U.S. Politics

I doubt he's ever done almost anything we could consider 'normal'. Never pumped gas, driven anything other than a golf cart, been to a museum for anything other than a gala, been in a grocery store...
 
Like, modern America. Social media slacktivism America. The America where the people condemning also just turn away. The America where the people that voted and supported him until recently just ignore or deflect.
I couldn't agree more. I think there's probably a breaking point somewhere, but most people will normalize anything to keep in their daily routine.
A deep myth in American culture that has been thoroughly laid bare is that we as a country are incapable of true horrors in the modern era because "they" wouldn't let that happen. "They" is a moving, nebulous entity, depending on the problem. Sometimes it's cops, or the military, or the Supreme Court, or the investment class, but there's always a "they" keeping things in line.

And not so suddenly everyone is figuring out what the vulnerable folks have always known, there is no "they" there is only "us".
My boss is one. She's an educated Gen X/Boomer cusper. She's a quintessential Democrat. Despite talking about how crazy Trump is, she constantly mentions the Supreme Court stepping in to stop him soon. Girl, the guardrails are gone.

It reminds me of how I feel as an agnostic/atheist. There's no higher power looking out for us. It's chaos all the way down.
Even if it isn't a full on civil war, even if we try to get back to the status quo, we never will. They showed us how fragile a gentleman's agreement our quasi-civil society actually was, and we'll never trust anyone ever again. But we also won't do anything to safeguard the future, because this country has the spine of a jellyfish.
I've thought a lot about this. I disagree. We were talking about Reconstruction way back in April. That's the way back. Finish the job this time.

The easy thing would've been Biden excising the tumor in 2021. No one would've batted an eye if Trump were locked behind bars by March 2021. They could've done away with members of Congress who supported the coup, too. Then the years ticked by. Establishment Democrats thought they were rid of him. January 6 faded, apparently, from consciousness.

The insurrectionist won back power. That's why functioning democracies make an example out of traitors instead of allowing them back on the ballot. It's a normal part of maintaining a healthy democracy. It's like a cavity. It pops up and you get a filling. No one likes getting a filling, but it's a lot better than the alternative. Now the cavity has expanded. It's a festering infection. Now you're left with the hard thing. Now your options are extralegal. It's the new president wielding their power like a cudgel, and then some.

You punish those who violated the Constitution in a domestic Nuremberg trial. You start with those in the administration and work your way down to their lackeys. Elon and his DOGE stooges. ICE. Importantly, JB Pritzker is saying this already:


We need someone out for blood. We need someone with the stones to do it. Incidentally, that's who I'll be voting for in 2028.

Then you unfuck the system. Flaws in the Constitution allowed Republicans to slowly rig the system over the last 60 years. Democrats almost passed some integral fixes under Biden with the John Lewis Voting Rights Act. It would've made ratfuckery like gerrymandering and voter suppression laws illegal. Unfortunately, Senators were unwilling to kill the filibuster to pass the bill. They didn't do the easy thing, so now we have to do the hard thing.

The Senate is the elephant in the room. You can't fix a system that gives equal representation to California and Wyoming. I see two options:
  1. Turn the Senate into the House of Lords. They would no longer vote on bills, just revise legislation presented by the House.
  2. Ratfuck it until it's representative. This actually isn't difficult. Congress can add states with a simple majority. DC and all U.S. territories (Puerto Rico, Guam, the U.S. Virgin Islands, American Samoa, and the Northern Mariana Islands) should be admitted immediately. That's 12 more Senators. Aside from DC, there's no guarantee they'll grant us any Democratic Senators. (We're admitting them to the union because it's the right thing to do, not because they'll help us politically.) The ratfuck really begins when we start splitting states. California should be at least three states. That's four more Senators. I would also look into separating blue cities from their red states. Austin? Its own state. Houston? Its own state. That decreases Texas's power and gives people in those cities a voice. Legally, I think that would be much harder, but these are the types of solutions that Democrats need to consider.
Then the courts. Our court system has been overburdened for decades. Most legal experts make the case that we should expand the court system. That's half the war won. Now you have a ton of extra seats to fill. For the icing on top, I'd remove all Trump judges. After all, they were appointed by an illegitimate president. That's enough to give you a Supreme Court majority without adding a single seat.

