn’t vote at all, seems rather pointless to me now.
The question seems to me to be whether the American people will manage to shake off their agony and fight back. Despite the protests, which are naturally to be welcomed, I see no signs of this happening. I don’t think this will be enough, because these protests are not large enough to pose a threat to the government— and to my knowledge, there are no plans for a general strike.
It seems to me that the majority of US citizens have already resigned themselves to their fate or are not prepared to take the necessary risks to defend what remains of their democracy, which is a shame because I don’t think the majority of US citizens want a dictatorship (maybe some still don’t comprehend what this actually means for their lives).
Therefore, in my opinion, things will turn out as feared, because no resistance is to be expected from the Democrats, and I consider a recourse to the legal system to be absolutely unrealistic—it is already too deeply infiltrated (the proof of this is the fact that the incumbent president is still the incumbent president instead of being in prison for all his serious crimes).
I’m sorry to be so pessimistic, but I think this assessment reflects reality.
Light the match, all we need is more gasoline
Anecdotal, I know.
Still, I think it’s pretty important that I share it.
I worked at a gas station on Jan 6 in an area that gave Trump very close to 90% of the vote. I seen two reactions from the common people. “I can’t believe they’re doing this and he’s doing nothing to stop it.” And, “Good! I’d rather have a Trump dictatorship than a Biden presidency.”
Even the ones who were shocked and appeared to be facing the last straw were thoroughly brainwashed by the end of the week. “It was ainteefuh, they just want to make Trump look bad!” Even years later, when the so called “antifa” got a blanket pardon Trump, it never dawned on them.
The ones who called for a dictatorship are watching with glee as democracy is dismantled. They believe they are going to get a Christian nation. They believe that all of the things they don’t like will be illegal. They are donating money to the men who are working to make this happen. They are bragging about it openly and getting their friends involved.
Yes, this kind of irrational behavior is not a US phenomenon; unfortunately, these deluded people exist all over the world. Here in Germany, there are a lot of people who vote for a neo-Nazi party, but don’t even understand that it’s also a neo-liberal party that pursues policies that are absolutely not in the interests of these voters (edit: by neo-liberal I mean US-style capitalism that wants to abolish the welfare state that still exists in our country). Apparently, it’s enough for people to have an imagined enemy – namely, some minority group – to no longer recognize their real enemy.
Sad, but that’s the way it is. Unfortunately, I don’t expect it to be too long before we end up in the same situation as in the US: despite Germany’s history, fascists will be back in power – and once again, no one except the 1% will benefit from all the cruelty and inhumanity. The only question for me is whether there will be more resistance in Germany - I’m not so sure about that, unfortunately.
Looks over the boarder from NL with concern, both for you and our own homegrown NAZIs.
Yes, it’s really frightening how incredibly stupid many of my fellow countrymen are.
Same.
Most Americans are completely clueless that anything is even happening. They’re just going about their days as they always have. Especially the older generations.
That’s because there is no longer any independent journalism. Neither in the traditional form of newspapers, magazines or TV, nor online. “The media” has long since been taken over because the billionaires who own it profit from fascism. The frightening thing is that the great utopia of the internet, namely to break the power of mass media, has turned out to be false: it has only made things worse - although people could freely obtain information, but they do not do so.
In the age of AI, it’s only going to get worse.
Unfortunately, it’s still Joseph Goebbels’ program: whoever controls the media controls people’s minds.
I think that’s just as true today as it was during the Nazi era, which is now reviving. Nothing has changed, since people are utterly incapable of learning from history.
The fact that so many Americans forgot that this was what 2017-2020 was like is frustrating.
Indeed, but I believe that was just a test run to see what people would tolerate — now it’s getting serious.
The majority of people who voted, voted against him. Use your brain, if you have one.
You mean a minority? Trump won by 2.3m votes going by popular vote.
A lot of people thought they were voting against him when they voted third party
Even if we assumed every single third-party vote would have gone towards Harris (which isn’t true at all), there were only 2.6m third-party votes. That would just barely allow Harris to eke out Trump in regards to the popular vote, but still wouldn’t have won her the electoral college.
She was a fucking unpopular candidate. No way around that. She started off strong with a lot of excitement, but then failed to separate herself from Biden’s boring policies whatsoever. Democrat voters are tired of the existing establishment, and the democrat party ran an establishment candidate.
This is why I can’t be angry at people that didn’t vote or voted 3rd party instead of democrats. People were rightfully disenfranchised. It’s like blaming a rape victim for dressing a certain way.
I think it’s the other way around