Douchebag K
Well-Known Member
can the next 6 months just go really quick
The Biden Administration and All Things Politics
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The Thriller
Well-Known Member
This is a good reminder about the threat to our democracy that will define this fall:
www.theatlantic.com
In the interview, Trump once again promised to pardon the January 6 insurrectionists; once again, he vowed to use the Justice Department as his personal legal hit squad. He said he will prosecute Joe Biden, deport millions of people, and allow states with newly strict abortion regulations to monitor pregnant women. He will kneecap NATO and throw Ukraine to the Russians.
Trump told Time that he thinks people actually like it when he sounds like a dictator, and he’s not entirely wrong: As I’ve noted, much of his base loves talk of “vermin” and the idea of exacting revenge on other Americans. But there are two other important reasons that many people are not taking Trump seriously enough—and that Biden, a long-serving American politician, is struggling in the polls with an often incoherent would-be autocrat.
One problem has been around as long as the republic: Americans don’t pay attention to politics, and when they do, they frequently blame the current president for whatever is going wrong in their lives. For most people, economic cause and effect is mostly notional; if gas prices are high today, or if someone is still not working despite low unemployment rates, it’s because of the guy at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. Combine this with the peculiar amnesia that helps people forget how many Americans needlessly died of COVID while Trump talked about injecting bleach, and you have a population that fondly remembers how good they had it during a terrifying pandemic.
Americans had a hard time conceiving of a nuclear war until 1983, when ABC showed the made-for-television movie The Day After. The movie (as I wrote here) made an impact not because anyone thought a nuclear exchange would be a walk in the park but because no one could really get their head around what would happen if one took place. (That’s despite how thoroughly fears of nuclear war had otherwise permeated the culture.) The movie includes a stomach-churning scene of people watching a football game at a stadium, looking up to see the contrails of American missiles in the sky, and realizing that the world as they’ve known it would last for another 30 minutes at most. This was not Dr. Strangelove; it was a moment people could see happening to themselves.
We just don’t have a similar conceptualization for the end of democracy in America. I have not seen the film Civil War, but I’m not worried about another civil war—at least not the kind we had before. Rather, I’m worried about the gray fog of authoritarianism settling, in patches and pieces, across the United States. In 2021, my colleague George Packer tried to present a realistic scenario of democratic collapse; the next year, I wrote about what such a process might look like. But looking back, I see the limits of my imagination.
I did not, for example, think it possible that state troopers would stop women who might try to leave their state to seek an abortion. In his concurrence with the Dobbs v. Jackson decision that threw out Roe v. Wade, Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh suggested that such travel bans on pregnant women might be unconstitutional, and no state has tried to enact one—yet. But I now view this as only one of many inhuman outrages that could come to pass if the federal government is overtaken by Trump and his authoritarian cronies and the state courts feel free, with Trump’s blessing, to ignore the Constitution. I can imagine state legislatures passing repressive laws and expelling any representatives who oppose them. And I can easily see the former president and right-wing governors attempting to use the U.S. military and the National Guard as their personal muscle.
Is this really what you want? I suspect that the closer we get to the election and the more people are paying attention and the more Trump talks, the more the electorate will be reminded of the stupidity, chaos, racism, sexism, and all around extreme authoritarianism that embodies Trump and the GOP. Remember, elections have consequences. So choose wisely, this election might be our last free and fair one if republicans get their way.
A Failure of Imagination About Trump
American minds are not ready to think about how fast democracy could disintegrate.
www.theatlantic.com
In the interview, Trump once again promised to pardon the January 6 insurrectionists; once again, he vowed to use the Justice Department as his personal legal hit squad. He said he will prosecute Joe Biden, deport millions of people, and allow states with newly strict abortion regulations to monitor pregnant women. He will kneecap NATO and throw Ukraine to the Russians.
Trump told Time that he thinks people actually like it when he sounds like a dictator, and he’s not entirely wrong: As I’ve noted, much of his base loves talk of “vermin” and the idea of exacting revenge on other Americans. But there are two other important reasons that many people are not taking Trump seriously enough—and that Biden, a long-serving American politician, is struggling in the polls with an often incoherent would-be autocrat.
One problem has been around as long as the republic: Americans don’t pay attention to politics, and when they do, they frequently blame the current president for whatever is going wrong in their lives. For most people, economic cause and effect is mostly notional; if gas prices are high today, or if someone is still not working despite low unemployment rates, it’s because of the guy at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. Combine this with the peculiar amnesia that helps people forget how many Americans needlessly died of COVID while Trump talked about injecting bleach, and you have a population that fondly remembers how good they had it during a terrifying pandemic.
Americans had a hard time conceiving of a nuclear war until 1983, when ABC showed the made-for-television movie The Day After. The movie (as I wrote here) made an impact not because anyone thought a nuclear exchange would be a walk in the park but because no one could really get their head around what would happen if one took place. (That’s despite how thoroughly fears of nuclear war had otherwise permeated the culture.) The movie includes a stomach-churning scene of people watching a football game at a stadium, looking up to see the contrails of American missiles in the sky, and realizing that the world as they’ve known it would last for another 30 minutes at most. This was not Dr. Strangelove; it was a moment people could see happening to themselves.
We just don’t have a similar conceptualization for the end of democracy in America. I have not seen the film Civil War, but I’m not worried about another civil war—at least not the kind we had before. Rather, I’m worried about the gray fog of authoritarianism settling, in patches and pieces, across the United States. In 2021, my colleague George Packer tried to present a realistic scenario of democratic collapse; the next year, I wrote about what such a process might look like. But looking back, I see the limits of my imagination.