I'd rein in judicial review, end lifetime appointments, end our winner-take-all elections in favor of proportional representation, and get rid of the Electoral College, too, but one thing at a time.

The fun part is this is all moot if Democrats can't win the presidency, the House, and at least 50 Senate seats in 2028. With brave, decisive leadership, it's fixable. It's a long fucking road back.
 
Last edited:


He has been saying that at least since April from the google search I did maybe even further back
continuously repeating the lie
has he ever even pumped gas in his entire life???
The only good thing about Trump lying about gas and egg (food) prices is that those kind of lies can be repeated ad nauseam. However they are concrete numbers that people in their everyday lives see regularly. So constantly lying to them about things they see every day and are constantly reminder are lies doesn't work. When the average person sees their paycheque getting them less and less, and they have to struggle more and more to pay for the basics, you can lie all you want they won't believe that specific lie.
 
I couldn't agree more. I think there's probably a breaking point somewhere, but most people will normalize anything to keep in their daily routine.

My boss is one. She's an educated Gen X/Boomer cusper. She's a quintessential Democrat. Despite talking about how crazy Trump is, she constantly mentions the Supreme Court stepping in to stop him soon. Girl, the guardrails are gone.

It reminds me of how I feel as an agnostic/atheist. There's no higher power looking out for us. It's chaos all the way down.

I've thought a lot about this. I disagree. We were talking about Reconstruction way back in April. That's the way back. Finish the job this time.

The easy thing would've been Biden excising the tumor in 2021. No one would've batted an eye if Trump were locked behind bars by March 2021. They could've done away with members of Congress who supported the coup, too. Then the years ticked by. Establishment Democrats thought they were rid of him. January 6 faded, apparently, from consciousness.

The insurrectionist won back power. That's why functioning democracies make an example out of traitors instead of allowing them back on the ballot. It's a normal part of maintaining a healthy democracy. It's like a cavity. It pops up and you get a filling. No one likes getting a filling, but it's a lot better than the alternative. Now the cavity has expanded. It's a festering infection. Now you're left with the hard thing. Now your options are extralegal. It's the new president wielding their power like a cudgel, and then some.

You punish those who violated the Constitution in a domestic Nuremberg trial. You start with those in the administration and work your way down to their lackeys. Elon and his DOGE stooges. ICE. Importantly, JB Pritzker is saying this already:


We need someone out for blood. We need someone with the stones to do it. Incidentally, that's who I'll be voting for in 2028.

Then you unfuck the system. Flaws in the Constitution allowed Republicans to slowly rig the system over the last 60 years. Democrats almost passed some integral fixes under Biden with the John Lewis Voting Rights Act. It would've made ratfuckery like gerrymandering and voter suppression laws illegal. Unfortunately, Senators were unwilling to kill the filibuster to pass the bill. They didn't do the easy thing, so now we have to do the hard thing.

The Senate is the elephant in the room. You can't fix a system that gives equal representation to California and Wyoming. I see two options:
  1. Turn the Senate into the House of Lords. They would no longer vote on bills, just revise legislation presented by the House.
  2. Ratfuck it until it's representative. This actually isn't difficult. Congress can add states with a simple majority. DC and all U.S. territories (Puerto Rico, Guam, the U.S. Virgin Islands, American Samoa, and the Northern Mariana Islands) should be admitted immediately. That's 12 more Senators. Aside from DC, there's no guarantee they'll grant us any Democratic Senators. (We're admitting them to the union because it's the right thing to do, not because they'll help us politically.) The ratfuck really begins when we start splitting states. California should be at least three states. That's four more Senators. I would also look into separating blue cities from their red states. Austin? Its own state. Houston? Its own state. That decreases Texas's power and gives people in those cities a voice. Legally, I think that would be much harder, but these are the types of solutions that Democrats need to consider.
Then the courts. Our court system has been overburdened for decades. Most legal experts make the case that we should expand the court system. That's half the war won. Now you have a ton of extra seats to fill. For the icing on top, I'd remove all Trump judges. After all, they were appointed by an illegitimate president. That's enough to give you a Supreme Court majority without adding a single seat.

