Democrats would have to work -very- hard to, and I hate saying it like this, get someone to the level of celebrity necessary to get voted in. And really, Pritzker? The venture capitalist billionaire? Definitely need more of those in office.
Yes. We need a fighter first and foremost. His being a billionaire is a major stumbling block, especially when we need to outlaw billionaires, but step one is to get our country back. We can institute a wealth tax in the future, when we have a functioning democracy again. He's the only Democrat I've seen talk like this, and he seems to have presidential ambitions.
My biggest issues used to be climate, education, and health care. That has all taken a backseat to burning the MAGA wing of the Republican Party to the ground. Let's worry about that first.
AOC has the star power, as it were. But she's been cock-blocked by the establishment Democrats are every single step in her career so far. Democrats are the entire problem here. It's a two-party system so you can't win if you don't run as a Democrat, and the people in charge of the party just aren't interested in fielding anyone that can actually fucking win. They've proven that time and again now. Everyone fucking hated Hillary. But we got her anyway, didn't we? Look how that went.
AOC is great. I'm skeptical of her desire to run for president. A story came out recently that she isn't interested. Yet, anyway.
Establishment Democrats want THEIR people - the ultra-centrist, borderline Republican-lite candidates. As long as people like Martin, Pelosi, and Schumer are calling the shots - Democrats are doomed to keep losing.
This is right. The party is due for a major reckoning. Schumer continues to go on Sunday shows and embarrass himself and the party. The Democratic base is furious. They're demanding action. When the wine moms are out for blood, you know the party dynamics have shifted. They forced Hillary and Biden down our throats in '16 and '20. Maybe I'm naive, but I don't think that would work today.
Republicans, in turn, had a chance to bury Trump after he lost. They saw what he was. They could have put all of their resources into making him look like a complete fool so that he wouldn't even dare get on a podium again. Instead, they cowered and sucked his dick every chance they got and helped create what we have now. I don't believe they'll turn on him. Especially not when he has them all afraid of what his base will do to them.
I don't think so, either. I'm laying out a sink or swim situation for the Republican Party. There might be a time when he becomes so politically toxic that they have no choice. I doubt it will happen, but it also depends on how dire things get over the next four years.
As for the Constitution, I mean... yeah, it would have to be thrown out the window. And that's pretending it hasn't been already. Trump has spent the last 100-ish days doing things that directly violate the Constitution. He has deprived Americans and would-be Americans of their due process rights. I wouldn't even have time here to recount all the Constitutional violations he's committed. Seems like there's a new one every other day.
I have to hope there's a point where blue states leave the union. How many citizens do they have to kidnap? How much federal funding do they have to steal? Even my cowardly governor has to have a breaking point, right?
I'll admit,
this belief is a lot more copium than faith in our elected officials.
Every major lefty news outlet seems to already agree we are in a Constitutional crisis like never seen before in the country. I'm well aware that what I'm saying he wants to do is a violation of the Constitution. But it feels a whole lot like screaming at my brother for sitting in the front seat because 'I called shotgun first.' The Constitution is a piece of paper - not the Sword of Damocles ready to strike down anyone that violates it. It's worthless if the people sworn to defend it don't. And so far they haven't and don't seem all that interested.
Yep. Jamelle Bouie made the point that it doesn't matter which system of government you have. If your elected officials stand aside for a would-be dictator, you're getting the dictator.
I do get riled up when I see this attitude of 'we've seen stuff like this before.' We really haven't. The fact that Nixon was a criminal piece of shit does not make this situation even remotely similar. Nixon resigned because he couldn't just assume everyone would let him do whatever he wanted. Nixon wasn't powerful enough and didn't have enough absolute loyalty. Trump is -already- doing what he wants without consequences and has been doing so since his first term (and before). He attempted a fucking coup and we let him get away with it. We're so far beyond Nixon that Watergate looks absolutely adorably quaint by comparison. And Trump isn't resigning. He's shoring up power and taking control of every level of government, and defying even his own judges and daring anyone to do something about it. Which no one is actually doing.
I think it's worth noting that this is Nixon's legacy at work. I remember learning in school that Ford pardoned him. My first thought was, "he what now?" Nixon should've spent the rest of his life behind bars. That created the culture that our elites—including the executive branch—are above the law.
The funny thing about Watergate is Trump is doing the same with ActBlue, to an even more egregious degree. The New York Times covered it on page 18. Seriously.
Forgive me, but I genuinely feel like people making those types of comparisons aren't taking the threat Trump poses seriously enough. Even if we do get through it, it will not be because it was just like Nixon, or just like Bush Jr. And let's keep that in mind because if we DO get through this, the Republican party needs to be utterly destroyed. Because they keep trying to put up these people and if not Trump, then someday some Republican will succeed at destroying democracy in the United States. I mean that sincerely.
This is why we need a Pritzker. I need someone to salt the earth. Love Mayor Pete. Smart dude. He might've been a good president in the Obama days. We need a killer.
I'm actually convinced that the United States doesn't work. Republicans spent decades and decades destroying the minds of their base to the point where they are basically immune to facts and reason, and are absolutely primed to be ruled by Christo-fascist racists. They're begging for it. They want a dictator. Some even say it out loud.
This is my long-term question as well. Can Alabama and California co-exist in the long term? Certainly not without democratic (lowercase d) reform.
Unless the US is willing to restructure its voting systems to stop giving these people massively disproportionate amounts of power in how the government functions, what Trump is trying to do is inevitable. Whether he ends up being the one to do it or not.
Correct. Biden had a chance to nip Trump in the bud. Throw his ass in prison. Remove every Republican who enabled Trump via the 14th Amendment. Biden was too cowardly. He and Democrats of his age believe the Republican Party can be reformed. Despite serving as Obama's VP, Biden thought Republicans would compromise once Trump was gone. What a fool he was.
We're not going to get too many more bites at the apple.
Because it's not just about Trump. It's about the filth and corruption that the Republican party represents. It's about letting Confederates into all the halls of power after the Civil War. It's about letting so many Nazis re-settle outside of Germany after WWII. It's about watching KKK members spew hate and then put their badges on to go to work. It's about how The Left (and 'Middle') have never in US history really acted in a way that tells me they truly understand the Paradox of Tolerance, and what needs to be done.
Bingo. Our Democratic congresspeople see them as colleagues. They're enemies of the state.