I did not, for example, think it possible that state troopers would stop women who might try to leave their state to seek an abortion. In his concurrence with the Dobbs v. Jackson decision that threw out Roe v. Wade, Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh suggested that such travel bans on pregnant women might be unconstitutional, and no state has tried to enact one—yet. But I now view this as only one of many inhuman outrages that could come to pass if the federal government is overtaken by Trump and his authoritarian cronies and the state courts feel free, with Trump’s blessing, to ignore the Constitution. I can imagine state legislatures passing repressive laws and expelling any representatives who oppose them. And I can easily see the former president and right-wing governors attempting to use the U.S. military and the National Guard as their personal muscle.
Is this really what you want? I suspect that the closer we get to the election and the more people are paying attention and the more Trump talks, the more the electorate will be reminded of the stupidity, chaos, racism, sexism, and all around extreme authoritarianism that embodies Trump and the GOP. Remember, elections have consequences. So choose wisely, this election might be our last free and fair one if republicans get their way.
The Thriller
Well-Known Member
No one believes Dems are free from all prejudices. The difference is, they still have shame when they make mistakes and apologize when mistakes are made or else risk alienating their base while Republicans don’t. In fact, Republicans go out of their way to be racist, sexist, and blow off the rule of law because they know it scores pts with their base. One base is turned off by racial and sexual prejudices while one base is excited when their candidates demonstrate racial and sexual prejudices.
Let’s not forget, Trump regularly uses this rhetoric, the same rhetoric you’d find in Mein Kampf. What does it mean to destroy or poison the “blood of the country?”
View: https://youtu.be/aDQWgF5KMTw?feature=shared
Let’s not forget, Trump regularly uses this rhetoric, the same rhetoric you’d find in Mein Kampf. What does it mean to destroy or poison the “blood of the country?”
View: https://youtu.be/aDQWgF5KMTw?feature=shared
The Thriller
Well-Known Member
What does “poison the blood of our country mean?”
AlaskanAssassin
Well-Known Member
Some valid criticisms. My fear is that the swamp is so big, there is no politician alive that could drain it, and very few that could slow down its growth.
The Thriller
Well-Known Member
The swamp being… Trump and his administration?
It’s sorta weird when people complain about DC being corrupt when the worst corruption I’ve seen in my lifetime comes from Maralago. Im sure every capitol city has lobbyists and corruption. But I’m not sure how many places have former presidents who have incited insurrections, stolen classified documents and lied about returning them, and attempted to overturn election results in states so they could stay in power.
Kinda weird what some of you are focusing on. Or choosing to not focus on.
“Drain the swamp?” Does that mean stopping a fraudulent university, charity, and preventing Saudi Arabia from giving billions to a son in law?
Does that mean enacting campaign finance reform? Ethical reform for the Supreme Court so they aren’t openly and bracingly taking bribes? Raising taxes on the wealthy?
Does that mean prosecuting Jan 6 Insurrectionists? Prosecuting former presidents who steal classified documents and lie about returning them? Enforcing the law against those who tried to overturn an election?
It’s sorta weird when people complain about DC being corrupt when the worst corruption I’ve seen in my lifetime comes from Maralago. Im sure every capitol city has lobbyists and corruption. But I’m not sure how many places have former presidents who have incited insurrections, stolen classified documents and lied about returning them, and attempted to overturn election results in states so they could stay in power.
Kinda weird what some of you are focusing on. Or choosing to not focus on.
“Drain the swamp?” Does that mean stopping a fraudulent university, charity, and preventing Saudi Arabia from giving billions to a son in law?
Does that mean enacting campaign finance reform? Ethical reform for the Supreme Court so they aren’t openly and bracingly taking bribes? Raising taxes on the wealthy?
Does that mean prosecuting Jan 6 Insurrectionists? Prosecuting former presidents who steal classified documents and lie about returning them? Enforcing the law against those who tried to overturn an election?
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The Thriller
Well-Known Member
More great news! Imagine the media firestorm had the opposite happened.
Wow!
View: https://x.com/steverattner/status/1787878606875578565?s=46
View: https://x.com/steverattner/status/1787879727455228181?s=46
Wow!
View: https://x.com/steverattner/status/1787878606875578565?s=46
View: https://x.com/steverattner/status/1787879727455228181?s=46
fishonjazz
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Always nice to see MTG fail.
www.yahoo.com
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House rejects Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene's effort to remove Speaker Mike Johnson from office
Hardline Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene tried and failed in sudden action Wednesday to oust House Speaker Mike Johnson, her long-shot effort swiftly and resoundingly rejected by Democrats and Republicans tired of the political chaos. One of Donald Trump’s biggest supporters in Congress, Greene...
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Sardines
Well-Known Member
They like sit the **** down while the adults are talking.Always nice to see MTG fail.
House rejects Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene's effort to remove Speaker Mike Johnson from office
Hardline Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene tried and failed in sudden action Wednesday to oust House Speaker Mike Johnson, her long-shot effort swiftly and resoundingly rejected by Democrats and Republicans tired of the political chaos. One of Donald Trump’s biggest supporters in Congress, Greene...
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fishonjazz
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Damn weaponized justice system: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/crim...1&cvid=b679117a4c91467ab940c61cce0960a2&ei=51
Also, it sure seems like judges (some even appointed by trump) in some of trumps other cases are dragging things out as slowly as possible for some reason............
Also, it sure seems like judges (some even appointed by trump) in some of trumps other cases are dragging things out as slowly as possible for some reason............
The Thriller
Well-Known Member
It took a while to set in but even the judiciary has been “trumpified” by the hack judges he empowered. This is so dangerous. Whenever Repubs whine about corrupt judges and the law being politicized, they’re only projecting.
How do we fix this?
In my view, we need to do more to de-politicize the judiciary as much as possible.