I'd rein in judicial review, end lifetime appointments, end our winner-take-all elections in favor of proportional representation, and get rid of the Electoral College, too, but one thing at a time.

The fun part is this is all moot if Democrats can't win the presidency, the House, and at least 50 Senate seats in 2028. With brave, decisive leadership, it's fixable. It's a long fucking road back.
Yep.

I forget who mentioned it, but one of the biggest problems you country is still dealing with is the cowardice of the union to deal with the southern army/politicians after the civil war. It's a similar thing that happened here in Canada with the English and French fighting it out. In both cases the easier thing to do was end the fighting and give the "losing" side the ability to save face so everyone can move forward. Which of course at the time would probably be the thing most decision makers wanted most, and in true political fashion it kicks the can down the road for others to deal with (or not as is the case).

Don't get me wrong I understand it isn't as simple as "we won, you lost." However the idea that the confederate generals and politicians could go back to their lives and become political powerhouses and leaders at colleges, etc. was always going to be an issue because even though they lost they didn't suddenly have a change of heart/beliefs. Same with the imagery that exists to this day (Confederate flag). By not stamping out those things they live on and fester to become a problem that grows with every generation. I always found it interesting, after it was pointed out, that somehow millions of Americans who believe in their exceptionalism still flaunt the flag and beliefs of the "loser" of the civil war.

Anyway, I agree with you that if the Democrats manage to take back the presidency and both houses of congress they need to ignore the desire to "move on" so the nation can heal. They need to get all the weeds, root and stem, otherwise it will grow back. Most especially that means doing something to change the Supreme court. Most likely the best thing would be to stack the court first and then implement term limits. Also term limits for the congress, but that isn't likely to happen because why would they screw themselves?
 
Yeah, if we don't set the tick on fire it's start sucking blood again in two years. There's no reconciliation after this. People need to be out of power and influence forever, from the top all the way down to every single wannabe tough guy ICE agent.

Meanwhile twice this week (at least) US ambassadors have been "summoned" by the leaders of the countries they are in because they're basically acting as saboteurs. The US is going to be banned from other countries at this point. We can't be trusted to even send one guy in a bad suit to shake hands and sit in on photo ops.
 
The only good thing about Trump lying about gas and egg (food) prices is that those kind of lies can be repeated ad nauseam. However they are concrete numbers that people in their everyday lives see regularly. So constantly lying to them about things they see every day and are constantly reminder are lies doesn't work. When the average person sees their paycheque getting them less and less, and they have to struggle more and more to pay for the basics, you can lie all you want they won't believe that specific lie.
I push back on this a little. The economy was booming under Biden, but voters believed their social media feeds over their eyes.

Under Biden, polls reported that voters felt the economy was good for them personally and strong for their state. Meanwhile, they thought the national economy was terrible. How can these two things possibly be true at once?

Once again, the U.S. media failed to cover themselves in glory. This is the third consecutive presidential election in which they failed to inform voters of the stakes. They reported Trump's lies as his policy positions. They sanewashed Trump's statements. They challenged every Harris position in ways they would never do to Trump. One begins to wonder whether this is sheer incompetence or a deliberate choice. Seeing as billionaires own all of our media outlets, I have my answer.

In the internet age, lying has become the best political strategy. Our media landscape is too fractured. Journalists either don't or can't do their jobs. Algorithms have too much sway.

Now, I do think you're right. At some point, the average voter (dumber than dogshit) will put 2 and 2 together. How much pain will they have to feel before that becomes the case? In purple states, probably not that much. After all, Trump's reelection was predictable because of the up-and-down nature of the two-party system. In my lifetime, the departing president's party has never maintained the White House. Maybe if things are bad enough in deep red states, you get a W. Bush-like backlash (60-40 Senate), but I think that's dreamland.

Unfortunately, there's no way to message your way out when the media landscape is so hostile. Billionaires want this. Billionaires own the media and social media companies. Bad combination.
 
Republicans are adept at lying they seem almost Russian 🙄

It's a complete lie that criminals can get out on bail easier now. The cashless bail just equalizes what was a broken system where the rich could easily get out & the poor couldn't. They continuously seem to attack the poorest & most vulnerable.
 
Guns are US Politics inherently, right? Because I just watched people get morally outraged by a reporter interviewing a child who survived a school shooting with parental permission but NOT by another school shooting... This fucking world, man. Hell is empty and all the devils are here. Maybe actually interviewing kids and their first hand experiences as they happen is enough to awaken a shred of fucking humanity in people, but it probably isn't. This is a country with no shame.
 
It was really dark because I was just at the Army surplus looking into a bag, and I messaged my Army Reserve Sgt brother in Mpls, "Thinking of getting a tactical bag for the new semester."

"Dark."

"What?"

And then I learned. Two blocks from his job, too.

But yeah, the morality passion plays are disgusting.
 
I push back on this a little. The economy was booming under Biden, but voters believed their social media feeds over their eyes.

Under Biden, polls reported that voters felt the economy was good for them personally and strong for their state. Meanwhile, they thought the national economy was terrible. How can these two things possibly be true at once?

Once again, the U.S. media failed to cover themselves in glory. This is the third consecutive presidential election in which they failed to inform voters of the stakes. They reported Trump's lies as his policy positions. They sanewashed Trump's statements. They challenged every Harris position in ways they would never do to Trump. One begins to wonder whether this is sheer incompetence or a deliberate choice. Seeing as billionaires own all of our media outlets, I have my answer.

In the internet age, lying has become the best political strategy. Our media landscape is too fractured. Journalists either don't or can't do their jobs. Algorithms have too much sway.

Now, I do think you're right. At some point, the average voter (dumber than dogshit) will put 2 and 2 together. How much pain will they have to feel before that becomes the case? In purple states, probably not that much. After all, Trump's reelection was predictable because of the up-and-down nature of the two-party system. In my lifetime, the departing president's party has never maintained the White House. Maybe if things are bad enough in deep red states, you get a W. Bush-like backlash (60-40 Senate), but I think that's dreamland.

Unfortunately, there's no way to message your way out when the media landscape is so hostile. Billionaires want this. Billionaires own the media and social media companies. Bad combination.
Yeah but Biden was blamed for inflation, or higher prices. That is what everyone sees when they spend money. Talking about how good or bad an economy is is too nebulous. If you are doing well and hear the economy is bad it doesn't register. Same if you are doing poorly and hear the economy is booming. Most people go back to what they see at the stores. If you are living paycheque to paycheque and food, rent, utilities go up who do you blame? The person in charge. Which is what happened to Biden. No matter what those in the know said about how good the economy was under Biden the average voter only saw things were more expensive.

The same thing will happen with Trump. He can say gas, eggs, whatever, are lower than when Biden was in charge. However the average person is spending their money and not getting more for that dollar. So they won't believe it.

And after seeing the Democrat win the deep red Iowa state Senate special election by 10 points (Trump won the area by 20 points) I don't know that people aren't already feeling the problems which seemingly will get much worse going into 2026.
 
I had some goof on my local newspaper's FB page today shouting about 'cleaning up crime, secure borders, and how about those gas prices!"

My dude, the national average for a gallon of gas is up .15 since Trump took office, diesel .09/gallon. They literally will believe ANYTHING he says as long as it owns the libs.
 
I had some goof on my local newspaper's FB page today shouting about 'cleaning up crime, secure borders, and how about those gas prices!"

My dude, the national average for a gallon of gas is up .15 since Trump took office, diesel .09/gallon. They literally will believe ANYTHING he says as long as it owns the libs.
Oh for sure there are those who are in too deep to accept reality. That or they are simply saying out loud what they think will "own the Libs" yet when they are in private they know things are more expensive and just don't want to admit that to anyone.

I have a friend who, for whatever reason, likes to go off about how Trump will be better, blah, blah, blah. First thing I always ask is why he cares when Turmp doesn't help Canada. Then of course he likes to bring up the old "prices were cheaper under Trump." Which I shot back with "well then why not vote for Obama or Bush since prices were cheaper under each of them?" That gets a quick change of topic because even he knows it is a dumb argument to make for why to vote for someone from the past.
 
Apparently the Iowa special election while sweeping had a 25%ish turn out rate. Not sure if Republicans stayed home out of disgust or disinterest.
 
Back
Top